Female Founder Feature: Corinne Blight – Limitless Fitness & Nutrition

Corinne Blight is the Founder of Limitless Fitness & Nutrition, an online and live group-fitness community that aims to make fitness exciting, fun & energetic, specifically for women new to or re-starting their fitness journey! As well as being a Group Fitness Instructor, Corinne is also a Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor, Nutrition & Health Presenter and Nutrition Coach.

She has been working in the fitness industry for over 7 years and has worked with companies including Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon/ MTV and Western Sydney University as well as helped hundreds of people to reach their health and nutrition goals.

We spoke to Corinne about how she came to start Limitless Fitness & Nutrition.

How did you come to start your business? Was there a particular spark or a significant turning point?

Limitless Fitness & Nutrition was started in the midst of COVID-19. At the time, I was working at a number of local fitness facilities but found when COVID hit, they all shut down & I wasn’t able to do what I’m passionate about- teach group fitness!

I started teaching group fitness classes online as soon as lockdowns approached & from there, built a strong following of women who wanted to start or keep working out to stay ‘sane’ in such a crazy time. I originally taught 6 online group fitness classes, free for 3 months, when our community needed the sense of connection and fun the most. From there, LFN evolved and began to offer classes as part of a subscription.

For me, the biggest turning point was the realization that what I was doing, simply to have fun and keep people moving, was actually something that people needed and wanted in their day-to-day lives and indeed could be a business. I’ve since been able to expand LFN’s offerings and types of classes, running online group fitness classes and now live group fitness classes in our Western Sydney community, including my all time, favourite, brain child ‘Retro-robics’ which is an 80’s themed aerobics class! You should see the awesome costumes people come up with!

In addition, being a hybrid of both online and live group fitness classes and nutrition workshops, I’ve been able to expand into the corporate market, offering hybrid corporate conference wellbeing solutions such as wellbeing & relaxation sessions, fitness sessions & online nutrition workshops.

We’ve been lucky enough to recently be named the winner of the Western Sydney Women, Start-Up of the Year 2020, a finalist for the 2021 Wollondilly Women in Excellence (Young Entrepreneur) award as well as a Semi-Finalist for the 2021 7News Young Achievers, Small Business award.

When you initially started your business, what hurdles did you face?

The biggest hurdle was the technology- how do I get the technology right so my clients can get an awesome workout experience? It took a lot of trial, time and effort to craft an online workout experience that mimicked, as close as possible as a live group fitness experience. Trying new cameras, new microphones, and different kinds of lighting, different computer settings- the works!

As well, just finding enough time in the day to get everything done was (and still is) a struggle. It always feels like that there are 1000 more things to be done. Great time management, routines and habits though are what keeps the cogs turning and being able to get through each thing, every day. 

Who or what was integral to you overcoming these hurdles?

Learning, reading and asking a lot of questions was and still is how I overcome hurdles faced. The biggest thing for me was first researching & understanding how I can best support my classes with technology, when for me too, it was a new world I was navigating. I was lucky enough to have friends who were also instructors, and we helped each other navigate the technology as best we could.

As well, I’ve found so much benefit in mentoring from successful businesswomen has been really integral to my ability to manage my time, understand my business and focus on the most important tasks first. Being able to learn from and be inspired by what’s possible too, always gives you new perspectives and energy to work on your business.

What makes your business unique?

LFN is unique for a number of reasons. One of the main ones being that we really focus on the making fitness fun! What I’ve seen a number of times from working in the industry, is that often, we take fitness, our workouts and ourselves (for that matter!) way too seriously! I believe the best results you’ll see in your fitness and in yourself are the ones you get when you’re enjoying what you’re doing and not even having to think twice about getting up to workout, because you love doing it so much! Our live and online Retro-robics classes have been very successful for that reason, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we dress up in our favourite 80s leotards & active wear and we just have a ball

Another thing too is our niche with women who are new to &/ or restarting their fitness journey. This is a really undervalues segment of the fitness market in my opinion and as more and more women look to make changes to their own fitness, it’s a segment of the market I’m proud to say I’m working with.

What is your favourite aspect of being an entrepreneur?

My favourite part has to be the freedom to change and evolve things when you want to. I think there’s so much power in being able to have an idea, and as fast as you want to, make it into a reality. In any other setting (such as a corporate one), there are a lot of protocols and procedures to adhere to. The freedom to execute your own ideas and to make an impact on others that’s authentically you, I think is the best thing. Of course, though, this does come with a lot of responsibility!

What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur? 

I think being a successful entrepreneur, is a lot like being a professional athlete.

You’ve got to have passion for what you’re doing, because passion is what will drive you to continue working and continue evolving, almost like it’s part of your DNA. People are smart and they can tell whether you love what you’re doing or, if you’re just doing it for the money.

You’ve also got to have a ‘never quit’ attitude & determination– even when things get tough! I feel like as an entrepreneur, the idea of working for yourself and doing everything gets very glamorised, but what isn’t shown behind the scenes is the hard work, the days when you’ve worked tirelessly and still feel like you’ve not even toughed the surface of your ‘to-do’ list and sometimes, the tears. You’ve got to be able to prevail despite this and still be able to carry on and get the job done and make your dreams a reality.

Finally, you’ve got to always be learning and evolving/ up skilling. Being in the fitness industry, it’s our duty to continuously update our skill sets, learn new things and always be researching- that’s how we keep our accreditations. The same goes for any industry though, you need to learn and evolve- how will your business do the same if you aren’t? Again, for me, the biggest and best thing I’ve done is mentoring with successful businesswomen. I’ve been able to learn countless skills that I’ve been able to apply to my business. Keep learning and your business will keep evolving.

How do you personally measure success?

Success is such a funny thing and it looks so different to everyone. To me though, success comes from two areas.

• Making a positive difference in the lives of others.

I feel I’m truly successful when I’ve been able to see a positive change in those around me. For instance, when I see my clients feel happier after a group fitness class or feel more confident in their own skin, because they’re feeling so good. To me, that is success.

• Creating a more fit, healthy & strong community

Being able to contribute to community & corporate programs that better the lives of others is something that I feel makes me successful. When I see the work I’ve done positively impact the community and the members of it, I know what I’ve done is a success.

How do you generate new ideas?

For me, my best ideas are generated when I’m moving! I find that my daily walks are always a springboard for new ideas. I’ve had countless ideas for challenges, competitions, new classes, clients I want to reach out to, all from the walks I do. Ideas are amplified even more if I’m with someone else like my mum who is always there to tell me to ‘go for it’ regardless of how wild or crazy my idea may be.

What keeps you going in difficult times?

As an entrepreneur and business owner, there are always tough times, some bigger than others. For me though, it always comes back to the people I’m helping and impacting the most. If I’m having a difficult day, I always reflect back on some awesome client feedback about our classes, or someone who’s told me their quality of life is better because they’re able to move more freely. Just last night I had a lady message me to tell me she is feeling so good in herself after just joining us for 3 days of classes. It’s the small things that really do keep me going.

As well, just refocusing my mindset is something that really helps. Remembering that I do what I do because I love it and I feel like it’s my life’s purpose to be doing what I’m doing, inspiring as many people to live a healthy, happy life and making it fun for them!

What keeps you up at night?

My business- Limitless Fitness & Nutrition! It’s what I think about 99.9% of the time and in any free time I have! What new competition can I run? How can I bring more fun & excitement to my member’s fitness journeys? How can I reach more people? What can I do next? These are all things that constantly go through my head! I do find though, because I’ve spend every ounce of energy, jumping around in a group fitness class or training clients, I rarely ever am up at night (especially not past 9.30pm).