Sam Penny (00:00)
Most founders build something that works very few build something that works without them. You build a gym, one studio, it's pretty easy to you're onto some momentum. But 200 is a system. Hadri Jafal took a concept built around human connection and scaled it across countries. But scaling something personal, it's pretty dangerous. The more you grow, the more you risk losing what made it special. So today, we're not talking about fitness. We're talking about architecture.
How do you build something that doesn't collapse under its own growth? Hadri, welcome to the show.
Hadri Jaffal (00:35)
Thank you very much for this introduction.
Sam Penny (00:38)
Fantastic. Look, this is going to be a great conversation because what you have created going from something 10 years ago with an idea and scaling it to about 250 gyms is just meteoric. But let's go back to the start. You originally were in construction, you weren't in fitness. So what was it that the gym industry was really missing that these industry insiders were blind to?
Hadri Jaffal (01:07)
In my opinion, today, if somebody wants to take care of their body, just want to try to go to the gym and to have a workout in gym. But not everybody is comfortable to workout in the gym. Not everybody is comfortable to workout four or five times a week. And for me, I like to introduce myself saying that we make gym for lazy and busy people.
And it looks like to be a shame to be lazy or busy, but it's not. everybody needs to be concerned. Everybody is concerned about that, but not everybody wants to take time for that. So my opinion was this niche about the lazy and busy people. It's not just a niche. It's a huge market.
Sam Penny (01:53)
Probably 80 % of people feel alienated by gyms. So was there actual data or was it just instinct that made you go down this path?
Hadri Jaffal (02:04)
Me, I was lazy and busy. At this time, I used to have my second kids, so it makes sense for me. I was trying to work out regularly, but I was doing it for one month and stop for three months and do it again for one month and stop for three months. I was not consistent in the way I was So when I discovered this technology, made a lot of sense for me. So it was more obvious.
For me, it was really abuse that I was not alone because all of my friends were like that.
Sam Penny (02:39)
we go back to then that very first studio, you're introduced to this EMS technology, which is electro muscle stimulation. How did you come up with that first concept to open a gym? Because it's one thing to just say, hey, that looks interesting, but then you've created into your first studio. How did that happen?
Hadri Jaffal (02:44)
Mm-hmm.
Most of the people think that you need to find the good idea. But us, we haven't found a good idea. We just copy and paste what's happening in Germany. So this kind of gym ⁓ used to be run for many years in Germany. We just look what's happening in Germany, copy and adapt a little bit for the French market. But we did not have the idea. We just copy, but...
We were really focused on something different, but it was not about the idea. Just copy it.
Sam Penny (03:31)
So then what was it? You say that you've obviously put your own flavor onto this. You've adapted it to the French market. What was it? Because obviously, you know, the technology is the technology, the workouts are the workouts, but really building something like this to scale to 250 studios around the world, it all has to be around culture and...
Hadri Jaffal (03:39)
Correct.
Sam Penny (03:54)
the thing that attracts someone to that very first gym. What was it that attracted people to that very first gym?
Hadri Jaffal (04:00)
⁓ We have an advantage is that with EMS, when people try for the first time, they can get so on the whole body and there is an effect, an image at the effects on the first trial session. So what do we decide? We say, okay, we do not any marketing, any communication. We just ask two people to come and try.
and use the word of mouth. It was the strategy at the very beginning.
Sam Penny (04:31)
It's interesting, Hadri, because, gee, the early, I was probably around 2008, I created a product called the circulation booster. It's EMS basically to improve the circulation in your lower legs and the immediate response that people would have. And my marketing campaign and the strategy was basically to go into pharmacies and put a demonstration unit in every pharmacy.
Within ⁓ three years, I'd penetrated one third of all pharmacies in Australia. So about 1500 pharmacies, just because people got that immediate effect. When you then decided what was it that next step to then decide, hey, this is something that's gonna work. Let's open a second.
Hadri Jaffal (05:20)
After that, we decided to scale. So when you find the first... So like you say, the goal was to make a lot of trial sessions. day after day, we start to have a committee around the first location. But after that, the goal was to scale and to find other entrepreneurs who want to be a part of that and want to have the right place.
