How to build a successful business after 40 years in a different one

Sally Villain MCIMSPA found Pilates and yoga just a few years ago and hasn’t stopped developing since

Changing career can seem like a Herculean task. As we get older and more settled in one role, especially with increasing financial commitments to keep up with, it’s tricky to see how to make that leap. Could it be too late? Never.

Like many people, consequences of the pandemic pushed Sally to try something different. Although a global crisis may have provided the impetus, she has found a new passion because of it. Since then, she has continued to grow professionally and develop a successful and rewarding business.

From plates to Pilates

A patisserie chef for nearly 40 years, Sally was a highly experienced professional in her field. Like many people, fitness had always been part of her life outside of work. Through swimming since school and fitness classes as an adult, Sally remained a regular participant in aerobic activities in her free time for enjoyment and to maintain her health.

Later in life, she found yoga as a tool for both relaxation and connecting with her daughter while she managed mental health issues. Pilates followed when, on her feet for hours at a time at her physically intense job, Sally found that her regular physical activity choices weren’t helping her back troubles. A friend recommended Pilates, so she explored its gentle core-strengthening exercises and benefited as a regular participant.

Sally had a steady job and a regular active wellbeing routine that suited her – so why change?

First, she was made redundant in January 2020. Not immediately life-changing in this case – Sally managed to pick up a temporary job in a role in the same industry, but she wasn’t enjoying it much. So, the pandemic arriving, with its world-shaking economic fallout resulting in her being furloughed, presented a prime opportunity to reconsider her career.

As lockdowns forced us all to adapt to digital communication, Sally seized the opportunity presented by a yoga school creating an online version of its training course. While on furlough from her full-time job, she decided to complete the qualification for her own enjoyment, with no intention to actually teach. That changed quickly:

“It wasn’t a plan to teach at all – I just did it for myself. I’m not someone that likes being up in front of people at all, so I thought wasn’t going to enjoy it. Then I found a teacher that inspired me and I felt this connection and I wanted to do that for other people.

“The first time I taught, I thought ‘wow’. I just absolutely loved it. It’s that feeling when someone tells you after class ‘I really loved that today’. It’s just an amazing feeling that someone connects to what you’re doing. I can’t think of a better job in the world. I sometimes think maybe I should have done it earlier, but it was just the right time.”

After being bitten by the yoga teaching bug, Sally was initially unsure about delivering the stricter structure of Pilates. However, after completing her initial qualification, she found that there were plenty of opportunities to make the practice her own and even develop her yoga skills:

“I thought I preferred yoga to start with because the Pilates training is more rigid. To start with, I thought ‘that’s how I’ve got to teach – I’ve got to stick to the set movements’. But then I started to go to other people’s classes and got an idea that actually people don’t do that. They adapt the exercises. And I just love it. I change my classes each time and try to keep them interesting.

“Since then, I’ve found that the Pilates has helped my yoga. Yoga for me is more about mental relaxation and connection, whereas Pilates is about building strength in the body. Pilates training and teaching has made me more body aware. I’m much more conscious of movement, so I’ve found that improves my yoga teaching as well, because I’m much more conscious of safety for people from the Pilates.”

Growing, training, supporting

Since starting as a yoga and Pilates practitioner several years ago, Sally has expanded her offering. Alongside teaching regular classes, she now runs wellness retreats that incorporate both practices. Sally offers a blended wellness experience during the longer sessions, combining her qualifications in yoga and Pilates with more recent training in sound healing. She even uses her extensive experience as a chef to provide fantastic food, completing the holistic approach.

“I work with lots of older people in their 60s and 70s. Even 80-year-olds. I try to make sure that every that comes feels that they can do something. I might adapt the exercise in quite a big way.

“I originally did my level 3 mat-based Pilates qualification, but last year I did level 4. As part of that, I had to do a case study. Because the majority of people I work with our older, I decided to use a lady in her late 70s for that.

“Over about six months of work, I assessed her posture and how she moves and made a plan for her. It helped me to think much more about how I treat the whole class. Although my case study was an older lady, she’s very fit and active – it made me think about other people who may struggle more and new ways I can adapt for them by analysing their posture.”

Sally’s approach is clever. Using generalist training to focus on how she can better support her existing client base is an effective way to grow her knowledge, and she’s not stopping there. In the summer of 2025, she completed reformer Pilates training to expand her offering. When looking to the future, she is continually weaving training and supporting new participants into her growth journey:

“What I’ve been doing every year is training and thinking ‘what am I going to do next?’

“What I would like to do is more one-to-one work for rehabilitation. I would find it really interesting to work individually with people that have got injuries and things to improve. That would maybe be a focus for this year.”

Accreditation and credibility

To enable her to continue growing in her career, Sally joined CIMSPA last year and gained the professional status of Pilates Based Matwork Instructor Practitioner. Although she had previously joined a yoga-specific membership organisation, she was unaware of CIMSPA and the professional and training opportunities available:

“It was only when I contacted David Lloyd, who said that all their teachers needed to be CIMSPA members, that I found out about it. Because I’m quite new to teaching and do a lot of work on my own rather than in leisure centres, I don’t always find that information.

“It’s really useful to have CIMSPA now, as I can find high-quality training more easily. When I find courses through CIMSPA, I can be certain that it’s a good course with a good organisation.”

Sally went on to talk about how being accredited against a professional standard – as every CIMSPA member with professional status is – is important for demonstrating credibility as a Pilates teacher:

“I think it’s super important to be registered with a professional body so that employers and clients know that my qualifications are valid and recognised.

“A lot of yoga and Pilates teachers come from different backgrounds. They’re very popular at the moment – particularly reformer Pilates. I think it’s really important that people do a mat-based Pilates qualification first, so they understand the principles of the exercise.”

Finally, we asked Sally for her advice for anyone considering a similar pathway. Emphasising how important it is to continue developing, her advice was simple:

“It’s never too late to start something new. You might find something that you just absolutely love. You might do one bit of training that you think ‘I’m not going to use that’, but it’s never lost because you’ll bring parts of that into what you do.

So, I think it’s really important to keep learning whatever age you are.”