November 25, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode of the Female emPOWERed podcast, I’m recapping the 2025 Women in Wellness Business Summit we just wrapped in Miami — two days of honest conversations, strategy, and big vision planning for women who own boutique fitness and wellness businesses.
If you’re a Pilates studio owner, pelvic health physical therapist, yoga or barre studio owner, gym owner, or hybrid wellness practice, this recap will help you audit 2025 and create a real, numbers-backed plan for 2026.
Inside, I break down:
The year-in-review framework I used in my own studios to assess what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to change
How we used my revenue and profit calculator so each attendee left knowing exactly how many visits, classes, or sessions per week they need to hit their salary + profit goals
What our finance panel shared about retirement savings, paying yourself, profit margins, and preparing your books if you ever want to sell
Practical, local-service marketing tips from our marketing panel, including how to leverage AI, reviews, and low-cost strategies in 2026
What our sale & acquisition panel revealed about exit options for “normal-sized” studios and how smaller businesses can grow through acquisition
Why I believe events like this are more than business conferences — they’re about collaboration over competition and creating true freedom for women
I also share a personal perspective on selling a boutique studio, what a realistic exit can look like (even in the mid-six figures), and how that can still create long-term wealth and options for you and your family.
Finally, I introduce my newest mentorship program, the Fit Biz Accelerator, designed for women already at or above $100K/year who are ready to stop DIY-ing and start building real structure, systems, strategy, and sustainability with live support and weekly implementation.
🔗 Get on the Fit Biz Accelerator Waitlist:
christagurka.com/accelerator
🎧 Listen to the full podcast episode on your favorite podcast app and tag me @christagurka if you’re tuning in — I love seeing where you’re listening from!
⏱ Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome & why this summit matters
02:00 – Who was in the room: Pilates, PT, yoga, hybrid wellness & more
03:30 – The 2025 year-in-review process we used
05:20 – Revenue, profit, and capacity: using the calculator
08:30 – Turning goals into weekly visits, classes, and sessions
10:50 – Finance panel: profit, retirement, and preparing to sell
13:40 – Marketing panel: reviews, AI, and local service marketing
16:50 – Sale & acquisition panel: realistic exits and growth via acquisition
20:00 – Why selling your studio is possible (even if it’s not 8 figures)
22:30 – Collaboration over competition & building better lives
24:30 – Introducing the Fit Biz Accelerator
26:30 – How to join the waitlist + early-bird paid ads training bonus
28:20 – A huge thank you & what’s next
YouTube Keywords (for tags)
women in wellness summit, women in wellness business summit, boutique fitness business, pilates studio owner, physical therapy private practice, pelvic health business, wellness studio business coach, fitness studio business coaching, pilates business mentor, brick and mortar marketing, local service business marketing, fitness studio financials, revenue calculator for studios, profit planning for studios, selling a pilates studio, boutique fitness acquisition, exit strategy for studio owners, women entrepreneurship, female business owners, Krista Gurka, Female emPOWERed podcast, Fit Biz Accelerator, business retreat for fitness professionals, 2026 business planning, wellness studio systems and strategy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Str (00:51):
Hey there everyone.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Female Empowered Podcast.
I am once again your host,Christa Gurka, and today I will
be giving a recap of theexciting, memorable 2025 Women
in Wellness Business Summit thatjust happened in my, at the time
(01:12):
of this recording.
It happened.
Three days ago.
And so I'm recording this,follow up this recap because it
was two days of realconversation, strategy,
reflection, and growth.
And I am so, so, so, soincredibly grateful.
And I, of course still have mycough, so I'm gonna take a
little sip of water.
So I.
(01:34):
First, wanna say how, hold on.
I'm still riding high from thetwo days.
It is a lot of work that goesinto it.
I presented an entire day myselfand then I was the moderator for
all the panels on Friday.
So it is a lot of work, but Ican't even describe to you the
energy in the room with womenwho are.
(01:57):
Business owners betting onthemselves, women who are
showing up to do the work intheir business, not just for the
sake of more, but for the sakeof better.
So it's not just more Pilates,more money, more revenue, but
it's better systems, betteroutcomes, better community.
And we hadBusinesses that hadjust been starting out to people
(02:18):
that had been in business forover 10 years.
We had sole proprietors ofpeople that, women that had home
studios, of Pilates in theirhomes, two Pilates studios that
had three locations and over 25team members.
So we had.
Hybrid businesses, physicaltherapy and yoga.
We had pelvic health clinicians,we had boutique fitness,
(02:41):
personal training gyms.
It was so amazing to be in theroom with women and all of us,
myself included, have the samegoal to build.
Better, sustainable, profitable,impactful businesses that will
support the lives that weactually want, not the other way
around.
(03:02):
So not building our lives aroundour business, but building our
business around our lives.
And when I first started thissummit, I started in 2021.
I think we had.
Nine, maybe 10 women attend thatsummit.
And this year we sold out at 30and we actually sold out like
(03:22):
back in September, which iscrazy'cause I never thought that
that would actually happen.
I had an entire ad strategy, anad campaign, ad campaign built
out, and I never actually reallygot to use it because we sold
out two months early.
So.
What do I wanna say about thissummit?
So the first thing is everyonegot workbooks.
(03:43):
These amazing, amazing workbooksthat had all sorts of, graphs
and calculators and all sorts inthere.
So, I go all out and over thosetwo days we really, the, the.
Thursday, we talked all aboutthe morning session was all
about doing a 20, 25 year inreview where basically we led or
I led the women through a veryspecific.
(04:08):
Review process, the same onethat I used when I was running
Pilates in the Grove, and thesame one that I did with my team
each and every year to reallydive into like what worked, what
didn't work, what we need to dobetter with.
so we looked at which revenuesources were actually the most
profitable, not just in money,but also in ease of delivering
(04:33):
those processes.
those services, which ones?
Costs the most money and themost energy.
We did the same with team.
Which of your team members areyour most productive and which,
are your most efficient andwhich are your most profitable?
And sometimes if you're, Teammembers that are costing you the
most money are also the oneswith the biggest headache.
