Calm, cool, and collected 🧘

If you’ve been here a while, you know that we like to share case studies of our work with Pedal Retailers — especially Dream Space graduates who sign their first leases. You also know that we’re allergic to boring writing. Sometimes it takes us a little while to figure out how best to tell someone’s story, but we knew how to tell Cameron Ford’s long before we’d reached lease execution. 

Before we begin, a quick refresher on Dream Space, since I know we’ve got a number of new readers these days: the Dream Space Accelerator is our unbelievably powerful* program for new and emerging retailers looking to sign their first solo, long-term leases. It’s a mix of coursework and one-on-one consulting that results in a Powerhouse Business Plan and a prepared, confident retailer. 

When we start working with someone in Dream Space, we dive in and get to know them personally, because we need to understand who they are as people and what their lives are like in order to effectively guide and support them. 

Okay, back to the story…

Cameron came to Dream Space bursting with energy to open his first location of FS8 — an Australian fitness franchise that provides high intensity, low-impact workouts that combine elements of Pilates, strength training, and yoga. He’d grown to love the workout while recovering from an injury sustained from a recent triathlon…which apparently some people do willingly and more than once. 

When he began Dream Space, Cameron had set his sights on a specific retail space in DC. As much as he wanted our efforts to focus only on that particular space, he listened to our coaching. He did the work and created his Powerhouse Business Plan the right way — business first, space second. He secured his financing, then it was off to the races…aka brokerage.

As is the case for most retailers experiencing brokerage for the first time, Cameron encountered many moments that elicited a full-body stress response. We know we've come upon one of these moments when we get a panicked phone call, or in Cameron’s case, a cortisol-fueled email typed with one hand at 3am whilst feeding his new baby.

Since we’ve coached first-timers through this process a time or two, we’ve clocked many a Zoom minute helping people calm down and regain clarity. After a couple go-rounds with Cameron, we all realized something; he regained his calm really, really fast. 

And then a bell rang; this is why Peloton instructors talk about heart rate training.

 
🚴🏼‍♂️

So what is it and why do athletes do it?

Almost no race is run at a perfectly steady effort. Hills, surges, wind, aid stations, and tactical moves repeatedly push athletes above their sustainable level. Races are a series of disruptions, and recovery speed governs how much each one costs. What separates finishers who fade from those who stay strong is often not how hard they can go, but how quickly they recover after going too hard. 

How is this remotely related to retail real estate?

Well, as you know, the process of finding and negotiating a lease – brokerage – is a long and challenging process. In tough moments, stress raises heart rate through the sympathetic nervous system and adrenaline. 

🧠 Moderate arousal sharpens focus. Good.

🌀 But past a certain point it degrades the brain's executive functions like judgment, impulse control, and flexible thinking. Not good.

The practical result of an uncontrolled panic spiral is narrowed attention, rigid thinking, and a bias toward reflexive rather than considered responses – all of which have the potential to undermine or even blow up a deal.

🧘🏼‍♂️
 

As is the case with anyone going through brokerage, the faster Cameron regained composure, the faster his deal could progress.

While Cameron’s brokerage experience was quite rapid, relatively speaking, it absolutely offered a handful of moments that would have caused anyone new to this process to feel their blood pressure and cortisol shooting through the roof. In those moments of heightened stress, Cameron’s ability to regain composure, refocus, and keep moving forward on the deal ultimately allowed him to move through the process at an impressive six-minute-mile pace. Furthermore, because he could calm his nervous system so effectively, he could keep a quick pace while also maintaining confidence in his own decision-making. 

A six-minute-mile in retail real estate looks like starting the Dream Space Accelerator in November and signing a lease in July. Cameron toured and traded paper on several spaces at our insistence (it’s like dating, remember?), and in the end, all roads led back to his original first-choice. Cameron will open his first FS8 location at the Parks at Walter Reed in DC. 

🏆 Not only did we help him secure the space he’d wanted from the get-go, 💰 we negotiated the terms to save a whopping $647,345 over the term of the lease.

Follow along with Cameron and FS8 on Instagram @fs8_takoma and stay tuned for opening updates from us!

*If you’re thinking, wow, isn’t it a little arrogant to call your own program ‘unbelievably powerful’? To which we'd respond, no — it’s not arrogant when it’s a fact. We’ve got receipts, and we’re happy to share them.