How up open up a successful Pilates studio with Abbie Whittaker🔥

Summary

In the 'Marketing Muscle Up' podcast, host Richard interviews Abby Whittaker, founder of In Flow Pilates Studios. Abby discusses her journey from marketing to opening her Pilates studio, the importance of community, and her strategies for business growth. She shares insights on overcoming challenges, the significance of due diligence, and her future plans to mentor others in the fitness industry.

Takeaways

• 💡 Do your due diligence: Ensure you understand the financial requirements and potential profits before starting a business.
• 📈 Start with a clear mission: Abby Whittaker founded In Flow Pilates Studio with the mission to provide high-quality group Pilates classes for the Sunshine Coast.
• 💰 Financial commitment: Abby and her partner invested their savings into the business, knowing they had to make it work within a set timeline.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Transition from corporate to passion: Abby moved from a corporate marketing role to follow her passion for health and fitness.
• 👫 Partnership and teamwork: The success of the studio was built on the partnership and combined skills of Abby and her husband.
• 🌱 Growth from naivety: Abby suggests that being naive and just starting without overthinking can be beneficial for business growth.
• 🔄 Trial and error: Embrace making mistakes as part of the learning process when starting a business.
• 🏢 Consider location carefully: The location of the studio played a crucial role in its success, avoiding industrial areas for a more community-focused environment.
• 🤝 Value of partnerships: Abby emphasizes the importance of partnerships, suggesting that having the right partner can smooth the process of opening additional studios.
• 📱 Expansion through technology: Abby developed the Flow Active app to expand her business beyond the local community and to allow for more time at home after having a baby.
• 🌐 Competition as abundance: Instead of viewing other studios as competition, Abby sees them as part of an abundant market where different studios can cater to different needs.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the In Flow Pilates studio?

The main focus of In Flow Pilates studio is to provide high-quality group Pilates classes for the Sunshine Coast, with an emphasis on community, inclusivity for all fitness levels, body types, and genders, and creating a safe space where people can feel good about themselves.

How did Abby Whittaker transition from the marketing industry to the fitness industry?

Abby Whittaker transitioned from the marketing industry to the fitness industry by taking a role in a health club where part of her pay package was to do Pilates courses. She fell in love with Pilates and later decided to open her own studio when she moved to the Sunshine Coast.

What was the initial financial investment Abby and her partner had to make to start the studio?

Abby and her partner had an initial financial investment of four thousand dollars that they had to live on for four months while they got the studio started.

What was the role of Abby's partner in starting the studio?

Abby's partner played a crucial role in starting the studio by handling the financial planning and setting up spreadsheets to determine what they needed to do financially to be successful.

What advice does Abby give to someone looking to open a Pilates studio?

Abby advises doing due diligence by understanding the numbers and what it will take to have a comfortable profit, working backwards from there, and ensuring that the lease and other costs fit within those numbers.

How did Abby approach the challenge of competition when opening her second studio?

Abby approached competition by focusing on providing a unique flavor and vibe that would attract people who align with her studio's brand, rather than seeing other studios as direct competition.

What is the significance of the 21-day program that In Flow Pilates offers?

The 21-day program is significant because it allows potential clients to try the studio for more than just one session, giving them enough time to get a feel for the instructors, vibe, and community, which often leads to them signing up for a membership.

What is the role of the team in In Flow Pilates' success according to Abby?

The team plays a crucial role in In Flow Pilates' success as they help build the community and reflect the values and quality of the service provided by the studio.

What was the motivation behind Abby creating the Flow Active app?

Abby created the Flow Active app after having her baby, with the motivation to spend more time at home and create something that could be enjoyed by more than just the local community.

What is Abby's view on competition in the Pilates studio industry?

Abby views competition as an opportunity for people to discover Pilates and get into the movement. She believes there is enough clientele for multiple studios and focuses on attracting clients who align with her studio's energy and vibe.

What are Abby's future plans for expanding her business?

Abby plans to move into a mentoring phase, helping others launch successful studios without franchising, and is considering offering teacher training and merchandise related to her brand.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Launching a Pilates Studio: The Journey and Initial Challenges

In the first paragraph, the host Richard introduces Abby Whittaker, a passionate entrepreneur and leader in the fitness industry with 12 years of experience. Abby discusses her transition from a corporate marketing role to founding In Flow Pilates Studio in 2018, driven by her love for Pilates and the lack of quality Pilates classes on the Sunshine Coast. Despite the financial risks and the pressure of investing their entire savings, Abby and her partner decided to pursue their dream. Abby emphasizes the importance of doing due diligence and understanding the financial requirements for a profitable business. The conversation highlights Abby's energy and strategic thinking, which Richard admires, and sets the stage for a discussion on the growth and operation of the Pilates studio.

