Episode 334: How Carrie Pagès Built a Pilates Studio and Scalable Online Brand

How Carrie Pagès Built a Pilates Studio and Scalable Online Brand

Description

What does it really take to build both a successful Pilates studio and a thriving online brand?

In this episode, Christa Gurka sits down with Carrie Pagès to talk about her journey from dancer to studio owner, opening In Balance Pilates at just 22, and later building a global online platform for Pilates instructors.

They discuss business growth, using social media to build visibility, creating content without overcomplicating tech, and why focusing on service—not competition—is the key to long-term success.

What You’ll Learn

•  How Carrie built her Pilates studio from the ground up 
•  The transition from in-person business to online brand 
•  How to use social media to grow your audience 
•  Simple strategies for creating Pilates content 
•  Why consistency beats perfection 
•  How to grow without comparing yourself to competitors 

Key Takeaway

You don’t need perfect conditions to grow—just consistency, clarity, and a commitment to serving your clients well.

About Carrie Pagès

For over two decades, Carrie Pagès has dedicated her career to sharing the transformative power of Pilates through teaching, mentorship, and creative programming.

She is the owner of In Balance Pilates Studio in Wilmington, NC, founder of CarriePagesPilates.com, and a sought-after workshop leader and teacher trainer who supports instructors worldwide.

Connect with Carrie

•  Website: CarriePagesPilates.com
•  Business: CarriePagesPilates.com
•  Instagram: @Carrie_Pages_Pilates

Call to Action

If you loved this episode, share it on Instagram and tag @ChristaGurka and @Carrie_Pages_Pilates.

Transcript

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 0:51

Hey there everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered Podcast. I am, as always, Christa Gurka. gosh, I just noticed that my beautiful flowers are dying. That's such a bad background. I'm so sorry. Okay. If you're watching me on YouTube, my flowers are dying behind me, but I have a guest episode today. I am very, very, very excited to have Carrie Pages on our podcast. I've known Carrie for gosh, a while now, and we've actually had the opportunity to meet in real life.'cause sometimes I have all these FA friends from around the world and I we never get to meet in real life. But I asked Carrie to come on so she could talk about how she built both a brick and mortar. Pilate studio and has a thriving online personal brand as well. Alright, so further ado, I'd love to introduce Carrie Pages And I would first, like for you, if you could just tell us a little bit about your history, how you got to become a Pilates instructor, and then starting in balance, which is in Wilmington, North Carolina. So take it away, Carrie.

Carrie Pages 2:04

Hi. Thank you for having me. I started teaching Pilates. I have the, the classic ex dancer turn Pilates instructor story, so I trained to be a professor. Ballet dancer, at a performing arts, boarding school, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina called the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts. I trained there, from 92 to 97 in my high school years from eighth grade through my senior year of high school. spent a couple of years, had an ankle injury, had a surgery, went, tried to continue dancing and then at 20 years old just said, I'm done. I'm quitting. And packed my bags and moved to Charleston, South Carolina. And, I happened to. Fall into a Pilates studio there. I would just take walks when I was living in Charleston and I would see this Pilates studio and would with, would take, be taking walks with my friend and I would say, oh look, there's a Pilates studio. I've, always wanted to do Pilates. And I, I had done it, as a young dancer. So I had done a little bit of Pilates as a young dancer, but had never really taken official lessons. And so my friend gave me, for my, I guess that would've been my 20th or 21st birthday, she gave me a gift certificate to get a private session. So I went and took a private session. The studio owner was there and she said, wow, you picked up on this quickly. Have you ever thought about being an instructor? And I said, absolutely I have. And I got a job at the front desk and started teacher training within three months. And, back then it was, the teacher training program I went through was a classical, program, taught by, through the Roman lineage. So that felt very ballerina e very, very much connected to what I was used to. Lots of rules, lots of order, lots of, very, very in the box that felt very comfortable. so I loved it and I had a great experience. It was a year long certification program and had to do, the 500 hours and all the things. I taught there for about two years and then I, my sis I found out my sister who lived in Wilmington, was pregnant with her first, and I needed to be with my sister when we had our baby. Because it was our baby. It wasn't her baby, it was ours. so I told my then, boyfriend, I was like, I'm moving to Wilmington. I am just, what else would I do at 23 years old? I'm gonna open a Pilate studio.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 4:28

so young.

Carrie Pages 4:29

So yeah, I opened my studio, I actually opened the studio at 22. In 2002. Got married to my husband in 2003, and then I actually started a teacher training program in 2004. and that really came from, I needed teachers. I had been teaching for two years. People didn't wanna travel to get certified, and quite honestly, I was young and dumb. I would like never do that now, but it was a blessing because I started teaching teachers in 2004. that program, I trained a lot of teachers in Wilmington, North Carolina, in Charleston, South Carolina. I actually taught up in New Haven, Connecticut. and so my certification program or teacher training program, that I started in oh four really, was such a amazing thing that, just kind of helped me along the years become a proficient teacher of teachers and of clients because when you're,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 5:27

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 5:28

teaching, you're teaching, you're learning,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 5:30

Yeah. Yeah. So many of us started our teacher training programs because we needed instructors.

Carrie Pages 5:34

Yeah, and it,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 5:35

and there was ano another alternative. And so as entrepreneurs we're like, well, we'll create it. here's the problem. So, and it's funny, I can tell when you just said, our teacher training programs instead of certification, I, I can already hear the, the, PMA filtering down. I just had a call with someone yesterday and I was like, well, when you certify, I was like, when you train someone,

Carrie Pages 5:56

yes, the wording is very, very important.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 5:58

very, we have to be very important with our warning. So, so you started really young and you actually started before, so I opened Pilates on the beach in oh seven. So you

Carrie Pages 6:09

Okay?

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 6:11

before which was, it was definitely an interesting time. In the Pilates world and industry. And I think people that know Pilate, for those of us that have been in the industry for so long, there's been, like, well in the thirties, there's like that, and then let's just talk about when we've been alive. So there was like very popular and then there was the whole lawsuit, and then it was like not popular. And then it had a little bit of resurgence and now it's like, it's on steroids basically now.

Carrie Pages 6:41

Ly.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 6:41

people are like, oh, Pilates is, it's only, it's been around for five or six years. I'm like, no, it's been around for over a century. but so anyways, when did you, okay, so tell us a little bit about imbalance.

Carrie Pages 6:53

Okay.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 6:53

it, I I know the answer, but I'd love for you to share small groups. Was it classical? Did you eventually make the transition into more contemporary? Like what did that look like for you?

