We kicked off the business birthday celebration with a Friday night VINO + VINYASA (wine + yoga) party at my studio. Over 50 members of our GRIT Family came out to celebrate! The party was complete with wine, cupcakes and my favorite birthday jamz (e.g. Rhianna Birthday Cake).
We’ve kept the party going all week with themed classes. (See above our full list of themed classes – I’m pretty proud of our creativity here). Today was our final round of themed classes, “Crunk Party HIIT’s” = High Intensity Interval Training classes set to our favorite party songs. Lots of sweat and lot of smiles guaranteed!
Some of my rockstar instructors and advisory board members at the Vino & Vinyasa party. From left to right: Emily H. Emily T., Annabel, Ariana & Tarra
As I reflect on the past year I pinch myself because I can’t believe this is really happening! Just over a year ago I was a traveling management consultant, disengaged with my career and pouring myself into this blog as a way to escape my “real life”. But now this is my life. We really did it! We built a business and a community out of a simple idea and lot of hard work. The accomplishments and experiences (good and bad) from this past year give me so much confidence and hope that the best really is yet to come…
Me and Jenny, our VERY 1st member at GRIT in January 2015 – thanks for the loyalty Jenny!
Me and Megan, GRIT Front Desk Team Lead
In only 1 year we’ve grown to over 2,500 active members, 15 instructors, 35 classes per week and 7 original class formats – WOW! As I said in the last post, “teamwork makes the dream work.” But the best part of the journey are the personal relationships I’ve made with the #GRITFAM and they’ve made with each other. Nothing is more important than family – #GRITFAM included!
Sophie (Maria’s Daughter), Me, Maria & Jenny smiling after the sweating Flexin’ Flow class at the Vino & Vinyasa party
Stay tuned my friends…this is only the beginning of the GRIT Fitness revolution. I have some exciting news to share in the coming weeks and I want you to be the first to know!
THANKS SO MUCH for following my journey to and through healthy living and entrepreneurship. xoxo, Brit
Happy 2016 my friends! I hope you rang in the new year with those you love. I enjoyed New Year’s day by teaching SOLD OUT back-to-back classes at my studio at “Brit’s 2016 Sweaty Surprise” class. Essentially, I picked all of my favorite songs from 2015 and choreographed a mash-up workout of kickboxing, body sculpting and dance exercises. It was a one hour of good old sweaty fun.
To keep the momentum going, I’m hosting a #NEWYEARBESTYOU challenge for our GRIT family. If you don’t live in Dallas, you can still participate! All you have to do is write down one personal goal of how you will be your best self this year and email it to [email protected]. Then you must complete 15 workouts that are each at least 30 minutes long before the end of January. Share your progress by posting 15 post-workout pics to Instagram and use the hashtag #newyearbestyou. Everyone who completes the challenge will earn our newest “I’m Allergic to Basic Workouts Tank Top” #dontbebasic. Let’s do this thang!
If you live in Dallas, come join the challenge in person! We are offering a killer New Year deal for unlimited classes and official membership to the GRIT Family. For only $105 per month you can join the party, take the challenge and hang out with me (which I hope you want to do)! Here’s the link to sign up: REGISTER NOW
Alright gang, let’s make 2016 the best year of our lives and let’s do it as a team! Here’s to a happy, healthy New Year! xoxo, Brit
Happy Tuesday friends! Today I’m sharing a shameless plug for my start-up company, Dallas GRIT Fitness. We are coming up on our 1 year anniversary and I’m so excited – so much has happened in only 12 months. I still remember writing this blog post about our grand opening festivities 🙂 If you live in Dallas, come check us out! I promise you won’t regret it.
BONUS: We just finalized our new promo video. You can watch it on our Facebook page!
GRIT Fitness offers an energetic set of music-driven classes that each provide an intense workout and an engaging…
Hey friends! I hope your day is going well. I can’t believe it’s already November – this year is flying by. However, I love the fall and I love this month because of its gratitude focus. I’m a big advocate of performing acts of gratitude because…
Grateful people are less resentful, more optimistic and healthier than their ungrateful counterparts
We have a couple of fun events going on at my fitness studio this month to help us focus on being grateful. For starters, this Saturday at 12:30pm we’re hosting a Thanksgiving Potluck Party complete with food tasting, bottomless mimosas and Fabeltics swag bags. As a Fabletics Master Trainer, I get the awesome privilege of hosting official Fabletics events in Dallas. If you live in Dallas, come join the party! You can join for free as long as you bring a dish to share, otherwise the entry fee is $10. Check out our Facebook Event Page for details!
