Introduction
Have you ever wondered how to start a women’s only gym that not only turns a profit but also builds a powerful community? In this Q&A, we sit down with Natalie, the founder of The Girl Spot, a women’s only gym built to tackle gym harassment and intimidation. She shares her journey from facing online criticism and investor rejections to investing over £130,000 of her own money to create a safe space for women. This is a masterclass in turning a personal problem into a viable business solution.
Founder Success Story QnA
Can you give a breakdown of what this gym is?
So, The Girl Spot is a women’s only gym built to tackle gym harassment, gym intimidation, sexual harassment that happens in gyms for mixed women. I really wanted to tackle that and build something to prevent it.
Can you give a breakdown of what the total cost is to get this gym up and running?
So, we’ve gone way over budget. I think we’re looking at about £130,000 so far. Yeah. I’ve had to inject a lot of my own personal money back into the business again. Um, so yeah, way over budget.
Was there a point in your personal fitness journey where you felt like a space like this was missing?
Yeah. So when I was about 18 or 19 and I first joined the gym, I had a really, really negative experience. And I remember searching for a women’s only gym and there wasn’t any gym like for women that was for miles. And that’s when me and my business brain, I was like, “Oh my gosh, there’s a huge like gap in the market.” Um, how could I also be a part of fixing this problem? But it was based off of one gap in the market and two that emotional aspect of I had nowhere to go. And I thought, “Oh my gosh, how many other women have nowhere to go?”
Tell us a bit about your background. Did you go to uni? Is this your first business venture?
So yeah, I went to University of Birmingham and I was studying psychology, but I dropped out in second year because I realized it wasn’t for me. I think the studies and how kind of science-based psychology was and then I jumped straight into content and social media. I think I jumped straight into content immediately. Obviously being online is a form of a business, not similar to brick and mortar, but it is kind of navigating that business. And then as a fitness influencer, I went down the whole fitness guides, workout guides, and kind of putting that out there to generate revenue.
When launching a business, how important would you say is having your own website?
Very important. I think it’s important to send people somewhere that isn’t social media. I think especially if you have a wide target audience, it’s important to remember that not everyone’s on Instagram, not everyone’s on Tik Tok. And I think having a solid place online, a quick URL where people can see everything about your business, it’s incredibly important.
You launched this idea over 4 years ago. What are the first steps to actually opening a gym?
So, for me, my first barrier was capital. So my first steps were looking at business loans, looking at grants, seeking investors. I think opening a gym in general, obviously your first kind of task is location. If you don’t have a location, you don’t have a gym. So I think location and then what you kind of want the gym to represent. Obviously you have boutique gyms, you have huge gyms that kind of don’t have a specialty. My thing was like what do I want inside of it? What do I want the girls to represent? I think it came off the back of emotions. So I wanted it to have something where people came here and they felt something like I wanted that to translate hugely.
You raised £22K through GoFundMe and £20K of that was from Gymshark. How did that happen?
So obviously as a fitness influencer, I’ve worked with near enough every fitness brand I’d say across the board. Um, I was working with Gymshark at the time and I spoke to the team and I explained to them about wanting to do a women’s only gym and they really understood the mission in terms of just a safe space for women to thrive. And then we did like a mini pop-up in Birmingham at their headquarters. We had about 200 girls in my community come down. Yeah. We did self-defense classes, working out with the female trainers and just training in an environment for us. And then they said to me that they want to give me £20,000. And I was like, honestly, I was like in my brain I was like, “Oh the gym’s open.” Little did I know, um, I need a lot more. But no, it was so surreal. Like so grateful for it because I think hitting so many financial hurdles with not getting capital, that £20K just seemed like everything. I was like, “Oh my god, finally some kind of a yes.” Yeah. Helped bring it to life.
So the gym’s called The Girl Spot. How did you come about with that name?
Marketing wise, I wanted it to abbreviate to the G-spot. And it was just like a funny kind of marketing play on words so that the idea of like men never find it, the G-spot. Um, and again, it landed really well on social media. I think when I uploaded that Tik Tok, it did well over a million views. Um, a lot of people found it funny. But on a simple kind of note, The Girl Spot is cool, but it is because it’s a spot for girls and women to come and be in a space that’s curated for them.
I’ve seen you mention you spent like 7 hours a day on profit and loss sheets and making decks. So, what was that process like?
Very tedious, very tiring, very daunting as well. Like I think when I was doing those profit and losses, I remember going to Costa every day. I think I was 22. Yeah, 22 or 23. And as a new founder, I’ve never even thought of profit and loss, you know, like I didn’t even know what that meant. I didn’t know what margins meant, any of it. So I was sitting in Costa and I was so kind of like dumbfounded by all of this stuff I had to take in. And it was just it was very difficult. I’m not going to lie. But I knew it needed to be done, especially not having a team. If I didn’t do that, nobody else would do that. So I had to really kind of knuckle down and get my head in the game.
