Keeping a Balanced Life In and Out of the Studios
By Tara Fort
Life balance often comes as a challenge to meet the demands of personal and professional obligations, and Sarah Rainwater, owner of Bend Hot Yoga Prescott and BPedal Spin Studio tends to take it all in stride. Rainwater has built two strong businesses that allow her to take a step back and focus on what matters—raising her two small boys under the age of three, and enjoying life with her husband of six years, Travis, who she met during her rodeo days at a barrel racing event in Las Vegas.
The Rainwaters have done much in a short amount of time—from owning an event and music business to co-founding Arizona Line Workers, opening a new yoga studio, purchasing an existing yoga studio and launching a spin studio. Rainwater recalls a compliment from a friend who told her, “‘You’re just a bigger risk taker than I am.’ It’s funny because my mom is an amazing woman who, along with my dad, gave my brothers and I a solid life growing up in Cornville, but she is not as big of a risk taker as I am; she was more cautious and taught me to look at every angle of a decision. Our business model now is, ‘We’ll figure it out when we get there!’ My husband and I are very like-minded and we like to take risks that will get us places, executing those crazy dreams to make it happen.”
Purchasing Bend was a natural expansion and evolution to what Rainwater had created in Prescott Valley with VinyasaFit. She says, “I fought to protect what was built at Bend before we became the owners. I didn’t purchase the business because it wasn’t working.” She refers to opening the boutique spin studio BPedal as the idea that would not go away. “I took spin classes in Phoenix and those classes just blew my mind with the lights and the music; I knew Prescott needed this type of energy. When the space became available, I couldn’t shake the idea of opening a spin studio. We didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to create something unique in Prescott. Owning both a yoga studio and spin studio provides an interesting balance: I love the high energy, fun ‘get out of your head’ mentality of spin class, and the ‘get into your head’ form of exercise that comes from yoga.”
With a core staff of 45 employees who make it all happen, and enlisting an additional key group that the studios call “Karma Yogis,” Rainwater can offer a quality product based on staff dedication and commitment, including some who have taught at the studio for over eight years. She says, “My staff is great, and I feel like every one of our clients feels vested in the community we’ve created. With us, it’s more than a membership. We really are just one big family.” Rainwater also credits Bend manager Cayla Cahill with helping her create an environment where people want to work. “It is rare to find someone who loves your company as much as you do, Cayla is that person. Together we support our staff, and in return we have minimal turnaround. We are a highly structured company so there is a lot of accountability; we treat people the way they want to be treated.” Cahill echoes those sentiments about her boss: “Sarah is a fierce leader and I’m extremely proud to work by her side. She is so supportive and appreciative of everyone’s work.”
With a varying and growing demographic, the studios offer a range of classes including Party Pedal (spin), Hot Yoga, Non-heated Yoga, Anti-Gravity Yoga, Silver Fit, Pop Pilates, and Inferno Hot Pilates. Always up for a challenge, Rainwater adds, “I think the key to our business is being able to listen to our customers while staying true and committed to our brand, and of course taking risks. Trying new things has brought us great success.”
Market domination might seem like the next step, and growth is inevitable at the level of where both studios are, yet Rainwater remains grateful and says, “I have some ideas that I’m working on and a few tricks up my sleeve for finetuning the studios, but I don’t feel the need to expand into every city in Arizona. For us, quality is better than quantity to keep it all balanced and sometimes you need to cut a few things back in order to grow. At the end of the day, as much as I love to work, I also need to be able to play tractors when my little ones want to.” Both boys are often at either studio, “I’ve been able to set some boundaries so we can enjoy our weekends with our little family. When we’re home, we bury ourselves in projects and have a hard time relaxing. I say we are content, but I am sure we will find a new way to shake things up again before too long!”
Visit Bend Hot Yoga located at 424 West Goodwin Street in Prescott and visit BPedal Spin Studio located at 537 6th Street in Prescott. Information on both studios can be found at bendhotyogaprescott.com, and Sarah can be followed on Instagram at simplylifeandyoga.