Motivational coach and wellness guru Holly Rilinger is known for inspiring others to dig deep to make positive lifestyle changes. Nike Master Trainer, Red Bull athlete, former professional basketball player, author, founding Flywheel Instructor, star of Bravo’s Workout New York and Creator of LIFTED. Holly’s Signature LIFTED Method combines the power of movement with the peace of meditation to create a complete wellness experience. Holly is a leader and innovator in the wellness industry with over 20 years of experience. Holly uses her life experiences both as an elite athlete and coach coupled with her degree to help motivated individuals find balance and success in their lives. Her programs start with the body and mind but have a way of shaping your entire life.
Drop-in on a LIFTED class with Holly for 50% off using the Promo Code: "UNMETNEED"
Redeem your class here: https://www.holly.life/virtual-studio-single-classes
Check out Holly's book, LIFTED on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lifted-Focus-Strengthen-Elevate-Spirit/dp/0738219940
Motivational coach and wellness guru Holly Rilinger is known for inspiring others to dig deep to make positive lifestyle changes. Nike Master Trainer, Red Bull athlete, former professional basketball player, author, founding Flywheel Instructor, star of Bravo’s Workout New York and Creator of LIFTED. Holly’s Signature LIFTED Method combines the power of movement with the peace of meditation to create a complete wellness experience. Holly is a leader and innovator in the wellness industry with over 20 years of experience. Holly uses her life experiences both as an elite athlete and coach coupled with her degree to help motivated individuals find balance and success in their lives. Her programs start with the body and mind but have a way of shaping your entire life.
Drop-in on a LIFTED class with Holly for 50% off using the Promo Code: "UNMETNEED"
Redeem your class here: https://www.holly.life/virtual-studio-single-classes
Check out Holly's book, LIFTED on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lifted-Focus-Strengthen-Elevate-Spirit/dp/0738219940
On episode nine of Unmet Need, I interview Holly Rilinger. Holly is the founder of the lifted health and wellness program how his career started as a professional basketball player. She went on to become a Nike Master Trainer published a best selling book and is a national speaker sharing her True Underdog stories helping companies build better leadership, overcome adversity and deliver results. Hope you enjoy the episode. Holly, I'm so glad you could be on. It's great to talk to you.
Holly Rilinger :Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Thanks.
Jeff Smith :Alright, quick background. Holly is my coach. I was introduced to the lifted program and really inspired because what Holly is doing is incorporating meditation, strength, nutrition, wellness and yoga and it's all delivered through video conference. So my wife Robbie was introduced to Holly first through an old friend then as I watched my wife Not only her fitness get so much better, but also her overall state of mind. Anyway, that's the quick background. But why don't we just to start off, Holly, let's learn about you and put it on timeline. Where'd you grow up and tell us about your background?
Holly Rilinger :Yeah, great. Oh, it sounds great to hear you say I'm your coach too. Thanks for that. Thanks for that shout out. That's awesome. I'm a Midwestern girl. My parents grew up on farms in Kansas. I was born in a suburb of Kansas City, and I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. And then when I was 13, my parents moved us to Virginia. So very happy to have these Midwestern roots but also very happy to have had made it to a coast so I get a little bit of the best of both worlds there
Unknown Speaker :were your parents in the agriculture business or in farming.
Unknown Speaker :My grandparents were my parents weren't, we would still visit my grandparents farm. Now. My grandparents had dairy farm, they grew corn and wheat. So my earliest childhood memories were riding around on tractors with my grandfather feeding the cows, milking the cows myself. didn't end up staying on the farm they got out and my dad got into a telephone company called sentell that later merged with sprint. So that brought us to the big city of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Unknown Speaker :And so when you move to Virginia 13 had you already started eighth grade,
Unknown Speaker :seventh grade, you have kids. So you know, seventh grade is a terrible year in general, or at least a year of a lot of transition. So I was in three different schools in the seventh grade that year is ultimately what drove me to basketball. You know, I really had a hard time and basketball was something that I started to become pretty good at. And I for lack of a better word hid there because it was the one place that I felt safe and out of a lot of tragedy comes trial. I'm really now grateful for that seventh grade year because it really pushed me to become good at something and excel at something and be something amongst a year of really a lot of trauma and just really mean seventh graders
Jeff Smith :what was so difficult about it for you.