(04:53):
Those might be decisions youwant to make differently as you
come in 2026, right?
We looked at the boundaries thatmight need it might be needing a
little bit of tightening.
We looked at things we reallywanted to say no to in 2026, so
that we have room to say yes tomore of the things we wanna say
(05:13):
yes to.
Then in the afternoon we tookall of those metrics and we,
devised a plan for 2026.
So we decided what, there's thiscalculator that I created for
them, the spreadsheet thatbasically says, how much do you
as an owner wanna make in 2026?
80,000, 90,000, a hundredthousand, 150,000, 200,000,
(05:37):
whatever that number is, and howmuch profitability do you wanna
have in your business?
Now, there was a whole exercisewe did about whether you, your
intention for 2026 is to reallybe profitable, or your intention
in 2026 is to pay yourself more.
Or your intention in 2026 is togrow, because sometimes when
(05:58):
you're growing, whether that's.
Be, hiring team members or doingmore marketing or hiring more
people, you may be lessprofitable and that's okay, but
it's just important to know whatthat intention is for the year
you're going into, because allof your decisions will be based
around that.
So.
We have this calculator, you putyour salary in, your
(06:20):
profitability goals and thenyour monthly, most of your
monthly expenses.
And then it basically spits outfor you the annual revenue you
need to create.
And from there we were able towork backwards for all different
types of businesses like so ifyou were a class-based studio,
what are the different packagesyou sell?
(06:41):
10 class sessions, 20 classsessions, memberships, and how
many of each, how many butts inseats, how many bodies on
reformers do you need each andevery week to hit your goal?
Same thing with the physicaltherapy practices.
Same thing with a hybrid studio.
So at the end of the summit, thewomen left knowing okay, I need
to have 100 visits on myschedule each and every week to
(07:05):
hit my goal at the end of theyear.
I need to have.
200 class visits, 50 privatevisits, and 10 physical therapy
visits each and every week in myspecific type of visits to hit
my revenue and profitable andpay myself what I want to be
paid as a business owner.
So that is what we did in theafternoon and.
(07:27):
It was really exciting to beable to use these calculators
and these spreadsheets to helpwomen see in real time what is
available to them.
So in other words, if someonesaid, I wanna make 75, I wanna
make$80,000 a year, I wanna havea 15% profitability, and these
are all the classes, I have myavailable spots.
(07:49):
We actually were able to seethat that wasn't.
They didn't have the capacity todo that with their current team
and their current price points,so that means they either need
to adjust their goalsaccordingly.
Or hire more people or get onemore extra reformer in the room,
or add more reformer classes,which might mean hiring another
(08:13):
team member.
So now they're able to leave andgo back home and say, okay, if I
still wanna hit this goal, wecan figure out I need one.
Pilates instructor and I need tohave four more classes on the
schedule in order to be able tohit this goal.
So that is really powerful.
So I really feel when the womenleave this summit, they leave
(08:34):
with an idea regardless of whattype of business you are, when
you're, when you come to thesummit, they leave with an
actual, tangible.
To-do list action items of whatthey need to accomplish in 2026,
and because we're only in thebeginning of November, they can
actually go back, whether it'swith themselves or their team,
(08:56):
and really outline the full,full strategy week over week,
month over month, quarter overquarter of how they are gonna
get that number of visits.
Each and every week into theirbusiness.
And so, I think, what was it agoal without a plan is just a
wish.
So now they have goals and plansso they will be successful.
(09:18):
So that was all day on Thursday,and then Friday we had three
incredible.
Panels.
And so what I did this year wasinstead of having all these
experts come and teach, teachdifferent presentations that
lasted 45 or 60 minutes, I putall of the experts in one niche
into panels together.
(09:39):
So our first panel was afinancial panel and we had
A-C-P-A-A.
Bookkeeping and CFO and a wealthmanager, financial planner.
There's so many different names.
We actually talked about that alot on the panel.
So that was the first panel andeach of them gave the.
(10:00):
Answers to questions in terms ofhow do you save for retirement?
What are, the pros and cons of 40 1 Ks or IRAs and the 4 0 1 Ks
safe harbor things, and justthings to talk about and think
about when you're making thesedecisions and not letting some
other professional sway you oneway or the other.
(10:20):
How to pay yourself properly.
What are the good, Percentagesof spend in your business,
depending on your.
Where you are, your stage ofbusiness.
So if you're growing, I said,your profit might be a little
lower and your marketing spendmight be 10, 12, even 15%.
So we talked about differenthigh yield savings accounts for
(10:43):
your business.
We talked about what you can putinto retirement as a small
business owner, or other wayshow to create wealth, whether
that be through college funds orsavings for your children.
how to prepare your business,what your book should look like.
If you eventually wanna sell ortransfer your business down the
road.
So that was the financial panel.
It was really enlightening.
(11:04):
I learned quite a bit myself aswell.
And then the next panel, we hada marketing plan panel.
we had the experts on there werechief marketing officers and
also founders and CEOs of actualboutique fitness brands.
They talked about really bootsto the ground.
Branding and marketing for localservice businesses.
(11:27):
Real strategies that work forreal local brick and mortar
businesses, not just onlinestuff and not huge digital
marketing spends.
They talked a lot about, how touse AI in 2026 to run better
ads, to run more effective adcampaigns.
they actually said, one of thepanelists actually said that
(11:48):
the.
Best low cost way to grow is towork on reviews and get as many
reviews as possible.
And she talked about herdifferent ways of the process
that she had in her business toget reviews and what worked and
what didn't work, and testingand different iterations until
she finally found what works.
(12:08):
So that was really.
Exciting the marketing panel.
And I think it's really excitingto hear from businesses that
live this day in and day out andare also women and also have,
tried a lot of different thingsand can say, this is really what
worked for me and this is how wegot to that point.
So that was really exciting.
And then the final panel we hadwas a sale and acquisition panel
(12:30):
where.
Myself, I was on there.
and then we had another businessthat was acquired shortly after
COVID.
She had a really interestingacquisition where she, was they
were, they were acquired andthen her and her team actually
stayed on and this new business,this new brand.
So that was interesting.
