When Leana Rudish speaks about Cardio Barre Eagle Rock, her passion for the business shows. This passion is what led her to become a successful studio owner with a growing client base

Check out Leana’s story to learn how she has grown Cardio Barre Eagle Rock.

How did you get started with the business?

I started off as a client of Cardio Barre Eagle Rock. After driving by the studio for many years, I decided to take a class, and loved it!

I was a client for about three years before I started to check out the franchise aspect. During this time the studio changed ownership, and the new owner was looking for a partner. I got tapped for the position, and thought why not. The best way to learn about a franchise is to jump in and start doing it.

When did you start the business?

Cardio Barre Eagle Rock has been around since 2008. I started looking into the franchise in 2014, and became an owner in 2016.

What were you doing before you owned the business?

My background is in the fine arts.

I worked in the fashion industry tailoring and designing costumes for dance. I owned a small business that did fabric arts, and produced gallery shows and multimedia events for fashion, music, painting, and sculpting. I also danced for troupes, ballet and jazz companies, and taught dance as well.

Can you tell us about how the business has been doing over the last three years?

The studio is growing. We’ve increased our customer base over the past few years.

What strategies are you using to grow?

We are very involved in the community:

We hold monthly community events at our studio where we invite local vendors to showcase their products and services.

We offer discounts to other fitness studios and businesses that complement our health and wellness mission, and they send clients our way as well.

We attend events and advertise with banners and fliers. We go to fitness events and hand out comp cards to invite people to a free class.

Working with local partners helps us connect with the community, and shows that we stand for cooperation- not competition. We also do the following:

We’re increasing our class and teacher variety. This is what appeals to new clients, and keeps them coming back.
The good ole packaged discount works for us. We offer a new client special, and a returning client special if the member hasn’t been to the studio in a year or more.
We periodically run campaigns with Groupon.
Finally, we do in-house campaigns where we email clients we haven’t seen in awhile to welcome them back, and reach out to new clients to get them excited and motivated about having a healthy routine.

How would you say Perkville has impacted the business?

Perkville has been great for the business! It’s hassle-free, user-friendly, our clients love it.

The rewards program gets new clients excited about signing up, and allows the studio to offer something nice to loyal customers who don’t qualify for Groupon or new member specials.

Perkville also gives us the opportunity to tailor how we give rewards, and we can switch it up at any time. Customers get excited about new perks, and will ask questions to learn more about what we offer at the studio.

What other software tools do you use to run the business, and would recommend?

For the most part, we use MINDBODY for all of our scheduling and client interface. MINDBODY is reliable and user-friendly.

For email, we use Constant Contact which is user-friendly as well. The Constant Contact team has given us the best deals, and their service has been great.

If you had a piece of advice for someone starting off in this business, what would it be?

My advice is to love the business and be committed because that’s what it takes to make it work. Some months will be better than others. You’ll need to stick with it, and maintain the passion and commitment you had the very first day. When you do, your clients will see it, they will know it, they we feel it, and they will support you.

Building and maintaining healthy relationships with staff, clients and community is crucial to the success of every small business, at every stage.

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