Pilates Business Podcast

The Inspiring Journey of Club Pilates Founder, Allison Beardsley

• Seran Glanfield • Season 20 • Episode 196

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In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield welcomes Allison Beardsley, the visionary founder of Club Pilates and the innovative Red Light Method. Allison takes us on an inspiring journey from her beginnings as a Pilates instructor to scaling one of the largest fitness franchises in the world. Discover how her passion, resilience, and “Ready, Fire, Aim” mindset helped her create a global brand.

Tune in to learn:

  • How Allison transitioned from teaching mat Pilates to founding Club Pilates.
  • The key strategies that fueled her business growth and franchising success.
  • Lessons learned from scaling a brand to over 1,000 locations.
  • The evolution of her newest venture, Red Light Method, and its groundbreaking approach to wellness and fitness.

This episode is packed with inspiration, insights, and actionable advice for boutique studio owners looking to grow their businesses and make a bigger impact.


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Speaker 1:

Imagine starting with just one studio and scaling it into a globally recognized brand that's not only revolutionized the way that people experience Pilates, but has made it accessible to hundreds of thousands of people. That's exactly what my guest today, alison Beardsley, accomplished as the founder of Club Pilates, alison turned her passion for movement into one of the largest and fastest growing fitness franchises in the world. In this episode, we are unpacking her journey from opening her very first studio in San Diego to building a global brand, and we're going to explore the changes, the mindset shift that really fueled her success, the business strategies that helped scale to the level it did, and all the lessons she learned along the way. So, whether you're dreaming of expanding your studio or looking for a little bit of inspiration, or just a little bit curious about how a global franchise gets its start, you are going to love this conversation. Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield. I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you. If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact, you're in the right place. All you need are a few key strategies, the right mindset and some support along the way. Join me as I share the real-life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio.

Speaker 1:

This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast. I'm San, and I'm so thrilled that you're here with me today, because I'm here with a very special guest and someone who has had a tremendous impact on this industry, and on the Pilates industry in particular, and that is Alison Beardsley, the founder of Club Pilates and, more recently, the Red Light Method. Alison, welcome to the Pilates Business Podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you, I'm so happy you're here. Thank you, I'm so happy to be here. So much to dive into and so much I want to ask you. But let's start at the beginning. Before Club Pilates became this name and brand that we know, it was your studio in San Diego. Why don't you take us back to those early days and share with us a little bit about what sparked your passion for Pilates and how your business kind of got started?

Speaker 2:

I first started teaching Pilates in the year 2000. I was a former basketball player so I'm six feet tall had lots of injuries like a torn rotator cuff. My ACL was reconstructed, I was missing ligaments in my ankles and I was dealing with a ton of chronic pain. And I started working at Gold's Gym and so I took my first ever Pilates mat class and during that class I was so humbled I couldn't even sit with my legs straight in front of me and I shook like a leaf the whole time. And afterwards I was like I feel so good and I became addicted and so I started just doing mat Pilates and then I started teaching mat Pilates and then, before you knew it, I was teaching 30 hours of mat Pilates a week in San Diego. And then I did my big 500 hour reformer training with Kathy Murakami and Marie Jose with Long Beach Dance Conditioning.

Speaker 2:

So it was funny because I was the only six foot tall basketball player in the thing. But I feel like that kind of gave me a little bit of an advantage, being that most of the Pilates people were dancers. But most of the general public are more like me versus like a dancer's physique being injured and unable to like, do an arabesque and make it look pretty. I'm like, oh, I looked goofy. Oh, I looked goofy. So I was able to modify a lot of the stuff, and then I was six months pregnant when I started Club.

Speaker 2:

Pilates and a random kind of warehouse space on the frontage road of the I-5 in San Diego, and six months pregnant and I had a following from San Diego. So my clients all came with me because I taught at every gym basically in San Diego and this was before boutique fitness existed. So we opened Club Pilates San Diego December 2nd 07. And then in 08, the economy tanked and then that's when the birth of Club Pilates happened, because that's when we adapted with the punches that we were receiving where all of my clients were losing their jobs, and so we did an economic stimulus package and we eventually made it down to $10 reformer classes and up to 12 reformers Amazing.

Speaker 1:

So you had one location with 12 reformers, $10 classes. It's not one studio anymore, right? So when was it that you kind of realized that there was more to it than maybe one location? How did it evolve?

Speaker 2:

So it first started evolving with the teacher training program. So in early 08, I had people wanting to train with me to learn to teach, and I had only been teaching Pilates for eight years at that point. But I was like, well, that's eight years more than most people. So I created a 500 hour program and did the whole PMA thing and made a whole training manual, and so that really was a catalyst to propelling our growth. And that's one thing I think that a lot of studios still struggle with today is having enough certified instructors.