And then we had.
Kristen Abel from BoutiqueFitness Broker talk about what
(12:53):
she sees, not only in how tohelp businesses prepare for
sale, but also one of theconversations I wanted to have
was if you wanna grow yourbusiness.
Maybe you don't have to do itthrough opening green space and
new locations.
Maybe you could do it throughacquisitions.
Maybe you could do it by lookingat other businesses and other
(13:13):
studios that might be wanting tosell or get out, or maybe they
don't even know that selling isan option to them and how to
approach those businesses aboutgetting acquired, about how you
can use acquisition to grow yourbrand.
It's the way that I opened mysecond location.
I actually.
Acquired sort of, another studioand brought them on board and no
(13:38):
money exchange hands.
It was a, it was a very unique,acquisition, but it was, it was
a win-win for everyone.
It was a win-win for theclients.
It was a win-win for the otherbusiness owner.
It was a win-win for me.
And so acquisition is a reallygood growth strategy for growing
instead of just opening.
2, 3, 4 more locations.
You, you acquire the equipment,sometimes you can acquire the
(13:58):
lease.
So that was a really, reallyinteresting, conversation as
well.
And a lot of people had a lot ofquestions.
And for me, one of the thingsthat I really, really wanted to
do was just show women.
I just wanted to open theconversation and plant the seed
of what is available to you as abusiness owner.
Now, I know I have heardpodcasts, I've had people send
(14:21):
me, podcasts before there was a,a pelvic health business that
put out their podcasts that youwere not gonna sell your
business.
And I'm gonna come on here and Iam going to beg to differ and
here's what I'm gonna say.
I don't know that a lot of mylisteners or people that were at
the summit and myself included,by the way, I just exited my
business and while I made a a, agreat.
(14:43):
Amount of money.
It's definitely not enough forModi me to go sit in San Pay for
the rest of my life and neverwork again.
That weirdly wasn't my goal formy exit, but it was enough that
it gave me choices.
And so one of the things I wantyou to understand is you don't
have to just close your doors.
Walk away when all of this isdone.
(15:04):
some people are like, I feellike I'm gonna be in my business
till I die.
Well, you could if that's yourchoice.
But if you don't want that to beyour choice, that doesn't have
to be your reality.
So even if, even if you build abusiness.
Up to the point that it hasrepeatable systems, it's
turnkey.
(15:24):
You are not the one drivingeverything in the business.
You are not the business.
So if you left and went away,the business will continue to
operate.
It's cashflow positive, whichnew locations can't say they
are.
So if your business isproducing.
A hundred,$200,000 in profitevery year, and someone can come
(15:47):
in and buy that business, theywill have in their first year,
$200,000 profit.
(17:40):
Right?
So even if they get financing,and even if they pay you 400,
500,000, 600,000, whatever thatis,$300,000 in.
For your business, and you takethat 300, 400,$500,000 and you
invest it, okay?
you're 45, 40, 45, 50, I'm 51.
(18:03):
But if you're 40, 45 and youinvest that 500,000 and you go
do your 2.0 or your next thing,or you open another business, or
you consult, or you teach or youdo all these other things and
that.
$500,000 conservatively doublesevery 10 years.
Your$500,000, by the time you're50 will be a million dollars,
and by the time you're 60 willbe$2 million and by the time
(18:26):
you're 70 will be$4 million.
So yeah, we're not sellingeight, nine figure exits, but
you can take that money.
Okay.
And you can invest it and have agreat retirement plan, and then
also have choices.
Maybe you don't have to workuntil you're 60, maybe you don't
have to work until you're 55.
And then if you look at, youstarted your business with E, I
(18:51):
started my business with$2,400.
That was the check that I wrote.
To open Pilates on the beachback in 2007.
So you started your businesswith, even on a high end, you
started it with$25,000, okay?
And you didn't have to, youdidn't, you, maybe you did two
reformers or one reform,however, it is$25,000 and then
(19:11):
10 years, 15 years later, yousold it for 300,000 or 500,000.
That's way better than anymultiple you're gonna get in the
stock market.
And you walk away with thatmoney free and clear and then
you again, then you can goinvest it and let your money
work for you.
So this is just what I wannatell you in terms of selling and
(19:31):
exiting.
I think people think of sale andthey think$10 million not, or
Ann Mullum from From Solid corewho got$90 million from her
sale.
That's great.
That's awesome.
Kudos.
I'm super impressed.
Amazing.
but that doesn't have to be yourreality.
You can still sell a businessfor low six, mid six or high
six, and at least not walk awaywith zero.
(19:53):
Alright, so I just wanna plantthe seed and just so people
think maybe, maybe that's apossibility for me.
And if you build your businessas if you might sell when the
time comes and something, maybesomething happens death or
disability or divorce and youhave to sell.
It's ready to go.
(20:13):
It's ready to go, right.
Start with the end in mind iswhat I always say.
The best thing.
The best thing about this summitfor me is not the information I
don't think.
I'm not an attendee, so maybethe information is the best
thing, but one of the things Ilove the most are the
conversations.
The community.
The community is the best part.
(20:35):
Watching women collaborate, meeteach other, watching women
collaborate instead of compete,seeing all these walls come down
of, of stories they had in theirhead and support for each other
rise to the service that, that,my friends, is what this whole
thing is about.
And so that's why it mattersbecause the truth is, this isn't
(20:57):
for me anyways.
This isn't just a businessconference for me, it's.
A movement, it's atransformation.
It's a conversation to open up,to plant the seed of what is
possible and what is availableto each and every woman in that
room, to each and every womanthat owns a business or that
(21:17):
wants to own a business.
From the very beginning of thisconsulting thing that happened
totally organically.
It has always been my goal tojust change the conversation in
the boutique fitness andhealthcare and wellness industry
to move us from competition andoh, let's not real Pilates, and,
oh, that's not really, X, Y, Z,and personal trainers shouldn't
(21:39):
do physical therapy and physicaltherapy shouldn't be personal
trainers.
Who the fuck cares, it's movingfrom competition to
collaboration, how we make eachother better.
A rising tide raises all ships.
My friends, more people.
