Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Eddings.
Kyle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Fitness in the Loop was launched to fill a need of the city’s growing fitness community. When I moved to Houston from Illinois a little over 10 years ago, I quickly realized that there were few places to find out about what was going on ‘fitness-wise’ here in the City. I would always find out about fitness events after they happened. I even went to one of the big corporate gyms for months until I found that there was a cross-training gym hidden only 3 blocks from my apartment. The information was all word of mouth and, with so many other transplants in the city, I realized that I was not alone in looking for fun and exciting fitness events and coming up empty-handed.
I started work on the idea about 4 years ago, but it was just about two years ago that I launched Fitness in the Loop on social media. At the time, it was purely as an informational site where I posted anything and everything that was going on in the Fitness world here. Soon after that, we started growing and people started asking if we would host workouts. We decided that Fitness/Charity workouts would be a great idea and a fun way to give back to the City. My wife Megan Eddings (Founder + CEO of Accel Lifestyle) and I choose the local charity, location, instructor, and we are always impressed with how many Houstonians want to participate. We also get incredible donations for raffles from various studios around town such as Ryde, Black Wolf CrossFit, Black Swan Yoga, Soul Cycle, Dance House Fitness, and many others. Houston has been so generous with donating for our events and after our first Fitness/Charity class, we knew we were onto something unique, fun and meaningful for Houston.
At the end of 2017, we began to have local bars reach out to us to ask about hosting yoga and boot camps at their venues in order to build their voice and presence in the community. This was just the opportunity we were looking for and Fitness is the Loop has grown substantially since then. We have been extremely happy to host a weekly Free Yoga Class for the community every Sunday at Spring Street Beer & Wine Garden for over 6 months now! Currently, we also host a donation based boot camp on Mondays at Toros in Sawyer Heights, a Tuesday Yoga at 7 pm at A 2nd Cup, where half of the proceeds go to survivors of human trafficking. We also provide a Yoga Class for the weekly Blue Field Market in Eado at Sports Creek and have many more locations lined up for the summer.
We have built an impressive list of yogis and boot camp instructors and we now offer weekly classes to apartments and corporations in order to enhance the living or working experience of their tenants and employees. We always choose the hottest instructors from the hottest studios/gyms here in Houston. We want to show Houston that you can have a fantastic workout virtually everywhere and we always push the “social aspect” after class in order for people to stay and get to know each other. We are now at bars, restaurants, and apartments and are excited to say we signed our first corporate partnership in March with one of the top companies to work for in Houston. We are bringing fitness to their office 4 times a week and they have over 700 employees. All of the research shows that moving and getting the heart rate up does wonders for productivity and mood, so we are excited to bring our classes to even more corporations soon.
We still promote local fitness events and businesses through social media promotion. We assist new studios by increasing their community exposure, or existing studios to get a boost in their numbers. We do this in many ways: we can simply report their promotions, create content for them and post on our social media, or take a class at their studio and post about it. We are known to show a lot of these studios in very creative ways, including epic boomerangs… haha! We have a purely organic social media presence that we are very proud of. I have been happy to see this growth and venues that partner with us can rest comfortably knowing that all of our audience and followers consists of real people that are interested in fitness here in Houston.
Fitness in the Loop has transformed since its inception based on the need we have seen in the community. I have been very happy to become a part of the Fitness, Health and Wellness growth here in Houston. To know that we have helped others with their goals, whether it be to meet new friends, lose some lbs, or become more mindful, gives us a real sense of joy. We also love that we can combine fitness and give back to a city that we love so dearly. We will continue to service the community by offering fun and exciting fitness experiences, as well as letting them know about new and trendy studios opening up around town.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been a fun road, but not always a smooth one. I have built the bulk of Fitness in the Loop while working a full-time corporate job as a Managing Director for an Oil & Gas consultancy. I travel quite a bit and it is a lot to juggle. On top of that, I am vegan and one of my passions is helping others with a vegan lifestyle. Last year I took a Plant-Based Nutrition Course through Cornell University in order to better serve those looking for answers. Again, it can be tough to juggle so many things at once, but I love fitness, and I love helping others through fitness, health, and wellness.
