Today we’d like to introduce you to Reshoo Patel.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I graduated college with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, finished my MBA with a concentration in Accounting and then proceeded to work in accounting while I obtained my CPA license. Needless to say, for 12 years of my adult life I only knew, learned, and lived in the corporate/public accounting world. I was on track to continue in that world and keep moving up the ladder for the rest of my career.
Then I had two kids, Aiden and Ava, back to back within 17 months of each other. In 2016, I went back to work after my daughter was born and everything had changed for me – daughters tend to do that to their mothers! No longer could I sit in a cube or in conference rooms grinding at a job that no longer fulfilled me. I worked with amazing, intelligent, successful people but my journey was not theirs and not in the big firm environment anymore. I wanted to do something more, something with a purpose.
After two back to back pregnancies, working out at a barre studio, The Bar Method, a national franchise, had changed my life. It helped me not only get back in shape after kids, it literally changed my mental health by giving me independence and strength after two C-section deliveries. Everything came together, I quit my job overnight, and started the journey to become a franchisee with The Bar Method.
Between 2017 and 2020, I built from the ground up, owned, operated, managed, and taught at a new studio under the brand name in Frisco, Texas. We built a great community of women who I got to help feel stronger and more in tune with their bodies. It was what fueled me and inspired me. Then 2020 hit, COVID shut us down temporarily, then dealings with my landlord, the franchise, and the pandemic all came to a head and we shut down permanently. I was a fairly new business, with not enough years or experience or frankly a strong enough plan to revamp my studio after the financial toll all of the above took. I was devastated but the writing was on the wall.
Over the next three years, I dabbled in several different jobs in fitness, in marketing, in even teaching for The Bar Method at another Dallas studio. I even considered going back to the accounting world. I simply couldn’t do it. None of it.
However, during this time, I did start training in different types of fitness methods. I started lifting weights – something I always was intimidated by. When I started, I realized that my extensive barre training had actually prepared me really well for weight lifting. The technique, the safety and low impact advantages, the high you get from the real difference in noticeable strength, and the proven health benefits of progressive strength training – it was like I had rediscovered my love for what we are capable of doing physically, no matter our age.
Along the way, I also discovered the Lagree method and started training in local studios to better understand and perfect my technique in this method. In early 2023, right after I turned 40, I started brainstorming for a new, unique, and very necessary business. I decided to combine my years of barre technique, weight lifting, and the Lagree method and bring all of the combined benefits to a community of people just like me – women over 30 who desperately need the benefits of strength training in their routine. These women have historically been afraid of, under-educated on, and/or have not found a safe, welcoming environment in which to learn and train in. Enter Define.
It was a huge risk. I already had a failed, closed business behind me. I wouldn’t have the backing of a franchise this time, I wanted to do it on my own – no partners, no employees, no one to help me. But, when I did the research in Frisco or even surrounding DFW markets – there really wasn’t anything like this. There is a gym or studio on every block but none that were women-only weight lifting studios catering to middle-aged women. This had to be done and it had to be done differently than my franchise model.
I wanted to make sure I marketed it to the right people – professional, busy, women and/or moms or older women who truly want to get strong, do it correctly and safely and not just for trend purposes. The purpose is to make women strong, to help them feel empowered against the natural process of aging and to do it in a private setting where they feel safe, welcomed, and truly seen in every session. So I decided to go the private, one on one route, and the semi-private route with only 4-6 people per session to ensure that we were really invested in helping people.
I had learned so many things that I did wrong with the franchise. I learned how to cut costs and where to cut costs without compromising quality. I learned the world of commercial leasing and how to find the right location, how to negotiate leases, how to use a second generation space to ensure that the initial investment is more reasonable than with a franchise’s strict requirements. I knew I didn’t want my space to be just one type of workout – I wanted it to be diverse enough to provide quality workouts, but I wanted to be able to expand and add on as I saw fit and not to be again restricted by a national franchise. I knew I could do this and truly help women just like me, define themselves – either for the first time in their life or after experiencing a life that may have taken some of their power away.
We have been open for more than 1.5 years now, have welcomed hundreds of women into our beautiful and welcoming space, have private and semi-private clients who have learned the power of a healthier, stronger lifestyle no matter their age. I have two angels for trainers, Gia and Valentina, who entered my life and have allowed me to step away from the day to day training and operations part of the studio so I can continue to evolve my vision, my mission and to embrace the real entrepreneur journey I hope to continue on for as long as I can.
It took a LOT of trial, errors, miserable failures, hitting very rock bottom and a huge amount of belief in myself to get to where we are today as a business. Define Private Training is truly unique, it’s a true labor of love and compassion for others. We are continuing to grow as a community and I can honestly say – today, I am so proud to show my son and daughter that what I envisioned becoming in my career, as a mother, and as a person after they were born over 10 years ago, is finally taking form. This is just the beginning but I am so happy they get to see the real, gritty process of all that it takes and how you can survive and start to thrive with a strong belief in yourself.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all 🙂 See previous question!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
See first question 🙂
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
See first question for my own risk taking starting a 2nd business in the same industry after a closed business.
My take on risk taking is the first step is having a very strong belief in yourself. Creative, unique ideas start when one person or group of people recognize a need or something missing in their own life – those are the best ideas. Ideas that come to you when you may be struggling to find your own place. For me, when I started weight lifting, I realized how intimidating it had always been for me and how big box gyms or studios always seemed to be full of young, trendsetter type women and not middle-aged women who really just want to work to get strong and healthy instead of having to always show up in a trendy outfit or do a trendy workout where everyone seems to look the same.
The reason I took that risk was because that woman was me so I knew there had to be more people like me. Start there – start with yourself and what you are missing. Then proceed to surround yourself with people who know what they are doing if you don’t. You can have the idea, but you may not know financing, operations, or how this idea comes to life. Use people you trust to make the idea come to life. Be smart but don’t wait for every piece of the pie to fall into place. If you believe it will work, then make some moves and go for it. Most people thrive when they are thrown into figuring things out or when they have no option but to make things work. Even if it’s not an instant success or even if you fail, you will learn so much and then you’ll do it better the next time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.defineprivatetraining.com
- Instagram: defineprivatetraining
- Facebook: defineprivatetraining
Image Credits
Ana Lanier Portrait
