Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. It is featured guest time and our on the road corespondent , Laura Panino, managed to capture an interview in Orlando Florida last week with the co-founder and CEO of the very happening Zumba® movement Mr. Alberto Perlman, check this out.

Laura: What is this whole thing called Zumba®?

Alberto: Well, Zumba® is a dance fitness program that has created a revolution in the fitness industry, broke all the rules of the fitness industry and ultimately came out with the largest fitness program in the world now. And it’s really about having fun, it’s really about letting go, and there is 7.5 million people that are taking Zumba® classes around the world now.

Laura: How many countries are you in right now?

Alberto: We’re in 105 countries.

Laura: How did this whole thing get started? Take us back to the beginning.

Alberto: I graduated in ’98, and I was working at a consulting firm in 1999 and learned a little bit about infomercials because we were doing some research. And in 2000 and 2001 I was working in the dot com world helping Latin-American Internet entrepreneurs build their businesses. And in 2001 when there was a tech meltdown and the dot com bubble bursted, I was looking for something new.

I was having dinner at my mom’s house, and she kept talking about an aerobics class, which she called Rumba, and it was called Rumba at the time, and her instructor’s name was Beto, and he was a single instructor with a name of a class called Rumba, but she kept saying that it was different, that it was magical, that it was amazing, and that she had been taking the class for like ten years.

And I had never listened to her, but at this point, I was looking for something new. And I said, mom, maybe I should meet this guy because maybe he could be the next Taibo. And so she set up a meeting, and the first thing he asked me when we met was do you have money? And I said, no, do you [Laughter]? And he said, no.

Laura: We all need that [Laughter].

Alberto: Yeah [Laughter]. And then he said, okay. Let’s do this. I think we both felt like this was more about sweating and working hard than about investing money into this business. And we had $4,000.00. And I called up one of my best friends who’s a great operations guy, his name is Alberto Aghion, another Alberto. And Beto is short for Alberto, so three Columbian Albertos, we’re all Columbian [Laughter].

Laura: That’s wild.

Alberto: Three Columbian Albertos walk into the fitness industry in Miami, not knowing anything about it, just knowing that we had a really, really good class. And that’s how we essentially got started. And then one thing led to another, and we produced our first infomercial in 2002. We licensed our idea to an infomercial company out of Ohio who created it and they sold maybe $20,000,000.00 in the first six months, which is good, but it wasn’t like the biggest home run, but that gave us the momentum that we needed to start building this brand.

And people started calling us saying, I want to become an instructor. I want to teach Zumba®. Right? I’m an aerobics instructor or I’m a dancer, and I bought these DVDs, and do you guys offer any sort of certification? And so I was on the phone like answering this call, and I said, well, yeah. We do [Laughter].

And turned around and called Beto and the other Alberto and said, let’s come up with a certification. And that’s how one thing led to the other. And it’s been every year after year. And like we’ve been very lucky to be able to spot what our customers need and been able to build a business around it.

So now we have what we call an instructor training business. We have a multimedia business. We have a booming clothing business. And every -

Laura: That’s the ZumbaWear®, correct?

Alberto: Yeah, the ZumbaWear®. So it’s been great.

Laura: What’s interesting is to also see that you basically are helping people start businesses. Can you explain this whole entrepreneurial program that you’ve created for lots of people, not just for yourself, but for lots of people?

Alberto: Yeah. And that’s been actually kind of like my business model my whole life. Well, the couple years that I was working in the dot come world before it was about helping entrepreneurs. And I came into this business with a mindset of if I can help other people be successful, and our business model depends on other people being successful, then it can grow much faster in its symbiotic relationship between us and the people who we are trying to make successful.

So the training of the instructors not only is about training them to be great Zumba® teachers, but it’s also training them to be entrepreneurs, training them to make a living, and we offer world-class marketing materials to them, we offer world-class business training to them. So it gives them a toolkit that they can use to go out and build their own dance studios.

And we have a lot of people who are very successful doing something that they love. Everybody who’s part of our network loves dancing. That’s what – they grew up dancing, and they wanted to be some sort of – either a dancer on tour or a fitness instructor or a dance instructor, but they never had any business training, and I think that’s one thing that we provide.

Russ: Alright we will be back with more of Laura Panino’s interview with Alberto Perlman after this. You’re listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com.

[Commercial]

Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. And we now rejoin Laura Panino’s interview with Alberto Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Zumba®.

