#33: How curiosity around health/fitness turned into a passionate side hustle
Manasa was curious about solving her own health issues which eventually made her way to her side hustle as a Pop Pilates instructor and a women's coach specialist
Today's issue features Manasa Kannan, a risk consultant at one of the Big 4 consulting firms, who works as a women's health specialist and a Pop Pilates instructor on the side.
đ§đťââď¸ Conducts 1-on-1 training for 45+ people
đ Started a community of 60+ women fitness instructors
đ¤¸ââď¸ Has done personal fitness coaching for 40+ women
*** Manasa conducts offline Pop Pilates classes regularly in Bangalore. There are online classes too. Do check out her classes
Solving own health issues led to finding a monetizable and passionate side hustle
Our hustler today, Manasa, was born and brought up in Bengaluru - the Silicon Valley of India. After being diagnosed with a hormonal imbalance condition called PCOD (Polycystic Ovarian Disease) in her early 20s, Manasa was horrified by the misguided information she received regarding her condition. Being on the lookout for a sustainable workout format that would build a better relationship with her body and exercise, In the journey of managing her lifestyle, she came across Pop Pilates. After falling in love with Pop Pilates, Manasa became a certified Pop Pilates instructor and started conducting group classes (online and offline), and eventually ventured out into personal training. To manage her PCOD, Manasa delved deeper into womenâs health and eventually became a certified womenâs coach specialist.
Managing a health condition fueled the passion for becoming a fitness instructor
Manasa was raised by typical South Indian parents. Her parents had studied Commerce and were doing well in their respective careers. So, Manasa was also encouraged to pursue Commerce. Post college, she joined an MNC with a good pay package. Exploring any passion or side hustle was never in the roadmap for her; just like everyone else around her who believed that having a steady job post-college was the only way to survive.
Manasa used to be a skinny girl from her teenage years till her early 20s, so much so that she was not even capable of pushing a hefty door. Her family constantly encouraged her to eat more and gain weight. In late 2019, she finally joined Cult Fit (an Indian fitness company that conducts group classes by trained and certified instructors). Attending Cultâs offline classes was a new experience for her. She felt in tune with her body for the first time while doing Cultâs group workouts and all she could concentrate on was that little timer with the number of minutes and seconds which proved to be a great distraction at that point in her life. Little did she know at that time that she would be an instructor conducting group fitness classes.
When the COVID pandemic hit, the gyms were closed and Manasa started searching for other ways to keep going with her exercise routine. Around the same time, she got diagnosed with PCOD. She had gained weight, had irregular cycles, and was in a bad mental state. Frustrated with the advice on managing PCOD, Manasa started to do her own research. During her research to workout better at home, she came across Pop Pilates - a combination of pilates, cardio, and flexibility movements choreographed to the beat of the music. The first time she did a Pop Pilates workout, she instantly fell in love with the workout. She was following Blogilates Youtube channel for the workouts and came across the certification conducted by Pop Pilates Life to become a Pop Pilates instructor. Manasa completed her 3 months instructor training program in July 2021 but didnât muster up the courage to start teaching until Jan 2022.
Trial and error to become a practicing fitness instructor
After finishing her training as an instructor, being a newbie in the fitness instructor world, Manasa had no idea how to get started. Her first resort was to reach out to a fitness studio near home and announced her first class. With no idea regarding how to spread the word about her class, she asked her friends to share about her inaugural class on social media. She priced her class at INR 250 for an hour. For her first class, only 2 people showed up - her best friend and one person who mistakenly booked the class thinking it was a form of Yoga class.
As she continued to conduct more classes consistently, a decent number of people started attending her classes regularly and were loving the workout format as much as she did. While she gained confidence, she wasnât paid well by the fitness gym. But she continued finding fitness studios and pitched them about Pop Pilates with the offer to do a demo class. Two studios agreed and with this, she was able to find a trusted audience for herself. Now around 12-15 people were attending her classes and this gave her more confidence as an instructor. In the meantime, she collaborated with a few brands and conducted various events to build her audience and her name as well. With more and more people attending her classes from all walks of life, all age groups, and of course from various fitness backgrounds, she was learning more about how good she was at teaching, how loved she was by her participants, and how Pop Pilates evolved every person by leaving them waiting to come back to another session.
Venturing as a fitness solopreneur and becoming a womenâs health coach
After conducting fitness classes for a few months at nearby fitness studios, Manasa decided to venture out on her own with her newly built confidence as the audience that followed her. She now knew how to go about being a fitness solopreneur - from renting a studio at a location that attracts more people to pricing her classes at a decent but affordable price. She currently has a group of 65+ people interested in her classes and they are mostly attended by 10-12 people every week.