05:01

💼 The Financial Leap of Faith and Learning from Experience

Abby shares her experience of opening the first Pilates studio, detailing the financial planning and mindset required to make the leap into entrepreneurship. She discusses the support from her family, who are also entrepreneurs, and how they encouraged her to take the risk. Abby and her partner created detailed spreadsheets to calculate the number of memberships needed to be financially viable. The paragraph also touches on the importance of naivety in business, as it allows for bold moves and learning from mistakes. Abby reflects on the early days of the studio, including the decision to use affordable Pilates machines to start with, which was acceptable given the lack of Pilates offerings in the area.

10:02

🌟 Building Community and the Studio's Vibe

This paragraph delves into how Abby and her partner cultivated a strong community and positive atmosphere in their studio. They aimed to create an inclusive space for all fitness levels, body types, and genders. Abby's passion for Pilates and her marketing background played a significant role in promoting the benefits of Pilates and attracting clients. The paragraph also discusses Abby's initial involvement in teaching, her decision to reduce her class load to be more present with clients, and the successful launch of the second studio, which was smoother due to the lessons learned from the first.

15:03

📈 Strategies for Growth and the Importance of a Strong Team

Abby outlines her strategies for growing the Pilates studios, including offering a 21-day program to attract new clients and the importance of hiring quality instructors to build community. She emphasizes that while hiring good people isn't a traditional marketing strategy, it is essential for word-of-mouth referrals and testimonials. Abby also discusses the challenge of finding good team members and her approach to ensuring they are a good fit for the studio's culture.

20:04

📱 The Creation of the Flow Active App and Overcoming Entrepreneurial Challenges

In this paragraph, Abby talks about the development of the Flow Active app, which was inspired by her desire to spend more time at home after having a baby. The app aims to bring Pilates to a global audience beyond the local community. Abby reflects on the challenges of creating the app and her determination to improve and re-release it with updates. The conversation also touches on the importance of having a supportive partner and team in overcoming entrepreneurial hurdles.

25:04

🛫 Future Plans and Advice for Aspiring Fitness Entrepreneurs

Abby shares her future plans, which include moving into a mentoring phase to help others launch successful studios. She discusses her approach to competition, focusing on an abundance mindset where she views other studios as opportunities for people to discover Pilates rather than as threats. Abby offers advice to those considering starting a fitness or wellness business, emphasizing the importance of understanding financials and not overthinking the process. She also highlights the success of both her studios despite having no competition in the first and multiple competitors in the second.

🌐 Abby's Vision for Expansion and Connecting with the Community

In the final paragraph, Abby discusses her vision for the future, including her desire to expand her business through mentorship and providing resources like teacher training and merchandise. She shares her excitement about entrepreneurship and the potential to help others succeed in the fitness industry. Abby also provides information on how people can connect with her and her studios, primarily through Instagram and the studio's website.

Keywords

💡Pilates

Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. It involves low-impact flexibility and muscular strength and endurance movements. In the script, Pilates is the central theme as Abby Whittaker, the guest, operates a Pilates studio and discusses her journey and experiences in the fitness industry with a focus on Pilates.

💡Wellness

Wellness refers to the state of being in good health, both physically and mentally. The script discusses Abby's mission to enhance wellness in her community through her Pilates studio, emphasizing the holistic approach to health that Pilates offers.

💡Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is someone who organizes and operates a business, taking on financial risks to do so. Abby is described as a passionate entrepreneur in the transcript, highlighting her role in founding and growing her Pilates studio business.

💡Community

Community in this context refers to a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. Abby emphasizes the importance of community in her business, aiming to create a welcoming and inclusive space for people of all fitness levels and backgrounds.

💡Marketing

Marketing is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services. Abby comes from a marketing background, which she leverages to promote her Pilates studio and attract clients, as discussed in the podcast.

💡Studio

In this transcript, 'studio' refers to Abby's Pilates studio, which is the physical location where the fitness classes take place. The discussion covers the challenges and successes of opening and operating a studio, including the decision to open a second location.