Also, our November Challenge is all about Gratitude. This month, members of our #gritfam have to complete 10 classes and post 10 contributions to our gratitude board. In doing so, they earn the newest GRIT tank top. Pretty cool huh?
Check out all of the gratitude posts that we’ve accumulated so far! Just reading all of the things that people are grateful for instantly boosts my mode and makes me appreciate life.
I hope that you also take on an attitude of gratitude this month – it’s great for the mind, body and soul. xoxo, Brit
Wow – it’s crazy to think that just 1 year ago today, I took the giant leap of faith by quitting my management consulting career and setting out to open my own fitness studio, GRIT! At that time I wrote a blog post, 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Quitting Your Job, and today I’m so grateful to still be working for myself and continuing on this crazy, chaotic, entrepreneurship journey. My friend told me there are 15 books all entrepreneurs should read in order to succeed. However for now, I hope these tips will help you out!
We are about to close our 10th month of business at GRIT Fitness (woo hoo) so now my focus is on phase 2 – expansion. I’m finding expanding the business to be just as if not more challenging than starting the business. I need to standardize my processes so they can be replicated, keep my current clients satisfied, excited and engaged all while executing my expansion strategy. As you can imagine, the work is exciting but I feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions.
As I continue through this phase, I want to share my 5 super practical tips that have helped me prioritize my time and make smart growth decisions. If you’re embarking upon the growth/expansion phase of your business or project, these tips can help!
Brit’s 5 Tips For Expanding Your Small Business:
1. Articulate Your Business Case For Action – How much will it cost to expand my business and how much additional revenue do I expect?
GRIT Fitness classes are bursting at the seams – expansion is critical in order to service our demand
Why do you need to expand? Are you bursting at the seams with an overflow of volume that you simply do not have capacity to take on? Are your clients demanding more services or product offerings?
Here it’s critical to calculate your return on investment (ROI). Remember to always grow your sales before your grow your cost. It’s easy to get wrapped up the hype of having a second location or a presence in a new city. But remember, sales are KING. If revenue is not increasing at the same rate or faster than your costs, you may want to rethink your growth strategy.
2. Recruit and retain great talent – Can I quickly acquire and train a winning team?
Me and 2 awesome members of my #dreamteam, Emily & Annabel. Without them, GRIT Fitness is nothing!
Let me make something very clear: NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR TEAM – PEOPLE ARE YOUR GREATEST ASSET. That said, know what skills and talents are required to grow and maintain your business. Recruit people who are passionate about your vision and who possess those skills and talents. Then do everything in your power to keep them engaged! I highly discourage you from expanding your business faster than the rate at which you can acquire great talent.
3. Explore & Confirm Your Financing Options – Where will I get the money?
Me and my home girls shooting a new promo video to kickstart our crowd funding campaign!
NEWS FLASH: Unless you have a rich uncle or your business has already earned a lot of revenue (like $200K), getting access to capital is very tough for a new business. Banks won’t talk to you. You can can apply for an SBA (Small Business Administration) loan but the process is super slow with lots of red tape. Or can you take money from investors, but you’ll have to give up a percentage of ownership of your company (I’m not down with that). There are some other small business loans but the interest rates can be quite high, like 8-11%. Last, you can opt for crowd-funding like KickStarter, which allows members of the community to fund your business because they like/believe in your concept. In return you provide small tokens of appreciation like complimentary goods/services, swag, etc. The downside, is that crowd funding campaigns can be time consuming because they require lots of marketing to be successful.
At the end of the day, all of these financing options have pros and cons, so you need to evaluate each and find the best solution for your business. Remember, business expansion costs money so you must have plan to get some cash!
4. Know Your Target Customer and Keep Her Happy – How does expansion better serve your target customer?
GRIT Fitness targets young, social, active, hip, professional women between the ages of 21-35
A GRIT Fitness, I have a “muse” if you will. She’s a young, professional woman between the ages of 21-35 who’s high-achieving, social and ready to take on the world. She is my target customer. Any time I make a business decision, pleasing her is my top priority.
You should be able to quickly define your target customer and know what he/she wants. Keep your target customer’s needs at the forefront of your mind as you think about expanding. Go where they are and give them what they want. This can be tough because pleasing your target customer may mean that you disappoint some other customers. I believe that not trying to please everyone is they key to branding success (and to being a happy person – wink wink).
