Grand Opening of Surfside!

Hi all you lovelies!

Well I did it! I had my Grand Opening of my Pilates studio in Sumner, New Zealand. Who said I couldn't do it! Well, no one actually. It has been a hard road these past few months. Einar is studying hard and I have been trying to put together a mini studio here in Sumner. As some of you may know, my first job with a Pilates studio here in Christchurch did not work out. Very unfortunately. So I was left with the Oh NO! What do I do!! My answer has been to open a studio, however foolish an idea or dream. I guess I have wanted to work for myself for awhile now. I have not had as a great an experience working for someone since I left Pacific Northwest Pilates in Oregon. This is my chance I think. And I am taking it. Anyway, the Opening went well. I had it on a long weekend which was not such a grand idea. But I was pleased with the number of people who came by anyway. And in bad weather. My studio is all set up, painted beautifully. and looking professional I think. I had mirrors put in and all my toys are out. I have one room for mat classes (only 4 people per class!) and one room for private training. Unfortunately, my equipment is still not fixed or replaced. As you can imagine, the insurance company has been sooo helpful and efficient in my claim. I have had to do all the assessments myself. That has been a bit hard too. As a result of all this and getting the business going and not 'working' Einar and I are in the negative/ minus in the bank. As I am sure many of you know, it is not a nice feeling. It is more scary than the kind of scary in the movies when you scream as the woman gets eaten by the giant squid or some scary chainsaw bearing crazy man saws up the silly teenager. Well, you know what I mean. I don't need a scary movie right now to get myself riled up. (:

Though I do have strong hopes that this business will take off. I am starting small and I am in an excellent location. Much better than if I had chosen to stay in the Christchurch city. And I have the advantage of being trained by the best in the business. I also like helping people and really hope to meet many new and fabulous people like I did in Iceland and the US.

As they say, it takes time. Sometimes I would like to fast forward through time though.

I am including a picture of the sign I have in the front. The designer did a good job in the end. but it was a learning experience as they sucked up alot of my money not getting it right the first time. So this is what came out of a frenzied 3 week yes/no/no/yes collaboration. It is a longer story, but I won't be using them again!! Although, I have learned some valuable lessons from all of this. I had a great experience hiring the mirror guys to put in my mirrors and not so great with the designers. But it all goes with the territory and you learn for the next time.

At least now 3 things have gone really wrong, the shipping company damaging my equipment, the designer trouble, and now we are in the red. So from here we can only go up!!

Anyway, the opening went well considering the weather and the long weekend. I had some positive response and hopefully will get some clients and get rolling. I am starting from very scratch. Which is very hard. And I do have competition. Although, I met with one of my competitors who is also from the US and she was very nice. She had trained with Romana and has quite an extensive background. So maybe we can work together. I did not know about her until I had already decided to move here. But such is life! You go with your decisions and hope they lead you the right way. For me it has been a lot of trusting my instinct. And sometimes you don't know if you made the right decision (i.e. not working for that woman) or just following your heart however crazy the lead might be.

So that's where we're at.

Einar is about to have his final exam in Physics! His favorite subject. He has been studying very hard. And seems to be doing well. Wish him good luck! He needs a little encouragement now and again too. I usually need quite a bit more. He is truly a strong Viking man. (Especially to put up with me (: ). We only need to win the lottery and we will be happy campers. (although I did win a DVD on the radio (: ).

Ok! Any advice or encouragement you can send our way is greatly appreciated. I know many of you have been in tighter spots than mine. Stories of triumph are always appreciated!

Hugs and Love from New Zealand!

Visit us soon!

Carolyn and Einar