Farm Girl Fitness Leverages WellnessLiving and Doubles Revenue

Last Updated on 26 September, 2024

Founded by Jessie Thomas in 2020, Farm Girl Fitness was born out of the pandemic. Jessie’s community needed a way to stay safe while being active and satisfying the need for in-person interactions.

Today they offer indoor and outdoor workouts ranging from TRX training and barnyard boxing to outdoor Pilates.

During his CEO Tour, WellnessLiving CEO and Co-Founder Len Fridman visited Farm Girl Fitness along with the WellnessLiving team to learn more about their unique fitness approach while experiencing a mobility and strength style class with meditation and breathwork. In addition, Len sat down with Jessie, learning all about her story and how WellnessLiving is an integral part of this fitness studio’s growth.

Read on to learn how they’ve used WellnessLiving features to attract new clients, nearly double their revenue since 2022, and increase membership upgrades. Discover how WellnessLiving can transform the way you serve clients.

Farm Girl Fitness at a Glance

📍Location: Milton, Ontario

📍Business Name: Farm Girl Fitness

📍Business Co-Owner & Co-Founders: Jessie Thomas (coach, fitness instructor, and trainer) and husband Dan Thomas

📍Website: https://www.farmgirlfitness.ca/

📍Business Size: Large

📍Established: June 2020

📍Joined WellnessLiving Date: September 28, 2022—Referred by Gareth Nock of The Nock Academy 

📍Switched From: Glofox and Schedulicity

📍Active Subscriptions: Professional Plan

📍Number of Partner Program Referrals: 3 referrals

Meet Jessie Thomas, founder and co-owner of Farm Girl Fitness

Growing up, Jessie loved fitness and competitive sports. During college, she noticed her health declined without regular exercise, so she got active again.

One day in a group fitness class, she had an epiphany. “It was a combination of joy and confidence,” Jessie recalls. “I felt so good during and after.” She was determined to help others feel the same way.

Jessie has been a fitness instructor since 2007, with training from Canfitpro and Les Mills, and 13 years of experience at GoodLife Fitness.

When the pandemic shut down gyms in March 2020, a friend encouraged Jessie to host bootcamps on her family farm. In June 2020, Farm Girl Fitness was born, offering small-group bootcamps on the 88-acre property, allowing clients to follow social distancing rules. This outdoor setting distinguished Farm Girl Fitness from competitors offering only virtual classes.

“We noticed people coming here not just for the workouts, but for the mental health benefits of being together, doing something outside, and being someplace where you hear birds more than cars,” Jessie says.

As summer ended, Jessie’s father suggested partial indoor training. Her husband and co-owner Dan Thomas renovated areas for winter workouts that saw them through lockdowns in 2021 and 2022.

What does Farm Girl Fitness offer?

Farm Girl Fitness offers a range of unique indoor and outdoor classes, including intense training circuits, farm chore bootcamps, and mindfulness practices in the nearby forest.

• 1:1 Personal Training
• Physio Fitness
• Cardio and Strength Classes
  • TRX Total Body (Indoors)
  • Farmers Chores Bootcamp (Outdoors)
  • Barnyard Boxing (Indoors)
  • DEKA Circuits (Indoors)
  • TRX Basics Introductory Class
  • DEKA Strength (Indoors)
• Mobility/Stretch/Mindfulness Classes
  • TRX Stretch and Strength (Indoors)
  • Strength and Stretch (Indoors and Outdoors)
  • Forest Bathing (Outdoors)
  • Pilates (Indoors and Outdoors)
• Canfitpro TRX Certification

The strength of the Farm Girl Fitness community

“Friends and fresh air” is Farm Girl Fitness’ motto and main hashtag, showing their commitment to connecting with nature and their community.

It’s no surprise that clients are drawn in by their scenic acres and the strong community Jessie has built around positivity and an ability to focus even during hard times. This approach is foundational to Farm Girl Fitness and how their team of 10 coaches continues pushing members to take care of their physical and mental wellness.

As for the location, “We try to be fresh air fitness for as much of the year as possible. Even our indoor studios have large windows and big open barn doors,” Jessie says.

How Farm Girl Fitness grows their client base

Jessie caps classes at 15 people to ensure that coaches can provide individualized attention, which is a key part of Farm Girl Fitness’s appeal. This personalized approach, combined with a strong focus on community, unique class offerings, and a commitment to body neutrality, consistently attracts new clients. 

“We have no mirrors or scales, and we don’t do weight loss programs,” Jessie explains. “Our community stands for body neutrality and making sure everyone who’s here is here for the right reasons. I love the idea of a small-town feel. Our membership is an extension of that. We’re a small group of people that get to know and support each other.” 

Referrals and online reviews also play a significant role in acquiring new members. With their current growth rate, Jessie expects they’ll achieve their membership goal in 2024. The studio’s positive atmosphere and dedication to body neutrality keep clients thriving and coming back for more. 

How Farm Girl Fitness fosters loyal members

Farm Girl Fitness’ three membership tiers are based on usage to save clients money while providing customized workout plans. The team sells memberships by communicating with clients to determine what’s suitable for each person.

This approach makes clients feel valued. Additionally, Jessie and her team retain clients by following up and re-engaging at the right time.

