You can be upset for second, but then you need to get over it and come up with your next plan. That’s what we’ve had to do for the past year and a half.”

Sarah Lynch

We were watching businesses all around us fall to pieces … We did everything we could to survive. It really taught us how to be adaptable. Creativity was a big part of it. And we had to follow our gut a lot.”

Alison Vinciguerra

Survival series

We’d like to do occasional stories about small businesses that have faced the adversity of the Covid-19 pandemic and survived. If you know of a business with a great story to tell, let me know: spickering@eastbaymediagroup.com — Scott Pickering

Sarah Lynch was on a power walk with a friend in the Seapowet area of Tiverton one morning when she decided to go for it. She already had two jobs — MRI and X-Ray technologist at Newport Hospital by day, personal trainer on the side — but she yearned for something more.

Lynch wanted to run her own studio.

A few months after that walk with Alison Vinciguerra, who happens to be a part-time marketing strategist and consultant, Lynch was separating herself from the gym she worked in, looking for a space to rent, and talking to a core group of longtime clients about her big ideas.

After scouring through real estate listings for weeks, Lynch found a space on Fish Road in Tiverton, close to the highway, that had been occupied by a computer company. She and friends ripped up carpeting and reimagined the space.

Lynch thoughtfully chose fitness equipment to fit the new studio and her business model — small, intimate sessions in fitness and strength, for all ages and abilities. Vinciguerra was with her every step of the way, helping make design choices and beginning to market the new business.

About six months after their power walk sparked the idea, the new Element studio was ready to open. Vinciguerra created a Facebook event and was beginning to hype their grand opening event for a Saturday in March.

It was 2020.

“I remember texting Sarah in the week leading up to it, saying ‘Something doesn’t feel right,’ ” said Vinciguerra.

Their grand opening was scheduled for the week the world changed. Public schools closed their doors on March 13. “Covid-19” took up permanent residence in everyone’s lives. And their grand opening was canceled.

Open (closed!) for business

Lynch had rent due, equipment leases to pay, and a gorgeous empty space where her dream was now a scary reality.

“We had to do a quick pivot. We had all this equipment and rent to pay for. We were thinking out of the box,” Vinciguerra said.

Their first move was to create and sell workout plans. For a fee, Lynch would customize a plan for each client and send them a .pdf of the workout, accompanied by a video of herself demonstrating the moves.

“We were doing those weekly, because we kept saying, ‘How long can this go? We’re going to open back up soon,’ ” Lynch said.

By mid-April, things were still not “normal,” and they realized they needed more. Next came live Zoom classes.

Lynch would send out a description of the session ahead of time, with modifications for people at different ability levels. She set up a computer in the studio to broadcast what she was doing, and a separate TV monitor so she could see the group of 10 clients throughout the session.

The live, virtual classes paid the rent for a couple of months, but then things got stale. “I felt like it started getting boring, and if it was getting boring for me, it was getting boring for them, too,” Lynch said. “We needed to keep people going, keep them engaged.’ People were stuck at home, and they needed the mental health as much as the physical. We needed to be there for them, for their bodies, but also for socialization.”

As the weather warmed in 2020, Lynch began going to clients’ homes, doing outdoor training sessions in their driveways or yards.

“My mind was constantly going to try to figure out how to give people the best experience possible,” Lynch said. “And I wanted to keep them going. Once you stop, it’s very hard to get back into it. We just didn’t want things to stop. We had so much momentum going for the gym, for the classes … we just couldn’t stop.”

The doors finally open

Eventually regulations relaxed in the summer of 2020, and Element was allowed to reopen its doors to clients. Lynch began by leading live sessions with two people at a time. Everyone wore masks. Rhode Island Department of Health visits occurred almost weekly.

“We got a lot of surprise visits,” Lynch said. “We followed all the regulations to the letter of the law.”

Slowly, class sizes got a little bigger. At one point, they were too big. Lynch tried leading 12 people at a time. It was too much. They landed on 6 as the ideal number for the space.

Somehow, month after month, they kept the place alive.

“We had a mini-celebration every month,” Vinciguerra said. “We were watching businesses all around us fall to pieces, and we felt good, knowing we covered the rent, we paid for the equipment. We did everything we could to survive. It really taught us how to be adaptable. Creativity was a big part of it. And we had to follow our gut a lot.”

Mandatory vax

Fast forward to the fall of 2021. Element decided to require that all clients be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to work out in the studio. They got no pushback. Clients showed proof of vaccination, and Element kept rolling, with the six-person sessions becoming the core of the business.

Today Element can almost see light at the end of the tunnel.

“To see where we are today, two years in, despite a pandemic, it’s encouraging,” Vinciguerra said.

Lynch never left her job at Newport Hospital. It remains her full-time occupation. Element is her full-time love.

“There were a lot of tears along the way, so many tears,” Lynch said. “I didn’t want to let people down. And there were happy tears, because so often the community came together. So many people didn’t want to see this fail. We had so many people who supported us, and paid for weeks in advance, saying ‘I want to make sure you can pay your rent.’ To be able to have friends and clients who wanted to see us succeed, during such a hard time, when they were going through the same things … There were a lot of happy tears.”

What comes next …

Lynch worries that the pandemic may have left some permanent scars on her industry. While many people need the personal workouts and group sessions of a studio like Element, many others have learned to adapt. They invested in Peloton or other home-based workout programs, or they set up their own home gyms.

Then there’s the psychology of the pandemic.

“Being away from people for so long, people are just used to it,” Lynch said. “Now some prefer staying at home and just don’t want to be around people anymore. Others have become germaphobes and don’t want to come into a shared space.”

Whatever lies ahead, Lynch has learned valuable lessons in business.

“The cliché is ‘you fly by the seat of your pants.’ Sometimes that’s how I feel. You have to be able to change every day. Something new will happen, and you have to be able to change on the fly. Adaptation has become an everyday thing since Covid,” Lynch said.

“Now it’s actually easier, when you get upset about something, to not get stuck in it. You can be upset for second, but then you need to get over it and come up with your next plan. That’s what we’ve had to do for the past year and a half.”

Vinciguerra is endlessly proud of her friend. “I can’t imagine the stress she’s experienced. I felt it too, but at the end of the day, I’m going home and putting my kids to bed. This is her business, it’s her baby … Watching her persevere through this, it’s been really wonderful to see. There are a lot of people who can open a business, but to do it when we did … It’s just awesome to see where we are now. And we’re at a point now when we can see how this might look when fewer restrictions are in place, and it’s exciting.”