So after that, the goal is to find entrepreneurs who want to follow you and give them results because it's a franchise. When you sell a franchise, tomorrow I sell to you some franchise, I need to help you to get results. If there is no results for you, of course you will not open a second one. And of course, when the potential new franchisees will speak with you, they will say, hey, Sam, are you happy with the amount of it? Not really. I don't make any money.
So first of all, the goal was to make a lot of trial sessions, give them results and increase their word of mouth, find one franchisee and give him the best results we can find, we can have. And after that, the scale process, the momentum was in process. And the next step was really to...
create a culture and keep the people with us in this culture. So culture of success, culture of improvement, culture of learning and wants to be really hand by hand with the franchises.
Sam Penny (06:56)
Growth really exposes a lot of the weaknesses ⁓ in those early days and the systems that you've put in place really protect a lot of the quality. You took the step to start to remove yourself from that expansion process. How did that come about? When did you realize that perhaps you were the bottleneck?
Hadri Jaffal (07:15)
Okay, so 10 years ago, I was doing everything in the company. Now, if you want to scale, I find my executive team and I'm working with my executive team. So I have some seven people in my executive team and my goal on a daily basis is to find what is the most important for them in the next two weeks and help them in the context, help them to...
to prioritize the action. ⁓ There is something I discovered not so far in the past. It's about the signal or the noise. And my goal on a daily basis is to be sure that the executives of my team are focused on signal and not on noise.
Sam Penny (08:08)
that's one of the hardest steps for any entrepreneur, Hadri, where they're removing themselves from a lot of the responsibilities that they had early on in the venture. How did you find it ⁓ in terms of being able to let go of some of those responsibilities and put in your trust in your executive team?
Hadri Jaffal (08:27)
100%. I like to say if I hire an executive, I give him 100 % of confidence. So for example, my ⁓ CFO, he has more responsibility than me and since the first day with the bank account. So I don't do what I want with my bank account. It's his bank account, you know. ⁓ And it's not about me.
So for each executive, I try to ⁓ put them in a situation where they are like the business owner. And one of my executives used to be a business owner for many years. And after two months of activity with me, was like, he said to me that he really appreciate the fact that it's like he works for his own company. And I think this is the key. You cannot...
You know, most of the people, say trust. Even if you trust somebody, you need to keep in control. I don't like the control. I trust 100%. And sometimes they fail. It's OK. We will change of executive. But my vision for me is 100 % of trust, 100 % of responsibility, 100%. And I'm just here to speak about context with them. Context and prioritization, prioritize the actions.
Sam Penny (09:53)
So when you scale past 50 locations, this is really when something's gonna break. What breaks first when you get to that point?
Hadri Jaffal (09:54)
Yeah,
⁓ When we reach 50 locations, for the last 10 years, we open on the average 20 locations a year. So what happens when you have this kind of growth? You miss people. So at the beginning, you miss people on the team, so you hire people. But when you hire people...
You miss cash flow because you hire people before you get cash flow. So it's a balance all the time between people and cash flow, people and cash flow if you want to grow. I did not raise any funds with VC or something like that or private equity. I still own 100 % of the company. So we have credit line but...
I still own 100 % of the company. So it was really hard to balance between people and cash flow. It was the most difficult.
Sam Penny (11:07)
Being a franchise model, ⁓ obviously you're trying to keep the same model across 250 studios across, think it's 12 countries now. ⁓ How do you, and particularly being a personal services, it's so personal that you need to try and ensure that what you see in France is the same as Miami. How do you document in the franchise documents?
something as intangible as something like empathy.
Hadri Jaffal (11:37)
⁓ So there are two things. ⁓ First of all, ⁓ when I've been in New York City, I've said, hey, I want to eat something really local. And they say to me, I need to eat a slice of pizza. OK? I say, where? They say, you can choose, but not a franchise. I say, why? Because when you will eat in a franchise, you will have, for example, with a good franchise like Chick-fil-A or something like that.
you will have exactly the same experience. But now people are not really looking about the same experience. So us with the franchise, the franchisees have a kind of liberty on many things. So it's not exactly the same location in France, in Quebec, in New York, in Miami, about the many things. so I was looking to make a kind of franchise, but not a street franchise.
with exactly the same share or the same computer. You can choose your computer. It doesn't make sense for me to give you exactly the type of computer you need to buy. But what I did since the first day, every time somebody comes on a training, it could be like this on a video or on sites at the headquarters, we start with a one-hour mindset, motivation speech.
