Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark & Sarah Benavides.
Hi Mark & Sarah , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My husband and I have always dreamed of opening our own fitness studio back home in San Antonio once he retired from the Air Force. It was more-so his dream as he has been a personal trainer for almost 20 years now, starting in college before he joined active duty. I was just along for the ride as I love connecting with people and had been a manager in a well known fitness studio all throughout college. However, that post retirement plan became a possibility a lot sooner than we expected as someone reached out via Facebook Messenger to Mark directly saying she had heard great things about him in the military community and if he would be interested in buying her studio as she needed to relocate out of state. At first, I thought there is no way, this has to be a scam. But after further research and conversations with her, turns out it was very much a real opportunity to turn our dream into a reality – just about 5 years earlier than expected. In September of 2021, we took a leap of faith and purchased the studio, previously Exclusively You, to keep the small group fitness classes and 1:1 personal training already established. With him being active duty and me also working full time as a federal employee, we relied heavily on our instructors and we managed everything before and after hours. While I thought we were just surviving this whole time, we must have been doing something right, because in November of 2023 another studio owner reached out and let us know that she would be closing soon. I remember telling my husband it would be so sad to see such a beautiful studio leave Goldsboro. It’s right in the growing parts of Downtown Goldsboro, its a stunning remodeled building specifically designed for Barre, Yoga, and Pilates. After much thought and prayers we decided we could not let it go and we knew that those classes would compliment our strength classes perfectly. We became the proud new owners of our second location, Barre Haus, in January of 2024 and combined both locations under our new name Sol Studios: SolFit & Barre Haus. This past year I had left my full time HR career and dove head first into being more present at both locations while my husband continues to finish out his active duty career. We are so proud of how much we have grown, now having 12 instructors and offering a wide range of classes between both locations, and we know it will only continue to grow from here!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road to get to where we are now. We have had many struggles and have faced many learning curves along the way. One of the biggest struggles at first was financing, because of how we acquired each location we chose to personally finance these which of course has put a pause on a lot of things that we wanted to do in our personal lives – but it’s been worth it! Also, in the beginning a major struggle was just not having enough time in the day. When we first started out, both of us were working different full time jobs. Mark was going to the gym at 4 am teaching at 5 and 6 am, then going to work all day then teaching again in the evening and then would stay up after our children would go to sleep to plan, program, market etc. It definitely took a toll on our relationship, even with me knowing it was for the gyms it of course caused some strains. We really had to prioritize our own relationship and carve out that time for each other. Now we have this great balance of ownership, partnership, and a stronger marriage.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Sol Studios is the umbrella that covers two locations: SolFit Premier Fitness Studio located on 504 N Spence Ave., Goldsboro, NC 27534 and Barre Haus located at 211 John St. Goldsboro, NC 27530.
At our SolFit location we offer small group strength and conditioning classes, women’s only strength and conditioning classes, 1:1 personal training, and small group personal training. Mark develops all of the programming for the small group classes where he focuses on functional strength movements that anyone can benefit from. We have members from 22 to 79 years young!
In our downtown Barre Haus location, we offer a variety of Barre, Yoga, and Pilates classes that have the perfect amount of low impact strength, stability, and flexibility movements. So many of our members love that can be challenged in new ways and feel muscles work that they haven’t before!
I think one of the things that sets us apart the most is that we still have that small town community feel, we strive for that. We know our members by name, we know their families, their stories. Not only are we invested in bettering their physical health but we genuinely care about them. We are also very involved in the community, it’s something that is very near to our hearts. We sponsor local 5Ks, we partner with Downtown Goldsboro Development Center and initiated a Wellness Wednesday program that runs twice a year. It’s an opportunity to try a free class in an awesome outdoor setting from multiple local gyms and studios, not just ours!
We always offer your first classes for free so that potential members can get a feel for our programming, our instructors, and class schedules. We want to make sure that we are a good fit for their goals, lifestyles, schedules, etc before committing to any sort of membership.
Please give us a follow on instagram at @SolFitGoldsboro and @BarreHausGoldsboro and check us out!
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Absolutely, in the beginning we relied heavily on PodCasts, specifically from Alex Hormozi, also various research on best business practices and what made sense for our local community. Most recently, Sarah completed a local Entrepreneur 12 week course through the local Wayne Chamber of Commerce and Wayne Community College where she got to learn specifically about small business launching, entrepreneurship, and network with local business owners and local community leaders on how to continue to best grow the studios. It was a fantastic free local resource specifically for small businesses that resulted in her placing 3rd in the Pitch competition and landing $1,000 in grant money to go directly back to the studios! These programs are available all over and I hope many more people look into these possibilities provided by their local committees!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @SolFitGoldsboro , @BarreHausGoldsboro
