A conversation with David Cutillo, CEO of BeBalanced Hormone Weight Loss Centers:
1851 Franchise: What are the milestones in the brand’s history that have led to its success?
CEO David Cutillo: BeBalanced was founded in 2007 as a single retail center. Since day one, BeBalanced has used proprietary natural hormone products to help women not just lose weight and relieve PMS/Menopause symptoms, but to be healthier and happier. After years of research and experience, our team was passionate about sharing what we had learned with as many people as possible, so we began to franchise the BeBalanced concept in November 2014. The first franchisee opened their first BeBalanced Hormone Weight Loss Center in January of 2015.
Since then, BeBalanced has grown to over 20 locations around the country and is now looking to expand into new areas.
1851: What are the brand’s key differentiators that make it stand out in the industry?
Cutillo: BeBalanced stands out in the segment by offering weight loss through natural hormone balancing, which is all about achieving balance. We’ve developed a holistic approach and system that addresses key barriers to losing weight, weight control and overall health — including insulin imbalance, female sex hormone imbalance and the effects of stress in relation to cortisol.
While other weight loss brands may emphasize medication, strenuous exercise regimens and calorie counting, our program is about so much more than weight loss. We focus on bringing the body’s natural hormone levels into balance. Our 14-week Becoming Balanced program will not only help customers shed unwanted pounds quickly and naturally, while relieving symptoms related to PMS or menopause, but they will also learn how to keep the weight off for good. By the end of our program, customers will have the tools and the knowledge to maintain this new healthy lifestyle for the rest of their life.
BeBalanced’s Natural Hormone Balancing Creams contain plant-based progesterone and other necessary building blocks to support customers' stress hormones. This is safer and more effective than traditional HRT or Bioidentical Hormone Therapy for PMS and menopausal symptom relief. This method uses all-natural ingredients that work with the body’s natural hormone balancing processes to realign estrogen and progesterone levels and support a healthy stress response.
Customers also receive one-on-one guidance from one of our Hormone Balancing Specialists, who will equip them with knowledge and practical tools to heal and fuel their body as well as provide support and accountability through their entire weight loss journey and beyond. It’s just not common knowledge yet, but hormone balancing plays a huge role in our lives, especially when it comes to weight loss. Frustration occurs when women religiously follow their weight-loss diets and exercise, only to find that the scale hasn’t budged. Until our client balance their hormones and manage their stress, they will have problems with stubborn weight, mood, sleep, energy and a host of other frustrating symptoms.
Sleepless nights, hot flashes, mood swings and excess weight doesn’t have to be a part of the aging process. From weight loss to PMS relief and menopause symptom alleviation, BeBalanced has a solution that will make customers feel better naturally. We offer simple, effective, non-medical protocols to holistically correct hormone imbalances.
1851 Franchise: Why is BeBalanced a good investment for franchisees?
Cutillo: BeBalanced franchisees are able to fill a void for women in the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry and hormone therapy industry. Millions of women are experiencing PMS or menopause, along with stubborn weight issues, and this solution was certainly missing in the space before.
Owning a BeBalanced Hormone Weight Loss Center allows franchisees to help clients lose weight quickly, and improve their sleep, mood and energy levels with life-changing results. When you own a BeBalanced center, you are doing more than joining the nation’s movement to become a healthier and better version of yourself — you are driving it. You will empower women in your area to improve their health through safe and effective weight loss while you invest in your future.
Our turnkey franchise is a low-tech, high-margin proven business model that requires minimal staff and a simple build-out. Additionally, because clients see success and love the results, they refer friends and family, creating even more business for the franchise owner. BeBalanced is the nation’s leading all-natural, non-medical weight loss center with the highest referral rates among customers in the franchise industry. Through a dedicated marketing team and a supportive home office, BeBalanced franchise owners have the tools necessary to thrive in their area.
We consider traditional weight loss brands to be “perceived” competition. Through our solid science, we’ve learned that our clients — people who have hormone imbalances — won’t lose weight with other programs, so for franchisees, it’s just a matter of building awareness and our innovative, non-medical solution.
Doctors feel comfortable with science but not with business, while business people feel comfortable with business but not with science — we feel comfortable with both. Since we use Natural Hormone Balancing to help our clients, there are no prescribed medications, and franchise teams do not need any medical training.
Additionally, BeBalanced Hormone Weight Loss Centers are primed for tremendous growth because the healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss industry specifically brings in $702 billion per year, second to only the beauty sector. It used to be that everyone thought weight loss was all about calories. In the same way that the Atkins Diet taught everyone that weight loss was more about what you eat rather than how much you eat, we see a similar change happening around hormone awareness. We have found that a female's journey to weight loss can be complex, because of the “hormone” factor, and we are the only brand to build our business model around that understanding.
1851 Franchise: What does your ideal franchisee look like?
Cutillo: BeBalanced franchise owners feel good about what they’re doing and believe in the model. The ideal franchisees want to make a difference in the lives of women and are proud to make a valuable contribution to clients’ lives. The ideal BeBalanced franchisee will be active in their community and be willing to act as the face of the business (or hire an operator who can) through local grassroots marketing.
Some of our owners are employees and some are random clients, but we’ve found that the best owners are the ones that went through the BeBalanced program themselves while on the discovery journey. This keeps prospects engaged with the brand. Some of our best franchisees are couples in which the wife serves as the operator or manager and the husband supports her.
We are now looking for aspirational and entrepreneurial franchisees who are interested in becoming multi-unit owners or have an eagerness to drive growth. BeBalanced franchisees need to have high energy and a forward-thinking approach.
For more information, visit: https://franchise.bebalancedcenters.com