My Back To Business Strategy

By Sue Jackson, owner & manager of Balance The Countryside Gym, a countryside gym, perched on the top of a hill in the village Timsbury just outside of Bath. Our gym & studio has plenty of parking and provided over 40 fitness classes per week including yoga, pilates, boxercise combat, dancefit, circuits, kettlebells, teen yoga & beginners & pregnancy yoga courses.

Summarise how Covid-19 has affected your business? 

We have gone from providing all of our classes face to face to now providing them all virtually via Zoom bar 1-1 PT sessions which we are now able to provide again outdoors.  

What has been your plan to continue?  

We have continued via Zoom, added additional classes for free, lent our members gym equipment, added new shorter classes at different times thereby adjusting to suit people working from home. In the future our membership will now include virtual membership as well as physical. 

How has business changed for you over the last few months? 

We have had to provide all of our classes via Zoom with all of our instructors working remotely from home.  

As lockdown eases what measures have you put in place to get back to business? 

When the gym and studio re-open we will continue with our strict hygiene policy of cleaning our gym and studio after each use and steralizing any equipment used. We will also continue running our classes virtually as well as in the gym and studio. 

What has been the most challenging aspect of all of this? 

Adapting to change in such a short space of time and training all of our members on how to use Zoom in order to participate in their classes. 

Our gentle exercise class has many over 60s so it has been imperative to keep in close contact with them and help them with their fitness during this time.

What has been the most positive aspect? 

That our Balance members have remained loyal and been willing to adapt and change with us including our over 60s. 

Has it made you consider how you feel about other businesses/suppliers/customers/clients? 

It has made us review our booking system and change it to a UK company which is far less expensive that the US system we were using before. 

We have also been even more involved with the local community which has always been of great importance to us. 

How important is this phrase to you – ‘buy local, supply local’? 

Very important as if we help others in the local community, that community will do the same and word soon gets out about your business in a positive way. 

It is also far better to see money go direct to local suppliers and their families rather than to large corporations.

What are your top three tips for other business owners at this time? 

1) Don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice or join a business community where you can share and ask for help.

2) Remain positive there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough

3) Do some form of physical exercise be it cardio or yoga to help look after your physical and mental health

Do you have a service, product or special offer you'd like to mention?

Try any of our classes for free on your first visit (valid until the end of June). Use the code: TOTAL1.

We are constantly adding new classes and courses so keep checking our websit for more information. 

Your parting thought? 

Change can often take time yet it can also be a very good thing!

For more information visit www.balancethecountrysidegym.co.uk