In this episode of the Female Empowered Podcast, host Christa Gurka addresses a challenge many wellness entrepreneurs face: a summer marketing slump. July, in particular, can feel slow - with fewer leads, lower engagement, and conversions that seem to stall. But before you scrap your strategy entirely, Christa explains why a full overhaul may not be necessary.

Instead, she encourages business owners to diagnose before they pivot. Using data to compare current performance to the same period last year - not to your best months - can offer clarity. Christa shares her own approach to identifying and solving seasonal slowdowns, along with practical tips to maintain visibility, nurture leads, and create flexible offers that speak to what clients need right now.

If your marketing feels off-track this summer, this episode will help you realign, refine, and refocus your efforts without the overwhelm.

Some of the key takeaways from this episode include:

• A July slowdown is normal - don’t panic
• Use year-over-year comparisons, not just peak month benchmarks
• Tailor summer offers to meet your audience where they are
• Stay consistent with messaging and lead nurturing
• Marketing is a skill that improves with intentional effort

Want personalized support in refining your marketing? Reach out to Christa or book your call today.

→ Book a free 15-minute discovery call: www.christagurka.com/discovery
→ Follow Christa on Instagram for more insights: @christagurka
→ Explore mentorship opportunities:
• High-Ticket Inner Circle Membership
• Monthly Membership: $99/month – Learn more here

In this powerful and validating episode, host Christa Gurka dives into a topic many business owners feel but rarely name: the invisible emotional labor that comes with leadership. From managing team morale to handling client dissatisfaction, making decisions, and being the emotional safety net for everyone - women business owners often carry an unseen weight that leads to burnout, resentment, and stress.

Christa shares her own experiences and offers a compassionate but practical framework for recognizing and addressing this emotional toll. She reminds listeners that while empathy is important, business owners are not responsible for everyone’s feelings. Instead, their role is to lead with clarity, set firm boundaries, and build systems that support the business - and themselves.

If you've ever felt emotionally exhausted from "holding it all together," this episode will help you name that weight, release what isn't yours to carry, and take steps toward more sustainable leadership.

Key Takeaways:

• You’re not responsible for your team or clients’ emotional responses
• Leaders who over-function unintentionally create under-functioning teams
• Clear expectations and strong systems reduce decision fatigue
• Delegation is not a luxury—it’s essential
• Seek emotional support from coaches, therapists, or peer masterminds

Ready to lighten your emotional load and grow your business with more support? Learn more about Christa’s mentorship programs at www.christagurka.com and follow Christa on Instagram @christagurka and DM her if this episode resonated with you.

Know someone who needs to hear this? Share the episode with a fellow business owner.

In this candid and insightful episode, host Christa Gurka tackles a topic that’s often misunderstood in the fitness and wellness space: accountability. Speaking directly to both business owners and employees, Christa breaks down what accountability really means—and why it’s a necessary ingredient for a thriving, sustainable business.

She shares her perspective as a long-time business owner and leader, explaining how clear expectations, consistent follow-through, and performance-based compensation are essential to running a financially healthy operation. Christa also busts the myth that studio or clinic owners are "rolling in money," offering a transparent look into the realities of profit margins, payroll costs, and what it actually takes to keep the lights on.

If you’ve ever struggled with setting boundaries as a business owner—or if you’re a team member wondering why your boss is “so strict” about policies—this episode will help you reframe the conversation around leadership, ownership, and responsibility.

Key Takeaways:

• Accountability is about ownership, not control—it’s following through on the job you agreed to do
• Raises and extra compensation should reflect exceptional performance, not just tenure or attendance
• Most small business owners aren’t making large profits—they’re often the last to get paid
• Time off, even unpaid, affects the entire team and business operations
• Owners want to support their team but must also ensure the business stays financially healthy

If this episode resonated with you, share it with your team or fellow business owners who could benefit from the conversation.

Want more leadership and business development support? Follow Christa on Instagram @christagurka.

In this powerful follow-up episode, Christa Gurka shares part two of her journey to selling her Pilates studio, Pilates in the Grove. After a near miss at the closing table in 2024, Christa regrouped, healed, and ultimately closed a successful deal in March 2025.

This episode is both a personal story and a practical guide for boutique fitness and wellness business owners considering a future sale.

Christa walks listeners through what went wrong with the first deal, what changed the second time around, and how she approached due diligence, valuation, and choosing the right buyer. She shares honest reflections on the emotional rollercoaster of selling something she spent 15 years building, and the mindset shifts required to transition from founder to former majority owner.

Whether you're years away from selling or just starting to wonder what your exit might look like, this episode offers a roadmap, real numbers, and reassurance that it is possible, even for small, service-based businesses, to build and sell a valuable asset.

Key Takeaways:

• How Christa turned a failed sale into a successful one within a year
• The importance of preparing your business two years in advance for a potential exit
• Why removing yourself from day-to-day operations is essential for building a sellable business
• What multiples buyers typically pay for boutique fitness businesses
• How to emotionally and strategically navigate due diligence
• Tips for choosing between multiple offers—and why cash upfront isn’t always the only factor
• The role of systems, team structure, and profit margins in business valuation
• How Christa stayed involved post-sale as a strategic partner

Thinking about your own business exit strategy? Download Christa’s free Exit Strategy Matrix to help determine whether it’s time to keep and collect - or prepare to sell and cash in: www.christagurka.com/exit

Want guidance on building systems and preparing for growth or eventual sale? Join the FitBiz Foundations monthly membership: www.christagurka.com/fitbiz-foundations

Have questions about selling your business or interested in having Christa speak at your next event?

