Monday, June 3, 2019
“There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.”
— Julie Rice
Julie Rice (@julierice_) is an entrepreneur best known for co-founding the fitness phenomenon SoulCycle. Julie served as Co-CEO at SoulCycle from 2006 to 2015 before joining WeWork in November 2017.
Julie’s life’s work has been about building community, and these days she brings that focus to her new role at WeWork. At WeWork, Julie is approaching everything through the lens of community—she is focusing on WeWork’s brand and the experience WeWork provides its members, and seeking new and innovative ways to grow and share the WeWork experience around the globe.
Julie lives in NYC with her husband Spencer and their two daughters, Phoebe and Parker. She is a board member of The Public Theater and Weight Watchers, as well as an advisor to the women’s club The Wing.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Castbox, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Want to hear another episode with someone who knows how to build an enticing atmosphere into a business model? — Listen to my interview with hospitality mogul Liz Lambert, in which she talks about balancing the desire to be an artist with the desire to be a business tycoon. (Stream below or right-click here to download):
Important announcement from Tim below:
Hello, my lovelies!
From June – Dec, 2019, I’m removing ads and sponsors from the podcast for a six-month test. The podcast will continue to be 100% free for everyone. There will be no paywall, and no one has to pay for anything.
If interested, you can contribute a few dollars a month to support me doing more crazy experiments and initiatives, or to simply say “thank you” if any of my books, nearly 400 free podcasts, or 1,000+ free blog posts have had a positive impact on you or your loved ones.
Visit tim.blog/support to find out more and support.
Since the podcast has become the engine that fuels everything else, if this experiment doesn’t work out after six months, we’ll go back to sponsors. If it works, we’ll stay with fan-supported. Easy peasy.
So, why am I doing this? Two main reasons:
#1 – Sponsors and ads chew up a TON of time that I’d rather spend finding and doing cool things I can share with you. To be clear, I don’t think all advertising is evil. I turn away 90-plus percent of inquiries, personally test everything remaining, and then share the best. I feel good about that, BUT it consumes a lot of my time and energy. I would rather focus on finding, doing, and making cool things that I can share with you. That’s what I love, it’s what I’m good at, and it’s why many of you ended up reading my books or listening to the podcast in the first place.
#2 – Over the years, thousands of readers and fans have asked me, “How can I thank you?” Aside from the books, I’ve never sold any products, courses, or otherwise, nor do I plan to. Fan-supported subscriptions allow people to say “Thank you, and please do more.” If you want to help fuel more experiments, science, and exciting discoveries, you can easily sign up below and contribute to the cause. Think of it as a monthly gym membership for your mind and career. How much would you gladly pay for that?
Then, each time you hear a podcast episode (or see anything from me) that you consider life-changing and want to share with friends, you can smile, knowing that you helped to make it possible.
Please only contribute what you feel great about contributing. This is zero pressure, and I’m not mailing out any beer koozies or other crap you don’t want. I’ll just do and share more good stuff.
The lower tiers of support are roughly equal to four Starbucks cappuccinos per month, or one decent bottle of wine per month. The higher tiers of support are roughly equal to a gym membership, or a single dinner for two per month.
Visit tim.blog/support to find out more and support.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Instagram | LinkedIn
- SoulCycle
- WeWork
- Made By We
- The Public Theater
- Weight Watchers
- The Wing
- Galleria at White Plains
- WME
- Soho House
- Harry’s Burritos
- Starbucks
- White Cube
- Apple Store
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- ThinkHuman
- Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples by Harville Hendrix, PhD and Helen LaKelly
- Hunt, PhD
- The Two Simple Ways to Upgrade Your Relationship by Harville Hendrix, Oprah.com
- Couples Workshops with Harville and Helen
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
- SoulCycle in Bridgehampton, NY
- 6 Original Riders Reflect on 10 Years of SOUL, SoulCycle
- Seth Godin on How to Think Small to Go Big, The Tim Ferriss Show #177
- Hamptons Magazine
- Equinox
- The 16-Second Survival Breath by Lisa Bedford, The Survival Mom
- How I Get It Done: WeWork’s Julie Rice Always Takes the Stairs by Mara Reinstein, The Cut
- Shabbat 101, My Jewish Learning
- What Is Challah? My Jewish Learning
- Levain Bakery
- Baked by Melissa
- Snapchat
- 4 Things It Takes to Be a SoulCycle Instructor, SoulCycle
- Mad Libs
- Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer
- Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
- Rainbow Room
SHOW NOTES
- Julie was a nerdishly well-behaved child…except for this one time. [06:35]
- What was Julie’s life like the year before cofounding SoulCycle? [09:28]
- What were Julie’s duties as a talent manager in her former life, and what were some of her better decisions in that role? [13:37]
- One of Julie’s better skills in life: people picker. [15:03]
- How many clients does a successful talent manager usually have under their wing? [17:22]
- What did Julie see in Ellen Pompeo that made her pursue her as a client, and how does it tie in with what she looks for in people who work for her in different capacities today? [19:04]
- How did SoulCycle formulate as a concept and become something real in just four months? [20:49]
- The Sunday $200 ATM ritual and how money was handled in the early days of SoulCycle. [23:44]
- How did the name “SoulCycle” come about, and were there any serious alternatives in the running? [29:01]
- How did Julie and Elizabeth decide on the business model that made SoulCycle stand out from its big box gym contemporaries at the time? [29:42]
- Early good decisions. [31:35]
- How lack of space in the first SoulCycle room created an accidentally positive environment for human connection and moving meditation. [33:08]
- What value did Julie and Elizabeth find in having a life coach help them at this stage in the business? [34:48]
- While initially skeptical about seeing a coach, what sold Julie on the deal at the first meeting? [41:26]
- What Julie has learned about fostering a company culture and a family life (thanks to some help from Hendrix and Hunt’s Getting the Love You Want) that make conflict resolution go smoothly and constructively. [44:31]
- Why Julie considers Simon Sinek’s Start with Why so helpful for people trying to communicate in the workplace. [52:18]
- How SoulCycle’s investment in the careers of its instructors engendered true loyalty and made the company stand out as an innovator in the fitness industry. [55:24]
- Why did Julie and Elizabeth resist the urge to take outside investment money early on, and how did it shape the way business — particularly marketing — was done? [57:27]
- How a little creativity gave a marketing experiment in Bridgehampton much better ROI than a $75,000 magazine ad ever could have — and turned SoulCycle from a scrappy startup into a bona fide sensation. [1:05:14]
- Why finally accepting outside cash infusion from Equinox was seen as a good idea for the business at this time. [1:08:49]
- Bad uses of time and money and rolling with the consequences. [1:10:45]
- Think you don’t have time to meditate? Here’s how Julie does her daily meditation in 16 seconds. [1:16:15]
- The number one thing that keeps Julie from buckling under stress and anxiety. [1:17:54]
- A new weekly ritual that helps reframe Julie’s family life and bring everyone closer together. [1:21:50]
- What SoulCycle’s eight-week training program strives to instill in its instructors, and what this brings to the overall SoulCycle experience. [1:26:27]
- What does a curriculum designed around developing spiritual, emotional leaders look like? [1:29:30]
- Books Julie recommends and gifts frequently. [1:31:39]
- What is Julie currently most excited about — professionally, personally, or in-between? [1:32:43]
- What would Julie’s billboard say? [1:35:20]
- Closing thoughts. [1:36:50]
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Posted on: May 30, 2019.
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