Bring Purpose into Your Business

A few months ago, I challenged you to find the purpose in your business by making work meaningful. In doing so, I offered four strategies:

1.     Look In – What would happen if your company didn’t exist? Bring the stories you’ve enabled to life.
2.     Zoom Out - How does your business make things better, for an individual or the world?
3.     Pay It Forward - Put company resources to work.
4.     501(c)(3) Yourself - Open up a charitable arm that fits your mission/purpose.

Today, I want to share a personal story about how we at Self Esteem Brands try to live our purpose.

I find this weekend, when we celebrate Veteran’s Day, to be an incredibly humbling time. Dave and I have been blessed to be able to start our company in a country of incredible freedom, where we could take the risks, and reap the rewards, for pursuing our passion. Doing so was not achieved on our own. We have been fortunate enough to build a team of incredible people who make the magic happen, and we thank them every day. But there are also people who have made this happen that we don’t get to see regularly, but who have played just as significant a role as anyone: the members of the United States Armed Forces.

Now, Dave and I have never served in the military, but we have immense gratitude and respect for those who have, and for their families. It’s thanks to them that we are able to spend every day of our lives building our organization. A few years ago, we found a way to demonstrate our appreciation. We established the Anytime Fitness HeartFirst Charitable Foundation?, a 501(c)3 organization.

With the goal of delivering on the promise of supporting our veterans, we developed an initiative called “Operation HeartFirst.” Many military veterans face incredible challenges when they return from active duty. Our goal was to support military veterans with grants and scholarships to open their own Anytime Fitness gyms, and hopefully employ fellow veterans or family members.

As we embarked on setting up a 501(c)(3) organization, however, we soon experienced the onerous realities of running your own charity while also trying to manage a fast-growing global business. Luckily, we found a middle ground. After researching groups that support military veterans, we found one right in our own backyard, Tee It Up for the Troops. We connected and decided to join forces. They use their existing operations to collect, disburse, and report funds to meet the regulatory scrutiny guidelines for a 501(c)(3). We use our business experience to help identify the best markets and sites for veteran-owned Anytime Fitness clubs. Together, we’ve been able to recognize some of our most worthy veterans, and we’re looking forward to telling more stories together. Here are just a few:

2015: In our first year of partnership, we developed a month-long application process to vet our first HeartFirst recipients, who would receive the rights to their own Anytime Fitness franchise. While we would have liked to recognize every applicant, it was Hannah and Tristan Ambrozewski whose story most stuck with us.

Both enlisted in our Armed Forces after the events of 9/11, where they would meet during basic training (on the grenade range!). Hannah and Tristan served as intelligence analysts, sharing key information and insights that would protect the lives of others. In their jobs then, as they do now at their gym in Southern Pines, NC, they put the health and well-being of others first. We’re honored to call them members of the Anytime Fitness family.

2016: Our 2016 recipients, Shay and Julie Thorn, have an operating mantra for their franchise that we absolutely love. They say, “We want our gym to be like ‘Cheers’ without the beers.”

Shay was one of the first soldiers to be deployed after 9/11, hitting the ground in Afghanistan in October 2001. He would go on to be deployed eight times over the next five years, before retiring in September 2015, after 24 years of active duty. Shay first learned about Anytime Fitness—as a member—several years ago, and had his sights set on one day owning a franchise. We’re happy we could play a small role in turning that dream into a reality.

And it’s worth noting this dedication to service runs deep in the Thorn family. Shay and Julie’s son also is enlisted, and they were at his Award of Valor ceremony the day we phoned them to tell them they were awarded a franchise.

2017: This year we recognized Liz Hunt, who also has a family history of military service. Her father was an aircraft maintenance officer in the Air Force and Liz served 14 years with the USAF Security Forces. Meanwhile, Liz’s husband Corey currently serves as a helicopter instructor for the Air Force.

In 2014, after Liz completed her military service, she and Corey, who was stationed in Minot, ND, joined a local Anytime Fitness, where Liz accepted a job as the gym’s personal training director. Now, just three years later, Liz is on the path to running her own gym.

To Hannah and Tristan, Shay and Julie, and Liz and Corey: Thank you again for your incredible sacrifice and service. We’re honored and humbled to call you a part of our family. And to all of our veterans and active duty service personnel: Thank you.

I hope our story to infuse some extra purpose into Self Esteem Brands helps encourage others to do the same. Your company doesn’t have to have innate purpose—you can create it.

If you want to learn more about how you can support the Heartfirst program, visit https://www.anytimefitness.com/heart-first/.

Chuck Runyon is the co-founder and CEO of Anytime Fitness, and the author of the recently released Love Work: Inspiring a High-Performing Work Culture at the Center of People, Purpose, Profits and Play.