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In this episode, I sit down with Katelyn Darkangelo, a Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism coach. Katelyn shares her inspiring journey from being a fitness enthusiast to becoming a successful coach, highlighting the importance of in-person training and community building. She opens up about her transition into the pregnancy and postpartum space, the challenges she faced along the way, and how she built her business to serve this unique population.

Together, we dive into the intricacies of building a thriving postpartum coaching business, discussing effective business models, pricing strategies, and the impact of the community. Katelyn also shares her experience of navigating motherhood while running her coaching business, emphasizing the power of collaboration and the positive influence fitness can have on families. This conversation is all about empowering women in the fitness industry and embracing opportunities for both personal and professional growth.

Connect with Katelyn:

Website: https://fitisgettingreal.com/

Instagram: @katedarkofit

Ready to take your coaching to the next level? Join the waitlist now and be the first to know when P&PA enrollment opens! 👉 Sign up here: briannabattles.com/waitlist

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Expand

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Brianna Battles  00:01

Welcome to the Practice Brave Podcast. I’m the host Brianna Battles, founder of Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism, and CEO of Everyday Battles. I’m a career strength and conditioning coach, entrepreneur, mom of two wild little boys and a lifelong athlete. I believe that athleticism does not end when motherhood begins, and this podcast is dedicated to coaching you by providing meaningful conversations, insights and interview topics related to fitness, mindset, parenting and of course, all the nuances of pregnancy and postpartum, from expert interviews to engaging conversations and reflections. This podcast is your trustworthy, relatable resource for learning how to practice brave through every season in your life. Everyone, welcome back to the practice brave Podcast. Today. I’m here with Katelyn DarkAngelo, and yes, that is her real last name. We both have pretty badass last names, and I want to talk about a lot of the badass things she is doing as a pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach. I love her content. I will have like all of her details in the show notes, but make sure that you’re following her to see what she’s doing. Because I feel like Caitlin is a great example of somebody who is immersing herself, coaching in her community, really making an impact there, which is ultimately making a name for her business, for her brand, for her name, and taking that into the online space. So Caitlin, thanks for being

Katelyn Darkangelo  01:28

here. Thank you for having me. I’m excited Absolutely. Tell us a little bit

Brianna Battles  01:32

about yourself. Where are you based out of? Like, what’s your background, all of that stuff? Yeah.

