Inspire Women’s Fitness is a community of amazing women; each may have different fitness goals but are seeking some of the same things. Their community is full of women seeking community, support, mental wellness, confidence, strength, safety, fitness results and childcare. Inspire Women’s Fitness offers it all. They want you to come as you are they we will welcome you. They offer 60+ classes/week to choose from and their instructors are here to give you the personal attention you need. They don’t have fancy equipment but they have all the tools needed to help you achieve your fitness goals, whatever they maybe, at any fitness level. You don’t have to bring anything except your water bottle and yourself. And for all those with little ones – childcare is included in your membership!
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: We do everything we can to support our community, and we buy from a lot of local companies. We sell a few products in the studio, and they are always from local companies For pain relief, we sell a product I love to use called P3 Muscle and Joint Cream from Abbotsford. I sell scrunchies that one of my instructors makes and earrings that one of our member’s makes. We sell a yoga mat with a towel snapped onto it called the Hogamat from a company in Fort Langley, created by one of my instructors. We offer them as bonus gifts when clients sign up for a year membership too. We have also featured Citta Activewear at the studio and use them as one of our apparel companies. I bought my equipment from Stack Fitness, a Canadian company from back east. They are now affiliated with a American Company. When I need anything else now I go to Flaman Fitness‘s location in Langley. They are Canadian too.
I also buy my services from a lot of local businesses. I got all my new signage from a local company Balkan Signs, owned by the Grandma of one of my members – they did an amazing job. Our new logo and website was designed by Original Ginger based in Fort Langley. They are awesome, and have a great process.
There are some things we can’t get locally because of COVID-19 and our recent move from being part of a franchise business. We are keen to localize more of our purchasing when we can!
One of our favourite ways to support local businesses is to do pop-ups to help provide exposure and cross promotion for other businesses. For example, I invited Su Casa Spa to come in and give massages by the minute before and after class. Some of our clients became their clients after that. We have a community board that promotes local businesses too. And at the desk we feature one or two businesses. I also work with other wellness businesses in the area to cross promote. Revamp Wellness is one of company I have featured and referred many of our members to; they also advertise our business. I love Pure Form Physio in Langley. I send him clients and he puts up flyers on our classes in his business. I also do a pop-up before the holidays where people can sell their products. I promote local businesses in so many ways, and every time my clients need a recommendation, I’m sending them out the door to one of the area’s awesome local businesses.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: The thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve created a true community. We know each other, what’s happening in each other’s lives. We support each other. This is what I pictured when I started my business. People come here and get to know each other, and our clients always feel comfortable coming in. I hire very intentionally to create the right kind of community to support our clients. The women here, our members are women who are real people, and we hire instructors who care about them as people, and really pay attention to what to offer them in terms of how to modify exercises, give progressions, etc to best support their health. It’s not about image and looks here, it’s about strength and acceptance, and the whole person, both physical and mental wellness – they go hand in hand. We try hard to provide an inclusive welcoming space. We have women clients, and moms are busy and stretched thin, so we provide day care so they don’t have to choose between making time for their health and taking care of their kids.
I give to a lot of charitable causes through donations and my time. I’m on the board of She Defines Strength which provides a big gala evening of food, beauty, wigs, makeup for 18-30 year olds who are battling cancer. I have partnered with the Shape Your World Total Makeover Challenge and have donated a lot of my time to teach classes as part of the North Langley Community Church Breakaway women’s connection group and the Movember fundraiser at RE Mountain High School. I’m happy to volunteer my time if it’s needed and appreciated. I also donate memberships to many silent auctions for local events. Another I did was ask my members to nominate someone they knew in the community who really needed a place like ours, but maybe couldn’t afford it. I offered them a free one year membership, including childcare. I’ve done that for 2-3 women now.
On the environmental side, I used to get in the water coolers with the bottles, but I bought a new system so the water supply comes straight from the tap, so we’re avoiding all the bottles and the delivery. I recycle all my ink cartridges and batteries, and anything that our clients bring in like water bottles. We had to change our waste-free cleaning process due to COVID-19, but we chose a recyclable brown paper for cleaning the equipment, so for now we are using something we can recycle. And even though we have to use different cleaners now, we sourced a biodegradable product that cleans and disinfects. We’ll move back to our old system when it’s safe. I’ve also programmed my thermostat to help save energy and reduce my heating bills. Now the instructors can change the temperature slightly according to their needs for the class, but my HVAC doesn’t have to work so hard.
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