With this perfected membership strategy, Jessie says many clients who came in once or twice per month now attend classes as often as twice per week now.

Why Farm Girl Fitness switched to WellnessLiving

When Jessie started Farm Girl Fitness, pandemic guidelines restricted her to groups of five at a time. Pen and paper were enough to record attendance and bookings.

As the business grew, she tried Schedulicity then Glofox. However, Jessie faced software limitations and inadequate customer support with Glofox. “If I called, I would never get through to anyone. If I emailed, it would take over a week for them to reply,” she explains.

As for software limitations, Jessie needed more robust reports. “I couldn’t get the information I needed, and I couldn’t create the types of memberships we wanted,” she says.

Finally, in September 2022, Farm Girl Fitness switched to WellnessLiving when Gareth Nock, a friend and fellow fitness entrepreneur recommended it. “There was a night and day difference between Glofox and WellnessLiving. I can’t say enough good things.” Jessie says.

The WellnessLiving features behind Farm Girl Fitness’ biggest changes

Jessie loves how WellnessLiving’s software supports the types of memberships that serve her clients best. As a result, Jessie says Farm Girl Fitness has doubled their revenue since 2022.

“As far as revenue between now and 2022, I’d say we’re making at least double what we did and we’re making it more easily,” she confirms.

Advanced Reporting

“WellnessLiving allows us to understand our business and what’s going on with it. With previous software companies, we couldn’t get a grasp on what was happening,” says Jessie.

Farm Girl Fitness uses advanced reporting to identify memberships that are close to expiring and clients who haven’t attended classes for three weeks. They follow up with a phone call or email to re-engage these members.

It’s also easy for Jessie to see who purchases trial passes so her team can track clients’ progress and upgrade more memberships.

Client Management

Client management is vital to retention, helping Jessie and her team find members at risk of churning and leads likely to upgrade their memberships.

“You know who has purchased trial passes, and you can follow up with them throughout their journey. That has been really helpful,” Jessie explains.

The Elevate Staff App

The Elevate Staff App provides operations management even on the go. Farm Girl Fitness uses the app daily to check members into classes.

Jessie’s coaches can record client notes, which contributes to Farm Girl Fitness’ personalized approach. Coaches can easily see important details about the clients in their upcoming classes such as injuries or sensitivities. The app also helps coaches get to know their members faster and further personalize the client experience.

Widgets

Customizable widgets help studios manage bookings and capture leads. Farm Girl Fitness uses widgets to track leads and allow members to conveniently book classes and leave reviews, enhancing the member experience while attracting new clients.

Additionally, they use widgets to help track reviews and referrals so members can get rewards for bringing in new people.

Customer Reviews

Customer reviews highlight the value and uniqueness of your studio. Jessie uses a WellnessLiving customer review widget on her website and credits it with increasing organic traffic.

“Visitors can see people’s comments, which is important. I think it plays a part in search engine optimization, too. We’ve been having a lot of success just coming from Google lately,” Jessie confirms. As a result, Farm Girl Fitness doesn’t need a huge budget for paid ads. They also use social media and email newsletters to remind clients that they can leave reviews.

The Achieve Client App

Farm Girl Fitness encourages all clients to download the user-friendly Achieve Client App. It’s the easiest way to view schedules, book and cancel classes, and get important push notifications.

“I can’t really imagine not having it because it’s just a standard part of business nowadays,” Jessie says.

Message Center

Jessie uses the Message Center’s two-way SMS to communicate directly with her staff and keep her business and personal cell numbers separate.

“It’s created some separation, which is really important for managing stress levels as a business owner,” she says. Prior to WellnessLiving, Jessie spent significant time exporting email list data. Now she can pull up reports and quickly contact members and staff directly as needed.

Automated Marketing: Email, SMS, and Push Notifications

WellnessLiving’s email, SMS, and push notification marketing features help businesses save time. Class reminders are the most critical task that these features currently perform for Farm Girl Fitness.

Additionally, they have wait lists for classes every week. Automated emails and push notifications allow them to inform members in a timely manner when spots open up.

These features also automate follow-up emails for purchases, new clients, and more to nurture brand loyalty. Jessie recently hired administrative help to better leverage her email list and potentially use automated targeted follow-up emails.

Built-In Rewards

The built-in rewards features help you customize the client experience and reward members for their loyalty and progress.

Farm Girl Fitness recently set up their leaderboard and rewards program, offering points for completed classes. “We have members that are collecting points. Some of them don’t realize it, but we want to start using these features a bit more,” Jessie explains. Now that her team has grown, Jessie hopes to take advantage of the rewards features to motivate members even more. They’ve also recently started hosting member challenges for a bit of healthy competition and motivation.

Elevate Your Member Experience with WellnessLiving

Jessie and her team are a testament to the power of focusing on personalization even as your business grows. Farm Girl Fitness uses WellnessLiving’s fitness software to streamline operations and truly cater to clients.

The biggest benefit they’ve discovered is how WellnessLiving empowers them to offer the exact types of memberships their clients need. “Instead of forcing members to fit into the limited options a software solution provides, WellnessLiving makes it so we can curate memberships that work really well for their needs,” Jessie says.

Ready to find out how WellnessLiving can help grow your memberships and keep clients coming back for more? Book your free demo today.