Laura: Alberto, talk about how you would advise some young people who are looking not only at the possibility of Zumba® as a business, but just starting a business. What are some of the things they have to consider?

Alberto: Well, I think that the most important thing is – for business is a reason to exist. And our reason to exist is because we want to make our instructors successful, and we have a vision of bringing the Zumba® party or the Zumba® philosophy, the Zumba® way of life to tens of millions of people and -

Laura: Explain that philosophy, if you would. What is the Zumba® philosophy?

Alberto: Well, the only way to explain it is really with a metaphor, with yoga, for example. Yoga is not only a fitness program or a fitness activity. Yoga’s a lifestyle. And people who take yoga classes and who are very much into yoga they would maybe drive an eco-friendly car and they might eat lots of vegetables and wear [laughter] organic clothing and always walk around really relaxed, you know. And someone who’s in the Zumba® way of life is on the same spectrum, but on the total opposite side [Laughter].

Laura: Right [Laughter]. Passion. Right?

Alberto: So passionate, wild, and maybe they’ll drive a Jeep Wrangler and they’ll -

Laura: Or an Alpha Romeo Spider [Laughter].

Alberto: Maybe. But they just live for the moment and in a healthy way, but it’s about letting go, it’s about not worrying about what other people think. It’s about being musical, it’s about – so we actually have a magazine called Z Life Magazine, and Z Life Magazine is not about just Zumba® classes, but it’s about all that. It’s about how to live our life in a way where you’re taking advantage of every single minute. And that’s the Zumba® philosophy.

Laura: One thing that is also extremely impressive is to see how you have created this amazing Zumba® brand. Could you explain your vision for the Zumba® brand, how you promote, protect that brand? Because obviously, that’s important.

Alberto: First, on the protection side of a brand, it’s very expensive and difficulty activity, and we actually are trademarked in over 100 countries. And we make sure that we police our trademark and we make sure that people are not using it in the wrong way, that people who are not licensed to use it, ’cause we license all our instructors to use our brand. But there are some people who are not licensed who try to teach a Zumba® class.

And we have a whistle-blower system, and we immediately get a notification at the Zumba® office, and then we have to hire local counsel in Denmark or in Sweden to go after this infringing pirate instructor, I guess. And so from the protection side, there is – it’s a huge undertaking, and we actually have four full-time people in our legal department, and we work with external law firms all over the world. It’s one of our biggest expenses.

But from the branding side, which is more fun [laughter], I think the one thing that is important when you are trying to brand something is your message has to be clear. Our message is ditch the workout, join the party. This doesn’t feel like a workout. A workout is the result of what we’re doing, but the objective is to have fun.

Laura: And for those who have not been a Zumba® class, I can actually attest to the fact that it is fun. You have Salsa, Meringue, Cumbia, a lot of very basic Latin styles that are compliment, correct, with other beats of around the world, African and Indian and -

Alberto: Hip-hop.

Laura: All sorts of things.

Alberto: A Zumba® class is a journey through all the rhythms of the world, but in a very easy way. It’s not complicated choreography. It’s very simple. Anyone can follow it. It’s like being at a night club, and at this night club [laughter] they play world music.

Laura: And it does appeal – going back to sort of the branding, I mean, your message is that of inclusion. Is that correct?

Alberto: Yes.

Laura: You want to include all populations, children, older people. What is your goal for all of this in the future?

Alberto: Yes. Well, we – when we started, we only had the regular Zumba® class. And we started seeing that there was demand – in 2005/2006 that there was demand for a seniors class. Some people maybe over 70 and over 65 and some people over 60 who were deconditioned, they couldn’t take the full hour of a Zumba® class, and they wanted the music to be a little different.

So they weren’t into the hip-hop and the Raggitone so much, but they were more into the Tango and the Cha, cha, cha, and the -

Laura: Classic. Right. Classic.

Alberto: They wanted the nostalgic rhythms. They wanted to be reminded of the party. And another thing that basically motivated us to actually build that class was that insurance companies were trying to get seniors to go to attend gyms. As you know, the boomers, they like to have fun [Laughter]. They’re not into weights or standing there and doing bicep curls. And with this, it feels like a party, but it’s like a party that they used to love, you know. So it has all this nostalgic music and all this.

