We recently connected with Michyla Vig and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michyla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

My Pilates brand wants to stray away from the stereotypical “Pilates” world, creating a more functional, affordable & relatable Pilates experience. A Pilates platform that doesn’t break the bank or take away from your in person fitness journeys.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I found reformer pilates when I was around 19, I fell in love with it but couldn’t afford the expensive classes that were available in my hometown. Fast forward about 5 years, the beginning of COVID-19, I found an online mat pilates platform, and it changed my life. My workouts became consistent, they didn’t take much time from my day and best of all the results were noticeable almost immediately. My physical and mental health did a 180, and two years later, I signed up to obtain my mat and reformer pilates certification in Bali, Indonesia.

I knew I wanted to create an inclusive, real & authentic platform. Something that broke away from the “clean girls” stereotype Pilates has been given while encompassing the soft aesthetic of Pilates with a side of strength training & some swearing.

That was when KALON was born. KALON meaning “beauty more than skin deep,” was chosen to represent the brand I wanted to create. A platform that has been slowly building in the community and online, to provide workouts that are empowering, relatable, realistic and targeted to everyone’s specific needs.

We want to keep Pilates affordable and accessible for everyone. That’s why our membership stays below 20$ and clients can cancel anytime.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I was working full time while running Kalon, at first it was only an instagram page dedicated to sharing what studios I was teaching at, talking about Pilates & allowing people to follow my Pilates instructor journey. The goal had always been to turn it into an online platform but it was a slow to. I’m the type of person who wants things to happen now and fast. So it was hard to not get discouraged and distracted while this got going. Once we launched the website it took off quickly. After about 5 months it was to the point where I realized I couldn’t keep working full time and also dedicating the appropriate time to this “side hustle”. So I quit my job and took a leap to become a full time Pilates instructor and platform owner.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building my audience is an on going task. We started small having friends and family sharing it ect. Marketing it via reels and posts / collaborations with other businesses in our city helped a lot! we are currently at the point where we are discussing paid advertising as a form of marketing on socials now. So we will be trying to get that going soon

Contact Info:

• Website: kalonpilates.ca
• Instagram: @kalon.pilates
• Facebook: Kalon Pilates