Check Out Lori West’s Story

 

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori West.

Hi Lori, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in the Charlotte and Lake Norman area, attended Western Carolina University and spent my years after college owning an interior design business. I am creative and love to help people which led to my next 10 years working as Director of missions with The Cove Church in Mooresville, NC. I have always enjoyed helping and encouraging people to live their best life with passion and purpose. Which led me to where I am today. I recently returned back to school to receive my certification in Nutrition and Counseling, become a Pure Barre Instructor, own a Pure Barre studio as well as a Clean Juice franchise.

Nutrition and fitness has always been a priority in my life, although I wasn’t always good at discerning the best way to go about it. I grew up taking ballet and dance, twenties was strength training and running. I was working out harder and longer than ever but my weight was climbing. Fast forward to my thirties and it was everything from boxing, aerobics, running, spin, yoga, Pilates and Cross Fit, however I turned 40 a few years back and discovered Pure Barre. Something clicked. Hands down Pure Barre has been the most effective, (fast and fabulous) fun and life changing workout ever! I look and feel better in my forties than I did in my twenties. Having struggled on and off with my weight and self-confidence for years after a few months of classes I started to see and feel the positive changes in my own body (mentally and physically) and I realized the impact I could have on others. Teach from your experience, it’s my story, journey and one I have been excited and blessed to share. Pure Barre was not just a workout for me – it’s was a LIFE CHANGER! And the community…WOW! Empowering, inspiring and authentic!

After joining the 250 Club in August of 2015 I knew I wanted to take my passion for Pure Barre to the next level. This passion and love for the technique as well as the strong sense of community and relationships are what inspired us to bring Pure Barre to my husband’s old stomping grounds in Southern Pines. Pure Barre has so much to offer beyond the physical results. While a strengthened and toned body is certainly a major benefit of the Pure Barre technique (truly – the results are amazing), the Pure Barre family and community is also what keeps you coming back for more. I wanted to bring this unique culture to the Southern Pines area and be able to impact others’ lives the way Pure Barre has impacted mine. My goal is to cultivate an environment that makes Pure Barre Southern Pines feel like home to my members.

After much prayer my husband Lane and I picked up and moved our family to Southern Pines in March 2016. We opened the studio October 2016 after months of delays, permit hold ups, water and roof leaks and grass root marketing. I honestly thought at the time the hardest part was over. We are open, let the classes and transformation begin. Fast forward to today, August 2021 and we are coming up on our 5 year anniversary. Looking back WOW! I was so naive, I had so much to learn and be schooled on. The hardest part was not the “before you open” it was what business school and mentors along the way couldn’t prepare you for. “How to survive a pandemic as a small business owner and keep your wits about you.” Actually 2 small businesses. Our love for Pure Barre – taking care of your body was then fueled by taking care of what we put in our bodies. After a workout our Pure Barre members would struggle with healthy on the go options. My husband and I knew of Clean Juice from living in Lake Norman, we loved the brand, mission and owners Landon and Kat Eckles. We reached out to Landon and Kat to inquire about bringing Clean Juice to Southern Pines. With lots of encouragement and support from our Pure Barre family and surrounding gyms and fitness studios 2 years after we opened Pure Barre we opened Clean Juice organic juice bar in July 2018.

The past 18 months has definitely challenged us as business owners. Like many fitness studios our studio closed to in person classes for 5 months. We had to pivot, get creative, rethink and rework how we did business. How to engage with our members, stay relevant, safe and keep our community motivated and connected. Connected during a time when you were told to stay 6’ apart and isolate. Okay, challenge accepted! Pure Barre went virtual in 24 hours. We transitioned from in studio classes to having our teachers teach live classes from their home to our members via livestream which we also recorded in case members could not take the classes live with us. Workout check. Now to keep members mental health in check and feeling connected. We hosted virtual book clubs, trivia night, game night, recipe swap, theme classes, virtual sip and shops, virtual coffee dates, virtual cocktail hour and scavenger hunts in addition to virtual Pure Barre classes and pop up outdoor classes.