Doing Pilates means morebusiness for all of us.
It's the same way, nicer homescoming into your neighborhood
(22:02):
increases the value of yourhome.
It's a good thing.
It's a good thing, right?
So rather than you looking at,even someone like me or someone
like Anne Lum who sold forincredible amounts of money
instead of looking at what shedoing or she, did that because
she has X, Y, Z.
Instead of looking at it that,looking at it and saying if she
(22:23):
did it.
I could do it.
What can I build?
What can I do to move the needleforward, to get to the place
that I want to be?
And it doesn't have to begrowing a seven or eight figure
business, it's just whatever youwant.
It's for you to be able to havea business where you don't have
to ask anyone for time off whereyou can take weekends, where you
(22:43):
can be home by dinner, where youcan chaperone your kids' field
trip, and then eventually maybeexit with some sort of an asset.
I want every single woman inthis space to understand what's
available to her, what'savailable to you.
These, the listeners, theopportunities, the financial
freedom, the growth, and theimpact you can have, not only on
(23:07):
your clients, not only on yourcommunity, but on your kids.
And I said, even if you neverwant to scale the seven figures
or sell your business, learningthese skills.
The education that no one cantake away from you that you got
as a Pilates instructor or aphysical therapist.
Education gives you options.
It gives you choices to make inyour business, and options give
(23:32):
you freedom.
That's what I care about.
Those are the conversations Iwanna have.
Creating spaces where women feelsupported, they feel seen, they
feel heard.
They can share the stories ofwhat's happening to me, and
understand they're not.
Alone.
Where they can ask the hardquestions, learn from each
other, leave feeling clear andconfident about what to do next.
(23:58):
Because at the end of the day,it's not the glitz, it's not the
glamor.
It's not the highlight reels,it's the transformations that
happen in these women's lives,in the tears, in the joy, in the
truth.
And I'm telling you, I am herefor all of it.
I am.
I'm here for every, and even ifI don't have the, and I don't
(24:18):
have all the answers, I am 100%committed to the conversation.
That's it.
That's the magic of havingspaces like this.
When women come together, wedon't just build better
businesses.
I believe that we create betterlives for ourselves and for each
other.
What's next?
(24:39):
first of all, if this excitesyou and you'd be I wanna be at
the next one.
I don't know that I'll be ableto increase it to more than 30,
maybe 32, 33.
'cause a woman, group, the roomwas pretty full unless I decide
to have it another venue.
But mark it on your calendarsright now.
Ladies, get out a pen.
Don't do it.
If you're driving November 5thand sixth, 2020.
(25:01):
Six, let me make sure that thatis accurate.
true because, I said yes,November 5th and sixth, 2026.
Enrollment usually happens in,sometime in the summer.
I will probably have a wait listup, there probably is a wait
list up already on my website.
(25:22):
So if you go to Kristagca.com/ceo Summit, you should
be able to get your name on thewait list, but if not, it will
be up soon and I will make sureto let everyone know.
But if you do not want to waituntil 2026, I announced
excitingly.
I am launching a very newprogram.
it is the next step between mycommunity membership, which is
(25:46):
$99 a month, and between myinner circle, I'm calling it the
Fit Biz Accelerator.
It's my newest mentorshipoption.
It's designed for those womenwho've already really achieved
six figures and they're ready tostop doing these DIY programs
and learning on their own.
And they're really start.
They're ready to implement inreal time.
(26:06):
So what we're gonna be doingtogether is get real.
Weekly implementation time.
So basically what we're gonna dois we are gonna be building the
systems.
We're gonna be building, I don'tknow if you can see this, but
we're gonna be bu this is what Icall my four s framework.
It's structure, systems,strategy, and Sustainability.
(26:29):
So.
The structure in your businessis that's the people.
Making sure you have the rightpeople in the right seats,
making sure your pricing is theright structure to achieve your
goals, making sure that yourprocesses are all built out so
the right people.
Can operate the right processes.
Okay?
And then you have your system.
So now that you're pricing yourprocesses and your people are
(26:52):
right, you then create all ofthe systems in your business so
that you have the people thatare running the systems over and
over again, and you're startingto develop your hiring system,
your onboarding system, yoursocial media system, your
marketing system, your emailsystem.
And from there, then once yougot that done, then you can
develop the strategy.
(27:12):
Because what happens is if youstart with strategy, but you
don't have the systems or thestructure in place, you're just
gonna fall on your face.
Face, you're gonna feeloverworked.
Alright?
So you gotta start with thestructure, then the systems and
the strategy, and ultimately youmake sure that it's sustainable.
Because if it's not.
What good is profit if you arenot at peace to enjoy it?
(27:33):
So this is what we, that what welearn in the program, and we're
gonna get monthly implementationwhere we'll actually have, I'm
calling them Creative lab time,where we will build a different
process, a different system eachand every week.
So.
How do you hire someone?
How do you determine their payrate?
What contracts you need, how tocreate a performance review?
(27:55):
We're gonna be doing all ofthat.
So Q1, we talk about structure,then systems and strategy, et
cetera.
Alright, so it's for you if youare a business generating a
hundred thousand dollars or moreand you really want to create
more structure in your life andfreedom in your life, you need.
To have a program that walks youthrough it and helps you
(28:18):
implement it in real time.
So I will be announcing more inthe coming weeks.
But if you're listening to thispodcast and you're I wanna get
myself at least on the wait listfor that, what I want you to do
is go towww.kriska.com/accelerator.
(28:39):
All right, and get yourself onthe wait list.
I will be doing discovery callsfor people that are interested
in booking a discovery call withme, and for those that enroll
before.
November 30th, you, I will bedoing a free paid ads training
in December.
It's a two day paid ads trainingthat's gonna talk all about the
(29:00):
system I teach for how to createthe right audience, how to
create the right strategy, howto build out your creative, and
all the new ins and outs thatare happening in Google and
Facebook.
And so that's absolutely free ifyou sign up for the accelerator
by the end of November.
Okay, so go visit kristageka.com/accelerator.
(29:22):
Get yourself on the wait list.
