Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kayla Brugger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kayla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

Before Pilatesbody by Kayla doors opened in 2020 I worked at a well known gym for 10 years and I truly enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun with my co-workers and clients, it was extremely high energy and I had no reason to leave. That was before the pandemic forced doors to close, I was 8 months pregnant, unemployed and soon to be a first time mom! I had started a few small side hustles and dabbled into entrepreneurship a bit but never wanted to go all in that was until I was forced to. After my planned 3 month maternity leave ended I was preparing to go back to work but there simply wasn’t work as the gyms were just allowed to reopen. That was my sign to give this thing a go, build a home Pilates studio and start training clients in the middle of the pandemic with a newborn at home. Not crazy at all! Little did I know my schedule would fill up faster than I could find a daycare opening! I’ve had so much fun the last 3 years watching my business grow right alongside my babies. As we are approaching year 3, looking back I was destined for this and truly wish I would have pulled the trigger sooner but all in all the timing was just right and the unexpected events of 2020 were an absolute blessing for me and my growing family. Thus far my studio has grown to 30 clients a week, Pilatesbody on Demand App has 4 instructors, I have 2 subcontractors and all social platforms including YouTube are seeing incredible growth. I’m truly having so much fun sharing my passion and helping others feel well and move well, through Pilatesbody by Kayla.

Kayla, 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?

I feel cliché starting off like this, but like so many other entrepreneurs, I started PILATESBODY by Kayla in the height of the COVID shut down as the gym I had been teaching at for 6 years closed. I started to get creative with my clients during this time and was finding different ways to get Pilates in bodies without being in a studio! I had just given birth to my baby girl, Bobbi (now 3), and I was jobless and eager to come back from my maternity leave and teach Pilates. My husband mentioned turning our storage garage into a Pilates studio and he’d do the work. I was all in! He transformed the space within 6 weeks and by the time my daughter was 5 months old I was privately training Pilates clients in my brand-new home Pilates studio!

It has been a wild 3 years! When I was postpartum with my first, Bobbi, I wanted to create a Pilates challenge that would encourage women to feel supported, help them ease their way back into exercise, and also encourage those who’ve never done Pilates before to feel confident in starting in the comfort of their homes! I developed the 8-week PILATESBODY Challenge to lead a community of women towards inner core strengthening, breathwork, building body confidence, and cultivating a 360° approach to a healthy(ish) lifestyle. This is when my life completely transformed and I stopped doing CrossFit, running, and lifting heavy weights all together.

As someone who has personally struggled with low back pain since teenage years and has osteoarthritis, high-impact workouts were physically doing me more harm than good. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the mental grind, grit, and competition of CrossFit—Oh, how it brought me back to my gymnastics days! However, the constant aches, pains, and fatigue my body felt were not worth it. Once I started exploring Pilates for Stretch, Stamina, and Strength purposes, it completely transformed my body and mind. I have never been more lean, flexible, and confident (even after 2 babies)!

My app, PILATESBODY On-Demand, came to life in 2021 and we host over 250 classes (100+ prenatal friendly classes), 4 instructors, and make Pilates accessible to you at home. I also welcomed my son, Nash, into the world in spring of 2022! Life has been crazy and I’m so thankful for the mental clarity and breathwork Pilates brings to my crazy life of 2 toddlers to help keep me sane and manage the many unexpected emotions mom life carries.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I think everyone is looking for 1 magical answer when it comes to social media and I am still looking for it! The online space as been the most challenging to tap into and specifically social media. It has taken me nearly 2 years to actually flip my mindset around social media and show up passionately because I actually WANT to not because I HAVE to. The biggest audience builder for me has been continuing to add value and be vulnerable by sharing my real life experiences that people can relate to and connect with. My biggest advice is to show up when it works for you and don’t force it otherwise it’ll feel like a chore.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is an interesting question for me because I have a super unique situation where I didn’t need any funding or capital to get started. I am so fortunate that the way our home is set up to have a completely separate driveway and entrance to my Pilates studio and my husband did all the remodeling and design work to turn it into a studio. The only investment was equipment that I pulled from personal savings and paid back fairly quickly as I started with used equipment just to get up and running. I currently have no over headed expenses of rent, utilities, etc. Minimizing expenses up front and continuing to do so is truly what allowed my business to thrive without taking a financial risk up front and being profitable from the get go. My biggest advice is to…If you’re able to, use current spaces that won’t cost you any additional fees until you out grow them or can afford to pay rent!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pilatesbodybykayla.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pilatesbodybykayla/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pilatesbodybykayla/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcl9EjgN87HWNZx_0PXbI9g
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pilatesbodybykayla