Manasaâs own experience with battling PCOD and the myriad of absurd information triggered her interest in womenâs health. After coming across other women facing PCOD, it really hit Manasa that when it comes to womenâs health there is a lack of body literacy amongst women themselves. Being a âcourse hoarderâ, and always on the lookout to learn more, she came across the Womenâs coach specialist certification by Girls Gone Strong. Her thirst for learning and knowledge is unbounded and for her, doing these courses and certifications was a way to learn more about her own body and make changes to her health and fitness routine accordingly and if it worked for her, to help others like her regain the confidence in understanding their bodies and working with it instead of against it. Post this certification now, Manasa also designs programs as per womenâs physiology and menstrual cyles. She is currently exploring further into being a Functional Hormone Specialist and Trauma-informed Personal Trainer with the intention to bring a change in the way women train and take care of their health and fitness.
More side hustle ideas stemming from the passion for womenâs health
Today Manasa not only conduct online and offline group classes but also 1-on-1 personal coaching for women. And all of this she does while having a full-time job in risk consulting.
Her side hustle journey is still showing the way to new ideas. When you have discovered something thatâs your purpose, the ideation never stops. In her journey to establish herself as a woman fitness solopreneur, Manasa faced many hurdles. With the intention that no one else faces those hurdles, she is actively working on creating a supportive community of women fitness trainers, called FTU (Female Trainers Unite) where women in health/wellness support, learn, grow through each otherâs experience, share information on upskilling, growing their businesses, and more. She regularly hosts masterclasses, and knowledge-sharing sessions on nuanced topics like body image resilience, eating disorder, etc. Along with this, FTU has also hosted a few online and offline meetups for this community. In just 4 months, she has built a community of 60+ women fitness trainers.
Another idea she wants to build in the future is an online platform where women who are on the lookout for their best-fit women trainers can find each other easily. She conducted a small survey and found out that women are more comfortable training with women coaches as they feel safe, understood, and not intimidated in the presence of a woman coach. Still, at the idea validation stage, this platform will have certified women trainers with verified testimonials.
If you want to explore a side hustle as a fitness instructor, Manasa recommends first getting started by finding your niche in the fitness world as it is vast and there is too much competition. And once you know this side hustle is your calling, Manasa recommends not to stop on one certification but to be up to date if you want to build a sustainable fitness solopreneur business. You will come across instances where people will not support you or show up to your classes etc, that is part of the ebb and flow of being a fitness instructor and it is up to you to be grateful for the few who do show up and who do reach out to you for continued support and trust you as their coach. For anyone interested in exploring a side hustle related to fitness seriously, feel free to reach out to Manasa on her Instagram.
âIf you ever get a calling/interest in something, just go for it. If you feel yourself thinking about this idea/purpose when you sleep and get up and it is at the back of your mind all the time, go for it. If you feel like you can pursue this for the next 30-40 years, go for it. Donât get started with a side hustle for money. Always know that side hustle income is your passion income as I term a side hustle job to be a driver of passion that you want to monetize. The most important skill for you as a side hustler should be to network. Attend as many events as possible, get out of your comfort zone because being a side hustler requires you to, write cold emails/messages to the people who you want to work with, and sell yourself and your service when someone asks âWhat do you do?â because that is the easiest way for people to know you. The fitness world requires everyone to talk about you to others when you are present amongst them and especially, when you are absent. I have found that to be the most valuable tool to pitch your business."
Manasaâs advice to anyone starting a side hustle
Hustlers Insights of the Week
Keep at it, consistently: Many times people leave their side hustles mid-way when they donât see any results instantly or do not receive support. But the beautiful outcome of side hustles is revealed once you know that you are in it for yourself and not for others. You are at it despite the challenges. Manasa kept taking classes despite not getting paid well and the different challenges she had to undergo, and the experience gained by taking these eventually helped her build the confidence to go solo as a fitness instructor.
Do-it-yourself approach: You might not always find people to help you out with the interest you are exploring, especially in the beginning. So, do your own research, and figure out a way to educate yourself from the information and courses available online. Manasa discovered Pop Pilates via her Do-it-yourself mindset.
New ideas stem from one side hustle: If you are passionately working on just one side hustle, be rest assured that if you pay close attention you will never run out of side hustle ideas. Manasa just got started with Pop Pilates and eventually also got into womenâs health coaching and running a community for women fitness trainers.
If you are interested in building and launching your side hustle on the internet and still sitting on the fence, do apply for the June 2023 cohort of our flagship program Build - an online cohort + community to build and launch your side hustle in 4 weeks.
â700+ hustlers have so far launched their side hustles via the Build program. We select only 100 hustlers per cohort and very few spots are left now.
Apply now to get started with your first side hustle.
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