How the Pandemic Influenced Our Business

Body Soul may have opened in the winter of 2013, but our story goes back much further.

Our story

When Lisa, our founder, was in middle school, she was struggling with weight gain and low self-esteem. Her doctor recommended she join a sports team, and that’s when it happened.

Lisa fell in love with health and fitness. Coming in at just 4 foot 11, she joined the school’s basketball team and watched as her life changed for the better.

She lost weight, felt better about herself, and was surrounded by like-minded people who positively influenced her and wanted to help her grow and succeed. She knew she wanted to give the same feeling and transformation to others.

Many years later, Lisa turned her dreams into reality as she launched her small business to encourage and help others on their wellness journeys.

The rest is history, as they say.

Body Soul has been in the business of changing lives for almost 8 years now. We offer personal training, nutritional guidance, and reiki for people of all ages and all different body types. We cater to a person’s specific needs and goals through our specialized individual plans developed by our certified personal trainers. And we offer these services in our downtown Providence fitness studio, your home, and virtually!

Much of our business model changed when the pandemic hit in March 2020. Like most business owners, we pivoted. Our doors were shut for an undisclosed amount of time, and while we clung to hope that it would all be okay in the end, it was scary.

We were all blindsided by the events that were transpiring. These were uncharted waters we were traveling through which begged the question: how were we going to get through this? Is our small business going to survive in these circumstances?

Then Lisa was reminded of her why— why had she started her business in the first place?

To help impact people’s lives in a positive manner.

And in these unforeseen events, now, more than ever, we needed some positivity.

How we pivoted

Much like the rest of the world, Body Soul went virtual. We used social media to share free workouts, meditations, and overall wellness tips. Our clients made the transition with us to Zoom and FaceTime personal training session. They learned quickly that you can, in fact, have effective and impactful workouts without any fancy equipment in your home. And, as a result, we saw the positive impact exercise and fitness had on our clients’ emotional well-being throughout this tumultuous year.

These new *and safe* practices we implemented were all centered around the idea of still showing up for others and serving them whether or not our doors would ever reopen. We are so happy our clients believed in us and saw us through this entire journey.

What we learned

Keep moving forward. It’s as simple and complex as that. In spite of all that’s scary and unknown, there is purpose. This pandemic allowed us to reflect, reset, and get back to the heart of working ON the business and not just IN the business. It has helped us refocus our efforts and, in doing so, has fueled us to simply keep moving forward.