What does your business do?

I’m a Mortgage Broker. I am able to help you and your family with:

-New home purchases
-Negotiating your mortgage at renewal
-Mortgage refinancing
-Reverse mortgages (Age 55+)
-Investment property financing
-Vacation properties & 2nd homes
-Alternative lending options & more

How has COVID-19 affected you?

In many ways, its still too early to say exactly how my business will be affected. In the last couple of weeks since we’ve gone into serious isolation mode, many of my customer’s jobs have been affected. Many have either been laid off, or had their hours reduced. My husband has also lost his job. As you can imagine, uncertainty around income and employment, can really throw a wrench into finalizing your mortgage.

Many people have put off their plans to buy a home this year, even if they are still working, simply because they’re scared. If you’re one of those people, I don’t blame you one bit! Some people who have been thinking about refinancing or renewing early, have been frantically trying to close their new mortgage, before their employment is potentially affected.

What are you doing to adapt?

I have always conducted a lot of my business over the phone, as well as through text and e-mail. Before Covid-19, I was having face-to-face meetings about 30% of the time, which I’ve had to discontinue for the time being.
I’ve always tried to be more of a support or a teacher to potential customers, so I have really been focusing more on that lately. I’m here for you!

What kind of help do you need?

My business thrives on positive word of mouth and referrals from friends, family, and happy customers! If you hear of someone who is still planning to purchase a home, needs mortgage advice for an upcoming renewal, or needs to consolidate some debt through a mortgage refinance, I would be honoured to help.

What do you want the community to know?

I’m here to help you! If you have been struggling financially up to this point, a catastrophic event can leave you feeling incredibly stressed and anxious. If there is something that I can do to help you, let me know. I’m always more than happy to provide you with advice and resources, even if I can’t help you with your mortgage.

Kristen Bellows Mortgage Broker

phone: 403.598.6789

toll free phone: 877.426.4912

toll free fax: 877.432.4794

email: kristen.bellows@mortgagegroup.com

What does your business do?

We offer group fitness, pilates training, and personal training. During the health crisis, we are offering fitness instruction virtually (a variety of 30-40 min classes). We also offer an online training app called Trainerize that provide 5 home workouts per week, in addition to the classes we’re offering. The trainerize app has an accountability check in for each workout and in-app messaging with a trainer from the Studio.

Colleen Manning is the Owner of Studio Pilates

How has COVID-19 affected you?

When life throws you curves, you learn to swerve.
Every individual in our community is adjusting to a new way of living and an underlying fear for their health and the health of their loved ones.

For many this is a time of crisis, elevated stress, & uncertainty, while others are finding joy in the simple pleasures of life that in past months were somehow swallowed up in our over scheduled lives.

Covid-19 has forced us to lay off over 15 of our team members…some instructors who chose to not film classes, receptionists, childminders, our massage therapist, and estheticians.

With overhead on our 7000 sq foot facility, we need to get creative to cover rent, bills, insurance, gov’t remittance, and wages for our instructors who are filming classes.

Studio Pilates will offer regular classes via video

What are you doing to adapt?

Studio Pilates has been in operation in Red Deer for 19 years, and we’ve gone through our fair share of challenges. We’ve embraced this Covid-19 situation as an opportunity – to connect with individuals in our community who have been contemplating a fitness program, or those who have always wanted to take our classes, but time has been their barrier. We’ve accepted the challenge of moving our classes to a virtual platform, and we’re excited to launch Trainerize with the public.

On our main Studio Pilates facebook page we offer a LIVE workout every Friday at 9:15am. These live workouts will remain on the page so that anyone can go back on the newsfeed on our page, and repeat the workouts! These are body weight workouts – no equipment required. Modifications are always offered for various fitness levels. On our main facebook page we are also offering Episodes of “My Kitchen is Bitchin” which is tips & tricks for healthy eating from our kitchens to yours (our fitness pros share their healthy go to rituals and recipes in the kitchen).
We’ve also aligned with other like minded businesses in Red Deer to offer content and connection for the public….for example, Nan Dell’s Chickadee Catering Co & The Cooking Room filmed cooking segments just for our Studio Pilates FB audience!

Offering our members valuable content and connection, is our top priority. Those who have punch passes still have the option to sign up for daily classes through our studio management softward called MindBody. We have our own Studio Pilates app that can be downloaded free from iTunes/Googleplay and our daily classes appear on the app. Individual classes & punch passes can be purchased on this app. When a class is purchased, that individual has a link to the class (youtube link) that doesn’t expire for 48 hours. This means the workout can be repeated if desired. We encourage everyone in the household to join into the workouts as well! Moving together is good for the soul – smiles are guarenteed!

For those interested in our “Online Training Package” during this temporary closure of gyms and rec centres, we offer a wealth of information, connection, & workout choices. This package is what our members who has Unlimited memberships are receiving. This includes becoming a client on the Trainerize app (easy set up – download the trainerize app from itunes/googleplay), and you are emailed an invite. Once you’re in the app, your workouts appear – scheduled through the week). The Online Training Package also includes every fitness class that we offer throughout the week….for example, Barre, Interval Workouts, Mat Pilates, Yoga, Essentrics, Body Weight Strength classes, Mom & Me Workouts…and more!
Online Package members are also invited into a closed facebook group where we also do Live workouts just for the group!

Visit our website or Facebook page for live fitness instruction!

What kind of help do you need?

We need help getting the word out to the community about our online fitness options. We’d love to invite the public to our FB page and instagram, to take advantage of the workouts and information we’re sharing.

What do you want the community to know?

We would like to invite those who are not currently active or who have been intimidated to enter a “gym” to get to know us through the online offerings. Online instruction removes the very real fear of walking into a facility. We will begin offering INTRO TO FITNESS videos on our main Facebook page and on our instagram to get beginners moving! Any movement is good movement….you don’t have to do a high intensity workout to gain the benefits of physical activity. Strengthening your immune system, managing stress, and improving sleep all comes from moderate amounts of exercise. We are here to lead ALL individuals through movement, no matter your age & current activity level.

With gratitude,
Colleen Manning
Owner/Director Studio Pilates Fitness & Wellness

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