So that was the creation of Zumba® Gold. And Zumba® Gold has skyrocketed. And now we have it in senior centers, in retirement homes. We have it in regular gyms. We have it everywhere. So the kids started saying well, we want something for us too ’cause my grandma has Zumba® Gold and my mom has regular Zumba®, and now I – what about me? I can go to my mom’s Zumba® class, but sometimes they don’t even let me in because I can’t – I’m six, seven years old, and I can’t go into a gym.

Laura: Right [Laughter].

Alberto: So we created Zumbatomic®. And Zumbatomic® is like an explosion of fun and energy. And we – our analogy for Zumbatomic® is we hide the medicine inside the candy [Laughter].

Laura: That’s a great analogy.

Alberto: So they’re just having fun. They’re just dancing around, jumping around. And so it’s a blast, but they’re actually burning calories.

Laura: And what’s wonderful about that, having also attended that workshop, you’re focused on helping with childhood obesity problem, which is growing -

Alberto: Yes

Laura: – not just in the United States, but around the world.

Alberto: Yes.

Laura: So you have two different groups of kids that you appeal to, correct, in those programs?

Alberto: Yes. Yeah, we have the little stars and the big stars. And the little stars are the four to seven and the big stars are the eight to twelve.

Russ: Alright we will be back with more of Laura Panino’s interview with Alberto Perlman after this. You’re listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com.

[Commercial]

Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. And we now rejoin Laura Panino’s interview with Alberto Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Zumba®.

Laura: Okay. Great. One of the other things, if you could just talk about how you see Zumba® as compared with, you know, some other things that have maybe kind of ebbed and flowed like funk fitness or, you know, hip-hop. Can you explain -

Alberto: Yeah.

Laura: – your vision and the difference?

Alberto: I think that one of the things that makes us different is innovation is a big deal. We evolve with the time. Zumba®’s not about Latin music. So if in seven years the hot music is Greek music [laughter], then you will be applying the Zumba® formula to Greek music or you will be applying the Zumba® formula to Indian music. So it is global in that nature, and it evolves in that nature.

And there is also the lifestyle aspect to it, which most of the other fitness classes there’s no lifestyle associated with step, there’s no lifestyle associated with – and even some of the cycling classes. I mean, yeah, I mean, you could be a cycling junkie [laughter], but it’s not like you’re gonna walk around with cycling gear all day.

However, you see people walking around with ZumbaWear® all day. So the lifestyle associated with Zumba® is another factor that has increased our, I guess, longevity. And that’s why every year we keep growing. And we’ve had classes that – Beto’s been teaching the same class for twenty years. And in Miami he’s been teaching the same students for nine years.

Laura: That’s amazing [Laughter].

Alberto: And they’re still going to the class, and it keeps on growing, so, you know, that’s a big factor. Another huge element is that Zumba® transcends the gym. It doesn’t live only at fitness facilities. It lives -

Laura: I’ve seen some examples of people doing it at weddings, right?

Alberto: Weddings [laughter] because it’s fun. They don’t think it’s exercise. Weddings. We have an instructor that teaches at a women’s prison.

Laura: Oh, amazing.

Alberto: They use it for therapy, and it calms the prisoners down. And it helps a lot. There’s at rehab centers, there’s corporate gyms, there’s – Zumba® lives everywhere.

Laura: One thing that was also very impressive to me is the fact that you care about other people. The Zumba® founders have that embedded, it seems. So you’re raising money for various charities.

Alberto: Every couple of months or every few months we have an initiative to raise money for a particular charity. Currently, we’re doing – we call it Party in Pink, and it’s to raise money for the Susan G. Common Foundation. And in the first two weeks of this initiative, we raised over $100,000.00. This initiative ends in October and we -

Laura: Wow!

Alberto: – a couple week ago.

Laura: And October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Alberto: So we’re also partnered up with the American Heart Association, raising -

Laura: Go Red for Women.

Alberto: Go Red for Women.

Laura: Is that one of the -

Alberto: Yes.

Laura: – programs. Right. Okay.

Alberto: Go Red for Women. We’ve also raised money for a charity called Auge’s Quest, which is a very important charity, and they are the official charity of the fitness industry.

Laura: And what is that one?

Alberto: Auge’s Quest. Auge Nietto used to own a big chain of gyms, and he got Lou Gehrig’s Disease. And he’s been doing research, and he’s been trying to find a cure, and he’s been making major strides. Collectively, the fitness industry has raised about $18,000,000.00.

