“I've always taught group fitness but I was a school teacher before I had my kids. When I had my children, I was still teaching group fitness while on maternity leave. But I was finding it really tricky to tag-team with the hubby, getting out of the door to get to classes with the kids. My kids weren't particularly great at going into childcare at the gym and that was stressing me out, so I started to run sessions from home. I put it out there to other mums who were around and interested, because the kids could be with us instead of in a crèche. Within three or four months, we had around 80 people attending and were so chock-a-block in my garage that I had to start capping classes, and getting a nanny in to help out with the kids.”
“It was pretty hilarious actually because I live in Mt Evelyn, which is a pretty bushy place, so the driveway would get out of control with people parking in gutters, and my husband would be out directing traffic and reversing the girls’ cars for them – there were vehicles everywhere! But people would still come because they could bring their kids. It got to a point though, where I had to make a decision to take the risk and hire a local factory. Initially, I was pretty scared because I knew I’d have to start actually promoting the business, which is not a really big strength of mine. I’d always just relied on word-of-mouth, which had worked well so far. I had to really reflect and think. We had such an incredible community of women and children, so I was worried that bringing more people in might change that. But then I realised that we would only attract similar people, who are supportive and encouraging and we’d all have our kids there. I knew that some days would be hectic, but it’d all be okay because we'd have each other and would support each other. And that’s how Dynamicardio came to be.”
“So we expanded to a factory in Lilydale, and through word-of-mouth we created a space where we could have an open gym, which included an open crèche area where the kids could all be seen, rather than have them tucked away in a room. By having it open, it also allowed us to have prams, babies and bouncers on the floor if need be. We just made it work.”
“Within 18 months, I got a call from a lady over in Kilsyth, who was running a similar kind of business (without Les Mills though). She told me she had a group of women there whom she cared about, but she didn't want to run the business anymore, so she asked if I wanted to buy it. I told her I would because I thought if the women are anything like our women, then they're going to be devastated if the doors close. So we took over Kilsyth and changed it to a Dynamicardio, and the little community of women over there stayed on, which was awesome. However, we had issues with the local council who wouldn't let us run our fitness sessions in an industrial zone, so I fought the Council but then when COVID came around and the lease was up for renewal, I made the decision to let the location go and extend our Lilydale location instead. And I'm so grateful I did that, because during COVID, the thought of having to cover two leases and twice the expenses was quite stressful. But, overall, I was so lucky.”
“On the day that lockdowns were announced, I got everyone in, and people took our equipment home, and I buddied them all up based on who lived within a 5km radius of each other. One person took steps and kettlebells home, while the other took BODYPUMP weights, and they would swap equipment every fortnight. This system kept people working out because they felt accountable. If someone didn’t live near another member, then they took home a set of weights. It was chaotic, but we cleared out the entire gym in 24 hours, which left us with an empty factory – but that ended up working to our benefit because we had to move factories!”
“All our memberships are family memberships, meaning if you're signed up then your partner comes for free, so they can work out together there's no extra fee to do so. We have around 250 members, with another 50 to 70 partners/family members. There’s no extra cost for crèche; it’s $25 a week for access to 50 classes, the nanny, the crèche and your partner can workout at no extra cost!”
“It’s amazing because families come and workout together, and all the kids play together, and you see partners encouraging each other and the result is this really amazing community. I also love seeing the men here enjoy BODYATTACK and BODYCOMBAT. Doing it from home via live-streaming helped dramatically, because they were telling me, ‘Well, I secretly wanted to a BODYCOMBAT class but I was too embarrassed to go in with 40 other women in the room!’ so they started doing them from home during the live-streaming, and now they're attending in person!”
“There’s no doubt that Les Mills has helped our business succeed. For us, music is a huge motivator, so to continuously have access to new Releases, new information and new education, this is what keeps us – as trainers and obviously my business too – constantly fresh and exciting. Les Mills helps us evolve and grow because we're constantly being challenged and educated.”
“Every time a new Release come out, we have a huge launch with a theme and a fundraiser. For example, we’ve supported the Good Friday Fundraising Appeal for the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne; but also, when a local 10-year-old boy was diagnosed with cancer, we all dressed up in basketball clothes (his favourite sport) and raised money to support the family. We make a really big deal about launches and our local people here.”
“I encourage all my trainers to stay educated and we go to the online Quarterly eWorkshops together. Doing so means we can talk about things and make sure we're all on the same page at all times. It’s something that keeps us connected as a team; because we all teach at different times so it can be like ships passing in the night sometimes! I catch up with my two main trainers every week, and we actually do weights programs together in the club. We also debrief about members if necessary; even though we have almost 300, we know them all by name and we know their stories. So having that time with my staff to say ‘hey, just be aware that this person is going through some stuff this week. So if you notice anything, just let me know or give them a little bit of attention because they need it’. The connection between staff and the members is amazing. But that's because we’re all here to support each other. For example, we always do a shout-out every Friday on our Facebook group to someone who we’ve noticed this week or who needs a little bit of TLC. And members will tag someone or write something about someone that they noticed during the week too; it's a beautiful thing! People have made lifelong connections and friends here, just from those opportunities.”
“I’m incredibly blessed that I found my reason for being here. I could have gone back to teaching, which I love, but I know this is where I’m meant to be right now. I feel really grateful that I get to hang out with 100 people every day, who I connect with and who I really care about. It’s really special.”