Speaker 2:

But we started with that and then in 2010 and 11, I opened up four more locations, so I had five, and then I just had my teacher. I mean, we were training 100 people a year in our Club Pilates teacher training program. So they were coming to me saying I want to open Club Pilates in Wisconsin, I want to open Club Pilates in Phoenix, and I was like I want you to open Club Pilates, and so that's how I got thrown into the wolves with franchising. I didn't know anything about franchising when I got into it. I was literally a waitress, a Pilates instructor and the CEO of a franchise company.

Speaker 1:

So amazing, amazing growth, and how did you sort of equip yourself with the knowledge and the information you need to go about developing that kind of franchise model?

Speaker 2:

You don't need to know, you just have to do. So I always tell people my motto is ready, fire, aim. Because if we sat around and thought of everything like you just don't know and I'll share this when I talk about my newest business Red Light Method of getting in the corridor and so getting in the corridor is one of those things Like not a single entrepreneur has everything figured out before opening. You have to get in, get dirty and start doing it and then course correct along the way. So that's how? Because I mean I literally didn't even know that much about franchising when I sold the franchise company, but I did it and I had advisors and I hired the right people and I followed my gut and intuition and what made the most sense. But you never know what you don't know you even know, so you just got to do it.

Speaker 1:

Like not a steel Nike logo. That's right, just do it Exactly, yeah. And so you, um, obviously you grew and grew and grew and franchise, and franchised, um, and so when you came to, you kind of decided that it was time to move on. How did that decision come about, and what did that look like?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we started franchising in December of 2012. Early January 2013 is when we started franchising and at that point it went gangbusters. I sold 120 locations in two years and we were supporting, we built like a corporate headquarters even though I hate the word corporate, we built a corporate headquarters. It was really fun that we had like a kegerator in it and stuff like that, but we yeah, it got to the point. So what propelled me to even sell was that I got a call from the founder of LA Fitness and he called me one day and was like Allison, I want to buy Club Pilates. And I'm like get out of town. I called my adopted mommy, lawyer Amy, who I love she's still my adopted mommy and one of my lawyers. But I was like Amy and she's like, yeah, allison, you could sell now and retire for life. And I'm like, no way.

Speaker 2:

So we left San Diego and moved to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe because we avoided all the California income tax by being California refugees moving to Nevada. But then that's when I got a business broker and we listed the business for sale and it was really. I really needed to do it because I was honestly in too deep. I had 120 people to support to get open and I did not really honestly know that much about franchising. I had the Pilates business systems down, I had the culture down, the teacher training down, but as far as supporting franchisees, we were just so blessed that everybody who opened rocked it and was doing great and it was a very affordable business to open. In hindsight, like my early franchises were getting open for 50, 60,000. So it was awesome.

Speaker 1:

Amazing, and so you made the decision to step back in 2015. Is that right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we fled California in the summer of 2014. And then in March of 2015 is when I had actually sold and a merger and acquisition for anyone who I mean, it could take years. So mine only took nine months, which was really, really fast. So I was already talking. I started talking with Anthony, who ended up founding Exponential Fitness. He was the founder of that, but Club Pilates was the first brand he acquired and it's also the best in Exponential's portfolio. They kill it compared to all the other ones. So Club Pilates has the standing power and everything.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, that's when I met Anthony. He's awesome. I really like him. He has a lot of skills that are like his strengths are my weaknesses. So it was good and I sold March of 2015. And I stayed on for a year as a director of culture and education, and then 2016, I exited 100% from the corporate side of things and I still had three franchise locations. I sold my five in San Diego and then I had three in Reno and I sold those in 2018. So I was happy to sell the Pilates studios.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so were you happy? Were you ready to move on and out and into something else? Do you have that, and is that a part of who you are and your spirit, that you like to do to build a business, or what was it that sort of made you feel like you needed to exit completely?

Speaker 2:

Exit. Yeah, I'm a birther of ideas, so I'm not a manager Like I need a manager to help me manage my life, like I'm a hot mess. But when it comes to great ideas and systems, I am just really like I think I just have a natural gift from God. Almost it's systemizing things and I just can't help it. Like I go into a business and I analyze every little part of their system and I'm like, oh, they could do this better, they could do that. And I even do it like on the airplane, like I know where to sit to get my drinks first, like Southwest or whatever. But it's the systems thing.