Unknown Speaker :So we we grew up in Nebraska I went to Catholic school, we had uniforms, there were four kids, we didn't have a lot of money, moved to a public school, straight out of the gates didn't have the same clothes that everyone else had. I remember people checking my labels to see if I was wearing Outback red or forenza, which were like the labels back then. And there's just no way I could catch up. There's no way I could keep up. My parents didn't have that kind of money. So socially, I just had a really hard time. I think just in general, too. I was more of a shy kid. So put those two things together. And it was just a really tough year for me.
Unknown Speaker :And had you played basketball or did you discover the sport when you move to Virginia?
Holly Rilinger :So I had started in Nebraska, and I was pretty good at it. Basketball was one of the only things I could do alone. And I was good at soccer. I was good at baseball. I was good at tennis golf. I really did it all but my neighbor had a basketball hoop and it was the one thing I can go and practice on by myself. Do you need anybody else and I really excelled at it for that reason. didn't have to have anybody else around
Unknown Speaker :a birth order wise with three siblings. Where do you stand on the oldest, the oldest, then your brothers or sisters like basketball,
Unknown Speaker :ask them that. They'll say I ruined basketball for the family because I was. I remember people comparing my sister to me, and it was very traumatic for her. So then she owned soccer. And she I remember her saying, You can't play soccer. That's my sport. This is what I'm going to be good at. And my brothers too. They all got into soccer. I also think soccer wasn't as big of a deal when I was growing up like basketball and baseball were pretty big deals. But my younger siblings soccer started to gain a little bit in their age group. No other basketball players in the family.
Unknown Speaker :When you started playing basketball, Virginia, at what age did coaches and team see your potential and so you know, we got to get Holly into the most competitive arenas.
Unknown Speaker :Eighth grade was a turning point for me. I had changed schools again. So I was in my third school. In seventh grade and the coach at that school asked me if I want to do a basketball camp and I went to MVP basketball camp in Pennsylvania. It was my first camp I went to I still remember the T shirt, and there was a point guard there, but she was five foot two and she played in the Olympics. And I remember listening to her, and I remember a story. And I remember just connecting to the belief that anything is possible. If this short little girl can play basketball and it was me and some twins and we were the prominent eighth graders on that team and we're all about five three, and I went head to head directly with these twins again talk about sometimes the thing that is feels the worst is the best thing for you. I was always challenged to be as good as they work. They were dynamic. They were a dynamic duo. Plus you were twins, which you know, everybody wants a good story. They were twins so I had to outshine them year in and year out and ninth grade we all made varsity 10th grade we were all starting 10th grade we won the state championship 11th grade we won that we are two runners up and twice grade we won the state championship. So in about a 10th grade, I started getting letters from colleges, and I feel bad for kids now that might get just emails because it was so exciting to go to the mailbox every day and see what colleges had written me and open the letters. And you know, by my senior year, I had boxes of letters. I think it was recruited by maybe 150 different schools around the country. And, man, it was just like a dream. It was a fairy tale high school for years because I really set my goals on becoming something I was an underdog. I had a terrible entry into seventh and eighth grade. I listen to this underdog talk at a camp and I went on to become the state Player of the Year, feeding off the twins my senior year, and going on to play on a college scholarship.