Katelyn Darkangelo  01:37

So I’m based out of Brighton, Michigan. We’ve been here, or I’ve been here my whole life, but just kind of a background how I got into fitness industry and then pregnancy, post partum world, I’ve loved and known fitness since I can remember. There’s pictures of me with my mom doing Tai Bo and stuff aerobics back in the late 90s. And so I just have always, I just grew up in a household that love fitness all my siblings. I’m one of four, and both my parents are really avid fitness goers, so I’ve never known a life without it. I played softball. That was kind of my main sport going into or high school, and then college, when sport kind of ended for me, I really fell in love with fitness and just working out. I kind of loved it during the high school years too. I was more so into the practices and the conditioning sessions rather than the real games, which was kind of funny, but looking back, it makes sense now. And so I went to the University of Michigan, studied exercise science, and it was there that I kind of got into the fitness coaching world. So it was my sophomore year, which was 2015 which was kind of the start of social media ish time. I don’t fitness influencer time. And I actually saw a post to become a Beachbody coach. And I was like, oh, that sounds cool. Like it. Didn’t really know anything about the direct sales world, but knew I love fitness, and knew I wanted to kind of go that route. So I was like, All right, why not? Fell in love with the business side of the fitness world real it like felt like a game to me, but I was, like, impacting real lives and like making real money. And that was a really big eye opener that you could do something different. A lot of my classmates kind of were going, like, physical therapy route or athletic trainer, very like structured what you would do after college kind of things. And that never like with my internships and summer stuff. Just never felt like a right fit for me after shadowing and things like that. Yeah. Anyways, um, fell really in love with that side of, like, this new entrepreneurship stuff, and I did that for about a year and a half. And it was at the end of my time at Michigan that I was like, I think I could do my own thing. I think I can create my own thing. I just didn’t know what that thing was quite yet. And so knowing that I love the business side, I started taking some more entrepreneurship classes. Decided I really wanted to go the Business Route. So then I went to the university, or Duke University, for a Master’s of management, and kind of got my feet wet in the business world. It was a great program, because it was for non business majors. So from an exercise world, going into the business world, it was great to have both experiences. And it was, it was when I was at Duke, where I had some friends asking me to write them workout programs. And I never really thought that I would be writing programs, or, like, making workout programs. I I just, I don’t know why. I didn’t think I was gonna go that route. But again, I was like, hey, why not? Like, they were always and so I wrote my friend a workout program, and had a few more classmates just asked me to do the same. So I was like, Oh, maybe I should, like, make something that, like, everybody could buy and go from there. And so I ended up launching a little test group for one of my programs. I got about 20 people to join that, and that became my first figure program. I didn’t have a name for it at the point, but that was like, kind of my company that I started with that first program on. January 1 of 2018, but anyways, yeah, so that was, like, my first workout program. And then I created two more that year, and there were physical, hard books. So I wrote the like workout program in like an Adobe software, um, found this free website that would like print and ship the programs to people, and that’s just kind of how I started my own programs, and then I eventually fell on the name of fit is getting real, because at that time, it was a very like fake world in the fitness industry, and I hated all the nonsense that was being pushed to people. And just very like fake pictures and editing and all this kind of stuff at the time. And I just, I didn’t like it at all. And I kind of wanted to come from a place of like truth and like realness. And so one day, I fell on the name of like, shit is getting real. But I was like, Oh, what about like, fit is getting real? So that stands for f, i, G, R, figure is what we kind of call our company now. So anyways, that was kind of my end of college or educational career. I then went to work for Walmart e commerce in New York, and at the time, that was a great experience for learning the E commerce side, because kind of running my own business within their online e commerce world. And so, like, I would work during the day, and then from like, six to 12 at night, I would just like try to do everything I could to grow figure on the side, again, this was all physical programs at the time. So that’s kind of what I did for a year. And then after a year, there I was like, I want to take this thing full time. So I moved back home to Michigan and my parents house. I kept trying to hammer it out. My husband came home from well, boyfriend at the time, was playing professional football in Germany. When he came back, he also kind of joined forces with me and started promoting the physical books we had at the time. And when we were living at or I was living at my parents, he was living at his parents at the time, we both had family friends who just asked us to train them, and we’re like, again, why not? I sure. So we actually use my parents home gym in their basement to train my mom’s friend, and then Anthony trained one of his close friends. And from That’s literally how we started, in person, training word of mouth through friends of friends. Some of my friends saw that I was posting that I was training people. And so it literally all started in my parents basement, and then we built a house that we then created or built our own figure gym in. And so that was 2022 started training clients out of there, kind of getting ahead of myself. But then so in 2021 is when I got pregnant with our daughter, Amelia, who is now three, and that is when my eyes were, like, fully open to the lack of information, guidance, people, promoting the right stuff in the pregnancy and postpartum world. And I kind of knew I was going to love it, but I didn’t realize how much my whole life would change around that. Like, that’s literally what I do full time now. And so during my pregnancy, throughout that 2021 2022 year, learned everything I could. I was kind of tracking my own stuff. I had clients at the time who were also getting pregnant. So I had that initial, like immediate one on one, or hands on experience training clients. And then I kind of just grew things from there. I did one certification. Didn’t know about you at the time, but it’s funny, because I look back and I was like, tagging postpartum athlete, thinking it was like, I didn’t know what it was. It was a business account. I thought it was just like, a cool, like, tagline. So I was like, tagging you in my pregnancy post, even though I had, I had not done your certification yet. So it’s funny to kind of look back on that. But so I ended up kind of doing the original certification, learn the basics, but didn’t really dive into the field quite yet. And then a year after that, one of it was actually Christine zifra. She’s been to one of your in person. She had followed me. Like your vibe and like everything you post is like, so in line with what Brianna, like, teaches, like, you should fully do her certification. I was like, Oh, but I already have one. Like, I’m already kind of like, going through, like, it’s going good. And then for like, a few months, like, every time I would post something that was similar to yours, she was like, no, like, you really need to take her course. I’m like, so I ended up doing that. And then from there is kind of, really where my confidence as an in person, hands on trainer took off, like I really had the hands on tools versus, like a textbook. It was good information I had before, but like after, taking your courses, kind of where I really solidified myself, and kind of went, like head first into the whole postpartum, pregnancy world. And anyways, so from there, I’ve been kind of in that field. I do postpartum classes, ladies general classes, mom and baby workouts, and a whole host of other stuff. So that’s in the like, kind of functional fitness, strength met con world,

Brianna Battles  09:52

yeah. I mean, girl, your resume is so impressive. First of all, so congratulations. Like, that’s a big deal, and I don’t think you. I don’t know if everyone, like really realizes the extent of which, like you hustled and what that era was like, especially, I mean, I’m a little bit older than you, but to be able to find an entrepreneurial pathway from an exercise fizz world, and in with that as your undergrad like that, wasn’t a pathway that was very intuitive, certainly not for me. I didn’t get into that the entrepreneurial side till 2013 but that was around that time that, like, Instagram was starting and you were but it was a hot mess of what we saw online as what you’re saying. And so to find that entrepreneurial pathway that early, especially coming out of college, is that’s a really big deal, and then to still be in the game and evolving your game. Now I just, I don’t want you to hear that. There’s a lot to be said for that, just like knowing the context of where you came from and also what that that season and era was like to build a business and to start showing up online, that’s been pretty cool. That’s, I don’t know, I think that’s a big deal.

Katelyn Darkangelo  11:00

Thank you. Yeah, it’s been just evolved. Like, I’ve never, kind of stayed stagnant. I think that’s the most important part, when you are going through all the craziness, like you like, I had no idea 10 years ago it was exactly almost to the month to the month, actually, yeah, 10 years ago, exactly that, like starting a random like, beach body thing was I had never thought that I would be here with a home gym, like running this with my husband in the pregnancy, postpartum space. Like I could never have pictured it then, but it’s like, exactly where I know I should be now. So it’s yeah, just like a journey of figuring out the right route

Brianna Battles  11:38

that is so awesome. So you’re where you coach out of is just your home bed,

Katelyn Darkangelo  11:41

correct? Yes, it’s in our basement,

Brianna Battles  11:45

right? And it seems like you have, like, really full classes, and I’m assuming that you can sort of work your work schedule around your your real life.

