We were lucky to catch up with Erica Hostettler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Erica, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

If you have a dream of becoming a business owner, you have to be willing to take risks. This is a scary place to be when the future seems unknown. But for me, this is where faith in God to always pull me through kicks in. I started Soul Fitt in 2015 in church basements. I had enough money in my bank account to buy a stereo, that was it. I couldn’t afford rent, so I did the only thing I knew to do. I went to churches to see if anyone was willing to allow me to use their space for free. Thankfully, I found 3 churches and Soul Fitt began. It was a small risk. I kept my day job so I still had secure income and 3 nights per week I took my stereo around to churches and taught fitness classes. Although it was a small risk, it was still a risk. I wasn’t really out financially yet. It was more of a risk of myself. I put myself out there and risked the chance of failing.

Fast forward two years to 2017 and I felt God calling me to quit my full time paying job and take a chance on my business completely. This is when risk became real. This was a huge, scary step. I had a following at church, but I also didn’t have rent at church. Taking the full leap and getting a store front required me to risk my comfort.

All I can say is….take the risk. No risk, no reward. Business has been one of the top 3 challenging things of my life, but it has also been in the top 3 of most rewarding. Take the risk and don’t look back. Have faith and trust that God brought you to this calling for a reason. Take the leap.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Erica Hostettler and I am the founder of Soul Fitt. I fell in love with making fitness fun at the young age of 15. My mom had been in a weight loss journey and as a teenager, my appearance mattered to me. Her and I began taking Zumba classes at the local YMCA. The instructor pulled me aside one day and told me I was really great. She asked if I had ever considered a career in fitness. That’s all it took. It took one person having some faith in me. I got certified as a Zumba instructor and the journey began. From there I gained as much experience teaching as I could at any fitness center that would take me. I pursued certifications and then my four year degree in health. While in school I had the opportunity to manage Anytime Fitnesses. I learned a lot about the fitness field, but I recognized a missing piece in most fitness centers…community. People would come into the gym and be unsure about what to do, they would feel self conscious and often times not come back. Soul Fitt was created to change this experience. We have a fitness studio that is welcoming as soon as you walk in the doors. We call it the Soul Fitt Family, because truly that’s what it is. People walk into our gym feeling self conscious, but they never leave our gym feeling that. We make them instantly comfortable. This is the thing I am most proud of. We have worked extremely hard to create an environment that fosters this kind of community, and that is the Soul Fitt difference. At Soul Fitt, we don’t want our clients to just experience fitness. Our tagline is “it’s more than just fitness” and we mean that with every fiber of our being. Our clients become real to us, not just a number. We help them recognize their beauty and worth that they may have lost along the way. We do this both in person and through our virtual membership. It doesn’t take long to realize it’s different at Soul Fitt.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The best business owners must know how to pivot. When Covid hit in 2020, of course many fitness businesses closed completely. My store front closed. My husband, myself, and our 2 kids sold everything we owned and hit the road in an RV for 2 years. It was the most amazing experience, but we still needed to make income. Although my store front closed, I didn’t shut down my business completely; I simply pivoted. I took my current members and moved them over to an online membership. It started as workouts inside an online portal. At the end of my workouts I always try to encourage our members with Bible verses and motivating things. That started to become the most important part for this ladies and our online membership started to shift to a ministry. We started to do more encouragement for total wellness, not just fitness. Although my online membership didn’t make as much money as my store front, there was also a lot less expenses. We just opened our storefront back up in 2023. I am so thankful we learned to pivot during that time instead of giving up on the business completely. Had we quit completely, our brand would not have continued to become known and we may have never reopened the storefront.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Oh the finances….this is a fun one when it comes to business. Personally, in our home life we have always tried our best to carry very little debt. My husband and I both have been self employed for a majority of our 20’s and 30’s. He had a lawn care business at the same time that I had the fitness studio. Now we both work Soul Fitt full time. If we had not followed Dave Ramsey principles in our home life and had minimal debt and a large savings, the entrepreneur life would have been impossible. In the start up phase, pay is very inconsistent…at least it was for us. We kicked our business off by using our own personal savings from past home sales and saving over time. In the first few years, there were many months where our savings paid our at home bills, because our business income had to pay our business expenses. In 2020 when we closed the fitness storefront and his lawn care business, we were able to sell all of our equipment form both businesses and some contracts to stock up some cash again. This second time around when we reopened the store front, we also used our savings. But, we are at a place where it is time to expand. We have outgrown our fitness studio and expanding to our next phase is going to cost more than we having in savings. We are currently looking into doing some fundraising events as well as potentially finding a business investors to help us. This will be the first time we hav taken the risk over 8 years of getting capital from someone other than our own personal savings. It hasn’t been easy. It has required a lot of sacrifice on our end, but we know it is worth it and that is why we keep moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.soulfitt.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericahostettler/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ehostettler
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL-fgEeFV1UCANvPlWNfS6w