MERIDIAN —     Becky Sims and Linda Holloway, owners of Best Bodies for Women located in Northridge Plaza, know that diet and exercise is at times the last thing on anyone’s mind.

    But eventually, diet and exercise is on the top of everyone’s list.

    And Best Bodies for Women will be ready.

    Sims and Holloway have known each other since they were six-years-old and lived across the street from one another.  They’ve worked together for 8 years, first at Curves, and then opened up their own women’s fitness center almost two years ago.

    They love the women-only 30 minute circuit program that their center promotes.  “Typically we women put ourselves last,” noted Sims, “especially when it comes to exercise and health.”

    “But women who use our facility can come in, do their thing and get out, all on their lunch hour or before or after work.  And the best thing - it is equivalent to an hour and a half workout because you don’t stop.”

    “Each piece of equipment is hydraulic, so anyone can do it.  You don’t have to deal with cumbersome weights that are hard on your joints  - the hydraulics work against your own resistance so the more you put into it and the more often you come work out, the more benefit you get.”

    Although their original plan was to own the Curves franchise where they worked, after speaking to Doc Braswell, business specialist with Mississippi State University/Meridian located on the campus of Meridian Community College, that changed.

    “Doc asked me why I wanted to pay a franchise fee,” stated Sims.  “He told me I could do this myself – I could open up something using the same concept – I just had to come up with a name.”

    “I was overjoyed because I knew how to run a center, I had been doing that for years.  I knew how to take care of the women, how to keep them motivated and keep them coming.  But as far as the business end of it - I didn’t have a clue.”

    Sims and Holloway wanted to make sure they did things right and didn’t miss a thing.  But they didn’t have to worry, because Braswell led them every step of the way.

    His first advice to the women was to sit in one of his free “How to Start A Business” classes held Wednesday afternoons in Webb Hall at Meridian Community College.

    He also encouraged them to hire an attorney and an accountant and to call him or come by his office anytime they had a question or needed help.

    “We started knowing nothing other than how to run a women’s fitness center,” said Sims.  “He helped us find a place and set up our corporation and referred us to Victoria Liddell, director of the East Mississippi Development Corporation (EMDC).

    The EMDC, located in Webb Hall at Meridian Community College, provides assistance to area banks in making loans to new and expanding minority owned and disadvantaged small businesses.  The EMDC uses a non-traditional approach to help bridge the gap between bankers and small businesses.

    “Victoria was awesome to work with and really helped get financing for our business,” noted Sims.  “We wouldn’t have even known about her or the EMDC if it wasn’t for Doc.  And, if it wasn’t for both of them – we wouldn’t be in business,” she added.

    For these two friends and partners, going to work each day is, well – fun.  “It’s not like work,” said Sims.  “We get to meet so many women it’s like a ministry to us.  We know their families, we know what’s going on in their lives, and we are genuinely interested in them and their health.”

    “We love the personal relationship we have with them. We love to see the smiles on their faces when they’ve lost the inches they’ve worked so hard to shed.”

    “Even more important,” stressed Sims, “is when the women feel healthy and good about themselves.

    Then it becomes less about being a particular size and more about cholesterol, blood pressure and other numbers that need to be kept in check.  If the numbers are in line then they will feel better - and if they lose weight on top of getting healthy, then that’s a plus.”

    So if you are looking to get in shape, or want to get a gift certificate for that special lady in your life, call Sims or Holloway at Best Bodies for Women 601-693-6161 or visit them on the web at www.bestbodiesforwomen.com or  in Northridge Plaza. 





    Lisa Sollie is Leadership Facilitator at MCC through the West Alabama East

Mississippi (WAEM)

Initiative, created, in part,

to help communities grow entrepreneurs.