The Carolina Women's Collective Podcast

Anna and Sam of The Downtown Barre join Booth to talk all things barre, business, and Lululemon! Building their business together has taken their complimentary set of skills and a lot of learning. Hear their story and their lessons from along the way!

The Downtown Barre website
The Downtown Barre on Instagram: @dbarremhc
The Downtown Barre on Facebook: @dbarremhc

Find our events and more resources on the Carolina Women's Collective website
The Carolina Women's Collective Instagram: @carolinawomenscollective

This show is produced by Rooster High Productions.

What is The Carolina Women's Collective Podcast?

Looking for inspiration, insightful advice, and a supportive community to help you navigate your business journey?

The Carolina Women's Collective is your one-stop shop. This biweekly podcast, hosted by Booth Parker, features interviews with a powerful network of female entrepreneurs and business leaders, sharing their inspiring stories, actionable advice, and industry expertise.

Whether you're a entreprenuer just starting out or a seasoned company executive, this show has something for you.

Expect inspiring stories, actionable advice, expertise from many industries, and a supportive community. To hear more from us, subscribe to the podcast, follow us on Instagram, and sign up for our events through our website.

CWC Episode 2: Downtown Barre
===

Booth: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Carolina Women's Collective podcast. Today we are interviewing Sam Ward and Anna Seagrave. They are the co owners of Downtown barre in Morehead City, North Carolina, and it is a barrere, yoga, pilates, cycle, studio that also offers infrared classes.

So we are so excited to talk to them today about their business, how they launched it challenges they've overcome, as well as the growth of their business over the years. So welcome Sam and Anna to the [00:01:00] podcast.

Anna: Thank you!

Sam: Thank you for having us.

Booth: So excited to have y'all here. So first off Anna, you're a good Southern girl and Sam, you're a Brit from across the pond. So what brought y'all together to be business partners? How did y'all meet and then have the idea to launch this studio?

Sam: Okay, well, I moved here from the UK in 2009 and decided to start a small dance studio and then sort of maybe a year or so into that Anna brought one of her daughters to come and dance at the studio. Which was, at the time, called the British Dance Academy, of course. And she sort of pitched an idea about barre classes that her sister had talked to her about that was sort of very popular.

And she kind of talked me [00:02:00] into going and training for these barre classes and starting them at the studio. And that's really kind of how it started. Correct, Anna?

Yes.

Anna: And that was in 2011. And it was really when the barre craze was just starting to kind of take hold of big cities. And my sister was doing barre in Charlotte and said, Hey, I think this could be really great in Morehead City. And Sam and I had become friends through Tila taking ballet with her. And so I said, "Hey, let's, let's think about doing this."

And she begrudgingly said, all right, let's do it. We went to Richmond and we were trained in that. And then we have just kind of grown little by little since then.

Booth: Awesome. Very cool. Very cool. So did y'all kind of sit down and put together a whole business plan of like what your vision was going to be? Or did you just like. We were just like, we're just going to do this and take it one day [00:03:00] at a time.

Sam: I feel like we just sort of rolled with it at the start, not knowing, not knowing how it was going to be received. But I, I think that Anna is the visionary who is like, let's try this, let's try that. And so that's how, You know, we get involved with bikes or indoor cycle and then heat and I'm kind of the person that's saying, okay, how much is that going to cost?

And she's saying, we got to try it though. So that's how I

Anna: That, that is, yes. I would say back to that, that first question, I think that we got... When we started, it was really, we were flying by the seat of our pants. Neither of us, I mean, Sam was just new into owning her own business and, and I had never owned my own business. We were having people sign up on paper.

Booth, I think you were way back at the beginning. We were, we were

Booth: I was curious what it was, so I had to go check it out. You know, this whole [00:04:00] new barre

Anna: yeah, while we were calling friends and saying, we would love for you to try this and we would, we would literally have pieces of paper. I still have a couple of those papers that I hold on to just remember, you know, how far we have come in this venture.

I remember my husband saying to me at some point, you're going to have to start selling this business to people that are not your friend, you know, not your personal friends that you see all the time. This is going to have to be something that, that, that goes. You know, to the public here at Morehead and they, they get excited about.