Katelyn Darkangelo  11:53

Yeah, it’s funny, because, like, I’m a work from home mom, but like, when you go down into the gym, it doesn’t feel like I’m still a trainer, like, I so, like, what? It’s kind of a hard thing to explain to people. Like, yeah, we have a 1600 foot square gym in our basement. But like, I also, it’s also like, I work from home upstairs, like, we obviously have our online part and then our in person part, but yeah, it’s all been word of mouth. And I think honestly, that having a home gym is like an awesome thing, but it’s not for everybody, but it has helped us build a lot of trust, friendships, community, like much stronger than like maybe a public space have been able to provide. And I think this, I mean not that saying that you can’t do that in a public space, because I think everybody can, but I think really making sure that is the foundation of your training of like, building friendships, building trust, building community. That’s like, I think what has helped us excel in filling our classes and offering different things and kind of standing out in a space that can be very muddled,

Brianna Battles  12:56

yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with you. And I think just that, level of truly running your own business like you have a brick and mortar. It just happens to be at home, and, I mean, so incredibly convenient, and probably goals for so many people, so many people listening. And I think there’s a lot of us that like run classes and have done like clients out of our garage. And I think that’s a great element too, especially if you’re getting started and you’re just kind of dabbling with coaching in person. One thing that we talked about before we hit record was that benefit of having in person to sort of feed the online. So can you talk about, like, how what that process was like for you, and how that got started?

Katelyn Darkangelo  13:36

Absolutely. Yeah. So, like, I mean, my whole foundation kind of, I guess, in the training world really started when I started training my friend, my mom’s friends in her home gym. And it was that in person experience, I was able to not only get the reps in of, like seeing people hand like in person, like being able to make adjustments on the fly, listen to their needs, like, see what adjustments and modifications are needed. So from like a programming skill form, that kind of stuff, that you need that in person to gain the education and knowledge from the experience, but then also using that as like content, in a sense, to then use that and to be able to show the online space like, Hey, I am getting my reps in. I am seeing this population daily. Now that’s really transferring in, because I see pregnant, postpartum moms literally every single day. I think that’s a huge separator in today’s space, when there’s such a huge push for just running an online business, starting an online business. You can read any textbook you want. You can read all the research articles. You can do all the stuff, but until, like, a mom is in front of you saying, like, Hey, have this symptom right now? Like, what can I do different that kind of stuff gives you the information you need to make your programs that you’re going to sell online. It also gives you the. Coaching, like, relatability personality to like, deal with different clients, and then also gives you, like, something to showcase to the online world, like, Hey, I am actually coaching this population. I think that’s why I have been able to be successful with the online and the in person sides of the business, because, like, sourcing from the in person experience.

Brianna Battles  15:24

Yeah, that’s absolutely, I mean, that’s a hill I’ve been dying on since I don’t know the beginning, like, when I first started putting out any online content was, like, the only reason I can be credible and can put out things online is because I am doing this in real life. Like, yes, you can have the education, but until you’re getting the real life experience, having the different people in front of you, that’s what scales your business, and that’s what scales your credibility. That’s what scales your knowledge, and ultimately, that’s what helps scale into the online space sharing there. But you it’s very hard to just have an online presence, especially with this particular population.

Katelyn Darkangelo  16:04

Yeah, and it’s funny too, because, like, I followed you with the whole squat university people saying, like, well, what makes you credentialed or whatever? And like, it’s funny because me coming from, I mean, I went to the University of Michigan, got an exercise science degree, and that one single paragraph was about pregnancy and postpartum fitness. So like, even like, if I had my degree in that like that didn’t give me enough, even though I did like certifications, that’s fantastic. You do need that information, but not even the certifications, I think makes me the best coach. It’s literally the in person reps, the amount of people, I’ve amount of different scenarios I’ve been able to coach through the amount of different mindsets you have to coach through. Like, it’s truly the in person stuff that I think gives you the most credibility. And I think that’s so missed in especially, like, medical, well, medical, obviously, but the fitness world, they’re like, Okay, what are your credentials? What are your letters behind your name? And I don’t think any of that matters if you don’t see people in person. So

Brianna Battles  17:04

100% like and like you said, you know, we both come from a background that is specific to exercise science or exercise Fizz, high levels of coaching, the highest levels of certifications you can get. And there wasn’t anything in there that was like, not even just pregnancy and postpartum related, but honestly, like female athlete related beyond, like ACL injuries and like body dysmorphia, essentially, and like eating disorders and like that was always so annoying to me, even back then, that there just wasn’t, like, that’s all, that’s the only thing that we’re like, pulling from here. So it’s been interesting just to see, like, how this has evolved over time. And that was really the pushing point to create that certification was, this isn’t taught. That’s the problem. It’s like, it’s just, it’s straight up, not taught. It doesn’t fully exist, especially for female athletes, where it’s not, like, we don’t need that buy in, that it’s healthy and beneficial. We know that it’s healthy and beneficial that has been, like, proven over and over and over, like in our research, it’s 2025 at this point, and it was just really trying to get information out there that was specific to coaches like me and the people that I was working with in real life, and saying that we if we’re actually going to, like, create any change in the information and approach that women take during pregnancy postpartum, we have to get in front of the coaches that are guiding them right.