And during that period, why do you feel like investors didn’t buy into the idea at that time?
I think gyms, they’ve been going on for years, decades, and decades. They’re not a new concept. So, unless you kind of grasp the vision, you probably just see this as another gym. And it’s just like there’s so many of them out there. Also, like stat-wise, only 2% of funding goes to women. So, I knew I was at a disadvantage anyway. And I think again, a lot of investors are men. So, explaining a women’s only concept to male investors, they wasn’t grasping it. It was difficult for them to see the vision.
You pivoted and started creating workout plans. How did that go and how much money did you make from the workout guides?
So yeah, off obviously off the back of all of the notes from investors. I thought, “Okay, I’m very much like a let me take it into my own hands kind of person.” So I thought how can I generate the revenue that I need so bad? Sorry, the capital that I need so bad. And I was like, “Okay let me do low price workout guides.” I did three or four guides. They were three pounds, four pounds, five pounds. And I essentially just put on my Instagram and Tik Tok like, “Hey guys, like I’m generating like everything from this will go towards The Girl Spot. Like I really need this to come to life.” Um, and it went amazing. Like we it was just like another £1,000 new love every single day. Um, and I think people were very keen to support and be a part of like this movement. Um, and I ended up generating about £45,000 from those guides.
What would you say are the must-have features in this gym?
So, the must have features, one of them was the facility being pink. I really wanted people to come in here. It’s really light. It’s really calming and inviting. Um, and obviously we’re very much like a trauma informed space. So, when you come in here, you want to feel that kind of emotional support. Um, and then Khani’s Corner. This was a absolute must-have. So, this is like our recovery zone. I realize a lot of women don’t have a space to unwind in most gyms and I think it’s really important to kind of have that.
Talk us through the equipment. How did you come about choosing each apparatus?
Yeah. So the equipment was very intentional. I realized obviously in mixed gyms a lot of women feel intimidated. They don’t know what machines are. So a lot of the machines actually double over. So this is like a leg extension and leg curls. So quads and hamstrings. And then over there we have an abductor and adductor. So you can do your inner thighs and your outer thighs. So, a lot of the machines were very specific for what the girls ethos and breaking down that kind of intimidation. The equipment by itself, these were already done, but our squat racks were obviously custom. Um, we wanted to make sure that it was tailored to women as well. Um, because obviously a lot of machines are made for like the average kind of 6ft plus man. And obviously it being a women’s only gym, we wanted to add in smaller features that allowed it to be tailored to women specifically.
You mentioned an osteopath and a fertility acupuncturist. Can you explain that service?
So everything in here is very tailored to women’s physiology. If you’re going through IVF, she can help and support you on that. If you have PCOS, endometriosis, any hormone imbalances and our hormones, our menstrual cycle, it plays a huge part in our training. You know, like one week we can deadlift 100 kg. Then that time of the month comes and we’re barely touching 70, you know. So I want people to be able to have consultations wherever they are in their cycle and get support on that.
How did you come about finding the location?
Yeah, so again, like my must have when it came to location was it needs to be discreet. It needs to be tucked away to coincide with this space being a safe space for women. So, I remember viewing this property and I was looking at the footfall. There’s very minimal footfall here. Um, and I wanted to make sure it kind of stayed private. It doesn’t need to be on like a high street or a retail park. That kind of defeats the purpose in my eyes. Um, so yeah, that’s what kind of sold me on this property. Obviously, we’re based in South London, but I think even for example, the location of the gym, the address will never be on Google Maps. It will never be online. And that’s like my personal kind of commitment to making sure it stays a private space.
Let’s talk numbers. Your pricing model, how did you come to the price point you’re at now?
So, our price is kind of based on like member analysis, competitor analysis. Obviously, I’ve got to look at South London, the independent and the private gyms around here and stuff. And also just the value that we offer here. Obviously, this is a very thought-out, curated space. Um, and it’s very intentional. It’s very women focused. Like, you probably wouldn’t go to a commercial gym and have access to an osteopath and acupuncturist. So, all of that kind of came into it. Um, and I think as well, like our gym, it can be compared to other gyms, but we’re not competing on price. We’re competing on like impact, on intention, on all of that.
What memberships do you have to offer?
Yeah. So we’ll have our peak membership which will be £120 a month and then we’ll have off peak which will be around £105 and again that’s just to manage footfall, make sure not everyone’s kind of like in here at the same time. Um, we probably will roll out more memberships as well. So obviously we have our osteopath that will be here. So see if we can include that in one of the memberships and kind of make a more premium, luxe kind of membership as well.
There’s been a lot of reaction to your price point online. What’s your response to that?
