Where do you live:
City Centre
Profession:
I am a fitness studio owner/instructor and a part-time choreographer. As owner of the studio, I am responsible for marketing and promoting Turning Point Fitness. That includes researching opportunities, creating advertising materials, measuring their success and representing the studio at events; administration of memberships, payments and invoices; securing financing; and tax, statistical and annual reporting.
In my capacity as instructor, I create pilates/dance/yoga fusion classes for my students. I develop syllabi for each class on a bi-monthly basis; seek out new music and set each class to music; instruct 15 classes per week, which involves demonstrating exercises, performing some repetitions with the class for pacing, and then watching/correcting the form of participants. I also instruct guest classes and workshops around the city to promote the studio.
When wearing my choreographer hat, I create dances inspired by everyday life; research and book performance opportunities and venues; hire dancers; research and write grant proposals; secure other funding/financing where required; teach the choreography to the dancers and lead them through guided improvisation; work with lighting and theatre technicians to create the whole picture of the piece; book volunteers for the performances; create and distribute marketing and promotional material; promote and advertise the performance; and finally, it's show time!
List of accomplishments:
Before opening Turning Point Fitness, I taught dance and fitness for the (former) North York Board of Education, and at the Thornhill School of Ballet, Tropicana Community Services, and Eclipse Dance summer camps. On the business side, after completing my MBA, I worked in communications and health care management consulting. Turning Point Fitness will mark its fifth anniversary on Jan. 19, 2010.
How do you measure success in your chosen career:
I measure success in my career as a fitness studio owner by the percentage of return clients and their referrals. Most of my clients have either been recommended by friends or have attended three to five classes per week for more than two years.
As a choreographer, I measure success by the feedback I receive from those who attend my shows, peers and general audiences members alike.
When did you decide this is what you want to do for a living and what was the 'moment'?
I had always been dancing, but my moment came when I sustained terrible injuries in my knee and hip, and was told I wouldn't be able to dance again at a high level. I went through rehabilitation, re-learning how to walk and stand properly and trained in Pilates and yoga to re-balance my body. I realized combining these two systems with dance can create a total-body, full fitness system, and this led to the birth of Turning Point Fitness, which offers classes in a blend of these elements.
My moment to return to choreography came when my fitness system brought my body back to a high level of performance, and I was inspired to create new pieces about strength and triumph.
Skills required for this job?
I studied ballet, jazz and Caribbean dance intensively and continued through to a degree in dance from York University. I performed with a few professional contemporary dance companies. After completing my MBA, I studied Pilates mat work and hatha yoga. My experience teaching dance and fitness part-time for years during my early performance and educational phases build my experience to open the studio.
The pros and cons of this job:
The pros of my position are that I'm doing what I love everyday, helping others feel and look great, keeping myself in fantastic shape, and meeting great new people all the time.
The cons are the exhausting hours, juggling many different roles, which can be mentally exhausting and the unsteady financial reward of self-employment.
What can people expect if they want to pursue this job?
For all of my hats, the skills required include a wide array of physical/technical skills, a creative mind that can see how movements will fit together nicely to tell a story, an ability to combine and order exercises that allow clients of all physical abilities to progress and stay motivated.
Additional skills include marketing and promotional, basic graphic design, web, sound and video editing skills, accounting, financial and reporting analytics. But most importantly having a warm, friendly and calm disposition along with the ability not to take yourself too seriously.
Salary range:
Most of us earn $30,000 to $75,000 per year.
Percentage of people who actually succeed in this field:
There are many full and part-time fitness instructors, but few are willing or able to run a full-time business like this. Because of the heavy physical, financial and time requirements, being the owner of a business is not for everyone.
Advice to people who are thinking about pursuing this field:
Follow what you love to do when deciding to open a business. Running a full-time business in what you love does not take less effort than keeping your nose to the grind-stone working for someone else.
It actually takes more and for less financial gain. But the day-to-day and overall personal rewards are often far greater.