Katelyn Darkangelo  18:26

I think that’s what made your certification so powerful, and like switching my mindset or confidence, was that a lot of it was like the videos of like, actually demoing the movements, or like, actually coaching a pregnant or postpartum mom. Like, obviously, you can’t all, I mean, you’re having in person, like certifications, that’s fantastic, too. But, like, the closest thing you can get to that, besides that, is that video feedback. And I think that’s why I gained so much confidence to start isolating myself in this field. Because when you do, like, get trained in that regard, like that helps you see on in real life how to cue someone, how to do a movement, and that gives you, then the confidence to go into the gym and actually do it yourself. And then from there, it’s trial and error. You figure stuff out on the fly, at least you have that baseline to go from and then you kind of can put the pieces together from there totally. And

Brianna Battles  19:19

I mean, you have like that visual. And I think so many of us as coaches, like we learn by moving. We learn by observing movement. And then once you can see, like, oh, okay, I understand, based on this movement pattern, the adjustments that I need to make with this client, because that’s similar, like I just saw that, I know that that means she likely has a hypertonic pelvic floor, or maybe she’s, you know, a pressure out person, or a pressure down person, or whatever it might be you start to pick up on these clues just by, like, watching somebody move for a couple reps, and then you you know what to do with them. But that’s just not conventional knowledge. And that’s, I think, the tricky part, even if you come from an exercise science and, like, different personal training certification background like that. Job is not taught at all? Yep, absolutely. So let’s talk about the business side of things. Because obviously you’re very entrepreneurial. You’ve had that gift or inclination from the get go, it seems. And in terms of now really like being narrowly focused on just serving the pregnant and postpartum population, what has that been like for you? What does that actually look like from a business from a business standpoint, even from, like, a financial standpoint? How did you know that? Like, okay, I’m on to something here. Yeah,

Katelyn Darkangelo  20:29

I mean, initially it was the strong it was, like, needing it for myself. I know you’ve talked about that a ton too. Like you kind of become the person you need, in a sense. So in 2021 that was four years ago, even back then, there was, like it was even a crazier world back then. I think we’re starting to get somewhere now, but it’s been a crazy field for a while. But when I first became pregnant, I was like, Holy crap, there’s like nothing out here for me trying to figure it out. And so I got so so invested and so excited about the field. So I just kind of knew. I just knew that this was my my field, my thing. And so I knew I needed to get the reps in, get educated and all that stuff. And so throughout my pregnancy, I actually tracked every single one of my workouts. I knowing that in the future, I wanted to provide valuable programs for people who weren’t in my area, as well as be able to coach that population through my classes. And so I kind of went through that whole journey, you know, went through the certifications and stuff. And so over time, I always had my ladies classes. I guess that was the source of like, my offerings now, because I was able to find those people, and people started coming to my latest classes, who were going to get pregnant, who were pregnant, who were postpartum, because they just knew that that was the field I was kind of into. And so that kind of naturally grew into some of those clients asking for one on ones that kind of naturally gravitated that’s part of my business, too, is just one on one clients. I don’t take a ton of them, so I do like the more postpartum class setting, and I’ll talk about that in a second. And just group setting. I think that’s really powerful for moms to be in a group setting during these phases of life. So from my personal interest, and for the interest of the mom, kind of push everybody into the class setting. So it kind of source into one on one, and then, from my experience myself, my education and then training moms within my ladies class, I then created a figure pregnancy and a figure postpartum app subscription program. So there’s from Week Six to week 40 for my pregnancy program, and then week one, essentially postpartum through year one. So it’s a whole 12 month program for postpartum. And so that’s kind of like my online bread and butter side of the business, that I really use my online platform to grow. I probably wouldn’t use social media as much if I was just trying to grow my in person. But so that’s kind of my main source when it comes to the online spaces, those two programs. And then from there, was actually one of your podcasts that you had talked about serving your local community in the pregnancy, postpartum space. And it was another I think you did, like a workshop, webinar or something for business about talking about the same week postpartum class. I’m like, oh, like, why not try that? Like, maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t. That has ran fantastic. Lee, I don’t know if that’s right. Um, I’m about to start my fifth round of that in April, and that has been a huge part of our business now. So my ladies classes are my main like, Monday through Friday, nine o’clock set time frame. And then I have my online programs, and then my postpartum class. So those are kind of like my main sections. I also run a BYOB, bring your own baby, mom and baby workout once a month, just for fun. Kids run around mom’s workout body weight, or use their baby as the weight too. So that’s kind of like a specialty class. And then so those are, like, my main, my main sources, I guess, of income. And I’ve also done, I’ve had, like, local CrossFit gyms ask me to come in and talk to them about just being comfortable when a pregnant postcard mom comes into the gym pelvic floor therapy. I’ve done, like, a a talk for them from the fitness side of things, and different kind of industries there. And then just different, like, local school communities have asked me to run non baby group. So kind of like, again, working in the local community, but kind of accessory stuff in addition to my main stuff

Brianna Battles  24:31

I love, and I tell every, as you know, in the certification, like, I think the one of the best business models for a P and P A coach is to, yes, get involved locally, but the way to do that is to have that six week postpartum class. You’re getting a very niche avatar of a person, but ultimately they can grow into being a client on a retainer, whether that’s in a women’s specific class or a CrossFit group class or an F 45 class, whatever it might be. But. Running a six week postpartum program and helping somebody recover and then feed into the rest of whatever kind of business offering you have, even if it’s like online, that’s the incredible way to, yes, impact your community, but also scale your coaching and and your overall business. And I’ve seen, I mean, I was running that in 2013 that exact business model, 2013 through 2020, and that is ultimately what helped create, what is all the things, pregnancy, postpartum, athleticism, was just all those reps, working with women for years and years, having those postpartum programs that gets you really connected with the OBGYN, the midwives, the birth educators, the doulas, the lactation consultants, and then you’re just it feeds, it naturally feeds into that postpartum program, which ultimately feeds into the rest of your coaching or the gym that you’re running out of. It’s a very positive business model, and we see coaches running that out of a multitude of places and gyms and capacities, whether they’re across a gym owner, or they work as a trainer, like, like I said, like an F 45 or they work independently, like you do, regardless. It seems to be a really effective business model. So can you tell me, is it a six week postpartum program