Carrie Pages 7:08

Yeah, it's, I think it's kind of a cute story because back then, I I remember telling my dad I was gonna open this Pilates studio, and I know he was just like, okay, kid, let's give this a shot, but you'll get a real job in two years. Okay. I know. That's what he thought. And that's fair. It was very fair because I was trying to open a business. I had about a 700 square foot space. About 300 square feet of that space was one reformer, one chair, and a ladder barrel. That's all the equipment I had, but I was banking on, I'm gonna sell these MAT classes. So I had about 500 square feet that was like MAT classes and it was, I could get, I think I, I was able to get eight or 10 people in those classes. And I really, funny enough, that was like, I thought, no one's gonna pay for these privates. They're$50 a session. No one's gonna pay for a private session. I'm gonna sell. I'm gonna sell 10 people in in that class at$10 a piece, and I'm gonna make$80 an hour and it's gonna be amazing. And, but I think it's important, like people will reach out to me for like, advice and mentoring on opening a Pilates studio today. And I don't feel like when you're gonna open a 10 person reformer studio,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 8:26

different.

Carrie Pages 8:27

I'm not your person. I tell people to call you Christa because I'm just like, you need to call someone who understands that better than I do. I, I was literally walking to businesses, knocking on doors. I was in downtown Wilmington. I was walking up and down the street hanging, flyers on doorknobs. I started this business the old fashioned way. And then over time, probably about two years in, I did get another reformer and we started kind of adapting the space a little bit. I moved down the hall, I got a bigger space. I did all the things you do with a baby business and just slowly, slowly grew. And eventually, it felt like such a big deal to have four reformers. And we didn't even, we called'em nothing semi-private. I don't even know that we called'em like group classes yet. but now my sweet little studio has turned into, we have eight, we actually have 10 reformers in the space, but I really only book eight and if I have a wait list, I'll allow if it's someone I know can manage. If

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 9:26

person.

Carrie Pages 9:27

it's a specific person, I'll pull'em off the wait list. But I really like to keep it at eight people, even though we've got the two like bonus reformers. and then I have, that's my group classroom and then I have two other small spaces. One small space has two reformers. Our Cadillac lives in there and our four one to highchair combos live in there. two ladder barrels live in there and a baby chair. And then, so that's our small private room. And then we have a very small private room that has two reformer Cadillac combos that live in there. And so we can have semi-private in there. I'm so proud of like what that studio can accommodate now and the amount of teachers we can have in there. Christa I'm, I don't know how your studio works. I know back in the earlier days of imbalance, we would have three and four instructors teaching in the room at once. Since COVID, we just haven't gone back to that. We really try to keep the group classroom separate from privates and So that's just a little, thing that's kind of, we'll, we'll talk about how COVID changed a lot of things when it comes to online business and brick and mortar, but that is one thing that we, we really try. We might have two privates going on at once in the big classroom, but I don't really like doing that.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 10:37

sides. Yeah. we, the way that I built my business when I first started is I did want more of like a customer experience. And so I tried to create spaces where it was, classes would go on with classes, and you could have a private going on at the same time, but in kind of like a separate space so that it wasn't. We, we would like noise, although it's very New York. Like if you go

Carrie Pages 10:59

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 10:59

in New York,

Carrie Pages 11:00

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 11:00

Manhattan, by the way we're talking, there could be a group, small group. There could be a private, a duet, like literally all with an arms distance of each other. It's very New York. And I think people that grew up doing Pilates in Manhattan, they understand that. But when you go other places, peop it's, it's not the same. And so I did I, and then I get COVID changed a lot of things. the other thing is that I recognize, and I didn't realize this until post COVID, to me one time and, and said, we call them private sessions. Most of us in our industry call them private sessions and post COVID. We had a couple people saying, well, I thought I was getting a private session. And we were like, well, yeah, you did get a private session. But they interpreted private as meaning.

Carrie Pages 11:46

Private space.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 11:47

nobody else.

Carrie Pages 11:49

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 11:49

huh, I wonder if we've have to adjust the language to say one-on-one

Carrie Pages 11:56

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 11:56

personal training pull out. Like, because when you're doing a personal training at a gym, there's personal trainers all over the place. They're just working with one person. So it was just an eye-opening thing. And this is what I think in business is really important, is if you have the mindset of that's how it's always done and you're wrong. If you like, you're, you will not succeed. You have to just be open to saying, that's curious. I, we always say private, right? And even in physical therapy, term cash-based physical therapy is in, in our industry is very popular. We mean you're not going through your insurance. But I've also had people say, oh, when you said cash based, I thought you meant you literally had to pay with cash.

Carrie Pages 12:37

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 12:38

huh. Oh, that is a valid point, right? You have to understand what your customers are saying. So. I love a good origin story. I love that. kudos to you for starting a business at 22. I was barely able to wipe my own ass at 22. But, okay. So when then did you say, so you started your business, you started a teacher training program, you keep expanding, you obviously have something viable, right? When did you then say, okay, this is great, now let me do this other thing. Like how did that transpire?

Carrie Pages 13:15

Well, I, I want, I need to say one more thing I just realized about that origin story. So, for 16 years of my teaching, I never taught one exercise out of the classical

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 13:26

Oh, okay.

Carrie Pages 13:26

order. Like I didn't make anything up.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 13:30

stay very classical?

Carrie Pages 13:32

stayed to the book Classical for 16 years, and then Pilates anytime came around

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 13:38

Yeah. Okay.

Carrie Pages 13:39

and I had an employee say, oh, I saw this exercise on Pilates anytime. And I was like, just stuck my nose straight up. And then I saw Amy Alpers teaching on Pilates anytime, and she taught something that wasn't

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 13:54

just give people like who Amy is, just so that people

Carrie Pages 13:57

Well's

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 13:57

of have an an

Carrie Pages 13:58

like the og. She like started like one of the first training programs, out of Roman's lineage as well. And in Boulder, at the Pilates Center. Boulder.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 14:09

well-known classical meant mentor, leader, pioneer in, in our industry. For some people that might be who's Amy Alpert? Yeah.

Carrie Pages 14:18

Yeah. So, so she was an instructor on Pilates anytime. And I had stuck my nose up kind of a Pilates anytime initially. And then. I gave, I saw Amy was teaching on it, and I was like, oh, that's interesting. And so I started watching her classes. And I'm not saying she did anything crazy like you, I know she didn't, I can't even remember what it was she did, but I was like, she just did something that wasn't classical. I'm allowed to do that. Like, I'm not gonna be killed by the Pilates gods. Like I,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 14:48

you're not gonna be struck down by lightning?

