Q – 1) Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans –
- Lifting Ladies is an online fitness community of ladies led by certified personal trainer Laurie Corey. We provide 30 minute at home workouts for woman of all fitness levels and ages along with a supportive private community to help keep everyone accountable and reach their goals. There are 5 workouts a week, each pre-recorded with the full week posted to Lifting Ladies website on Sunday’s so members can conveniently complete works on their time from anywhere. We offer monthly, 6 month and 1 year memberships. The workouts include cueing throughout entire time and teaching proper form while motivating woman to crush their workout.
- Woman can connect through our private Facebook community which helps them achieve their results and stay consistent plus confident when you have other woman cheering you on! They are support each other and want to see everyone succeed. They form friendships and hold each other accountable while comfortably sharing their goals and results in the community. They are all on the same journey so they understand each other. I use my education and knowledge to not only help them achieve their results but educate them on all different aspects of fitness and nutrition.
Q – 2) Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans –
- Laurie is a certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor of 12 years who resides in Rockledge, Florida with her husband. Over her decade of being in the fitness industry, Laurie has a multitude of certifications and education in nutrition, strength training, group fitness, and woman’s health and fitness.
- Laurie began her own personal training business in 2018 and went on to coach 100s of woman through her business helping them find balance with health and fitness and their personal lives along with reaching their goals in training. Many past clients have now become members of the Lifting Ladies continuing their fitness journey with Laurie.
- Laurie began Lifting Ladies in 2022 after deciding to step away from one-one in person training so that she could help woman from all over reach their goals and maximize their workout time from at home or anywhere convenient for them on their time which also helps them stay consistent.
Q – 3) What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
Ans –
- What inspired me to start Lifting Ladies was the success I was having from my one-one personal training business. I love in-person training and had 100s of woman clients seeing results and achieving their goals, which made me want to expand to online so that my reach was not just the city I was living in, but I could help woman from all over achieve their goals from the connivence of their home and on their time.
- In-person training has the benefit of creating amazing personal relationships and seeing the results of clients in person, but it also comes with consistency issues because it can be very hard for clients to maintain training with their schedule so they aren’t as consistent as those who can work out on their own time in their home or on the go.
- I began Lifting Ladies because I noticed a lot of programs don’t teach just lifting for woman and how to use proper technique so that they do not risk injury but also so that they can get stronger and progressively and confidently use heavier weights which can be intimidating for many without coaching.
Q – 4) What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans –
- The number one piece of advice I would give is to just start. Don’t let fear stop you from starting your business or you’ll never get the chance to succeed. You’ll regret not starting sooner, so make it happen now.
- Failure is going to happen, but instead of letting it stop you, learn from it and use that lesson throughout your business to do better and make improvements.
- Don’t listen to anyone else who brings negativity to your business idea. Everyone has an option and if you let that hold you back or scare you, then they win. Most people who are negative towards what you are doing are jealous that they didn’t pursue their dream so don’t let them crush yours.
Q – 5) What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans –
- Patience – things will go wrong especially at first and you’ll have failures. If you’re patient, you will thrive and succeed.
- Willingness to learn from others – it’s the best way to learn what to do and what not to do in order to succeed.
- Extremely hard working – your hours will not be the normal business hours. You will have to work especially at first, long hours and even when you are on “vacation” you will have to work to succeed.
Q – 6) How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans – It depends on the day as some days are longer than others. Early morning (6:30ish until late after 7 or 8pm) The day is full of programming workouts, recording the intros, workout and demos, editing, marketing, social media, connecting with the community, holding the ladies accountable and educating them.
Q – 7) To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans –
- My husband and my years of in-person training/group fitness. My husband is my biggest support system and constantly pushes me to be better and succeed. He’s extremely hard working and a smart business so he is always helping me when needed and I can bounce ideas around with honest feedback. It’s definitely possible to succeed on your own, but having a support system to me makes a huge difference.
- Training clients in person and teaching group fitness for 10 years is a huge reason Lifting Ladies is successful. Training woman in person for so long helped me learn how to program for all fitness levels, ages, and how to cue properly for all woman plus modify for anyone with injuries as I’ve worked with several different woman recovering/dealing with injuries. It’s also helped me see what woman struggle with the most in fitness/health and be able to put that towards educating woman in Lifting Ladies and when I program workouts.
Q – 8) How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans – We market a lot through social media to reach woman from all over. Many women look to IG and Facebook for fitness help, so we use both those platforms to market to woman about Lifting Ladies. Instagram has been our most successful for of marketing!
Q – 9) Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans – My goal for Lifting Ladies is not only to continue growing the Lifting Ladies community to help as many women as I both reach their goals but also to help more woman fall in love with lifting and not be intimidated by it. I want to see more woman focusing on lifting in 5-10 years than HIIT and cardio and be able to educate all of them why it not only is more beneficial but also how to stay consistent on their journey. In 5-10 years I hope we are celebrating the Lifting Ladies community with the originally ladies still staying consistent and loving lifting plus being an influence in the community for others!
Q – 10) What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans – Honestly, waiting to start my online business. You can never go back in time, so I don’t sit and think “what if,” I try to think of what I can do now to grow and be successful, but the biggest mistake to me was not starting earlier in the pandemic when people really needed help the most. Women will always need help in fitness and lifting (same with men) but during that time was a big struggle for people mentally and physically. While I was able to help 100s of woman in person during the pandemic which I am extremely proud of, I do wish I had been able to reach even more starting it earlier. What I can do now instead is help those that even 2 years later after the start of the pandemic are still struggling and unfortunately there are many so that is why I started Lifting Ladies.
Q – 11) What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans –
- Hands down the most satisfying moments are the ones when I receive feedback from the women in Lifting Ladies that the program is changing their lives. The positive feedback I have received from them that they are finally consistent or not feeling frustrated in a workout program is exactly why I started Lifting Ladies. Not only seeing/hearing from the women that they are finally falling in love with lifting while being able to stay consistent but they are becoming more confident and feeling stronger daily while finally seeing the results they’ve always wanted has definitely been the most satisfying part of my business.