Katelyn Darkangelo  26:16

that you run? Yes, yep. Six weeks. I do Monday and Thursdays at 1030 and then I do love like, having that set time frame too, like a six week thing, because, like you said, then when they or if they want to go into my ladies classes, I already know their tendencies. I know I know that they have the foundation, so I’m not worried about them in a class setting, even if they are only eight weeks postpartum, still at the time, I know they know what to look for, what to how to navigate fitness in the class setting. But then, from like, the collaboration standpoint, it actually gives you a really good something to go into a pelvic floor therapist office. For instance, if you say, Hey, I’m running this six week postpartum class, I have, I have, generally, nine to 12 moms within each class, would you like to be on the referral list? Or, like, kind of giving them, like, oh, like, you know, here’s my exact group of clientele that I’m looking for. Same thing with, like, massage, Cairo, doulas, whoever. And being like, hey, like, this is one of my specialties. It’s exactly the clientele that you’re looking for. Like, let’s kind of collaborate or make this relationship. And so it gives you a an edge when going into even CrossFit gyms. I’ve noticed too, because they don’t specialize generally in that. Or if you’re working out of them, obviously you would be working with them. But you can say, like, Hey, do you have, do you have any moms who are pregnant or, like, early postpartum work having issues in your class? I can help. It’s a totally separate business model. Even though it’s fitness, I can help recover them so they can go back to you quicker to your class setting. You don’t have to worry as much of them having issues and having to drop out of classes. They come back quicker postpartum, so they’re not pausing the membership for longer. And so you can even make collaborations within other gyms themselves, because you have a specialty that is collaborative with their classes, not competing with them, I 100% agree

Brianna Battles  28:10

absolutely what I did, and it really drives, like, a lot of impact, a lot of credibility in your community, a lot of clientele. And ultimately, like, I started making really good money, and I didn’t expect that, like, I didn’t expect that from like, my little, like, side gig, I guess that I had started, you know, that could be a way that I could be home with my son at the time, before I even had chance. Because I was like, Oh, I can, like, coach just a few hours a week. Really, I can make it what I need it to be, coach a postpartum class every at least once a quarter, sometimes different years, I would do more than that, and then have this women’s class, and ultimately, like it created a business where it was only adding to our life. It wasn’t I didn’t have to, like, pull from my, like, my husband’s income, essentially, to fuel the business. Like it just was like this self generating machine, and that that unlocked so much possibility that Thomas said, take this back to beginning of our conversation. That was not a pathway laid out for us if you were going to be a coach, if you were exercise science background, if you that’s a really non traditional route. And ultimately, we don’t have a ceiling on our income potential either, and that, again, was never laid out to us as an option. If you’re coming from an exercise science background or even, like, a personal training background, it’s like, well, go and you work for this gym. Or I can, like, create my own thing on my own terms, and coach as much or as little as I want, and have potential to make more?

Katelyn Darkangelo  29:40

Yeah, and it’s cool being in this field. I have a three year old right now, and it’s cool because since I am training moms and I’ve made I have childcare available, and I’ve like, changed the time of the class to accommodate more for moms with like Kid drop off, or like infants sleeping in, so it’s at nine o’clock. Just works well. But it’s cool because. Because I am coaching, but my daughter can also, like, hang out with the other kids in the childcare area. So it’s like, I’m doing my work, but also I’m involving my kid, and it’s really cool. And even if we don’t have childcare for the day, like she loves doing bench press with all the class, or doing the warm up, or she’ll like, pretend like she’s coaching the class, and so it’s a very mom friendly, obviously, because we’re coaching moms, but from like, being the trainer or being the business owner, like, it’s a great field to be in, because we can involve our own kids, and you don’t feel like you’re pushing them to the side to do your work, you’re kind of including them in the fun of all of it. And

Brianna Battles  30:39

I can tell you, like, I’m a little bit ahead of you. My kids are 11 and seven now, and it’s wild to see just how much that early influence of like them, being in that gym environment has impacted them as like, little athletes and how they think and what they do and what they’re inclined to. And it’s like, I’ve never, like pushed it on them. That’s just sort of been a natural part of our like, family ecosystem and mommy coaching, like, that’s just it’s so normal to them to be in those environments, and it has paid dividends that I didn’t even know was possible back then in the when they were like little babies at the gym. It’s pretty fun to see.

