By the age of 22, I was in the process of raising my identical twin boys who were toddling around by this point, I had begun going back to part-time work and successfully re launched my Zumba classes again. Being a Mum is the most incredible, rewarding job in the world, however it can be difficult to step out of the Mum bubble and invest time back into yourself and your own career. By this point, I had started to re discover who I was and what I loved to do, which was teaching and helping others to better themselves both physically and mentally. Re launching my fitness classes enabled me to regain my confidence and spark again. It was this that lead onto my ‘lightbulb moment’ when I decided I would launch this as a business.

Yes, looking back, I may have been somewhat naïve to what starting a business truly entails, however I believe the pure passion and impulsiveness contributed to success of Mis-Fit Fitness and Bands2Bass. I started my journey by booking myself onto my Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Training course and completed this without hesitation. I met many inspiring, like-minded people along my fitness journey, which helped solidify my planned journey ahead. I have to say, this was my first ever business venture and planning-ahead definitely was not my forte at this point. Therefore, more of a ‘wing it’ approach was taken at the beginning.

After launching personal training sessions, bootcamps, Zumba classes under ‘Mis-Fit Fitness’, I decided I needed something new, a brand-new fitness creation to launch. I had always been a keen gym-goer and was into using looped resistance bands to aid my training. I could never find the right one, the right design or fit and I found this frustrating but overall, the concept of adding looped resistance to boost results was phenomenal. I decided in that moment that I would launch this concept into its very own fitness class – ‘Bands2Bass’. We launched classes all around Surrey and created our own branded bands for purchase – which were even advertised by ITV’s This Morning. The business did very well and with the aid of the pandemic, our sales for our convenient light-weight piece of exercise equipment boomed! We have continued this business to this day, with a team of instructors teaching various classes and have created a community of students who are now a big family.

This all does sound fantastic and positive, however, this was by no means an easy ride. We had multiple bumps in the road, stress, knockbacks and probably a few tears along the way! A huge number of lessons have been learned, which I am eternally grateful for as this has helped to mould me into the person I am now. I have learned to be resilient, persevere as well as to be realistic, humble and understanding.

Lessons learnt

Branding is crucial!

I have always tended to be impulsive and to think with my heart over my head. Occasionally this can be great, however, this is one aspect a business not to be rushed. Your branding is your business’ identity, how a brand can be set apart from the rest (especially in a very diluted market) and it says a lot about you. My thought processes went back and forth as I was torn with our brand name. Should it be more professional over fun? How clearly can we show what our brand is about? After much deliberation, we settled on ‘bands2bass’ for our resistance band business. The idea of resistance bands being used to ‘bass’ (drum and bass music). The name pretty much says it all and epitomises what we offer as a business.

Be ambitious but realistic at the same time

I very quickly had to learn that making mistakes is okay. It’s human to make mistakes and it’s one of the best ways we innately learn. It is fair to say that I was extremely ambitious when I had my lightbulb moment to start my own fitness business. I believed it would take over the world and be the new biggest craze. I do not see this in a negative light as I believe ambition like this shows true passion and love for what you do. I reigned in the ambition slightly and put on my ‘be realistic’ goggles and this helped me to slow down, plan and work in a far more methodical and organised manner. Reflecting back, building the business to the size it became was ideal for me at this stage, it was manageable, personal to our clients and students and very successful!

How much I truly love the fitness industry

I truly love what I offer. I genuinely love doing the workouts I teach; I love the equipment we sell. I have truly learned that fitness will always be a huge part of my life. Not only has it helped me, it’s allowed me to better so many other peoples lives. I have been able to meet many like-minded people with inspirational stories of their journey.

It is okay to make mistakes

I have always been innately competitive since a young child and that natural desire to win and get things right has always been instilled in me. However, starting my own business soon taught me that this new path was not going to be smooth sailing and there were going to be many bumps in the road. After mistakes, delays and elements out of our control, I began to enjoy some of these hiccups as it only allowed me to learn and grow as an outcome. I have carried this life lesson through my life ever since, now welcoming mistakes as a part of my journey and growth.

Working in the fitness industry is not for all, however if you do have a connection with fitness, health, helping others and positivity, then it could be the path for you. It certainly was for me!