I will not say it has been easy, it was/is a lot of additional work and there have been many days I struggled motivating myself, much less my team and community. But it’s been worth it. To push through, stick it out and keep going in the face of adversity and obstacle after obstacle. Now more than ever we need healthy strong bodies and immune systems.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not. When I say we had to go to bat to open Pure Barre Southern Pines we did. We knew God was calling us too open the studio however the demographics on paper did not support that. We were turned down twice by Pure Barre corporate. If you look at the basic selection criteria we would fail they said. But we knew something the reports did not. We scouted the area, met other business owners, talked with the community and knew this area was ready. We were persistent, gathered additional documents to support the growth and need and did not take no for an answer. We went back to corporate with evidence supporting our business plan. A year later we opened the studio in October 2016 after months of delays, permit hold ups, lease negotiations and water and roof leaks.

I honestly thought at the time the hardest part was over. We are open, let the classes and transformation begin. Fast forward to today, August 2021 and we are coming up on our 5 year anniversary. Looking back WOW! I was so naive, I had so much to learn and be schooled on. The hardest part was not the “before you open” it was and still is how to not just survive but thrive and stay relevant during a pandemic. We had to pivot immediately and bring our staff and members along. Transition from in studio workout classes to having our teachers teach live classes from their home to our members via livestream. Set up the back of the house systems to support this transition while keeping the community motivated. Lockdown found our members staying home and doing less in terms of social interaction and exercise. The negative effect mentally and physically was felt almost immediately. We knew we had to step up our game and started hosted virtual events such as book clubs, trivia night, game night, recipe swap, theme classes, virtual sip and shops, virtual coffee dates, virtual cocktail hour and scavenger hunts.

As a business owner there was and is much expected while dealing with the emotional stress of are we going to make it, can I pay staff, make rent, etc. How many hours can I work to keep this going and for how long. We had to pivot to keep our businesses alive in a new world in which none of the old rules apply. In March of 2020 we braced for what seemed like a few weeks of financial pain. Now 18+ months in not only do we face the ongoing stresses of living through a global pandemic, we navigate the ever-changing health and safety standards, manage hostile clients, staffing shortages, intense pressure to protect clients and staff from a worldwide pandemic while in your space and spend additional money to restructure our space to be Covid-compliant, all while bringing in significantly less revenue.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Pure Barre is a 50 minute group fitness class, musically driven designed to strengthen, lengthen and tone your muscles for a stronger, leaner physique. Classes have been carefully designed to fit a broad range of fitness levels, offering a high-intensity, low-impact, endurance and strength total body workout. Our studio is open 7 days a week with 3 different class formats, over 40 classes a week all under one roof. Whatever your goal we have you covered. Strength training, flexibility, injury prevention, cardio, balance and stability.

The energy in the studio is motivating and high energy. Classes are taught by trained Pure Barre teachers in a small group class setting. While a strengthened and toned body is certainly a major benefit of the Pure Barre technique (truly – the results are amazing), the mental release, Pure Barre family and community is also what keeps you coming back for more.

Through our doors strangers soon become family. Friendships are forged. Community is created. We rally together in the sad times, celebrate the good times. Things get built. Stronger, fitter and more confident bodies. Things also get broken. Barriers, bad habits, negativity and excuses. We conquer the demons in our mind, we relieve stress, quiet the voices in our head, we feel at home, a safe place to work on ourselves. And this past year more than ever we went beyond the walls of the studio into homes and families to transform and empower lives. When we say Pure Barre is so much more that a workout place we do not say it lightly. The mental release and new friendships fostered make this community more like a family.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
One of the tag lines of Pure Barre is “You are so much stronger than you think”. I can honestly say I get tested on this daily. Just when I think I cannot go on I realize I AM so much stronger than I think. I do not have to have all the answers but keep moving. Trust your gut. If it feels wrong it probably is. You know your business better than anyone. And there is a difference in working in the business and on the business. As a small business owner you have to make time to work on the business not just in the business.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.purebarre.com/location/southern-pines-nc
• Instagram: purebarresouthernpines
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purebarresouthernpines
• Other: https://linktr.ee/PBSOPI

Image Credits
Routine Xphotos