We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashlye Fleming a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashlye, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I took my first BODYROK class back in 2012 in San Francisco after noticing my a friend’s defined arms at a coffee date. She told me she had discovered this new workout and took me with her to her next class. Within 3 minutes of the class I had decided that this workout was absolutely not for me – I felt like I could barely do anything! My muscles were shaking, and I felt entirely humbled… and knew I would never return. About a day later, I felt an amazing soreness in my muscles- all over- and somehow already felt stronger, and so proud of myself for “surviving” it. I decided to sign up for the introductory month and that’s when I fell in love. I had always been a huge fan of group fitness, but had never done anything that was so impactful, fun, and results oriented before. I noticed instant significant improvement in my strength, posture, energy levels, and reduction in back pain within just a few weeks, and to this day have never found anything better.

A couple of years later I had moved from San Francisco to Sonoma County. I had been working in corporate for about a decade at this point and was currently on the Strategy + Marketing team for Athleta. I had had my first baby and was feeling unfulfilled at work, and on a personal level hadn’t been able to find the right workout/gym to help me get back into shape and feeling good. I emailed BODYROK to inquire about them putting a studio in our town, and Jake Irion, the founder, replied to me and said “Why don’t you open one up, I just got my franchise license”.

Opening my own BODYROK seemed completely out of the question, but sparked a fire inside me, made me wonder if this was actually something that I could do at some point. It was an industry I loved, a concept I loved, and a small town that I felt could really benefit from this type of studio.

I spent the summer- completely for fun- creating a business plan, a P+L, and doing my due diligence on other types of fitness studios and franchises. I applied for a small business loan through the SBA (not seriously), and continued my work at Athleta. In the fall of 2015, the SBA got back and said I had been approved for a loan. I thought “how strange that they would trust me with a loan”, since I had no savings or prior business experience, and then went on with my day. The very next day, Athleta announced that we were moving our headquarters from our small town in Sonoma County to be with the rest of Gap Inc in San Francisco. With the length of the commute to the city, and remote work being non existent at that time, this would have meant that I would only seen my daughter on the weekends, which was a non-negotiable for me. This felt like a huge sign from the universe pushing me in a certain direction.

I sat down at dinner that night with my husband and asked him if he’d rather I be a stay at home mom, or start a BODYROK. He said we probably would make more money if I stayed home. I said “Cool- I think I’m going to open up a BODYROK”. We opened our first BODYROK in Petaluma, CA June 1st of 2017. 3 years later, during the pandemic, we sold it and moved our family of now 5 to Nashville, TN! I opened BODYROK Nashville-Gulch in the Spring of 2022, and have since opened 3 more in the Nashville area, with the ultimate goal being 6 locations in the greater Nashville area by 2026.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Ashlye Fleming and I live in Nashville TN. I own and operate all of the BODYROK Nashville Pilates studios. My background is a BA in Business Finance from Loyola Marymount University, and an MBA in Strategic Marketing from the WP Carey School of Business at ASU. From there I worked for about a decade for larger corporations (Benefit Cosmetics, EBAY, Athleta), and ultimately took that experience and applied it to starting my own small business, a BODYROK franchise. I started my first BODYROK in Northern California, and subsequently sold it, moved to Nashville, and opened several more out here.

BODYROK is a Pilates inspired reformer class on a custom BODYROK reformer. Our 40 minute classes are high intensity, low impact, and provide a fun and safe way for you to meet your fitness goals. BODYROK is unique because the 40 minute workouts are both convenient and effective, providing clients a path to their most confident and strongest self. We provide not just a space for clients to meet new heights in their fitness journey, but a place for our members to call home. We pride ourselves in our warm and supportive community and team of staff who are passionate about our brand and what we do.

All of our group classes are meant for all fitness levels, and our classes are small so that you get the attention that you need. Our music is upbeat, and our routines are themed and ensure a full-body workout. We are proud to say we were voted Best Pilates Studio in Nashville in 2023 by Nashville Fit Magazine! We know that choosing a new fitness studio can be incredibly intimidating, and we want clients to know they will be welcomed and supported from the moment they step into our studio.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Reputation is all about the people. Our brand is a services brand, which means our staff is everything. It’s always been extremely important to me to hire staff based on passion for our brand. I am a believer that most skills can be taught, and if you have someone who wants to be there, they’re going to outperform someone who doesn’t, any day of the week.

By careful interviewing, hiring, training and management processes, we have been able to build out a team of instructors, front desk/sales people who stand out. It’s because of them that clients feel drawn to our studio and our classes. We continue to improve on every aspect of management and our leadership meets on a weekly basis to ensure that we are all doing the best that we can to support our team – especially during these years of growth. As a result, we can trust that when client’s come in for their first class, they feel cared for, seen, and assisted through everything from where to park, how to prepare, which package to buy, how to get through a class safely and improve their strength each week.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When my husband and I decided I was going to quit my job to start BODYROK, finances were the scariest thing to overcome. Neither one of us came from wealthy families or had extra financial support from our parents, and we were young, new parents and homeowners, and still very much trying to make ends meet. We had nothing in savings and it was important for us to fund this on our own, without borrowing money or asking for investors. The first step was applying for a small business loan through the SBA, and after getting approved for that, we also were able to talk to a lender about taking out a loan on our house, called a HELOC (home equity line of credit). The interest rate and terms on the HELOC were preferable to the SBA loan, so we went forward with borrowing in that way. Even with the loan, we were barely able to cover the cost of our small buildout, rent and the cost of the franchise fee and machines. When we opened, I was teaching about 30 classes a week, as well as doing all of the front desk, answering phones, emails, sales, cleaning the studio every day, and hiring. We had 2 other instructors in the beginning working about 2-6 classes a week each, and my husband worked about 4 classes a week. Within a few months I was able afford to hire a few more instructors and grow slowly from there- but that first year was definitely a scary balance of what we could afford payroll-wise and the amount of hours my body could handle working! Even with the added financial risk and stress, I knew right away this is what I was meant to be doing with my life. It has fulfilled me in a way I never knew possible. I love to encourage others to take risks and follow their dreams, because really, what do we have to lose?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bodyrok.com/nashville
• Instagram: @bodyroknashville
• Facebook: @bodyroknashville

Image Credits

Mackenzie LaRoe (photo of me + first 4 photos on the group of photos)