Unknown Speaker :That's an amazing story. Now with these twins, it's always difficult to compete with your teammates and when you're competing with your friends to start or to get accolades like you know Player of the Year. Player of the Year did you become friends with him? And did you find your tribe on that team?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, we were. You know, it was a really interesting friendship because we knew we were vying for everything. We were vying for the picture in the paper. Next day, we were vying to be this top scorer, the top in assists, were vying for everything. Somehow, we managed to work as a team and really put the goals of the team above everything else. And that is something to be proud of. Because we could have, it could always work in the opposite direction when everybody gets a little bit too selfish and doesn't have the ability to work as a team. I'm not friends with them anymore, but only because we've moved on. But I'm sure if you saw each other it would be all good vibes. Of course. Now when you started getting these boxes of letters, being the oldest, what did your parents think? Were they recruited athletes as well? No, I mean, my mom didn't go to college. My dad went to a community college. My dad was an athlete in high school. He was the quarterback on the football team and the captain of the basketball team. But in a small town in Kansas farming community in Kansas, I mean it was outrageously exciting to have Gino REM Come and sit in your house in your living room and the year after they lost in the Final Four in to be crying almost as he's recruiting you and to have the UVA coach calm and sitting in your living room. It was it was hard to express how exciting it was. It was next level
Unknown Speaker :can imagine. Have you seen the Michael Jordan documentary?
Unknown Speaker :The third person that asked you that just today? Yes, I haven't finished. I haven't finished it yet. I'm hoping to finish it tonight actually. But man, that was my era. You know, I I didn't have any female role models to look up to they weren't visible. Like we didn't know who they were really so much. So Michael Jordan, Isaiah Thomas, Dominic, welcome spud Webb, like that was my genre, like sort of watched us to watch that documentary and see all that I remember those games.
Unknown Speaker :It was a amazing time in basketball and I bring it up and I don't mean to be the third person to talk about this, but I really was moved by the Drive, you know, something that I've been exploring recently is driven behavior. And it's just when you you do something almost unconsciously and the way Michael Jordan's motivation to always win at all cost at any cost. And you know, the documentary, it's, you know, it's just somebody we grew up with was larger than life figure, but understanding the amount of energy and competitive spirit that he had to put into that, in some ways, it was almost pathologic and it hurt him. And anytime I talk to somebody as successful as you, I'm always interested in where your drive comes from, and what do you think of the idea of a driven behavior?
Unknown Speaker :It's so interesting that this is coming out now because I've had this conversation with with Jan, my fiance, and sometimes I've had this feeling over the years where people look up to me because I'm so driven and sometimes I've had this urge to say, you should look up to people who live a balanced life. Like I we put on people like myself are pro athletes on a pedestal. But in all honesty, there's so much of life I missed out on. I missed out on pop culture I missed out on dating, I missed out on all these things that make somebody a truly developed person. Without a doubt I had arrested development. It wasn't probably until I was 29 or 30 that I paid my own rent or add my own credit card, or I didn't know how to put a resume together. But I'd live i'd reached the top of my field and I knew everything about being dedicated, disciplined, coachable. I knew about leadership, I knew about failure. I was fully equipped, but to use the word pathological is on like, it's, it's overboard. It's so overboard. And I'm not saying that's bad, and it's definitely what it takes to be the top of anything. It takes countless hours it takes not missing a day. It takes grinding and grinding and grinding to where nothing else existed. It takes Your parents almost not having a life because they're driving you and buying for you and taking and doing and your siblings hating you to some degree because it's the Olly show. So it's a really interesting balance to look at. It's not until now in my 40s, that I've actually started to live a balanced life because that doesn't just fade away. You know, it doesn't just one day on balance. Now, I'm not playing basketball anymore. it trickles into every part of your life. And it can also be about being extremely critical of yourself for your physical body. You're not ever being able to rest or take a break. So being a workaholic was something I dealt with, you know, when the boutique fitness scene exploded in New York City, you know, doing 234 classes a day is not unusual, you know, not like feeling guilty by taking a day off. I'm really proud of the coach that I have now because I can look back and I can I can say I've seen this path I can see what that path did to my body for better for worse, a lot of times for worse, I can see what it did for any kind of relationships I had in my life. And I'm so grateful that I have a partner now that opened up my eyes to putting it down, taking a day off, taking two days off, in fact, not worrying about it so much, you know, eating a doughnut for breakfast, you know. So it's a really interesting paradigm, you know, being so driven and not and where it gets you versus what might take away from you as well.
