Build your empire with quality equipment
Eleesha Nesci-Dixon and Chris Dixon had a plan to create their own business or perhaps you’d call it an empire both intentionally and by accident, all at the same time. After travelling to the US for a holiday where they saw nutrition and movement concepts fused together, the duo wanted to bring this unique offering back to Australia.
“Eight or so years ago, we started with the creation of a wholefoods café and less than six months later we created our first Yoga and Pilates studio. Soon after we realised what everyone wanted was a Pilates studio so that’s what we soon became! It so happened that our property was both a residential and business-zoned property at Parkdale in Victoria’s South East so we decided to move out of our home to make it a studio, in turn making ourselves homeless with a one year old in tow while we built a space to make our first studio,” said Eleesha.
“Then for five or so years we focused on growing our first business and then Covid hit. For us it made us stop and reassess what we truly wanted. We had no experience in hospitality so we decided to sell that part of the business and focus on growing our Reformer-based studio. At the time we had a goal to open more than one studio.
“In November 2020 we decided to open our second studio a short eight kilometres away at Black Rock. We knew it was going to be risky, we didn’t know what business was going to look like coming out of Covid. At the same time, we like taking risks so we decided it’s a time when a lot of people wouldn’t be taking risks so it was the perfect time for us. It was a really successful risk.
“Three months later just down the road, we opened Beaumaris – another accident! Our neighbours owned commercial property in Beaumaris and they needed new tenants so Chris said we’ll take it. We always do our own fit-outs and we gave ourselves a deadline of 30 days and we did it! We had to open this studio because we had an overflow problem we needed to solve. We had lots of clients but not enough space for all so opening this studio was a great solution.
“Six months later we found our fourth studio and soon we open our latest location to take us to five studios and 53 Reformers. It’s clear that we’ve always been driven, we’re our biggest competitors, our harshest critiques, and we’ve got each other's backs.
“Our clients are a broad mix of 30-65-year-olds, many had never been on a reformer or had done Pilates before. We run both Reformer starter classes which are the majority of our classes and active classes. One thing that contributes to our success with our clients is the equipment we use and the Merrithew SPX Max Reformer creates a great experience. Our clients love the smooth ride and our Instructors love the longer platform. It means clients can get their whole foot on the platform which means you can do lots of standing series work. It’s much more supportive for my clients who need more support and I would have to leave out this work if it wasn’t for this important design feature.
“Another big part of our success is how we’ve created our studio to be so welcoming from the first time you walk in. I never forget a new client of ours telling us just how much she felt welcomed in our studio and how it gave her the confidence to keep coming back to class. Our clients are real bodies and we treat everyone equally. For us customer service always comes first and I got the same feeling from the guys at Leisure Concepts who supplied us with our Reformers.
“The team at Leisure Concepts have been great from the start. They’ve always been responsive from a service and maintenance perspective, I feel like they are there to support you. They’ve got the products ready in the event you need to replace something (which rarely happens), but it’s nice to know it can be fixed right away. They are really proactive in making sure our reformers are always perfect.
“It's this extra support that matters. They also recently sent us a service repair kit with different spare pieces in it just in case the studios need it while we go on holidays. It’s a proactive approach and these are the things that make a world of difference.
“With this extra support from Leisure Concepts it means we can continue to grow our business and continue to support our clients in the best way possible which is what we love the most,” said Eleesha.
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Speak to Mike from Leisure Concepts Australia to find out which equipment is best for you and your studio. 1300 911 441.
Leisure Concepts supplies premium fitness equipment to industry professionals, focusing on complete service from the initial design concept to ongoing professional service and maintenance. They believe in strategy before price and suggest products that result in clients coming back time and time again. View their products here.