Katelyn Darkangelo  31:19

Yeah, she loves, loves the gym environment. She kind of, she knows how to, like, run on the assault runner already, or like, do like little things. And so it’s just, it’s really a joy to see that already, like, kind of how my mom already instilled in me. It’s fun to see like, she’s not going to know a life without fitness either, and just the benefits that that can bring throughout the entire lifespan, obviously, but it’s just a really, really good feeling to have as a mom. Yeah,

Brianna Battles  31:46

I Well, and just, trust me, it just it truly keeps getting better. Like you can see the like fruits of your labor that you didn’t even realize, like things that you didn’t realize that you were instilling just by their exposure to those environments of being around you coaching, and that they’re seeing with movement, like, it’s so cool to see my kids in this stage of life, and how that’s like, I don’t know how it’s paid off. I guess I want to talk about some things that I think a lot of coaches just feel so overwhelmed with, and they kind of get in this analysis paralysis. So hoping that you’re willing to be really open here. How did you figure out what to charge? Where did you start with your clients, especially maybe this particular population of working with moms and then scaling it to where you are? Now, I think a lot of times, maybe I’m speaking for myself here, but sometimes it would feel hard working with moms, because you’re like, Oh, I know, like, maybe they’re not working anymore. There’s a financial barrier there. They didn’t pay you, and there’s just like, so unless you have, like, a really solid business model in place, it can be really it can pull on your heartstrings in a way that is different, I think, from traditional business or even traditional fitness industry. So can you give me some insight on what your pricing and business model is working with this population? Yeah,

Katelyn Darkangelo  33:05

for sure. So we can start with the postpartum class, specifically, because that’s kind of a big chunk. So the first one I did, again, I’ve kind of learned on the fly, and just used each next session as a way to test the a new price or a new model. So I started with what I would really not recommend. And I because from that exact standpoint, I was like, oh, moms are kind of like, what if the kid is sick one day, and what if, like, they have, you know, I want to be really accommodating for the mom population. So I had them charge. I charged them $70 for two session like to get for the two, the first two sessions, and then pay per class for the remaining 10 because, oh, if you know a kid is sick or something happens, they can’t make it like, I don’t want them to pay for class. I didn’t. They didn’t come to and so I thought that would be a really easy and it was essentially, from a starting off standpoint, I had nothing, no content for it. It’s kind of the start of the class. So from a cheapness standpoint, off the bat, like a whatever, and then from a mom accommodation standpoint, so I it was $35 a class, but I charged $70 for the first two, and then they would pay for class. As you can imagine, they came to like a few of them, and then they kind of dropped off because they had no money tying them to the class. So the next round, I did pay half up front, because same thing, I want to accommodate. I don’t want to push any boundaries, because a lot of these people are my friends. Again, we’re in our home basement, so it’s a lot of like friends of friends, or just local people, so I just wanted to be accommodating again, it worked better because they wanted to use all the classes that they had purchased. Still, the sickness happens, get things gone, but still, there was a kind of drop off the last few sessions, which I really wanted to emphasize, because there’s a big gap between rook. Recovery and, like, full send. And that’s kind of the gap I love to bridge, is like, Okay, what do you do after your pelvic floors are covered before they hit max lifts? So that’s kind of the section that I really want to emphasize in my class. You’re

Brianna Battles  35:13

charging $35 per class. At first you started, like, just a couple classes, and then you scaled it to pay for half the classes, and then per class after that. And then what happened?

Katelyn Darkangelo  35:25

And then I was and then so I was like, Okay, I’m, I’m stopping this whole they fall off in the last two classes thing. And so I charged, I think it was 270 so I dropped the like, the per class amount, but charge the full upfront cost. And that was scary to me at first, because I’m like, oh, that’s like, a bigger amount of money. Like, I don’t know if people can pay that, but I, like, tried to kind of use the, I forget what the per class is off the top of my head, but it was less, but I didn’t have any pushback from a cost perspective. So I was like, Okay, I’m on to something here. That class went really well. Definitely had more engagement through the end. Obviously, again, some people don’t, didn’t use the classes, but at least it tied them to the class to come. And then the last two ones, I upped it to $300 and then 360 was my last one, and my next one, I’m charging 375, for two reasons. One is it’s becoming more of, like a established thing. I have now a year and a half worth of client practice of like, fine tuning the programming, making it really effective. So I feel like from a value point, I can provide more value. I think it is worth that. I think it’s worth more than that. But we got to kind of meet in the middle there, and then, just from a standpoint of it ties moms to the class, the more value you show that it is, the more value they feel it is. And so again, I haven’t had any pushback on cost, because they know the value, and they are more dedicated themselves. And I think that’s, that’s really what you want to get out of that class, is for moms to actually benefit from it. And I think that helps them really value the classes themselves. Yeah, I 100%

Brianna Battles  37:15

agree. I’m so grateful that you shared, like, that side of things, because there’s so many as you know. Like, what do I charge for this? What do I do? And actually charging what it’s worth? And it’s one thing. When you’re like, This is my first round. Like, okay, then maybe don’t set a super high price tag. That’s okay. You need reps. You need the street cred. You can use it for marketing. Could use it for word of mouth. Cool. But ultimately, as this thing grows, your expertise really matters. You’ve invested a lot to learn, and you’re offering something that is very unique and very specific that they cannot get from their typical gym. You just can’t get that specific type of class literally anywhere else, as I tell P and P coaches, like you have something you have, like the special sauce, and because you have that, you have to leverage that and not be afraid to charge. And I totally get that. There’s a, you know, we all struggle with that, and like to be really direct as a mom. And working with moms for so long, they can be really flaky. So attaching a price point where that’s going to instill an extra layer of commitment that is really helpful, and then it secures your business model. And it’s not that you can’t be empathetic and have certain systems put in place where you make sure, like, okay, maybe they can make up a class, or they have a credit here, or whatever it might be, you can do a lot to be really accommodating while still charging what you’re worth, because if you miss a doctor’s appointment, you still get charged for that. And I’m not saying that this is the same thing, but ultimately it holds it helps you run a business like a business, and it also ultimately helps them in what they signed up for and what they want. I started again in 20 I think 2014 is when I actually started a postpartum class, and I charged $150 for six weeks. And by the end in 2020 I think I was charging a little over $300 per six week session in California. I would charge so much more than that now, especially being in California. So just to give you guys an idea of what she’s doing in Michigan, what I was doing in California years ago. So there’s so many people are like, I’m charging $75 for this, or whatever. I was like, no, like, this is your range. You can adapt it for the area you’re in. For sure, be able to read the room, but ultimately, do some market research and know that you can always scale, and you should scale your pricing over time, especially as you get better and you’re seeing that demand, maybe you have a wait list. Maybe you can cap it at a certain amount, or you cap, do you cap your postpartum classes? Yeah,

