We all start with zero.
Zero experience with Pilates.
Zero teaching experience.
Zero followers on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook…whatever your social media platform you’re on, zero.
And so many people stay here. Always wanting to try something new but not taking action.
For some of us, we’ve always been observers first and a little tentative to try something new. But if you want change, you have to do something different. We know this. Yet routines that no longer serve us, fear of the unknown, or making a mistake hold us back.
January 2001, that’s when I took my first Pilates Class.
July 2003, that’s when I began my Pilates Teacher Training Program.
December 2016, that’s when the first workout was posted on the Trifecta Pilates YouTube Channel.
When I began each one of these steps in my Pilates Journey, I didn’t focus on the outcome, but I just tried.
When you focus on the present, that is what leads to the future. So often we look so far forward and we can’t make the bridge from where we are to where we want to be, and we may even not be able to define what that is.
Or we get frustrated because we’re not reaching our goals soon enough, only to stop taking action, which leads us nowhere fast.
It’s easy to repeat this cycle.
On my 37 birthday I was walking on my treadmill thinking, ‘This is the year things are going to change’.
Honestly, there was nothing very different about this year. It wasn’t a huge magical transformation, but I tried something new and stuck with it. It was this year that I began the YouTube Channel.
Growth was slow. I had NO idea what I was doing. My audio was crap. Filming was a pain as I had to take down three huge pictures, hang up a temporary background (which upon reflection was not great). I was working full time and I spent the evenings and weekends trying this new adventure. It was time away from my family, long nights, for little to no return.
But I kept going because I held strong to trying.
I had a vision of teaching in a way that’s authentic to how I’ve been able to move with Pilates for so many years. And that is outside of the studio and in my home.
Now there are almost 90,000 subscribers on the Trifecta Pilates YouTube Channel and over 7 million views. I would be further along but recently YouTube changed some settings and overnight thousands of subscribers were removed from the channel. (And I’ve never bought subscribers, done sub-for-sub. It’s all been organic growth.)
I felt defeated at first. But then I took time to think. My goal was to get more people moving with Pilates and subscriber count isn’t a reflection of this.
In addition, my teaching has expanded beyond YouTube. My first goal was to offer online Pilates on YouTube. But I realized that the platform is somewhat limited to fully turning my vision into a reality and that is offering studio quality Pilates from my home to yours. This is when the Membership was created so people have more support, structure, ease and motivation to move with Pilates.
There is also a professional development course offered for Pilates Teachers, Trauma Informed Pilates Approach. This is a course I wish would have been included in my initial training or even a possibility to take. And after years of pursing personal training and taking professional courses on Trauma, Trauma Informed Care and updating my best practices to reflect this knowledge, the course was created to support other Pilates teachers who want to use a Trauma Informed Care framework.
The resources, time allocation and the business is more than YouTube. Honestly, it has to be for this to be a career and not a hobby. And in turn it provides more options for people to move with Trifecta Pilates as well.
Where the business is now, where I am right now, is not where I’ll stay. It’s going to continue to change.
I began with zero knowledge about Pilates, how to teach or how to make a business work online. What I had to hold true to is exploring.
Trying, listening, adjusting, being consistent AND enjoying the process, even through challenges we can learn something!
Whether it’s workouts, wellness or business, you’ll quickly get burnt out if you make this just about the outcome.
So my suggestion is to try.
- Keep moving forward.
- If you have goals, be dedicated to the process rather than attached to the outcome.
- When something doesn’t work, make a shift.
- Know when to take a break.
- Learn the skills that you don’t know that support your goals, you don’t have to do this alone.
As I’m coming to my 43 birthday, I’m wondering what changes will be made personally and professionally. I know sometimes they are so small that people discount them, and stop taking action.
I’m not that person.
I’m in it.
I’m here for the journey.
I’m here for the small, everyday actions.
If you are too, let’s connect!
Pilates Movers
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Pilates Teachers
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