Most operators in fitness and wellness can tell you what a lead costs. Almost none can tell you what a member costs to acquire. Those are different numbers, and the gap between them is where the money goes. This episode gives owners the questions to ask their marketing person, their agency, or themselves, and the targets to hold them to. Today on The Owner Seat Podcast, host Albert Ramos sits down with Jessica Yarmey, President of Squeeze Massage and a 25-year marketing operator who has run budgets at Gold's Gym, Youfit Health Clubs, and Club Pilates, and goes behind what happens when a career Chief Marketing Officer suddenly owns the whole P&L: The three questions a weak marketing function cannot answer, and the vanity metrics to throw out of the report entirelyReal targets for customer acquisition cost, LTV to CAC, and payback period before an owner should shut the spend offWhy more leads did not mean more revenue at Club Pilates, and what that means for any operator about to buy more traffic Jessica Yarmey is the President of Squeeze Massage, the Founder and CEO of SizzleSociety, and the host of The Society Pod, based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. She was Director of Franchise Marketing at Gold's Gym, advising domestic franchisees representing 230 gyms and global franchisees across 28 countries. At Youfit Health Clubs she ran a 16 million dollar marketing budget across 115 locations. She then spent three years as Chief Marketing Officer of Club Pilates during its rise to the largest Pilates franchise in the world, advising the other seven brands under the Xponential Fitness umbrella. Her own reported numbers from that run: 2018 delivered plus 220 studios, plus 33 average leads per studio per month, and 10 percent same store AUV growth. 2019 delivered plus 180 studios, only plus 5 average leads per studio per month, and same store AUV up 17 percent. In October 2020, mid-pandemic, she founded KickHouse, a kickboxing concept staffed by women, took it from zero to roughly 30 locations, and sold it to Mayweather Boxing + Fitness in 2022. In November 2025 the wellness holding company GoSaga, founded by Geoff Schneider, acquired Squeeze Massage and named her President. Squeeze was built by Drybar founders Alli Webb and Michael Landau, with Brittany Driscoll as Co-Founder and CEO. Schneider has said publicly that the brand and user experience were the strength and the business functionality was the weakness. Jessica walked into that gap. This episode is for fitness, wellness, and longevity owners, franchisees, and multi-unit operators who are tired of: Paying for leads and not knowing what a member actually costsMarketing reports full of impressions and engagement while cash is tightAgencies and marketing hires who cannot connect a number to revenueBuying more traffic to fix what is actually a conversion or retention problem Top topics we cover What changes when a CMO inherits the whole P&L. The first ninety days, the line item that surprised her, and the marketing spend she cut as President that she would have defended as CMO.The owner's marketing interrogation. Three questions to ask in the next meeting, and the metrics to delete from the report.Real CAC, LTV to CAC, and payback targets for a boutique studio or recovery concept, and the point at which you shut the spend off.Where the money actually leaks. Lead captured, appointment booked, appointment shown, first purchase, month four. Most owners think they have a lead problem. Jessica says otherwise.Marketing's last mile. When leads come in and a front desk employee does not convert them, the spend is wasted but the failure is operational. How to assign that number.Channels in 2026. Allocating 10,000 dollars a month for a single location with no brand recognition, the national versus local ad fund fight, why direct mail is working again, and what AI search is doing to local top of funnel.Building it, selling it, doing it again. What made KickHouse acquirable, and the one unit-level number that has to be true before a new franchisee signs. How this episode helps you win If you're a single-studio owner: You leave with a marketing scorecard you can build this week and the CAC and payback targets to judge it against, instead of arguing about spend with no reference point. If you're a multi-unit operator: You learn where the funnel leaks by location and how to assign conversion failure to the right person, so you stop buying traffic to cover an operating problem. If you're weighing acquisitions or outside capital: A brand can be strong while the business is weak, and buyers price that difference. This episode shows you what that gap looks like from the inside of a deal. If you're a franchisor or emerging brand: You get the national versus local ad fund split, the accountability structure behind it, and the case for proving unit economics before you sell another franchise. Work with Albert, Fractional CFO for Fitness and Wellness I'm Albert Ramos, Founder of STRATEGO Intel Consulting and host of The Owner Seat. 16+ years of P&L ownership at Life Time Inc. (NYSE: LTH), Gold's Gym, and 24 Hour Fitness. I help fitness, wellness, and longevity brands ($500K to $30M) build cash visibility, unit economics, pricing and utilization models, and capital planning so every decision is clean and defensible. Book a CFO Strategy Call: https://calendly.com/albertramosjr-strategointel/youtube-podcast Subscribe to The Owner Seat newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7288029005239267328 Website: https://www.StrategoIntel.com Connect with Albert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertramosjr/ More from The Owner Seat New episodes every Monday and Friday at 8:00am CST. Full library: https://www.youtube.com/@TheOwnerSeatPodcast STRATEGO Intel: https://www.StrategoIntel.com