Katelyn Darkangelo  39:48

12 is the most I’ve had, and that is probably the most I would have. It was always fine. I would kind of average like seven to 10 people per class. Class anyways, because of people, you know, not being able to come or whatever. So there’s only, like, a few classes where it’s that many, but that still wasn’t a crazy amount. So yeah, kind of that, that 10 to 12 range is what I try to hit. But like, anywhere from, you know, eight to 12 is probably a good, good range,

Brianna Battles  40:19

and then you run a women’s specific class, and that’s a Monday through Friday. You said,

Katelyn Darkangelo  40:24

yeah, so I have Monday through Friday, nine to 10. And like you said, kind of using that postpartum class as a feeder in and also, like you said, I do use if somebody says, Oh, well, like, I can do the class, but I will be gone this week, so I’m going to miss those two classes. And I always say, hey, like, you can come and just do one of my general fitness classes. One, because it helps them recoup their value. But two, it gives them a taste of what my classes are like, kind of for free in their eyes. But for me, it’s really good for them to see, like, a taste of it and hopefully then transition into it after but yeah, so for my ladies classes, and that’s kind of what I started with back at my parents house that I’ve been building for the last six years. Now I’ve been hosting that class ladies only. So I love that kind of vibe. I’m 10 Monday through Friday. I never do weekends, because try to keep yourself, keep your business and life separate a little bit sometimes. But for that, we’ve also adjusted our offerings. I used to do $200 a month for unlimited, a 10 class pack that never expired, and then $25 drop ins. What that is currently is 175 a month for unlimited, a five classes per month option that auto renews so they have five classes. So if somebody was going to come once a week or whatever, and then $25 drop in says, stay the same, and that seems to work really well. And then $5 for drop in child care for a family. So if they have three kids, it’s still just $5 because I want that to be a reason for them to come to class while still covering a little bit of the child care cost. And that that has worked pretty well for us over the last few months.

Brianna Battles  42:04

Yeah, that’s awesome. You just have, like, a babysitter that’s just there at that. Yeah. So

Katelyn Darkangelo  42:07

funny thing, one of my postpartum class clients is a yoga instructor, and she had approached me after the postpartum class and was like, Hey, can I run a yoga class out of your gym? Kind of for moms, same thing. And so she has started running a yoga session of six week, kind of time frame in the gym, which is really complimentary for those who like, like the yoga side and the workouts or the weight side. And then it was really hard to find childcare. It’s kind of been flaky over the last last few months or year. I guess it’s been since I’ve been offering it, but then she actually was like, oh, like, I’ll watch the kids. So in our basement, there’s like, the gym, and then there’s a little rise up in the stairs, and then the other side of the empty gym is just play area with a bunch of toys. So we don’t have a formal child care just kind of like person who hangs out and make sure they stay over there and plays, and then if the kid has to go to the kid has to go to the bathroom or whatever, the mom will help them that kind of stuff. So, yeah, we just use her and just I have a bunch of different family, friends or just people, and just kind of pay them off per se, per class. That’s worked really well for us. I’m

Brianna Battles  43:17

so awesome. I mean, I think it’s really incredible to hear about women that are able to pave their own unique way as an entrepreneur, do it in the in the midst of motherhood, and do it in a way that just like really compliments your life, but is contributing to your overall, like family income and and impact to the community. And I think that is ultimately, like the side of pregnancy and postpone athleticism that I didn’t quite see yet at the beginning of it, but just how it’s like, come into like, really see how somebody’s lifestyle, like, what we’re able to do as mothers, as coaches, as women, where I don’t know, like, I just never thought I would be owning a business. And there’s so many coaches that are like, I didn’t really think that I would this would be my pathway. I thought it was going this way, and it just kind of unlocks new, new possibilities. And I think that you have a great story that just shows the pathway that it can take and how it complements the rest of your life and your interests.

Katelyn Darkangelo  44:13

Yeah, thank you. Yeah. It’s been so fun because, like knowing fitness, how much that’s benefited my life, to be able to use that in a business model to then help other moms feel that benefit, that, know the like just being consistent in the gym, being strong. Like, how much that helps through pregnancy, through postpartum, like helping moms just being there to listen to their birth story. Like, there’s a lot more impact that you can make in a mom and a family’s life, like, I truly feel like this is my way, that I am, like, contributing to the wellness of the world, like, when we heal and help moms, like, they create this unit for the family that is just so powerful. So to be able to do that for a business and make a living out of it, and like, have that be like, a really primary source of. Our income, we have a few. My husband’s been trained with figures, so he has his own clients and everything too. But it really is. It’s so fun to, like, have that be what I do on a daily basis. Like, there’s nothing more more powerful to me than that. Oh

Brianna Battles  45:13

so amazing. What piece of advice, or, I guess, if there’s somebody who’s like, thinking about becoming a P and P a coach. What piece of advice do you have for them? Maybe, if they’re this, has been on their radar since, apparently, you listen to some of those podcasts, right?