Carrie Pages 14:50

I literally thought that I would be. And so I started going, oh. And so if you pay attention to my work, I, I get a lot of criticism online. People love to give me a hard time and be like, why would you do that? But if you pay attention to my work, it's very intentional and it always rounds back around to the original work. And I'm not saying that I, anyone thinks I should or should not do whatever. I don't care. I am trying to get people where I am today in my Pilates practice

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 15:21

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 15:22

than it took me. And that's all I'm trying to do. So if I can take, climb a tree and put it somewhere else and you hate it on the box, but I can put it on the tower and it's like, oh, that makes sense. Then I put you back, you're go, you're going back to that box. But I'm gonna make it accessible and doable. And I'm so proud of like my intention behind that. I'm not just trying to come up with stuff that's click bait and that's so important to me.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 15:49

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 15:49

So for 16 years, never taught out of the classical or order at all and then came across Pilates at any time. And then for anyone who doesn't know this, this contest does not exist anymore. But there was this fun contest on Pilates anytime where you could be the next Pilates anytime instructor. And it was a really big deal from like 2000. And

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 16:09

model.

Carrie Pages 16:10

it was, it was during that timing, right, Christa? So it was like from like, I think they started it in 20 10, 20 11, and then they ended it in about 2019. I think that was the last year.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 16:22

It was COVID that they, they ended it. I know that.

Carrie Pages 16:24

I think marimba was the last winner. and then they, they didn't do it after that, and I'm pretty sure that was, that was her year. But, I applied to, well actually I think I auditioned for two years. I didn't make the top 10 on the first year I auditioned, but the second year I made the top 10 and I was like, I'm gonna f and win this. Like, I was so dead set. And what was interesting about me is I was a nobody. I really was a nobody, a just living in Wilmington, North Carolina, doing my own thing. I didn't have fancy famous people that taught me and could promote me and all of that, and many of the other people.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 17:08

this was not a social media time like we have to remember back then too. So, it was, it kind of existed like 2015, like after that. But like 20 10, 11, 12, 13, it was a, Facebook was around,

Carrie Pages 17:24

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 17:24

it wasn't, it wasn't like it is now.

Carrie Pages 17:27

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 17:27

have a platform really where people, it was more like in the industry. You'd be like, oh, you know so and so. Oh, you know, so and so. Right. So

Carrie Pages 17:36

that's how everybody else.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 17:38

we didn't have that where we can now have a huge, massive audience,

Carrie Pages 17:43

Well, and that's where the story, that's interesting, Christa is I was one of the first people that really used social media. get the votes because I had no other way. I did not, no one was gonna know me if I didn't get out there. So that's the origin of like how I started carriepagespilates.com is, I was doing you, I think they could be, I feel like they could be a minute back then, but I was doing little one minute posts. I was doing them every, I would write up every morning, one minute post every single morning, and I would film it. And I was telling people, and I was getting, I was being conversational with people on Instagram and I was promoting that. I was in this contest and I hustled my heart out to get the attention and the exposure that I couldn't get any other way. And I feel like I did it very ethically. I,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 18:44

year was this? Do you remember?

Carrie Pages 18:45

was 2016.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 18:47

Okay. Yeah.

Carrie Pages 18:49

And, I just would say to people like I would, I would ins direct message people and just say, Hey, there's a, the Pilates anytime, contest is going on right now. Watch all the submissions and if you like mine, I'd love for you to vote for me. And I just really try to be very ethical about the way I did it. but I swear to you, after watching those, you, it was painful. You could watch the numbers every day and see who was winning and you could see if so and so got two more votes and if you, And so, but I woke up the morning that the contest ended and I was on East Coast time and it's a California, but I could see I had won. So basically, that was a thrill. I still can't believe I won that and it's changed my life. It really did change my life. I got to go to California and film for them and it was the first time I had taken those one minute filmings and done something long form with it. So after I filmed, I think I got to film two workouts. I immediately was like, I can't wait for them to call me back and do this again. I wanna do this all the time. And I just came home and looked at my husband and I was like, I really wanna do this. I wanna start my own platform. I called and got Christie Cooper's permission, or, or her, her, her well wishes. because it was so important. Well, I didn't wanna just be like, I'm gonna start my own thing, but I just said, Christie, like, you, you, at that time, you'd, you

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 20:13

in me, like I

Carrie Pages 20:14

it did.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 20:14

it.

Carrie Pages 20:15

And it was that piece of like, I think being a performer, it felt a little bit like being on stage Yeah. With dance and so,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 20:24

when you applied. When you applied for this, like, and you were Pilates, anytime I, I totally remember this time. was it, at the time you didn't think, I wanna start a personal brand and an online thing?

Carrie Pages 20:37

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 20:37

doing it for the sense of competition for, like, did you, were you thinking this might help imbalance or were you just like, I kind of, I'm lit up by this a little bit. It's kind of exciting. Is that what you were, your mindset was when you applied?

Carrie Pages 20:50

My mindset was when it, because I, I, there's a little backstory to like, Facebook, five years prior had been really toxic for me and I had made the decision to get off Facebook and never do social media, but I got the top 10 of Pilates anytime. And I was like, the only way I am gonna win this if I is, if I get myself out there.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 22:57

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 22:58

And so I didn't do it at all to fuel In Balance Pilates studio at all. I was only doing it to fuel me

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 23:08

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 23:08

fuel me and it was exciting.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 23:10

not even from like a business perspective. Like a personal A personal thing.

Carrie Pages 23:14

Right. And it was, it was really exciting to watch the followers grow and to do all of that. And I, I, yeah, that, that was kind of how, that, that all the, the Instagram, so my online studio really came from me doing the, the, the daily posts and going, I just wanna make this more long form. And, what if I make, like, how cool would it be if I made like$300 a month off of this? Like, I had such low expectations of what it could become.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 23:46

Yeah. Well, I think there's a few things I hear through that one. As a true entrepreneur, I think your understanding of I can't be passive here, go out and get the votes kind of thing, is a testament to even. And business. We can't be like, well, I'm just gonna wait for people to walk through my door. We have to go be like, I have to go find these people. How can I get in front of these people? Right? So you having the courage to go on a platform that was very new to a lot of us and uncomfortable to a lot of us being necessarily in front of a camera and all of the things who just say, and I, I remember. I think that's how I kind of came across you personally. so I think that's one. And to you, at the time you were building, you were seating your audience because you had done, it's like almost doing presale and press before a big recital or a show or whatever. And then when you went to launch your online program. You already had this audience, like unbeknownst to you, but you had built it already. Right? And so I'm sure when also you had the accolade of like you just won Pilates anytime, but you had built an audience of people that now knew, entrusted you. Right? And so now when you went to sell, you had a group of people that were interested in buying. And if I'm, correct me if I'm wrong, but was your intention always to go? Was it for inst to help instructors or to help like a The Pilates enthusiast.

