James Davis

38 Degrees North started life as a fitness retreat company in 2012. Since then it has grown to offer retreats in multiple locations, runs an online training and nutrition platform and offers corporate wellness programmes. The company is regularly asked to comment as health and fitness experts for mainstream media and run its own 5-star rated podcast, The Midlife Mentors, which is all about having happy and healthy midlife.

A Passionate Leader

James Davis is the Co-founder of 38 Degrees North and runs all aspects of the company with partner Claire, making them a true power couple. James has master’s degrees in psychology and business, and is also a personal trainer, while Claire has multiple coaching, NLP and stress management qualifications along with numerous fitness qualifications. Both of them worked in fast-paced corporate roles for around 15 years in London, before following their passion and moving to Ibiza to set up 38 Degrees North.

Committed to Serving Community 

Whilst the fitness retreat market has become ever more saturated, 38 Degrees North has strived to innovate and stay ahead of the curve, and this is reflected with a 98% sell-out rate for its retreats in 2019, at a time when many competitors are struggling. It is the first retreat company to offer DNA testing and analysis to improve client performance and the only retreat company to have built an online platform (38nacademy.com) to support its clients over the long-term with real-time video workouts, nutrition workshops, meal plans, recipes, goal setting, habit and motivation workshops, plus an active and engaged online community all available on-demand. Following the launch of its Academy in late 2018, 38 Degrees North is now working with corporates to deliver employee wellness initiatives via the Academy as a low-cost, but a highly effective resource. The company is passionate about advising and enabling people to have a happy and healthy middle age and in mid-2019, it launched its podcast 'The Midlife Mentors', which has multiple 5-star reviews (42 on Apple). 38 Degree North has also innovated and invested to build multiple arms to its business which change people's lives for the better.

Lessons that Pave the Ways to Success  

James says, “Never give up! Being an entrepreneur is a journey with plenty of ups and downs, however, if you are passionate about what you do, innovate and always look to deliver your best, you will impact people’s lives in a positive way, and that’s what we’re most proud of. We’ve been our clients – stressed, time-poor, commuting, working long hours, relationships suffering, so we understand the struggles, which helps people relate to us.”

Delivering Excellence to Improve Health and Wellness

While 38 Degrees North is still seeing high demand for its retreats and immersive experience, its online presence is growing owing to the on-demand nature – clients can access it on their time, on their terms and it sees this continuing and growing. At the same time, the company is getting more interest from corporates about its programmes and platform and sees this as a huge growth area in 2020 and beyond.

Unlike any of the company’s competitors, 38 Degrees North offers a complete fitness and health solution to clients. The company offers free online training and nutrition programmes, and low-level paid programmes so that people can experience it in a cost-effective way and make beneficial changes to their lives. It also provides the 38nacademy.com as a low-cost, ongoing, on-demand solution for clients’ health and fitness, where they can exercise in real-time, any time, via videos and even track their results within the platform. 38 Degrees North’s retreats offer an immersive experience as well as provides small group online coaching and one-to-one bespoke online coaching for those looking for a very personalised approach. The company has also embraced podcasting as an addition to its social media content to share knowledge and started working with other companies to help motivate and improve employee health. “Innovation and investment backed into our passion are helping us positively touch more and more lives above and beyond the original retreats model we started with and makes us unique in this space,” James said.

Conquering the Tough Time

On primal challenges James says, “At the time we started the concept of luxury fitness retreats in Ibiza, everyone thought we were mad – Ibiza is known as the party island! However, our uniqueness helped us stand out and craft a story. Now we run in Ibiza, Marbella and London, and we’d love to come to the US soon…”

Partnerships – The Pursuit of Innovation 

Launching the 38nacademy.com online resource was a game-changer for James. Next up is an application version. Increasingly 38 Degrees North is working with companies to help improve employee motivation and health and this is a key area going forward. James said, we spend most of our lives at work – why not have a tool which inclusively brings employees together in a community which helps them be healthier? We’ve already got companies on board delighted with the Academy for their employees and looking forward we’ll be improving this experience even more.

Building a Healthy Future

James thinks that technology will be a driver for sure. Gyms are great, but the majority of people don’t use them. How about you can train live with instructors you relate to in your own home, hotel room, wherever? This is what 38 Degrees North already does! Then those workouts are available on-demand anytime so people can do them again and again. The convenience and results of training in your space in your time will be a game-changer – no more excuses for missed workouts! In tandem with this tracking results and progress via wearables and a return to sensible, sustainable healthy eating away from the fad diets proliferate will make being healthy not only easier but a happier experience. 38 Degrees North is incredibly proud that it offers an authentic approach to health – bucking the trend for quick fixes and fads. This is about sustainable wellbeing.

Words of Wisdom to Business Leaders

On advising to emerging leaders, James says, “Don’t just follow the money – if you’re in it just to get rich, you’ll probably fail. Follow your passion, then you’ll be happy too. Also - find out what your customers want - not what you think they want. Finally – never give up. Consistency and resourcefulness win out.”