Speaker 2:

For me, like systemizing and making things replicable and scalable is just something that I have a natural gift at and so but yeah, I didn't ever think I was going to want to sell or anything. It was mostly. It just kind of happened. And I do like to start things. I've never had a corporate job in my life. I don't like to be in a box. I like to have that free liberty to get to do what I want to do when I want to do it.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, I hear you, 100 percent, I hear you. So your skill set, obviously, though, adapted over the time that you went from only one studio to becoming, you know, the serial entrepreneur. You are today Right, and you mentioned already a little bit about you, know how you have to just go and do Right. So you now have a new um, a new uh, a project endeavor. You're a new franchise that you have launched, the red light method and um, as you've been through your past experience, which you know, having built one of the most successful fitness boutique fitness franchises in the world, with now a thousand locations, I think club pilates has where. How do you what? What does it look like to start over with something new, and what do you think the are you bringing into this new, new business that you, you know, is going to really help you? What's what's?

Speaker 2:

that, oh gosh, um. I'm so thankful for all of the different things I learned from Anthony. Like I, I said Anthony Geisler who was the CEO of Expo he's not anymore, but he's the one who bought Club Pilates but I gleaned and learned so much stuff because he's definitely more like Bobby business and I'm more like the visionary founder who loves people. But I got to learn about how he sets up a team and systemizes things more strategically in the different departments and everything. So I've been able to apply that to Red Light Method, which has been awesome, because Red Light Method is doing better in our first two years at our one prototype than Club Pilates did in the first seven years in San Diego, which is awesome, and we've seen just beautiful miracles. But about that, when I was saying earlier about getting in the corridor and ready fire, aim and like you don't know what you don't know until you get in and start doing it, before I opened Red Light Method, before it became Red Light Method, I opened up as Red Light Gym and so I was in there for eight months and I was like, oh, this is working, this isn't, this isn't. So we remodeled everything, we completely changed it, but I would have never, ever been able to imagine Red Light Method without first doing Red Light Gym first. So Red Light Gym was there for eight months. We rebranded to Red Light Method and then we added in the group power plate classes and eventually we added in digitally taught Express Pilates Reformer classes as well, which have actually been a huge success. With Red Light Method We've had instructors join and people who've done Pilates 20 years, because we have a tablet that goes over the reformer and people watch headphones.

Speaker 2:

So I have, like one lady who's had both hips replaced, both knees replaced, her ankle is fused, her rotator cuff is replaced, her spine is fused and her neck is fused. So literally the only exercise she can do is foot and leg work. A little bit of bridging, a little bit of tabletop. She can do supine arms just up and down. She can't go laterally and she can do leg straps up and down. And she was in tears, devastated, when she came in because she's like I can't do any classes anywhere and so we made her her own custom digital series. So now she has the red light treatment she gets to do and then she gets to do her own custom classes that you just can't modify.

Speaker 2:

For that was a long winded way of saying how you just have to get in the corridor Like I wouldn't have even thought of express digitally taught Pilates reformer classes without first just doing it. And like getting in, getting messy, like getting my hands dirty and then course correcting. But until you get in the corridor, you don't know what you don't know, you don't know the doors that are going to open in the hallways. And that's where I think faith is a huge part in business and having that attitude of knowing like I just have, a knowing that whatever I'm going to touch will turn to gold. And it's funny. I had this really funny dream, like the night before Red Light Gym opened and my dream I was on the ocean and the waves are coming in and I have gold coins and I'm just throwing gold coins out into the ocean and, as I am, gold plants are growing with more coins. And it was the coolest dream I've ever had. I just remember waking up and like, oh my gosh, like I'm planting gold. But I think a lot of that is just that attitude and I think if we don't have that attitude of like, hey, I know that everything I touch is going to turn to gold and it will work because I will persevere and figure it out and do it.

Speaker 2:

If someone doesn't have that, they shouldn't even start their own business.

Speaker 2:

They should just be an employee. And I've learned through. I used to think everyone could be a business owner, but I've learned that 90% of people are not. They're not willing to sign a lease with a personal guarantee, they're not willing to take a loan out, they're not willing to do any of it and they want to be told what to do. And then they want to go home and not even work, like I do some days.

Speaker 2:

When I get into my flow state I do 20 hour days Like I will literally sleep like three hours, like a psycho, and then I'll crash for like a week and sleep 12 hours a day. But when I ride those waves of the entrepreneurial inspiration, I work, but I probably work eight to 16 hour days. So it's not, but it's fun and I love it and I can work from home. Yeah and so. And then it's cool because I know that at some point I could sell this and retire again if I want to, but it's not retirement's overrated. I got a little chunky when I sold Club Pilates. I gained like 20 pounds. And then I was so lazy If I don't have a project. I was like my robe's so new and like sitting coffee. I didn't eat donuts but I sipped coffee and would have too much toast. But yeah, I definitely retirement's overrated. I love to have a project and I don't ever plan to retire again.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, yeah, it sounds like you're someone who needs to be engaged in something and active and achieving, and you are Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

I do it's fun. During my retirement. I got two master's degrees, so I was like, of course you did.

