We were lucky to catch up with Meghan Gonzales recently and have shared our conversation below.

Meghan , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

I will never forget the day we were notified that our business would have to close its doors for “two weeks”. My management team and I sat in the back office of my studio, I was 2 months pregnant with twins and cried for maybe the first time since my wedding day. I looked at the two of them and saw hope, they looked back at me with love, empathy, and determination. We decided at that moment that we would do Zoom classes and figure it out. We swiftly built an online schedule, organized our team notes, and launched our online streaming classes the next day. We offered 3 classes a day and with each awkward learning experience of teaching “backward”, taking the class as participants backward, and figuring out the hard way that certain angles were NOT going to work on film, we grew as a team. We grew through all of this change together. We laughed, cried, slipped, fell, got back up, and kept going.

Frankly, it was comical, we had NO idea what we were doing and not only were we teaching online classes overnight but we became “tech support” for our mostly middle-aged clientele. This may have been the most challenging piece because we went from two weeks to 10 and now, almost 2 years later, we’re still streaming.

We’ve adopted a new platform and continued to offer 3 live stream classes a day since the day we were forced to close our doors. Luckily, we opened the studio doors for in-person classes again in June of 2020 only closing again for a short period of time in November of 2020 but our business is coming back. While it’s not where we were prior, the community is stronger than ever.

Now, our members who used to cancel or pause their membership for travel or due to life circumstances with busy schedules, are able to keep their memberships. We also have “snowbirds” who still work out with us when they go to Arizona for 4-6 months through the winter. Not only has this been a tremendous help in keeping revenue stream from those potentially lost members but it has given working moms the ability to stay committed to self-care & their goals even when life gets overwhelming, which is arguably when you need it most.

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 was a full-time digital marketing professional for 6 years, after my wedding and the birth of our first daughter, I quickly realized my full potential and decided to leave the “security” of my 9-5 and follow my dreams of owning my own business. I had (hope to revive one day) an incredible wedding planning business, Petrichor Planning that I built from the ground up. I realized after my own wedding that I thrived in the chaos of weddings and wanted to bring that calm to individuals who were planning their weddings because I realized that is not typical.

After realizing my dream of working for myself an opportunity to buy my studio fell into my lap. I started considering how I could make the transition out of my day job and sought out the chance to go back to teaching fitness classes, which I’ve done since I was 18. When I reached out to the owner of Pure Barre Fort Collins to see if I could come back to teach for her, the conversation ultimately led to her offering to sell me the studio.

As many new business owners do, I had one of the moments that stunned me, not everyone knows about and loves pure barre. Wait, what? How could something that changed and consumed my life not be as important or important at all to the general public? I quickly realized my marketing plan would need to pivot to help grow the understanding of the studio, classes, and community. It was time to hit the drawing board and break down the barriers to entry and the stigma of pure barre being just for dancers or a specific body type.

Fast forward almost 1 year into ownership, we nearly doubled our membership base, increased revenue by more than 100% and then BOOM covid forced us to shut our doors and everything changed. That same year, my husband and I welcomed our twins into the family and the chaos was tenfold, we grew our marriage, lost friends gained new friends, and grew in ways we never knew imaginable. It was challenging but if I’m being honest, I can’t imagine it any other way. Our Pure Barre community grew together, and our team expanded and pivoted to rise to a new level of excellence we have never seen before.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Reels, reels, reels! Not only have we grown our social media following but we’ve had so much fun as a team coming together to create these fun and funny videos.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

When you’re thinking of ways you can encourage your team, ask yourself “what would encourage me?” and then take that thought and throw it out the window. Honestly, you should ask your team, what inspires and encourages them. It can be hard to face the music at times but you will learn the most by listening to your team. Take time to connect with them outside of disciplinary and team meeting conversations, host a team dinner, go on team adventures, provide a space to connect outside of work and talk less, and listen more.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.purebarre.com/location/fort-collins-co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purebarrefoco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purebarreftcollins
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxp-9fV8p9V82LqPj3dvEZA

Image Credits
Family photo – Macy Frances Pure Barre photos- Jordan Quinn Photography