5. Maintain Your Vibe – What is your culture and how you will maintain it?
FUN. FIERCE. FABULOUS. That’s pretty much sums up our culture at GRIT Fitness
We just kick-started the #FallN2Fitness challenge at my studio and our classes are PACKED with fierce chicas who are determined to stay fit this fall. Typically, October/November are times when we fall OUT of our fitness routines; however we are determined to break the cycle and fall IN to fitness 🙂 Class challenges are a great culture building tactic that I’ve implemented at GRIT Fitness. They help foster a sense of community and encourage our clients to push past their comfort zone AKA “show their grit!”
Regardless of whether we expand to a 2nd studio location, online, DVD’s. etc. we must maintain the behaviors and core values that make GRIT Fitness special and unique. It’s imperative for you clearly articulate what key behaviors, practices and values you will keep consistent as you expand your small business.
While expanding your business or project may be a little stressful, I think it’s one of most rewarding experiences. People want to start their own business, but do not know where to start. Whatever the industry or profession, you can always find a way to start your career. For example, if you are aiming to become a self employed truck driver, you could research Skip Lorry Insurance to get you started and have you covered for anything that may happen. You’ll get there eventually. I constantly remind myself that THE JOURNEY IS THE REWARD. No matter the fate of GRIT Fitness, I’m having a blast bringing my idea to life, taking risks and helping people live happier, healthier lives. I hope these tips are helpful and I wish you all the best to you on your journey! xoxo, Brit
A bonus tip for your small business, my friend was recently telling me about they made the most out of their energy bills by using business energy comparison websites like Usave. I’m told they got a great deal through those sites.
Hey hey friends! I hope your day is off to a great start! I’m Chicago bound this morning to visit some friends and do a little market research among some leading studios in Chi-town. As 2015 wraps up, I’m kicking my innovation juices in high gear a developing some fun, fresh new class formats to introduce at GRIT Fitness in 2016!
But before I get a ahead of myself, I’m wanted to share an upcoming event that I’m super excited about – our first ever Friday Night Dance Cardio Party! Talk about a “healthy happy hour” huh? So, 3 of our super fab dance cardio instructors are teaming up to bring a 2-hour dance party. Better yet, our friends from Fabletics are providing swag to all attendees.
If you live in Dallas – I personally invite you to join the party on Oct. 23rd at 6pm! I’ll be there shaking a little something along with the other members of our GRIT family. Can’t wait 🙂
Happy Monday Friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend! Did any of you see the blood moon eclipse last night? I totally missed it, BUT I enjoyed the most beautiful full moon on my way to work at 6am this morning.
I had a wonderful weekend myself, albeit a very busy one. One major highlight was our SHAKE. SWEAT. SCULPT free, community mash-up workout that we hosted for Lorna Jane’s Active Nation Day. It was an absolute blast, the weather in Dallas was perfect and we had an AMAZING turnout (as you can see below). Thanks so much to all members of the GRIT Fitness family and the Dallas community who came to WERK it out with us!
While Summer is winding down and the weather will keep us from offering as many free outdoor community classes, I’m still gearing up for one strong fall – and I want you to be a part of it. Whether you’re heading back to school, cranking things up at work or looking for a way to take some time to focus on you, my dream team of instructors and I at GRIT Fitness are here to help. One sweaty GRIT class is all it takes to find joy, feel great and be your best self.
To help kickstart your GRIT routine, we’d love to invite you to take our #FallN2Fitness Challenge. This challenge is open EVERYONE – you don’t have to be a member to participate. To complete the challenge, you have knock out 14 classes in 4 weeks, between October 4-31st.
It’s super fun, affordable, energetic way to get in shape and earn some swag! Yup..that’s right, not only do you get enjoy music-blasting, super fun sweat sessions, BUT if you successfully complete the challenge you also receive the GRIT Tank Top of your choice. Choose from any of the styles below
NOTE: At GRIT we do NOT sell our apparel, it can only be earned. That means the only way to score our swag is to show your GRIT 🙂
We can’t wait to Fall N2 Fitness with you! xoxo, Brit
Hey Friends – Happy Monday! To compensate for my recent posting hiatus, I’m coming back strong with 2 blog posts today – yeah buddy!
