The List That Launched a Studio

The business... built on dreams, determination, and extremely detailed sublists.

After nearly a decade in corporate sales — schlepping a roller bag through every airport lounge that offered free chicken salad (shout out to delta.. i miss you) — I decided it was almost time to hang up my frequent flyer wings and try the American Dream™️:

Business ownership.

Cue the confetti, right? Except… no one tells you the confetti is expensive, the printer is broken, and your LLC paperwork is somehow both lost and overdue, and you don’t get to quit your day job until it succeeds. Glamorous? Not exactly. Worth it? Absolutely.

Two years had passed since the Great Facebook DM Debacle. Life wasn’t perfect, but it was…functional. High Roller and I had found a rhythm — cordial, collaborative, and still capable of laughing at our dog’s snoring. We tried to steer the ship straight (I know, I know — another sailing reference. But I was raised on wind and tide charts, so this ship has clearly sailed.).

And here’s the thing: when I made the terrifying, exhilarating, are-you-sure-you’re-sure decision to open my own studio, High Roller showed up. He believed in me — my vision, my hustle, my spreadsheets — and that I’ll always appreciate. Sure, he was pragmatic. It had to make financial sense (snooze). But he was a full-on hype man in a Patagonia vest.

The decision to start was one thing... what happened next was a totally different beast.

Starting is hard. Exciting, bold, sometimes delusional—but hard. And pushing a dream to the finish line (or at least to a grand opening)? Whole different ballgame.

I had grandiose ideas. No, scratch that—ROMANTIC ideas. I was going to find the perfect name, stumble upon the perfect space, splash some cool branding on it, gather some magnetic instructors, and boom. Success.

Cue the laugh track for anyone who has ever tried to start their own business.