For Sarah Joy, a 20-year career in fitness had become both a passion and a limitation. She had spent decades building expertise as a group fitness instructor, professional downhill cyclist and classically trained Pilates instructor. She loved helping people feel stronger and healthier, but her livelihood depended almost entirely on her own time. Long days meant more income. Taking time off meant earning nothing.
That reality became impossible to ignore when Joy became sick and was unable to teach for a week. “It was really a wake-up call for me,” Joy said. “I realized that if I am not able to work, I don’t get paid.”
Today, Joy’s relationship with fitness looks very different. Rather than spending every day teaching from before sunrise until after sunset, she has become a multi-unit franchise owner with inLIFE Wellness, the Australian-born Reformer Pilates and wellness franchise expanding throughout the U.S.
Her first studio in Melissa, Texas, opened with hundreds of members already signed up. She has since expanded into Murphy and opened two more studios in Royse City and Richardson.
And Joy isn’t the only franchisee who has discovered a path to multi-unit growth with the brand. Shane and Josephine “Jo” Scott opened one of inLIFE Wellness’ earliest franchise locations in Sydney in 2022 before moving their family across the world to help establish the concept in the Dallas market. After opening multiple studios in Texas, the couple is continuing to grow alongside the brand.
Together, their stories reflect the type of franchisee growth inLIFE Wellness hopes to replicate as it expands across the U.S.: owners who believe in the product, build strong local communities and use a deliberately simple operating model to scale beyond a single location.
Joy first discovered inLIFE Wellness through one of her Pilates clients, who knew founders Scott and Lauren Capelin and suggested she audition to become an instructor. At the time, Joy wasn’t looking for a new career. But her first experience inside an inLIFE studio immediately stood out.
“The space was so warm and lovely. It was a very calm and welcoming environment,” she said. “As I was there, I was asking Scott all the questions about what he wanted me to do, and he just told me, ‘Teach what you love.’ No one had said that to me before.”
After 20 years in fitness, the freedom and culture she found at inLIFE gave Joy a renewed enthusiasm for teaching. “It was really a breath of life into me as an instructor,” she said. “I had been teaching for 20 years and was used to everyone telling me how to teach, but this was a new approach that was inspiring. It got me hooked.”
Eventually, Joy left her corporate fitness position and joined inLIFE. As she became more familiar with the brand, she also began to see the business opportunity behind the classes.
When the possibility of becoming an owner came up, Joy decided to take a chance on herself. Within 14 days, she had signed a lease for her first studio in Melissa.
“I had never done any type of construction in my entire life. I didn’t know anything,” Joy said. “I can tell you every muscle in your entire body, but if you ask me anything about business, I was pretty blank.”
That gap was precisely why the franchise structure appealed to her. Instead of developing a fitness concept, operating systems and opening strategy herself, Joy could work within a model that had already been built and refined.
Her Melissa studio opened in March 2026 after generating extraordinary interest. “We opened with a record-breaking 772 members [in presales] and opened our doors with close to 850 members,” Joy said. “My ROI was less than four months. It was really a dream story. The systems are there. As long as you put the systems in play and put the work in on the back end, the business really runs itself in a beautiful way.”
She expanded into Murphy and began developing additional studios, including the recent Royse City and Richardson locations. “We decided we wanted to create something even bigger,” Joy said. “We are really just creating a region for ourselves.”
With a strong studio manager and team in place, Joy says her role has also evolved dramatically from the exhausting schedule she once maintained as a fitness professional. Rather than personally delivering every class or service, she can focus on supporting the business and the people responsible for creating the member experience.
For Shane and Jo Scott, the path to multi-unit ownership began thousands of miles away. Shane’s background included both fitness and hospitality. He worked in gyms, spent years in hospitality and eventually opened a bar with business partners in Sydney, while also working with F45 Training in Australia.
Owning the bar gave Shane entrepreneurial experience, but it also came with the demanding lifestyle that often accompanies hospitality ownership, including long days, nights and weekends.
Jo, meanwhile, had worked in event management. After the couple had their first child, she became increasingly interested in Pilates and ultimately completed her Pilates qualifications before joining inLIFE.