💡Profit

Profit refers to the money remaining after all costs have been paid. The conversation touches on the financial aspects of running a studio, including the need to understand and be comfortable with the profit margins.

💡Inclusive

Inclusive means including everyone without deliberately excluding anyone. Abby's studio aims to be inclusive, welcoming people of all fitness levels, body types, and genders, which is a key part of her business philosophy.

💡Mentoring

Mentoring involves guiding or teaching someone less experienced. Abby expresses an interest in mentoring others to start their own successful studios, indicating a desire to share her knowledge and experience.

💡Competition

Competition refers to the activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others. Abby discusses her view on competition, suggesting that there is enough demand to support multiple Pilates studios and that they can coexist without viewing each other as rivals.

💡App

An app, short for application, is a computer program designed for a specific purpose. Abby mentions the development of an app called 'Flow Active', which was created to expand her business beyond the local community and offer Pilates instruction to a wider audience.

Highlights

Abby Whittaker discusses her journey from a marketing career to founding In Flow Pilates Studio.

The importance of understanding financials and doing due diligence before starting a business.

Abby shares her experience of opening a Pilates studio with only four thousand dollars.

The process of buying Pilates reformers and the initial investment required.

How Abby and her partner used their marketing and sales backgrounds to start their business.

The significance of community in building a successful fitness studio.

Abby's advice on not overthinking and just starting your business.

The decision-making process behind opening a second studio and the lessons learned.

The role of partnerships in expanding a business and the importance of clear agreements.

Abby's strategy for marketing the studio through a 21-day trial program.

The impact of hiring great team members and creating a strong community.

Abby's perspective on competition in the fitness industry and her approach to collaboration.

The launch of the Flow Active app and its purpose to reach a global audience.

Abby's future plans to move into mentoring and helping others start their own studios.

The importance of having a great product and team to reflect your business's values.

Abby's tips for finding good team members and the challenges of hiring in 2023.

How Abby's perspective on competition has contributed to the success of her studios.

Final thoughts from Abby on entrepreneurship and the excitement of building a business.

