We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Becca Graham and Sarah Morford a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Becca and Sarah, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The fitness industry is ever-evolving. Although there are important changes beginning to take place, there is still a high emphasis on calorie-counting, fat-burning, body size transformations, and pushing your body to burnout. We believe it’s never too late to learn, acknowledge our contribution to problematic industry standards, and shift accordingly. For years, we offered a results-based program that included before/after photos, weigh-ins, and measurements, applauding decreasing numbers and sizes. Although it was our highest revenue generator, we hit the brakes on the program realizing it wasn’t in line with our company values. We want all of our classes and programs to reflect our belief that all bodies are good bodies.
At FIT4MOM Fort Worth, we approach movement from a place of gratitude for the ways our bodies carry us through life. We have a gentle and sustainable approach to helping women find strength in each stage of motherhood, especially during Pre and Post Natal transitions. Instead of numbers on a scale, we focus on functional movements that will empower our clients to chase their kids, lift strollers, and lean down to pick up a rogue LEGO or pacifier. Regressions and progressions are provided for exercises so that every client can modify a movement in the way that feels best for her body. A mom can show up to class exhausted after a sleepless night with her baby and might prefer slow squats with feet anchored to the ground. Whereas the mom next to her may have come to class ready to push her body as stress relief and she chooses jump squats. Both moms are completing squats, but the power of choice helps each woman get what she needs at that moment.

Motherhood can be unpredictable so we shoot for consistency over perfection and celebrate when moms show up for themselves. We take a holistic health approach to goal setting, encouraging moms to consider their mental, emotional, and physical health and the demands in their season of life. Women come to FIT4MOM Fort Worth initially for movement, but they end up staying for the community. Motherhood can be a lonely journey. Fresh air, movement, and conversations with people who understand your stage of life can make a huge difference in someone’s wellbeing. We believe in the power of working out together, building community and friendships that last far beyond a 60-minute class.

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?

FIT4MOM took both of us by surprise, taking us on an unexpected journey. One of us has a background in business and entrepreneurship and the other one has a background in social work. So although we were headed on different career paths, both of us were deeply changed by our own experiences as clients of FIT4MOM. We each found FIT4MOM classes and community during times when we felt alone (Becca was the first of her friend group to become a mom, and Sarah was living on a military base as a new mom, far from her community). Already passionate about the mission of FIT4MOM, the flexibility of owning a franchise was perfect for us. It allows us to be present with our families, flexible for our partners’ full-time careers, and feel integrated with a work/life balance.

One of the biggest solutions we provide for moms is an avenue to movement without the hurdle of finding childcare. Our stroller classes allow moms to bring their kids with them to work out. It can be difficult to find a gym with trusted childcare or coordinate schedules with a support system to watch the little ones. All of our instructors are Pre and Post Natal fitness certified. So if a mom is pregnant, but wants to come to Stroller Strides with her toddler, she is in safe hands and can modify movements if and when she needs to. We also have mama-only classes for women who need some focused time without kids around. In motherhood, no matter what stage, we give and give and give. FIT4MOM is a chance for women to be poured into and support one another through movement, encouragement, and community.

We provide a safe environment for women to bring their whole selves to class – the messy, the late, the crying kids, the post-partum depression, the miscarriages, and the loneliness – all of it is welcome at FIT4MOM. Although we are a fitness company, our main focus is building community. In each class, we provide mom-to-mom connections helping women feel less alone. We have grandmothers, widowers, single moms, step-moms, career-focused moms, stay-at-home moms… a wide variety of women connected through motherhood and movement. Our hope is to continue building an inclusive environment and seeing the ripple effect for generations to come from women prioritizing self-worth, self-care, and being connected to a support system.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

More commonly known as “word of mouth” or referrals, we lovingly call this “word of mom.” We find the majority of our clients through our current or former clients who talk about, share on social media, and recommend our communities to their friends all over the country. The word of a trusted friend is vetted and guaranteed. Because word of mom is continuously our number one lead source, we do our best to help moms to have a top-notch experience with us. Motherhood can sometimes be a thankless season of life. So we are intentional about celebrating our clients, looking them in the eye, saying their names instead of referring to them as “____’s mom”, and helping them feel seen and known. Our hope is for every mom whose chapter with FIT4MOM is done to leave with a warmness in their heart and fond memories of their time with us.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Becca, here.

Anna, the founder of FIT4MOM Fort Worth, passed me the torch as owner in 2015. Through the following years, I clumsily ran the business while raising three young kids and loving it. My days were a messy compilation of diapers, emails, play dates, and payroll. Near the end of 2019, a 5-year-old joined our family. Although I had been somehow keeping most plates spinning up until that point, I dropped every single plate when we added our fourth kid. All of my rhythms went out the window. Right when I was finally getting my feet back under me and figuring out how to run my business again with growing pains at home, COVID hit. So like most businesses, I was in complete survival mode. In the fall of 2020, I really felt like I needed to add a co-owner or pass along the owner torch to someone else.

Sarah moved to Fort Worth in 2020 having already been part of several FIT4MOM franchises across the country (Army life). She saw an ad for FIT4MOM Fort Worth classes and jumped right into our village as a member. Not too long after, she began asking how she could support me and this business. Her passion for FIT4MOM was apparent and the energy I needed to keep going. Although she thought she would just be helping plan Mom’s Nights, I knew pretty early on in my gut that I wanted to ask her to be the co-owner. She was very surprised when I threw the idea out there, but she said “yes”!

So after a few months of walks, coffee meetings, and brainstorming, we were on our way to a beautiful partnership.

For so long, the story I told myself was that to be strong, I need to be able to juggle this business and motherhood by myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself to not be a “failure”. However, in the end, I was reminded that strength comes from community and the exponential power of shouldering burdens together. Bringing on Sarah as a co-owner not only was the opposite of failure, it was the energizing life-raft I needed to keep going in a business that has my whole heart. She was the right person at the right time and I’m forever grateful to do this travel this road with a teammate.

Contact Info:

• Website: fortworth.fit4mom.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fit4momfortworth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fit4MomFortWorth

Image Credits
Meredith Green Photography Lisa Nottoli Photography