Unknown Speaker :You mentioned that it's something to do with maybe your age and getting some experience. But was there any specific catalysts where you said this achievement driven behavior, I need to look at this differently?
Unknown Speaker :I mean, I think that it took me putting the ball down to really look at it. When I was in it. I saw nothing but the top and I made it to the WPA, but I made it as a free agent. I didn't get drafted and I made it in preseason and for just a couple games, and then I got cut. And for me, that was such a massive failure of my life. You know, my 20 years of absolute dedication and, and a lot of ways I dismissed that I made it to France in two years in Germany and I led the country in scoring in New Zealand and took them to the championship and all of that I dismissed and would could only look at my career as a failure. And, you know, what, what a travesty to, to really measure it on one thing, and to discount all the years of drive and dedication and relentless pursuit and passion and everything that comes from being that way, you know, the upsides of, you know, learning how to operate at a different standard in life. So when I stopped and I realized that I could look back on that, I didn't realize all the tools i'd gained to make myself employable. make myself an interesting person, you know, the struggles to find you, as a, as a human being. And so looking back, it took me putting the ball down to really understand why That was super unhealthy press two that was super unhealthy.
Unknown Speaker :Now what I think's amazing about professional athletes if they can make it to the collegiate level, and then even consider being a professional, what is the average age that people put the ball down?
Holly Rilinger :Yeah.
Unknown Speaker :30s 30s I mean, if you're a biochemist or you're an astrophysicist or you're an investor, that's the point where your career is actually just starting to blossom. And I can't imagine what it's like to put all that time and energy and achieve and have all these milestones. And then at such a young age, really reinvent yourself. How did you approach that transition?
Unknown Speaker :Oh, man, it's it's something that I don't think is talked about enough. It's a morning it's a death of a part of you. I was really depressed. I didn't have an identity. I'd wrapped my entire identity up into Holly being a basketball player. I remember for probably a good two years after my career ended, and people would ask, what do you do? My first thing would be I used to be a former I'm a former professional basketball player. Like that was the only way I could feel valued. In what I was offering as a person, and it took a really long time, and I wasn't one of the people that wanted to continue in the field, like, I didn't want to coach for me, I was a player. And that's all I wanted to do if I couldn't lace up my shoes beyond the court, I just didn't want to do it. So, I think that if you ask most athletes how they feel, it's a death. It's a death of something. It's a mourning period of Who am I now? Take some time to figure out how you're going to transition all this stuff that you learned and that's the key. How can you take that and find something to apply it to that you're so passionate about? And you may here's the other thing, you may never be that passionate about something again, I was fully ready to live the rest of my life without that much passion anymore because how could I expect to wake up every day with that much passion again, if it wasn't Basketball, I just didn't understand how it could happen. And it took a while. And I'm so thankful to say now that I am I wake up every day excited about growing this business excited about helping people. And one of my mentors was my strength and conditioning coach in college. His name's Greg Warner. He said to me, when everything comes full circle, is when you take everything that you've done, and then you give it back. You take everything you've learned, and you find a way to then share it. And I've found out how to do that. And I would almost say it's more rewarding. I would almost say those days where it feels better than winning a big game, it feels better than being the top score, because I get to see somebody's life change because of what I'm helping them do.