More information's gonna becoming out, but I'm really,
really, really excited aboutthis program.
'cause I, I really felt it wasthe next step between the
community, um, which is a lot ofsupport.
And then the inner circle, whichis something really high touch
mentorship.
So I felt I needed another tierin there.
I'm really, really excited tolaunch this and get it started
(29:43):
in January of 2026.
So.
To all of you that attended thesummit, if you're listening to
this, thank you.
Seriously, thank you.
From the bottom of my heart, I'mnot, I mean.
I hope you enjoyed yourself.
I did.
I hope you'll be there nextyear.
I will.
But thank you.
You women are the reason that Ido what I do.
(30:05):
You're the reason I keep pushingand I'm not sitting on a beach
in Costa Rica after I sold mybusiness because I love this.
I love having the conversations.
I love sharing one tidbit ortweaking a little something so
that your business is moreprofitable, more enjoyable,
more.
Structured in 2026.
(30:25):
So if you were there, just thankyou.
If you were not there and you'relistening, save your, save the
date for next year and continueto put yourself in the room,
whether it be with otherlike-minded individuals, other
business owners, or just womenin general that are that who
believe in you.
(30:45):
Women that believe that what youwant to do is possible even
before you do surround yourselfwith women that will shout your
name in a room full ofopportunities.
I will, and if you'd love tojoin me, I would love to welcome
you into my orbit, my world, mycircle, and share as much
(31:05):
information as I possibly can tomake your lives and your
businesses better for 2026 andbeyond.
Here's to build in businessesthat work for you.
Not against you, my friends.
Until next time.
Bye for now.
Hey there everyone.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Female Empowered Podcast.
I am once again your host,Christa Gurka, and today I will
be giving a recap of theexciting, memorable 2025 Women
in Wellness Business Summit thatjust happened in my, at the time
(01:12):
of this recording.
It happened.
Three days ago.
And so I'm recording this,follow up this recap because it
was two days of realconversation, strategy,
reflection, and growth.
And I am so, so, so, soincredibly grateful.
And I, of course still have mycough, so I'm gonna take a
little sip of water.
So I.
(01:34):
First, wanna say how, hold on.
I'm still riding high from thetwo days.
It is a lot of work that goesinto it.
I presented an entire day myselfand then I was the moderator for
all the panels on Friday.
So it is a lot of work, but Ican't even describe to you the
energy in the room with womenwho are.
(01:57):
Business owners betting onthemselves, women who are
showing up to do the work intheir business, not just for the
sake of more, but for the sakeof better.
So it's not just more Pilates,more money, more revenue, but
it's better systems, betteroutcomes, better community.
And we hadBusinesses that hadjust been starting out to people
(02:18):
that had been in business forover 10 years.
We had sole proprietors ofpeople that, women that had home
studios, of Pilates in theirhomes, two Pilates studios that
had three locations and over 25team members.
So we had.
Hybrid businesses, physicaltherapy and yoga.
We had pelvic health clinicians,we had boutique fitness,
(02:41):
personal training gyms.
It was so amazing to be in theroom with women and all of us,
myself included, have the samegoal to build.
Better, sustainable, profitable,impactful businesses that will
support the lives that weactually want, not the other way
around.
(03:02):
So not building our lives aroundour business, but building our
business around our lives.
And when I first started thissummit, I started in 2021.
I think we had.
Nine, maybe 10 women attend thatsummit.
And this year we sold out at 30and we actually sold out like
(03:22):
back in September, which iscrazy'cause I never thought that
that would actually happen.
I had an entire ad strategy, anad campaign, ad campaign built
out, and I never actually reallygot to use it because we sold
out two months early.
So.
What do I wanna say about thissummit?
So the first thing is everyonegot workbooks.
(03:43):
These amazing, amazing workbooksthat had all sorts of, graphs
and calculators and all sorts inthere.
So, I go all out and over thosetwo days we really, the, the.
Thursday, we talked all aboutthe morning session was all
about doing a 20, 25 year inreview where basically we led or
I led the women through a veryspecific.
(04:08):
Review process, the same onethat I used when I was running
Pilates in the Grove, and thesame one that I did with my team
each and every year to reallydive into like what worked, what
didn't work, what we need to dobetter with.
so we looked at which revenuesources were actually the most
profitable, not just in money,but also in ease of delivering
(04:33):
those processes.
those services, which ones?
Costs the most money and themost energy.
We did the same with team.
Which of your team members areyour most productive and which,
are your most efficient andwhich are your most profitable?
And sometimes if you're, Teammembers that are costing you the
most money are also the oneswith the biggest headache.
(04:53):
Those might be decisions youwant to make differently as you
come in 2026, right?
We looked at the boundaries thatmight need it might be needing a
little bit of tightening.
We looked at things we reallywanted to say no to in 2026, so
that we have room to say yes tomore of the things we wanna say
(05:13):
yes to.
Then in the afternoon we tookall of those metrics and we,
devised a plan for 2026.
So we decided what, there's thiscalculator that I created for
them, the spreadsheet thatbasically says, how much do you
as an owner wanna make in 2026?
80,000, 90,000, a hundredthousand, 150,000, 200,000,
(05:37):
whatever that number is, and howmuch profitability do you wanna
have in your business?
Now, there was a whole exercisewe did about whether you, your
intention for 2026 is to reallybe profitable, or your intention
in 2026 is to pay yourself more.
Or your intention in 2026 is togrow, because sometimes when
(05:58):
you're growing, whether that's.
Be, hiring team members or doingmore marketing or hiring more
people, you may be lessprofitable and that's okay, but
it's just important to know whatthat intention is for the year
you're going into, because allof your decisions will be based
around that.
So.
We have this calculator, you putyour salary in, your
(06:20):
profitability goals and thenyour monthly, most of your
monthly expenses.
And then it basically spits outfor you the annual revenue you
need to create.
And from there we were able towork backwards for all different
types of businesses like so ifyou were a class-based studio,
what are the different packagesyou sell?
(06:41):
10 class sessions, 20 classsessions, memberships, and how
many of each, how many butts inseats, how many bodies on
reformers do you need each andevery week to hit your goal?
