Dancing has been her lifeblood since the age of three, so when Cara Elliott was looking for her next move in professional life after working and training in ballet including spells abroad, it made sense to launch her own business, using her skills training to help ease the stresses of modern life.
The highly-driven and nimbled-footed 25 year old from Hull has set up CJE Pilates, a modern pilates specialist. The former Airlie’s Angel – one of the band of Hull FC cheerleaders - decided to specialise in pilates for its relaxing, “chilled-out” benefits and for its impact on conditioning and toning the body. Cara has been helped to get her business off the ground by Hull Enterprise Partnership and her ideas were rapidly progressed after visiting the Enterprise Show in the city in April.
“The choice of pilates has helped motivate me to set up this business”, says Cara. “The sessions at leisure centres seem heavily booked up so I thought I would combine my interest with this business opportunity and use different venues around the city to see how popular the classes are.”
Cara, from Allderidge Avenue, Hull, has launched her instruction sessions in a newly-developed pilates studio above a hair and beauty salon in Chanterlands Avenue, and at the Freedom Centre in east Hull initially, charging £6-8 for each session with private tuition at £20 per hour. Block-booking is also available.
“I’ll be aiming to cater for up to five people at a time and be targeting a variety of age groups – young and old alike,” says Cara. “So far the take-up has been terrific. The appeal of pilates is that it’s great for mental well-being, is good for the posture and for relaxation. I did a hour’s worth every day before ballet.”
Cara trained in dance under the renowned teacher Margaret Watson at the Northern Theatre Company in Hull, and eventually progressed to be a Yorkshire Ballet Scholar, was a Highland dancer in Edinburgh prior to her professional training at Ballet West in Scotland. She also trained with Stuttgart Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet, and studied at The National Centre for Dance in Edinburgh.
More recently back home, she took a break and has been doing voluntary work at Wolfreton School teaching English as a Foreign Language, but the pace of setting up her new business has been breath-taking.
“From when I saw Hull Enterprise Partnership, I have had a business plan drawn up, I have been applying for grants and receiving funding advice. I need quite a lot of equipment for the studio sessions but it’s a relief to start and feels brilliant to be launching the new business.”
Cara, who is planning to work part-time at around 16 hours in her new venture, is taking on contemporary dancer Hayley Coxon as her first employee.
Pre-enterprise advisor Matt Hill says: “She’s worked very hard, very quickly to launch the new business. We’ve been able to help with advice on funding, a business plan, and on health & safety issues.”
The Hull Enterprise Partnership provides advice for self-employment, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Further information: 01482 714242 or online www.enterprisinghull.org.
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