The following was written by special guest Alex Counts, Social Entrepreneur, Founder of the Grameen Foundation, and Consultant to mission driven organizations.
"I don't really like teaching online fitness classes, but when you're in business, you do what you have to do." With those words, Alyssa Nichols, the founder of Eunoiafit and a LiftFund client, captured the grit and determination of thousands of microentrepreneurs and small business owners around the country.
On a recent Monday afternoon, in between morning and evening classes held in her South Dallas gym, Nichols was reflecting on how she pivoted to online offerings during the early days of COVID to keep her business afloat. But before long, she was also explaining how LiftFund's financing and support had made all the difference in allowing her to upgrade her facility, offerings, and impact.
A Baylor graduate and athlete who was drawn to the fitness and wellness industries, Nichols had spent her early years out of college teaching classes and serving as a personal trainer to individuals; from the beginning, she emphasized the value of strength training. She was especially focused on Black and Hispanic women, though she served anyone who sought her guidance. With unhealthy and sedentary living being endemic in Dallas and around the country she saw an opportunity to serve women in what she calls a "no shame zone."
So, in 2018, she launched Eunoiafit, with crucial support from LiftFund in the form of a microloan and less tangible, but no less important, moral support. A LiftFund staff member in the Dallas area helped Nichols navigate the paperwork needed to receive the loan and even became a personal training client of hers for three years.
Since then, Nichols has received additional capital from LiftFund. Each round of financing allowed her to augment what she could offer to women seeking not just fitness and wellness; the expansion made possible from the grant and loans also allowed her to create a supportive community of people being proactive with their health.
Nichols is constantly innovating, often using the skills she acquired while completing an art degree at Baylor University. For example, she developed a program called "StrongHER Than" and designed compelling posters to market it. Her emphasis on strength training reflects not just her own fitness philosophy but also the growing body of research showing that this kind of regimen is at least as important as aerobic work for holistic fitness and living a long and healthy life.
With justifiable pride, she explains that her retention rate for clients is far above the industry average. Nichols is considering opening up additional locations in far-flung parts of the city where some of her most dedicated clients travel from now, but she worries, as a savvy entrepreneur would, about how to ensure high-quality offerings when she isn’t consistently on-site.
Nichols gets most animated when talking about how some of the women who attend her classes have built on the self-confidence they developed in her gym to advance their careers and improve their lives and communities in other ways.
Alyssa Nichols is a shining example of how LiftFund partners with ambitious but undercapitalized small business owners to create economic dynamism and badly-needed jobs in struggling communities like Oak Cliff. Spending an hour with her underscored the profoundly important role LiftFund plays in allowing thousands of people around Texas and throughout the country to pursue their dreams of self-employment and, in so doing, to revitalize neighborhoods far from glittering downtown areas where vast untapped potential is finally being unleashed.