Same thing with the physicaltherapy practices.
Same thing with a hybrid studio.
So at the end of the summit, thewomen left knowing okay, I need
to have 100 visits on myschedule each and every week to
(07:05):
hit my goal at the end of theyear.
I need to have.
200 class visits, 50 privatevisits, and 10 physical therapy
visits each and every week in myspecific type of visits to hit
my revenue and profitable andpay myself what I want to be
paid as a business owner.
So that is what we did in theafternoon and.
(07:27):
It was really exciting to beable to use these calculators
and these spreadsheets to helpwomen see in real time what is
available to them.
So in other words, if someonesaid, I wanna make 75, I wanna
make$80,000 a year, I wanna havea 15% profitability, and these
are all the classes, I have myavailable spots.
(07:49):
We actually were able to seethat that wasn't.
They didn't have the capacity todo that with their current team
and their current price points,so that means they either need
to adjust their goalsaccordingly.
Or hire more people or get onemore extra reformer in the room,
or add more reformer classes,which might mean hiring another
(08:13):
team member.
So now they're able to leave andgo back home and say, okay, if I
still wanna hit this goal, wecan figure out I need one.
Pilates instructor and I need tohave four more classes on the
schedule in order to be able tohit this goal.
So that is really powerful.
So I really feel when the womenleave this summit, they leave
(08:34):
with an idea regardless of whattype of business you are, when
you're, when you come to thesummit, they leave with an
actual, tangible.
To-do list action items of whatthey need to accomplish in 2026,
and because we're only in thebeginning of November, they can
actually go back, whether it'swith themselves or their team,
(08:56):
and really outline the full,full strategy week over week,
month over month, quarter overquarter of how they are gonna
get that number of visits.
Each and every week into theirbusiness.
And so, I think, what was it agoal without a plan is just a
wish.
So now they have goals and plansso they will be successful.
(09:18):
So that was all day on Thursday,and then Friday we had three
incredible.
Panels.
And so what I did this year wasinstead of having all these
experts come and teach, teachdifferent presentations that
lasted 45 or 60 minutes, I putall of the experts in one niche
into panels together.
(09:39):
So our first panel was afinancial panel and we had
A-C-P-A-A.
Bookkeeping and CFO and a wealthmanager, financial planner.
There's so many different names.
We actually talked about that alot on the panel.
So that was the first panel andeach of them gave the.
(10:00):
Answers to questions in terms ofhow do you save for retirement?
What are, the pros and cons of 40 1 Ks or IRAs and the 4 0 1 Ks
safe harbor things, and justthings to talk about and think
about when you're making thesedecisions and not letting some
other professional sway you oneway or the other.
(10:20):
How to pay yourself properly.
What are the good, Percentagesof spend in your business,
depending on your.
Where you are, your stage ofbusiness.
So if you're growing, I said,your profit might be a little
lower and your marketing spendmight be 10, 12, even 15%.
So we talked about differenthigh yield savings accounts for
(10:43):
your business.
We talked about what you can putinto retirement as a small
business owner, or other wayshow to create wealth, whether
that be through college funds orsavings for your children.
how to prepare your business,what your book should look like.
If you eventually wanna sell ortransfer your business down the
road.
So that was the financial panel.
It was really enlightening.
(11:04):
I learned quite a bit myself aswell.
And then the next panel, we hada marketing plan panel.
we had the experts on there werechief marketing officers and
also founders and CEOs of actualboutique fitness brands.
They talked about really bootsto the ground.
Branding and marketing for localservice businesses.
(11:27):
Real strategies that work forreal local brick and mortar
businesses, not just onlinestuff and not huge digital
marketing spends.
They talked a lot about, how touse AI in 2026 to run better
ads, to run more effective adcampaigns.
they actually said, one of thepanelists actually said that
(11:48):
the.
Best low cost way to grow is towork on reviews and get as many
reviews as possible.
And she talked about herdifferent ways of the process
that she had in her business toget reviews and what worked and
what didn't work, and testingand different iterations until
she finally found what works.
(12:08):
So that was really.
Exciting the marketing panel.
And I think it's really excitingto hear from businesses that
live this day in and day out andare also women and also have,
tried a lot of different thingsand can say, this is really what
worked for me and this is how wegot to that point.
So that was really exciting.
And then the final panel we hadwas a sale and acquisition panel
(12:30):
where.
Myself, I was on there.
and then we had another businessthat was acquired shortly after
COVID.
She had a really interestingacquisition where she, was they
were, they were acquired andthen her and her team actually
stayed on and this new business,this new brand.
So that was interesting.
And then we had.
Kristen Abel from BoutiqueFitness Broker talk about what
(12:53):
she sees, not only in how tohelp businesses prepare for
sale, but also one of theconversations I wanted to have
was if you wanna grow yourbusiness.
Maybe you don't have to do itthrough opening green space and
new locations.
Maybe you could do it throughacquisitions.
Maybe you could do it by lookingat other businesses and other
(13:13):
studios that might be wanting tosell or get out, or maybe they
don't even know that selling isan option to them and how to
approach those businesses aboutgetting acquired, about how you
can use acquisition to grow yourbrand.
It's the way that I opened mysecond location.
I actually.
Acquired sort of, another studioand brought them on board and no
(13:38):
money exchange hands.
It was a, it was a very unique,acquisition, but it was, it was
a win-win for everyone.
It was a win-win for theclients.
It was a win-win for the otherbusiness owner.
It was a win-win for me.
And so acquisition is a reallygood growth strategy for growing
instead of just opening.
2, 3, 4 more locations.
You, you acquire the equipment,sometimes you can acquire the
(13:58):
lease.
So that was a really, reallyinteresting, conversation as
well.
And a lot of people had a lot ofquestions.
And for me, one of the thingsthat I really, really wanted to
do was just show women.
I just wanted to open theconversation and plant the seed
of what is available to you as abusiness owner.
Now, I know I have heardpodcasts, I've had people send
(14:21):
me, podcasts before there was a,a pelvic health business that
put out their podcasts that youwere not gonna sell your
business.
