Claire, Bear, Bearsto (don’t ask), is one of my oldest friends. I’ve known her through her best and worst times, seen her at her most beautiful, and at her most paralytic.
That’s the thing about childhood friendships - you grow up together. But when you’re growing up side-by-side, you sometimes forget to realise how incredible your friend has become. You don’t really notice their transition before your eyes because it’s a gradual one - and in our case, spanning three decades.
That’s why I feel lucky that for the past few years, we’ve had the opportunity to do Claire’s PR. Claire is the founder of a successful Physio and Pilates studio: Core LDN. A space where people can experience bespoke physio-led Pilates and healthcare services tailored to everything from marathon prep to women’s health.
As an innovator in her field, Claire gets organic interest as an individual, but also runs an exceptional team, so came to me enquiring about how PR could potentially support her and the business. Whilst I have my reservations about working with friends and family for obvious reasons, I couldn’t bear the thought of Claire paying someone else and them not doing a good enough job. So about two years ago, we started working on her PR, and of course, have delivered the goods (Claire’s advice can be found in Vogue, Marie Claire, Women’s Health to name a few).
But that’s not why I’m writing this.
Doing Claire’s PR has enabled me to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate her professional achievements. Which as a best friend, is a privileged thing to be able to do.
I asked Claire the same question I love to ask impressive women in business for my “Learn from our mistakes” series: what would you do differently if you could have your time again?
Claire’s answer really resonated with me.
When you’ve invested a lot of yourself into something – that could be professionally, or even a personal relationship – it can be a hard choice to walk away. But in Claire’s case - and probably more often than we admit - it was the best decision she ever made. Her story is about being bold enough to make that change and why you should listen to your intuition.
I wouldn’t have waited so long to make a change. If something doesn’t inspire or motivate you, or your gut is telling you it’s not right, then it isn’t what you’re destined to do.
For me that was relevant to both deciding to make a career path change as well as cutting ties with a business partnership which wasn’t working.
As a physiotherapist I used to specialise in Trauma and Respiratory. It was a relatively emotionally stressful job, we had to work on call, weekends and the pay wasn’t great considering the role. I wanted to have more flexibility and enjoyment from my work so decided to up-skill in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and train to become a Pilates instructor - best thing I ever did!
Fast forward five years and I set up a clinic and studio with a friend. It was exciting and fun - and really successful. However, our business relationship and friendship were failing and becoming toxic. I’d put so much into the business that I felt I had to fight to keep it. But when I eventually decided to step away and sell my share, I could finally see clearly - and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I reinvested the money to create a brand and business that was much more aligned with me and Core LDN was born. I’ve never looked back.
We can sometimes think we should stick at things if we’ve invested time, emotional energy, effort and money. However, if after giving it a really good go it still doesn’t feel right, you’re not failing by walking away. You’re opening up space for incredible opportunities to grow - as a person and in business.
If Claire’s answer struck a chord, give us a ❤️ below.
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