How Barre Where You Are Began

How Barre Where You Are Began

Barre Where You Are celebrates it’s 3rd birthday this month, and as much as I would love to say this business was a dream of mine I have had my whole life, it wouldn’t necessarily be true…What my true dream was since I was a little girl was to become a professional dancer, and I was blessed beyond measure to have that dream come true at the age of 19. But after a decade of dancing around the world, when it came time for me to figure out what I wanted to do next in a brand new city, I will say that the “barre life” was a natural next step. Starting Barre Where You Are was formed out of necessity - not only a need for myself (hello, I needed MONEY!), but also a need I saw and heard from my clients in the barre classes that I was teaching in gyms and studios across my city. So come along on my journey of the past three years and how BWYA came to be and where we are headed!

1.) Your Demand is My Command. The first stage of my business was taking my barre classes out of the studio and bringing it to the people - wherever they were (hence the name!), which ended up being at businesses during their lunch breaks. But shortly after teaching at a few different locations, my clients starting asking how they could get “me” when they weren’t in the office while on vacation or at home with a sick kid. They wanted to be able to access my classes whenever and wherever they were. And then I had my first break, Hurricane Irma. Who would have thought a natural disaster would be a blessing in disguise? The city of Charleston was locked down for 3 days, which meant all the gyms and studios were closed and everyone was going stir-crazy trying to get their workouts in. I decided to do a Facebook Live class and was blown away with all the positive feedback! Honestly, I hemmed and hawed a bit about starting online classes - there are loads of other barre fitness companies doing the exact same thing, but I knew deep down that what I had to offer was my authentic self, and that’s what the people were asking for. I had three main goals - to be affordable, convenient and for my clients to feel like they really were right there with me. So a year after creating my business and doing on-site classes, I launched our Online Workouts!

2.) Passion for Teaching. I have always loved teaching. Way before I got my break as a professional dancer and the start of BWYA, I used to teach dance classes to the younger students at my childhood dance studio. And before I decided to start my barre fitness company, I created DancED, a former non-profit that provides dance education for children during their after-school programs. So after two years of teaching barre classes, the people did what they do best, and started asking me for more! I knew that my specific class format was unique to me and that it was part of the reason my clients enjoyed it so much. After a few ladies said that they had been inspired to get certified as a Barre Instructor but were interested in learning my specific method, I decided that again there was a necessity to create a curriculum training. In the past year, we have offered 10 instructor trainings! I have been able to capitalize on my format and at the same time share my knowledge and passion for teaching! I truly get so fired up about having the opportunity to expand the barre instructor community and provide new formats and methods!

3.) Going Global. Thinking big is part of my DNA. I am always looking for ways to grow, both personally and professionally. Within the last three months, I have held our first 3 international trainings and have had our first international online subscribers! Looking ahead to 2020 and year #4, my “big picture” plans for Barre Where You Are is to continue growing our community of Online Barre Babes and expand our offerings. I also hope to increase the number of barre instructor trainings and offer more and more continuing education options. I truly believe if you can dream it, you can achieve it! So why not me?!

The past three years have passed by in a blink of an eye at a snails pace! As the saying goes, sometimes you can’t see the trees through the forest and if you are a business owner, you know that some days are pretty stinking hard. But I have made a point to stop and take a moment. I am so proud of how where we started and where we are going! From the launch of our Online Workouts to our first training overseas, my main goal that I had at the beginning is actually coming true - Barre Where You Are is truly bringing barre whenever and wherever you are!

If you are interested in checking out our Online Workouts for 7 days free, click here. At the time of publishing this blog, we are currently accepting host sites for our 2020 Trainings. If you would like to host or attend a training, click here.

Hope to see you at the barre soon!

Cheers,

Heather McCreight