This month, I celebrate a momentous milestone – my 10 year business anniversary!
10 years ago I was a fresh-ish faced, 30 year old publishing executive who thought there must be more to life than long office hours and business travel. My passion was dance but long days and too many flights meant that I wasn't able to do as much as I liked and wasn't staying particularly healthy in body or mind.
The nagging thought circling my brain was ‘could I make a living from my passion?’ I had tested the water by teaching for others in the evenings while continuing with my day job, and then in 2011 I decided to take the plunge and become a full-time fitness instructor. I booked up a few village halls, did some start-up marketing and off I went!
My mission hasn’t changed over the 10 years of running Gemma Pearce Fitness – to offer fun, friendly fitness classes to women like me who were put off by the gym and didn’t have lots of free time to commit to exercising. As classmates, we understand each other’s challenges and many strong friendships have been cemented.
As well as learning new skills and offering different fitness formats, I went into workplaces, I held open-air events, I did children’s parties and even a divorce party! There came a point when I was spreading myself too thinly and was at risk of burning out so I took the decision to bring in more instructors, starting with my fabulous Claire who is still a mad Zumba fanatic and now also an amazing sports massage therapist. I couldn’t manage without her endless enthusiasm and support.
A seismic shift came in 2017 when my daughter Lucy arrived and made me reassess how Gemma Pearce Fitness could operate around childcare and tiredness. I became interested in pre- and post-natal exercise and I ran a BuggyFit courses for new mums in parks to help them get fit again safely after childbirth.
And then of course, COVID hit. When group exercise was banned, the loss of income and no smiling faces to look at while I taught was devastating but again, my members supported me as we all took a leap of faith to move totally online.
I am so proud to of the fact that many of my fitness members have been coming to classes for 10 years. We have built up a fantastic, trusting community around Abingdon and Didcot – they trust me to give them a great variety of exercise, sometimes outside their comfort zone, and they inspire me to learn and teach new styles of exercise and enjoy what we do together.
Let’s raise a glass of something fizzy – I thank all my fitness friends in Oxford, Abingdon, Didcot, Steventon, Sutton Courtenay, Chilton, Wantage, Grove and Wallingford over the last 10 years and look forward to more fun fitness times over the next 10 years of Gemma Pearce Fitness!
Help me celebrate being in business for 10 years with our new limited edition tshirts!
Orders will be closed at midnight on Friday evening and there won’t be another print run so don’t miss out!