We recently connected with Amy Havens and have shared our conversation below.
Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
When I moved to Santa Barbara in 2001, I only knew two people — my fiancee and his mother. I wanted to start my own Pilates studio, but I didn’t know anyone in town. “How can I start a studio without knowing anyone? How will I get clients?” Well, I trusted myself. I knew that ‘if you build it, they will come’. So, that’s what I did.
I had one piece of equipment that I’d purchased for myself during my teacher training years knowing I’d put it to great use in a studio someday. I started to look for a studio space and designed a business card. I found a temporary space which was a garden room behind someone’s house. The owner’s were planning to expand their kitchen into that garden room. They offered this space to me for a 3 month period, $500/mo which I felt was a perfect fit for me. It allowed me to shop for a permanent space, acquire additional equipment and of course – get some clients. I quickly put an ad in the free local newspaper and waited. Then, my phone began to ring.
Within a few weeks I had enough clients to officially pay the rent and just a little extra. I didn’t want to take out any business loans or get business partners. I knew I could do this myself. I had vision. I kept driving around the downtown area and finding myself on Victoria Street. I had a strong feeling about this street. Day after day I would drive a 6 block radius just looking for empty storefronts and ‘for lease’ signs. Nothing, however, my intuition kept telling me to keep looking on Victoria Street.
I connected with several commercial real estate agencies, but nothing was looking right and/or was too expensive for my newborn business. I finally found a woman who showed me a few spaces in a cute little area known as Victoria Court, yes, on Victoria Street! My intuition was right! The space was small, but perfect for me at that time, and affordable. I signed a one year lease, received signage and forged ahead. Within months I was steadily growing and needing more space, gaining more clients and felt the need to expand a bit. I completed that lease, found a slightly bigger space in the same courtyard and signed another one year lease.
During this 2nd lease, things began to really build. Word was getting out that I had created a special studio and I needed a bit more space for more equipment and a few more teachers. So I went to the same woman and asked her if she had any other properties that were in the same area and within my budget. She showed me a gorgeous space, upstairs above a Starbucks, on a prime corner in Santa Barbara with views of the Riviera, in a historic building with charm galore. It was nearly 3,000 square feet and expensive. I shied away, fearful that I couldn’t take that big of a leap. It was very risky and I lean to being a bit more conservative with risk. This woman was so kind and honest with me. She told me “you seem to be doing something right and now looking for bigger space. Why not just bite the bullet and go for it?” I was terrified and asked if I could take half of the space. We negotiated and I ended up signing another one year lease for half of the space.
Within 6 months of being there I’d grown so much that I needed the entire parcel! So, yet again, after that 1 year lease, I signed a 5 year lease for the entire 3,000 square foot space! I purchased quite a bit more equipment, conducted a teacher training to train additional teachers and pulled my sleeves up and really dug into nurturing my growing studio. I remodeled the space to accommodate group classes in two separate rooms, built out a massage room and a small space for private sessions along with a staff room and open lobby. All in all, in my time at this location, I signed 2 additional 5 year lease! It was truly a one of a kind studio.
I did all of this alone, no business partners, no loans, no assistance. All guts, confidence, trust and intuition! I knew from the day I landed in Santa Barbara that great things were coming my way here. I knew that something was on Victoria Street, I just didn’t know what that was exactly. I’m so grateful I listened to my inner voice and followed its lead.
By following my intuition, it led me to the most beautiful location for a Pilates studio that you can imagine. This studio ended up being the hub of Pilates education not only in Santa Barbara, but for much of the central coast. I created a space for community, for education, for inspiration and for passion for the Pilates method. I hosted dozens of workshops, had an incredible team of teachers, committed to the bone clients. Each and every person benefited from me trusting myself.
I’d say this was a risk well taken!
Amy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hi, my name is Amy Havens. I’m a former dancer, lover of movement, art, expression, communication, somatics, fragrance healing and alchemical processes. My love for the Pilates Method began when I was a student at Colorado State University as a dance major. I integrated Pilates into my dance training, knowing I’d teach the method one day, but at that time I used it mainly for my own strength and performance enhancement. My relationship to Pilates deepened after sustaining a hip injury during a performance in San Francisco and it was then I chose to close the curtain on my dance career. I dove deep into my own rehab which then led me to entering a teacher training program. I’ve never looked back.
I’ve been teaching for nearly 30 years and have studied with some of the best in the industry. In 2001 I moved to Santa Barbara, CA where I started my own business, CenterPoint Pilates. My studio was the hub for Pilates education, workshops, classes etc for nearly 20 years. Along with owning this incredible studio, in 2010 I had the honor of becoming a founding teacher for the industry’s leading online Pilates studio platform, Pilates Anytime. I have nearly 300 hundred classes in their online library. In addition to being one of the leading teachers, for 8 years I helped to create content and direct video filming, assisted with producing workshops, interviews, events and much more. I’m proud to be a teacher for this unstoppable organization. With a growing profile, my teaching opened the door for me to start traveling around the world, teaching for studios and conferences in many incredible countries. This is something I’m still doing today and am ever grateful for. Teaching teachers and mentoring new upcoming teachers is a deep passion of mine. I feel pulled, in the best of ways, to pass on what I am so fortunate to know.
In October of 2020, I chose to downsize my nearly 3000 square foot studio to create a smaller and ‘right-sized’ studio for my needs. The global pandemic adversely altered my large business which allowed me to pivot, shift and create the more perfect boutique studio that I lovingly call my sanctuary and laboratory. Here, is where my passion for client-centered teaching thrives. My diverse clientele helps shape the work I do and create whether is mentoring new teachers in training, helping rehab clients post cancer and stroke, to teachers around the world or to the active aging folks who need fall prevention strategies as well as coordination and muscle mass maintenance. My life as a Pilates and movement educator is full, rich and filled with freedom.