Carrie Pages 25:34

So my heart was always in helping instructors. That was the heart and the soul behind it always. And at that time, my web designer didn't want me to, and, and she's still my web designer today. I love and adore her and we have worked so beautifully together over the years, but she didn't want me to niche it down so much that it kept, so we kind of had student and instructor like, you have to click a box, what are you? but over the years it was just very clear. I think you still actually have to click that box when you become a member on my online studio. But it's still, it's, now I just truly just drive home that instructor support, because I'm really, I'm, I'm not just giving workouts. I'm like, when you teach, I'm, I'm giving a lot of like teaching tips and feedback in all of the, the sessions on the online studio.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 26:24

that's what the industry needs more than ever right now,

Carrie Pages 26:28

Well.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 26:29

with a in studio opening on every corner, a training programs opening up every, which way to Sunday teachers. Need the guidance from professionals and from mentors that have gone before them and are really, true to the method. But teaching people how to teach, I think that's like the most important thing. How can we, that's what teacher training programs are. They're not exercise training programs. They are teacher training programs. And part of what we need is to help teachers, young and old how to be better teachers.'cause that's how we move the industry as a whole. Forward

Carrie Pages 27:09

Absolutely. And I think that the support, like something that's so important to me is to provide the support for people so they don't get burned out.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 27:17

uhhuh.

Carrie Pages 27:17

They don't, I think the social media world, as much as I can only speak to it, growing my business, it also really hurts your feelings.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 27:26

for listen, for

Carrie Pages 27:28

This morning I woke up, I'm scrolling Instagram, and I'm immediately saying to myself, I'm not doing enough right now. I, I gotta work harder, I gotta do more. And I'm, I always wanna be that like, voice to every studio owner and teacher You are doing it. Exactly. Like, do not let social media convince you and tell you the lie that you're not doing enough.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 27:48

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 27:49

Because it, if, if anyone who watches me knows how hard I work, I am

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 27:53

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 27:54

a maniac. And I literally go on Instagram and immediately think I'm not working hard enough.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 27:59

Same. what helped me with that? I will tell you, I was actually just thinking about this this morning.'cause I listen to my own podcast when I walk. So I walk and I listen to my podcast because I also like to hear, am I giving good information? What can I improve on this? Oh, that was a really good episode. I, I really think that was valuable. I wanna do more. And I thought, oh, I'm gonna listen to so-and-so's podcast this morning to see if I. what they're doing. And I was like, Stop Christa stop. Like, I actually stopped following a lot of my competitors because I was always comparing myself to say, well, I should do that now. Like, oh, this is what they're doing. This is what people want. And I'm like, just stop. Like, you're doing fine. Everything is great. and I agree. I, I think people, of all think, oh, they're overnight successes. No, we've been grinding at this for a long time and I think people think, oh, they don't have any problems or wackadoo stuff going on in our brain. But we all do. We all do. I think if we're, when we're high achiever is, it's just part of what makes us a high achiever. So it could be our kryptonite or our, it could go either way. So

Carrie Pages 29:05

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 29:06

to. Get into like the tech and the backend a

Carrie Pages 29:10

Okay.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 29:10

Okay.'cause I do think that that is a barrier to entry to people. They're like, well, where do I do start? What do I do? do I use my phone? Do I use lighting? Do I use a mic? Can you talk about you, you just won Pilates. Anytime you filmed, you're like, I'm loving this. This is what I wanna do. what did that first iteration look like? Like how were you creating content? platform did you decide to put it up on? And, and can you speak to that first?

Carrie Pages 29:41

Well, I'll tell you that, one thing I knew is I needed a web designer. Like that was where my abilities ended. Like I, there was no way I was gonna do that on my own. So we were scouring, my husband and I really went into this together. Like it was really cute. We wanted to like, we really thought he would edit the material and that we would kind of do this as a team. It didn't end up going that way. Not because he wasn't good at it, but because oddly enough, I love editing my own content. Like I enjoy that piece of it. So like, I just would take that over. anyways. we found a, web designer, Anastasia Go goers and Anas

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 30:19

her.

Carrie Pages 30:19

She's amazing. So Anastasia is funny enough, she was in North Carolina at the time, just three hours down the road from me, was the craziest thing. And my husband wakes me up the next morning after he finds her online. He's like, Carrie, you're not gonna believe this. This girl is like right outside of Charlotte and she is a Pilates instructor and web designer. Well, let me tell you if I, this is the best. I tell anyone, call Anastasia if you're a Pilates instructor and you need a website, because there is nothing more comfortable than being able to say that picture of me doing open leg rocker. I want that in this photo. And then I want me doing leg pull front in this, on this page and the language and the speed at which she can just work with you. And it's a game changer because I have worked with plenty of people that are not Pilates instructors on other websites and it isn't, it's a nightmare. So Anastasia did all of that backend stuff in terms of like, so I use, I don't know if this is helpful to anybody, but like Vimeo is actually my video platform that I upload all my content to. It's a WordPress website, and so all the Vimeo, it's all connected, but Anastasia also teaches you how to do it all on your own. She doesn't run the website monthly. For me, I actually upload my videos. I do all of that through the WordPress and Vimeo. So I am independent. I just didn't know how to build the site so that

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 31:43

know how to connect everything. And like, what's my step how do I, do I get people? How do I get these videos, this content to people? Like, how do I get it, put it all together?

Carrie Pages 31:54

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 31:54

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 31:56

Is that a question?

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 31:57

no, I was, you were like, I have this content. wanna get it to the people. I don't understand how the technology like works.

Carrie Pages 32:05

Right. So she, she handled all of that for me.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 32:08

That's great.

Carrie Pages 32:09

I'll tell, like tech-wise, and if you look back at the first few, but I, listen, I've always held like fast to this. If you look back at the first 20 videos of Pilates, anytime, the audio's terrible. The, it's the, the cameras are ter like it's all the same things, but you look back at my stuff, it's extra terrible. But,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 32:29

everyone's start is, yeah.

Carrie Pages 32:31

but I did, on my phone initially

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 32:34

Yep.

Carrie Pages 32:34

and then I invested in an iPad,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 32:37

Okay.

Carrie Pages 32:37

the iPad. Then I was having still some technical glitches with like, I would get done filming an hour long workout and walk around and the camera had turned off and all, all.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 32:52

been, we've all been, we've

Carrie Pages 32:53

They've all been there, right? so the iPad didn't solve that problem. We thought it would. And then my husband found me this camcorder. I used the camcorder for three or four years, and now I use a really cool gadget called a DJI Osmo Pocket 3

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 33:12

that. We'll try to link that in the show notes. Say it again so I

Carrie Pages 33:15

the DJI Osmo Pocket three.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 33:19

okay.

Carrie Pages 33:19

It's a really cool gadget that, it's actually, I, I'm gonna defend myself and say it was cheaper when I bought mine. they've gone up in price quite a bit since I bought mine. I, I've had mine for about three years now, I think. But it has, I wish I had one with me, but I don't. But, it's got this little, the viewer twists so you can do landscape mode or portrait mode.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 33:39

portrait. Yep.