And this mindset is about what we call the iron mind. And every time somebody gets hired in the company, even if it's in the franchise location or whatever, when they come to a training, we start with that. And what I say just to sum up it, if you are here just for a check pay, you can go outside and leave the company. You are here to make a change in people life and
Making that will be a journey of learning. So I'm speaking about leadership, leadership, leadership, learning, personal development all the time to all the people of the company.
Sam Penny (13:35)
you
if we look at your franchise, your franchise manual, is there something in there that's written that most founders would never think to write down?
Hadri Jaffal (13:49)
⁓ We did it on Notion, you know Notion, the SAS Notion, we did it on Notion and we haven't written a book because I don't know about you, but me, if I buy a franchise, I don't want to read a book of 500 pages or 1000 pages. I don't want to read that. So we create process on Notion with monthly checklists, with daily checklists, with weekly checklists. And we don't have the big book.
Sam Penny (13:54)
Mm.
Hadri Jaffal (14:18)
of a franchise. We don't have that. We just create process and we take to the franchisor, to the coach, follow this process and you'll be successful.
Sam Penny (14:26)
So then Hadri, if I visited that very first location that you set up in France, what would feel identical today?
Hadri Jaffal (14:33)
Nothing changed there. Everything is exactly the same. Maybe we changed the signs, but everything is the same. We keep... No, the only thing we changed, you know what I It's because when you have a changing room, now we have doors and before doors we used to have... I don't know how to say that in English. Sorry, my English is not perfect. But you know... I don't know how to say that.
No, I don't know. Now we have doors and before doors we used to have something with slides. don't know what you say that in... Yeah, exactly. So now this is the only thing that's changed.
Sam Penny (15:06)
Yeah.
A curtain. A curtain. Yeah.
So then how does that first location compare to the last one that you've just opened?
Hadri Jaffal (15:26)
Still good. It's not mine now. It's a franchisee. So let's say they are in the 20 % top of the franchisees.
Sam Penny (15:36)
Now, have you raised any capital at all through this whole process?
Hadri Jaffal (15:39)
Yeah, we raised funds. At the real beginning, we raised with a friend and family love money. So three hundred thousand dollars. And three years ago to come to America, we raised one point five million dollars. ⁓ But like I said, it was a debt with it's almost the same with the members, French members. We say, hey, guys, we want to open the US markets.
We are raising $1.5 million. Do you want to invest and get a profit on the three next years?
Sam Penny (16:14)
Okay, so you haven't given away any equities and it's all just purely debt that you've raised.
Hadri Jaffal (16:21)
Yeah, I choose to keep my equity and just to raise my debt.
Sam Penny (16:27)
That's absolutely fantastic. So that then really must remove a lot of the pressure that anyone who gives away equity to an investor, where the investors purely after a return on capital and accelerated growth has that approach of just raising debt removed a lot of those typical investor pressures that we see.
Hadri Jaffal (16:49)
My vision for my market is that the game starts now. So the last 10 years was just building the foundation. So now I agree to open my equity. But before, if I used to open before, I was not able to create the exact products, the exact franchise. So it was too early to open the... So I have no problem to open the equity.
But I think it was too early before and we need to have a proof of concept in different countries because my vision is really to be in all the world and not just open 200 locations. It's just the beginning.
Sam Penny (17:31)
All right, you move into the US, you said you raised, I think, one and a half million dollars to do that. The moment that you chose to move into the US and when you eventually do, coincides with the start of COVID. It's like, it's a bloody bold move to just go, well, we're gonna open the US, but COVID's just hit.
Hadri Jaffal (17:48)
Haha.
Sam Penny (17:52)
Obviously, this move into the US is way beyond ego. It must have been data driven to say, yeah, we're still down this path. We're still going to make this happen. What was it that told you we're going to make us happen?