• Connect on Instagram: @christagurka
• Email: christa@christagurka.com

Subscribe to the Female Empowered Podcast and tune in weekly for more insights on building a wellness business that works for your life and future.

In this week’s episode of Female Empowered, host Christa Gurka is sharing a story she's never told publicly before - the story of the time she almost sold her business, Pilates in the Grove.

This is part one of a two-part series where she'll walk you through the emotional, strategic, and operational journey behind trying to sell the business she built from the ground up. From a modest $2,400 investment in 2008 to a multi-location, seven-figure business, Christa poured everything into building something that could eventually operate — and be sold — without her.

After being inspired by a panel of business brokers, Christa started prepping intentionally for a sale: systematizing operations, cleaning up financials, and evaluating business valuation. She even got to the point where she was under contract and this close to finalizing the sale. But at the very last moment, a surprise clause from the buyer’s lender brought everything to a screeching halt.

This episode is a candid look at what it takes to get a business ready for sale, what Christa learned from the due diligence process, and how she navigated the emotional fallout when the deal didn’t go through.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How Christa grew Pilates in the Grove into a sale-ready business
• The operational and financial prep that goes into a potential sale
• Why having systems and SOPs is essential — even if you’re not planning to sell
• What it felt like to have a deal fall apart last-minute
• The mindset shifts and resilience I had to tap into after the fallout

Make sure you’re subscribed to the Female Empowered podcast so you don’t miss Part 2 next week, where Christa will share what happened after the deal fell through — and what she's doing differently now.

• Follow Christa on Instagram @ChristaGurka
• Check out past episodes and business resources at www.christagurka.com

If this episode resonates with you, share it with a fellow business owner who’s thinking about selling — or simply trying to build a business that doesn’t depend on them every minute of the day.

In this episode of the Female Empowered podcast, host Christa Gurka breaks down the financial and operational differences between class packages and membership models for fitness and wellness businesses.

While class packages offer flexibility, they often lead to inconsistent cash flow, making it harder to forecast revenue and plan for growth. Christa shares research and real-world examples showing how transitioning to a membership model can improve revenue stability, client consistency, and long-term business sustainability.

She offers tactical insights on how to structure, price, and position memberships, and why repositioning class packages as a flexible, premium option can help meet client needs without sacrificing financial predictability. If you’ve ever felt like your revenue is a rollercoaster or you’re stuck planning month-to-month, this episode is a must-listen.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why memberships often lead to better cash flow than class packages
• How to structure and market a compelling membership offer
• Ways to encourage client consistency without relying on rigid contracts
• Why your business — and your clients — benefit from stable, predictable income
• How to position class packages as a flexible but premium option

Want help implementing this in your business?

Join my FitBiz Foundations Monthly Membership — just $99/month for access to 2 live coaching calls, strategic support, and actionable resources.

• Learn more at www.christagurka.com/fitbiz-foundations
• Follow Christa on Instagram @christagurka

Welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered podcast! In this week’s solo episode, I’m diving into one of my favorite topics: membership models and how they can be a game-changer for fitness, wellness, and healthcare business owners.

Whether you run a Pilates studio, a physical therapy clinic, or any other service-based business, a well-designed membership model can provide more predictable revenue, improve client retention, and even increase the value of your business when it comes time to sell.

I share real-world examples from my own experience and those of my clients, breaking down how a recurring revenue model can reduce the pressure of constantly acquiring new clients and help you build a more sustainable, profitable business.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why membership models work so well for fitness and wellness businesses
• How recurring revenue supports stability and growth
• What to consider when structuring your membership model
• Tips for reducing churn and increasing perceived value
• How a membership can help lower your client acquisition costs

Ready to explore how a membership model could work for your business? Join my FitBiz Foundations Monthly Community where we dive into strategies like this and help you implement them with clarity and support.

• Learn more or sign up at www.christagurka.com/fitbiz-foundations
• Connect with me on Instagram @christagurka

If you loved this episode, please take a minute to leave a review or share it with a fellow business owner who could benefit.

In this episode of the Female Empowered Podcast, Christa Gurka explores a common but often misunderstood challenge in the wellness and fitness business world: what happens when being “fully booked” starts working against you.

If your calendar is packed, your energy is drained, and your business feels stuck, this episode is for you.

Christa breaks down the signs that indicate you’ve hit a business growth ceiling - including a maxed-out schedule, declining quality of service, and the inability to grow without your constant involvement. She shares actionable strategies for reclaiming your time and building a more sustainable business, including delegating, raising prices strategically, and creating a self-sufficient team that keeps your operations running smoothly.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your own success, tune in for a practical roadmap to scale without burning out.

Some of the key takeaways from this episode include...

• Recognize the warning signs of hitting a growth ceiling: full calendar, declining service, burnout, and profit plateaus
• Delegate administrative and low-value tasks to free up your time
• Calculate the return on investment (ROI) of outsourcing versus doing everything yourself
• Consider pricing adjustments or creating premium service tiers to manage demand
• Focus on building and training a team that can operate effectively without your constant oversight

Ready to break through your growth ceiling and build a business that doesn’t rely solely on you? Join the FitBiz Foundations Monthly Membership for $99/month to access tools, trainings, and templates to help you delegate, hire, and grow with more ease.

Learn more and sign up at: https://www.christagurka.com/fitbizfoundations
Connect with Christa on Instagram: @christagurka