Rachel Woolford is one of the contestants who stars in this year’s series of The Apprentice.
But prior to her attempts to gain investment from Lord Alan Sugar, she opened her own fitness business.
Who is Rachel Woolford?
Rachel Woolford set up her own gym right at the start of Covid lockdown.
In 2020, she bought a gym which she called North Studio and was due to open up to the public in March of the same year. However, the introduction of the UK’s “stay at home” order meant that her business plans were pushed back by several months.
Eager not to let the pandemic set back her business, she used the extra time to carefully refine her brand in order to get it off to the best possible start when it launched.
“I have no doubt that starting up during Covid made me a tougher person all round,” she said.
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The premise of her fitness studio came about when she noticed a gap in the market in Leeds.
She became aware that the city had plenty of big chains but few that offered a range of payment options.
“Consumers demanded flexibility in how to pay for their gym and variability in types of group exercise classes on offer.
“I couldn’t believe North Leeds had nothing like this so with a huge passion for business and fitness I viewed multiple units around Leeds eventually securing our premises in Roundhay,” she explained back in 2020.
“Our flexible payment options mean you don’t need to make any fixed financial commitments to us like a usual monthly gym membership if you don’t want to.
“You can pay as you go by buying a pack of passes or for those who know they can commit regularly there are of course monthly memberships available.”
Woolford took on an all-encompassing role when she first launched her business, doing everything from teaching to finance, to even cleaning the studio.
She says that the biggest lesson she has learnt in business is to know when to step back.
Woolford said: “Once I learnt that it’s ok to delegate and outsource some of these jobs, I started to scale my business.
“I finally understood the phrase ‘work on your business, not in it’.”