“We really loved what the brand was about,” Shane said. “I loved the business model, and I thought that Scott was really onto something. We had thought about doing our own thing, but we decided that we wanted to be a part of what inLIFE was doing instead.”
When Capelin began discussing franchising, the Scotts became some of the earliest owners to take the opportunity. Their first studio opened in Sydney in 2022 and remains in operation today.
“There was a great framework for how to get things done,” Shane said. “We learned a lot and we’ve definitely grown with the brand. We already had a good idea of what the brand offered and what it was. It was all very streamlined considering it was our first studio, but that is why we wanted to go with a brand and a person like Scott who already had a lot of experience.”
The relationship went beyond the economics of the concept. Shane said watching how Capelin treated employees and built the culture reinforced their confidence in the brand. Over time, they realized their long-term goals were aligned as well.
One of those goals was to live abroad. When inLIFE began looking toward the U.S., the Scotts saw an opportunity to take another leap with the brand. They initially explored California but ultimately turned their attention to Texas.
“We knew people who lived in Texas, and we knew the state was booming,” Shane said. “Once we got to Dallas, we realized it made a lot more sense.”
In 2024, the Scotts relocated to Dallas with their two young children and began establishing their next chapter with inLIFE. The move required them to simultaneously navigate visas, leases and studio development, but their previous experience with the concept gave them confidence in the underlying model.
Two years later, they have helped establish inLIFE’s culture in its early U.S. market while continuing to grow their own portfolio.
The growth of Joy and the Scotts reflects a broader pattern emerging within inLIFE Wellness. According to the brand’s development team, every current U.S. franchisee either owns multiple studios or is already progressing toward additional locations. The company expects to approach 20 U.S. studios across just five owners as its existing development pipeline opens.
Founder and CEO Scott Capelin built inLIFE after more than 25 years in the fitness industry, including his own experience as a multi-unit franchisee. When he launched the first inLIFE Wellness in Sydney in 2019, his goal was to strip unnecessary complexity and costs out of the traditional boutique fitness model.
Studios operate in approximately 1,800 square feet, and the model also minimizes unnecessary management layers and front-desk labor. “The product is sophisticated, but the business model itself is simple in the sense that it is relatively easy to operate,” Shane said. “You can get in there and it’s all laid out for you. All you have to do is follow what’s been built.”
The brand has grown to approximately 70 locations largely without traditional franchise marketing. Many of its owners started as members or instructors before deciding to invest themselves.
“It used to be about how luxury-looking and aesthetic the space should be, but with us, we keep costs much lower and are still able to give members what they really want: the community,” Joy said. “They are not coming in to get the most aesthetically pleasing space ever. They just want to feel better.”
inLIFE Wellness is continuing to deepen its presence in North Texas. But for its franchisees, adding studios is about more than accumulating units.
Joy sees each opening as another opportunity to create jobs for instructors and establish a gathering place where members can feel comfortable regardless of their fitness experience.
“It is not just a Pilates studio. It is a community gathering spot,” Joy said. “It’s not just the four walls; it’s the people you put in there and the level of kindness and grace you bring to each other. It creates a special space and a thriving community.”
Shane sees the same dynamic playing out as inLIFE establishes itself in the U.S. “The community and culture aspect really makes us different,” he said. “There is a real warmth and sense of community in what we offer. I really find that it’s been well-received in the States. There is a little bit more depth in what we are doing, and there are real relationships being built.”
For Joy, that community-driven model has allowed her to transform a career once limited by the number of classes she could personally teach into a growing multi-unit business. For Shane and Jo, it has provided a vehicle to pursue entrepreneurship, move their family across the world and continue growing alongside a brand they first believed in years ago in Sydney.
Now, with additional Texas studios preparing to welcome members, both stories are helping demonstrate what inLIFE’s next stage of U.S. growth could look like.
“There is a great energy in our studios, and there is a lot of value in this model,” Shane said. “It’s lightning in a bottle right now.”
For more information about franchising with inLIFE Wellness, visit: https://1851franchise.com/inlife-wellness.
inLIFE Wellness
SPONSORED
With several new studios opening this year, franchisees Sarah Joy and Shane and Jo Scott show how inLIFE Wellness’ model empowers owners to build multi-unit businesses.
