For Professionals
Spaces & Stories
Pilates Spaces and Stories
Below are the 3rd quarter 2008 finalists in our Share Your Space contest. Finalists are chosen three times a year and are qualified to win a Grand prize at year end. A total of four Grand Prize winners are chosen each January, from all finalists selected during the preceding year. Each Grand Prize winner receives a $1,000 USD gift certificate from Balanced Body.
We would love to hear from you. More details on how to enter.
Congratulations to our finalists, and thanks for sharing!
Pilates Spaces Finalists - 3rd Quarter
Pilates Success Stories Finalists - 3rd Quarter
PILATES SPACES
Finalist: Beautiful Studio
Evolution Pilates
Pittsford, NY
Finalist: Beautiful Studio
Power Moves Pilates Studio
Singapore
Finalist: Creative Design
PIOMA Pilates
Middletown MD
Finalist: Small Space
Proper Pilates
Hendersonville, TN
SUCCESS STORIES
Finalist: Expansion Success
From a Living Room to 5,000 Square Feet in Three Years
In early 2005 my friend and I quit our jobs as engineers to start a Pilates studio in a city called Santiago de los Caballeros. At the time, the Santiago had not yet been introduced to Pilates, except for eight clients we were teaching in the living room of a house.
The weekend before the studio’s opening day in February 2005, we travelled to Orlando, FL, where we purchased about 20 Pilates on Tour mats and an Allegro with Tower. We placed the Allegro onto a cart borrowed from the Balanced Body folks and lugged it by foot from the Hilton Hotel, across a busy highway, to our hotel. The Allegro, of course, did not fit into the elevator, so we heaved it up the stairwell to the 3rd floor. We later called a transportation service to ship it to Santiago. The 20 mats we carried onto the plane as luggage.
We opened our studio the following morning with only 900 square feet and our eight faithful clients. They told their friends, and we grew. The following year we purchased more equipment from Balanced Body: a Cadillac, step barrel, ladder barrel and Wunda chair. Within months we doubled our space to 1,800 square feet.
In 2007 we designed the “Pilates Circuit” which helped to attract clients. We accredit its success to the quality equipment, as well as our unique circuit layout modelled after the “Just-in-Time” industrial operational method. We borrowed this design, which offers a controlled and standardized environment, from the manufacturing plants where we worked as engineers. The Pilates Circuit includes 5 Allegros with Tower, 5 Wunda chairs, 5 rings, 5 exercise balls, 5 small balls, 5 mats - an ergonomic layout and a well structured class.
Presently the studio offers weekly: 45 group equipment classes (5 clients/hour), and 8 Pilates mat classes, in addition to rowing, cycling, and martial arts for kids. A special population group of 27 seniors between the ages of 50 and 79 are attending the “Pilates Silver” class. In just three years, the studio has grown to 5,000 square feet with over 250 members. Now, everybody knows Pilates in the Dominican Republic!
Exercise Center
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Finalist: Marketing Success
Marketing and Your Community
When we opened our doors in April 2004, our mission was, and still is, to build a community where teachers, clients and neighbors would have a place to experience Pilates and other modalities - a place to broaden horizons about fitness & health. Our motto: There is something for everybody!
We were able to reach this community and gain new students with our marketing via coupons, posters, an A-frame sidewalk sign, which has proved useful, and our website and online presence through MindBody Online. We also attend local health fairs and visit schools. By placing posters and flyers around town, we’re able to reach even more people and get our name out there! Word of mouth and being a visible presence in our community have brought many people through our doors. We showcase local artists, including one of our own clients, in the welcome area. One of our larger events is an annual Summer Bazaar & Health Day, featuring vendors and classes such as Pilates Mat & Group Reformer, Nia, Gyrokinesis, and Yamuna Body Rolling, among others. Proceeds are donated to various charities, including Zoe Children’s Home in Thailand, LA LOVES, and St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Other events like Pilates Day, Pilates for Pink and Animazonia (an animal refuge) are fundraisers we love to host. We support the Kushi Project, an orphanage in India, by selling free trade products brought from India. We donated class income for a week during Hurricane Katrina for one of our teacher’s family members. The more we donate, the more successful our studio becomes!
By adding new and complementary movement classes like Yamuna Body Rolling and a Ron Fletcher Towel Class to our line up of 30 group classes a week, clients stay interested and their Pilates improves.
In February 2008, we opened another studio in Porter Ranch, California. We already have over 25 group classes a week and over 80 sessions a week! It is an awesome opportunity and will help us continue to bring Pilates to more people.
Pilates Studio City
Studio City, CA
Finalist: Making Pilates Affordable
Keeping it Affordable in a Southern Town
For three years I dreamed of having my own Pilates studio where I could share my passion for Pilates with others. However, opening a studio in a rural southern town presented obstacles: the economy was not good and I didn’t want to get in over my head with rent in addition to the cost of equipment. Plus, the community did not have much exposure to Pilates.
I viewed these obstacles as a tremendous opportunity to introduce Pilates in an affordable way to an untapped market. To make it work, I knew I had to provide a valuable service, and get my clients working out, feeling better and stronger in their bodies, and to customize the workouts for each private client according to their individual needs. I was also determined to keep it affordable by keeping my costs down.
I opened the studio in my home’s spare bedroom to avoid having to pay rent and additional utilities. This allowed me to keep my rates comparable to other instructors in the area. Even though my room is a meager 13 by 11 feet, my clients feel they are getting the best service I can offer, on the best equipment available. By keeping my overhead low, I could purchase Balanced Body equipment that would accommodate everyone.
I also keep costs down by avoiding expensive advertising. I always carry business cards with me and give them to potential clients so they can go directly to my website. My site instantly gives my studio a professional image. I do a trade exchange with a graphic designer friend: I get a new logo and website, she gets private sessions! I leave brochures and cards at a local massage therapy business and a health food store. Word of mouth probably accounts for most of my business growth. When my clients tell others about their personal results and their experience with me as an instructor, that is the best compliment I can possibly receive
I encourage any Pilates instructor who dreams of having their own studio to take that leap of faith and make your dreams happen. It doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive for you or your clients.
ProperPilates
Hendersonville, TN
2008 Finalists
2007 Finalists