Transcripts

do your due diligence make sure that you

look at the numbers and like fully

understand

what is it going to take for me to

actually have a profit here that I'm

comfortable with like a profit that I

can that is more than just going and

teaching 25 classes at a different

Studio

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

welcome back to the marketing muscle up

Podcast show I'm your host Richard and

in today's episode we are going to talk

all about Pilates we're going to talk

about what's happening in this space

it's hot at the moment and I wanted to

bring in one of our amazing uh clients

and an amazing operator that is um that

is really going full on and taking this

um this Wellness

um business uh to new heights her name's

Abby Whittaker and she's passionate

entrepreneur health and well Enthusiast

strategic thinker leader in the fitness

industry 12 years of experience in

working in the Fitness and Wellness

industry and um her big driver is

community and I know we say a lot

community community honestly community

at the moment is is where it's going to

be

um creds she's founded a studio called

in float pilate studio in 2018

uh with the mission to provide high

quality group pilate classes for the

Sunshine Coast she's my new neighbor up

here and I went to visit her Studio it's

it's you know the community is really uh

buzzing in and it's really worked I

think you've got your second studio

um launch as well which is a huge

success welcome to the show thank you so

much for having me

Abby um I think I we came across each

other uh maybe you came to our one of

our immersive events it was great to

have you there because that was actually

in Sunshine Coast and I was like oh and

uh you made it last minute it was so

excited to have you there and uh there

was something about your energy and your

uh just your energy and your flavor that

you're you're really a thinker and um

I'm a thinker too Abby and sometimes

people go oh Richard you think too much

and I found another thinker it's Abby

and so you think a lot you think but you

create and you move fast

um and I want to kind of maybe start

with your journey of business um you've

been in the game for 12 years

um maybe a broad question but

you know what I've found in Sunshine

Coast is Pilates is moving really fast

than I think other places from what I'm

hearing and seeing and smelling and

talking to people

um tell me about your journey of Pilates

why did you open up Studio up

um so basically I was back in the day I

was working in the marketing industry

um in like a corporate role and I just

decided that it wasn't for me I didn't

feel super

um connected with what I was marketing

and putting out and so I took a role in

a gym in a health club actually and part

of my like pay package was to do Pilates

courses so I did the mat work course and

the reformer course

um fell in love with it and

um a lot of our clients used to say oh

I'm moving to Sunshine Coast do you have

any way you can recommend there and

would always just be like oh no like

there's no there was none up here at the

time

and a few years later my partner and I

really wanted to move to the coast

he's a sphere fisherman and we were just

at the time there wasn't a lot of jobs

up here and we just said let's just

it wasn't this straightforward but we

were like let's just let's just do it

let's just move there let's just start

make a way to make our own money there

and have our own business and I said I

can teach Pilates I've got marketing

background and he had a sales background

and he's just really good with people

um so yeah we just kind of jumped in and

did it we just I think we had

four thousand dollars to our name that

we had to live on for like four months

and we're like we have to open by this

month otherwise like we're we're toast

and yeah that's just how it all started

right under pressure and uh making it

happen now opening a Palladio studio is

no um you know cheap it's not it's not

you know going out and saying okay I'm

gonna do some personal training you're

buying boxing gloves and you're putting

the car on the waste that's what I

started off you know in the car got my

weights got the boxing glove out I mean

you've got to buy

um reformers tell me about that process

when you're not sure if it's going to

work the business you're new to it and

you're on you know you go invest take me

through that mindset that it you know

someone's out there they're going hey

I've got to open up a studio investment

how do I do it can you can you take us

through that process

um yeah so I guess we so we had both

worked in like a similar setup to what

we have now and so we kind of

um had seen the process of how it all

works in terms of financially we did

have savings

um financially but we knew that we had

to put everything that we

um had into it

um and we also have both of us have some

parents who

um are entrepreneurs and business owners

and I think my dad said to us he said

well do you know what this is it's

actually just like a really cheap

business course if it fails you'll learn

a lot and you'll probably learn a lot

more than you will doing three years at

Uni

um and he just said just just jump just

take the leap just do it uh so that was

kind of like the kind of thing that put

the nail in the in the coffin

um in terms of financially

and getting it all set up my partner's

super amazing the spreadsheets not my

finest moment but he's the one who's got

like everything set up like on a

spreadsheet this is what we need to do

we kind of figured out exactly how many

like what memberships we would need how

many people would need in order to

um you know start paying back like what

we owed and to start making enough money

to live on

um and we were just like let's just do

it let's just do it I think we just kind

of I don't know we just knew that we

could yeah love it I think um

you know I remember opening up my first

place I was so naive and naive all the

word green I don't know if you heard

that word green and just a bit cold

around the years or something and you

just go and do it right and I think

that's the beautiful thing about

business it's a beautiful thing about

opening up your first business it's like

you need a bit of like just naive and

you don't know what's around the corner

and I think people go oh yeah you you

should read this and do this and we've

all got to go through our own mistakes

you know and you just got to make sure

