We were lucky to catch up with Jordana Herman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jordana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
2017 was the first “risk” opening Roc Pilates. The studio had a combination of refurbished equipment and new equipment from Tecno Pilates in Italy. it was located off Main Street in an old commercial building.
Just as the studio was finding a rhythm, the Covid Pandemic started. That was 2020. Like everyone, we were in a state of shock. For studios, we had to shut down. Over the next three years I slowly sold off the equipment until I had very little left. It was just enough to teach private lessons.
In 2023 when the Pandemic was officially declared over, I had already decided to renew my lease but the big question was what should I do since I only was teaching private lessons.
I had some Tecno folding reformers and decided instead of selling them, I would use them to create a Reformer Class. No one had reformer classes in our area. Between 2024 and 2025 my business grew. The classes were doing well.
With small businesses, sometimes when you overcome one issue, another one appears like whack a mole! The issue was that the clients wanted more and studio space was limited.
The other issue was the location. Being on a side street was nearly like being invisible. If I didn’t want to grow, it would be ok. If I did want to grown the business, incorporate workshops, offer teacher training, and other types of Pilates classes such as mat classes and tower classes, space was the biggest challenge. Renting more space meant taking a huge financial risk.
Main Street in Beacon is a tremendously busy place and the visibility of being on Main Street especially these days when studios are opening everywhere is really important. A friend was insistent I look at an available space on Main Street. It took her awhile but eventually I saw it. It was definitely love at first sight. New construction, high ceilings, plenty of space, a room to designate just for mat classes. The studio is now what I initially envisioned it to be like. I’m really happy with it and excited but I won’t lie, It’s a really scary time.
Some days it feels like bad timing. It’s a lot like I felt during the Pandemic. It causes me a lot of anxiety. I’m not going to lie. I know all small businesses owners struggled then and are probably struggling even more now. The cost of the tariffs have raised the cost of living. We went shopping at the cheapest grocery store and I was in shock as to how much it cost for such a small amount of food. This administration is ruining our small businesses but I’m lucky with where my business is located. Beacon New York is a very popular place to live and work near NYC.
Jordana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I was always into fitness. Not sports but yoga, hiking and growing up in the 80’s I loved all the exercise videos. I’ve lifted weights for years. So my background is a lot different than most Pilates teachers my age. The newer teachers don’t really have a movement background but the OG teachers were mostly dancers. Because I’m not a dancer and I love lifting and all the other stuff, I think I don’t look for my clients to be “perfect”. I think what I’m really good at is helping people resolve pain and in the process, trauma.
Pilates wasn’t even on my radar until I moved out of NYC and someone mentioned it to me. I owned a health food store at the time and my first son was born. I wasn’t in the city anymore and couldn’t go back to doing Lotte Berk. I needed something to get back into shape. I remember trying Pilates it and loving it. It was like being in a jungle gym.
It wasn’t too long after that I went down to the city to study with Bob Liekens. Bob was a 2nd generation teacher. I’m 3rd generation. Bob learned from Romana and Romana learned from Joseph Pilates. This is really important for people who are interested in Pilates to understand. There’s a lineage and we honor the traditional method. All of my Mentors came from incredible traditional backgrounds doing great work so I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to them to continue the classical tradition.
We aren’t about a brand. It is like Martial Arts or Yoga, we train according to the tradition of Joseph Pilates. We don’t make up exercises to do on the reformer like the Reformer studios do. What they teach isn’t considered Pilates. Pilates is an exercise method using all the apparatus Joseph Pilates invented.
You wouldn’t go to the gym and just do squats. You wouldn’t go to yoga and just do chutarungas. You don’t come to the Pilates studio and just workout on the Reformer.
Through consistency and discipline our clients can change their bodies, empower themselves, feel great, do things they haven’t felt strong enough to do. It’s not about followers or fans. We change one body at a time. We do the work quietly just like you would by going to the gym and staying on a healthy diet. It’s about making a commitment to yourself. We’re here to help you not only meet your goals but exceed them. A lot of clients heal themselves, fall in love with Pilates and become teachers!
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
I didn’t have a lot of money. I got lucky and bought my first three reformers in poor used condition for $700. I don’t remember what it cost me to reupholster them but it wasn’t much.
For the rest of the apparatus I went to my local bank and applied for small business loan. I believe the amount of the loan was $20,000. That was the amount I would need to buy the new equipment so that there was a set up for 3 of everything. 3 Reformers, 3 Towers, 3 Wunda Chairs and then a few single pieces for the private lessons such as a Cadillac, High Chair and Ladder Barrel. Not everyone has an easy time getting on and off the Reformers so the Cadillac is particularly an important piece, along with the high chair due to the support the back of the seat and the handles provide.
To secure the lease, my family helped me out. They gave me the money for first and last month’s rent.
The business plan wasn’t just the studio. The rental included the entire 1st floor of the building where the studio was located. My lease permitted me to rent out the additional office spaces to subtenants.
It was really hard to rent those offices during the first year. So despite having put together the initial capital quite seamlessly, that first year wasn’t seamless.
I funded the business with a lot of my own income. I spent a lot of the time commuting to my teaching job in NYC. I took every possible shift and accepted every teacher training weekend I could to help me keep the studio open from 2017-2020.
That’s another reason why the Pandemic was so rough. My teaching job in the city ended overnight. My income was all but non-existent. I took out a PPP loan. All the studios shut down for about 6 months while WHO and doctors around the world were learning more about the corona virus. Thankfully by 2020 I had more tenants who made up for the loss of income from my job in the city.
I’ve bought and sold a lot of apparatus over the last decade. It’s been another way to bring in some funds. During the pandemic I sold literally all of my apparatus off piece by piece and bought used equipment when I could. I just had a set up for only 1 client. But things change and once 2024 rolled around, I wanted to circle back to what I planned to start with which was teaching a minimum of 3 clients at a time. So buying and selling equipment has helped fund the business during hard times. But it’s not been an easy road. I’m still paying off the PPP loan but my initial loan has been paid off for a while now.
It’s true that you have to spend money to make money. It’s not an easy reality to sit with but being in business for myself holds a specific freedom.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Women’s health is a big conversation that comes up a lot in the studio. Menopause specifically is a big issue.
I really thought I was going to make it through the Menopause years unscathed and come out the other side of it without any problems. Boy was I wrong!
When your body has other plans for you, when you can barely get out of bed, you have migraines and hurt all over, you can’t sleep anymore, you’re having trouble concentrating while you still have children to raise, a house to take care of and a business to run, its eye opening.
Changing your mentality, reassessing what you can expect of yourself really requires a major pivot from what you used to do to a lot of years of trial and error. My way of pivoting has always been to look towards movement as my answer.
When I really couldn’t move the way I was accustomed to, I needed help. I needed therapy. Talk therapy and hormone therapy.
Its my strong opinion that gentler Pilates and light weight training + counting calories can heal just about anyone and any condition but man, when those things aren’t working and you feel awful all the time, figuring out what’s wrong and getting some help is totally necessary.
Pivoting is so important. It can be the realization that you can’t continue functioning the way you used to. Time to change the way you used to run your business, time to change your lifestyle, be flexible and accepting.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rocpilates.net
- Instagram: @rocpilates
- Facebook: @rocpilatesstudio
- Youtube: @rocpilates
Image Credits
Flynn Larsen Photography