We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Waslohn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.
Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I became a Pilates Instructor just after graduating from college in 2010 with a BA in Dance. The first day of the dance program, we were all told to find an additional career to support our dance career, because there was (and is) no money in dance. Several other graduates had gone into Pilates as a career, so I decided to follow that path as well. I never envisioned myself owning a Pilates studio, but I with each studio I worked for, I took note of how each studio was run and what I might do differently if I were the owner. It took nearly 10 years and just as many studios to feel passionately about opening my own.
It was early days in the pandemic when I had the idea to open my own studio. I had been teaching at a studio where I was renting space with 4 other instructors, but realized I wanted more control in the business operations. My clients, many of whom are immuno-compromised, needed clear guidance and understanding on how we would safely proceed. But with 4 other instructors running their own sole proprietorships out of the same space and not enough communication, I wasn’t sure how I could possibly guarantee anything for my clients. I never knew who would be in the space when and whether they would be masked or what was being cleaned regularly, if at all. So I started to work on a business plan and search for spaces to lease. All the commercial spaces I looked at were too expensive or needed far too much renovation to be able to work, so I struggled on with what I had. Several months passed as I taught online and very few hours at the studio until my birthday gift came in late August 2020. My grandmother gave me an enormous monetary gift, as if she knew it would be the last gift she would give me. (She passed away the following month.) Five days after receiving this incredible gift from my Mimi, I received an email from the studio owner where I’d been renting space to inform me (and the other instructors) that she was closing her doors the very next day. We had one day of notice to get our stuff and leave. We all had classes and appointments that were scheduled for that week, hell that whole month! And now we were scrambling. I thought back to the business plan I had created months ago, the commercial spaces that still sat vacant and the money I’d recently been gifted. And the synchronicity felt like a door opening wide for me to walk right in. I just needed one more thing to feel confident – I wanted a business partner.
One of the other instructors who was also put out by the sudden closure was Carrie Gifford. She had been a client of mine years before, became a Pilates instructor not long after, and I had gotten to have a hand shaping her into the remarkable instructor she is. We decided to partner and open the new Pilates studio together. I had initially thought to call the studio Luna Pilates Studio, as I feel very connected to the moon and all it’s various meanings. But Carrie brought a very different and necessary counterpart – Sol. Just over a month after the studio closing, we opened our doors in October 2020 as Luna Sol Pilates Studio. Much of our teaching was still online, though we had a trickle of clients wanting (or needing) to move their bodies on the equipment. It was of course a risk to open a business during the height of a pandemic, but we had faith that our client base would support us – and they did! Our location turned out to be incredible for marketing with several very busy businesses on either side of us, we’ve had a steady stream of new interest and new clients without having to do any marketing. Just our business front and our sign, which can be seen from a main road.
As a business owner and Pilates instructor, I operate on the belief that if I provide the best possible service that I can and that I bring my humanity to my business, that people will come. And so far, that’s been proven to be true. This is the core of what sets us apart from other Pilates studios. This core belief leads us toward inclusion. Inclusion for all body sizes, ages and abilities. Inclusion for people of color. And inclusion for queer and trans communities. This means that as owners and instructors we work to address our own biases and reflect regularly on our words and actions to be more inclusive and understanding. Carrie and I both have specialized training for addressing many conditions that other studios may not have the understanding to address.
Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Pilates is one of these terms that can mean a wide range of things. Some Pilates focuses on fitness and aesthetics – group classes designed to burn a lot of calories, leaving you exhausted, sore and exhilarated. Some Pilates focuses on the original design of Joseph Pilates (its German creator) – instructing your body into precise positions, practicing the series of routines until mastery, leveling up like a martial art. These styles are completely valid and useful for so many people.
My studio focuses on a different style of Pilates that is rehab and science-based, bolstered by physical therapists and doctors who’ve helped in re-imagining the practice to address specific conditions, whether musculoskeletal, neurological, the result of surgeries or cancers. We have specialized education and rely heavily on modifications and props to make Pilates accessible for our clients. Many of our clients goals are to relieve pain and move with more ease.
I love doing this work, as it allows me to problem-solve for each person’s unique puzzle of conditions, strengths and weaknesses to find a way for them to move more easily in the world and in their lives. The work is particular to each person – I have to get to know them, their habits, their likes and dislikes for certain movements, what feels good and what doesn’t. It’s an inherently intimate relationship – one built on respect, attention and trustworthiness. As a former dancer and choreographer, I practice listening with my whole body to see the whole picture. Why a pelvis is rotating may originate from any number of reasons – I look at the opposite shoulder, what’s happening at the knees and feet, is their head tilted and if so, in what direction? If we change position what else shows up? Is this a compensation for something else, or just another data point I mentally note as I search for the source of the imbalance. This is my art.
As mentioned earlier, I got into this work by way of dance, a fairly common path for Pilates instructors. I danced ballet as a young child, and found modern/contemporary dance and choreography in high school. As is unfortunately the case for some dancers, I developed several eating disorders over those years and fostered a terrible relationship with my body. Who can live under constant criticism of one’s own body? And yet, so many people do live this way. I went to college for dance and found Pilates while I was there. I didn’t immediately like Pilates – it was merely a requirement for the dance program, and dance was my one true and honest love. I felt freedom in moving my body through dance and used my problem-solving skills to create complicated choreography in a quest to put complex emotions into something seen. Creating and teaching choreography gave me the language skills to articulate movement through words and develop my eye for seeing bodies moving in space. When I became a Pilates instructor at 22, all these skills I’d developed as a dancer and choreographer melded easily into teaching Pilates. It felt incredible to help others find a path to that same freedom through movement, and I was hooked. My history with eating disorders and negative self-talk (and years of therapy addressing this), have enriched my Pilates instruction to model both positive and neutral language around bodies. As Glennon Doyle recently said, our bodies are our paintbrushes to paint the art of living in the world. Our bodies are tools – they are not good or bad – they are simply there to move us through the world and live. I’m teaching this too, though not explicitly.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I’ve been teaching Pilates in my area for around 8 or 9 years and my reputation has been built throughout that time. That reputation has been a big part of the initial success of my business/Pilates studio, which has existed for just under 3 years.
Elements I feel played major roles in building that reputation include (in order of significance): consistency, continual curiosity to learn and grow, humility, compassion and listening to the clients needs, professional and kind communication, embodying my own practice (“practice what you preach”), and asking for help when I need it.
Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?
I have not bought a business, but I almost two Pilates studios before opening my own. For both situations, we failed in negotiations to come to an agreed upon price. Because Pilates as an industry is so based on the reputation of the person or persons teaching at the studio, once the owner leaves, the reputation leaves too. So, the only thing you can put monetary value on is the assets (equipment) and maybe a little bit in the name. I learned this when we got a third-party assessor to assess the value of the business. In both negotiations, the owners put too high a price tag on the reputation that they built, when that reputation would walk out the door the second they left. This is heartbreaking news to Pilates studio owners who’ve put years of blood, sweat, and tears into their studios and feel they should be compensated for that effort. As a Pilates studio owner myself, I now keep this in mind as there will come a day when I will have to close my doors or sell my business, whenever I decide to retire. All this effort and it’s not going to come to much in the end. The lessons here are – save for retirement now, save money period, enjoy the now.
Contact Info:
- Website: lunasolpilates.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunasolpilates/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sarahgould-waslohn8245
Image Credits
Tony Nguyen Photography