Hadri Jaffal (18:05)
For me, it's a dream, a kid's dream to be able to develop my company in America, to live in America and to make it big in America. So it was something I have in my head. And the FDA, so the Food and Drug Administration, opened the market in 2019, September 2019. So we...
I came in Florida at this time and see the market and say, OK, wait and see. But when the COVID arrived, ⁓ because we have a lot of time, I was like, OK, this is the time when everybody is waiting. This is the time to create and to move forward. It's the time to get an advantage from our competitors. So this is why we decided.
The real decision was because the market is free. There is some location, but the EMS market in America is just opening in 2019 and nobody makes it big. So a dream when I was a the American dream, and the market just opened in 2020, I was like, okay.
I think this is a signal I need to go there.
Sam Penny (19:31)
Have you had any moments through this where you felt that you've grown too fast?
Hadri Jaffal (19:36)
Yes, I think we, since 10 years we are going too fast. It's really hard. people are like, yes, it's good for you. Last year in 2025, we opened almost 50 locations in the world in the year. So it's huge. It's huge because that's, but this is what is exciting. And I'm pretty sure that the day when the ocean will be really flat, I think I will leave the boat, you know?
Sam Penny (20:06)
Ha ha
ha!
Hadri Jaffal (20:07)
I think I'm really a founder, I'm really a CEO who wants to fight in the struggles and in the competition.
Sam Penny (20:18)
I know exactly what you mean. I've run companies for 25 years and I'm a startup kind of founder. That's my passion. I love driving really hard. Now let's talk about ⁓ franchisees and being a franchise model. Have you ever had a situation where you've had a successful franchisee and you've had to remove them to protect?
Hadri Jaffal (20:39)
I love your question. The first franchisee in France, at this time I used to have 15 locations. the relationship with him was complicated. Really good at the beginning, but after a time it was really complicated. And I spoke with a friend of mine who was a franchisee from another brand. It's totally different. And he said to me, as a franchisee, I give you the advice...
to remove, to stop the agreement with all the franchisees when you are not ⁓ in good relationship. So the first one who did that was this franchisee. And now every three months with my executive team, we have a meeting about who do we need to stop the agreement every three months.
Sam Penny (21:31)
Do you find that process easy?
Hadri Jaffal (21:31)
And this is my advice. No,
it's hard, but you need to do it. know, when you create a community and five, 10, 20 % of the community are not working for the community, but they're working for themselves and they break the development of the community. They break the development of the other franchises. So I don't do that for me because for me, I lose money when I stop a franchisee.
I lose an agreement, lose the royalties, I lose a lot of things. But for the community, I need to do that because I am the protector of the community. I am here to protect the community and make them happy, make them successful. So it's not for me, I do it for them.
Sam Penny (22:16)
Love it. And this obviously has a cost to your short term money. Are there other decisions that then really affect your short term money, but are more aimed at protecting the long term strength.
Hadri Jaffal (22:28)
I think hiring is really the most... You know, we finished the 2025 years with a great year, with great statements, and it was really good. But at this time, we decided to hire new people in the team. And every time you hire one, two, five, ten people, you change your cash flow structure and you are on risk because you come from something flat to new risk because new objectives...
So all the time. So I will say, I think for me, this is the to hire people. And franchise is most of the time a business of human. It's a ⁓ business of support. It's the way you support the franchisees, the way you support the team, the way you support the manager. So ⁓ yes, for me, it's hiring the most complicated.
Sam Penny (23:21)
let's talk about hiring people because ⁓ you said that ⁓ you hire people for empathy over expertise. How do you go about that process, particularly in that recruitment process, the hiring process, and even ⁓ managing your existing, ⁓ the existing team? How do you hire for empathy?
Hadri Jaffal (23:42)
I don't have the first interviews. I come at the third level of interviews. So two people of my age make the first level. ⁓ But me, I'm not looking about the curriculum or other experience. I'm just speaking with people. I want to know who you are. What is your motivation? What are your dreams? What passionates you? Because I say all the time,
You know, when you create a business, we speak about ⁓ the product market fit. Okay. But for me, there is the company and employee fit. How I can bring value to his life, how can he bring value to the company? If there is no value for him, I want to know what he's looking for. What he wants. What Iron Body Fit can bring in his life.
