Photo courtesy Nori Athletics.
Entrepreneurs. Fitness coaches. Ener-C aficionados: Meet the owners of Vancouver BC-based Nori Athletics. We sat down with this personal training power couple to learn more about their growing business, their goals and how they've adapted their offerings to a shifting pandemic landscape.
How did your partnership begin?
We met at a commercial gym we worked out of. Novette was a personal trainer and Michelle worked at the front desk. We soon realized we held the same values and goals and not long after, Michelle also became a trainer. After a few months, we got to be known as the "trainer duo". Eventually, we realized that our values didn't match up to our employer's. The vision we had for helping our clients and how we desired to help them was not supported within the company, so we knew we had to start our own business, and Nori Athletics was born. While it was the hardest and scariest decision we've made to date, it was the best one and totally worth it!
What kind of services do you offer?
We offer Private and Tandem Personal Training. We also do Bootcamps in the summertime to bring our community together. Lately, we've been opening our schedule up for more online coaching. We do private online coaching, as well as group membership-based coaching. We enjoy working with busy entrepreneurs, office workers, moms, and dads because we know these people tend to give a lot to others, but neglect themselves in the process which actually happened to us when we first started the business. What differentiates us is, we focus on helping our clients—whether in-person or online—in finding a sustainable routine for both their exercise and nutrition. We know that it's also not just about exercise and nutrition, but the other habits in our lifestyle like sleep and stress management that will affect the results. Sustainability is important for reaching your goal, but also maintaining the results after.
How has the global pandemic impacted your business model?
As the famous Ross in the series Friends says: "PIVOT!" We've learned that what is important for our business is our ability to adapt and pivot accordingly. Playing the waiting game, and hoping things turn back to normal does not change the reality. Due to restrictions and gym closures, we've had to lean towards helping people online. It was a difficult decision and something we had to adjust to, but with our amazing community, we were able to get through it. We also learned how heavily the restrictions weighed on people mentally, and take extra care of our client's mental health by giving them methods to cope with stressful times.
What are your favorite things about your work?
We get to work together, for one. Sharing ideas and growing our business is always a fun game we enjoy playing. Next to that, the most rewarding thing in our business is definitely seeing our clients' lives literally change. Before we started our business, we knew we wanted to change lives, but we didn't know it would happen so soon. To see that we've been able to help these people become the heroes of their stories through education and coaching has been so fulfilling. Seeing the smile come across their faces after completing a session and knowing we helped them by just being there, listening, or giving advice, is something we can never forget.
Where would you like to be in five years?
We've collectively helped over 120 people and we don't want to stop there. Knowing we physically have the power to change people's lives for the better is a power we know we can't take for granted and one we need to continue to use. In 5 years, we want to be helping people on a bigger scale by adding like-minded people to our team and helping people globally online. We want to continue to work with local companies, helping them grow, and supporting them by having them within our own facility. We hold mental and physical health very deep in our hearts and want to continue to share the knowledge we have not only through coaching clients, but speaking at events and holding our own events, like our challenges.
How do you balance your personal and professional relationships?
What has helped us a lot is frequently discussing our needs and goals in both our relationship and our business. We have set boundaries around when we work, and when we can just relax and enjoy each other's company. We know that in order for our business to grow, we also have to grow as individuals outside the business, and we support each other's growth. Just like we work on our business, we know we can never stop working on our relationship, and having that mindset around ourselves and the relationship has helped tremendously. We are also super thankful for being able to work together because we are always on the same page, and understand one another's hectic schedules!
What's your favourite flavour of Ener-C?
If we really had to pick it would be the Berry from the
Ener-C Sport line, and the
Peach Mango Multivitamin. All your products taste amazing, but it's what's inside them that keeps us coming back. They're packed with necessary minerals and vitamins for us to be on top of our game. We take it when we are working on our computers, working with clients, or working out, because it helps us maintain our energy levels with our busy schedules. You're also a local company that has amazing values around health, and if there are ways we can support you so more people can reap the benefits of what you guys are doing, we will!
Novette and Michelle are the owners of Nori Athletics. You can learn more about their approach and philosophy on their podcast, Nori Athletics Lifestyle on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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