'If I do things, I do them big': Challenging times inspire Mandurah business collaboration

It was a big tick off her list and a big smile on her face when little Tyla, 3, started kindy at Mandurah Baptist College last month.

But the Secret Harbour woman's goals don't stop there.

The visionary pilates instructor does more than run a fitness studio so popular there is rarely a vacant spot.

"My studio is full now and that makes me think about how I can continue to broaden my influence," the 34-year-old said.

When I interviewed Ms Cox, she was styling, setting up and planning social media content at Seashells Mandurah in preparation to film a third series of pilates videos on the weekend.

The next day she would be working with a dozen models capturing photos followed by seven hours of filming the day after.

"If I do things, I do them big," Ms Cox laughed.

Ms Cox puts the success of her business down to collaborations.

"I network and I work closely with other businesses and with other allied health practitioners who are influential," she said.

"In my journey in business over the last 12 years, I have tried to do things by myself and that didn't work."

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The important part of gaining respect in business is to give back, she says, and she gets creative about how she does that.

For example, every year she sends flowers to about 12 businesses "to encourage them" and thank them for partnership opportunities.

Having a driven personality certainly helps in business and she's had that as long as she can remember.

She was a competitive surfer and later faced a battle to overcome severe adrenal fatigue that nearly stopped her progressing towards her dreams.

But she overcame the hurdles to open her own pilates studio, Evolve Studios, in Port Kennedy in 2018 to 90 per cent capacity, after years of teaching in other spaces.

"There is never a paved path when you're opening a business and there are always unexpected things that come up - paving permits, parking permits, fire plans, so much," she said.

With her visionary outlook, you would think Ms Cox has her five or 10-year plan nutted out? Wrong.

"After COVID, I've learnt to take a step back and plan just 6-8 weeks in advance," Ms Cox said. "With the changing way of the world, there is no point thinking ahead and worrying about what might happened. That way you stay present and the decisions you make are much more powerful."

Having said that, she has goals aplenty, not just for the business but for herself.

"We're going through a huge growth phase and we're offering one-on-one training, rehabilitation, group fitness classes and online programs," she said. "And we're still looking at a couple of new offerings like corporate wellness and public speaking and we want to make sure we're properly prepared for all of that."

If in six months time she is standing on stages as a speaker, she wants to know she has "the skills, knowledge and confidence" to do that.

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But she says work-life balance is a myth.

"As you get busy, you can't be a 100 per cent at everything, something is going to give and as long as you're okay with that, that's okay," she said.

Ms Cox started learning pilates to make herself more mobile as a competitive surfer.

"It set me off on this journey of wanting to know more and more about the body and the mind," Ms Cox said.

"Pilates gives you really great jewels on controlling how your body moves through space. Often when people work out, it's to look better or become stronger, not because they enjoy it. I just fell in love with the way it made me feel and I wanted my boot camp clients to feel that."

Ms Cox's collaboration with Seashells Mandurah has included creating a series of 20-minute pilates sessions filmed at at the Mandurah marina resort for guests and for home use.

Five years earlier, she had spoken with the previous manager about holding live classes from the resort on weekends but she became pregnant and the plan didn't eventuate.

Ms Cox said the idea for an online pilates program was born from the initial COVID-19 lockdown when she began teaching online but grew into something bigger when she found how popular it was with clients.

Seashells general manager Ben Colbert said they saw it as a terrific opportunity to partner with a talented and like-minded local business owner.

"We've had a great response from guests...the fact that they have been filmed at the property with our stunning ocean views as the backdrop is like having a personal training session with Meagan," Mr Colbert said.

Ms Cox said Mr Colbert was "very forward thinking in regards to wellness and who his target market is".

There is a $40 per month online subscription available from the Evolve Studio website to access the videos.