It could be for six months, could be for one year, it could be for 10 years. What is he for? How I can give excitement to his life? How I can help him to grow and to reach his goals, his own goals. It's not just about my goals. It's not just about the goals of the company. And I think this is something most of the people They are trying to hire people just with skills. But skills, you can develop new skills. And now with AI, you must be...
learning process and develop new skills. So for me, it's more about who you are, what you are looking for, what is my company and how my company can help you to reach your goals. This is the most important for me.
Sam Penny (25:21)
If you were removed from the business today, ⁓ would the business continue to run?
Hadri Jaffal (25:27)
I don't know, you speak to my ego. So...
Sam Penny (25:30)
Hahaha!
Hadri Jaffal (25:34)
I think right now a lot depends on me. I think a lot depends on me and for the moment it's important that of course if I leave the business it will continue to develop but not maybe in a... not like this. So I don't know, it's a hard question. I will say a lot. I will say a lot and today I think I'm really important in a lot of things.
But I hope in the future it can go. You know, this weekend I was in Disneyland, Orlando. OK. And I was fascinated by the fact that this guy passed out something almost 100 years ago. And still now this is one of the best companies you can find in the world. You know, so this is one of my dreams. But right now, I think it really depends on me. And I'm here and I'm working a lot. And I think right now.
I'm one of the key of the success.
Sam Penny (26:37)
Absolutely. I love that you've got so much passion still Hadri 10 years after you started. It's quite hard for a lot of founders to move past that, that seven year phase at 10 year phase, but you still got that stellar growth, which really does feed into you as a founder as you know, that startup entrepreneur. Now, talking about, I want to talk about the metrics. How do you measure the health of your business beyond the revenue?
Hadri Jaffal (27:05)
Hmm, that's a question. We have five KPIs. The first one is the number of trial sessions we have weekly. Okay. The second one is the transformation rate. How many people come and try and how many we convert in members. The third one will be the renewal rate. How many people renew at the end of the membership. There is of course the revenue and the NPS, the Net Promoter Score.
This is the five key indicators we are looking at every day in the different countries.
Sam Penny (27:40)
It's very much like a typical sales funnel effectively, getting people in for the free trial, the signing up for a membership, getting the return customers, ⁓ the annual recurring revenue. Yeah, it's just ⁓ the typical, particularly in the e-commerce world, which is where I've come from, ⁓ you've just adapted what we do every single day in the e-commerce world.
Hadri Jaffal (27:43)
Yeah, exactly.
Sam Penny (28:05)
into a chain that has become absolutely fantastic at 250 studios.
Hadri Jaffal (28:10)
You know, you give a point what is important, I think everybody at the beginning when you launch a business and especially if you want to scale, you need to understand what are the KPIs. And KPIs mean K before indicators. What are the three to five indicators? And it's almost the same. Like we said, it's a funnel. How many people go in front of your opportunity? How many you can convert? What is the churn?
and of course maybe a satisfaction me that's why i speak about the nps because satisfaction for me is a real indicator uh how many people are satisfied but what you propose because if they are satisfied of course you have less uh churn and more renewals so it's i you know i like to say some i don't create nothing
I'm just learning, and paste, copy and paste, copy and paste. I'm just listening some podcasts and reading some books and this guy do that, it works. Okay, I do exactly the same. That's it. I just adapted to my business.
Sam Penny (29:20)
Yeah, fantastic.
Fantastic. Now I want to tap into that ego that you spoke about before, Hadri. I want to get a little bit more of an understanding about you. Who did you have to become? from if you look at yourself back 10 years ago to today, what did you have to become to lead 250 studios?
Hadri Jaffal (29:42)
A leader, first of all, you need to be able to give the feeling to 1,000 people to follow you because there is 1,000 coaches in the network. So I will say a leader. I will say a good human. For me, it's like to sum up, just a good human. If you want to have a company and if you want to have 1,000 people follow you,
That's my vision. I don't speak about other people. For me, it was important to be you and to be a good human. But at the same time, to be passionate and at same time to have a strong mind and a strong body. I sell wellness. It was for me, it made sense to take care of me. So it was my challenge in the last 10 years. Growing...