And finally we're there. If we don't have to beg our friends to come to class.

Booth: Although, so Sam, you said how you were the one that was asking how much is this going to cost when Anna kept coming up with ideas. So, would you say you're the one that's more concerned with the financial side and Anna's the one that's more of the Let's jump out and do it side.

Sam: I just think she, she is a, she's great at she's just a good visionary. She can see things and [00:05:00] I'm not so good at that. That's not really my forte. I always say to her, I'm not sure what my forte is. 'cause I don't think it's finances either. I think it's just cautious. She's very glass half full and I'm kind of glass half empty.

Anna: That is not true. I think, I think what I, what I tell people all the time is if you want a business to work, find a business partner, that is the yin to your yang. And that is what we are. I don't think we realized it at the time we were starting our business, but it's organically happened where. What I'm good at, she is not as strong.

What she is, what she's goes strong at, I am not so good. And we pick up the slack from one on one another. And we've kind of just formed our roles without even saying, this is what you do. This is what I do. We just do it. I mean, I don't know if we've ever had a conversation that you do this. I do

this.

Sam: don't think so. I think it just happens. And I'm not sure that for every partnership that is the case. I [00:06:00] think it can be tricky but we just seem to have made it work and it, and it does work great.

Booth: Yeah.

A lot, a lot of people do struggle with having partners cause it's maybe they kind of compete on the control or certain aspects, but y'all really figured out complimentary roles of getting everything. I've everything done. That's, that's really fantastic. When you were opening the first studio, what was the biggest challenge that y'all faced opening the actual brick and mortar and doing all of that?

Anna: Maybe the scheduling. It was when we were still working with the British Dance Academy

when Sam was doing her classes, and we were also trying to do barrere classes. And so there was a lot of let's try this, let's try that. And probably just trying to figure out when the best time of day was to have the classes.

Would it be better to put a dance class here or a regular class a barre class? [00:07:00] Yes, I think it was just the scheduling aspect of it to

me.

Sam: I, I mean, I agree. I think also, you know, trying to find out what your demographic is here and what people really want, you know, and pitching to them that this is a great thing, you want to come and try this, something new, something different. So that also -

Anna: Good point. Yeah, because like we said, it was at the beginning of barre and not a lot of people had even heard of barre class. And so it was trying to educate people about what it is. You don't have to be a ballerina to do it, but it's just using that ballet barre as a prop. And that was, that was interesting to try to relay that information to people who've never heard of it before.

Booth: So it sounds like a lot of your market research was just trial and error and seeing what worked and then going from there.

Anna: Yes.

Sam: I still think now people are unsure what barre, you know, and lots of them do maybe look it up and then think, Oh, I have to be able to dance or I have to have a dance [00:08:00] background, which is not the case.

Booth: So how has your, so your original vision was starting with this barre, and I know now you also offer the cycle and all this stuff. So when along the way did your vision start to change from just barre and wanting to include other offerings in your services?

Anna: I would say probably when we shifted from. The British Dance Academy, right? When we, when Sam said, I'm not going to do this. I'm gonna put my, all my eggs into the downtown barre and that building that was purposed for, for barre and for the dance, then now we had the whole space. And so I think what, what we have been good at is looking at the space that we have and figuring out how to utilize the space. The space for maximum potential, right? And so we had that whole back room and we're like, what could we do back [00:09:00] here? And so that's when we decided to add the bikes into the mix. And then years, a couple of years later added the infrared heat.

Sam: And I think keeping, keeping new and up with trends and what people are seeing on the internet or what people are doing in cities and, you know, just trying to trying to keep up to date and give people, give people what they want. Something new, something different, something, a challenge, a change.

Anna: A variety.

Booth: Yeah. And with that huge variety and diverse offering of classes, you have a pretty extensive list of instruction, instructors with very different qualifications, so how do you go about picking who is right to lead your classes?

Sam: I think for me um, some, I may have noticed somebody in class, for me, that I love to see somebody how they move, whatever modality it is, or just, and their form, and then maybe their personality [00:10:00] too, because it, they need some connection with clients. That's kind of how I, I see it first.

