Meet Co-Founder @ Brrrn

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jimmy T. Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jimmy T., do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Winning builds confidence. Losing builds character.”

It’s a quote my father told me years ago when I was competing as a Division I college wrestler. And over time, that mantra continues to echoes 14 years later in both my personal and professional life.

I’ve had the privilege to have had many successes at 37 years old: Earning an athletic scholarship for college; Performing on television as an actor television, film and theater; Writing copy and scripts that have graced the subways, streets and airways for major brands and entertainment projects; Becoming an entrepreneur that’s raised millions of dollars and received international acclaim for a concept that I had created and co-founded in the fitness industry.

And as the mantra states, those successes have taught me a lot about the confidence it takes to believe in yourself enough to walk in the many rooms where those achievements have come my way.

But I truly believe that experiencing defeat, in its many forms, is an inimitable prompt to better understand who you truly are.

Having lost my wife to cancer at 29 years old was the inflection point in my life that had reshaped my perspective on the ephemerality of life. It was the first time I ever had to start over and rethink everything that I thought I knew about myself and my future. Having to close my fitness studio 6 years later during Covid forced me to work through a familiar wave of grief that would impact my employees, customers and the investors who helped bring this dream to fruition.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that tragedy is a much better teacher of life lessons. It educates you to see things with new eyes and to express gratitude for what you have. It challenges you unattach your identity from the things that you do and inspires you to live more presently and less critically. And it reassured me that reimagination was possible, even when the path ahead wasn’t clear.

That’s what I like about that quote. It encapsulates the entire human experience in one simple phrase.



What should our readers know about your business?
In 2018, I had. created and co-founded Brrrn —a NYC based fitness and lifestyle brand that launch pre-Covid as the world’s first and only cool temperature (50°F) boutique fitness studio. We had garnered incredible press and built a global following from May 2018 until March 2020—when we had to close the studio and pivot to a DTC fitness venture.

Saying that this transition was hard is an understatement. My co-founder and I had to reimagine a new business model that would now be built around our popular slide board class.

So with many sleepless nights and the support from our community and our investors, we launched Brrrn At-Home – which is a subscription based, on-demand video platform that offers hundreds of workouts, from 12 categories, built around our signature Brrrn Board fitness experience.

And 2 years later, we’ve been lucky to make lightning strike again, having received investment from Apolo Ohno (Olympic Gold Medal Speed Skater), receiving awards from Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Good Housekeeping, as well as being featured on the Today Show with Hoda and Jenna.

We still have a long way to go but the biggest lesson here is how we turned lemons into limoncello. The pivot to building our business around our Brrrn Board came from two years of observing and interacting with our 23,000+ customers about what they liked/disliked about our experience. And now, as the leaders of lateral movement training, we have expanded our reach into homes in all 50 states, and are in the process of launching a studio licensing and certification program so that studio owners and trainers can do what we do under their roofs.

Our brand’s mission has always been to inspire betterment through innovative and affordable fitness experiences. And I’m extremely fortunate to have been given the opportunity to have done that as a brick and mortar operator and now with our DTC business.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My wife Rachael Martin, for standing alongside me in the best and worst of times.

My parents, for nurturing my passions and believing in my dreams.

My sister, for her brutal honesty and unending love and support.

My mentors, for reminding me to be the type of leader that I would want to follow

My team @ Brrrn for entrusting me with their livelihoods and sharing in my vision to change the world in our own unique way.

Website: thebrrrn.com

Instagram: @jimmytmartin , @brrrn

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-t-martin

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/brrrn

Image Credits
Cedric Terrell Brendan McCarthy