OUTLET: Inside Business
By Jared Council
jared.council@insidebiz.com
Four middle-aged women, including some with histories of back and neck problems, lay face-up on exercise mats at this Pilates studio one February morning.
Never allowing their heads or legs to touch the floor, the women grasped one bent leg while extending the other, repeatedly switching legs like synchronized swimmers. They engaged in a few dozen other related exercises over the instructor-led 50-minute session, rarely pausing for breaks.
Those women are among the 60 active clients at Performance Pilates, which owner Diane Smalley started in late 2009. The economic downturn was in full swing at the time, but Smalley’s clientele base ballooned without her spending a dime on advertising. Among the likely reasons for the studio’s success, several patrons repeatedly mentioned one: Results.
“I feel great. I feel younger at 48 than I did at 38 and 28,” said Christy Hugeback, a four-year client who previously had back issues and hand surgery. “It’s one of those things that if I miss it, I feel bad.”
Pilates is a system of exercises centered on core strength and flexibility developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century. It’s not to be confused with yoga, which emphasizes mediation, postures and breath control. Pilates has a wide range of users, from athletes to post-rehabilitation patients, and Smalley has seen a variety at her studio.
“My youngest client is in middle school,” she said, “and my oldest client is close to 80.”
A 1985 Furman University graduate, Smalley joined USAA in Virginia Beach as a corporate fitness coordinator in 1995 and encountered Pilates soon after. It was becoming mainstream and Smalley enjoyed it so much she wanted to get certified in it.
She did so in 2006 through a 600-hour program at Norfolk-based TRDance.
Before opening Performance, Smalley contracted with various studios and physical therapy offices in the area, she said, saving money for any potential entrepreneurial opportunity. One came about when an instructor Smalley knew sold some Pilates equipment before leaving the area. So Smalley spent roughly $25,000 of her savings obtaining the equipment and other necessities before leasing 1,200 square feet of space at the Lynnhaven Convenience Center, a strip mall.
She opened shop in October 2009 and did not take out a bank loan to make any of it happen.
“The first year of business I pretty much did not take a paycheck,” she said, “but paid myself back the money I loaned to the business.”
She coached swimming at public schools in the area and lived frugally off that income, she said. The business was able to support the rent itself around January 2010.
“Then, slowly since, I did not [assume] any debt,” Smalley said. “I just built my business by referrals and word of mouth.”
Today, Smalley and Krista Zomar, a 32-year-old instructor, are the only two employees.
You might catch Smalley in some purple Reeboks, Under Armour socks, yoga pants and a track jacket giving private lessons. Mirrors surround the room and where they are absent, pictures of Joseph Pilates or exercise diagrams fill the void.
The only room besides the main studio area is the bathroom; Smalley’s credit card machine, printer, rolling file cabinet and more sit in a corner office.
Pilates is not intended to solely strengthen the abdominal region, Smalley and others said, but to teach people how to engage their extremities with that region.
“Even if you have a strong core and you’re lifting that toddler or that suitcase,” 67-year-old Nancy Botts said, “if you’re not engaged with your core or your back muscles, you can still injure yourself.”
Botts, also a four-year Performance patron, said Pilates for her has “gotten rid of a lot of the ongoing back issues.”
It’s not just the health benefits that keep people coming back. For some like 51-year-old Dawna Williams, it’s the fact that Performance is one of the few studios in the area that teaches classical Pilates, not an evolved version.
For others, like 63-year-old Art Sandler, it’s Smalley.
“It’s not just any Pilates in my judgment; it’s her Pilates,” Sandler, a co-owner of real estate firm L.M. Sandler & Sons, said. “Diane is so terrific as an instructor and a motivator and a communicator,”
“She came highly recommended,” 35-year-old Stacy Kaplan said.
One of Smalley’s challenges has been educating people about Pilates because some think it’s synonymous with yoga. Another has been drawing men to the system. One of Smalley’s answers to the last challenge is the gender-neutral word “performance” she’s used in her company name.
It may have helped: 15 of her 60 active clients are men.
Sandler is one of those clients. He said he’s been working out at gyms for years and, after joining Performance less than two years ago, he noticed an increase in energy and a drastic improvement in posture.
He said he initially associated Pilates with yoga. But he soon learned what it entailed and was “surprised at how vigorous the workout was.”
His message for men who may be writing off Pilates: “Get over yourself and call Performance Pilates and go get a lesson.”
