Meet Jason and Leslie Cohen | Owner/Franchisee

Hi Jason and Leslie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We had previously owned a different franchise, European Wax Center, that we sold in October of 2021. We had very much enjoyed building a business from one location to three, providing our team opportunities, and providing our customers a service they loved.

After we sold EWC, Jason called another EWC franchisee in Texas to let him know we had sold. That person told him about BODY20 and we were both immediately intrigued, but skeptical. After conducting a lot of research, we were both extremely excited to bring this exciting new fitness concept to the Atlanta metro areas as the first Georgia Franchisees.

We are both passionate about fitness, and as working parents, we understand the challenge it is to find time to stay in shape. We believe whole heartedly that BODY20 will be the answer so many people are looking for by giving them better health is less time.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
BODY20 is not your ordinary fitness studio. It is technology based, 1-on-1 personal training that uses Electro Muscular Stimulation to create about 150 times the number of muscle contractions that occur in a conventional workout. Just one 20-minute session is equal to HOURS in the gym and its low impact so there is no strain on the joints!

While EMS fitness is relatively new in the United States because it has only been FDA approved for about 4-5 years, it’s been very popular in Europe and South Africa. In fact, EMS fitness makes up 14% of the German fitness market.

There are several things we love about BODY20.

First, we are a great solution for all types of people; from the person who is too busy to workout more than once or twice a week, to the elite athlete that is looking to further improve performance, and everyone in between. We encourage our members to continue doing the fitness programs they love, whether its yoga, pilates, running, or anything else because BODY20’s EMS training will complement it. For example, studies have shown that EMS fitness can improve long distance running times because our strength training programs help them build lean muscle.

Second, while the technology is amazing and the results will speak for themselves, it is BODY2o’s focus on the customer experience and attention to every detail that really sold us on the concept. The corporate leadership team is obsessed with making sure the BODY20 workout experience is better than any in the market, and you’ll see that in every aspect of the business; the quality of our facility, the focus on safety and cleanliness, and the personal attention each one of our members receives. This experience aligns with exactly what we want to provide our community and we really view this business as an opportunity to provide our members with two of life’s most valuable gifts….better health and more time.

We got to where we are today through a lot of hard work and perseverance. As every small business owner who made it through 2020 and 2021 (what we refer to as the COVID) years, just surviving was a tremendous challenge. This is where I (Jason) need to give Leslie all the credit, not only for keeping us afloat, but also for turning things around and actually making 2021 our best year up until we sold the company in October. She did this by doing whatever was necessary to get the job done.

A key lesson we’ve learned along the way is invest in great people, particularly your management, and pay them what they deserve by structuring compensation plans that reward high performance. At BODY20 of Brookhaven, we’ve hired amazing leaders with tremendous experience and even though we’re still only in our presale, we’re seeing what a difference this makes. We really lucked out when we found our manager, Joey Fisher, who is doing an incredible job, and we’re bringing in one of the best fitness trainers in the Atlanta metro area to be our lead coach.

Next, is you must be present in the business. We hired our management team to lead and we empower them to make decisions, but as owners we are also involved. We try to lead by example and do whatever our business needs at the time, whether it’s coaching employees, guerrilla marketing, or picking up trash and cleaning whatever needs to be cleaned. By being involved, the entire team knows how much we care about our business….and them!

Last, make it fun! If you are not enjoying your business, either fix whatever needs to be changed to make it fun or get out.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Interesting question. We love the Atlanta area and live about 30 miles north of the city in a suburb called Cumming, so we spent most of our time OTP…that’s outside the 285 perimeter for you non locals.

We live about 5 minutes from a mixed used development called Halcyon. It’s great for families or a date night and our favorite restaurants there are Eclipse Di Luna, Ocean and Acre and Cherry Street Brewery.

Our favorite place to go is Downtown Alpharetta. Also a great spot with or without the kiddos , with several awesome restaurants including South Main Kitchen, Citizen and Soul, Fog’on and Lions. The bars we like are Truck and Tap, Up on the Roof, Jekyll Brewerey, Ceviche and Roaring Social speakeasy.

We love the outdoors so when the weather is good, we often go camping in North Georgia mountains or around Lake Lanier and we love to hike up Amicalola Falls, then spend some time in Dahlonega. While the North Georgia wines aren’t quite as good as in Napa, there are some beautiful wineries outside of Dahlonega It’s a blast getting a group together to charter a bus for the day and hit the best wineries up there.

Atlanta has a bunch of great parks and when we make the trip in town, we still love to go to Piedmont Park. We’re also known for our festivals. Too many to count but some of our favorites are the Oyster Festival, Crawfish Festival, Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival, Dogwood Festival.

Starting in late spring through early fall, it’s alway fun to go to concerts at Chastain Park. It’s a very cool amphitheater where you can bring food and drinks in to most shows.

Last, in the fall there is no place better for college football than Atlanta with fans from every SEC school, but of course we love supporting our Georgia Bulldogs, GO DAWGS!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Wow! This is a tuff one because there are so many people who have played a huge role in our development and success.

First and foremost, we are both very blessed to have loving parents who have always encouraged us and supported us in whatever we chose to do.

From Jason – I was very fortunate to have a tremendous business partner in my previous business, Pete Forsstrom. We complimented each other but Pete brought a stronger business acumen to the partnership and in many ways was my mentor.

From Leslie – I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for my former employer, Dr. Michael Reznik. He gave me the opportunity to develop my leadership skills by first promoting me to an office manager and eventually an area manager. This experience proved invaluable when Jason and Pete brought me into the EWC business where I became there Director of Operations over all three centers.

We also must give a huge shout out to Shawn and Bhavika Patel, the former EWC franchisees who told us about BODY20 and encouraged us to be franchisees. Without them, we wouldn’t be here today.

Last, but certainly not least we want to thank our children, Braelyn and Jorie. They give us motivation every day to be successful and good role models by showing them how hard work will lead to success.

Website: www.body20.com/brookhaven

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/body20brookhaven/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/body20brookhaven