Hello Beautiful....
I'm Jessica, the founder and
visionary behind
the Evolve Group.
I'm a 20 year Studio Owner, Curriculum Designer, Entrepreneurial Addict and "abnormally obsessed" Pilates Teacher
It is my mission -- from my core (hee hee) -- to make Pilates Teacher Training accessible and achievable to more people while making it rewarding for the Studio Owners gracious enough to host it. By doing this we will grow our studios and grow our industry without compromising the integrity of the method and the process of becoming a Teacher.
This was both never the plan
& always the plan...
Business has always been my my destiny. Even as a little girl, I started a babysitting business and outsourced some jobs to my friends. As a 12 year old, I went to an open house in my neighborhood, by myself, on my bike, to "check out the property for my babysitting business". The realtor graciously showed me around the place knowing full well she wasn't making a sale with this pre-pubescent child standing in the eat-in-kitchen.
Pilates Studio ownership ended up being where I found my passions and natural talents intersect. Teaching combined with human connection is the air I breathe while business ownership and all the beautiful challenges that come with it makes me electric with excitement. In my 20+ years as a teacher and entrepreneur, I've envisioned, created, expanded and accomplished a lot. Along the way I've stumbled and gotten back up to try again.....and here I am to take you with me on the next ride.
20+ Years of Teaching...Summed up in a Paragraph
Anything you spend more than 40 hours a week for 20 years doing, is badass. It's badass that I'm not just surviving after all of these years, but thriving, evolving and continually learning.
Every client is a new learning experience. Every time I teach or mentor a new teacher, I see the work through fresh eyes....and it never ever gets old, but rather more nuanced, more elegant, more effective, wiser.
Wait. Am I talking about Pilates or myself?
My natural talent to teach meets my passion for business.
And so became my first Pilates Studio.
Shared with the laundry room of a gym, with no windows and only one reformer, I was clearly not selling ambiance. But I quickly grew from 0 clients on Day 1 to 50 private sessions a week in 6 months.
Over the next 15 years, I expanded till I reached 3000 square feet with nearly 50 pieces of large and small apparatus; bought and flipped a gym, started and sold a fitness retail store, acquired a competitive studio and merged with mine, and, of course, maintained a high standard of teaching and teacher -training.
I'm never without a goal to strive for and a plan to make it happen. I'm annoying actually.
All of that has led me here.
Covid was a moment in time that gave all of us pause and the opportunity to say "what now?". I think in those early months, we didn't know what our industry would look like on "the other side" of this experience. So I got to work.
Opportunities Are Everywhere If You're Prepared
A few months into Covid, I started to get that feeling I get...that there was an evolution coming within me and within my business. I didn't know what the opportunity was, but when it arrived I wanted to be prepared.
So I rented a small filming space, hired a videographer, and called one of my friends/clients and started filming the entire Teacher Training program. I was going to convert it to an online platform to prepare for the post-covid world.
What I didn't realize then - and I see so clearly now - is how many studios and studio owners could use this tool and system I was building to bring Pilates Teacher Training to their studios and communities.
So here we are. A robust Pilates Teacher Training program combined with a network of passionate Hosts around the globe combining forces to grow our studios and this industry from a grassroots, studio-by-studio place of knowledge sharing and mentorship rather than profit and red-tape.
"Every accomplishement starts with the decision to try."
~ John F. Kennedy
I'm all about
Early morning creative time. Connecting others. Mountain Valley Water. Learning new things. Starbucks. Resilience.
I'm not about
The words "I can't", because I know I can. Dreaming as I prefer doing. Sleeping in. Wallowing in yesterday. Judging others.
WE MAY BE
The perfect
fit
if...
- You are passionate about growing and evolving your business or yourself.
- You believe in teamwork
- You are someone who thinks in terms of opportunity and improvement
- You don't see obstacles but rather challenges that need to be overcome and the idea of doing that excites you
- You love dogs
- You're a pisces with a aries moon rising (I'm just kidding. I don't know anything about astrology).
- Happy is your default setting
WANT TO KNOW HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER?
Here's how I can help
I provide the curriculum and the core education. You provide the people and the studio space for their apprenticeship. I do the heavy lifting that you don't have the time for and you provide the students with a home for their hours that they wouldn't have access to otherwise.
And I pay you 20% of the tuition fees as compensation for use of your space.
As of the close of Q1 2023, I have paid out $100,000 to my Host Studios.
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