Franchisee Spotlight: Body20 in Bee Cave, Texas

Body20’s first Texas location is one of its strongest franchise operations, built on staff investment, culture and organic referrals

He didn’t know it at the time, but Austin Wighaman had it all when he tore his achilles playing flag football in 2020. 

Having been a two-sport athlete at Texas State University, then getting into pharmaceutical and medical device sales, before working at a genetics lab in San Antonio, he already assembled the team-building, business and health-related acumen to become an elite Body20 franchisee. All he needed was an introduction to the EMS (electro muscle stimulation) fitness brand.

“Coming out of surgery, there was nowhere to rehab,” Wighaman recalled, with his injury taking place just before the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was consulting for a company out of Florida at the time, and that’s where I found Body20. Someone told me I had to try it, and when I did, I could tell it was something different.”

While impressed with how the brand’s product helped him recover, Wighaman also noticed his unique background made Body20 a perfect business opportunity to pick up. 

“I started researching, reaching out to corporate, understanding a little bit more about franchising, doing my due diligence on that side, and then it got to a point where I realized I could marry my athletic background with the knowledge that I have on the medical side,” he said. “Then, as a third component, it got me back into not just leadership, but having a team. It was perfect.” 

Wighaman’s intuition proved fruitful. His Bee Cave, Texas, location recently enjoyed a three-month run rate of 800k AUV. He plans to keep electricity pulsing through his location literally and figuratively in the future as well. 

Invest in People & Culture

Wighaman sees a strong correlation between culture and success. He believes owners and operators themselves need to value and empower their employees to win the franchising game. In some cases, doing so even takes priority over the product. 

“If there’s anything that probably separates us from most of the other Body20 locations, it’s our culture,” he said. “I invest everything I have into that. I invest in my people.”

Wighaman shared that he’s salaried three of his employees, trusting that making people feel valued leads to increased loyalty and productivity.

“You can’t put a number on human capital,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how good your services and products are. If you don’t have the people or team behind it, you can’t get anywhere.”

In building out that team, Wighaman also doesn’t discriminate against the non-experienced. In fact, when hiring, he looks for enthusiasm and adaptability before fitness expertise. 

“I’ve always had a saying when I hire people, that I’d rather have ignorance on fire than knowledge on ice,” he said. “There’s so many people that over analyze things. There’s so many people that overthink, and it paralyzes them. I’d rather have somebody that maybe isn’t perfect, but they’re just on fire about whatever they were doing…I’ve interviewed thousands of people; hired a lot of people and pulled from all different avenues and angles.”

Driving Retention

On the consumer-facing side, Wighaman pointed to first impressions and overall presentation as core growth drivers — which fuel a self-sufficient referral system.

“It comes down to customer experience, customer value and you’ve got to have the right perceived value at the front end of that equation when someone comes to the door,” he said. “Then, it starts by word of mouth, someone telling someone what a great experience it was.” 

Wighaman reported that 74 to 78% of Bee Cave Body20 memberships each month are referral-based.

“If your culture is not buttoned up and the right people aren’t in place then you can’t provide a good customer experience,” he added. “If your processes aren’t dialed in, your scheduling is not dialed in, it’s never going to work.” 

Wighaman also noted that he’ll often neglect to run promos as well to re-emphasize his membership’s value upfront. From there, interest snowballs. 

“I try to opt out of everyone that corporate runs, because if I give you something at a discount, psychologically, what do you already think about that product or service? That the value’s not there,” he said. “Tesla? Static pricing. Apple? Static pricing. There’s no haggling, there’s no sales. It is what it is, and guess what? Look at their stock, look at their value. It’s perceived value. It’s all psychological. So, it starts there, and then we have to provide the best experience we can.”

Potential Through Education

Wighaman admitted establishing brand awareness was a struggle at first, especially being the first Body20 in Texas. The need to explain the science behind, and impact of, EMS, which Americans are less familiar with, only added to that. 

However, he also cited that off-pace position as an opportunity for current and future Body20 franchisees. They can put themselves in optimal position to catch a wave before it forms. 

“There’s still an opportunity for us to educate,” Wighaman said. “If we can do that, it’s powerful, and I think that will enhance people’s desire to go try it…We’re just at the tip of the iceberg. I don’t know the exact number now, but five years ago, when I was looking at doing this, I think 30 or 40% of all the workouts in Europe were EMS.” 

Education, inspired operators and a bit more face time are all EMS requires to take off, Wighaman argues. 

“Consumers are funny,” he said. “It’s exposure and changing mindsets. Like with EV cars, consider Texas — trucks and oil. Well, now that you see more EV cars, it’s taken off like hot cakes, but it takes time to educate the consumer on the benefits and the value of it. So I think there’s a huge opportunity for that.” 

But while exposure may spark interest, it’s belief that sustains momentum, especially in emerging categories. When that happens, Wighaman intends to maintain the same principles which have gotten him this far.

“You’re going to get out what you invest, and that means your time, energy, heart, mind or whatever it is,” he said. “So, if you want to be an absentee owner, it’s not going to work for you. You just won’t have the passion and the belief behind it. I don’t give advice, but in my experience, what has helped is I truly believe in the concept and I truly believe in what we can provide. Anything you do in life, if you don’t believe in it, and the movement doesn’t start from within, it’s more of a challenge to be successful. I truly believe that.”