Carrie Pages 33:40

And it makes it so easy. So I film my videos in landscape mode and then I film my, ig promos in, in, in, portrait. And so I just twist that little thing, film three little, highlights of the workout. it also connects to, like your phone or an iPad, so you can see it really big. So for my old eyes that have gone so bad, it has a Bluetooth connectivity and I just set that iPad right there and I can see really big what I'm doing from standing there. I will know if the camera turns off, I'll know if the mic turns off, I'll know all. I can see those notifications pop up while I'm filming. So anyways, it's, I think it looks beautiful. it's got a selfish eye to it, so it just, it just looks great. so, I love that camera. but I will say like, I wouldn't tell anyone to do that right away'cause it's expensive. Use iPad, use your phone. That is perfect. And,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 34:32

Mic.

Carrie Pages 34:33

and yet. The mic for the dj. That's the other thing That's so cool. The dj, I, pocket Osmo three. It comes with a mic that the second you turn, you just have to turn it on, but the second you turn it on, it Bluetooth connects to that camera and you it, you don't have to remember to do anything. It just, and that's really awesome.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 34:56

that is awesome. I do believe, when people ask me what should I start with? I'm like, think you can start with your phone. The, our phones nowadays have better cameras than some cameras. You need a mic, because I think audio is really, really important.

Carrie Pages 35:10

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 35:11

and the mics now are so much easier than they were back in the day. Like, so

Carrie Pages 35:16

Even three

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 35:16

you don't

Carrie Pages 35:17

ago, the mic I was using 10 years ago sucked.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 35:19

And lighting, I usually say, so if you don't have it, you don't wanna be in a place, obviously you don't wanna be back lits, you don't want the light coming from behind you. but again, you can buy, know, shadow boxes or box lighting on Amazon for like soup. So none of this stuff has to cost anybody a lot of money. The important thing though is you take time to create content. So when you were first starting, we've got the tech down. Were you like, I am gonna record once a week, one video a week, I'm gonna record every day, I'm gonna batch my content. Or were you just like, I'm just gonna try to like wing it and figure out how I do it? Like, were you consistent in how,

Carrie Pages 35:57

It was very intentional and very, very, very, very, very hard work. I did not wanna open the online studio with two videos. I wanted a library,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 36:08

Okay.

Carrie Pages 36:09

I, I'm pretty sure I started the online, online studio with, I wanna say 30 workouts.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 36:16

Okay.

Carrie Pages 36:16

And I feel like

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 36:18

30

Carrie Pages 36:18

know some of them might have been 15, some of them might have been 20, but like they were, that there were 30 of'em that you could access.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 36:26

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 36:27

I also did, it's one of the coolest things that I think is on my website that I think some people don't even know exist, but they're exercise demonstrations. So I went through all the level one through three reformer exercises

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 36:39

Love

Carrie Pages 36:39

they have a video, a voiceover, and it says the repetitions. And so if you're a classical geek, it's kind of cool. but I did that for the mat and the reformer. and so that lives on the website too. I've had all of that on there. So that was, whatever, 36 mat exercises and, however many reformer exercises that was. And then, I did some, at the time, some tutorials, some things like this where I'm just sitting there talking about studio management. All of that stuff's so outdated. I think I actually, when I redid the website back, about a year ago today, I took some of those off'cause they were so outdated.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 37:14

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 37:14

but the other thing, oh, we'll talk about that later. I was gonna say some updates I've done to it now, but at, in the beginning, that's how it started. But I, I busted my tail and I was running in balance Pilate studio.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 37:28

I want people to remember you're still running. Are you teaching at Imbalance at this point too? Like the majority of stuff, or, you had hired people by this point,

Carrie Pages 37:37

I definitely had employees, but I had a full, like

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 37:40

schedule.

Carrie Pages 37:41

minimum 25 hours a week I was teaching minimum. And I also, this Christa I, I go to Christa for, business advice and there's one little thing I've never, never listened to her on. And one is I'm still the admin of my business. So I answer every call, return every email. So I'm still doing all of that. I do not.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 38:01

obviously working for you.

Carrie Pages 38:02

Oh, you're sweet. Well, thank you. I kind of, I'm like, Christa's gonna be so disappointed in me.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 38:07

it's obviously working. Like when people are like, what's the best way to do it? I'm like, the best way to do it is what's working. And so if it's working for you,

Carrie Pages 38:13

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 38:14

it.

Carrie Pages 38:15

And I do, I get a little like jollies out of it. Like I do. I enjoy it. I enjoy being that first point of contact for people. I like to talk to people about imbalance and, and it's, it, it makes me happy. So, but yeah, so I'm still like fully, oh, and let's not forget. What I also had started doing was doing travel workshops. And at that time the PMA was still a thing. I was being asked to present at the PMA, I was being asked to present at, balanced Body Pilates on tour.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 38:43

sure.

Carrie Pages 38:44

I was also doing my own teacher, workshops. Like I was doing KARAAGE as Pilates, workshops, all, I was traveling once a month. I was, I was a maniac

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 38:56

Yeah. And you had children.

Carrie Pages 38:57

and I had young children,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 39:00

Yes.

Carrie Pages 39:01

so this.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 39:01

forget that part either.

Carrie Pages 39:03

At that timeframe, the kids were like nine and 11 ish. I think they were nine and 11, one-on-one Pilates anytime. So they were like growing up through those ages. Oh. And they were doing competition dance, so,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 39:13

That's like the hardest years of your life, I think. I think middle school's hell on earth, literally. and they, they're dependent on you for everything. They don't drive,

Carrie Pages 39:23

right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 39:23

have phones usually by this PO at this point yet. Like they're dependent on you for everything. That's a tough age to have, like, So, okay, so you're starting this. Tell us. Well, let's talk, let's fast forward to today. Okay. Tell us now, if I wanted to become a member Pja Pilates, what are my options? I'm a Pilate, which I am, I'm a Pilates instructor. I wanna learn from you, what are my options in being a member? What's like the subscription like, and what do I get?

Carrie Pages 39:53

So the subscription right now is$29 a month. you can get three months for 69 or a year for 1 99. And the platform I am so proud of. Anastasia and I did a complete revamp of the website a year ago. We made it easier to navigate. It's super cliquey, and you can say reformer level beginner, and you can do all these fun things. You can even sort through it with like lower body focus, upper body focus, like it's just so smart. the other thing that I added because I wanted to add value to the website is I do a monthly mini workshop every month where I go on Zoom with all the members and we go through and exercise or some topic and I break it down. I'll show you. Let's, like, say for example, I did a semicircle one recently. I show you the exercise and how it's intended to be done. I talk about common issues and then I talk about ways that we can troubleshoot it, make it more accessible to more people, and then how can we get them to the full expression of the exercise?

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 40:57

Amazing. And you teach this live

Carrie Pages 40:59

I do.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 40:59

but live, it's virtual, but it's like you teach it live. It's not a prerecording of you.