Katelyn Darkangelo  45:32

I guess, like, sure, I always go at stuff with is just like, why not? Like, from the very beginning, starting in my fit like, the first Instagram post that came up to be beach by coach. Why not? I don’t know when a friend asked me to write them a workout program, okay, why not? Like, starting my first figure program. Like, oh, let’s just see what happens. Why not like, and each of those like, yeses. And I don’t even know if they should be yeses, because they were more like, they weren’t like, super strong, like, this is what I meant to do at the time. Like, at the time, I was just like, oh, this is a cool next step. Why not? Like, let’s lead to the next thing. And so I think in today’s society, it’s so common to be like, to say no, like, and of course, that’s in different context, and everybody has a different opinion on stuff. But like, for me, it’s my the yeses along the way that has either led me straighter towards this path, or when I said yes and it did work out, okay, that’s cool. That’s something that I know. Like nutrition, for instance, that’s not my realm. I had a friend who asked me to write a meal plan. Hated it, never did it again. So, like, even the yeses that lead to, like, Oh, this sucks. Like, at least, you know, that’s not a thing. And so to just kind of go, even if you’re, like, especially, I guess, for people who are on the fence, like, why not? Like, just, just try it. And if, like, maybe it is, like, your thing, like, saying, like, when Christine came to me and, like, you should just do this certification too. And I was like, okay, like, why not? Like, more an education kind of thing, you know? So is this, I was in the same position. Why not so? And that kind of led to here. And so there’s never, I think people sometimes wait for this, like, big cosmic shift of like, this is exactly the time and exactly the thing I need. And I don’t think anything in my journey has felt like that. It’s just been the next a next thing, a next thing, like, oh, a friend, like my mom’s friend, she was going on a bike trip to Italy, and she wanted to have strong legs for her bike trip. That’s literally what started my in person training journey. And so if I would have said, Oh no. Like, I don’t feel like it like I might have never gotten into training at all. So like, instead of saying, like, no, just say, oh, like, sure. Like, let’s see what. Let’s see if I like it or not, instead of automatically cutting down at things that are new. So I guess coming from a perspective of trying a new certification, trying if you’re joining pnpa, just Yeah, why not? It’s almost

Brianna Battles  48:04

like there’s something to be said for practicing brave. I don’t know. Like, yeah, maybe there’s something there. It definitely goes a long way. But Caitlin, thank you so much for sharing your story and being like, really vulnerable and open to like, what your coaching looks like, what your background is, and just like your business, I think you’re doing a great job showcasing what’s possible, and just like really scaling your impact and the work that you’re doing in your community. So where can people follow along?

Katelyn Darkangelo  48:31

Instagram is the main place, at Kate Darko fit, K, A, T, E, there’s like, a million ways to spell Caitlin at Kate Darko fit, that’s what you can DM me anytime. I love talking to I’ve had actually P and Pa coaches reach out with some of these same questions. So love chatting on there. That’s kind of my main, my main spot.

48:51

Yeah, awesome.

Brianna Battles  48:53

Well, thank you so much. And if you are in Michigan, I get one as you

48:58

grow you music.

Brianna Battles  49:03

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the practice brave podcast. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review and help us spread the work we are doing to improve the overall information and messaging in the fitness industry and beyond. Now, if you are pregnant and you are looking for a trustworthy exercise program to follow. I have you covered. The pregnant athlete training program is a well rounded program for pregnancy with workouts for each week that are appropriate for your changing body. That’s 36 weeks of workouts, three to four workouts each week, and tons of guidance on exercise strategy. We also have an at home version of that program if you are postpartum and you’re looking for an exercise program to follow the eight week postpartum athlete training program would be a really great way to help bridge the gap between rehab and the fitness you actually want to do from there, we have the practice brave fitness program, which is an ongoing strength conditioning program. Where you get new workouts each week and have a lot of guidance for myself and my co coach, Heather Osby, this is the only way that I’m really offering ongoing coaching at this point in time. If you have ever considered becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, I would love to have you join us. Pregnancy and postpartum athleticism is a self paced online certification course that will up level your coaching skills and help connect the dots between pelvic health and long term athletic performance, especially during pregnancy and postpartum, become who you needed and become who your online and local community needs by becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism Coach, thank you again for listening to the practice brave podcast. I appreciate you, and please help me continue spreading this messaging, this information and this work.

MORE ABOUT THE SHOW:

The Practice Brave podcast brings you the relatable, trustworthy and transparent health & fitness information you’re looking for when it comes to coaching, being coached and transitioning through the variables of motherhood and womanhood.

You will learn from athletes and experts in the women’s health and coaching/performance realm as they share their knowledge and experience on all things Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism.

Whether you’re a newly pregnant athlete or postpartum athlete, knowing how to adjust your workouts, mental approach and coaching can be confusing.

Each week we’ll be tackling questions around adjusting your workouts and mindset, diastasis recti, pelvic health, mental health, identity, and beyond. Through compelling interviews and solo shows, Brianna speaks directly to where you’re at because she’s been there too!

Tune in every other week and share the show with your athlete friends!

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