We recently connected with Caitlin Cecil-Sykes and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Caitlin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

The kindest thing you can do for anyone is love and support them. I genuinely feel like the more people you have in your corner as cheerleaders, the better off you are. When I decided to get my MBA, my husband, Tim was my biggest cheerleader and supporter. When I thought that a multi format fitness studio might do well in Cleveland, Ohio, he encouraged me and lifted me up. Tim used words like “I know you can do this,” and “I know it will be a success.”

During Covid, we both had some free time in our full time jobs and other commitments. My husband went back to school to get a second Masters degree, and I decided to get my MBA. His encouragement never wavered when my next idea was to create a multi format fitness studio as my final project for my MBA, I remember him telling me to use actual data from the Cleveland market because we would be moving there soon and this business could be a real studio at some point. At the time, I never actually thought I would ever open a business, but he knew.

We arrived at another inflection point in life and got the chance to begin working on creating a brick and mortar studio based on my ideas. Even through scouting for locations and deciding on formats, it never really set in for me that this was something I was creating. Tim was taking time out of his day to day life to create this with me. He helped me chose a location, file paperwork, and he and my dad built out the barres and the structural needs inside the space. Tim shows his love and kindness through time spent and support. I don’t know how I will ever thank him fully or express how much it means to me that I have him in my corner. Creating this business, it made me work harder knowing that I had him with me along for the ride and that he knew that I could do it, even when I thought that I couldn’t.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I founded and opened a multi format fitness and wellness studio in Ohio City, named Free Hearts. I have worked in marketing and brand development full time for most of my life while teaching of managing group fitness for fun. I love the positive encouragement and energy that can come working out in a group space with others, while remaining true to yourself and your personal needs.

Most fitness studios are one type of format like a cycling studio or a yoga studio only, or they offer multiple formats but there isn’t much of a a common thread in the space to link everything together. My idea for Free Hearts was to create a space where people could come and take fitness classes in multiple formats, including meditation. This means that physical wellness, mental and emotional wellness, and social wellness are all considered in one space. I found that before, I was going to multiple studios at one given time for different types of workouts, and seeking out other ways to serve my spiritual and social needs. In a given week that could have been a dance class at studio A, a Pilates class at studio B, then a sound bath across town at a community center. At Free Hearts, we offer all of these types of experiences in one safe studio where you can grow along with others, become part of a community, and feel welcome and supported for being who you are and taking what you need.

I want people to feel that they can fully be themselves in our space, they can ask questions, create new things, make friends, and feel individual and community support in every class or event we offer.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I like to think about engagements I have had with businesses in the past that have made a real impact on me or that I appreciate. One of the most important things to me as a consumer or client is touch points, being recognized by a business, feeling listened to, and being taken along the journey with the business.

I have tried to create this with Free Hearts. Every single person that walks into the studio should feel like they are welcomed, acknowledged, and recognized. It is important when building a brand to define the values that create your brand, and then live those values through the business day to day. For example, our values at Free Hearts are inclusivity, informality, respect, openness, charity, authenticity, and compassion. With every touchpoint and every client, we should be thinking, are we acting within these values? Was the interaction we just had done with respect and compassion? Is the studio as inclusive as it can be? How can we be more charitable through our community actions? Once I aligned with the values I wanted for our brand, I knew that the right clients would find us and we would create those touch points with them to foster brand loyalty.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Marketing and sales is all about risk. One of my favorite things and least favorite things about myself is that I am not a perfectionist. I am a firm believer in the “shipped is better than perfect” idea in that when you are building a business, not everything is going to be perfect all of the time. Sometimes you have to use what you have, throw it out there, get feedback on it, and then iterate and start over with a better idea.

We opened with free preview classes when all we had was a space, a sound system, and basic equipment. I did not charge for these classes because I knew I wanted to just get a feel for how the space worked during a class, how the software responded to people signing up, how the mic and music sounded, and how people would react to the parking, find the front door, etc. I was clear that these were free classes so we could trial our space and that the paid schedule would be up soon with more options.

If I had waited for the space to be perfect, we never would have opened, or we would have charged people for classes while sorting out the kinks, and that would have been a terrible customer experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.freeheartscle.com
• Instagram: @freeheartscle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-cecil-sykes-47723a9/

Image Credits

Paige Marguiles