The Business of Boutique Fitness
477: Michelle Fama and Creating a Client Experience
This week, we’re continuing our journey of listening to some of the best and brightest in the boutique fitness industry – studio owners who’ve managed to thrive through all the curveballs thrown at them this past year.
Today, we’re speaking to Michelle Fama, the owner of Core Pilates in New York City!
Core Pilates is a great example of a studio that was able to pivot and thrive in a tough market like NYC in 2020. And a big part of that was because Michelle and her team worked hard to make sure that their clients were receiving an experience rather than just a series of workouts.
A former journalist, Michelle is blessed with the gift of being able to see the big picture, and right from when she opened her studio in 2002 with a business partner, she knew she wanted Core Pilates to be highly customer-service oriented.
And that customer-service base was what helped them survive and thrive!
So, in today’s episode, Michelle takes us through what she did to ensure clients still walked through her doors in a pandemic, how she runs her NYC studio all the way from California (spoiler alert: it has to do with removing herself from an instructor role!), the importance of teacher training, and so much more!
So, if you’re a studio owner who’s looking for advice on how to move from chaos to clarity right now, this episode is for you.
In this episode, you will learn:
- How she built her own studio, and then the steps she took to expand it
- What mindset shifts she needed to make in order to pivot successfully when necessary
- The strategies used to build out a virtual platform for her business
- How they evolved from 3 to 6-month memberships, to yearly ones
- Her advice for studio owners who feel they are on a “hamster wheel” and going nowhere
With grit and gratitude,
Lisé
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/corepilatesnyc/
https://www.instagram.com/studiogrowco
https://www.boutiquefitnesscoalition.com/