As far as the real struggles that I would advise others on, there are a few. Be prepared for the unexpected. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but as someone starts their own company, things are going to happen that you would never expect. Handle every obstacle with class and make sure you do your research. I would recommend anyone starting out to do deep research on any names or taglines that they plan on using. It is big business here in the States to sue or threaten to sue if you use someone else’s protected words. Thankfully I have a wonderful lawyer and rest at ease when threats come along. I never thought I would have to get an attorney involved by using standard words in the “fitness world”. I am happy that everything has worked out in our favor, but it definitely took some time and energy to address.
Secondly, I would say is to be patient (and consistent) with your social media. There is such a pull these days to have tens or hundreds of thousands of followers in order to be perceived as legitimate. Since we know we can simply buy followers these days, there is a real struggle inside on if we should or shouldn’t. Personally, however, I believe in organic growth. I want my followers to be real and if that takes some time, then it’s ok. You don’t want to end up with 30k followers and have virtually zero engagement. The amount of followers does not necessarily mean a thriving company. We focus on quality, giving back to the community, engagement and trying to bring joy to people’s lives. Thirdly I would say to remain positive. With starting a business, there will always be frustrations.
At the same time, though, there will also be amazing things that you never saw coming. Focus on the great things, deal with the frustrations, remember why you started, and keep going. We have a tendency to get caught up on the little snags when overall, everything is going amazingly. There are always snags, that’s life, but you’ve got to stay positive and remember why you started. For me, I love fitness and I love growing Fitness in the Loop. I love meeting new people, engaging with the community and hearing that we brought happiness to people’s lives. Every once in a while I hit a snag, and it has really been my wife that has helped me to remain positive and develop this mindset. It has helped greatly with everything, not just business but in life.
I would also echo something that my wife says, which is ‘if you have an idea, go for it’. Many of us work corporate jobs that can literally drain the life out of us. We have ideas, but fear keeps us at that desk. If you have an idea, take the time to research the market for that idea. We know from experience that, with hard work, surrounding yourself with a positive community and being kind, you can do anything you put your mind to. Fitness in the Loop filled a need here in Houston and continues to evolve as the fitness scene evolves. Our needs tend to be a bit different than the other large cities and our fitness culture is growing in a different way than in the other big cities. There is so much opportunity for people here in Houston, just go for it!
Please tell us about Fitness in the Loop.
We are known best for providing exciting fitness experiences all around town, with a focus on building the community. With 4 regular workouts per week and, at times, an extra 2-3 pop-up workouts per week, people know that if they come to one of our workouts, they will have an awesome time with an awesome workout. We are also trusted in the community with recommending studios, events, and services that provide a great experience and value.
What sets us apart from others is that we are all-inclusive. We host free, donation and paid workouts and everything we do is ‘all levels’. This means that you can be a beginner or an athlete and we will scale the workout accordingly to make sure that you are challenged, but keep on smiling (at least for most of the workout…haha!). We focus on the experience and the community building aspects and we carefully choose instructors that embody fun, excitement and laughs. We are so fortunate that Houston has absolutely incredible instructors that have been amazing friends. We would never have met this whole community if we didn’t start Fitness in the Loop.
The biggest things are the smallest things and when someone walks up to me and tells me what Fitness in the Loop has done for them, it just fills my heart with pride. I am extremely proud of the fact that we can help people reach their fitness goals and be that ‘something different’ in the community when it comes to a workout. This year we’ve had Beyonce and Biggie themed yoga events, had events on rooftops, poolside, in parks, bar patios and soccer fields. We can create a great experience out of the many types of venues that Houston has to offer and we love doing just that!
Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
I use the Calm app for morning meditation and it has literally changed my life. Guided meditation has enabled me to think more clearly during tough situations, increased my patience, and generally made me a calmer, happier person.
My two largest resources have been my wife and my brother. Both are extremely ‘hungry’ entrepreneurs with success written all over them. I can run my ideas by both of them and know that I will get valuable, honest feedback and that both will be from different angles. My wife Megan has kept me positive and striving for what makes me happy ever since we met. I would not be where I am right now without her in my life.
The other resource would simply be the fitness community as a whole. I feel like every time I go to one of our events, I end up having an engaging conversation with a new person. I feel a great happiness from connecting with positive people and exchanging ideas.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fitnessintheloop.com
- Email: kylew@fitnessintheloop.com
- Instagram: Fitness in the Loop
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/fitnessintheloop
Image Credit:
Kyle Eddings
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