Mom of 4 'living a dream' with home-based fitness business

Nearly every morning at 5:30 a.m. Tracey GairnsBriouxthrows on her workout clothes andchecks in with the world.

After spending many yearssweating next to everybody elsein the gym, the 37-year-old mother of fouris working outin a different way hostingalive,online30-minuteworkout show for people to sweat it out in their own home.

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"I'm not a morning person so that was super scary for me," GairnsBrioux said about starting her online fitness business.

"But when I log on and then I see people joining me live it is so motivating to me."

After11 years teaching fitness classes, GairnsBrioux got the idea for the online classwhenshe noticed that a lot of people(especially moms)didn't have enough time in the day to get a workout in.

Staying home with kids is a big plus

This, combined with the birth of her fourth child, motivated her to fulfil her dream of working at home, creatingher online business reset: breathe Fitnessin September.

The power of having the online community is that you're kind of unlimited in how you can grow. TraceyGairnsBrioux

People who want to work out with Gairns Brioux pay a monthly fee of about $50 and have access to a private Facebook live video of the workout. They can either join in with her at 5:30 a.m. or save theworkout for later.

There have been some challenges inhosting an online workout in her own home, however. Between power outages and lost connections "you never know what's going to happen," Gairns Brioux said.

In the end, getting to spend time with her four young children was one of the biggest motivations for Gairns Brioux to start the business.

And sometimes the two worlds meet as her children, now and again,wander in to help her finish her workout something you just have to roll with, she said.

Since the business began, what's surprised her most is the amount of solidarity and community among those in the fitness program.

"When people are done of their workouts they generally comment, sometimes they post a sweaty selfie,"GairnsBriouxsaid.

"I sort of underestimated the power of community and what that does for them. Even though they're doing it on their own they don't feel like they're doing it alone and so that team part has been really awesome."

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She recently hosted her 100th class and is looking to grow her business so more people across Atlantic Canada can take part in the fitness class.

"The power of having the online community is that you're kind of unlimited in how you can grow," she said.

"I still kind of feel like I'm living a dream, to be able to do this."

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