Unknown Speaker :Absolutely. And doing it at scale as well. I mean, that's what I think so amazing about the lifted program. Being a coach of college basketball team. That's amazing. And sounds like you've had coaches that have had a huge impact, but sometimes 5075 people and they're starting their day, having an hour that is going to include two meditations like I see what you did, by the way, it's 10 minutes in combination. Yeah. But then also making the connection that after your heart rates at 160 beats per minute, being able to your turn and go from chaos to calm, and for me, that's how I can apply meditation and being present to being nervous for a big presentation or upset about something that my kids are going through. And it all kind of happens while you're sweating and not even really thinking about it, which is amazing, was the first fitness project that you thought you could really throw yourself into.
Unknown Speaker :I got my personal training certification, and I started working at a gym just as a personal trainer and I couldn't connect with people that couldn't operate on my level. Like, I distinctly remember this guy, I was training He couldn't benchpress this amount of weight and just said I can't and put the weight down. And I was like, What? I just couldn't make the connection. I just I couldn't connect to anybody that just wasn't all in and just like raring to go. And I think what that told me was I was good at being a player, I wasn't good at being a coach, I needed to find, I needed to find a way to meet him where he was, and inspire him, motivate him in ways that connected to him, not me. So it was a short lived, personal training career. My partner at the time was selling real estate and she had convinced me that this was a great way to make money. And so I started selling real estate. And I always say the greatest part about that was that I got to learn what it's like to do something that I have no interest or passion and doing. And I can say 100% for certain I don't want to do that. I'd rather not make less money doing something that I'm super passionate about not to say that I'm making less money. But if I had to choose after living such a life filled with passion, showing up doing an open house about something he just couldn't care less about, like, wasn't for me. So I had to go through that. I moved to New York. And that's where I really found exactly what I wanted to be doing within the fitness space. And I think enough time had passed that I was ready to be a coach.
Jeff Smith :And so how does one become a Nike Master Trainer?
Unknown Speaker :Um, so this is maybe my fifth year into being in the fitness world in New York City. I was teaching spin for a company called flywheel. I was one of their founding instructors. And the reason I chose that is I got to feel like a point guard again. I was in front of a room of 50 people, leading them through an hour of our game. Our championship just felt right I was in my zone. And ironically, at the time, I was dating this Beautiful model. Her name was Pamela. And we were sitting having lunch and she was like, Oh, she's like, I'm just so tired of my agent asking me to go to these castings for things that I'm that have no relevance to me. And I was like, What is it? She goes, You should go to this. It's for Nike to be to be a Nike Master Trainer, and she's like, he wants me to go and pretend like I'm a trainer. I was like, give me that. And I looked to see where I was. And I got my stuff together. And I basically like, crashed the, the casting call, I got super prepared. I took all these pictures. I walked in there and I said, I was born for this position. Let me tell you why. And Lexi Shoemaker at the time was leading that and she said, she'll never forget the moment I walked in, I just owned the room. I owned it because I was sure. I was like, This is what I've been waiting for. Are you kidding me? Let's do this. And they were just starting the program. They really had no idea what it was either. And there was a two of us in New York. We were springing Around the US, there are a couple of different countries. And they brought basically the trainers in the world together to headquarters in Portland and I felt like I was representing the fitness community in the Olympics. Like when they sat us down, they're like, Congratulations, you've been chosen to represent your country as a Nike Master Trainer. I was just like every failure I thought I had had in basketball, it was just redeemed. I was recognized by Nike. Michael Jordan was my idol. Like I was going to wear the swoosh, like it really was a very redemptive moment for me on so many levels. And went on to do all these exciting projects. I went to Moscow and letto a workout in Gorky Park in front of 1500 women and traveled to Sweden just doing all these different installations promoting new shoes or gear or women and training. It was like being a Nike Charlie's Angel. They just would call you up and be like, Can you go to Moscow tomorrow for a week? And I'd be like, yes.
Jeff Smith :Oh, fire up the jet on there.
Holly Rilinger :It's an awesome run.
