Cheers to 7 Years 🎉
I took my first spin class in 2013. It was a small local studio, but I was immediately hooked. At the time I was working corporate sales for a company based out of Colorado and I was covering a territory of New England, New York and the eastern part of Canada. I traveled quite a bit, and after that first spin class, my new mission was to find spin studios in every corner of the country. You could call it an obsession.. but I would come to call it market research.
Fast forward 2 years.. I put on a mic and headed the podium. A former collegiate athlete and dancer… I loved moving with others, inspiring others, music and the energy it could bring, and a space where i could become my favorite self.
Spin had not only opened my eyes to how fun exercise could be.. but also to an entirely new community. As my sales job ramped up.. I found myself covering all of North America.. with 10 sales reps under me.. and no less than 32 weeks away a year. My core group of friends in Portland, Maine had all gotten married, had babies, or moved away.. and I suddenly found myself like many woman in their late 20s/early 30s..searching for a sense of camaraderie, of belonging, of connection.
Sales was going well.. not to toot my own horn ( but I will.. because I tell all of you too!).. I was crushing it. In the span of 2 years, I had grown my vertical market 25%, had launched an additional vertical at my company, had been published in several industry publications, and was one of the select few on an international commercial advisory board for my industry. In many people’s eyes.. my career was set. I would be a fool to walk away.
But that is exactly what I set out to do. I had pages of research from over 60 spin studios across North America.. what worked, what didn’t, what I loved.. I had the Bible of market research after non stop travel.. and I was ready to take a risk. No amount of money could have kept me in sales.. my heart and my head were all in on created something new.
Everybody (EVERYBODY) told me I was crazy.
In 2017 I signed the lease on a space in Portland, Maine and the buildout began. Through friends and word of mouth.. I found 6 bad ass women who wanted to train to be on the podium. None of them had taught a single day. I created a training manual, snuck them into gyms with spin bikes to ride, and when our bikes came in, we practiced day in and out for a month and a half to be ready for our grand opening on April 2nd.
As I write this, I am getting emotional. 7 years and 4 studios later… I can confirm, quitting my sales job was the best thing I ever did. I have learned that you can teach yourself anything, you get exactly what you put in, scary is GOOD.. terrifying is BETTER, that I can ask for help, to let people hug me, that I can pivot 100x, that I have people who count on me, that I have people who I can count on.
In the last 7 years we have opened 4 studios, ridden with 73 instructors, launched 3 new modalities, held 25,480 classes and had 230,345 check ins. Pretty damn impressive. When people ask what is next,I reply, we are just getting started.
Thank you all for 7 years 🎉.
xoxo jo