We recently connected with Shannon Ritchey and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Shannon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Early in my career as a physical therapist, I suffered from chronic pain. I was overexercising – doing intense workouts too frequently. I thought my constant back, hip, wrist, shoulder pain was a “normal” part of being fit. I thought that it was because I wasn’t stretching enough, or that I needed to get more massages. When my very fit physical therapy patients were experiencing the same issues, I told them the same thing: that joint pain is the “price” you pay to be physically fit.

I finally realized my routine needed to change when I moved out of Kansas and wasn’t consistently exercising. I felt 100% better when I removed my intense routine. That made me realize that it was never my body that was the problem: it was my routine.

I had been exposed to some neurology and biomechanics at my first job, and decided to dive into it further. Believe it or not, even in physical therapy school you are not taught much about the mechanics of exercise.

I started unraveling myths and started noticing the overall toxicity of the fitness industry everywhere I looked. I started shifting how I was teaching my fitness classes, and noticed how well it was received.

It really struck me that I needed to create something when my patients would ask for my recommendations on a fitness program that was both effective AND not going to beat up their bodies. My response: I don’t have a good recommendation for you. Pilates and yoga are gentle on the body, but generally aren’t loading muscles enough to elicit change. Whereas bootcamp classes were unnecessarily intense and stressful for not enough reward.

At that point, I had taught fitness for over a decade, so the thought of starting my own brand/method to solve this issue was brewing in the back of my head. Then the pandemic hit, and my physical therapy practice shut down. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to start Evlo – everyone was moving to online fitness and looking their workouts.

So I started teaching classes where we were lifting weights, but not in the traditional ways. We weren’t doing squats and deadlifts and burpees – but rather, targeted exercises that fatigued muscles without straining joints. The workouts would leave your muscles fatigued, your system refreshed, and your joints happy.

We have since grown and evolved, and now have apps and instructors, a team, and a podcast. But it all started with me teaching low-quality classes on YouTube live in my tiny living room.

I personally believe that there is nothing out there that compares to Evlo. Not only is the method effective because it uses research backed methods to build muscle, but it feels more gentle and approachable. We give our community space to take rest when they need it. We teach our community how to even know when they may need rest.

Education is at the center of everything we do: we want our members to feel like they have a master’s degree after taking our classes.

We believe we are first to market in a niche of the fitness industry that is untapped. People are leaning towards low-impact exercise because it feels more sustainable, but they still want physical results. Evlo is the solution for those people.

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

I’m Dr. Shannon, but no one calls me Doctor ;)

I’m a Doctor of Physical Therapy, I’ve been teaching fitness and training for 12 years, and I’m the owner of Evlo Fitness.

Evlo is an online fitness platform that builds strength and fitness in a gentle, approachable way. We do this by choosing execises that load muscles with less joint strain, and program each week of workouts so you aren’t overusing muscles. We take the guesswork of knowing what to do in your workouts out for you. Each week, there are new classes taught by myself and other Doctors of Physical Therapy. I’m not doing extra workouts outside of when I teach, so you can follow exactly what I’m doing from week to week. This allows me to connect with the community, feel what they are feeling, and provide a layer of constant education.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My motto is “B+ and out the door.” If you wait for the perfect time, or having enough money, or for your product to be perfect, it will never see the light of day.

I started my business with $300. It was a Kajabi membership to host my videos, a webcam, and the cost of a North Carolina LLC (where I was operating at the time).

My product was very bare bones to begin with. We didn’t have a team, or apps, or snazzy technology. At the time, I was focused on learning what my clients needed, and how I could help them.

We had less than 100 members for the first nine months. But this helped me really get to know them and talk to each of them. That time was crucial for me, because had I grown too fast, I may not have learned about my customer’s pain points and how I could help the most.

I have never taken much distribution, and we haven’t raised any outside capital. I have always re-invested back into the business. When we started growing, we scaled up to customized apps, then grew a team, and now we are scaling our marketing efforts.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’m a big believer in over-delivering value for FREE. We give away free content and education constantly. We give free classes away every week, a free educational podcast where I hold nothing back, free trials, and more. I believe that providing free value always comes back to you. I take that approach with all my content on social media.

When I’m planning my content, I often journal about what my client may be confused about, and create content that could answer their question. I kept my content short and relevant and occasionally controversial. The viral posts are always the controversial ones – but with that comes a lot of hate. So I throw that in sparingly to avoid a mental spiral. I take trends and made them my own when I can.

The fun (but also infuriating) part about social media is that it’s always changing. So I’m taking a bit of a different approach going forward, where I’m sharing more of my personal life. To be honest, up until this point, I’ve been afraid to share too much on social media. It’s been a few years since I started my page, and that fear is starting to go away. So I’m pivoting my content (slightly) to see how that lands.

Overall, I think the key is to not be afraid to test something new. If it bombs, great! Now you know what not to focus on. My content bombs all the time, but I just don’t stop coming back.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evlofitness.com
• Instagram: @dr.shannon.dpt
• Youtube: dr.shannon.dpt
• Other: Tiktok: @dr.shannonritchey

Image Credits
Tina Michelle Photography