you go through a bit faster and not not

unpack your suitcases yeah I think as

well sometimes when you are green

um or have that name the it is kind of

beneficial like for us for example with

our machines are a former Pilates

machines we

um chose to purchase pretty cheap

machines

um because that's what we could afford

yep and it was fine in our community

because

there's was no reformer here so it was

like nobody had anything to compare to

and people were just stoked that we were

bringing this amazing

um Fitness here but

I think that sometimes when if we had so

much experience and so much knowledge

and overthought that process so much we

might have been like well there's

absolutely no way we have that amount of

money to get the machines that we

actually are our end game

um and I think that maybe it would have

um you know stopped us from moving

forward with doing the studios and I

definitely see that with so many people

it's like oh but my website's not

perfect so I'm not going to launch it or

you know I can't have the machines at

once I'm not going to open and I can't

have this that I want I'm not going to

do it and it's kind of just like just do

the thing and then just figure that out

later love that love that overthought

the process that is definitely a big one

for a lot of people including myself we

overthink

get to it need something better get it

done just get it done and then you'll

learn from there it's really good

um

all right let's just go a little bit

into the studios I think we've kind of

maybe skipped that a little bit talk

about the studios what it's about

um you've got two right

so in 2018 we launched our first studio

in caloundra and it's basically got two

rooms it's got a group reformer room

with 14 machines and then a group uh

Matt Pilates yoga and baru yep and

um basically it just

runs on like a membership base or packs

uh I guess the main thing that we

brought like at the start when we first

opened it I wasn't like our community is

everything like I didn't I didn't have

that thought process

um like it just didn't even come to me

like I was just trying to survive but I

think that um we did kind of have I did

have an idea and both of us had an idea

that we wanted to to be a safe place for

people to work work out we wanted people

to walk out feeling really amazing about

themselves

um feel nice Long Tall lean uh to feel

like that they had given them tie

themselves some time to move

and and time for themselves away from

the busyness of our lives and we wanted

it to be inclusive for all Fitness

levels all body types all genders all

everything so we kind of started with

that and then I think as a result of our

personalities can't joined

um we created this beautiful community

and we also created like that really

great vibe in the studio because I think

that we're both we both kind of embody

all those things that I just spoke about

so

um that layered with the fact that

Pilates is actually amazing and is such

a great form of exercise

um it was just kind of really easy to to

pull it all together and to build that

Community around it because

we're both so passionate about it and we

both like I like I talked about working

in marketing roles where we marketed

something that where I marketed

something I just didn't believe in that

say like still to stay truly believe

that anyone who tries it can benefit

from it

and yeah so it's like obviously there's

passion behind it as well yeah so good

tell me about

um

that passion like you when you started

like uh 2018 how many classes like for

anybody who's going oh I want to sort of

scale up how were you teaching the

classes all of them did you have

instructors straight away when did you

sort of hire that first person in the

studio to teach

so we started off with

um tree instructors yep including myself

um actually sorry for instructors

including myself

and on our first opening day I actually

didn't teach I had to go to um my

husband's Nana's funeral that day and so

we actually opened the studio without me

actually being the instructor which is

pretty wild

um it is wild yes yeah but they did it

the girls did amazing and uh so at the

start I taught about 25 classes a week

um which one of my friends who was an

instructor at the time was like you know

that's not sustainable and I was like I

know it's not sustainable but

um I'm just gonna do it for now because

I want to get all to know all the

clients and I just want to be there and

be present for everyone

um and then

after that I kind of dropped down to

maybe 15. okay

yeah yeah because you've got uh I just

wanted to sort of highlight you know you

opened your second Studio up

um and you got this tell me about the

decision to do a second studio and

you know it's hard to run one you know

like sometimes we're talking the show

like oh let's get to 100 and that kind

of stuff but going from one to two to

three these are substantial different

things that you need to do what's the

one lesson or two lessons that you

learned opening the second Studio up

um so to be honest the opening of the

second Studio has been a pretty

um

smooth process yep I do think that like

the main things when opening a studio is

to really consider the location

um we almost opened our first studio in

a location

um in the industrial area which I now

looking back at it no it wouldn't have

been as successful as what we are with

where we are now

um

but from going from what from going from

one to two I guess the important thing

for me is to always have that

um presence in the community that I'm a

part of and

I've always felt like if I had too many

studios I wouldn't be able to stretch

myself across all of the studios so

um we actually partnered with

um someone that was a friend and also

working with us at caloundra to open the

second studio and she's kind of become

that Community Builder that face of that

second studio so that's worked really

well for us but I definitely think

um Partnerships uh can be truly tough

and I think that if you are considering

going into a partnership just really

consider it make sure you have

everything written down you've got all

the right legal contractual things put

together so that there is

um little or no room for

um error

so good uh it sounds like you learned

when you say you know it's smooth it was

smooth like

you learn a lot from The Experience

um and I think that the trust opened

