A special feature celebrating Club Solutions’ 20 year-anniversary and outlining where the brand is headed.
When on the starting line of a sprint race, runners will place their feet into starting blocks.
Doing so allows runners to generate more power, but it also gives them a ritual that helps stabilize their body and mind.
Starting blocks allow sprinters to optimize their technique and improve their overall performance, and while it may take some practice to master the use of starting blocks, the benefits they provide are worth the effort.
As such, the foundation laid by Rico Francis, the president of Club Solutions, and Shawn McDonald, the publisher, 20 years ago has been the starting block of our brand’s success.
The two lifelong friends met while running track at just 10 years old and grew closer while playing football in high school. After college, Francis went to work in corporate America in Atlanta, Georgia. McDonald opened his own personal training business in Louisville, Kentucky. However, the two always had a desire to work together.
When McDonald’s brother-in-law started a magazine for the auto industry, it sparked an idea. McDonald and Francis decided to combine Francis’ sales experience and both of their passions for health and wellness into a business resource for the industry.
With no prior publishing experience, Francis and McDonald hit the ground running with one goal in mind: to educate and empower health and fitness professionals. They made connections with advertisers in the industry, had them write how-to articles for health club operators, constructed a cover story on KORR Medical Technologies and published the first issue of Club Solutions in October 2003.
And for half a decade, they continued down that path. However, the magazine had yet to reach its full potential.
“We were getting feedback operators liked the content because it was actionable solutions they could implement,” said McDonald. “But nearly five years in, we didn’t really have connections to the clubs yet. We were just writing content and sending it to them. We knew we needed to change that. We needed to get the top clubs involved, interview the leaders who are living out the actions and help them better know our brand.”
In 2008, the first big change hit the publication. The pair hired an editorial team, made the switch to putting operators on the cover and started publishing more timely, traditional news stories for the industry. McDonald knew this change was for the better and would help them impact more clubs and communities. “Our goal was to always put out content that was an actionable business solution in order to help health club operators have a more successful business,” he said. “That’s never changed.”
However, as the brand grew the Club Solutions team realized they could make an even bigger difference in the industry.
As Louisville natives, Francis and McDonald often joked about how cool it would be to host an event for the industry at the world-famous Kentucky Derby. In May 2014, that dream turned into a reality with the first Club Solutions Leadership Summit, an exclusive, invite-only, peer collaboration event. Its mission was to bring together high-level health club industry leaders and executives for networking, peer-to-peer learning, roundtable discussions and experiential excursions.
“We really took a risk,” said Francis. “We purchased the tickets and there was no going back. We put our trust in our readers and hoped they’d see the value in connecting with like-minded professionals. It’s funny to think about how it all started, but we made it a reality, and I think our brand grew significantly because of that risk.”
A year later, Club Solutions launched a second industry event — the Club Solutions Leadership Retreat — to open its one-of-a-kind event experience to even more health club professionals.
Launching a second event for mid-level operators was another gamble the team took to make a greater impact in the industry. However, Club Solutions knows there is no reward without a little risk.
“We aren’t afraid to fail,” said Rachel Zabonick-Chonko, the editor-in-chief. “We love to experiment and try new things and go into it with the mindset that if it doesn’t work out, that’s 100% OK.”
This fearlessness of failure comes from having a culture built on trust, collaboration, integrity and always striving for improvement.
“Shawn and Rico have also led by the mindset of hiring talented people and letting them do their thing,” said Zabonick-Chonko. “They don’t micromanage and really empower the staff to take ownership of projects and experiment without that fear of failure. I think this creates a lot of buy-in and energy from our team that carries through into our content and events.”
Tim Adkins, the vice president of media, couldn’t agree more.
Prior to joining the Club Solutions team in 2012, Adkins was already bought in to the work Club Solutions was doing. As a health club operator himself, he was a subscriber and avid reader when the publication was first introduced to the industry. Through the years he’d learned a lot from Club Solutions’ content and shared stories with his team to advance their education and growth in the industry.
“It’s been exciting to be a part of Club Solutions’ growth and advancement in the industry I love,” said Adkins. “I love being a part of a company that’s influential in not only empowering and educating our audiences but also helping in changing lives by promoting health and wellness across the world.”
For 20 years, Club Solutions has done just that by providing best practice business resources. From annual events, monthly magazines, weekly emails and everything in between, the brand strives to be the No. 1 business resource in the industry.
Through the years, the team has been focused on adding exceptional value to the publication by providing the best resources to help readers succeed and grow their organizations. Sometimes, that means changing with the evolving needs of the industry. As such, in 2024 the monthly magazine will be transitioning to a bimonthly schedule. This move will redirect resources toward creating and curating top-tier content like the launch of Club Solutions’ groundbreaking initiative: CS On-Demand.
This innovative video platform is designed to revolutionize the way health club professionals access educational and engaging content, further solidifying Club Solutions’ commitment to empowering its audience.
The introduction of CS On-Demand represents a significant leap forward in fulfilling the same mission we’ve had since Day One — to educate and empower health and fitness professionals. This new platform will offer a comprehensive library of high-quality videos, delivering valuable insights, industry trends and best practices directly to their screens.
“The launch of CS On-Demand is an important milestone in Club Solutions’ commitment to supporting health club professionals’ success,” said Zabonick-Chonko. “With its engaging video content, the platform will empower industry leaders to elevate their knowledge and enhance their business acumen.”
CS On-Demand will cover a wide range of topics such as:
- Leadership tips and strategies.
- Breaking news and industry trends coverage.
- Product spotlights from the industry’s top vendors.
- Club tours.
- Exclusive insights on clubs and vendor partners.
The transition also opens up exciting avenues for those who helped us get our start — advertisers within the health and fitness industry. This new video platform will seamlessly integrate targeted advertising, allowing brands to showcase their products and services alongside the premium educational content health club professionals are actively seeking.
“By aligning their offerings with this innovative initiative, advertisers can effectively amplify their visibility, engage with a receptive audience, and contribute to the growth and advancement of the health and fitness community,” said Francis. “This evolution not only benefits health club professionals but also presents a mutually beneficial partnership for advertisers looking to leverage this new, dynamic platform.”
In many ways, CS On-Demand is Club Solutions’ biggest announcement to date. It’s changing the way the brand has delivered content for 20 years. And while it’s a transition, the Club Solutions team is no stranger to navigating something new. Above all, the team is dedicated to living its mission everyday: to educate and empower health and wellness professionals.
“Our team really loves what we do, which is something you can’t manufacture,” said Zabonick-Chonko. “Our team’s passion for creating content that serves the fitness industry is genuine, and we’re always trying our best. We aren’t always perfect, but that effort and dedication is always there.”
Enduring a change is never easy, but thanks to Club Solutions’ mission and the foundation that was laid two decades ago, the brand is ready. Our feet are in the starting blocks, poised to improve our readers’ experience and generate more content than ever before.
