Stormy practices a technique called Mermaiding in an Advanced Mat class. She likes to practice her trade and stay current with her certification.
Andre: Welcome! Andre here, Asia-Pacific Director. Today I have with me Stormy Brockbank from Storm Pilates and Performance Therapy in Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia. Welcome, Stormy. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
Stormy: I’ve done many things over my lifetime. I was first involved in the Arts and in the television industry, and sort of was looking down the line of staying in that industry, which is quite high pressure with very low satisfaction, in terms of being able to be a service to humankind and just making you feel good about yourself.
I found that television’s pretty shallow, and the people I was working with were quite shallow as well. Then, I hurt my back. I had a herniated disk in my lower back, and that kind of put everything on hold. I had to stop and look at my life and try to figure out what I was going to do. Then, in recovering from my back surgery (I had a bit of a disc removed), I discovered Pilates.
It worked so well in making me feel better, both mentally and physically, that I just thought, “Why don’t I become an instructor,” so, I did.
It took me a couple of years, but I really believed in Pilates and helping people. Really, that’s what, I think, what all humans really want to do is help other people out.
Stormy instructs a client on proper stance and posture. Pilates is developed to train people on using core strength.
Andre: How long have you been in business and what is your particular business model?
Stormy: I’ve had a couple. At first, usually when you’re certified as a Pilates instructor, you are expected to work in someone else’s studio. In the method that I was certified in, which is Romana’s Pilates, or classical Pilates, you are expected not to have your own business within the first five years of graduating, just so you can really get the work into your body and in your brain and really know what you’re doing.
They’re highly respected for having good teachers, and I guess that’s why. I did my dash working in other people’s studios. As different studios shut down or moved, I found increasingly that clients wanted to stay with me as an instructor, so I started teaching people in their houses. I think I worked in multiple studios and in people’s houses for a couple of years.
My business kept growing, and I found myself traveling about 100 kilometers a day, everywhere around Sydney, just trying to fit in all of these people. I was teaching them in parks, at their homes and still having a shift or two at the studio. Finally this year, thanks to NPE, I am working at home, totally from home, now.
I have a home studio I work from, which has been a dream of mine, so I’m pretty happy with that. In terms of the business model now, it’s mainly one-on-ones. I have a few classes and a couple of semi-privates, which I’d like to grow a little bit more in the future. At the moment, it’s basically a private Pilates studio, one-on-ones, I guess.
Pictured is Stormy’s at home studio. She mostly trains clients in one-on-one sessions.
Andre: Great. How many clients do you have currently?
Stormy: I have 47 active clients. At the moment, it’s just me instructing so it makes me a very busy girl. At any given time, I will have a few people who are away or on holidays, but I’m currently working anywhere from 30 to 40 hours a week on the floor, and then probably another 10 or 15 in front of the computer. It is pretty busy, but it does go through ebbs and flows. My last count, which was very recently, was 47 active clients.
Andre: Fantastic! When did you join VIP and what made you take this step?
Stormy: Well, I remember clearly being so burnt out one day after riding my motorbike for about 100 kilometers. I remember being so exhausted. I don’t know how I found NPE in the States and Sean Greeley. I signed up for, I guess, a newsletter. I kept hearing other stories about other people and how they found their dream jobs.
Pictured is the motorbike Stormy would ride for close to 100 kilometers a day before she opened up her own at home studio.
I kept thinking to myself, “How did they do that? I’m too small. I’m not going to be able to do it. I don’t even have a studio.” Eventually, I started asking around, and found out that NPE had a partnership with you guys at Fit for Profit. I gave Ric, an NPE Sales Consultant, a call.
I took a bit of time to think about it, but eventually I signed up for the EVOLUTION ACCELERATORTM Program and had Andrew as my coach. At the beginning, I’d take little steps, and then have big bounds forward.
To tell you the truth, I think it was a bit of a paradigm shift in my brain about asking for what I’m worth and learning how to make sales. It seemed to be so sales based that I really had to struggle with applying that to my life and my business. I knew I needed a little bit more help and went to MEGA TRAININGTM last year in November.
Of course, everyone was there. I saw some familiar faces. I brought my partner with me this time and I thought, “It’s time for me to step up to the mark and try to get to where I really want to be, and just to have a little bit more coaching.” I took the plunge and decided to sign up for VIP. I have never really looked back since.