that second one for anybody who's

thinking about it the third one it's

like well sometimes it's not that slow

because you've learned all that in the

first one and then you open the second

one it's like oh my gosh this was easy

and I thought yeah you've done that

you've done the hard yard there so

um kudos to you super exciting now

all right let's do a couple questions

around

um

around marketing the business

um what are one or two great strategies

you'll use to grow

um the studios

um so one of our main strategies that we

use is

um a funnel like a a short program that

allows people to come and try the studio

app for more than just one session so we

run a 21 day program it gives people

enough time to come try the studio get a

feel for it get a feel for the

instructors the vibe of the studio the

community

um and we I usually find that if people

sign up for that and they actually come

to their classes they are

very likely to sign up just because

um they've gotten that experience and

they kind of

fall in love with it like we know that

they do sometimes it's just a matter of

getting people in for their first class

literally and then they're like oh why

haven't I been doing this sooner

um

so that's one of the things we've done

and I think

I guess like the second one is just

hiring really good people

um who then start to help you build that

Community I know that's not really a

marketing strategy but I guess

it is a way of marketing I suppose

um well having a great service and

getting some great feedback referrals

testimonials case studies I think um I

think it's a very fair point you know

like you said before like you you're in

marketing with something you didn't like

um you know this is probably where it's

like okay I can use my marketing and

make it something that I really enjoy

but yeah it works really good so I think

that's a solid Point make sure you have

a great product right yeah totally a

great product and a great team because

your team is a reflection of what you do

especially in our business where

um it has been set up in a manner where

I don't have to be there full-time or

all the time

um so you know your team you have to

just be able to know that your team are

like on your same page

is it hard to find good team what's your

hacking finding good um team members

Abby come on that's the big question of

2023

jeez it's I definitely think it's hard I

think that we're at a point

for us because they

had to work for

um but I was just talking about this

with someone the other day I think that

um

good team members are quite hard to come

across and I think that we've just

collected like one or two like really

solid really loyal

team members every like year yeah and

then so at clams we've just got a really

solid team like we've got yeah just

those people who have stuck around

almost since the beginning

um and then we've we're building that at

petunia as well so there's not really

any hack like we just put a thing out

for instructors or we have people

approach us and ask us now most the time

yeah we always just meet them see if

they they feel like a good fit for us

and then also if

we're a good fit for them and then from

there we get them to come to a trial

class and kind of we might ask some of

the clients how they felt about the

class like separately after the class

and then we'll kind of know if they're

going to be a good fit and sometimes you

think they are and

you Mentor them and train them and then

they go somewhere else and it's kind of

crappy but it just is what it is love it

now

um I was quickly going to touch on some

other parts of your entrepreneur world

and you've got an app as well uh the

info app and was that a covert app was

that a pre-covered app where would that

come into the game Abby

um that was a postnatal app a postale

lab yep Yeah so basically I had just had

my baby and I just was thinking

I was just thinking I want to be able to

spend more time at home with her and not

um always feel like needing to go to the

studio and I just thought

what a better way to do that than to

create something that

can be enjoyed

by more than just the local community

um to the world

um and that's kind of where that came

from it's been a very rocky road but I'm

still I think we're just almost at the

top of the mountain now just going over

that last little hump with it so we

launched it and now we're re-releasing

it it's got lots of um updates lots of

things out of that are going to be

amazing on it so I'm excited about that

and what's the app call it out what is

the download of it

flow active very good download that it's

a great app got it on my phone all right

let's I just want to sort of finalize

some things I'm like

what I'm hearing in this conversation a

couple things one Community two just get

it done get it get the work done don't

overthink don't overthink it

um you've talked about having a

supportive partner

um

and great team you know you've got a

great team good business good team they

want to come and work for you

can you just maybe give a couple more

advice pieces on someone who is

interested in starting a fitness or

Wellness business and they're like in

their head about it Abby they're going

oh my gosh I can't afford the rent I

can't do this I know the money there's a

computer up the road

um what's some lessons that you know you

could give to your younger self Abby

um so I just want to point out one thing

that I didn't mention before in our

first Studio we had no competition when

we opened yep in our second Studio we

have multiple competitions where we

opened

um launch was just so successful in both

and both are just as successful as each

other so I'm just going to say that

about competition with where I start I

like that I like that

um I think my thing with for anyone

who's kind of thinking of doing it is

the first thing is actually just do your

due diligence make sure that you look at

the numbers and like fully understand

what is it going to take for me to

actually have a profit here that I'm

comfortable with like a profit that I

can that is more than just going and

teaching 25 classes at a different

studio right so that's like my main

thing is I just sometimes look at

businesses and I just think like did you

even like think this through like did

you you know and I just think that

that's really important and I think that

that's something that my husband

definitely has instilled into me is just