For Sarah Joy, a 20-year career in fitness had become both a passion and a limitation. She had spent decades building expertise as a group fitness instructor, professional downhill cyclist and classically trained Pilates instructor. She loved helping people feel stronger and healthier, but her livelihood depended almost entirely on her own time. Long days meant more income. Taking time off meant earning nothing.
That reality became impossible to ignore when Joy became sick and was unable to teach for a week. “It was really a wake-up call for me,” Joy said. “I realized that if I am not able to work, I don’t get paid.”
Today, Joy’s relationship with fitness looks very different. Rather than spending every day teaching from before sunrise until after sunset, she has become a multi-unit franchise owner with inLIFE Wellness, the Australian-born Reformer Pilates and wellness franchise expanding throughout the U.S.
Her first studio in Melissa, Texas, opened with hundreds of members already signed up. She has since expanded into Murphy and opened two more studios in Royse City and Richardson.
And Joy isn’t the only franchisee who has discovered a path to multi-unit growth with the brand. Shane and Josephine “Jo” Scott opened one of inLIFE Wellness’ earliest franchise locations in Sydney in 2022 before moving their family across the world to help establish the concept in the Dallas market. After opening multiple studios in Texas, the couple is continuing to grow alongside the brand.
Together, their stories reflect the type of franchisee growth inLIFE Wellness hopes to replicate as it expands across the U.S.: owners who believe in the product, build strong local communities and use a deliberately simple operating model to scale beyond a single location.
Joy first discovered inLIFE Wellness through one of her Pilates clients, who knew founders Scott and Lauren Capelin and suggested she audition to become an instructor. At the time, Joy wasn’t looking for a new career. But her first experience inside an inLIFE studio immediately stood out.
“The space was so warm and lovely. It was a very calm and welcoming environment,” she said. “As I was there, I was asking Scott all the questions about what he wanted me to do, and he just told me, ‘Teach what you love.’ No one had said that to me before.”
After 20 years in fitness, the freedom and culture she found at inLIFE gave Joy a renewed enthusiasm for teaching. “It was really a breath of life into me as an instructor,” she said. “I had been teaching for 20 years and was used to everyone telling me how to teach, but this was a new approach that was inspiring. It got me hooked.”
Eventually, Joy left her corporate fitness position and joined inLIFE. As she became more familiar with the brand, she also began to see the business opportunity behind the classes.
When the possibility of becoming an owner came up, Joy decided to take a chance on herself. Within 14 days, she had signed a lease for her first studio in Melissa.
“I had never done any type of construction in my entire life. I didn’t know anything,” Joy said. “I can tell you every muscle in your entire body, but if you ask me anything about business, I was pretty blank.”
That gap was precisely why the franchise structure appealed to her. Instead of developing a fitness concept, operating systems and opening strategy herself, Joy could work within a model that had already been built and refined.
Her Melissa studio opened in March 2026 after generating extraordinary interest. “We opened with a record-breaking 772 members [in presales] and opened our doors with close to 850 members,” Joy said. “My ROI was less than four months. It was really a dream story. The systems are there. As long as you put the systems in play and put the work in on the back end, the business really runs itself in a beautiful way.”
She expanded into Murphy and began developing additional studios, including the recent Royse City and Richardson locations. “We decided we wanted to create something even bigger,” Joy said. “We are really just creating a region for ourselves.”
With a strong studio manager and team in place, Joy says her role has also evolved dramatically from the exhausting schedule she once maintained as a fitness professional. Rather than personally delivering every class or service, she can focus on supporting the business and the people responsible for creating the member experience.
For Shane and Jo Scott, the path to multi-unit ownership began thousands of miles away. Shane’s background included both fitness and hospitality. He worked in gyms, spent years in hospitality and eventually opened a bar with business partners in Sydney, while also working with F45 Training in Australia.
Owning the bar gave Shane entrepreneurial experience, but it also came with the demanding lifestyle that often accompanies hospitality ownership, including long days, nights and weekends.
