Heather Andersen of New York Pilates – Forever Forward

A case study on building a business empire-in-the-making, proving that creativity, hard work, determination, and research can transform a passion into a real business, why believing in your excellent product is crucial for growth, leveraging people around you to jump start your business, how the use of influencer marketing before it was a thing and early adoption of social media made a major difference, challenges from having from no money for payroll to running out of cash during construction, and why you won’t hear Britney Spears in any of Heather’s pilates studios… Heather Andersen, Studio owner and Program Director of New York Pilates (a New York city-based fitness company offering music driven, small group reformer classes and private sessions), joins Socialfly founders Stephanie Cartin and Courtney Spritzer in the MouthMedia Network studios for a conversation about building her company and her journey to success, along with a surprise and a brainstorm. In this episode: How Heather discovered pilates, and what led her to open her own studio, New York Pilates Why the social aspect of taking classes with groups and friends is important to Heather and how that shaped her studio space and business model How Heather started her own studio without any outside investors What Heather did to market her studio’s brand, and why being passionate about your product is vital How Heather’s business grew from a one-woman operation to opening multiple locations ClassPass, and the difficulties in converting people looking to save money into reliable returning clients The challenges of learning how to run a business on the job What kept Heather going even when the responsibilities of running a studio on a shoestring budget were daunting How Heather is keeping New York Pilates feel like a tight knit community even as it grows into bigger spaces and new markets The challenges Heather had with learning to grow as a manager, and the lessons she learned through trial and error and a book that helped her How New York Pilates uses social media to showcase their brand ethos to potential clients What being an entreprenista means to Heather Plus, a one minute brainstorm about organization and managing ideas and goals