Andre: What was your life like before NPE? Could you describe that a bit?
Stormy: Can I say a little carefree? I was ruminating about this the other day. If I didn’t have a client, and there would be a period where things would be really slow, I’d think, “Oh, that’s all right. I’ll go surfing.” I kind of relished that time off. But in saying that, my income stayed exactly the same for about three years.
I just realized I wasn’t growing and I was just as tired as I always was. I didn’t have any dreams that I could follow. I had no tools to be able to get me there and I thought, “This is what it’s going to be like for the rest of my life. I’m not going to grow.” But I am smart enough to know that grow is what businesses should do.
Although I miss having a little bit more time off, and it is very busy being in VIP, it’s busy for a reason. It’s busy because your coach is there holding you accountable and helping you out, and helping you get on top of things so that you can grow and start looking towards the lifestyle that you really want.
It does take a bit of a change of heart and mind, I guess, to be able to have the focus to stick with the program and to stick with the coaching. There’s no price on direction. Where before I had no direction, and I didn’t know where I wanted to be apart from a vague distant dream I had, now I have every chance of getting there. I guess that’s the best thing that NPE has been able to give to me.
I’ve actually changed my whole business. I had to go back and start from scratch again because I did lose a lot of clients that I had been teaching in their homes or other studios. But, I got them back again with a couple of VIP campaigns. It also gives me more time because now I don’t have half an hour or 45 minutes travel time between each client every day.
Andre: Which ultimately was unpaid time that you spent in the car.
Stormy: Unpaid time, yes. When I look back now, it was a bit of a shambles. I was charging people cheap prices and then not charging for travel time and then getting home at the end of the day and just laying in a heap. Now, I work from home. I don’t have to travel anywhere. Some days I still fall down in a heap, but I’ve got a whole lot more accomplished than I did before.
Andre: What does an average day look like for you?
Stormy: I wake up at 5am, I have a little bit of brekkie, I start teaching at 6am. I usually teach until about 11 or noon. On Sundays, I have the middle of the day off, when I do admin, and then I do an afternoon shift. I try to keep that to a minimum. That’s one of the best things.
Because I work back to back, I only work two nights a week now and on the other days I might work from 6am to roughly noon or 1pm and then I have the afternoons free.
I’m still working six days a week but I do have a bit more ‘me time’.
Andre: That sounds great.
Stormy: Sometimes I use ‘me time’ to do admin, but I’m getting there.
Andre: That makes sense. What are some of the biggest breakthroughs you’ve had working with NPE and our business systems?
Stormy: My business model was $75 for a private session, $70 if you bought a pack of 10, and it never would have occurred to me in a million years to charge someone for a pack of 20. I was pretty much living hand-to-mouth week by week. Now, I have people in contracts. I have people on three-month, six-month and 12-month contracts.
They either pay with an auto-pay that goes straight into my account monthly or they pay for it upfront. Before NPE, the highest sale I ever had was $700. Now, the highest sale I’ve had is $7,000!
At some point my annual salary was about $20k. Last month I had my best month ever bringing in $16,937 in sales and I am working 100% from home, which has always been my dream.
Andre: That’s terrific!
Stormy: Yes. So this gives me so much more security, knowing that I have money coming into my account and knowing that people aren’t just going to come in for a short term or have a free lesson and then go away. People come in, I get them signed into a package and then I know I have that security for the next couple of months.
That’s been one of the biggest things – changing my pricing and my packages. Also, there’s the technique. In order to be able to believe that I can sell someone a $7,000 package, I have to believe that I’m worth it and that the service I give is worth it. It has been, like I said, a bit of a paradigm shift in my brain to even be able to get to the point where I can ask for that much money. But now that I’ve started, I’m hoping to be able to ask for a whole lot more.
Andre: Yes, absolutely. You’re not alone there, Stormy. A lot of people we work with have to get that belief system in place. Well done for getting there.
Stormy: Yes. In terms of my peers, I felt like I was giving so much more of a service, but accepting a lower price because I thought, “I have all of this knowledge to share,” but I didn’t really have that much confidence in myself. I knew what I could do was good, but I didn’t know how to charge for it. Now I have the tools available to me to charge what it’s worth, and be comfortable and confident enough to say, “This is the way it is.”
