{"id":14430,"date":"2020-05-17T06:49:58","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T09:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=14430"},"modified":"2020-05-17T06:49:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T09:49:58","slug":"covid19-personal-trainer-staying-positive-despite-impact-on-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=14430","title":{"rendered":"COVID19: Personal trainer staying positive despite impact on business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FALL RIVER:<\/strong> A fitness and wellness specialist feels fortunate as a small business owner to not have some of the same worries other due because of the shutdown of businesses due to COVID19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah Hann, who runs Journey to Wellness, said she began seeing a reduction in business during the second week in March as more awareness spread of the dangers of the illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince the closures on March 19th, I have had to cancel all fitness classes and all in-person personal training sessions,\u201d said Hann. \u201cI\u2019m fortunate that because I run my business out of my home studio, I have not had the rent worries that many other businesses deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The classes she teaches are usually held at the Gordon R. Snow Community Centre in Fall River. HRM cancelled all rentals until further notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a very steep learning curve with online platforms but in just over a week, I was able to adjust my space and my strategy to offer virtual training and small group sessions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she lost 100 per cent of her business from the fitness classes, she is happy to report that 75 per cent of her clients chose to remain for the virtual classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure that my current and any future clients were able to stay healthy and accountable during such an uncertain time. I provided a discount for private sessions to help alleviate their costs,\u201d Hann said. \u201cI also started a free virtual weekend fitness class that is open to the public and uploaded a few videos to YouTube, to give anyone an opportunity to stay active while at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel truly fortunate that I am still bringing in a little income.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She said her family always ensure that they have an emergency fund to cover at least a month or two worth of expenses should there ever be a loss or reduction of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt that my way of paying it forward would be to offer affordable fitness to everyone who needed it, for as long I could afford to do so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for what type of financial hit she\u2019s taken, Hann said she lost approximately 50 per cent of her income for March and April, but as time goes on, she\u2019s seeing increased interest in virtual training so that is helping with the losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is exciting working on new platforms and because of the virtual training, I am now able to work with people all over Canada,\u201d said Hann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gyms and fitness specialities have not been mentioned as opening anytime soon, and while Hann misses seeing her clients in person, she said they\u2019re all comfortable keeping the virtual platform until it is safe to return to in person sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy hope is that I will be able to return to my weekend outdoor classes for the summer, where we can maintain distance between each participant,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we will have to wait and see how and when the restrictions are lifted from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Hann said many clients have expressed an interest in her keeping the virtual option once things return to normal. She sees that as a real possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love learning and I am taking this tumultuous time as an opportunity to learn and grow into areas I didn\u2019t consider before,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had good and bad days, but I\u2019m trying my very best to keep a positive outlook for myself, my clients and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FALL RIVER: A fitness and wellness specialist feels fortunate as a small business owner to not have some of the same worries other due because of the shutdown of businesses due to COVID19. Deborah Hann, who runs Journey to Wellness, said she began seeing a reduction in business during the second week in March as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,12,957],"tags":[168,975,1094],"class_list":["post-14430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-featured","category-news","tag-business","tag-covid19","tag-journey-2-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}