What do you think, Anna?

Anna: Yeah. I think that definitely a lot of our instructors have come from within the studio, people that are taking classes and realize, Oh, I do have a fitness background. I've taught this or that before, and I do see myself. Wanting to train in core barre or wanting to get certified to teach bike.

And then we've started that 20/20/20 so we have different people that can come, you know, we can have the different qualifications that we can merge together to be, you know, a great instructor with a different, a different style of class. But I do think it's that, that we really look for a personality that is gentle, that is welcoming and friendly.

And if there is the right type of person that's encouraging and kind, then that's half the battle really. And, and that's probably the number one thing we look for is, is that type of [00:11:00] personality for sure.

Sam: Yeah, and then sometimes people have approached us that may have a big teaching background or they're teaching somewhere else and they just want to come and, and be part of it. We normally, we always audition and sort of trial people, but I think really it's more than anything of qualifications or certificates, it's, it's probably personality first that's going to work well as a team and.

Is going to be what's best for our clients

Anna: Right. I think the team is huge because we do value the downtown barre instructor team. In fact, we're having a retreat tomorrow night and we're all spending the night together and having a couple of days to work together. But the team is important because you know, one personality that doesn't mesh well.

We'll, we'll throw a lot of things off. So yes.

Sam: we've got nearly, I think, nearly 30 instructors with, with us all and with Susan, [00:12:00] our front desk manager. So that's a lot of women.

Booth: So it's, it's very client experience focused at the top of the list. Would you say that? Awesome. Okay. Well, in addition to all those instructors and classes you offer, you are also a Lululemon retailer, which is a really big deal. How did And how did it come about to be able to become a Lululemon retailer and how did it kind of change your business and your target customer and who was coming in to the studio?

Anna: Looking, looking back on how the business has progressed and these things, one thing that is for sure, that is a common thread, Is the connections that we've made with people that have come in the door. And that is exactly what happened when one of our clients who worked for Lululemon came in and said, have y'all ever thought about selling Lululemon?

And I said, oh my gosh, we've been trying for years. I had been, you know, [00:13:00] trying to. Figure out our foot in the door there. And so making a connection, understanding what people do. And then, then, then it, then it came to fruition for us. We were able to apply to be a strategic sales partner and or granted that.

And so we had been doing that and, and it's been such a great blessing for the downtown barre for sure during COVID. It was, it was very helpful. For us, because it just helped us keep the doors open when we were only able to do the classes outdoors and online. So, and we just love working with, with that great brand because it does stand by its product.

It is, it is a great product. So it's just it's, it's been a great to, to be. A part of that company and have that name attached to the downtown barre. I feel like it's definitely maybe elevated the downtown barre brand.

Sam: Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, like a lot of things I'd never heard of [00:14:00] Lululemon before Anna had said, you've gotta have some of these pants. So, yeah, and then I, and then I bought into it straight away because yeah, it's amazing product and people love it.

Anna: And good for us is that there's not a, there, there's not a lot of retailers that carry Lululemon from Raleigh East. There's some in Wilmington, some small shops, but with regard to a big store, there's, there's not a lot from, from, from the Eastern part of the state.

Booth: So it's a big draw for y'all.

Anna: Yes, it is.

Booth: I can imagine so. So y'all are also very passionate about community and you have recently I guess partnered with the hospital and you're doing classes for recovering, I believe it's cancer patients or rehabbing type patients. Talk to me about that.

Anna: Yeah, well, I think that it started we we reached out to them and said, Hey, we would love to offer something to, to the, the staff at the cancer center cancer is close to, to [00:15:00] us and just the people that we've known that have gone through it. And we just wanted to be able to give back. And so we were talking with them and we're offering some free classes and some things they are at the hospital.

And so, we were, we were able to form a relationship with one of the ladies there that works in the cancer recovery program. Cancer Transitions is what it's called. And they were receptive to the idea of us doing a, a monthly thing. So we are working two times a month that we offer the classes for, for the cancer patients.