I think no price point would ever cater to every demographic of people. I knew there’d be some people that are like yeah 100%. And some people are like no that’s too kind of expensive. But I think as the founder of this business, it’s not kind of my goal to kind of just sit there and look at the reactions. Like I know the value of The Girl Spot. I know everything that’s gone into it and I know my plans when it comes to scaling and franchising. So I think with me it’s just kind of like stay in tunnel vision, remembering the vision, the mission and kind of sticking to that too.
How many people have signed up before launch day?
About we’re on about 31,000 now of women that have registered their interest. Obviously, I think one from a business standpoint, like I said at the start, I knew there was a gap in the market and I think numbers like that prior to opening kind of solidify that this needs to happen. This needs to franchise and more women need safe spaces.
How did you build that waitlist?
So again, social media, like The Girl Spot at present is very personal branded. So I’m the face of it. Um, and I think again, I have a huge social media following. So when people kind of see me online, whether it’s personal stuff or showing up for The Girl Spot, people are like inclined to kind of watch and listen and engage. So if I’m entirely honest, I have not posted the link for the interest form in about 2 months at all. And in that space of two months, still about 14,000 women have registered their interest. I’m not shoving it in their face. Um, so at the start I posted it a couple times, but in the space of 48 hours of that list, 5,000 women registered their interest.
In terms of capacity in the gym, how many people can it hold?
So capacity is kind of hard to figure out with gyms. It’s obviously dependent on the size of the gym, also the equipment you have, but right now we’re looking at about 400 to about 450 in terms of max capacity of memberships, but that will be played by ear. We have to kind of gauge peak and off peak usage, the way that people kind of flow through the gym, the class rota, how much people are kind of going upstairs and staying down here.
Are you looking to franchise the business?
Yes, 100%. I think I want to make sure that every single one kind of still has the ethos and everything at the forefront because I don’t want it to ever be diluted or it would kind of make it pointless. Um, but I do really want to franchise probably after London, do Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds. Um, so yeah, if there’s any goodies that are in those cities, I’m coming your way. But I think I really want to put one in every town and every city. That’s really my goal because I always say there’s probably not a single city where there aren’t women that would appreciate a women’s only gym.
How did your influencer role come about?
So I was posting like videos that were on Instagram and stuff and then people were like you should post on YouTube. Obviously Tik Tok and stuff came around around the pandemic time and obviously it being shorter form content a lot of people jumped on it. Me being one of those people um, because it’s quicker to edit and then yeah like I just gained so many followers. I think I gained a million followers in a month actually on Tik Tok. Yeah. Like it was very surreal.
What type of content would you say does well at converting people into signing up for the waitlist?
So I do a lot of mic content, so wearing a microphone. So people know my voice. If you know my voice, then you’re going to feel like you kind of know me. So, I think any videos where I’m just kind of like talking to the camera, anything that’s got like a kind of whimsical comedy kind of aspect to it, I think without it actually being comedy, um, just showing my personality always does well. So, I think what allowed me to curate 30,000 women on the wait list is because I showed and documented the whole journey through that type of content, like from signing the lease when this place was like white walls to getting the equipment in and having equipment week doing kind of sneak peeks like it was constant. Everyone’s kind of constantly been on that journey.
I’ve noticed the phrase ‘pink tax’ a lot online. What is that?
I think pink tax is kind of like when something is made for women and then whoever is kind of running that business kind of exploits it and charges them a lot of money for it. So, you’re kind of paying tax on the fact that it’s made for women. Um, but The Girl Spot could just not be further from that. I think when you step in here, like I said, it’s only when you’re in here that you really grasp what you’re kind of getting for your money and also just the fact that it’s community based and all of that. Like gyms don’t offer supplements for free, you know? Like they’re not going to offer you access to an osteopath. You’re not going to have a recovery zone with massage guns.
What is the application process for actually signing up?
So members getting a membership here is kind of based on their values because obviously we’re such a community gym. We want to make sure everyone’s kind of aligned with the vision and the mission. Um, we’re all part of a community and that’s it’s kind of like a like-minded environment. So they kind of fill out like three questions about like why they want to be a member at The Girl Spot, like what it would mean to them um, and stuff. And then they upload a short video like a 10-second video saying what their number one fitness goal is so that we can ensure that we have the PTs that can kind of cater to whatever they need. And then the final step is just uploading a form of ID because obviously we’re a women only space.
You faced a lot of scrutiny, talks of you scamming people. How did this impact you?
So yeah, a lot of the allegations started when I was like 22 years old, so it was very heavy dealing with at the time. Um, but yeah, people were calling me a scammer. People were saying that I took money for my house, my rotating driveway, and only I knew all of the work I was putting in in the back end. So, when people were calling me that, I was going to like five, six networking events in a week to still get investors for my business. So, I knew where I stood. I had my own integrity, but that isn’t to say that it wasn’t difficult at the start. But again, it’s part of building a business in the public eye.