Laura: That’s amazing.

Alberto: For research. And we support it all the way.

Laura: Tell us a little bit about the relationships and partnerships. You have some amazing partnerships with 24-Hour Fitness and Curves. And explain how that came about, if you would.

Alberto: We started training instructors in 2003. In 2005 none of the big chains had Zumba®, and we’re calling them, and they said, well, we’re not interested in this. We have our own Latin program format, but they didn’t know how deep and magical this class was.

Laura: Right [Laughter].

Alberto: And it was difficult to show them. In 2006 and 2007, all the independent fitness facilities were bringing in Zumba®, and they were taking members away from the large chains.

Laura: Wow!

Alberto: And so the large chains said, we have to do something [Laughter]. This Zumba® thing is like taking all our members. We have to bring it in. Let’s call ‘em up. So they called us up, and they’re like well, how much to bring in Zumba®? We said, it’s free. You guys don’t have to pay anything. Just hire instructors.

Laura: That’s amazing.

Alberto: And hire instructors. The instructor’s licensed. If an instructor is licensed, you will be able to use the brand ’cause the license will carry over to the employer for the instructor. So 24-Hour Fitness was the first one to come on board. They’re the largest ____ chain in the US. We also work with Lifetime. We also work with _____ Active, which is Richard Branson’s gym chain in the UK and South Africa and in other markets. We work with Fitness First, which is the largest chain of gyms outside of America. And we’re – right now we’re launching a program with Curves. Curves has never brought in an external program.

Laura: That’s amazing.

Alberto: They always had their typical circuit, and they’ve never changed. But they felt that they needed a little Zumba® in their program and they -

Laura: Liven it up a bit.

Alberto: Liven. Yeah. Exactly. And we created Zumba® routines in between the stations, and we’ve been testing it in Waco, Texas, and we are testing it here at convention, and people are loving it.

Laura: That’s amazing. And just a couple more things. I heard that you are involved with a game component, right?

Alberto: Yeah, an Xbox game and a PlayStation game and a Wii game. Zumba® Fitness game is being released in November. Everybody’s playing nit here at convention. We already have demos.

Laura: And what kind of feedback are you getting?

Alberto: Everybody’s loving it.

Laura: That’s amazing.

Alberto: I think it’s gonna be our next big hit.

Laura: And you were saying something about there is a club locator embedded in the game, correct?

Alberto: Yes. Well, everything we do, every single business deal or decision we make has to be benchmarked against does it make our instructor successful or not? So for the game, we made the game sort of like an entry level into Zumba®. It’s like an on-ramping into Zumba®, especially for people who’ve never tried it, but they’re big gamers. So they buy the game, they try it at home, they’re dancing in their living room. And at the end of the game it says – or during the game it says are you ready to take a live class? Press this button, and you’ll be taken to Zumba®.com’s class locator. And Xbox actually integrates with the Internet and has Xbox Live. Through the Xbox Live platform, we can actually have people look for classes nearest to them.

Laura: And they just plug in a zip code?

Alberto: Plug in their zip code, and they can find a class. And it helps the instructors, it helps us, it helps the video game publisher. It’s a win-win-win. Everything we do, we try to make it a win-win-win for everybody, including the gyms, including the instructors, including our competitors because we are bringing in new people into the group exercise room, and it’s benefiting our competitors because they take a Zumba® class, and then they stay for another type of class [Laughter]. So we’re just -

Laura: That’s great.

Alberto: – here to grow the fitness industry and make people aware that fitness doesn’t have to be boring, and it doesn’t have to be torture.

Laura: And how many people are here for this convention this year?

Alberto: About 3,500 instructors.

Laura: So you’ve got a lot of numbers, and that grew from what point?

Alberto: Our first convention was 1,000 people.

Laura: All right. And how do you find out more about Zumba®?

Alberto: Zumba®.com.

Laura: Okay. Anything else you’d like to add?

Alberto: Try a class.

Laura: Excellent.

Alberto: That’s the only way to see what Zumba®’s all about. There’s no way to explain what we do until you try a class.

Laura: Okay. Thank you so much. And we’re out with Alberto Perlman. Thank you so much.

Alberto: Thank you Laura. It’s great to be here.

Russ: And that wraps up Laura Panino’s interview with Alberto Perlman, co-founder and CEO of Zumba®. You’ve been listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at the BusinessMakers.com.