I’m so excited to announce that this Sunday (Sept. 27th) my fitness studio GRIT Fitness will be the official Dallas leader of Lorna Jane Active Nation Day! Join me and fellow GRIT instructors Annabel and Emily as we lead you through a super special “Shake, Sweat, Sculpt: GRIT Mash Up Workout” = Dance Cardio + Turbo Kick + Body Sculpt! The class is 100% free and open to the public – it will take place next Sunday at Dallas’ NorthPark – Center Park Garden at 10:00am. Shop styles from Lorna Jane NorthPark and enjoy healthy bites along with your sweat session! ****BRING YOUR YOGA MAT****
“Active Nation Day is a movement created in 2012 by Lorna Jane to inspire women, their families, communities, cities and the world to live a more Active Life!” (Lorna Jane). You can learn more about Lorna Jane’s Active Nation Day at http://activenationday.com
Get excited! I can’t wait to see you there! xoxo, Brit
Who’s enjoying football season?! I am! In fact we are hosting a special GRIT Game Day Workout at my studio on Oct. 17th – all of our clients are wearing their favorite team’s football jersey or t-shirt and we are serving treats and goodies throughout the morning. If you live in Dallas, you should definitely join us for a class or 2, CLICK HERE view the schedule and register. We’re all about FUN + FITNESS 🙂
While Summer is my favorite season, Fall comes in a close 2nd mainly because I Iove football and love the crisp weather. That said, today I’m sharing a super athletic, agility cardio workout that will get you sweating and make you feel like superstar athlete!
Before I get to the workout, first I want to express my sincere apologies for going MIA on the blog the past 2 weeks. As you can imagine, being a small business owner is quite a demanding job. Lately I’ve spent a TON of time trying to standardize and document my processes so I can bring on some full-time help! I’m happy to announce that starting next week I’ll have a full-time front desk staff at GRIT Fitness – yay! This means I can go home at 6pm each night instead of 9pm.
Aright, so here’s the workout you’ve been waiting for. I’m calling it my GRIT Game Day Workoutbecause is focuses on speed and agility – 2 skills needed to be victorious on Game Day! Just watch the video to gain and understanding of the exercises, then put on some of your favorite JOCK JAMZ and get to work!
Hello friends! As usual, I hope this post finds you joyous and well! I’m gearing up for a wonderful week ahead… writing out my “To Do” list, making playlists for my classes and drafting our weekly newsletter. Lately I’ve incorporated several parter exercises into my classes at GRIT Fitness, and I’ve been amazed by the positive response! My classes love the personal interaction and the energy is through the roof. This gave me the idea to create a “Buddy Boot Camp” partner workout that my clients (and you) can do on your own. See below!
No equipment is required to complete the workout, all you need is a friend! Here’s a brief explanation of the 5 exercises in the circuit:
Plank Hold w/ alt. High Fives (Core + Upper Body) – Hold a straight arm plank position facing your partner. While keeping your core tight and hips square to the ground, give each other a “high 5” with alternating hands.
Squat Jump w/ Turn (Cardio + Legs) – Facing your partner, squat low and when you jump up, turn and face away from him/her. Then squat jump and turn and face your partner again. Keep repeating continuously for 1 min.
Iso Squat Hold & Hi Knee Run In Place (Cardio + Legs) – One person holds a deep iso squat with both arms extended out in from of them, parallel to the floor. During this time, the other partner does a hi knee run in place and tries make his/her knees to touch their parter’s hands. Switch positions at the half way point (30 seconds in)
Plank & Agility Footwork (Cardio) – One parter holds a forearm plank (hover position) while the other partner has to hop over his/her legs. Switch positions at the half way point (30 seconds in).
Straight Leg Throw Downs (Core) – One partner lies down on her back with legs straight and holds onto the ankles/calves of her partner who is standing up behind her shoulders. The lying down partner raises both legs up off the ground so that the standing partner can catch them and try to throw them down. The challenge is for the lying down partner to not let her legs touch the floor while the stand partner throws them down.
After this workout, you and your friend should be covered in SWEAT & SMILES! I’m big believer that workouts are more fun and effective with done with a partner – two are better than one 🙂
Last but not least, if you live in Dallas and want to join a super fun, FREE Buddy Boot Camp, Maria and I are hosting a free class at the Westin Galleria Dallas on Sunday, September 13th. RSVP NOWto join the fun! Wishing you a wonderful week. xoxo, Brit
