Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Hagstrom.
Hi Amber, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in a rural part of Michigan. I was 19 years old when my mother passed away unexpectedly. It was within a year of that event, I dropped out of college and moved to Texas. I had visited some family that lived in Dallas a few times growing up, and even though they no longer lived there, I loved the idea of no more long winters and a fresh start. I began waiting tables and eventually found an office job, and always told myself that I would go back to school. My office job turned into 13 years of corporate accounting, and I reached a point where I wanted to do something more fulfilling.
In early 2018, with the support of my husband, I walked away from my corporate job with no plan. Maybe go back to school? Maybe pursue a field I always thought would be fun but didn’t make the kind of money I was looking for? I started working out at my own leisure and traveled with my husband for a few months (he traveled for his job), and I enjoyed a break while I decided on my next move. The exercise was not really my thing, but I started getting into the habit of taking classes at the nearby CycleBar. I got addicted to it – I had no idea that exercise could be so fun! After a few months of regularly attending classes, I discovered it was a franchise, so I researched what it took to own one. Things moved very quickly after that point. The Frisco market was currently being developed and space had been chosen by a previous ownership group, and we (my husband and I) were lucky enough to transition ownership of the territory and start building quickly.
CycleBar Frisco opened in March of 2019. At the end of 2018, I met the owners of the CycleBar in Fort Worth. They opened that studio in October 2016 and expressed interest in selling, as they were retirement age and wanted to step away from it. After due diligence and negotiations, we purchased that studio and took over ownership effective April 2019. Towards the end of 2019, we found out there was a CycleBar being built in McKinney. The owner of that territory was looking to back out. Since it was in such close proximity to our Frisco location, we thought it would make a perfect addition to our portfolio of CycleBar! We took over that location in early 2020 and finished the build-out in March 2020. Then Covid happened.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Yes for a while… then a big fat no in March of 2020. 2019 was going very smoothly, as we talked about picking up a third CycleBar location since our other two locations were doing great and we had an awesome staff that was ready to expand! Building the Frisco studio brought so much experience that it felt a shame to waste it and not build another studio. So I was very excited to build the McKinney location. Then when Covid happened, things have just been so hard. So much uncertainty, and we still have yet to bounce back as we had hoped. But we are hopeful there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines rolling out.
Our ultimate goal is safety and doing things the right way, but it is so difficult to run a business with restricted capacity when this business model thrives on new riders coming in to try us out and no capacity issues. Our business is all about connecting with people, and it’s hard to do that right now. Many people assume that our facilities are not safe because of all of the heavy breathing that comes along with exercise, so we don’t get many chances to show people just how safe we are making the CycleBar experience. Covid has forced us to learn so much about our ventilation system, approved cleaning agents, and the importance of mask wearing and distancing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about CycleBar.
CycleBar is a franchise with just over 200 locations across the US. We offer a low-impact, high-intensity indoor cycling experience for all ages, fitness levels & body types. CycleBar is boutique fitness. You show up in workout clothes, and we provide everything else. Towels, water, cycling shoes, and our instructors guide you through an indoor cycling class. Our bikes track performance during the class and you receive personalized stats every time. We are proud to be owners that are hands-on in the studios and live in the community we serve. Our instructors create a brand new playlist for every single class, and they put so much heart and soul into every single class.
At the end of the day, we are a small business that just carries a brand name. It’s up to us what kind of culture we create in our four walls and the community we build. We promote a safe space for people to come and unwind from everything that is going on in their lives. When they enter our cycling theatre, the music is loud and it is as dark as a movie theatre, and you can escape reality for 45 minutes. At a time like now, self-care is so important. This is just as much mental as it is physical. We really strive for our riders to take what they need from our classes. Just want to move your body and have fun with good music? You can do that. Want to hit a PR with your stats? You can do that, too. It’s important we all give ourselves some grace right now as we manage a global pandemic, so we just ask our riders to have fun with it. I am even more proud of the communities we have built, and seeing our riders form relationships with each other that carry outside of the studio.
What are your plans for the future?
I just can’t wait to see more relief from covid. While we are managing to get through this time, it can only be sustained for so long. We are currently down to just 20 bikes to keep everything appropriately distanced, so it’s hard to think about going back to normal. Our normal was 50 bikes. Even though we were approved to go back to 75% capacity at one point, we could not do it safely because the bikes would not remain 6 feet apart. We plan to always put the health and safety of our staff and riders first, while giving them the CycleBar experience they have come to know and love.
Contact Info:
- Email: mckinney@cyclebar.com / waterside@cyclebar.com / frisco@cyclebar.com
- Website: mckinney.cyclebar.com / waterside.cyclebar.com / frisco.cyclebar.com
- Instagram: cyclebar_mckinney / cyclebarwaterside / cyclebarfrisco
- Facebook: CycleBarMcKinney / CycleBarWaterside / CycleBarFrisco
