We recently connected with Kim Bouldin and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, appreciate you joining us today. If you’re open to it, can you talk to us about the best (or worst) investment you’ve made. What’s the backstory and the relevant context behind why you made the investment

The best investment I’ve made as a business owner was to hire a business coach to help us build systems so we could scale and grow. The business was growing, but all of the operations and admin tasks were being done by me and/or tucked away inside my head. This decision to take that step couldn’t have come at a better time – March 16, 2020 – the day before we shut down our brick & mortar location for 10-weeks due to Covid-19. Making that investment when we did allowed us to immediately pivot to offering live Zoom training sessions for those 10-weeks (and beyond) and ultimately grow during and after the pandemic. We’ve continued to offer Zoom training options for those clients who are traveling and don’t want to miss workouts, who may have been exposed to Covid but aren’t ill, and reaching women who live too far away to attend our in-person sessions. Having the support of our business coach during that time (and after) made all of the difference in the world and took a lot of the guesswork out of navigating uncharted territory.

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 have always been interested in fitness and nutrition but didn’t make it my career until I was almost 40 years old. I began regular exercising again when I was around 35 – after we were done having kids. I had a strong dislike of the cardio machines at the gym, so I decided to give running a try. Yes, I do run on a treadmill occasionally, but I much prefer outdoors. As I fell in love with running and then half marathons (and eventually full marathons) I discovered that it was necessary to strength train and take care of the muscles in my body so they could support my running habit. I joined a big box gym and started lifting weights. It really wasn’t as simple as it sounds…I was extremely intimidated to do anything besides use the treadmill in the gym because I felt like everyone was staring at me because I didn’t know what to do. As time went on I taught myself and got comfortable in the gym, especially when I joined one that had a “women only” area. At this point in my life my kids were old enough that I was ready to go back to working outside of the home and I didn’t want to go back to my previous career in property management. I asked myself what I really felt passionate about and it was fitness. I wanted to help women feel more comfortable in a gym environment so that obstacle didn’t stop them from taking steps to feel better, have more energy, and live their best life. I studied to get my personal training certification in 2012 and starting working with clients before the end of the year.

FabYOUlous Fitness was established in 2012 and we opened our first brick and mortar location in 2018. We are a by-appointment-only fitness studio for women. We offer small group personal training, personal training, corrective exercise, and several group fitness class offerings. Our program, the Fab Fit Method, helps guide women through sustainable habits in fitness, nutrition, sleep, stress management, etc so they can feel better and have more energy so they can live life on their terms. We see the individual and custom design each client’s program. Our elite level accountability coaches help ensure that if a client gets stuck they have support.

Our mission is to remove one of the biggest obstacles keeping women from exercise – fear of the gym. We go above and beyond to create a safe environment for exercise.

I am most proud of the way FabYOUlous Fitness has continued to grow, even during the tough times. We’ve grown so much in the past 2.5-3 years that we needed more space! In June we added another space right above our current space so we can help even more women change their lives.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I briefly touched on this earlier, but we had to do a major pivot on March 17, 2020 when our studio was shut down, with the rest of the country, for 10-weeks due to Covid-19. We immediately moved all training sessions to Zoom (new to most trainers and clients at the time). We did have a few clients that opted-out initially thinking it would only be for a week or two, but once that went out the window, most of our clients transitioned to Zoom sessions and stayed consistent during the lockdown. The first few weeks were tough. Lots of stress, brainstorming, trial & error, etc. But…we did it!

I remember being so upset because we had just moved into this brand new, beautiful studio on January 3, 2020 and we had to shut down 3 months later. We stayed closed for 10-weeks and re-opened on June 1, 2020. We restructured our programs to allow for in-person and Zoom sessions simultaneously. We turned our circuit-style workouts (where we shared equipment) into stations for each client where they remained for the entire session with their own equipment. We purchased air purifiers, hired a professional disinfection company, searched high and low for Clorox wipes, and hung clear, vinyl shower curtains to separate the clients and keep them as safe as possible.

We got really creative. Was it pretty? Nope. Did it work? You bet it did!

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

I’ve always been interested in empowering women and helping them realize their worth. Many of our clients come to us after having failed with fad diets and quick fixes because we offer an alternate, sustainable approach. This approach focuses on sustainable habits and meeting each individual where they are. I want to see women succeed. I believe in lifting women up instead of tearing them down.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fabyoulousfitness.com
• Instagram: @fabyouousfitness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FabYOUlousFitness
• Twitter: @GFreetrainer
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fabyoulous-fitness-westerville-2

Image Credits
Brigid Yates Photography