Carrie Pages 41:03

And it's just us. Like I'm, I'm not being fancy. I like, I just show up. It's a four, about 45 minutes of movement and then I just sit down with the members and we do 45 minutes of just talking about it. And I do that monthly. So every month you get that like cool experience with me. If you miss it live, it's on the website. You can access all the archives of that as if you become a member today. There's about 10 now. And I am just so super duper proud of what that website looks like today. It has been a journey. It did not look this way even two years ago, but I just think that it is just, I think if you're a teacher who needs a friend, that's what it is. I really just wanna be a friend that you're working out beside.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 41:51

your website?

Carrie Pages 41:52

I don't.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 41:53

you don't, you should put that on there. like sales messaging gold. Seriously, if you're a teacher that needs a friend,

Carrie Pages 42:02

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 42:02

wanna be that friend. Like that's what people feel like they need. And first of all, I just wanna say. So I am, I'm a little bit of a movement sob sometimes, but I don't wanna say I'm the Pilate snob because I think there's like an Instagram handle on that. And I'm really not The Pilates police. Yeah, no. Yeah, exactly. I'm not gonna be that. So, but do value people that have quality movement and know what they're talking about. I don't care if it's business, fitness, movement, pt, all of that stuff. And even though I am not class, I, I'm gonna say I'm not classically trained. I'm very true to the method. I know the classical method I teach in a more contemporary style, but I've been always very impressed with you and your teaching ability. One, from a, from a standpoint of you are. Personality and you're just like very approachable and very friendly. I think I took one of your workshops at PMA one year and I was like, she's, she's super, super sweet and she's so bubbly and I love it. And then I, like you can be super nice, front facing. And then I've been to workshops where I'm like, Ooh, that's not like correct anatomy. Or that's like, no, that's not like, correct. And you, you back it up with your like foundation and your understanding of the movement and the method. So for$29 a month, people that is like. ordered a salad from Carrot Express yesterday, and it was 27 99 for$29 a month. If you don't invest in this subscription, that is just silly To get to the point that you get to meet with Carrie once a month and ask a question and pick her brain and understand how she programs certain things and what she does. She's a beautiful instructor and just like an overall amazing human being, but she knows her stuff seriously. You cannot buy a salad and a smoothie for less than$29, and you can do$69 for three months, three months for$200 people. I'm just gonna tell you, you all need to go. I'm gonna link it in the show notes. You all need to go to her website and subscribe for a year. I'm just gonna say that

Carrie Pages 44:19

Thank you.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 44:20

I'm not joking. I don't push things a lot, but when I push, when I know people are going to get value. this is like a no brainer. No brainer whatsoever. The fact that you do something live every month It's huge. How do you know how many subscribers you have right now on your platform?

Carrie Pages 44:41

I wish I'd looked this morning. I think I'm at about 800. Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 44:45

amazing.

Carrie Pages 44:46

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 44:46

I'm so happy to hear that. Because it just also means that pe the, the industry is valuing your expertise. And to me that means that's 800 instructors learning from someone they should be learning from.

Carrie Pages 45:00

It's very cool.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 45:01

it's very important to me that. Push the industry forward in a good, positive way. I'm not, by the way about like, I don't care if you're classical contemporary. I don't actually care if you do lagree. Like you can do whatever you want. But what I want is for people to learn from people that know their shit that are good people that are going to have their best interest at heart, right? Because there is enough business to go around. just in the United States, there's 329 million people. There's plenty of business to go around. to me more bodies doing Pilates, they're doing contemporary or classical, is the goal. And if more people are doing the method and more people are always like, oh, the instructors and they took this thing, the more people are talking about the Pilates, the more instructors are gonna wanna know the good Pilates and the authentic Pilates and learn more. So we need people like you in the industry that are helping the instructors just be better versions of themself.'cause ultimately it impacts the clients,

Carrie Pages 46:10

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 46:13

And we get to help people move better and live better and do things that they wanna be doing throughout their lifespan. And that is like a really amazing career to be in, I think. So thank you for your expertise. So,

Carrie Pages 46:28

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 46:28

I'd love to just ask you now, so you have, and, and I want. Maybe you can just speak a little bit to, well, one is really geared toward instructors and the other is geared toward consumers. So in studio imbalance consumers,

Carrie Pages 46:41

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 46:42

you do have a consumer portal on your platform, but your online platform. But really it's to foster education for instructors

Carrie Pages 46:51

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 46:52

a friend to Pilates instructors. I love it. is growing an online business that actually is truly scalable than an in studio brick and mortar service-based business?

Carrie Pages 47:03

Well, I think the, the first thing that comes to mind to answer that is just I think everyone's getting so distracted by the hype and Pilates right now and getting distracted by, there's another studio opening up down the street, and how am I going to get the people that they're gonna get? And I don't believe in that at all. What I believe in is taking impeccable beautiful care of the people that are coming through your door right now. Keep them happy. They'll tell the, they'll tell their friends, and you will grow. You just, if you're gonna get distracted, you cannot compete with these big named box brands. You're not, I, I, I don't know, Christa. It's just, it's something that I just, I have to make myself not get competitive in that way because I'll make myself crazy if I do. I was the first Pilates studio in Wilmington, North Carolina, and when I tell you we probably have 50 now in like the surrounding areas, like I would be sick every day if I was worried about the competition. So instead of worrying about competition, I just take beautiful, beautiful care of my clients. I tell them every time I start a class. Thank you so much for carving out this time, honoring your own time, and honoring mine, and showing up to your session today. And when I close class, I tell them thank you for being there. I appreciate you coming and I'll see you next time. And I just, I never let them realize or never let them forget how grateful I am for them.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 48:37

And I do in you saying that, I believe that you take that same thing and translate it into your online community. Like basically I can imagine, like you're just saying you wanna be a friend to Pilates instructors, so you are taking that same principle, right? Which the podcast that just aired today, like when you're, that the time of this recording is all about retention and it talks about surprise and delight. Like how you surprise and delight the people that are already buying from you. And so I would imagine you take that same idea and you just. Give that to the people in your online platform so you can make each 800 people just feel special and like, thank you so much for believing in me and investing in me, and I will in turn show up for you the same way you show up for me. Right? And so instead of spending our energy on things we can't control, which is more online, people going out there and teaching Pilates, another brick and mortar studio opening, we cannot control that. Let's the control, the controllable. And what we can control is how we show up for the people. And I'm sure, to be honest, you showed up, which I think business owners have a really hard time with. show up for one person the same way that you show up for 800 people. And I'm sure that your first 2, 3, 4 subscribers, you showed up for them the same as you show up for the people. 7 99, 800, 8 0 1.

Carrie Pages 50:01

Absolutely.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 50:02

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 50:02

Absolutely.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 50:02

people are like, well, I only have one person in my class. I'm like, then teach the hell outta that class and make sure that they bring their friends next time. Like the way you show up for one is the way you show up for all of them. And I think people are just like, eh, only one person came. I'm like, well, if you got one person, you can get two people. And if you get two people, you can get three people. You just have to believe that.

