Today we’d like to introduce you to Garland Parsley.
Garland, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started teaching fitness classes about eight years ago. I hated my job at the time and was desperate to look for a way out. I took a lot of my work frustration out in workout classes. Then one day, an instructor asked me if I’d ever be interested in teaching. I had thought about it, but never really considered it. I knew I loved music and moving to music, but that was about it.
So as a way to bridge the gap from one job to the next, I decided to go through training to become an instructor. Before I knew it, I was teaching three methods and absolutely in love with it. Becoming a fitness instructor came at such a great time in my twenties as I evolved into the woman I am today, a lot of what I value and how I conduct myself came from leading classes. In turn, it taught me so much about my true self and who I wanted to be. In a way, my alter ego became my true self.
I didn’t view it as a job, but as a hobby I happened to get paid for. My full-time career was working as a brand manager for an advertising company. And when Covid hit, my teaching career came to a pause while we all adjusted to the new norm. I didn’t realize how important teaching was to me until I missed it terribly. But took that time to try new things when I could. Different ways to move my body and take note of what I liked about them. And I was just stacking up on inspiration for when I could get back in the studio and teach again.
An opportunity at my full time job in advertising presented itself that gave me a clean exit. I am not normally a “signs” kind of person, but I knew that this type of clean exit would never present itself again, and in that moment I felt drawn to making this insane jump and announced I was going to leave my job in order to pursue a wild dream of opening my own fitness studio. And that’s what I did. I searched for months to find a physical space, and in the meantime turned to teaching virtually. I took all that time to really think about what I wanted the studio to be and how it would differentiate itself and what it could offer people. I thought about what kind of leader I wanted to be in class, as well as for the business. And I thought about how it would feel like to finally work on something that I truly cared about. As long as I could execute those things, everything else I knew I could make anything work.
We were encroaching on my 1 year anniversary of leaving my job and I just really wanted to make sure I had something to show within a year. I had recently moved over to east Austin and always took note of the Holly Commons building. I made a few calls and within 48 hours we had an offer on the table and we were just waiting for all the correct parties to sign.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Oh, of course not. It’s been a long winding road for so many reasons and I plan on it staying that way. The first big obstacle was finally admitting to myself what I really wanted to do and overcoming the fear of saying it out loud and acting on it. I think I would joke about it and see how people would react to get a gauge on whether I could do it or not. And if they thought it was funny or didn’t think it was a real thought, then I would hide behind my joking manner. But finally having the courage to share this dream with people made me stronger AND it held me accountable to actually make a run at it.
The studio space isn’t even what I had originally envisioned. It was difficult to determine what were non-negotiable for the business idea and what were “nice to haves.” I had to adapt to what my reality was and I got to a point where my thinking was “just find a space and make it work.” Very much a Field of Dreams mentality – “if you build it, they will come.” That’s where my flexibility and my ability to adapt came through for me.
Being patient while looking for a space was an incredible challenge. We live in a world where most people can easily start a business online, but for me, working out in person was non-negotiable. While I taught virtually for months, I knew that was only a means to an end. Not only was I having a difficult time finding available spaces, I was having a difficult time finding spaces that would work for a fitness studio. So many detailed questions had to be answered before I could even consider the fact of whether I liked it or not.
And of course, the struggles continue every day. EVERY DAY I have to teach myself something new.
We’ve been impressed with Grit ATX, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Grit ATX east Austin’s newest fitness studio. It is locally-owned, female-owned and instructor-owned. All three descriptions fall under me, Garland. I take a lot of pride in being an instructor first and a business owner second. As a whole, Grit ATX’s guiding mantra is “Feel it before you see it.” – putting more emphasis on finding the joy in challenging yourself rather than looking for instant gratification. It is a place for all levels – a place where you don’t have to be perfect and hit every move, but a place where people can see you’re pushing yourself and are here to challenge you and support you all in one. We offer two signature classes, one mat-based and one spin-based to allow you to grow both your cardio capacity and strength. Both being rhythm-based, these classes allow you to have a good time while you’re challenging yourself.
Mat is a strength-building class that combines mat pilates elements with HIIT elements. In this 45-minute mat-based format, we’ll use dynamic muscle movements to target deep within while bursts of cardio leave you sweaty and your heart racing.
Spin is a rhythm-based class with no rankings, no metrics – just you going as hard as the music pushes you. You’ll find speed and resistance, separately and sometimes together, all the while getting lost in the music. Give yourself 45 minutes to turn your brain off and let your body move.
There’s so many interesting things about Grit ATX – first of its name, its location, the space in general – but one of my favorite things is how the schedule is set up. It encourages clients to try more than one type of class by having designated days for both spin and mat. Spin is taught on Mondays/Wednesdays/Saturdays. Mat is taught on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Sundays. (Closed on Fridays because everyone needs a day off!). To only do one type of workout over and over can get boring for your body, and to choose which workout to do can be overwhelming. So we just take care of that for you! I encourage everyone to come check it out with a New Client Intro offer – 2 classes for the price of 1, that way you can test out both classes before you dive all the way in with us!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I am the youngest in my family by a couple of years and with that, I learned to go with the flow. I was very easygoing and adaptable to pretty much anything.
Interests – I was super active, I grew up very competitive. I played every sport under the sun. I truly don’t know how my parents kept my schedule straight because not only did I play every sport, but they were all-year-round sports so it never ended. But I also LOVED to dance. My parents are great dancers and I would dance to anything/anywhere. Truly, to this day you could catch me dancing in the grocery store.
Pricing:
- New Client Intro – $24 for 2 classes
- 1 Class – $24
- 5 Classes – $115
- 10 Classes – $210
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.grit-atx.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grit_atx/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/gsp4tr
Image Credits
Personal Photo – Ashlee Newman Photography