Unknown Speaker :So in many ways they recruit these premier athletes, we're going to represent the brand and it sounds like being an ambassador of the Nike brand. I say, awesome job. Yeah. And so how did you get the idea? I mean, there's so many questions I want to ask you, Holly, but I also want to be respectful of your time. I know you've got a million things to do. At what stage in the in your fitness career and I know you wrote your book, which is titled lifted, which is also the title of this is the program that you've created, that I'm a proud member of. So when did you start putting the pieces together to create lifted
Unknown Speaker :so the boutique fitness industry started booming in New York about 2011 and all these little boutique companies are popping up various boot camp flywheels soulcycle Goal fitting room all these places. And what was great about it is people were very committed to their brand. They were the sweatshirts. They were part of it. I started doing my own camp at the time, I called it training camp. And I was starting to bring back everything I learned as an athlete and bring that whole team mentality working as a team leaning on your team, thinking like an athlete mentally. And the more I was in the community, the more I was in the industry. People will say, Well, what do I do about nutrition? And you know, there wouldn't be enough time afterwards. I'd be like, Oh, well, you know, you should have more protein and this what do you just call me? And then they'd be like, Oh, I'm hurt. What should I do like and I was like, Oh, you probably could have prevented that. You'd probably should have foam roll but I don't have enough time. Maybe we should do a one on one. It was always trying to give somebody a little bit more here here and still have this group atmosphere like I could do it with my one on one clients, which I wasn't as passionate about. I love working with a couple people want to Because I can really give them my attention. But I love the group. I love the dynamic love working in a team. So what I saw the unmet need was, people are going to a nutritionist over here. And they have that and they're thinking of that in a whole separate category. And then they have their crew that they're working out. And that's totally separate. And then they're asking their peers, oh, should I get a massage? What should I do? And then how do I set goals? And I was just like, somebody needs to put all this together. Like, why are we separating all of this? You know, our wellness should be about our wellness, and we shouldn't think about it independently. In fact, we should think about it almost being like, the tires of a car or the wheels on a on a centipede like they're all holding us up. And we're all we should focus on them all equally. I got to get people to understand that meditating is as important as going for your 45 minute runner, lifting your weights and what you're eating is just as important as taking a day off or getting a massage. So why don't I do this? Why don't I try this? Why didn't I try doing an online program and Before I created, lifted the one that you're in now I just did a different sort of program where we met once a week and we talked about stuff. And then I had my live program in New York City, which was about 15 to 20 women who became diehards. And they were totally into it. And we would spend 15 to 20 minutes on Tuesdays, about nutrition about recovery. And then I went for a little vacation in march down to the Dominican Republic, thinking I was going to take a couple days off. And the pandemic hit, everybody's like, what are we going to do now? What are we going to do without you and I created lifted as you know it now, with your live workouts we work out together. We have a hub where we keep all of our information. We have recovery videos there. I have suggested equipment there. They get the links to all their workouts there. They can communicate as a community together there. And then on Monday nights, we have our huddles, which is always a topic An education for people about recovery, goal setting, nutrition, meditation mindset. So I feel like I did exactly what was missing. I'm bringing together all the parts of wellness and giving people not only the tools but community to talk to others about it and surround themselves with like minded people.