Jo, meanwhile, had worked in event management. After the couple had their first child, she became increasingly interested in Pilates and ultimately completed her Pilates qualifications before joining inLIFE.
“We really loved what the brand was about,” Shane said. “I loved the business model, and I thought that Scott was really onto something. We had thought about doing our own thing, but we decided that we wanted to be a part of what inLIFE was doing instead.”
When Capelin began discussing franchising, the Scotts became some of the earliest owners to take the opportunity. Their first studio opened in Sydney in 2022 and remains in operation today.
“There was a great framework for how to get things done,” Shane said. “We learned a lot and we’ve definitely grown with the brand. We already had a good idea of what the brand offered and what it was. It was all very streamlined considering it was our first studio, but that is why we wanted to go with a brand and a person like Scott who already had a lot of experience.”
The relationship went beyond the economics of the concept. Shane said watching how Capelin treated employees and built the culture reinforced their confidence in the brand. Over time, they realized their long-term goals were aligned as well.
One of those goals was to live abroad. When inLIFE began looking toward the U.S., the Scotts saw an opportunity to take another leap with the brand. They initially explored California but ultimately turned their attention to Texas.
“We knew people who lived in Texas, and we knew the state was booming,” Shane said. “Once we got to Dallas, we realized it made a lot more sense.”
In 2024, the Scotts relocated to Dallas with their two young children and began establishing their next chapter with inLIFE. The move required them to simultaneously navigate visas, leases and studio development, but their previous experience with the concept gave them confidence in the underlying model.
Two years later, they have helped establish inLIFE’s culture in its early U.S. market while continuing to grow their own portfolio.
The growth of Joy and the Scotts reflects a broader pattern emerging within inLIFE Wellness. According to the brand’s development team, every current U.S. franchisee either owns multiple studios or is already progressing toward additional locations. The company expects to approach 20 U.S. studios across just five owners as its existing development pipeline opens.
Founder and CEO Scott Capelin built inLIFE after more than 25 years in the fitness industry, including his own experience as a multi-unit franchisee. When he launched the first inLIFE Wellness in Sydney in 2019, his goal was to strip unnecessary complexity and costs out of the traditional boutique fitness model.
Studios operate in approximately 1,800 square feet, and the model also minimizes unnecessary management layers and front-desk labor. “The product is sophisticated, but the business model itself is simple in the sense that it is relatively easy to operate,” Shane said. “You can get in there and it’s all laid out for you. All you have to do is follow what’s been built.”
The brand has grown to approximately 70 locations largely without traditional franchise marketing. Many of its owners started as members or instructors before deciding to invest themselves.
“It used to be about how luxury-looking and aesthetic the space should be, but with us, we keep costs much lower and are still able to give members what they really want: the community,” Joy said. “They are not coming in to get the most aesthetically pleasing space ever. They just want to feel better.”
inLIFE Wellness is continuing to deepen its presence in North Texas. But for its franchisees, adding studios is about more than accumulating units.
Joy sees each opening as another opportunity to create jobs for instructors and establish a gathering place where members can feel comfortable regardless of their fitness experience.
“It is not just a Pilates studio. It is a community gathering spot,” Joy said. “It’s not just the four walls; it’s the people you put in there and the level of kindness and grace you bring to each other. It creates a special space and a thriving community.”
Shane sees the same dynamic playing out as inLIFE establishes itself in the U.S. “The community and culture aspect really makes us different,” he said. “There is a real warmth and sense of community in what we offer. I really find that it’s been well-received in the States. There is a little bit more depth in what we are doing, and there are real relationships being built.”
For Joy, that community-driven model has allowed her to transform a career once limited by the number of classes she could personally teach into a growing multi-unit business. For Shane and Jo, it has provided a vehicle to pursue entrepreneurship, move their family across the world and continue growing alongside a brand they first believed in years ago in Sydney.
Now, with additional Texas studios preparing to welcome members, both stories are helping demonstrate what inLIFE’s next stage of U.S. growth could look like.
“There is a great energy in our studios, and there is a lot of value in this model,” Shane said. “It’s lightning in a bottle right now.”
For more information about franchising with inLIFE Wellness, visit: https://1851franchise.com/inlife-wellness.
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