Enterprenuer
Carl Daikeler is the founder and CEO of a fitness and nutrition company, The Beachbody.
This company, which has a history of twenty-plus years of developing innovative content and strong brands, is a digital home fitness and nutrition leader.
Carl was a sought-after executive in direct marketing early in his career.
He then shifted his attention to fitness and weight loss, creating “8 Minute Abs” and realizing the immense potential of in-home fitness content.
Beachbody, under his leadership, was the first company to predict that the home would be the top and most legitimate place for nutrition and fitness.
Carl has had the best success with direct marketing and was one of the first to use social media influencers to gain customers.
He uses an empirical approach to product development, testing, learning, revising, rolling out, and revising.
Carl has been focused on making Beachbody the complete solution for healthy weight loss and fitness.
This included meal planning, proper supplementation, and community.
Carl’s extensive product marketing and direct-response experience have enabled him to create the most comprehensive catalog of engaging nutrition and fitness content.
The Beachbody model incorporates supplements, such as Shakeology(r), a line of superfood protein supplements.
There are over 1,400 unique streaming videos by world-renowned experts.
There is also a peer support system with over 400,000 Beachbody Coaches.
Carl is also the founder of the Beachbody Foundation, which has donated over 10 million dollars to various organizations, including Hope Of The Valley and the NAACP.
Because of his theater background, Carl has been an active producer of numerous Broadway productions.
He won two Tony Awards for Hadestown and the revival of Once On This Island.
He lives with his wife and their two children in Los Angeles.
What is the story of The Beachbody Company?
8 Minute Abs was created for a company that I had previously started.
I noticed that people respond well to fitness concepts, not gadgets.
It was much easier to add value and create a source for gravity than make tape and paper more valuable.
Jon Congdon, my partner in crime, and I set out to see how far we could get by developing challenging nutrition and training programs that we would then test before bringing them to market.
Although the results were not easy to see, they were undisputed.
Since 1998, we have scaled this concept from VHS to DVD and now to two digital platforms.
How do you stay productive?
The business is my lifeline. It’s a blessing that I have this business because I know I would be very unhealthy without it.
My morning routine includes a quick Energize and a 15-minute check of my email before starting Beachbody On Demand.
After breakfast, it’s email and Zoom calls. My Shakeology nutrition shake is at 10:45 am.
After lunch, I have a portion-measured dinner.
Then it’s emailed over breakfast, and Zoom calls around 8:15.
After work, I enjoy dinner with my family.
This allows us to keep up with each other’s lives and watch a bit of TV.
Bedtime is followed by 30-45 minutes of personal development or business reading.
This is 5-6 days per week. There are so many innovations and big decisions that happen in those hours that it can sometimes be a blur.
How do you bring ideas to life?
This is why I founded the company. I wanted to be able to have an idea on Sunday and then dive into it Monday.
When enough data points and insights are accumulated to create a concept, thoughts usually occur.
This is what happened with the 30-Day Breakaway.
After completing one of our programs, I saw people run 5K after finishing it.
Our subscribers started asking for run-training advice after noticing the rise in running apps.
These inputs led me to contact Idalis Valesquez (a college track star) and ask her to create a 30-day program that would provide the transformation Beachbody is known for and prepare them to run a 5k in excellent running form.
Once we have a good idea, we refine it and test it.
We see actual results and get “product-market fit.”
We did it with a 30-Day Breakaway, and we continue to do that with great success.
What’s your favorite trend?
Simple answer: I love it when people realize what we know.
In-home fitness is just as efficient and satisfying as going to a gym.
But they are also more convenient and efficient.
This was the foundation of the company.
This premise has been our foundation for over 20 years.
Last year saw the rise of stay-at-home orders and the realization that people’s choices regarding their health and well-being are crucial.
What habits make you productive?
My greatest strength is my ability to approach any idea without prejudging it based on anything else.
This means I don’t hold concepts back to conform to a standard and allow for significant breakthroughs.
This is what happened with P90X. It was not an original idea.
The same goes for 21 Day Fix, and the color-coded portions control containers.
We put great talent behind straightforward ideas. Once we test them, the magic happens.
Shakeology was the same. A daily nutrition shake that costs $5 per serving was not something anyone thought would be sold directly to consumers.
It was felt that only fancy smoothie bars could offer it and that they would have to charge $8 to $9 to make it profitable.
But, we discovered it away. This shake has been my daily drink for 12 years.
Although I don’t need to drink the shake every day, my digestive health, regularity, feeling great, and staying healthy is more important than designer vodka or expensive tequila.
This is where we can innovate and connect with like-minded people.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
I would tell myself to pay more attention.
Please take what you can from every situation and learn from it.
The next step will come. I would never describe myself as skipping any step.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Keep reading and studying. Consider how others’ experience relates to your own.
Every experience and business has lessons to help you avoid falling prey to traps.
Never stop learning. Learning is one thing; studying is another. I study.
What’s your rich strategy?
We saw early on that free cash flow was determined by the cost of customer acquisition and the predicted lifetime value.
I was able not to generate cash by attracting investment rounds but rather by scaling a predictable cash flow model that allowed me to grow the company and keep ownership.
As if our lives depended upon it, I watched the cash balances.
I still do. You can help people, but you won’t be able to do it if you don’t have the resources.
Cash management is crucial for cash flow.
How do you overcome Failure?
After some success in the infomercial industry, I set up a business in my 20s.
I didn’t have a plan and wasn’t sure where it would go.
Because I wasn’t sure what I was offering my customers, I didn’t know how much capital it would take.
The business failed. I didn’t open my next business until I had figured out the strategy and how to solve people’s problems.
That experience taught me a lot.
Can you share a business idea?
This is a difficult question because anyone reading this should not seek an answer from me.
They are uniquely placed to solve a problem that they understand.
Find the problem that you are having.
Recognize that you are not the only person with this problem.
Find the solution and solve it. Your problems may contain gold.
Which book would you recommend?
Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is The Way is my favorite book.
This book is something I have read at least twice per year.
TL;DR by Carl Daikeler
Prepare and plan.
Never stop learning.
Do not judge an idea by its covers.