Is there any misconceptions that you would like to clear up?
What I would say is I wish more people would understand the vision and the mission, you know, and again part of being a founder is that not everyone will and you can’t make everybody understand. And so I think if more people understood what I was truly trying to do here in terms of safe spaces for women, women being at the forefront, women’s physiology, our menstrual cycles, all of that is what encompasses what I’m trying to do. So I think there’s a true misconception about me probably doing this for my own personal brand or for PR and it’s nothing of the sort. Everything in here and in this place and what I’m doing is basically for women.
What are some of the toughest moments along the way?
So I was in here viewing this property 4 weeks postpartum, like fresh out of a C-section, and I wasn’t healed. Like I was in a lot of pain, but I knew that I wanted to jump straight back into building The Girl Spot. Um, so yeah, I was standing here with my four-week old baby, four week post-surgery, just trying to get it done.
Natalie Business Stats
Natalie’s journey with The Girl Spot is a testament to resilience and strategic planning. From a significant personal investment to building a massive community before launch, her business stats are impressive for a startup in the fitness industry. Here’s a snapshot of her key metrics and what it took to get the doors open.
- Total Startup Investment: £130,000
- Pre-Launch Waitlist: Over 31,000 women
- Initial Capital Raised: £67,000 (via crowdfunding and guides)
- Maximum Gym Capacity: 400-450 members
- Primary Membership Price: £105 – £120 per month
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Startup Cost | £130,000 |
| Initial Funding (Gymshark) | £20,000 |
| Revenue from Guides | £45,000 |
| Waitlist Sign-ups in 48 Hours | 5,000 |
| Planned Franchise Cities | Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds |
Natalie’s Method
Natalie’s method for building The Girl Spot wasn’t just about securing a location and buying equipment. It was a deeply personal and strategic process rooted in solving a real problem. Her approach combines community building, savvy capital generation, and an unwavering focus on her mission. Here’s a breakdown of her core steps.
- Identified a personal problem and a market gap for women’s safe spaces.
- Sought traditional funding (loans, grants) and faced initial rejection.
- Leveraged her influencer status to secure a strategic partner (Gymshark).
- Created low-cost digital workout guides to self-fund the business.
- Documented the entire journey on social media to build a loyal community.
- Chose a discreet, private location to align with the brand’s safety mission.
Natalie’s Tools
To turn her vision into a reality, Natalie utilized a mix of modern digital tools and traditional business methods. These tools were essential for funding, marketing, community management, and financial planning, allowing her to manage the complex process of launching a brick-and-mortar business largely on her own.
- GoFundMe: Used for crowdfunding to secure initial capital and prove concept viability.
- Instagram & TikTok: Primary channels for building a community, documenting the journey, and driving waitlist sign-ups.
- Digital Guides (e-commerce platform): A crucial tool for generating £45,000 in revenue when traditional funding failed.
- Profit & Loss Sheets (Excel/Google Sheets): Used for meticulous financial planning and investor pitches.
- Presentation Decks (PowerPoint/Keynote): Essential for communicating her vision to potential investors and partners.
Key Notes
Natalie’s story provides several powerful lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those looking to learn how to start a women’s only gym or any community-focused business. Her success hinges on a few key principles that guided her through challenges and controversy.
- A strong, mission-driven brand can attract a passionate community before you even launch.
- Don’t be afraid to pivot and self-fund when traditional investment routes are closed.
- Documenting your journey authentically on social media is a powerful marketing tool.
- Resilience is crucial; be prepared to face public scrutiny and stay focused on your vision.
- Creating a safe and inclusive environment is a unique selling proposition that people will pay for.
Get Started in Just 5 Steps
Inspired by Natalie’s journey? Here’s how you can start laying the groundwork for your own community-focused business. These steps distill her multi-year process into actionable milestones for anyone looking to make an impact.
- Identify a Problem: Find a genuine problem you’ve experienced that you’re passionate about solving.
- Validate Your Idea: Talk to your target audience. Use social media to gauge interest and build an initial following.
- Start Small to Generate Capital: Like Natalie’s guides, create a low-cost digital product or service to fund your dream.
- Build Your Brand & Community: Document everything. Share your mission, your struggles, and your wins to create a loyal tribe.
- Plan Meticulously: Create detailed financial plans and business decks. Understand your numbers inside and out.
Conclusion
Natalie’s story of building The Girl Spot is a powerful example of how to turn personal adversity into a thriving business. By focusing on her mission, leveraging her community, and refusing to give up despite immense pressure, she has created more than just a gym—she’s built a movement. For anyone asking how to start a women’s only gym or any purpose-driven business, her journey proves that with tunnel vision and resilience, you can create a space that not only succeeds financially but also makes a real difference.