When Lyndsey Meade was injured playing soccer in college, a Pilates-inspired workout helped her heal.
Inspired by that experience, she earned a certification to teach mat Pilates and began teaching for a local studio in Miami in 2020. Soon, she was dreaming of running her own studio.
In February 2025, she decided the time was finally right to open BODY Hot Pilates in Aventura, Fla. She joined forces with friends Genevieve and Daniel Ross, a husband-and-wife team who had started a successful Pilates studio in the area at which Lyndsey previously worked, and her husband Chris Meade, an entrepreneur who cofounded and recently exited the backyard games company CROSSNET and The Founders Club, a group for young entrepreneurs. Similar to a hot yoga studio, BODY Hot Pilates heats classes to 95 degrees using infrared sauna technology.
Demand was higher than expected, and BODY Hot Pilates took off. The founders recently opened a second location in Coral Gables, with plans to add three more by year’s end. The business surpassed seven-figure revenue in the first five months, with 19 contractors, mostly independent teachers, contributing to its growth, according to Lyndsey. As it has grown, the founders have added teacher trainings.
BODY Hot Pilates is part of a fast-growing trend—ultra-lean businesses with no formal employees that are reaching $1 million in annual revenue and beyond. There were 117,060 nonemployer businesses that reached $1 million 2023, up from 57,822 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which tracks businesses by North American industry codes. Nonemployer businesses have no traditional W2 employees.
These million-dollar businesses are like elite athletes when it comes to building revenue. For context, there were 30,427,808 nonemployer businesses in 2023, with average revenue of $57,611. Retail was the largest category for 2023, with 16,141 businesses reaching the $1 – $2.49 million level and another 4,216 reaching $2.5- to $4.99 million.
Fitness studios fall under the arts, entertainment and recreation category, where fewer businesses hit the million-dollar mark. There were 3,882 businesses that reached $1- $2.49 million in 2023, 977 that hit $2.5 for $4.99 million, and 353 that reached $5 million.
Many of the businesses use contractors, outsourcing, digital marketing and AI tools to extend what one person or a team of founders can accomplish.
Lyndsey Meade healed herself from a soccer injury using Pilates. Five years after she dreamed of opening a studio, she made the leap with a team of partners and created a fast-growing brand.
BODY Hot Pilates
BODY Hot Pilates has benefited from new interest in mat Pilates, sparked by influencers such as TikToker Alix Earle, says Lyndsey. Mat Pilates mostly relies on exercisers’ body weight for resistance while another popular type, reformer Pilates, requires equipment. Pilates has been around since about 1920, when Joseph Pilates, a physical trainer, first introduced it.
In a metro area full of Pilates studios, choosing the right location was critical to the success of BODY Hot Pilates, Lyndsey says. It operates from a small shopping center with free parking, an advantage in a local area where a spot can be hard to find.
“My client base was primarily in Miami, 35 or 40 minutes from there, so it was adventurous, but the area definitely needed a studio, and the clients are amazing,” she says.
Currently the studio draws about 6,000 individual customers a month, according to Lyndsey. She prioritized building community from the start, making sure every student is individually welcomed and instructors stay aware of any injuries students have.
“Miami can be a tough place to navigate, so I wanted to make sure anytime someone was in my class, they felt like they were hanging out with their friends,” she says. “It’s about feeling your best.”
The founders attract customers into the studio through shares on Instagram and partnerships such as a recent one to sample products from energy-drinks brand REBBL.
The studio offers a traditional Pilates class, as well as a new variation called Hot Pilates Sculpt, which integrates weights into the class. To simplify bookings, the studio uses Mariana Tek, which allows the studio to have its own app within a larger app.
Lyndsey says she and her co-founders were committed to making the studio work under any circumstances, but were pleasantly surprised by how quickly the community responded. Now the founders’ goal is to continue building on that momentum with the new studios. “It’s an answer to our prayers that it’s taken off so quickly,” she says.
