So today I’m picking up where I left off on the evolution of BL. But I just need to back track a smidge to fill you in on a few more details. It’s the fall of 1996 and I am still running the program at World Gym as well as teaching for the previous owner of BL. Some of you might even recognize the names of some of the teachers who were working for me way back then…Beth, Toni, Neil, Karen and, as I already mentioned, Chris. Ok, so when Luann (previous owner of BL) approached me to ask if I wanted to buy BL, World Gyms aerobics program was struggling. Long story short the timing was perfect. I said yes to buying BL…World gym ended their aerobics program…paid me to take their group fitness clients with me and I moved my staff of teachers from World Gym to BL!!!!
Win win win.
Being primarily a stay at home mom with 3 kids, i was hesitant about running a business all by myself so I took on a business partner who’s name was Karen. We worked together for 2 years until I bought her out because she moved out of town.
It was at that time that Chris approached me to see if I was interested in having another partner. She started taking on more and more responsibilities until at some point along the way she became a vested business partner. The progression went something like this…the first 5 years I owned BL I never took a vacation…the next 5 years I would only go on vacation the one week per year that Chris’ boys had football camp (because it was the only time she would guarantee me she would stay home and run the place)….and last 15 years we have been running the business side by side. Over those 15 years we have grown the business in many ways including hiring a great crew of managers who now allow us both the freedom to come and go even at the same time and oftentimes together.
Some refer to us as good cop/bad cop (sure you can figure out who is who)…others say: ask Andrea she’ll say YES…don’t ask Chris, she’ll say NO, but bottom line is Chris balances my emotional “heart” approach with her more logical “head” which has made us a great team!!
Stay tuned as the story of our journey continues and don’t forget to check out our Throwback Thursday social media posts for some fun pictures as well.