And I'm gonna come on here and Iam going to beg to differ and
here's what I'm gonna say.
I don't know that a lot of mylisteners or people that were at
the summit and myself included,by the way, I just exited my
business and while I made a a, agreat.
(14:43):
Amount of money.
It's definitely not enough forModi me to go sit in San Pay for
the rest of my life and neverwork again.
That weirdly wasn't my goal formy exit, but it was enough that
it gave me choices.
And so one of the things I wantyou to understand is you don't
have to just close your doors.
Walk away when all of this isdone.
(15:04):
some people are like, I feellike I'm gonna be in my business
till I die.
Well, you could if that's yourchoice.
But if you don't want that to beyour choice, that doesn't have
to be your reality.
So even if, even if you build abusiness.
Up to the point that it hasrepeatable systems, it's
turnkey.
(15:24):
You are not the one drivingeverything in the business.
You are not the business.
So if you left and went away,the business will continue to
operate.
It's cashflow positive, whichnew locations can't say they
are.
So if your business isproducing.
A hundred,$200,000 in profitevery year, and someone can come
(15:47):
in and buy that business, theywill have in their first year,
$200,000 profit.
(17:40):
Right?
So even if they get financing,and even if they pay you 400,
500,000, 600,000, whatever thatis,$300,000 in.
For your business, and you takethat 300, 400,$500,000 and you
invest it, okay?
you're 45, 40, 45, 50, I'm 51.
(18:03):
But if you're 40, 45 and youinvest that 500,000 and you go
do your 2.0 or your next thing,or you open another business, or
you consult, or you teach or youdo all these other things and
that.
$500,000 conservatively doublesevery 10 years.
Your$500,000, by the time you're50 will be a million dollars,
and by the time you're 60 willbe$2 million and by the time
(18:26):
you're 70 will be$4 million.
So yeah, we're not sellingeight, nine figure exits, but
you can take that money.
Okay.
And you can invest it and have agreat retirement plan, and then
also have choices.
Maybe you don't have to workuntil you're 60, maybe you don't
have to work until you're 55.
And then if you look at, youstarted your business with E, I
(18:51):
started my business with$2,400.
That was the check that I wrote.
To open Pilates on the beachback in 2007.
So you started your businesswith, even on a high end, you
started it with$25,000, okay?
And you didn't have to, youdidn't, you, maybe you did two
reformers or one reform,however, it is$25,000 and then
(19:11):
10 years, 15 years later, yousold it for 300,000 or 500,000.
That's way better than anymultiple you're gonna get in the
stock market.
And you walk away with thatmoney free and clear and then
you again, then you can goinvest it and let your money
work for you.
So this is just what I wannatell you in terms of selling and
(19:31):
exiting.
I think people think of sale andthey think$10 million not, or
Ann Mullum from From Solid corewho got$90 million from her
sale.
That's great.
That's awesome.
Kudos.
I'm super impressed.
Amazing.
but that doesn't have to be yourreality.
You can still sell a businessfor low six, mid six or high
six, and at least not walk awaywith zero.
(19:53):
Alright, so I just wanna plantthe seed and just so people
think maybe, maybe that's apossibility for me.
And if you build your businessas if you might sell when the
time comes and something, maybesomething happens death or
disability or divorce and youhave to sell.
It's ready to go.
(20:13):
It's ready to go, right.
Start with the end in mind iswhat I always say.
The best thing.
The best thing about this summitfor me is not the information I
don't think.
I'm not an attendee, so maybethe information is the best
thing, but one of the things Ilove the most are the
conversations.
The community.
The community is the best part.
(20:35):
Watching women collaborate, meeteach other, watching women
collaborate instead of compete,seeing all these walls come down
of, of stories they had in theirhead and support for each other
rise to the service that, that,my friends, is what this whole
thing is about.
And so that's why it mattersbecause the truth is, this isn't
(20:57):
for me anyways.
This isn't just a businessconference for me, it's.
A movement, it's atransformation.
It's a conversation to open up,to plant the seed of what is
possible and what is availableto each and every woman in that
room, to each and every womanthat owns a business or that
(21:17):
wants to own a business.
From the very beginning of thisconsulting thing that happened
totally organically.
It has always been my goal tojust change the conversation in
the boutique fitness andhealthcare and wellness industry
to move us from competition andoh, let's not real Pilates, and,
oh, that's not really, X, Y, Z,and personal trainers shouldn't
(21:39):
do physical therapy and physicaltherapy shouldn't be personal
trainers.
Who the fuck cares, it's movingfrom competition to
collaboration, how we make eachother better.
A rising tide raises all ships.
My friends, more people.
Doing Pilates means morebusiness for all of us.
It's the same way, nicer homescoming into your neighborhood
(22:02):
increases the value of yourhome.
It's a good thing.
It's a good thing, right?
So rather than you looking at,even someone like me or someone
like Anne Lum who sold forincredible amounts of money
instead of looking at what shedoing or she, did that because
she has X, Y, Z.
Instead of looking at it that,looking at it and saying if she
(22:23):
did it.
I could do it.
What can I build?
What can I do to move the needleforward, to get to the place
that I want to be?
And it doesn't have to begrowing a seven or eight figure
business, it's just whatever youwant.
It's for you to be able to havea business where you don't have
to ask anyone for time off whereyou can take weekends, where you
(22:43):
can be home by dinner, where youcan chaperone your kids' field
trip, and then eventually maybeexit with some sort of an asset.
I want every single woman inthis space to understand what's
available to her, what'savailable to you.
These, the listeners, theopportunities, the financial
freedom, the growth, and theimpact you can have, not only on
(23:07):
your clients, not only on yourcommunity, but on your kids.
And I said, even if you neverwant to scale the seven figures
or sell your business, learningthese skills.
The education that no one cantake away from you that you got
as a Pilates instructor or aphysical therapist.
Education gives you options.
It gives you choices to make inyour business, and options give
(23:32):
you freedom.
That's what I care about.
Those are the conversations Iwanna have.
Creating spaces where women feelsupported, they feel seen, they
feel heard.
They can share the stories ofwhat's happening to me, and
understand they're not.
Alone.
