We were lucky to catch up with Kari Coffindaffer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kari, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
Fitness studios generally rely on external factors to validate an exercise or workout experience. Use of mirrors, metrics, competition, comparison, etc are all used.
At RINSE, we believe that physical fitness can be an internally validated experience. We don’t use mirrors, metrics, or any form of comparison and teach from sensation/feeling cues rather than outward appearance cues. We have found that this builds a better brain to body connection, so you are actually working with yourself from the inside out vs trying to recreate an appearance or hit a number. In our experience this also builds confidence, which generates a higher output of work and offsets self doubt and insecurity when it comes to movement.
Everyone deserves a space where they can be authentically who they are and who they need to be in that moment. RINSE was created to be that space, to use movement to empower individuals, and to build connection to self and community. Beat based cycling and bootcamp is utilized as a method to improve awareness and brain chemistry (& bonus: it is so much fun). Combined with thoughtfully curated playlists, distraction-free spaces, and a positive message, you are sure to walk out feeling refreshed and energized.
At RINSE, the focus is always on how something feels. We let go of image, numbers, and screens to fully step into the power we have in the moment.The emphasis of every class is foundational strength and growth – to find something you can do and to do it incredibly well.
Our riders/athletes have told us things like they never truly understood what self love or self worth meant until they started coming consistently. It has given people the courage to get married, apply (and get) new jobs, it has been a support system for riders going through cancer treatments, and so much more.
As the owner I feel so incredibly grateful to have been given this gift that is RINSE and to be able to share it with others. It has changed my life in a huge way and it is so inspiring to see if change other people’s as well.
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?
In 2015 I was trying to find a good cycling studio when I moved to Dayton and the main one was heart rate and competition based. I went several times and always left frustrated because I have such a low resting heart rate I couldn’t hit the high zones and also as a highly competitive person I would get upset with myself for not performing well on the leader board. I would push so hard I would feel physically ill. I kept thinking that someone should open a beat based studio like I had been to in bigger cities where the focus was more holistic in nature. It stayed in the back of my head and honestly felt like a pipe dream of something I wanted to do myself.
Fast forward to January 2017, and I was unexpectedly let go from my job. I did what probably most people do and I called my mom on my way home crying, got home, changed for a run, put my head phones in and tried to zone out. Movement has always been my safe space growing up in athletics and playing college soccer. I felt I could always be myself and also be the best version of myself. Partially because it was because I now know I actually allowed myself to feel my emotions. This run post traumatic event hit me hard. I felt both heartbroken and free at the same time – I went through moments of crying from sadness to smiling because I knew that even though this hurt, I had the opportunity to be intentional with what I did next. All the ideas for a studio came to me and the name ‘RINSE CYCLE’ has a grip on me. I wanted to create a place for people to be able to feel safe physically, mentally, and emotionally and use movement to process, grieve, get stronger, etc. I got back from the run, sat down at my computer and started working on a business plan.
The business plan did not go according to plan at first but it ended up being better that way. I got an incredible deal on some bikes before I had a space and I started doing rides in my garage to practice in March 2023. The city shut those down after a month and a half and then I found a temporary location in September to keep momentum before landing a permanent space that opened June 2018.
Covid nearly killed it all and it has been struggle to find normalcy since then. I am so proud of my team for going digital immediately through instagram lives and then launching an on demand. We rented out bikes and did everything we could to support our community until we were able to reopen.
I just opened our second location and I am so excited to see the impact that will have on a new city.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I think any business owner faced a significant pivot when it came to covid. This was compounded for me personally because in January I had ended my marriage of 10 years, moved out on my own with a 4 year old child and was 100% completely financially independent. My entire world shifted drastically and it felt like I was starting completely over on all fronts.
Then we look at the fitness industry and how heavily effected by this it was because suddenly, something that was designed to keep people healthy was now labeled as one of the most unhealthy things you could do. Breathe heavily in a room with other people. The taper started to happen and morally I was feeling the impact that it could have and I made the decision to close (I will never forget saying that we would re-evaluate after a week) before the state of Ohio mandated it.
The last ride we had was Sunday at 4p and I woke up the next morning and started doing no equipment workouts on instagram live as a way to keep everyone connected. I remember talking to my friend Cassi a few days after being like we are going to hold, this will be over soon, I’m not renting out the bikes. Two days later I decided to rent out all the bikes. We then started filming for on demand content and redid the website and launched an on demand site through vimeo.
I remember talking to other business owners and we were all like, “yes, this is pivot or die” and 6 months in it was clear that if you did not innovate you also died. I can’t tell you how many times we had to redo the business plan in a year in a half. Thank god I was in therapy weekly processing so much grief between my personal and business life. And if anyone has ever lost a dog, you know how hard that is, I also had of dog of 11 years die in November 2020.
Maybe innovation and resiliency go hand in hand. I think that in order to truly be innovative you have to be willing to take risks. Unless you trust yourself, your capabilities, your vision and your team, you will never be willing to go for things outside the box. I also think a lot of internal trust is actually built through failure. Like wow, my life is 100% not what I thought it would be or everything I worked so hard for just got wiped out by a global pandemic no one saw coming, but I am still here and what I can do today can still make an impact.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think authenticity and knowing our core values are two of the biggest things that have driven both my and RINSE’s reputation. I believe it built a level of trust that allowed people to show up and be their most authentic selves as well. It provided safety in a way that was both profound and honestly a bit accidental.
It still blows my mind today when I see anyone wearing merch with the logo on it. Like that person can wear anything and they are choosing to wear something that came from my soul. The first time I did a merch preorder I remember crying when the first person emailed me and sent money to pay for it. I’ll reference my friend Cassi again, but she tells the story when we first met at her first ride and she remembers me being so excited that she was there. And I genuinely was and still am so excited that anyone would chose to be here.
We so rarely give our full attention to anything for 50 minutes. During a class, people give me their undivided attention. What I say, the music I play, the energy I lead with can be a difference maker in their day. I know that the best way to connect with them and lead powerfully is for me to be at my most authentic self. Because when I am authentically me, whatever shape that is that day, I am at my most powerful.
Our core values are sweat, the beat, strength, tenacity, and clean. People come to us for a workout, come back for the beat, start to build strength, develop a layer of tenacity or resilience because they know every time they get better, and leave feeling refreshed. Everything we do from a start to end user process needs to meet at least one or all of these core values. If it doesn’t, we don’t do it.
Knowing who you are and communicating it clearly pays off.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rinsecycleclub.com
- Instagram: @rinsecycleclub @karinoelc
- Facebook: @rinsecycleclub
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-coffindaffer-5aa17822
- Yelp: RINSE CYCLE
Image Credits
Rooted Creative & Immerse Photography