Speaker 1:

Of course you did so. I want to talk a bit more. So red light method. Obviously red light is becoming such a you know, people are it's it's, people are learning more about it, about the benefits of it. So tell me a little bit about how it. If you are a a a client of the red light method, what does your experience look like?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, it's so magical. So when people come into red light method, it's a hybrid boutique fitness spa. And so people come in, they go into a personal spa treatment room, they undress, they go onto a massage table under a sheet and they push a call button and then one of our staff will come in and wrap their whole body in red and near infrared lights. And we use the only class 2 fda cleared medical device in the us. It's a forty thousand dollar system, the red lights we use, so normally these treatments are two to four hundred dollars for a single treatment. Our members come for like $199 a month, unlimited, but anyways they go and they do 25-minute treatment of the red lights and then afterwards they move to the power plate for an express 10 to 15-minute power plate experience which flushes the lymph. And our red light device is FDA cleared and proven for body contouring and inches lost, reduced pain and inflammation, increased blood flow, circulation, skin rejuvenation and then improved sleep. So it really energizes the body at a cellular level. It's amazing. And then at our participating locations not all locations have Pilates reformers. We have 31 locations in the works right now, but it's some, just like a person in Manhattan is not going to have enough space to put reformers in also, so they might just do the lights and the power plate, which is what we proved the model with. We didn't add reformers until after we started franchising, but that's just a bonus amenity. And then they do an express digitally taught Pilates reformer class.

Speaker 2:

We don't do anything crazy on the reformer. We keep it very vanilla. It's footwork, it's abs, it's bridging, it's arm straps, leg straps. We stay supine on the back the whole time. We're not standing on the reformer, so we do standing and planking on the power plate and then so then the reformer, it's a vanilla. But that's my favorite Pilates reformer workout. Like that's what all I do is. I do footwork, I do ab series, I do some bridging, some arm straps, leg straps. I'm good Like. I don't like the circus Pilates. It's too much. So I like vanilla Pilates. 20 years ago they thought club Pilates was crazy because they're like oh, you're doing all the circus stuff and it's like. At the time, 20 years ago, we were crazy. But now club Pilates is vanilla compared to a lot of other Pilates out there.

Speaker 1:

It's not crazy like it once was per se. Yeah, well, congratulations on your new endeavor. And 31 Locations is what's your next? What does 2025 look like for you? I'm kind of curious, because I'm sure you've got some big plans.

Speaker 2:

So we have 31 locations signed, I believe, in 2025, we'll be having another 100 locations signed in 2025. We have a bunch of them all getting ready to open. 2025 is going to be awesome. We have lots. I think we're going to sell another 100 locations.

Speaker 2:

And we're going to be getting all of our prototypes open. Right now we're in pre-sales for Reno, tucson and Fayetteville Tucson's already at 120 members. I'm opening Reno. I'm almost at 100. We're not even opening until January to February, so we're going to be opening with 300 members. Our marketing is crushing it. We're getting $2 leads on Meta and we convert between 50 to 80% of the leads into members. So, yeah, so it's been just totally awesome. But we have all the systems down. We have just I'm just so excited.

Speaker 2:

So in 2025, I want to probably hire a CEO because I'm not a CEO. I could play CEO in the beginning but, like I said, I'm not a manager. I could play CEO in the beginning but, like I said, I'm not a manager. I need a manager and I look to hire a CEO because I don't want to sell Red Light Method and have it turn into a corporate beast like Club Pilates has kind of turned into.

Speaker 2:

I want to keep the heart and soul of the company intact. I think most of it's still there with Club Pilates, but it has turned into just lots of investors own it and it's just the whole like like the Club Pilates like to buy the equipment package. It's over 250 grand for 12 reformers and chairs, and obviously you can go to Balanced Body and buy that equipment for a lot less than $250,000. I want to just keep our red light method, the integrity and the love and like the genuineness of what it's built upon, of loving our neighbor as ourself. I want to keep that there in 2025 for red light method. And that's a part that kind of makes me a little sad about Club Pilates and like I'm like, is it possible to have something be a thousand locations and not turn into a corporate beast? Is that even possible? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. So that's my goal.