Unknown Speaker :That's such a great story. You know, when the pandemic hit, everyone was scared. You know, I think it's still very scary. We're sheltering in place, we don't have community, we're out of our routines, we don't have the same environment. And right around that time, I was exploring behavioral change. And it really started the Genesis was with leadership coaching, I'm working with a coach to be a better leader at work as a medical device executive. And a lot of it was centered around different types of behaviors. And so if you can identify behavior patterns, and then understand whatever fear or connection to identity or worth, that behavior can be anchored in very Practical different than, say psychoanalysis or psychotherapy where it's like, why did I Why did I need to achieve? Why do I? Why Why? Why am I so driven for success? Very different. And what I started becoming really worried about from just a macro public health matter is depression, anxiety, nutrition, sleep, you know what I think a lot of us would combine as wellness and in the medical device, medtech biopharma space, so much of what we develop is treating a patient helping clinicians treat patients when their disease is really progressed. Uh huh. And so, if you're going to get a knee replacement, you know, something happened leading up to that or if you're going to take medication for brain health, or you need a stent because your heart Your coronary arteries are clogged. So many of I mean, that's so many I would say every surgical device that I've ever seen or been aware of is it's FDA indication is you have to first Fail conservative care and conservative care. I interpret it as lifestyle modifications and behavioral change. And so when I went from being a spectator drop in on the lifted program, yeah, the timing was unbelievable, because it was like a connection of what I think is really missing. And it's coupled with this idea of a community and the huddle concept, which I was talking to someone that's familiar with the addiction and recovery space. And there are similarities to the fellowship underpinning of 12 step programs. There's an accountability and it also can scale with all the so many of the people on our team could do a class in a pinch, if they were, you know, in their community without internet. Yeah, well, I look at all this and I, it's why I was so excited to invite you. And I'm thrilled that you agreed to be on the episode because I think there is a missing link here and with what you're doing, and I want to talk about your app with the time we have left, but what you're doing to leverage technology so You can deliver at scale, and which I think is a very powerful combination, bringing people who right now maybe isolated, but maybe you're isolated after this pandemic. Mm hmm. Not everybody has access to the people that have the same ideas and really incorporate all these areas of wellness that you described in the healthcare space clinicians being able to combine that offering. And then with mobile devices and subscription models, making it accessible, I think it's going to be really transformative. Tell us what are the future plans for lifted and where do you see this going in the next five years?
Unknown Speaker :I'm so happy with the program as it is, and we've had so much growth over the last five months, it's just been constant behind the scenes working, for example, when we grew to over 50 members, some of the original members said, Oh, you know, we're starting to lose the intimacy the feel, I mean, they were spoiled. They had been live, you know, with this kind of stuff. So I was like, Alright guys, let's just calm down, and Little bit here. But what we started doing is we started having a squad leaders, and we call them jump squad leaders and where gem comes from is, each day I encouraged my members to list their gems, which is their gratitude, their exercise for the day, how much meditation they got for the day and how much sleep because these things are the foundation of your other 23 hours of your day. So our gems squad leaders then take our they have a group of people so as as much as I scale, I still want you to feel like you can intimately connect with a group. In that way. I think it's not a peloton, you're not riding with 10,000 other people in a class, you have 1015 people who are in your squad. And at any point you can lean on them and talk to them and you have a leader that's going to connect you to me. So I'm super happy with that. We also went to getting off Facebook where we were originally posting and having our own little hub now. And I know one of your questions was what technology are you using right now? This is interesting. To you, and we're using kajabi, which is more of a course production. But we use it as a meeting place for everybody to be there post what they're doing, being able to house like our different
Unknown Speaker :work at videos. So it's become more
Unknown Speaker :brick and mortar for us. And, you know, my hope is to double, triple quadruple my numbers over the next six months. I think when Summer ends, people are going to be looking for solutions. I also think everybody thought it was going to be over in July or in September over so people are going to be looking for some more long term solutions. And outside of that, I'm creating an app. It's going to launch in early September or late August and this is going to give you on demand, lifted classes short format. I know a lot of people are challenged with times you get anywhere from 10 years minute focused workouts 20 minute 30 minute yoga, which is taught by my partner, Jennifer, she's the Yin to my Yang, she's a into Reiki and essential oils and yoga, I'm the hardcore athlete just going to give you the hit and the weights and the aggression. And so together, we're really excited to launch this app. We're going to be running a special $99 for a year or 999 a month when we launch it. So I'm excited for the reach that we'll have in addition to what we're offering with our more high touch program of lifted that you're involved with,
Unknown Speaker :and so the the offering there's the the lifted program, and and the app is coming soon, and for people that are interested, where's the best place to find the lifted book,
Unknown Speaker :book you can find on Amazon and that'll definitely give you a lot of my background, a lot of where the program came from a lot of the reasons why I incorporate meditation, a lot about goal setting. There's a ton of recipes in there. My pillars on nutrition, why I feel the way I do about the nutritional plan I've chosen and you have a program in there as well. So it's 28 days, a little bit clearer, a little bit stronger, a little bit happier that you can do and you can follow along there just to get a little taste of what you might get in two of my other programs.
