Meet Daniel Barpal of Beyond Balance in Littleton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Barpal.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Daniel. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started yoga in January, 2016 in an effort to relieve chronic back, neck, and shoulder pains that were the result of a lifetime of injuries. Within a few months my pains subsided and, in the process, I discovered inversions. My hand balancing journey formally began when I stumbled into handstand classes in December, 2016. In order to improve my practice, I was introduced to stall bars for conditioning and injury rehabilitation and soon made a set to mount in my garage.

Concurrently, I started creating and trading circus apparatus for private lessons with my daughter’s circus coaches and others. While meeting with a professional athlete/trainer and handstand coach, who was interested in a set of canes, she fell in love with my products and joked that if she was selling them, I wouldn’t be able to stay in stock. A few days later a company was born.

Today, while I still do custom circus apparatus under Denver Circus Supply, the focus is on fitness and therapy equipment. In addition to my line of fitness stall bars and hand balancing equipment I have recently worked with Sanja Schreiber, PhD (www.curvyspine.com), a leader in Schroth Method Therapy (a non-surgical option for the treatment of scoliosis and kyphosis.), to develop a line of equipment.

Starting this company has been a great opportunity to combine my background as a Professional Engineer with my passion for fitness and hand balancing.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As an accidental company, one of the challenges I have faced was learning what my products and company was/is. Originally started as Denver Circus Supply, the focus was on custom circus apparatus for performers. While a lot of fun, there is not a huge demand for circus apparatus. As more people asked if I could make hand balancing tools or stall bars, I naturally moved in that direction and in 2019 the company was rebranded to Beyond Balance with an emphasis on body weight or calisthenics training.

Another challenge has been production. I started as handmade items and while production was low it was manageable. With growth I have transitioned from handmade to outsourcing to a local millwright and machinist. This has allowed me to improve designs and features, add new products, and improve capacity and quality.

Probably the biggest challenge has been marketing and generating growth in a very congested fitness market. I have developed some strong relationships with gyms, Club Calisthenics in Denver (https://www.clubcalisthenics.com/) and PhysicalityDC in Washington DC (https://www.physicalitydc.com/) for instance, which have been a great way to promote products and Brand.

Interestingly, the Covid-19 pandemic has driven sales for home gym equipment, but is it temporary or long term? This is creating a new challenge and how much do I try to expand to meet growth. Facilities, labor, and inventory are all affected and predicting any of them incorrectly could have severe consequences.

Finally, a recent and currently ongoing challenge is my mother’s health. In April we learned she has stage 4 cancer and with the Covid-19 situation it changes how we can care for her. As a result, I spend most my time in California and manage the operation remotely. The challenges of running a company remotely while caring for an ill family member is a whole new experience that you really can’t prepare for. Fortunately, I have some great friends and colleagues who have helped during this difficult time.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Beyond Balance – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
My company and products are very basic: fitness and Schroth Method therapy equipment made from natural wood products. While the products are basic, we focus on being environmentally friendly and with every purchase we plant a tree with the National Forest Foundation (https://www.nationalforests.org/). In addition to using renewable wood products, we preserve the wood with food grade mineral oil. Not only does it remove any toxic chemicals from our products, it maintains the natural wood feel without being slippery.

Recently we have developed a line of equipment used in the Schroth Method therapy for scoliosis and kyphosis treatment. The method is a non-surgical treatment for that uses a variety of drills and exercises to improve spinal alignment. Especially effective with children pre-puberty, it also has great results with patients of all ages. The primary piece of equipment used for the Schroth Method are specially designed stall bars (https://beyond-balance.net/collections/stall-bars/products/schroth-scoliosis-therapy-bars). The product development has been the result of a collaboration with Sanja Schreiber, PhD, a world leader in Schroth Therapy and training. In addition to the stall bars, we are also developing a line of accessories to further assist and compliment the stall bars.

I think what sets us apart and I am most proud of is customer service and processing times. I am amazed how often I get a phone call from someone trying to buy stall bars from a competitor, especially Schroth Method Wall bars, and after more than 4 weeks they still have not received their order and are unable to contact the seller by either email or phone. When I not only answer their call but also inform them that we ship in 1-3 days, an order is almost certain to follow.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
The future is bright!

We are very optimistic about the Schroth Method equipment and marketing the products. Scoliosis and kyphosis affect over 6 million Americans and the therapy is a very effective way to non-surgically treat. We are excited to work with a world leader in the therapy, Dr. Schreiber. And even more exciting is the opportunity to bring real, long term quality of life changes to those affected by scoliosis and kyphosis. The Schroth Method treatment is growing rapidly in North America, after decades of use in Europe, and we look forward to helping lead the way to a healthier life for thousands affected by scoliosis or kyphosis.

It is also very exciting to be planning for growth and expansion into a new facility! My early years working was in corporate America as an engineer and Project Manager, so managing large, complex endeavors is my strength. I have recently added some talent to the operation which is not only successfully handling the growth in sales, but also brought in new engineering resources. As a result, in addition to the Schroth Method equipment, we are developing accessories for our stall bars (also known as Swedish Ladders, wall bars, or Sweden Wall) such as dip bars and rock-climbing tools. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @gobeyondbalance to follow all our new development activities and products.

Contact Info:

• Address: 5573 S Datura St
• Website: https://beyond-balance.net/
• Phone: 281-813-9999
• Email: daniel@beyond-balance.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gobeyondbalance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoBeyondBalance/
• Other: https://www.denvercircussupply.com/

Image Credit:
Richard Edens (Splitman Media)

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