actually knowing your numbers because

yes you can hire accountant all that

stuff but at the end of the day you need

to know your stuff before you get

started

from there you can work backwards

um and go okay do I think that I can get

100 members yes okay perfect how am I

gonna like take those steps back and and

make that happen

with the lease and stuff obviously

within those numbers you have to have

budgets for what you're willing to pay

for your space

um and that fit into that otherwise you

could just end up paying a crazy lease

for your dream space but

you're losing money

so I think that one massive piece of

advice is just

do that work to actually understand it

and if you don't understand it make sure

someone else helps you and helps you

understand it

secondly

um with when it comes to competition my

take on competition is that there is

enough like in a small party Studio of

14 machines

there is enough people in these areas

and where we live to

fill up

tens or hundreds of bloody Studios right

so maybe not hundreds but like say there

was 20. there's still enough people to

go to all those Studios and benefit from

the movement so for me we just try not

think of people as competition we just

think of them as another great way for

people to find out about Pilates and get

into the movement and because we're very

different to other Studios we have our

own flavor our own Flair we just feel

like people will come to us who align

with our labor in our plan and want that

energy and that Vibe and the other

Studios they'll go to those Studios if

that's more of their thing and that's

completely great as long as they're

doing Pilates and awesome

well I love that I think that's my

favorite part of this whole conversation

the end

um just in regards to around how you

look at competition

um you know the abundance of people

the right people go to you the right

people with other people but you know be

happy for them they're actually

having movement and um you know the the

right people will come to you I think

it's a really great way

to look at that and I think that's

definitely some 100 energy that you give

out

um

like anything it's you can be the first

or you can be one of the first then all

of a sudden there's more it's like and

and you look at competition different

ways like oh well I was here first and

then and then you drown in that sorrow

and it's like a story

um but I love the way you look at it

it's like yes there's an abundance of

there I think that's a beautiful way to

look at

um look at that because it's totally

true you know we have Australia that has

most of Australia is not in gyms or

health clubs or or exercise routines and

there's still a lot of work to do

overall so I think it's a really good

way to look at it

um

beautiful I look at it

anything else Abby that um that we've

missed today I I guess I think you've

answered all my questions I had for you

um

tell me about the future of um inflow

the future of Abby uh there's a lot of

um a lot of exciting things on the

horizon is there anything that you want

to share with usabi

um you know there is you know I do

loaded loaded questions yeah so up to

you what you want to share but but I'm

I'm generally interested in your um your

entrepreneurship I'm interested in your

excitement for business and I I think

that's such a beautiful thing to have

excitement about business

and um you know you give it a crack you

give it a go and you make things happen

so what's on the horizon for you next

Debbie

um so I feel quite passionate about

moving a bit more into like a mentoring

phase

um or time in my life or whatever it's

called

um I do love business and I love

um that I've been able to create such an

amazing business around something that I

truly believe in

um and I want to help other people do

the same I'm not super interested in

franchising

um but I'd like to go as far as

as close to franchising as possible

without franchising so I want to

help people I wanna

take people away from feeling like

they're our competition and into having

their own thing and being guided through

these steps to be able to launch

successful bloody Studios so I think I

would really like to go into that

um space and I've already stepped into

everything that comes with that like

teacher training

um things as small as you know Merchant

like merchandise that they need pieces

of equipment Etc so I think I'll

definitely be moving into that there's a

lot more this year

um but there's also I also just have so

many ideas and so many things

that I want to do but I think that's the

main one for this year love it and I

love hearing your ideas and things and I

I I I I

genuinely love when I used to have this

thing Abby where it used to be like an

ID book and we had like a a book my

business partner we just every time we

run a one-page idea out and by the end

of it I think we had like 100 pages in

this book and sometimes it's just the

beautiful art of creating creating idea

seeing seeing if it makes sense

sometimes you may not launch it

but it makes something else work way

better yeah so I think it's I think

entrepreneurship's a beautiful concept

and

um I you know I think you've done a

great job I think you've done a great

job on getting

the studios where they are at the moment

sorry I just I might I think you've done

a great job of getting the studios where

at the moment and um yeah look forward

to the next stage of Abby I think we'll

have you back here and um I'm glad

um I'm glad these studios are pumping

along at the moment awesome thank you so

much for having me and look forward to

our next chat thanks Abby now where can

everybody hook up and see what you do uh

where can they connect with you Abby

I reckon the best place to connect is on

Instagram

um at info bloody Studios but if you

don't have Instagram

www.inflo pilatesudios.com awesome um

yeah or if you just want my personal

life with abs

with abs that's it get on get her on the

gram yeah see what life with abs is all

about thanks so much guys if you enjoyed

this episode of the marketing muscle up

Podcast show you can go to website

commarketing.com.ou to see more hear

more of these episodes or see them you

can go to YouTube and um you can see

um you can see what we look like on

YouTube hey Abby that's probably good

yeah hopefully looking good today head

up yep so guys thank you so much and if

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show bye for now