Unknown Speaker :You've been doing so much you're extremely busy for the listeners. Ali's website is Holly h o Ll y dot life and so if you want to follow all the progress learn more about the lifted program, links to the book and the coming soon app lifted app that will be a subscription please check her out at Holly dot life and then which social is the best way to reach you?
Holly Rilinger :Which is just my name Holly Rilinger
Unknown Speaker :@hollyrilinger. All right, excellent. Well, Holly, we're going to wrap up the interview. I wish we could talk about some of the things one of the things please I do know that there's a number of men in your crew. I did notice it's predominantly women. You've been coaching women and That's excellent for a listener that is a man and is interested in joining the program. Do you expect the male audience to grow and how will that affect the program?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, you know, I think that group fitness is predominantly women. It just is live. So I think a lot of guys just like to go do it on their own, you know, but I do you think that and you can attest to this, I'm sure. It's a challenging workout. The biggest thing I see is that people's husbands jump in and they're like, Whoa, that's tough. Definitely. Like we're not we're not doing a bar class here. We're not doing a cardio dance workout. We're this program is built on good old fashioned weight training just arranged in a variety of different programs. It's never the same, it's always different. I think that I hope to see more of a male demographic in our groups too. It's always nice to have a mixture of enjoyed having you there and Charles who's there sometimes as well. A couple other guys. So they got the male listeners who are there we are offering you 50% off of a drop in class. So use it, come visit it and see what it's about and I think you'll be great. pleasantly surprised with the intensity of the workout,
Unknown Speaker :I can attest to that. And then the incorporation of the stretching and I'm looking at heart rate throughout the workout, the meditation where you're trying to get be able to control your breathing. But to your point weight training part I got stuck because I used to always work out by myself and I do the same exercises, same muscle groups, and I'm honest, not enough legs, and I don't want to sound like too much of an infomercial. It is the hardest workout I've done. And it makes me feel like I'm in college again, which is fun. That's great. Love that. And we'll include this in the show notes. But the promotion, the code word is unmet need. And so we'll include a link in the show notes for anyone that wants to try a first session. And so to wrap up, Holly we'll do a lightning round we call it go into the vault. And so I'm just going to ask you four questions, and you can just kind of go quick. So the first one is in the last year, is there a book piece of art podcast movie song that you experienced? And it's really had an impact on you and you're thinking about Yeah,
Holly Rilinger :documentary generation wealth
Unknown Speaker :other than your parents, who is someone that saw your potential early in your career in your life and really acted as a mentor for you and had a big impact
Holly Rilinger :my strength and conditioning coach in college, Greg Warner,
Unknown Speaker :what is one technology tool could be software app that you just started using in the last six months or so that's had a profound impact on your ability to reach people and run your business. kajabi. And the last question in your pursuit of helping so many people and building the lifted Empire, what is your biggest unmet need for your business?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, so all you VCs out there a platform that's not zoom that really caters more to the fitness community because this really isn't it's a it's a meeting place. It's not software meant for that. So where you could have a microphone, you can integrate music, you could have a timer, you could break out into groups and the music still goes into the groups like something that would really create a virtual studio as a coach and as instructor. I don't have that right now and I've looked for it. It's not There.
Unknown Speaker :Could you ever envision yourself raising capital to build out lifted faster? Absolutely. Well, Holly, thanks so much for going to the vault been great having you as a guest. Thanks for being on Unmet Need
Holly Rilinger :It was so fun. Thank you so much, Jeff. Transcribed by https://otter.ai