Last time I speak with somebody asking me who is my favorite ⁓ superhero. And I spoke about Captain America. Why? Because Captain America, he keeps ⁓ the same values ⁓ since the beginning to the end. And I think for me it was important. Sometimes I am in trouble with people and they say that I lose my value. I don't know. I hope no. But my goal is still to be on the process to balance my value, to balance where I am.
with the franchisees, with the people, with my company and don't change my value for money or something like that.
Sam Penny (31:16)
So then there a trait that has perhaps limited you? So if you go back 10 years, know, that personal thing that the way you act, the, you know, part of your personality, is there something that has been a limiting factor in how you see yourself moving forward?
Hadri Jaffal (31:33)
I think, yeah, I said to my team, said, know, excellence, I said all the time since the very beginning, excellence is not being perfect. Excellence is just growing one day after day and being better today than yesterday. So for me, this is a human goal. That's my thinking. I think every human, it's not just about an entrepreneur. Every human needs to be better today than he was yesterday. I don't want to be like you, you don't want to be like me.
You want to be the better version of yourself and just grow a little bit on what you want, on different skills, different... Whatever, what you speak about my passion. After 10 years, I'm still motivated. I'm still waking up at four in the morning. And I have just three things in my life. I have my company, I have my family, and that's it, you know? That's two. So my wife and my...
Sam Penny (32:30)
Hahaha
Hadri Jaffal (32:31)
my company ⁓ and my kids. So I think you must grow all the time. You must develop yourself all the time. You must read all the time. You must find what you propose in life and not just waking up in the morning and just wait the day to. So yes, for me, growing by myself is being an example for the franchises, being an example for the teams, being an example for the members.
Sam Penny (33:00)
So then has your definition of success changed over the last 10 years?
Hadri Jaffal (33:04)
Yes, when I start my definition of success was to have million dollars. And now it's not just a question of million dollars, but it's more a question about ⁓ having my family with me. I have three kids. I have my family with me, having a good company, being happy on what I do on daily basis and being healthy. I think
living in a health situation. ⁓ Yes, be healthy. So healthy family and have a business where I'm really happy on daily basis. For me, these three things define my success.
Sam Penny (33:50)
Yeah, fantastic. Look, I want to now bring it back the focus on the listener. Someone listening right now, they're probably pretty exhausted. As you know, running your own companies or even trying to start up, it can be pretty tiring. They are the engine of what they're trying to create. Now, every decision's running through them. They want to become the architect, know, exactly like ⁓ what you've created. You are ⁓ the essence of
an architectural entrepreneur. what should they build this week?
Hadri Jaffal (34:21)
I think ⁓ we just have to build small. ⁓ If you want to build a house, it's just one brick after one. And just for me, it's just building small day after day. And of course, you need to have a vision about what you want to do in the long term. But you create your vision, you have your vision, you have your dream.
And after that, we just focus on what I need to do now. What is the most important? I need to do my day to make a great day. If you make a great day, you make a great week and four great weeks make a good month and 12 good months make a good year and 10 years change your life. know, this is what's happened for me. And I think really, and this is when I launched Iron Body Fit, I was not alone, of course.
But when I launched, I was broke. I was not smart. I don't have a big background or something like that. I just believe in what I do and just day after day, day after day, just building small. I think it is the best advice I can give to somebody.
Sam Penny (35:41)
Yeah, absolutely. So what then should someone stop doing immediately?
Hadri Jaffal (35:45)
procrastination and having some bad words about themselves. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. You are. Stop, I'm not, you are. You are different than me, different than Sam, different than who you want, Tom Brady or Michael Jordan. You are. You are one of the ⁓ billion
Sorry for that, but spermatozoids went to do ovule of the... And you understand what I mean? You are one of the billion... When you create life, there is billions of... No, I don't know how to say that in English. Sorry for that. You are special. You are... Somebody can do what you want. You can achieve. And if you have...
some struggles if you have some backpack with heavy weight it's okay it's just time after time and work harder maybe work harder if it's harder for you work harder but you can you are that's my words
Sam Penny (37:01)
talking about you, are there any mistakes that really slowed you almost permanently?