Carrie Pages 50:21

And I think that that's a little bit, if I'm gonna get on like a little bit of a pedestal of like an old lady here, like I did not get where I am today by accident or luck. I have busted my tail. For every client that's come to imbalance, they come and get like, listen, one of the hardest things I do is look at our stack of new client informations and go, how did this many people,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 50:48

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 50:49

right? But like, I just. Sometimes I look at like the success that like the businesses have had in like the last, especially like two and three years. And I'm like, what did I do to deserve this? And when I'm really honest and can look at myself from a bird's eye view, I'm like, you busted your tail.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 51:04

you.

Carrie Pages 51:05

worked so hard. Carrie and I did teach one person, like they were a princess for$25 an hour sometimes. And I made, I just invested in myself for years upon years, upon years upon years. And it, it wasn't pretty 15 years ago. I was making a living and we were doing it, but it, it didn't look like it looks today. And I just would tell anyone, like, just, I don't know. I think like I look back on my life and sometimes I'm like, I wish I could have had the success. Especially like financially now that I'm having back when I was younger and like the kids were little and we really could have used that money then really could have used it. But I don't regret that because I just think there's like character building and like a process of life that's important. So if you don't feel like you're successful right now, just don't give up. Like the reward on the backend is so special and you just can't believe it if you'll just hang in there. And,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 52:12

yeah.

Carrie Pages 52:13

and I think that that is a testament too to like making sure you're doing what you love. Like

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 52:19

love

Carrie Pages 52:20

I don't get up every morning and I'm like, hell yeah, I get to go to imbalance today. Like I, it's, it's not that kind of love guys. Like

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 52:26

the

Carrie Pages 52:27

not saying

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 52:27

prices.

Carrie Pages 52:28

it doesn't look like that, but it's, yeah, I get there and I'm like, okay, yeah. Like they just did short spine differently today than they did it last time. And there's someone like. Joy I get out of those moments and so, you've gotta do what you love to be able to hang in there as long as I have. But in balance is gonna be 24 in August, in the online studio, I think is nine this year or something. Nine or 10. And so it's just like, yeah, it's been a process.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 52:54

foot in front of the other day after day after day, putting one foot in front of the other. Like it's not always pretty. not. but. Like success and success could look different for everyone, by the way, I, I also, social media makes success look certain ways. Like success doesn't always have to be money. Success can be I get to leave my job at two o'clock and go pick up my kids from school. Success can look like, I don't have to ask anybody when I wanna go to my kids luncheon or I don't have to ask somebody when I wanna go to a wedding. Success can look like, you have a business that you built from nothing, by the way. Less than I think it's, I'm, I'm gonna butcher the stats, so please don't quote me and please don't at me on my podcast.'cause I, I know that this is a stat, but I, I don't have it right in front of me, but it's like something that like. Less than 5% of of businesses, less than 5% of all businesses pass the$200,000 revenue mark. A year. than 2% of businesses pass a seven figure mark. So if, if any of you that are listening think that you're not doing enough because you're at 150 or$200,000 of revenue, you are doing better than 95% of businesses that are out there. Right. And success. Leaves clues. So if you wanna know how to be successful, listen to somebody like Carrie. Listen to the story. She says, I went out, I did this. I asked for votes, I asked for testimonials. I, I dive into my clients. Whether that's one or a hundred. Success leaves clues. So if you want clues, follow the people that have, are where you want to go. Right? And if people aren't, I, this whole thing about being in the arena, like if someone's not in the arena doing what you wanna do, I don't give a fuck about their opinion. If you're not in the arena, getting your face smashed in on a daily basis, I don't care about your opinion. Don't take advice from someone like, like, don't be upset if someone tells you a bad thing that you wouldn't take advice from. And so it's important for people like, for you to listen to people like Kara and besides, she also is a really, you're like just a genuine, amazing person, which is a double plus too. So I think that that's really important information and tell young, especially young women that are out there and are seeing, and I, it is harder now the same way. It's harder for our kids to grow up now with phones and social media and like, we didn't have that growing up. Like it's a, it's harder for them now. It is harder for business owners now because it is a little noisier in the industry. But

Carrie Pages 55:42

yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 55:42

impossible. not impossible, right? You just maybe have to be a little more intentional. Gone are the days that we could go hang a QR code or a flyer out in someone's door and people would come in. But it's still doable. It's still

Carrie Pages 55:56

Oh, it's totally doable. And I think you, your, your intention behind what you're doing is where the, what's important. I think if I had gone into owning a Pilates studio or starting the online studio to like, get rich or even make money, like I know that sounds stupid because we have to pay our bills, but I, I never went into either business. Like I never thought they'd do what they're doing today, either of them.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 56:26

ser service mindset, right?

Carrie Pages 56:28

I just,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 56:29

your I I am just here to serve people. And the, and I, by the way, I do believe that if that's your intention, the money will follow.

Carrie Pages 56:36

yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 56:37

And I, I also believe we don't have to be afraid to talk about money and profit, but if you go into serve and you're like, I'm here to serve, I'm showing up to serve, the money will follow because we serve and deserve at the same time. Right. But your intention has always been to serve, which is why the money follows.

Carrie Pages 56:56

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 56:56

And the more money you get, the more you can build into your website and you can build into your platform and you can hire more people. So you can create more content. You can take like, so it just impacts on the backend, the people you're trying to serve.

Carrie Pages 57:10

And I, I wanna also, I wanna just speak to like, for so many years, because I was working so hard and just putting one foot in front of the other, I was very, very, hyper conscious of my spending

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 57:27

Hmm.

Carrie Pages 57:28

and I didn't invest in the businesses. Like, I remember paying for that first website, the first iteration of the website, and just being like, Like, it was such a huge deal, right? And even when it came to In Balance sometimes like, I would just try to find the cheapest way to do something. Okay. Over the past few years, I have very intentionally done upgrades to IN Balance So expanding the space, making it more beautiful and more fine looking, I would say. And then with the website, I spent a good amount of money investing in that as well to do the new version of it. And I'd never done anything like that before, like with either of those two amounts of money. Right. And I am so proud of those two products now that I am excited and lit up to tell people about them and to promote them. Whereas I used to say, oh, it's my little Pilates studio, or, oh, I just have like a little online studio. It's, it's just got some workouts on it. It's no big deal. But now I'm like, yeah, I've got this great website, check it out. And my In Balance my brick and mortar is beautiful. Come see it. You won't believe how crisp and clean and pretty and beautiful it is. So I would always have argued up until doing those two investments that you should be smart and wise with your money and be budget friendly and all of that. But this is the first time in my life I can say I took a chance. I took a huge leap and I went, okay, let's do it. And if it doesn't work, I'm not gonna not be able to feed my family. Okay. It wasn't that big of a leap, but I thought, let's take a chance and the payoff emotionally for me, in terms of my pride in the products and the payoff in what's happened.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 59:29

Of course.