In saying that, I’ve learned how to be able to let go of people and let go of clients. Where before, I would always try to make some sort of a deal for the person. My clients were ruling my business. I would say yes to everything and I would try to make a special deal for anyone who couldn’t afford it.
Now I don’t find it so hard to be able to let someone go if I don’t think they’re going to commit, because at the end of the day, they’re going to be more difficult clients because they aren’t committed. You’re the one that always ends up chasing them. They would have ruled my day instead of me ruling my day.
Andre: Absolutely. I hear you. Very well done. That’s great. Now what goals have you set for yourself to achieve in your business in future?
Stormy: Number one is to get out of debt. I don’t have a large debt compared to many businesses, I suppose, because I have gradually acquired my own equipment. A short-term goal is to be able to have another instructor come into the business so that I can have a holiday and still earn money.
That’s never happened before, but it is about to happen in two weeks. I have an instructor who is going to come in and teach for me while I’m away for half a week. That’s a first. That’s going to be very good. The next goal is to be able to generate enough clients and enough income that I can find premises, and then I can actually employ more instructors and have more of a professional feel to my business and my brand.
Thirdly, I’d like to be able to expand and not just offer Pilates, but also meditation groups, and to be able to sell products and expand to different areas where I can generate an income and create much more of a community amongst my clients. They’ll get a whole lot more than just Pilates when they come to my studio. That’s my dream.
Andre: Beautiful. What do you enjoy most about the NPE community?
Stormy: Oh my goodness, they’re so great. I like the support. You can post something on Facebook and within a couple of minutes someone else has got some advice for you or a helping hand, or they’re giving you their business documents that you can use for your own business.
It’s just such a supportive and friendly community. They always make you feel like you’re not alone when you’re stressing out, and there are other people out there who are going through the same thing. Everyone’s so super friendly.
It’s not often that you think of business groups as not being very competitive and trying to be better than each other. With the NPE community, there’s none of that at all. Everyone is just out to help each other. It’s fantastic.
Andre: Great. Tell us, what is working really well for your business at the moment? What are you doing really well?
Stormy: Like I said, it’s been a year of firsts for me at the moment. I’m definitely able to go away a little bit more, even if it is for SPRING TRAININGTM and MEGA TRAININGTM. That’s still a holiday in my book. I’m so much better at doing the promotions that my coaches helped me out with. Some worked better, some not quite as well, but that’s just the nature of the business and the kind of community I have.
I guess trying to create a little more of a community, being in touch with my clients a lot more. I’m so much more systemized than I used to be. I’ve never had a no-show, ever, since joining NPE, actually. I’ve never had anyone not know exactly what it is that they’re getting and what they’re expected to do and what they have to pay for.
Everything’s been very crystal clear. Like I said, for the first time I’m going to have someone work for me. For the first time, I’ve brought Tony to help me out in my business, which has been a great help during the beginning of the year when we had a lot going on, a lot of change, a lot of promotions. I guess those are the two big things.
Andre: Yes, that is awesome. Just lastly, what would you say to other Pilates operators out there who are thinking about working with a business coach?
Stormy: Your business is no different. It is exactly the same as anyone else’s business. I think because Pilates tends to be quite a mind, body, spirit form of physical fitness, we don’t tend to think of it as being a thriving business. We think of it as being a service more than anything else.
But there’s only so much service you can give when you’re haphazard, you don’t have the clients coming in, and you’re not systemized. I guess to be able to really let people commit to the work and get the most out of Pilates, which is what Joseph Pilates himself wanted. He wanted commitment. You don’t just walk in and do it for a couple of months and then leave. It’s something that you’re meant to learn for life.
At MEGA TRAINING 2013, Stormy won the Rookie of the Year award. Here, she proudly holds her award with AP Sales Consultant, Ric Issac. This was right after jumping on him with excitement.
Through me being able to systemize my business and have people on contracts, my clients are actually getting more out of the Pilates work than they ever would if they just dropped in every now and then. It’s their commitment that is making Pilates work for them. I’ve had so many more happy and committed clients since joining NPE than I ever did doing it by myself.
Andre: Great! Thank you so much, Stormy. That was awesome. I wish you good luck for everything ahead and with your goals and dreams for the future.