From home-business to billion-dollar fitness empire | Orangetheory Fitness’ meteoric rise to the top

Life-changing. Addicting. Intense. These are just a few words
that have been used to describe Orangetheory – the fitness studio
known for its science-backed, technology-tracked, coach-inspired
workouts. The franchise has taken the world by storm – in just
eight years, it has amassed a million members, expanded to over
1,100 locations around the world, and has crossed a threshold
that very few businesses manage to reach: exceeding $1 billion in
revenue in a single year. But what is it that fueled
Orangetheory’s rise to the top of an industry that is so full of
competition?


In this episode of the peak performance season, we are bringing
you to Business Mastery – where you have a front-row seat at the
Masters of Disruption panel. At this panel, Tony spoke with Ellen
Latham, the creator and co-founder of Orangetheory Fitness.
You’ll also hear a bit from Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square
Hospitality Group and creator of Shake Shack, as he participates
in the panel, and even asks Ellen a question toward the end.


As you'll soon find out, Ellen’s energy is boundless, and
certainly infectious. And it was this very energy, in combination
with her creativity, determination and pure grit, that got her
through the most difficult time of her life – a time when she was
laid off her job, out of work and a single mother to her 9-year
old son. She tells Tony about her bulletproof mindset during that
time, and the sports psychology technique she used to turn what
could have been a massive break-down – into the massive
break-through that led her to create Orangetheory fitness.


Orangetheory offers heart rate-based workouts, built around the
physiological concept of excess-post-exercise oxygen consumption,
or E.P.O.C., where the body continues to burn calories at a
higher rate even after the workout is over. But behind the
science of Orangetheory is something far less measurable, but
just as powerful: its raving fan culture. Ellen reveals to Tony
how she and her partners have strategically built an army of
fiercely loyal clients – and what they’ve done to scale this
culture across the globe.