Carrie Pages 59:29

There's no denying that that has made a difference. So I really like, I think about if my daughter wanted to open a business, like I would say be budget friendly and wise for years, but when the time is right and you've saved the money and you've got it, go big. Go big and take a chance.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 59:46

I love that for you. I also, that's a really good advice for people too because we were talking pre-show a little bit about you can't, you can't receive from a closed fist. And that's not the exact quote. It's something like you can't, it's basically like when you're, when we're trying to hold on so much for dear life and penny pinch, that's the energy we put out into the universe. And if we're penny pinching, if you think about it, like we're asking people to invest in us. We're saying pay me$29 a month, which is like a no-brainer, or pay me a hundred dollars for a private session. But if we're not willing to then turn around and invest in us and our product, how can we then like expect other people to invest in us? So if we're investing in ourselves, it just opens up that whole. Circle of like give and take right. Of the universe. I'm willing, I am worth this. Okay. And I, I don't buy the val adage of charge what you're worth. We're all worth, you are worth way more than$29 a month. First of all. Like, we're all worth, we're way more than what we charge. more like we have to be willing to, risk is the reward is greater when we risk a little more.

Carrie Pages 1:01:00

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:01:00

people are like, well, I don't have the r, I'm like, but you're not risking anything. Right? You're spending$5 a day on ads. Like, and I'm not, that's a whole other conversation, but like. you didn't wanna pay the$200 or$300 to a bookkeeper and a financial person to help you with your money. So you're not risking, you can't get the reward over here. Okay. And I'm not talking about burning the boats, I'm not talking about doing all. But at some point in business, there's gonna come a time where you're gonna pay with time or money and your time is gonna run out and you're gonna have to be strong enough and faithful enough, which is why reach out to people like Carrie, reach out to people like me. We have a whole network of people that we've vetted and we've known are like good people of like, invest your money in this person. You'll get the return. And so I thank you for sharing that.'cause I do, do think I'm happy for you that you also came in that realization and you're like, now I feel I see the reward on the other side. So I'm just so impressed with what you built. I'm so grateful and fortunate to feel like. I've like met a friend in you and, and be, I think I met you a PMA, like a years, maybe 2015. I don't even remember. They all blend together for me.

Carrie Pages 1:02:15

I know. Well, Christa, I wanna give, I wanna get attention to you though, because I went to Christa's summit, I think it was three years ago, and I just remember I had, I, I was kind of just sitting around in my living room, scrolling Instagram, and I was just, I had met Terry, one of her teachers at the time on,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:02:37

Terry, sire Moore. By the way, if you're thinking of who it is, she absolutely loves Carrie.

Carrie Pages 1:02:43

well, I loved her.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:02:44

who loves Carrie.

Carrie Pages 1:02:46

Well, we had met on Instagram and I was just like, they, I think she had posted something that morning. I was like, I'm gonna go to Miami and just take classes with Terry. Like, I was just, I kind of was in like one of those weird, like I had three months where I didn't have anything going on. And then I look at the studio and I see somehow it leads me to seeing that you have the summit. And it was like 10 days later, it was like in no time. And I text Christa like on Instagram. I'm like, Hey, is there, are there any spots in this summit? I think I'm gonna come take some classes and come to your summit. She's like, yeah, sign up. Let's do this. So I get signed up and I go down there and I kind of don't even know what I'm getting myself involved in, but I wanted help with Imbalance Pilates studio. It was something where I was just like, I need a little help. I had post COVID, I had shut my brain off from my numbers completely.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:03:32

know.

Carrie Pages 1:03:32

If I can pay the bills, that's all I care about. I wasn't looking at my sales per month. I had just, I wasn't even opening QuickBooks, like I was a hot damn mess. And I knew it was time to like get it back together. So I signed up for the summit with Christa went down there and truly life changing, like what I was able to do mindset wise. I did not apply all of it, Christa immediately. And there's still things I haven't applied, but it's still in here and it's so huge to know. Like you just kind of teaching that CEO mindset and just being like, for another phrase like, I'm a boss babe. Like, I'm like, I'm like not just running a little Pilates studio. That language changed and I think you spoke directly to that, that weekend

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:04:18

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 1:04:18

and I, I was like, oh, like, it was so eye-opening for me to get that language of my little Pilates studio out of my mouth. and like, I wasn't, even if someone asked me what I did, I was like, oh, I teach Pilates. I didn't say I own a Pilates studio. Would you like to come see the studio? Like I had such a different, so Christa you

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:04:40

Yeah.

Carrie Pages 1:04:40

my life, so thank you.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:04:42

you. Thank you for saying that. I do remember when you signed up and I was like, Carrie carrie's coming to the Like, what am I gonna do? Like I, it's, it's, I again, I think it's like that whole piece of like, we all have our own stuff in our head of like who these other people were. And I remember when breaking into the whole PPMA and Pilates on tour and being like, well, I'm not part of that, like. Inner circle. Like I'm not part of who I thought in my head was part of like the PM's inner circle and everyone, no, everyone was so nice and welcoming and opening and I think I threw up in my hotel room for before I did my first presentation and I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. so I just put yourself out there like the word, you're not gonna die like that. One time you messaged me about like, I'm raising my prices and I was like, you're not gonna die. And we didn't die.

Carrie Pages 1:05:34

I really thought I was gonna die though, Christa.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:05:36

Yeah, I hear you. We all fall. We all think that, but we're not gonna die. And that's how we build repetition. Right? Same way the people are not gonna die trying a teaser for the first time on the reformer. Like, they're not gonna die. They might not get it the first time, but they're not gonna die. And then they're gonna try again and they're gonna keep going.

Carrie Pages 1:05:51

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:05:52

So, so tell everyone, first of all, what's your Instagram handle?'cause everyone needs to go follow you on Instagram.

Carrie Pages 1:05:58

Okay. My Instagram handle is Carrie Pages, but it's spelled pages, P-A-G-E-S, underscore Pilates. So Carrie underscore pages,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:06:09

I am gonna link it in the show notes'cause you have to go follow her. And then your website for the pilates instructors is CarriePagesPilates.com. great. We are gonna link everything in the show notes and people, if you don't go to her website and sign up for a year, seriously, you just, you just need to put that out in the universe and like, I'm gonna be the best Pilates instructor I can possibly be. Learn from this woman. She is a wealth, a plethora of information and seriously, and an overall just amazing human being. So I thank you so much for taking the time to share just your, your awesomeness with my audience and I wish you nothing but the best of luck.

Carrie Pages 1:06:50

Thank you, Christa. I appreciate that so much.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies 1:06:53

My pleasure. All right, everyone, until next time. Bye for now.