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

KARIS, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Yes, I absolutely take vacations and believe in them for many reasons! My goal is to take at least 12 weeks of vacation a year, not including weekend/long weekend getaways.

As business owners we have the tendency to over work and push ourselves to burnout, when in reality that is not what is healthy for us or our businesses and employees. I have found that one week away can completely change the way I see my business! When my physical body is not in the studio daily, I am able to see clearly things we should change, solutions to problems, innovative growth strategies and so on. The things you can see when you give yourself the time to think is incredible, on vacation you take away the hustle of the day to day and can actually innovate and think, because let’s be honest, as a business owner, when on vacation I am still thinking about my business!

On top of that, removing yourself from the business for some time proves to you that the business can run without you, as well as showing your employees that you trust them and believe in them!

The best advice I can give to entrepreneurs who struggle to take a vacation is to just do it!

KARIS, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I played high level soccer growing up and after high school moved out to Colorado and got very into snowboarding. I was so young but my body was so tight from all of these activities, but I loved to exercise! I knew there must be a form of exercise that would help me stay strong while helping my mobility. After moving back to South Carolina I started taking pilates and quickly realized it was everything I was looking for! In Columbia there wasn’t a workout studio that facilitated my fitness goals while providing community. I desired to find a studio that provided professionalism in its pilates instruction AND brought real results. So the WRKT was born.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Owning a business really is a crash corse in pivoting, if it’s not one thing, it’s another!

Last year I got a call in the middle of the night that a oak tree had fallen on our main location and the building was on fire. I quickly got up there to see it was far worse than I could have imagined. The tree had come through the roof into the building in at least 30 places, all the while it was a hurricane, lots wind and rains of course.

This was an opportunity to feel sorry for myself and become crippled by self pity or get to work! So get to work it was! We removed everything from the building and went to work on getting it fixed while finding a temporary space. We were only closed for three weeks before opening in another location, which of course included finding one, renovating it, negotiating a short term lease, marketing and keeping in touch with clients, AND dealing with fixing the other business.

We operated our of our temporary location for over 6 months before being able to move back into our original location.

This whole process was exhausting physically and mentally, and expensive! But we are better for it. Our space is renovated nicer than it was before and our business is better! We know how to market more strategically and so on.

Business throws us a whole lot of pivotal moments and it is up to us to lead the charge in pivoting in a positive direction!

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

It’s not what you say, it’s what you do! My goal for our studios is to do what we say we will do. I personally believe that builds a reputation quickly. I believe that as we keep our commitments, do not cancel on people, and just stay consistent, that builds our reputation stronger than if we were telling people how great we are all of the time!

When you do what you say you will do, there is no need to prove your reputation, it speaks for it’s self!

“Work hard in silence, let success make your noise” – Frank Ocean

Contact Info:

• Website: thewrkt.com
• Instagram: thewrkt and karisloewen
• Facebook: Karis Loewen and The Wrkt
• Linkedin: Karis Loewen
• Yelp: The Wrkt