We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stacy Quinkert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Stacy, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose by pivoting. From a very young age, I believed I knew my purpose. I had always been a performer and I believed that to be what I was meant and made to do. All of my decisions and actions were made to meet that expectation of myself. I’m a hard-worker and a glass half-full kind of person, but after many years of blocks and resistance (both internal and external) I started to question said purpose. If this is what I was meant to do, why wasn’t I experiencing flow within it? As a performer, I always had multiple “side jobs” and always treated them as such. A “side.” Almost ten years ago, one of those “side jobs” started to feel like it could be something more. After years of teaching children’s ballet, a friend from NYU told me about barre fitness. She was teaching it at the time and convinced me to start taking it to eventually train to become a teacher. From the first (excruciating) moment, I was hooked. I trained, became certified and started teaching up to 20 classes a week. It became a great passion. So much so my husband started to notice and we both thought, “this is something we should pay attention to.” After years of teaching, paying attention to this shift in my life, and looking into franchising opportunities I found my home. A barre studio a mile from our house was hiring and I jumped at the opportunity. From the day I was hired, this space felt like home. I had never felt a connection to a space or to a community like that. One day, the owners approached me about buying the studio with the caveat “This is going to sound crazy.” But in my heart, nothing had ever sounded less crazy. After months of acquisition, I became a small business owner and the fitness studio of my dreams was officially mine. Talk about FLOW. The last 6 years of owning this business, sharing my passion for barre fitness, and nurturing and building our powerful community have been the most challenging and rewarding of my life. Despite the sometimes crippling challenges, what is unwavering is the sense of PURPOSE. That deep knowing is what gets me out of bed even on the hardest days. That, and the beautiful humans that make up the Pure Barre Woodland Hills family.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about business?
I own and operate a Pure Barre studio in Woodland Hills! It is my greatest passion and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do. We offer group fitness classes and now have 5 different class formats. This has been a game-changer. All of our classes are very challenging and offer a little something different. We’ve become a one stop shop and it feels so exciting especially after navigating through a global pandemic. Covid was absolutely devastating for small businesses, mine included, and it feels like I can finally start to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout my 14 month closure, countless pivots (shifting online, holding classes outdoors, selling everything that wasn’t nailed to the floor) there were so many times that I felt like giving up. What kept me going is the incredible humans (team and members) that make Pure Barre Woodland Hills the special space that it is. Pure Barre is the best workout in the game, but it’s so much more. It’s a powerful and empowering community of people who build each other up and challenge themselves everyday. Without my community- my PBWH family, I don’t think my business could’ve survived let alone THRIVE. I’m beyond grateful to (still) be able to provide a sacred space, a home away from home.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three things that have helped me immensely along my small business ownership journey are flexibility, patience, and a sense of humor. Man, it’s hard to narrow it down to three! I always knew the value of flexibility, and have always been very comfortable with change. It’s truly the only constant in life. When I first bought my studio, I was so focused on retention and not making waves that I felt fearful of change. Through the years and especially through Covid, I learned that if you are not flexible/malleable, it’s very difficult to grow. Constantly implementing changes not only allows your business to grow, it forces you out of your comfort zone which leads to personal growth as well. Patience is something I’ve struggled with my whole life. I’m very much an instant gratification kind of gal. Small business ownership and my Pure Barre practice have taught me that anything good and worthwhile takes time. It takes time and consistency. You don’t strengthen your body after one class and you don’t build your business in a day. Both are practices that you work every single day, and that commitment and consistency will pay off. Eventually. 🙂 Finally, a sense of humor. I thought about naming passion or gratitude (which are both invaluable to owning a business) but I went with sense of humor because I think it can fall to the wayside. There’s nothing funny about the business side of owning a business. It’s stressful, overwhelming, and can be daunting at times. That’s where your sense of humor comes in. If you’re not able to laugh about everything that can (and will) go wrong, good luck. It’s hard enough to keep the lights on, manage (and pay) a team of employees, file business taxes, and work in customer service that without a sense of amusement it’d be nearly impossible to persevere. And I always joke in my classes, if you laugh you get some extra ab work in.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of growth in the past 12 months has to be delegating. I have always valued having a strong team surrounding me, but it hasn’t been until this year that I really asked for help. I used to operate under a sort of martyr mentality. I would be at the business up to 16 hours a day, wouldn’t admit when I needed help, and created a an environment where it seemed like fairies did all the work. Meaning, I never would let the work show. This year, I hired exceptional humans to work jobs that I’d previously worked myself and it is the best decision I’ve ever made. They have changed everything and I’m so grateful for them. Now I walk the line of working smarter not harder (easier said than done sometimes). Along with delegating, I’ve also implemented boundaries that I would have never dared set in the past. When you care as much as I do and when your business truly is your life, things can get blurry. I’ve learned to value a work/life balance and have seen firsthand that when I prioritize that balance I’m a better business owner. I’m beyond grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.purebarre.com/ca-woodlandhills
- Instagram: @purebarrewoodlandhills
- Twitter: Pure Barre Woodland Hills
- Other: tiktok: purebarrewoodlandhills_
Image Credits
Stephanie Girard