Hadri Jaffal (37:06)
I'm doing every day. Every day I'm choosing 10 times, making nine mistakes and one good choice. It's okay to make mistakes. You learn, but you need to learn with the mistakes. When you make a mistake, when you make something bad, you need to learn and you don't have to blame on it. It's okay. I did it. I just learned. I don't have to do it again a second time, but...
Let's move forward. So yes, I'm doing a lot. I cannot give you the complete list because there is a lot.
Sam Penny (37:43)
obviously you structure your life and the business very much around systems and repeatable systems. Are there any systems that give the highest leverage early?
Hadri Jaffal (37:54)
I will say they have a to-do list.
most of the people are not doing a to-do list. This is something pretty simple, know? Just a to-do list. When you are going to do grocery, you are making grocery lists. But for your life and for your daily goals, you are not doing a to-do list. So the first thing I said to my team, I want you to have a to-do list. I want you to show me the to-do list. Not to banish you, just to be sure that you know what you need to do today. Having to-do lists. And this is something
Sam Penny (37:57)
Absolutely.
Hadri Jaffal (38:26)
I like to create in process.
Sam Penny (38:29)
Yeah, love it. I actually created a productivity planner for myself and then started selling them and it's all based around a quarter. So what are my quarterly goals? ⁓ What are the monthly goals? What are the weekly goals? What five tasks do I need to achieve today that are all aligned with with my quarter? And it works. You know, when you tick off even just your top one thing that you need to do today 365
of your number one task achieved in a year, you are way beyond where the majority of people are moving.
Hadri Jaffal (39:04)
And that's so simple. Most of the people are thinking about something. We need to make a crazy process to automate everything with the email and no, wake up in the morning or maybe at the end of the day, you need to have your to do list. Like you said, what is the most five important things you need to today or this week? That's it. And put it on the list and do it.
Sam Penny (39:27)
Yep, absolutely.
Yep, and write it down, put it onto paper. It's, it's amazing. ⁓ Once it's on paper, it leaves your mind, it doesn't stay in this sort of, you know, fictitious list in your mind, it needs to get down on paper, because you lose a lot of the overwhelm once you do that. But also it cements it and you're actually going to, there's actually a lot of science around this. The science is that if you write that to do to do list down,
Hadri Jaffal (39:32)
Correct!
Yeah.
Sam Penny (39:55)
there's a high chance that you're going to action it.
Hadri Jaffal (39:58)
100%. And you know, there is a magic things when you check that you done something. Me in the morning, I'm doing the most easy things of my to-do list. And I'm checking one, two, three, four, and it create a momentum in my mind. It not create a I'm not, it create an I am. So I am able to finish my to-do list because I've done 20 % in the...
first 30 minutes of my day. So yes, you write, write it, you keep your mind clear and after that check when you do something, check it. That's so important.
Sam Penny (40:39)
Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic.
scaling isn't about opening more doors. It's about protecting what happens inside them. Hadri has shown us that growth without architecture creates chaos, but growth with systems creates freedom. If your business collapses the moment you step away, you don't own a business, you own pressure.
Hadri Jaffal (40:46)
Yeah
Sam Penny (40:59)
great businesses are designed to stand without constant supervision. work starts long before you think you're ready to scale. Hadri, if people listening to this and they wanna follow your learn more about Iron Body reach out to you directly, where's the best place for them to go?
Hadri Jaffal (41:15)
⁓ My email, I think the best way to communicate with me is my email. jh@ironbodyfit.com You can find me on LinkedIn or Instagram, but I don't have to connect on it. So LinkedIn could be great, but the best is my email. jh@ironbodyfit.com I try to keep my inbox to zero every day.
Sam Penny (41:40)
Fantastic, and I'll make sure I put that email into the show notes. And for everyone listening, this is Built To Sell, Built To Buy. I'm Sam Penny. Now go build something that doesn't need you to survive.
