We recently connected with Amy Haas and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How has Covid changed your business model?

Run with Aim lives within the health, fitness, and sports category – all of which tend to done in-person. Recently, however, things have definitely started to pivot towards online options for health and fitness: online personal trainers, training programs, and virtual workouts. While this was present before covid, covid absolutely seemed to speed up the process – especially in the world of running.

Prior to covid, running was a pretty typical in-person activity. There were some virtual events, but it wasn’t very common. During covid – all races, in-person meet-ups and groups, activities, and gyms were closed down – forcing ALL runners to run alone. I immediately saw the space for a virtual challenge to take root & created Run with Aim.

Since covid, we have been adding some in-person events and race meet-ups, but our business remains online & thriving because of the space that was opened up by covid.

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?

My name is Amy Haas & I’m the owner of the Run with Aim Group. Personally, this journey started back in 2012 when I decided I was going to run a half marathon in every state. At that time, running was just a hobby – something I enjoyed but barely had time for. Nevertheless, I decided to start an Instagram page dedicated to sharing my journey as I traveled to each state and checked it off the list.

Professionally, I would say my journey started in 2018 when I decided to quit my job as a preschool teacher & go out on my own. By this point, both my Instagram platform and my passion for running had grew substantially, and it was becoming hard to keep up with a 9-5. I was terrified, but determined. I wanted to create something that combined my passions: social media, running, teaching, educating, connecting, and learning – but I had no idea what that would look like or how it could work. As I connected with women on Instagram, I noticed themes: a need for connection among the women, a desire to learn from me and my journey, and a general lack of motivation stumping many women. With my background in Education and Curriculum Design, I decided I would make a virtual running program for these women: The Run with Aim Group.

The Run with Aim Group is a women’s virtual running group where female runners of every age, location, and ability level can come together to run, have fun, and get S#*% done. The group is conducted in seasons of 10-weeks each, during which the women are placed into small teams of 25-30 other female runners to learn about running, meet new running friends, earn tickets by accomplishing their goals, and win prize giveaways from a variety of incredible brands!

The women earn tickets through weekly challenges and activities including weekly Monday check-ins, running workouts, fun weekend challenges, and the occasional bonus opportunity. The more tickets one earns, the higher their chances of winning the awesome prize giveaways. In addition, the women have access to an entire resource library full of strength workouts, recipes, articles, and so much more throughout the season to help them set & accomplish their goals.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is at the heart of Run with Aim. We have built our audience through education & community. Our posts seek to provide these women with a space where they can share, learn, and engage with one another. We celebrate their wins through social media, reshare their hard work, and provide consistent opportunities for the women to learn more about the topic they’re interested in, see other inspiring and motivating examples, and share their own questions and stories.

For those just starting a social media presence, the most important thing is consistency. You must post regularly, frequently, and consistency in order to establish a place in your niche. You must genuinely care about what your audience wants and what they are looking for – and then you must CREATE that for them. You must reflect upon what’s working well and what isn’t, and you must be willing to adapt accordingly. Lastly, you must learn from OTHERS. Social media is an ever changing game, and you’re going to need to find reliable ways to pick up on those trends.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

One of the best ways to do this is by creating a sense of fulfillment, high expectations, and high empathy. You must find what truly motivates each member of your team, and adjust your strategy accordingly. You must hold high expectations of them in order to help them, and the team, succeed – but you must also do so with compassion, especially in today’s world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://instagram.com/raceacrossthestates?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/runwithaimgroup?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Image Credits
Angie Ludwig Photography