Where they can ask the hardquestions, learn from each
other, leave feeling clear andconfident about what to do next.
(23:58):
Because at the end of the day,it's not the glitz, it's not the
glamor.
It's not the highlight reels,it's the transformations that
happen in these women's lives,in the tears, in the joy, in the
truth.
And I'm telling you, I am herefor all of it.
I am.
I'm here for every, and even ifI don't have the, and I don't
(24:18):
have all the answers, I am 100%committed to the conversation.
That's it.
That's the magic of havingspaces like this.
When women come together, wedon't just build better
businesses.
I believe that we create betterlives for ourselves and for each
other.
What's next?
(24:39):
first of all, if this excitesyou and you'd be I wanna be at
the next one.
I don't know that I'll be ableto increase it to more than 30,
maybe 32, 33.
'cause a woman, group, the roomwas pretty full unless I decide
to have it another venue.
But mark it on your calendarsright now.
Ladies, get out a pen.
Don't do it.
If you're driving November 5thand sixth, 2020.
(25:01):
Six, let me make sure that thatis accurate.
true because, I said yes,November 5th and sixth, 2026.
Enrollment usually happens in,sometime in the summer.
I will probably have a wait listup, there probably is a wait
list up already on my website.
(25:22):
So if you go to Kristagca.com/ceo Summit, you should
be able to get your name on thewait list, but if not, it will
be up soon and I will make sureto let everyone know.
But if you do not want to waituntil 2026, I announced
excitingly.
I am launching a very newprogram.
it is the next step between mycommunity membership, which is
(25:46):
$99 a month, and between myinner circle, I'm calling it the
Fit Biz Accelerator.
It's my newest mentorshipoption.
It's designed for those womenwho've already really achieved
six figures and they're ready tostop doing these DIY programs
and learning on their own.
And they're really start.
They're ready to implement inreal time.
(26:06):
So what we're gonna be doingtogether is get real.
Weekly implementation time.
So basically what we're gonna dois we are gonna be building the
systems.
We're gonna be building, I don'tknow if you can see this, but
we're gonna be bu this is what Icall my four s framework.
It's structure, systems,strategy, and Sustainability.
(26:29):
So.
The structure in your businessis that's the people.
Making sure you have the rightpeople in the right seats,
making sure your pricing is theright structure to achieve your
goals, making sure that yourprocesses are all built out so
the right people.
Can operate the right processes.
Okay?
And then you have your system.
So now that you're pricing yourprocesses and your people are
(26:52):
right, you then create all ofthe systems in your business so
that you have the people thatare running the systems over and
over again, and you're startingto develop your hiring system,
your onboarding system, yoursocial media system, your
marketing system, your emailsystem.
And from there, then once yougot that done, then you can
develop the strategy.
(27:12):
Because what happens is if youstart with strategy, but you
don't have the systems or thestructure in place, you're just
gonna fall on your face.
Face, you're gonna feeloverworked.
Alright?
So you gotta start with thestructure, then the systems and
the strategy, and ultimately youmake sure that it's sustainable.
Because if it's not.
What good is profit if you arenot at peace to enjoy it?
(27:33):
So this is what we, that what welearn in the program, and we're
gonna get monthly implementationwhere we'll actually have, I'm
calling them Creative lab time,where we will build a different
process, a different system eachand every week.
So.
How do you hire someone?
How do you determine their payrate?
What contracts you need, how tocreate a performance review?
(27:55):
We're gonna be doing all ofthat.
So Q1, we talk about structure,then systems and strategy, et
cetera.
Alright, so it's for you if youare a business generating a
hundred thousand dollars or moreand you really want to create
more structure in your life andfreedom in your life, you need.
To have a program that walks youthrough it and helps you
(28:18):
implement it in real time.
So I will be announcing more inthe coming weeks.
But if you're listening to thispodcast and you're I wanna get
myself at least on the wait listfor that, what I want you to do
is go towww.kriska.com/accelerator.
(28:39):
All right, and get yourself onthe wait list.
I will be doing discovery callsfor people that are interested
in booking a discovery call withme, and for those that enroll
before.
November 30th, you, I will bedoing a free paid ads training
in December.
It's a two day paid ads trainingthat's gonna talk all about the
(29:00):
system I teach for how to createthe right audience, how to
create the right strategy, howto build out your creative, and
all the new ins and outs thatare happening in Google and
Facebook.
And so that's absolutely free ifyou sign up for the accelerator
by the end of November.
Okay, so go visit kristageka.com/accelerator.
(29:22):
Get yourself on the wait list.
More information's gonna becoming out, but I'm really,
really, really excited aboutthis program.
'cause I, I really felt it wasthe next step between the
community, um, which is a lot ofsupport.
And then the inner circle, whichis something really high touch
mentorship.
So I felt I needed another tierin there.
I'm really, really excited tolaunch this and get it started
(29:43):
in January of 2026.
So.
To all of you that attended thesummit, if you're listening to
this, thank you.
Seriously, thank you.
From the bottom of my heart, I'mnot, I mean.
I hope you enjoyed yourself.
I did.
I hope you'll be there nextyear.
I will.
But thank you.
You women are the reason that Ido what I do.
(30:05):
You're the reason I keep pushingand I'm not sitting on a beach
in Costa Rica after I sold mybusiness because I love this.
I love having the conversations.
I love sharing one tidbit ortweaking a little something so
that your business is moreprofitable, more enjoyable,
more.
Structured in 2026.
(30:25):
So if you were there, just thankyou.
If you were not there and you'relistening, save your, save the
date for next year and continueto put yourself in the room,
whether it be with otherlike-minded individuals, other
business owners, or just womenin general that are that who
believe in you.
(30:45):
Women that believe that what youwant to do is possible even
before you do surround yourselfwith women that will shout your
name in a room full ofopportunities.
I will, and if you'd love tojoin me, I would love to welcome
you into my orbit, my world, mycircle, and share as much
(31:05):
information as I possibly can tomake your lives and your
businesses better for 2026 andbeyond.
Here's to build in businessesthat work for you.
Not against you, my friends.
Until next time.
Bye for now.
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