Hey folks,

Someone on my last webinar asked me a great question:

“Aren't most wellness concepts just fads?"

The short answer is… yes. Most of them are. 

IV drips. Cryotherapy. Red light therapy. Cold plunges.

There's always a new wellness trend popping up, and a lot of them flame out spectacularly.

But that doesn't mean the category is dead.

In fact, I think there's real opportunity here. It just comes down to separating the signal from the noise.

Let me show you what I mean.

Let me quickly address the biggest criticism of wellness franchises: “they’re just a fad.”

Plenty of wellness “trends” have actually been around for thousands of years. People aren’t going to stop doing hot yoga, or cold plunges, or saunas.

But yes, their popularity still comes and goes.

And it’s why in the wellness space, diversification is survival. 

Here’s the reason: even when something is a fad, it doesn't usually go to zero overnight. More likely, demand gets cut in half. 

If you have a single-modality wellness concept, that’s going to be hard to survive.

If IV drips are only 20% of your revenue, a 50% drop in demand is now a survivable (albeit, unfortunate) 10% hit.

So a healthy wellness franchise concept is a flexible one.

But there are bigger reasons why I think this trend is on the upswing.

I'm not here to sell you on wellness as some guaranteed goldmine.

But if you're evaluating this space, here are three reasons I think it's underrated right now:

1. Longevity-focused consumers are a real growing demographic

More and more people are getting obsessed with biohacking, performance optimization, and living longer.

The best part: this tends to be a rich person's hobby.

These aren't Planet Fitness customers looking for a $10/month membership. They're affluent professionals willing to spend serious money on their health.

The global wellness and longevity industry alone is projected to reach $9.8 trillion in 2029, up from $6.8 trillion in 2024.

The pricing power that comes with selling rich people what they have deemed to result in years added to their life is powerful.

2. GLP-1s are expanding the market

I’ve read about concerns suggesting that Ozempic will kill fitness. It may well impact some of the more elementary modalities (and big box gyms like Planet Fitness who “compete with the couch”). 

But I think it will ultimately have a positive impact on wellness at-large. 

70% of America is obese. As GLP-1 drugs bring that number down, more people are going to care about optimizing their health beyond just weight loss.

They're going to want recovery, performance, longevity.

The market is about to explode. 

3. Nurses are eager for better jobs

If you're running a wellness business that requires licensed medical staff (like IVs or hormone therapy), you're hiring registered nurses.

And a lot of nurses hate their jobs. 63% to be exact.

The hours are brutal, and they’re constantly tangled in hospital bureaucracy. It’s a fast track to burnout. 

If you treat them well, you can offer a completely different lifestyle, they might also bring 10 of their former colleagues with them. They’re known to move in “herds”.

If a wellness franchise is 100% dependent on one modality, I'm out.

No matter how hot the trend, I'm not betting my capital on one thing staying popular for the next decade.

But if a brand combines multiple modalities that are scientifically-sound with favorable unit economics, I might give it a look.

The diversified sources of revenue can meaningfully increase your odds of weathering whatever trend comes next.

This is one of the industries in which I think the incremental complexity that comes with being a generalist is worth it due to the incremental diversification that comes with it. 

If you want to go deeper, I recorded a full 49-minute industry deep dive where I break down the business model, hiring strategy, and how to evaluate wellness franchises.

Or if you're ready to explore whether wellness fits your goals, book a free strategy call.

Talk soon,

Connor

P.S. Send me your franchise questions! I love hearing from you.