And The hospital is actually paying for our, our staff to, to do that. So it's, I think it's a win win. The people that are coming are really enjoying it. They're learning how to breathe. They're learning how to stretch. They're learning to keep their bodies moving. So yeah, I think it's been a great thing.

Booth: Awesome. Awesome. Another really exciting announcement is that y'all have recently announced you are opening a second location in Greenville. I believe it's this [00:16:00] fall. Is that correct?

Sam: We We hope, we hope it's somewhere near the end of this year.

Booth: what made y'all feel like you were ready to expand and open a second location? Because that's a big undertaking.

Sam: We have been talking about this for I feel like a very long time and how it would look you know, what that business model would look like to, to take it somewhere else. And basically the guy from Greenville who we are leasing the building from he has a house in Morehead a second home, and he came into the store and approached Anna about wanting a downtown barre, or would we be interested in opening a downtown barre in downtown Greenville?

And really that, that kicked it off, Anna, correct?

Anna: Yes. Definitely. The door, the door opened for sure. And so [00:17:00] like Sam said, we, we've been talking about this idea for a long time and it just, we, it never felt quite right when to do it, where to do it. But this door opened and it just seemed like too good to be true. I think it's a great fit. It's a great match.

The location in Greenville is right downtown, right near the university. So we hope to be able to cater to college students along with not non college students offering the same types of things that we have. We're also going to have a Lululemon boutique there. Just hoping to bring that, Peace of health, wellness to downtown Greenville that that they don't have a ton of.

So it will be one of the first things that you will see when you come down the little hill into downtown Greenville. So it'll, it'll be, it'll be an impact for sure. I, I hope that it will be a good thing for everybody there.

Booth: Those college students are going to eat up some lululemon and some cycle classes. So I think it'll be a home run for sure, [00:18:00] for sure. What, what have you learned along the way from opening your first studio that you know you're going to apply? Opening your second one so that it's not as, just to make it a little more streamlined than maybe the first one.

Anna: We, we built this first one little by little, we, we didn't have a vision of the whole, the whole path when we began. So now we, we do, we know where we want, we know what we are doing there. We know where, you know, we want to, you know, allocate most of our space. And so instead of just kind of winging it like we did at the first studio, the second studio, we, we knew better, but this one, we, we know, we know how much space we need for, for X, Y, and Z.

We just have a better idea of the systems that are in place and a lot of things.

Sam: And I think having your policies in order for, for staff, obviously there's going to be another a lot of [00:19:00] staff, even more so in the boutique probably. And just, I think just again, that the demographics of what type of classes they're going to want down there because it's more than likely going to be slightly different to, to, to what we offer here as in, and, you know, so I think just

Anna: I think you're right that we have more, we have better policies and plans in place,

Sam: right.

Anna: More of a strategy going into this now, because we've built that over time.

Booth: So you've learned how to do it. So you're just going to emulate it all over again.

Anna: That's right.

Booth: Awesome. Awesome. Are you looking to having, are y'all going to travel back and forth a lot? Are you looking to have like a true manager of that studio working for you?

Sam: We want to put managers in place. We haven't fully decided if we're looking for a studio manager and a separate boutique manager or someone that is running both. Definitely Anna and I will be back and [00:20:00] forth from Greenville. Many times in the first six months, year, for sure. But no, we are looking for for managers, just not sure completely what that job will look like as of yet.

Booth: Still with that client experience is the focus. I'm sure.

Sam: Yes. Yeah, so we'll probably hold, for instructors, I would have said we would hold open auditions. I think that's a great way to kind of, to see people move and to meet people, to, you know, see their personalities, how they interact with people.

Anna: For sure.

Booth: Love it. Great stuff. All right. I'm going to change gears a little bit. So both of you are moms and being a mom and managing your home and your kids is a job in itself. So what are some of your top tips or things you've learned for managing your time with your family and that whole work life balance and the time you need to put into your business?

Anna: [00:21:00] That is a million dollar question, Booth.

Booth: It is. It is. And everybody wants to know the answer to it.

Anna: If If we've cracked the code, so, ooh, time blocking is important. I think when, at the beginning of I tell this story all the time. My telephone number was the downtown barre number until how long ago, Sam?