I teach private and semi-private in person sessions in this beautiful space as well as offer virtual sessions to teachers around the world. I offer deep, connected teaching and mentoring. The Pilates industry is growing rapidly and the roots and traditions of the method are dear to my heart. It’s body-mind-soul work; it’s more than fitness or just a workout. It’s a system of movement that anyone can do and I pride myself on teaching the traditional work as well as current evidence-based concepts that support biomechanics and motor learning. I want to help the newer teachers out there strive to become high level educators, not simply workout instructors. There is a big difference.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Be kind and observant to who is in front of you at all times. Be gracious. Listen. Treat others how you want to be treated, always. Stay client focussed, they are who we are here for. Their support in our business allows us to keep our doors open. For growing and expanding — ask current clients to advertise for you. Give them an opportunity to bring a friend or family member in sometime to see and share what they experience while with you in your business. Personal referrals are always the best!
Be patient, trust that the clients will come – and they will. Be consistent with what you offer and the clients will come. I always come back to “do what you love and the money will follow”. Same goes for the clients —- they’ll come when your energy is focused on what you love! This is what’s been effective for me, in every season of every iteration of my business. As a solo woman and entrepreneur, I strive to stay consistent and bolster my business with my energy, passion, respect, integrity and love for what I do. This is one of the reasons why I’m successful. Where my energy goes, things flow. I want to always be one step ahead of where my business seems to be going and when I put my energy there while tending to what’s also right in front of me, it always shines. Consistency is key and kindness goes a long way.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’d have to say it’s the way I survived through the pandemic — both my business and on a personal level. In December of 2019, I had an older brother die suddenly right before Christmas. He was a brother who was on the frontline as a family caregiver for my mother who was living in a long term care facility with dementia. I was her main caregiver from afar, power of attorney, her only daughter and baby of the family. When my brother died, it shifted the dynamic in our family and created more urgency for her care. Then, Covid hit.
I was told – as my mother’s main caregiver now, that visitation would be limited due to strict state and government protocols and that if/when I did visit (she lived out of state), that she would have to be quarantined 14 days after I was with her. For a person living with dementia, this was excruciatingly confusing for her and so painful for me to bear witness to. But as a family, we agreed that my visits were positive for her, and for everyone.
During the spring of 2020, mom’s dementia progressing, the global pandemic in full force, my staff telling me that they were going to have to let go of teaching at my studio because of the stay at home orders (many were mothers who had to stay home with kids), the landlords of my studio also informed me that they could only compromise with rent for 3 months. With clients staying home (forced orders), teachers not coming in, financial challenges at bay, I made the painful decision to let go of the location that I’d had for nearly 20 years because there wasn’t enough revenue coming in for me to stay afloat in the large space with huge overhead. I’d been planning a 20 year celebration party for the next spring, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I began looking for a studio space that would fit my needs, one that would allow me to still see clients (masked, of course) and continue working and being with my passion, movement and education.
October 2020 I was offered a full time salaried position with Pilates Anytime. Taking this position would have been quite an honor, however, it also meant that I wouldn’t be able to teach my clients any longer because I’d be devoting 40 hours a week to the company. I wouldn’t have been able to teach, mentor, travel to see my mother who was slipping away or do much of my work the way I’d always done it as an independent, creative being. I declined their offer. I said no. That decision was one of the most difficult things I had to do. It was an act of courage, to stay in my own lane, uncertain of the economy and global affairs, but I had to follow my heart, as I always do.
I was experiencing grief :: for my brother’s sudden passing, anticipatory grief for my mother and her decline, grief for the shift I had to make in my business due to the pandemic, grief for the loss of friendships with clients and teachers due to the forced orders to stay home, grief for the job change at Pilates Anytime and grief for our planet. As a highly sensitive person (HSP), I was feeling on a level that I’d not experienced before and much of what was familiar, was now feeling painfully distant. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through the dark and heavy days. But I had to. I had to get up, feed the dog, give her a walk and get to the studio. My clients were waiting for me and I had a job to do, gratefully. I had bodies who needed my guidance, minds who needed my challenging task objectives and spirits who needed my smile and my light. I am a light worker, a teacher, a guide. I couldn’t not show up; that’s not what my path is about.
Some of the darkest days I’ve had in my life were during the Covid years. As a single woman, no children, and a mid-life maven (oh yes, I entered menopause at this time as well), I had to turn all of the grief, loss and pain into passion and acceptance. Radical self acceptance. I chose to trudge forward when many days I would’ve rather just stayed home with my grief. I stayed as consistent with my work as I could, stayed focussed on who was in front of me, who needed my gifts just as much as I needed their presence in my studio, I stayed positive and knew that ‘this too shall pass’. My resilience was what got me through.
And it has. I’ve developed a sense of compassion for myself that I didn’t know was possible. I’ve slowed down by choice, am discerning about how I spend my time and who with. I value my relationships more than ever, especially the relationship with myself.
If there is one thing I’ve learned through all of my years doing and being with my Pilates practice is that the relationship I have with myself is number one. I’m it — my breath, my body, my mind and my soul. Giving up isn’t part of the plan. Taking each day as it comes is, being grateful, present, patient, choosing to smile and hold the light. And I do that, one breath at at time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.movewithamyhavens.com/
- Instagram: movewithamyhavens
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amychavens/
- Linkedin: Amy Havens
- Other: https://pilatesanytime.com
Image Credits
Body Moves Photography
Pilates Anytime
Ingrid Bostrom Photography
Robert Mungary