At 18 I had a life-changing crash, and now I own a world-famous fitness brand
A WOMAN has revealed how she turned her passion into a world-renowned fitness brand.
Bryony Deery, 31, is the founder of Pilates by Bryonyan online platform and app for wellness and Pilates.
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The fitness fanatic first discovered Pilates, a form of exercise that focuses on core strength, balance, flexibility and posture, at the age of 18 after she was in a car accident.
Bryony was left with neck and back injuries, and after being recommended Pilates by a doctor, she found that it helped her injuries heal completely.
“It changed my life,” she told Abbey Clancy on her podcast, Exhibit A.
“I don’t think I would have ever done this if I hadn’t had that accident.”
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After her accident, Bryony became extremely passionate about Pilates and during lockdown in 2021, she decided to start teaching Zoom fitness classes.
“I think starting with Zoom really helps you find your voice.
“I was so shy when I started,” she said.
In her first class, about ten people showed up, and she continued to teach two classes a week until she had about 100 participants.
“I went from completely broke to making quite a lot of money a week, with just two hours of work,” she said.
Keen to capitalize on her success, Bryony decided to create a ‘January Challenge’, which attracted a whopping 550 people.
“It was an expensive thing, so that month completely changed my life,” she said.
“I’ve never made so much money in my life.”
Bryony revealed that in just one month she quadrupled what she had ever made in a year, and realized there was something special about her business.
The challenge was a success, so she kept filming more and more classes, before deciding to use some of her earnings to set up an app.
Bryony is constantly uploading new classes to the app, which costs £42 per month, meaning her subscribers can choose to train whenever they want. to take them.
How to start your own business
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for aspiring entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest obstacles aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs face is a lack of confidence. You have to believe in your idea – more than that, be the one who bores your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, the confidence to make decisions is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you stand still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if possible. If that doesn’t work, find someone else who can.
- It’s okay to not get it right the first time. My experience making bad decisions helped me develop my self-confidence, which made me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember that the Internet has leveled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
“It’s wellness at your leisure,” she said.
The app offers classes ranging from five to fifty minutes, which can be done with or without a mat.
It also offers recipe inspiration and sound bath workshops.
Bryony believes that a large part of her business’s success came from continually promoting her app on social media and through word of mouth.
Abbey added that she thinks people buy Bryony’s brand because of the authenticity of how she found her love for Pilates.
When Bryony first started her business, all she invested in was a £40 online booking system and a Zoom membership and filmed her videos on her iPhone.
Giving advice to anyone thinking of starting their own Pilates business, she said: “Don’t think it has to be perfect. My very first classes were filmed from my terrible iPhone hanging on my kitchen table, and they are still increasingly popular.”
She also recommended reaching out to people with a large following and inviting them to try your classes in exchange for promoting your business.
Bryony, who also co-founded matcha brand Cloudcha with Rochelle Humes, revealed that many of her subscribers have messaged her to tell her how her classes have changed their lives.
“One girl’s mother told me I literally saved her daughter’s life,” she said.
“Every day I think, ‘I’m so lucky, I’m so lucky, my life is great.’”
