Caryn Campanelli is the co-owner/founder of Forged Soul Fitness. Caryn is a certified personal trainer and 500hr Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). She also holds a variety of other certifications such as barre, boxing, dance fitness, and Reiki Master. Her primary focus is on inspiring women to give up the war on their bodies and to focus on feeling good in their skin by helping women recognize their own individual bodies’ needs to be healthier rather than forcing painful or frustrating exercises on themselves.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I have a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Law/Justice. I also hold a master’s degree in Criminal Justice. I knew at a young age I wanted to help others through public service. I have a long history of public service beginning with emergency medical services at 16 years old. During this time I realized being at war with my own body wasn’t helping me with my goals and I set on a path of learning all sorts of the exercise movement, nutrition, and mindfulness practices to help myself so I can be of better service to others.  

What inspired you to start your business?

I was trying to find fitness studios that would offer a variety of classes that I could vary up my exercise depending on the day. I was having a hard time finding that, so my partner and I just began doing our own workouts while carving out corners of a gym here and there. People just gravitated towards us and began asking if they could exercise with us, and we realized this was something our community needed.

Where is your business based?

Forged Soul Fitness is in the Cedar Brook section of Winslow, NJ in Cedar Brook Plaza. The mailing address is 24 N. Route 73, Berlin, NJ 08009.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

The first step was to secure a location. We knew we wanted to serve the Winslow community because we also live there and care about the community, so the location was incredibly important to us and we knew securing the right location was our first step. Once we were into deeper negotiations with the landlord for the location, we formed the business with the state and IRS.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

I’ve found personal contacts and word of mouth have been the most effective way of raising awareness. We began gaining attention initially through Facebook town talk pages and going out to local community events. We enjoy offering up free community classes on holidays and that’s been extremely helpful for introducing people to our facility and making them feel welcomed to try us out without any pressure.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Some of the biggest challenges we have faced is overcoming the physical limitation of our storefront and the mental hurdle of offering an affordable service without undervaluing ourselves. Offering a wide variety of classes requires different space and equipment needs for each type of class. Shortly after opening, we found our studio could not adequately handle our increasing membership and equipment needs. We were fortunate we were able to expand into the unit next to us and double our size. This allowed us the ability to hold simultaneous/overlapping classes to handle our increased membership and gave us more storage space for equipment.

Our other major challenge was overcoming the mental hurdle of not undervaluing our services. We obviously wanted to offer the best price we could to people, but we had to come to realize we have a business to run. With running a business your time is valuable, even more so in a service-oriented business. We had to take into consideration our time, cost to run the business, and the expertise for the service we offer and priced ourselves accordingly. We realized we may not be for everyone and some may not want to pay for these types of services and memberships when big box gyms offer $10-$20 a month pricing, but those who do join us find our price is unmatched for the service we provide.   

How do you stay focused?

Staying focused comes from seeing the need for our services.  It is a unique experience watching our members achieve the goals they have set for themselves. By witnessing our members’ journeys and becoming more comfortable in their own bodies, my motivation and focus are continually renewed. 

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Forged Soul Fitness differentiates by putting the members first. We intentionally keep our classes small so we can give the best-personalized attention to our members in a group setting. We have a frequent and open line of communication with our members both in and out of the studio so that we can be of better service to them. While our business is about improving health, that includes the mind too. We want to keep exercise fun in order to keep people interested, engaged, and committed. We routinely add in new classes or events such as ladies’ night belly dancing at wineries, yoga at breweries, and barre classes at a lake or pool. Our goal is to provide not only fitness classes but a community in which members can move, sweat, and laugh together while supporting each other.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Providing the best service and experience we can to our members has been our most effective marketing strategy to grow our business. When our members are happy they sing our praises to their family, friends, and others, which in turn brings in more people.  As we continue to offer the best we can by consistently improving our course offerings and providing personalized attention, our member retention stays high and our membership continues to grow.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

The best piece of advice I have is to speak with people in the business you are interested in. When we decided to open, I spent many hours talking to people who owned studios. I invited them for drinks and dinner and soaked up everything they had to tell me. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I scouted out as many places as possible to see how they do things and what I liked or didn’t like about it. This helped me to not only get advice and lessons learned from others, but I could actually see other places in operation and help identify what was important to me. 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My current favorite app is Insight Timer. It’s a way for me to shut my brain off and allow myself to be guided with meditation. It’s a fantastic way for me to get a little me time in without my brain wandering off. I don’t have a favorite book but love historical fiction. Historical fiction allows me to learn about the past and imagine living in simpler times with the addition of fictional fun. After I read the book, I take the time to research the people, places, and things in the book to see what was historically accurate. It gives me an appreciation for our history and ways to incorporate simpler times into our overstimulated lives today.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

My favorite business tool is our member management software, fitDEGREE! If anyone wants to chat about them, let me know and if you check them out, tell them I sent you! They are not the typical member management software and there’s much more real human interaction with the company. It’s not only helpful to our everyday scheduling, payment processing, reporting, and member management, but it also serves as a social network for the members, allowing them to “friend” each other and invite friends to class. This lets them see when their friends will be in class and motivate them even further when maybe they were considering skipping out.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I don’t have a single business role model, but I do value and appreciate women and minority business owners. It is difficult as a whole to create and manage a business, but the added challenges of female and minority-owned businesses just make that successful shine that much more. It’s important to learn from each other. Just as I had real meetings with other business owners when getting ready to open Forged Soul Fitness, it’s important to continue to network and learn from others.

How do you balance work and life?

It is so important to balance work and life. One of the things I do is make sure that no matter how busy I am, I still schedule a time for friends and family. We make sure to plan things that we like to do and with people, we like to see. By making this a priority and considering these plans just as I would a meeting, it ensures that no matter what, that time is important and dedicated to non-business life.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

My favorite way to decompress is to get my own yoga practice where I can just be in my own mind and body. Equally important for me is reading. I make lists and regularly check out books from the library. There’s something special about holding physical books and knowing someone else has read that same book. For a bit of time, I’m transported to a different world and my imagination gets to play a bit. This gives me a complete break from all the stressors of the day.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

Over the next six months, we plan to improve our online video library for emergencies such as Covid-19 shutdowns or for when members are away from the studio for work travel, vacation, etc. In addition, we will be adding more equipment and classes and providing more in-depth training to help members and clients deepen their own knowledge and understanding of different exercises, nutrition, and mindfulness. We have some events planned with additional community partners to continue to strengthen our bonds in this community and to get outside of our studio more!

How can our readers connect with you?

I can be reached via e-mail at caryn@forgedsoulfitness.com, Facebook (Forged Soul Fitness), and Instagram (forgedsoulfitness).