Online Fitness a Coast success story

MISSING THE CREW: Coast Fitness owners Nichole Strickland and Melissa Sloos (centre) are looking forward to the end of COVID-19, and a return to more charity events, in-person classes, and more togetherness.

Coast Fitness is owned and operated by Melissa Sloos and Nichole Strickland, with the help of their eight dedicated and passionate instructors. Coast Fitness has been around since 2010 but taken over by Melissa and Nichole in December 2018.

Technically they are a group fitness, yoga, and personal training studio. But what they really are is a safe and inclusive space for people to work on their goals, de-stress, socialize, and stay mobile and healthy.

What concerned you most about your business as the COVID-19 pandemic began?

Melissa & Nichole • We were most concerned about our clients and how we could show up for them, keep them motivated, and keep them moving and healthy when we would not be able to see them face to face. We were also honestly concerned that we would not be able to survive as a business without in-person classes.

What opportunities did you see?

Melissa & Nichole • The biggest opportunity we saw was a transition into online training. We also saw the chance to do work on the studio since it was empty, and to look at how we could work with smaller groups, and more personal training formats.

What have you been doing that you haven’t done before the pandemic?

Melissa & Nichole • We have been doing online classes, online challenges, online programs, and renting out equipment. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are so grateful for that.

Which government programs have been helpful to you? What do you wish was provided?

Melissa & Nichole • We were able to access the commercial rent relief program, which was an immense help. Our one wish would have been for the government to provide the wage subsidy to contract workers.

Have you received any help, support or inspiration?

Melissa & Nichole • Our clients were and still are our greatest support, help, and inspiration. We are grateful for the support of our team, and the inspiration from our community, which has shown such support and resilience in an unprecedented time.

How has the pandemic impacted your customers?

Melissa & Nichole • We feel like the pandemic has been a kind of set back for our clients. Our Coast Fitness community was hard at work heading into March, and then suddenly it was an abrupt stop to their routine. Our community comes to us for motivation, camaraderie, support, socialization, and for their mental health. They lost their safe space, which we know was exceptionally tough.

How has it impacted your staff?

Melissa & Nichole • It has been a major impact to our staff, who lost their ability to live their passion, to engage and build relationships with clients, to attend classes, and of course, to work and earn income.

How has it impacted you and your family?

Melissa & Nichole • It has honestly been stressful with all the unknowns and day to day changes and we carry that into our home life. In more measurable terms for our families, suddenly half our household income was gone, so we had to quickly adapt.

If you could go back to January, what advice would you give yourself?

Melissa & Nichole • We would go back and tell ourselves to accept it and go with the flow, to buy into the situation right away, to own it and not look for the end or think about ‘when things are normal again’.

What changes will you retain in the future?

Melissa & Nichole • We will definitely keep the online classes. We are in some ways grateful for the pandemic because it gave us the push go online, which had been on our ‘to do’ list. We will also keep the new procedures we have created for cleanliness.

What’s surprised you most during this time?

Melissa & Nichole • We were a little surprised by how receptive people were to the changes we made, and how many clients got on board right away. It can be hard to have the discipline, time, and space to do fitness and yoga at home. We were really moved by the support and our clients’ determination.

What are you looking forward to most about getting back to normal?

Melissa & Nichole • We are most looking forward to freer socialization, to hosting more large fun charity events, and to just generally having more clients together in our classes with less worry.