Andrea's Antics
 
Hey wonderful BL family!! Just letting you know that I’m taking the weekend off from telling my story of the evolution of Body Language to take some time with family and friends as we celebrate the life of Dave’s mama who recently passed. As I reflect back on the 40 plus years I have known Dave’s mom, Carol, there is one story in particular I’d like to share with you. Read More

 As I mentioned, we opened the yoga center in the Fall of 2003 and decided to include a room for offering massages. (Side note: Our massage rooms are all since then named by the art in the room, so this room was called the Peacock room for the mural that my husband, Dave, painted on the wall.) We had the vision way back then that a massage program might be a good adjunct service to offer alongside our fitness and yoga classes. If you’ve read my antics in the past, you already know that getting massages at this time was a relatively new thing for me. I really came to understand the value of massage when I was struggling with chronic pain a few years prior. Since then, massage has become an integral part of my personal wellness journey and so I wanted to share it with our students as well.  I have no idea how many massage therapists have come and gone from 2003 to present but if I had to guess I would say over 30. (You think it is hard to book a massage now?.. just think about only having 1 massage room from 2003 until 2015 when we added the other rooms…but that story is to come.) I am so thrilled that we added this layer to BL at this time and that you, our students, have seen value in this program as demonstrated by the popularity of our present massage program. Very grateful for the 3 massage therapists we currently have at BL (Sarah, Angela & Erin) and we are presently in the process of hiring more massage therapists so we can meet a growing demand (please note that it is my job to “interview” each applicant…lucky me!!). Stay tuned for more hands onboard to rub those sore muscles and help you relax!!Read More

As my story continues, allow me to jump back just a smidge. I’ve been talking a lot about how we ended up adding yoga to our studio but I haven’t really given much attention to the fitness program that was running strong from day 1.  As I mentioned awhile back, the fitness program started out with just me, Chris and a handful of other teachers who have since come and gone. But there are a couple of key players you may recognize who are still an integral part of our team.

Remember Tae Bo with Billy Blanks?? Sure many of you will!! Well around the time that Billy was making Tae Bo a household name, Toni taught a version of Tae Bo kickboxing right here at BL. Her classes were so popular that there would often be a line up out the door waiting to grab one of the 40 plus spots in class!! You can still find Toni teaching KB here at BL a couple of times a week!!

Right about this same time…Little Deb found her way to BL. Truth is I had taken Little Debs class at a place called Total Workout, which was right across from the original BL on M-59. I knew she was an awesome instructor (who they referred to as The Terminator) but she was hesitant to come work at BL because the previous owner of BL and Total Workout had been partners and split. She associated me with that previous owner since I purchased it from her but I kept hounding Deb to come in and just give us a try, and one day she walked through the door to take a class. She immediately realized that the vibe at this new and improved BL was very different than she remembered and she was all in and has been ever since. That was back in 1999…and 23 years later she is still teaching 4-5 classes a week and never disappoints on kicking all of our asses!! You will often hear her say…”I don’t know what I would’ve done without my BL family.” Deb we feel the same about you!!

Another name some of you will recognize is Karen Cook. Although she has sinced moved out of state, she was really a very integral part of keeping BL’s head above water when the economy crashed in 2008. You see in 2007 she came to Chris and I to say she was going to get certified in Zumba. We had never heard of it and couldn’t imagine that a dance class added to our step aerobics program could possibly be popular. So when she got back from her training, we decided we would try Zumba out during a girls night. Chris and I thought it would be a good idea to learn a few songs to help Karen out for the girls night since we had 40 plus women signed up for the event. Not only did the students LOVE Zumba, they loved the team teaching. Karen, Chris and I instantly became BL’s first Zumba team. Chris and I drove to Grand Rapids to get certified and somehow I talked Chris into wearing matching hot pink Zumba pants so that our Team Zumba would all match when teaching!! Others started getting certified and forming teams (and dressing alike)!! We all learned each others choreography so that whoever’s Zumba class you went to, you would have many of the same familiar songs to dance to.  So in 2008 when many were cancelling memberships due to financial concerns, the popularity of the Zumba program carried us through the next 3 years!!

Many other teachers have supported the fitness program at BL through the 25 years but these are 3 that stood out in the first decade who really contributed to the success of BL’s fitness program!!

Picking up where I left off…we have just opened the yoga center. It’s Fall of 2003.  BL now has a designated fitness room and yoga room for the first time ever. Those of you who know me, know that I’m a numbers person. Numbers stick in my head especially when there is something emotionally charged about those numbers.  We started BL out with 17 fitness classes per week and now here we are in 2004 with 75 classes a week between fitness and yoga.  So, it was around this time in the evolution of BL that I reached a peak in my teaching. Here’s what I remember…One day I taught 6 classes…One week I taught 16 classes and One month I taught 60 classes. Ouch!! Don’t get me wrong…I had a great staff but still there were just a LOT of classes to get covered AND I was capable of teaching them all.  Also, I thought if I could keep payroll costs down, I could turn this “hobby” of mine into a profitable and viable business.  Just to give you an idea of where we were financially at 7 years in to buying BL:  Dave had quit his corporate job…we had a Senior and a Freshman at University of Michigan and our joint adjusted gross income was $25,000. Ouch again!!  Definitely an emotionally charged number!! (Thank goodness for FAFSA and Home Equity loans.) BUT…it was time for me to revisit the lesson I learned when I first bought BL and tried to “do it all.” I was burned out physically and emotionally plus still trying to be there for my 3 daughters. In addition to teaching all those classes, I was also covering many desk shifts, helping out with retail, and doing all the scheduling for fitness, yoga, managers and child care.  It just made sense to me that the more I worked in the business, the more money I would save and the more likely I would be successful.Read More