I'm the CEO of a fitness company. I start my day with a bag of steamed broccoli and end it with family — here's my routine.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bryan Myers, the president and CEO of fitness company Solidcore, who lives in Washington, DC. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I always knew I had a passion for business. It was very present, even in my childhood. I tried to start businesses like door-to-door fruit sales and a babysitting agency — I had that entrepreneurial bug. I followed that passion and went to college for business, but when I graduated, I still couldn't answer the question of what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I decided to kick the can down the road and go into consulting, thinking it would be a great way to see a bunch of different functional areas within a business and help me decide. I had an amazing experience as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group for nearly five years.
But working with the largest companies in the world showed me what I was missing — the opportunity to help build a company. In 2014, I decided to leave my cushy job and join the leadership team at Sweetgreen as director of financial planning. During my time there, the team and I grew the brand and refined what the company would become.
I also discovered Solidcore. It was where I went when I was stressed at work and when I wanted to be reminded of home while traveling.
A few years later, when a former consulting colleague introduced me to the founder of Solidcore, I left my role as vice president of new store development at Sweetgreen to join Solidcore as COO. Now, seven years later, I'm the president and CEO.
Here's what a typical day in my life looks like.
I usually wake up around 6 a.m
The first thing I do is walk my dog for 20 to 30 minutes. It's a great way for both of us to get some movement in. While I walk, I catch up on two things — my Whoop stats and the business.
I like to check out my Whoop stats to see how I slept, my resting heart rate, and my heart rate variability (HRV). It gives me a baseline for the day and helps me determine how my body is feeling and what I need to do to make sure I'm showing up at my best.
Then, I look at Solidcore's real-time dashboards to see things like cash sales, studio visitation, and membership growth. It allows me to walk into the day knowing what our opportunities and challenges might be.
When I'm back from my walk, we're thrust into family get-ready time
I have a toddler, so my husband and I get him and ourselves ready. We're usually all out the door by about 7:15. My husband is an elementary school principal in northern Virginia, so he heads to school, and on the way, we split up drop-off duties with me usually taking our dog to and him taking our toddler to their respective daycares. I'm usually at the office between 7:45 and 8 a.m. to get the day started.
Even with the busy mornings, I'm a big breakfast eater. I eat in our office's communal kitchen — it's also a nice way for me to greet our team members as they arrive. My typical breakfast is a frozen bag of broccoli — the entire bag steamed — with four hard-boiled eggs and an English muffin. I believe it's the most important meal of the day and opt for something that gives me energy.
During the day, I do the typical things you'd expect a CEO to do — go to meetings and spend time with the team
Right now, we're growing a lot, and it's exciting to see the impact we're having as we enter more communities and see new people walk through our doors. When I joined the company, we had 25 locations, and now we're almost at 140 in 26 states.
When I first started at Solidcore as COO, a lot of my role was about 'doing.' I was negotiating deals with landlords or hiring. Now, my role is much more oriented toward vision. It's focused on questions like, "Where are we going to be in five years?" or "Who are the team members or functions we need to add to this company?"
I also spend a lot of my time on the road, seeing our teams and helping them feel connected to the mission and the vision of our company, as well as making sure they feel seen, appreciated, and inspired.
I'm also finding ways to continue the magic our founder created while creating my own legacy and strategy
After I became CEO, we made a big push to get people better pricing in exchange for their locking in and being a part of the community as members.
We've also thought about race, age, body type — everything that can make people feel excluded from a fitness experience. We want people to look at our coaching wall and see themselves in a coach.
We're also thinking about how we build products to help all people, whether they're super athletes or at the start of their fitness journeys. One of the ways we've done this is by introducing new class formats for those at different fitness levels, like our Starter50 and Advanced50.
I love working out with my team
One of the amazing things about working at a company like Solidcore is that we have a lot of flexibility; it's not uncommon for the folks who work at HQ to hop out and do a team sweat together. It might be at Solidcore — because, of course, we love Solidcore — but it might also be at another studio around our neighborhood. It breaks up the day and re-energizes us for what comes next.
I love working out with our teams and often coach multiple times a week when I travel. A lot of business leaders take their teams out to dinner or happy hour, but coaching a class is another way for me to connect in a way that feels authentically Solidcore.
Another way I connect with people is through my social media presence
I'm very intentional in showing people that I'm more than just the title of CEO — I'm a father, I like to travel, I lip sync to Beyoncé, and I enjoy hosting dinner parties with my friends. I think that helps people relate to me and realize that you don't have to be stuffy or robotic to be a CEO.
I also take time to get involved in organizations and philanthropic causes I care about
I'm a strategic advisory council member for the Health & Fitness Association (previously known as IHRSA) because I believe that industries don't advance without people doing the work to help advance them.
I also support The Ridley Scholarship Fund, which paid for my university experience and changed my trajectory by allowing me to be involved with extracurriculars and the student experience instead of thinking about work or having to pay off loans.
I usually head home from the office around 5 p.m., and then jump into family time
My husband and I make and eat dinner, catch up on the day, and play with our son. We really soak it all in before he goes to bed at 7 p.m.
Once he goes to bed, my routine includes a combination of a few different things. Our mantra at Solidcore is to be the strongest version of yourself, and one of the ways I do that is by being a continuous learner. Sometimes it's reading — I've been reading " Strength to Strength." Other times, it's taking a Spanish lesson, which I've been doing with a tutor for the last three years.
I also take time to catch up with friends through text, FaceTime, or Zoom. It's also a time to tap back into work and finish all the things I didn't get done before I left the office. I try to limit working in the evenings to no more than two hours so I can be ready to attack the next day.
I end my day between 10 and 10:30 p.m.
I wind down like a typical millennial — by scrolling through TikTok and catching up on funny trends as I decompress from the stress of running a growing business.
It takes a village for me to stay energized and excited about my work. My husband, our family, my executive coach, and my assistant all support me.
A lot of people look at successful people and think they do it all, but no one can do it all. The only way you can get to those levels of success is with an incredible community.
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