Julia Tiedemann - Founder of BodyWorxHub Barcelona
About Julia Tiedemann
Born in Germany, lived and worked in The Netherlands for many years and moved to Barcelona for my Master’s in International Communication Management 9 years ago. I’m now an entrepreneur and have been working in the fitness sector teaching fitness, yoga and dancing classes in gyms for many years.
What is your company all about?
BodyWorxHub organises:
▫️ Outdoor/online fitness (in-company training as well)
▫️ Social events & Retreats
▫️ Personal training at home including nutrition coaching and lifestyle mentoring
BodyWorxHub believes that exercise shouldn’t be about competing environments and it shouldn’t make you feel isolated and unmotivated. We are a “High Energy Social Fitness Crew” dedicated to one mission: “Making Sports empowering and fun!”
How did you come up with the idea/concept for your business?
I started my own business with the mission to change the way we (especially women) feel about sports and eventually, how we feel about ourselves!
I loved teaching fitness & dance classes at the gym. Ever since I can remember I have been doing some kind of sports or dancing activity and it never had anything to do with an aesthetic goal! It has always been about having time for myself and keeping my body fit and strong. It helped me with my mental state, helped me to switch off from my day or blow off some steam when I needed it and taught me that I could achieve anything I wanted! Working out helped me to feel powerful and unstoppable! Sharing that feeling with my clients and seeing the difference in their energy & mood when they left my classes felt incredibly satisfying.
When I came to Barcelona nine years ago, I first worked in a corporate job in IT. I soon felt that something was missing and so I started to set up an after-work fitness group to spend some time with my colleagues away from the desk and help them to stay fit!
Surprisingly, I managed to motivate many colleagues to join my classes who never felt strong enough, fit enough or confident enough to subscribe at a gym. They would feel looked at or judged, or felt the atmosphere in the gym was isolated and anti-social since people wouldn’t talk to each other!
Whereas with me, they felt motivated to join the workouts since they all shared the struggle, progress and victories and felt like they were in this together! They told me they loved the energy kick & positive feeling they got from the workouts and were actually looking forward to the weekly classes & connection drinks. It was then when I realised that I had created something powerful!
When I understood that I could make a difference in people’s lives by doing what I loved, I thought: This is what I need to do! This is my calling! And it’s my dream job anyways, so why not do this full time!?
How do you market your business and which strategies have been the most successful?
Instagram & Facebook posts are the most effective for me! I tried paid ads but I figured that I got more out of the organic traffic I generated!
How do you build a successful customer base in Barcelona?
During the last 2 years I have learned that it all comes down to the quality of the product/ service you provide! And that there is room for everything! In our case, I believe that the mix of the quality of the workouts & the personalised attention people get is the key! We have really experienced and passionate coaches, who have acquired several certifications, which help us to create effective & safe workout programs. People feel that directly when they come to our classes. We often experience that ‘newbies’ are surprised by our energy, the personal attention and corrections, they tell us they have never been corrected that much before! People don’t want to get hurt, and they want to see results, so the attention to the correct posture is a key component for that!
Next to that, we are very close to our BodyWorx’er community, we know everyone and we focus on bringing people together so that they are actually looking forward to coming to the workouts. Everything we do is destined to teach people that fitness can be a powerful and fun lifestyle component, which can make you feel unstoppable and very happy! I think this mindset is what attracts people and makes them become loyal BodyWorx’ers!
Is Covid19 affecting your business and if so, how do you deal with this?
Covid 19 has certainly affected our business in many ways! I have always wanted to start teaching online, but I was waiting to get a professional studio. “Thanks” to Covid 19, we were forced to start ONLINE workouts during lockdown, which helped us to grow our community internationally and reach many more people with our workouts. And even one year later, we are still kicking butt online with BodyWorx’ers all over the world! What an awesome feeling!
On the other hand, we have lost some of our BodyWorx’ers because they moved away. We also had to adapt our pricing model to be more flexible. Nowadays people want and need to be much more flexible, so we needed to respond to that trend by setting up a hybrid workout model which allows our community to train outdoor & online on demand.
Is it mandatory for you to speak Spanish and/or Catalan as an Entrepreneur in Barcelona?
For me personally it is not necessary, since our crew is very international. However, it certainly didn’t hurt that I spoke Spanish when I was dealing with the administrative side of being an entrepreneur in Barcelona! If you don’t speak Spanish, I would definitely advise that you get help with tax laws and other administrative tasks.
What advice would you give someone who is interested in starting their own business in Barcelona?
I think it’s been really helpful for me to network with other entrepreneurs and get their feedback about consumer behaviour and culture in Barcelona. So I would definitely advise you to connect with others in your field! I’d definitely recommend looking for partnerships to make yourself visible, or look for communities that you can collaborate/partner up with!
Do you have any additional comments to share with us?
As mentioned above, I really want to highlight the importance of networking with other entrepreneurs to get their feedback about consumer behaviour and culture in Barcelona.
Setting up BodyWorxHub and mixing my passion with work, was the best decision I have made so far! I especially love to work with people who are just starting their fitness journey or need coaching to change their lifestyle. Helping them to find true happiness in the art of “planking” is what feels like an achievement for me 😉 When our BodyWorx’ers take the time to write me “thank you” messages after a workout, that is a feeling no amount of money can buy!
If you’re interested in trying the BodyWorxHub way of life, check out our IG @Bodyworxhub and sign up for a 1 DAY FREE TRIAL!
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