Speaker 1:

Is that, with red light method that it does not turn into a corporate beast. Yeah, I'm sure. Well, you know now, right, so you know how to do it. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited. I think this is so such a you know, the evolution of the wellness and sector and how that intertwines with movement and everything else, I think is truly sort of the next phase of growth in this industry. So I'm excited that you're going to be a part of that and I cannot wait to see what happens for you and Red Light Method. So, thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm excited about that too, because I think that we need more than just exercise. We like cellular health and, um, yeah, because I think it's what? 80 right now of americans are overweight and obese and it just keeps climbing. So it's one of those things that it's. It just seems like the more and more exercise it's not really helping, like we need other things mixed in. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:

For sure. Well, if anyone's going to do it, alison, it's going to be you, so fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast, and I really appreciate you being so open and honest about your journey, and I cannot wait to bring you back here at the end of 2025. So you can tell me just how many locations you have opened.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, definitely we want to, yeah, we hope to rock it because we can have almost a twice capacity as Club Pilates because we could see 20 people an hour. So our first prototype location is pushing 500 members and so it's just awesome. We have just a bigger net that we can just scoop in so many more people that wouldn't typically just do a fitness only thing. So it's cool. But yeah, I'm excited too. I'm excited to hear more of the testimonials. I know we were mentioning I was mentioning before the call that they'll have, like the cancer go in remission.

Speaker 1:

Yes, tell me what have you seen.

Speaker 2:

Amazing, yeah, the red light therapy. It's just insane because it energizes your cells at a mitochondrial level and so we've had people going blind with macular degeneration have their eyes healed. We had one member go in to the doctor's office and she was going in for surgery and the doctor's like you don't have macular degeneration anymore, your eyes are healed. He's like what are you doing different? And she's like, oh, I've been doing red light therapy for a couple of months and, sure enough, if you go on PubMed and all the NIH websites, red light therapy has been proven to help eye health. Like half of my staff in Bentonville, their prescription glasses, their prescription's better, like they went to the eye doctor and they'd be like your vision's actually better.

Speaker 2:

We had one guy with heart arrhythmia. He was almost a professional runner for like 50 years and he had this terrible arrhythmia. His arrhythmia is gone. He also couldn't lift his arms up because of arthritis in his shoulders and he has full mobility now. We've had members down over a hundred pounds.

Speaker 2:

We have people with like chronic pain and autoimmune off a disability, able to work again Like I can't, even like my general manager should come on and tell you all the stories, but it's literally like every day hears of joy of the miracles that we see, but we've had cancers go in remission for people.

Speaker 2:

We've had other members get accused of having a facelift also where because the red light helps your skin so much Like it's amazing what it does for just the whole body and the cellular health. But the energy and the sleep, and really the energy is the biggest thing we see, because the red light energizes our mitochondria, which are the little batteries in our cells. And if we could just improve our mitochondrial function 10, 20%, we're going to feel like a whole new person and they're realizing now that most diseases are mitochondrial related, they're metabolic diseases, and so we're able to like just literally nourish people's mitochondria, then give them gentle, effective movement. Like our 15 minute power plate session is equal to a 45 minute workout, because the power plate triples the amount of muscle fibers activated, which is amazing. Like the first time I stood on a power plate I was on it for like five minutes, I just stood on it and then the next day I was like my legs are so sore, what I didn't do anything.

Speaker 1:

I used to do a power plate class many years ago and I it was. It was an. It was intense. I think it was a 25-minute class, but it was intense and it works. It works yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it's crazy, it's crazy. So that's where we get a little more crazy with it, since we do keep our Pilates very vanilla for safety, so we couldn't have anybody stand or planking on the reformer without a live instructor.

Speaker 1:

Yeah right, exactly, planking on the reformer without a live instructor. So yeah right, exactly, awesome. Oh gosh, I'm so excited for you, alison, congratulations on everything you've built and thank you so much, and I'm going to pop everyone, for everyone. If they want to learn a bit more about the red light method. I'm going to link to your website in the show notes for sure, but is there a place where people can connect with you online, instagram or website? What's the best place for?

Speaker 2:

people I guess redlightmethodcom. I'm so old school Like I don't even like go on social media or LinkedIn. I have people who do that for me because I'm like I can't do that.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, Awesome. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate you coming on. This was a fabulous conversation and I can't wait to hear what see what's in store for you next year. Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, me too. Okay, thank you. Have a blessed day.

Speaker 1:

You too Did you love this episode and want more? Head to spring3.com and check out my free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And before you go, one last reminder there is no one way to do what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this. Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.