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D1 Training just launched a new video series called Behind the Brand, and it is exactly what it sounds like: real conversations with the owners who make up the D1 franchise system, told in their own words. Each episode sits down with a different group of franchisees to ask a simple question with a different answer every time. Why D1?
In the first episode, that question goes to Billings, Montana, where franchisees Mikey Rider, Josiah Johnson, and Larry Iverson built one of D1's fastest-growing, award-winning facilities from the ground up, together.
"Why D1? What drew us to D1?" said Mikey Rider. "We all have a respect for working out. I think ultimately we saw the need for strength and conditioning. D1 does such an unbelievable job of giving you the tools to be successful."
An Established System, Not a Blank Page
For the Billings team, the decision to go with D1 came down to a simple comparison: build something from nothing, or step into a system that has been developed for over 20 years.
"We bought the car. All we had to do is put gas in it. We didn't have to build the car first, right?" said Josiah Johnson. "That has been very helpful in getting going. That was one of the big selling points."
"From the programming itself, to the backend systems and supports, and then just the belief across the country now that people are understanding how important strength and conditioning is, which is something that we all knew," said Mikey Rider. "But then you put that all together and it just made D1 the perfect fit for us."
For anyone comparing franchise systems, that is the tradeoff worth sitting with: how much of the first few years do you want to spend building the business, versus running it?
Part of Something Bigger Than Billings
Owning a D1 facility also means owning a piece of a growing national brand, and the Billings team sees that as an asset, not just a name on the door.
"It's important that we can be the mouthpiece in some of the direction for the business to go, operationally and sales," said Larry Iverson. "It's been really fun being a part of something bigger than what's here."
"We know what the impact of a brand can make in our state," Johnson said.
That impact compounds. As national marketing campaigns and brand awareness grow, so does recognition on the ground. The group described watching kids excel and hearing the same question start to spread through their community: where are they training? D1. Is there a D1 here?
Growth Neither Owner Expected
Ask the Billings team how the business has actually performed, and the answer is straightforward: better, and faster, than they projected.
"It has grown a lot faster than I anticipated, which is awesome," said Iverson. "We're the beneficiaries of that advancement in business."
That growth has brought more talented people into the fold, something the group pointed to as one of the more rewarding, and unexpected, parts of ownership.
An Easy Decision, Because the Need Was Already There
Underneath the systems and the brand strength, the Billings team's answer to "why D1" comes back to the same place it does for most owners: the kids.
"How do we meet the needs and make an impact on the kids? D1 has a passion and a purpose for that," the group said. "It really was kind of what we desired meets what D1 provided, and so it made it an easy sale for us."
That is the thread running through this first episode of Behind the Brand: an established system, a growing national brand, and a team of owners who found that D1 gave them the tools to pursue the same passion that brought them together in the first place.
Watch More Behind the Brand
Mikey Rider, Josiah Johnson, and Larry Iverson's episode is the first in the Behind the Brand series, with more D1 owners set to share their own answer to the same question in the episodes ahead. Watch the full conversation to hear the rest of their story in their own words.