Andrea Lucas of All Active Pilates and Physio

Andrea is the founder of All Active Pilates and Physio based in Hillsborough, Lisburn. She started her Physio Led Pilates business in 2014.

Monday 22 June 2020

Andrea Lucas of All Active Pilates and Physio

Andrea is the founder of All Active Pilates and Physio based in Hillsborough, Lisburn. She started her Physio Led Pilates business in 2014 after her twins (children number 3 and 4) were born. Prior to Covid-19, the business was running 16 Mat Pilates classes, 8 Reformer classes and a busy Physio clinic in venues across Hillsborough and Lisburn. Andrea has a fabulous team of three other physiotherapists/ instructors and a sports massage therapist.

With the impact of Covid-19, plans for a new studio were put on hold for Andrea, so she then adapted her business strategy and successfully moved her Pilates classes online! “At the start I thought it was going to be a disaster for my business and just couldn't see how I could make the business work. However, I was encouraged to look for the opportunity, so I did”, states Andrea.

Determined not to let her clients down, Andrea managed to not to cancel a single class! Testing her Zoom Pilates classes with friends and family one weekend, when it became clear where things were heading. The following week, Andrea set everything up on Zoom and by that weekend, when lockdown began, the team were ready to go with all the classes online - “I had to transition quickly, and it was a lot of hard work, but I am so glad I did it. I worked individually with a lot of clients to help them get set up. A number of them are retired and/or not tech savvy, so had little to no experience at all with online stuff.”

The All Active Pilates and Physio community of clients has been so supportive and the feedback has been extremely positive for Andrea and her team. As they have been able to give them great value with access to unlimited live classes as they are also no longer restricted by venue size.

“Initially for me it was about supporting people through the lockdown and keeping them connected. I thought if I keep half my clients, I would survive but never expected that my online business would grow. I have many clients wanting to continue with the live online classes, which will further increase the number of people we are able to work with each week significantly, when our regular timetable returns”- Andrea Lucas.

All Active Pilates and Physio has also been able to support four local charities during the lockdown by running charity and wellbeing classes; helping to raise over £5000 for charities that have seen a reduction in their revenue during this crisis.

For Andrea, the lockdown has been a positive experience as she has enjoyed helping to support her community of clients as well as being able to diversify the business in a new direction. With time to reflect on the business, she has been able to improve her customer experience and streamlined the administration significantly. Andrea adds, “I have enjoyed more time to work on my business rather than in it and have been able to develop a clear path forward for growth in the months and years ahead. I have also had time to reflect and realise that I need to build the business in a way that it does not consume me. That part is a work in progress!”

Andrea is delighted to be able to share a Pilates class with all the amazing ladies connected with Women in Business, that you can do in your own time.

WIB Members can click here to register for the class.

All Active Pilates and Physio are currently taking online bookings for their new summer program which is outlined below.

The online channel includes a mix of 1 hour classes from beginner to intermediate level as well as short 10 minute classes for the abs, shoulders, glutes and legs and release work using the foam roller and spikey balls!

Click here to book the summer course online.

If that was not generous enough from Andrea! She is also offering a ‘refer a friend or join with a friend’ offer at the moment- both people will receive a free gift (pilates prop) when they sign up!! Check out the All Active Pilates and Physio Instagram and Facebook or visit the website for further information.

Monday 22 June 2020