Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jess Evans. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jess, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I hope people remember me as someone who never gave up, fearlessly went after a dream and no matter how successful I am in the end, I inspired those around me to go after their dreams too because life is too short and dreams can come true if you work hard enough and want them bad enough. Also, that I was a good person because that’s more important than any amount of success!

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.

I am Jess, the Founder of Dance Factory Fitness. I have been dancing my entire life and I have always wanted to own my own studio. I moved to NYC at the age of 18 to pursue a degree in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College and upon graduation, I danced professionally all over the world. I got into Dance Cardio and began teaching as a side hustle and fell in love with fitness. Teaching felt like performing and I loved inspiring others to stay healthy and fit in a really fun way. I started to develop a name for myself at the startup I worked for in NYC and soon celebrities like Ashley Olsen, Greta Gerwig and Victorias Secret models were taking my classes. Being an Ohio native I dreamed of moving back to the Midwest to raise my family and start my own business. In 2017 my husband, who was a professional actor and I moved to Cincinnati after having our first born, Penny. Six months after arriving I launched Dance Factory Fitness.

I started renting space from a local dance studio and teaching classes daily to try and grow my following. I taught classes to one or two people for what felt like forever but soon, my client base started to grow and I outgrew my rental space and outgrew the next one too. I found a much larger space at The Seven Hills School Fieldhouse and just when it felt like the business was really starting to take off Covid hit. I was kicked out of the Fieldhouse for 15 months and had to pivot to Instagram Live. Within 30 days I launched “WERK from Home” my virtual subscription on Vimeo and started teaching a pop up on Sundays in my local park. Every Sunday 60-80 people would show up to take my class in the park, rain or shine, sun or snow and it was then that I knew I really had something special and I was ready for a brick and mortar of my own.

I found a 4,000SF empty warehouse type building from 1900 in the heart of Madisonville and decided to go for it. There were tons of issues with permits, construction delays and the rehab of the building became extremely expensive. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay for the buildout but, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, taking it day by day and continued to nurture and grow my community of dance enthusiasts. I knew if we could just get our doors open we could really explode and in January of 2024 after 3 years of building, we opened our doors to the Flagship studio and our community showed up in the biggest way!

Dance Factory is unlike any fitness studio around. With a fully automated theatrical light show and DJ mixed playlists in our state of the art studio, fun dance moves designed for non dancers and a truly inclusive, judgement free atmosphere, it turns your workout into a dance party and just feels so fun and unique. There is something for everyone at Dance Factory: Dance Cardio, Sculpt, Barre, Hip Hop Yoga or Cardio Sculpt as well as Kids classes and childcare…it is a one stop shop for dance and fitness. We even do private events, parties and rentals!

I am most proud of my clients and team that never gave up on me for all these years following me all around town to parks, breweries and pop ups as I tried to build a brand. Their unwavering loyalty is what kept me going on the hard days and the reason we are growing and inspiring people all over town to dance with us!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have shown up for my clients every single day for the past 6 years and rarely ever cancelled a class throughout my journey of building this brand. I’ve taught sick, injured and pregnant. I actually taught a class the evening my son was born!

I gave 150% to every class no matter if there were 2 people or 20! I think the word started to spread that I had a great product and as we know, word of mouth is a very powerful thing.

I really give a lot of credit for my success for my hard work and consistency. If I cancelled classes over and over I would have not been a reliable business so, I just kept going and people started to tell their friends about their new favorite workout and I continued to connect with my audience on social media, in a relatable way and I think that resonated with my audience.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I am no social media expert but, until very recently I did 100% of our social media myself. I think what sets me apart from a marketing standpoint is the story behind the brand. I am not afraid to show my face, I am not afraid to talk to the camera, I am an open book about both the ups and the downs in the business with my social following and I get really high engagement on my social accounts for that reason. People know who I am and they trust me and therefore, they trust Dance Factory and the services we provide.

I think many entrepreneurs want a perfectly polished Instagram page with a high follower count but, to me there is no humanity there. Who is the brand? What is the why behind the business? What is the story? Anyone can produce a pretty graphic or a posed picture but, that doesn’t tell me anything about your business.

If you want to find your target audience you have to talk to them like you are talking to a best friend, make them feel seen, add value not just inspiration and post consistently. It is better to have a small social following that is highly engaged (that you can convert to sales $) than hundreds of thousands of followers that don’t interact with your brand at all.

Contact Info:

• Website: dancefactoryfitness.com
• Instagram: @dancefactoryfitness
• Facebook: @dancefactoryfitnessCincy

Image Credits
Ross Van Pelt