A year and a half ago?

Sam: Not long enough, really. I mean, it was...

Anna: No.

Sam: ...was a long time.

Anna: It caused a lot of friction in my home. Like, I know that it should not have been, because I was always answering the phone and fielding situations.

So, I think just setting boundaries. And setting intentions for this is work time, and this is not work time.

Sam: For sure.

I totally agree with that. I am an introverted extrovert. Is that right? Or the other way around, an extroverted introvert. I'm not sure which way it is, [00:22:00] but So, to me I have to have time when I am home with my family and that, and we close the door and that is, that is our time. I've got a small, like, an eight year old, but also I've got bigger children who aren't, aren't with me all the time.

But, for sure my daughter always says that it's my unit, so that's my husband, myself, and my small eight year old, and that's, we have to close the door, and that's us, and that's our time, and that's important.

Booth: It is. Great, great tips. What would each of y'all individually, be the major lesson you have learned along the way in this venture?

Anna: Align yourself with the right people. That is very important, and and Sam and I have said it before, I don't think I could have done this for this many years with anybody else that the personality didn't work like ours does. And just also aligning with the instructors and the front desk staff that [00:23:00] work.

Sam: I Yeah, I mean, I couldn't have done; Anna is the, I feel like the personality behind this and helps me, because like I said, I, I'm, you know, I'm not the most confident of, of people, so a lot of the time I just kind of feed off that, so having her and all the great ideas, And just moving forward, I feel confident and I feel safe with her doing it.

Booth: That is, that is really good, really good advice. In this world of AI and everything now, it

still really comes down to...

Sam: you don't feel like you're talking to a real person anymore.

Booth: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Anna: is people. And, and also a lesson learned is that people need people. And that is, that is the magic sauce behind the downtown barre is that there's a community and everybody needs to feel included and have a safe place where they can go and feel seen and helped and heard and [00:24:00] loved on and encouraged.

And to me, it's, it's not only been a blessing to help others, but others have helped us along the way. And I probably have just learned that I need people to get through this thing called life.

Be

Sam: True. Agree, totally.

Booth: Love that. Love that. All right. Last question. And it's kind of related to the, the prior one, but for someone out there who has a business idea or wants to start a business and they're, they're a little bit scared to take that leap, what would be your one piece of advice for getting something off the ground?

Anna: Patient.

Sam: Find yourself an Anna.

Anna: Oh, no. I think be patient and be give yourself some grace. Don't expect things to be amazing right from the start and know that things take time. We we've built [00:25:00] little by little,

and it's hard not to want everything to be done just perfectly right away.

Booth: Love that. Yeah. No, it's a world of instant gratification and people see where others are. They see where the two of y'all are now, and they don't pause and look at everything you've built over the years to get to where you are, so I really like that, being patient.

Anna: And also that there's going to be, I mean, expect things to happen because they

will. I mean, who would have ever expected that we would be owning a fitness You know, that would be shut down for COVID or, you know, the hurricanes that, that mess up buildings that we have to like, we have to get out because there's mold.

I mean, all kinds of different things. Expect things to happen and roll with the punches and be able just to be a little flexible. Step back and punt.

Booth: Love that. Love that. Well, with that, is there anything else y'all would like to add? Anything I didn't ask about that you want to talk about? You're good?

Alright. [00:26:00] Alright.

Anna: Our little extroverted introvert.

Yeah.

Booth: Y'all are too funny, too funny. All right. Well, thank y'all for your time today. And for everyone listening in the show notes, I will have all of their social handles and their website linked so you can check out their class offerings, as well as their Lululemon store. So thank you so much, Anna and Sam, for being with us today.

Sam: Thank

Anna: thank you.

Sam: Appreciate it.

Booth: All right. Bye y'all.

Anna: You, boo.

Sam: Bye!

Anna: Bye.

Thank you for joining us on the official podcast for the Carolina Women's Collective. Hear more from us by following on Instagram and make plans to join our community at events by visiting our website at carolina women's collective.com. We're honored you chose to spend some time with us today, so send this episode to a friend who you think would love to learn everything you just did.

[00:27:00] Thanks for listening.