was a massive source of stress. For years I
had been fantasising about how I would run
my own business. I had been preparing for
this event for a long time. The gym closing
was my trigger to act – and quickly. Yes, the
gym doors had closed, but another door
was about to open. The difference was, this
door was mine and I opened it myself and
on my terms.
The right ingredients
Like most passionate group fitness
instructors, not being able to teach is not an
option. For me, not teaching is like not eating
or not breathing. I cannot live without it. While
I no longer had the gym, I still had all the other
ingredients to make a group fitness business:
• a following – some of my regulars had
been attending my classes for years
• ideas – I have skills to teach any kind of
class, from HIIT to Pilates
• lack of competition – no other gyms in the
area offered group fitness
• experience – I have taught group fitness
for 20 years in numerous facilities
• passion – I teach for the love of fitness and
my community, not just for the money.
The process
Starting out on my own seemed lonely. I
wanted to be able to offer variety and options
to the local community, so they did not need
to look elsewhere for exercise opportunities.
Having been the Group Fitness Manager for
many years, I had good connections and
friendships with the instructors. So, on the
day the gym closed, I announced to the team
that I intended to put together a timetable of
classes. I didn’t specifically invite individuals
to join me, I waited to see who was passionate
and dedicated enough to ask to be involved.
I ended up with a team of six. We had a
great range of skills, from yoga to HIIT and
everything in between. We are all versatile
freestyle instructors with the skills to appeal
to all ages and abilities.
Of the six, I had two amazing, talented,
and hugely important friends who helped
drive the set-up of a new group fitness
studio. Together, we were the ‘founding
instructors’ of the business and we worked
incredibly hard to get things up and running.
With a few quick meetings, group chats
and many frantic phone calls, we had put
together a short-term timetable of 36 classes
over two weeks. The gym closed on a Friday.
The following Monday night, we held our first
class for 40 people in a local dance studio.
The first few months are now a bit of a
blur. In an effort to find venues that could
accommodate our class times, we ended up
with seven different locations in which we
held our classes. These included:
• a basketball court at the local Rec centre
• two church halls
• a Freemasons hall
• a dance studio
• two community centres
To say our timetable was complicated is
an understatement. In addition, we were all
operating individually. Some instructors were
only accepting casual payments from people,
while others were selling multi-class passes.
It’s amazing the members ever knew where
to go and how to pay! Despite this, classes
were well attended and quite profitable.
Things seemed to be going well.
Changes for greater success
Then, in March 2020, it all ground to a halt.
COVID-19 struck our state and all fitness
facilities – and venues that doubled as them
– were closed. Despite gyms being forced
into lockdown, I was busier than ever. During
the shutdown, I continued to teach regular
classes using live streaming on Facebook.
I made this available to all our members at
no charge. While the loss of income was
difficult, I felt it was important to keep my
connection to the members we had built up
over the past three months. I hoped that if I
kept them engaged and connected to me,
they would return to my business when we
re-opened for face-to-face classes.
In addition, with support and advice
from my two co-founding instructors, I used
the time in lockdown to re-assess how the
business was operating. There were two
main changes I knew needed to be made:
reducing the number of venues, and having
one class rate and payment system for all
classes. I wanted the business to have a
professional appearance and membership
options that were affordable and easy to
understand for all participants. However,
due to the high-risk nature of the fitness
industry, as experienced with the old centre,
I wanted to keep overheads low. For our
return after the COVID lockdown, I made a
number of important improvements.
Location consolidation
Our seven venues were reduced to two. This
meant some of the classes needed to be
dropped and in some cases I had to push
instructors out on their own. All weekday
classes are now at one venue and all weekend
classes are at another. This makes it much
simpler for members.
Low rent
Rent is paid to the venues on a per class
basis. This means we only pay for what we
use. We have no hidden bills such as utilities,
building insurance or cleaning. This is all
covered in our room hire.
Class passes
Participants can now purchase 10-visit class
passes, with the passes able to be used for any
type of class. A class is crossed off each time
they attend a session, meaning participants
pay for what they use. This change prompted
us to professionalise our accounting and have
one bank account into which all membership
payments were deposited.
Image courtesy Cath Leo Photos
NETWORK SPRING 2020 | 11