Anne Mahlum founded solidcore in 2013, and she sold the business to a private equity firm in 2023.
Exclusive: solidcore Founder Anne Mahlum Admits 'I'm Really Proud of My Career' After Selling Successful Pilates Chain
Anne Mahlum, the woman behind the viral Pilates phenomenon solidcore, has built a multi-million dollar business fueled by determination, passion and a commitment to helping others.
Anne Mahlum was shocked by how 'challenging' Pilates was when she first tried it.
"When I discovered Pilates, I was cocky going in thinking I'd crush the class — but I didn’t. It was so hard and challenging in ways I hadn’t experienced before," Mahlum exclusively tells Morning Honey. "The class itself was different, and I was sore the next day in all the right areas."
"After doing it repeatedly, I started to see my muscles finally showing up and getting toned in areas I hadn’t been able to achieve before despite all the running I was doing," she adds.
Anne Mahlum founded Back on My Feet to help end cycles of poverty and addiction through fitness.
Before building solidcore, Mahlum developed the non-profit organization Back on My Feet — which uses fitness to end cycles of poverty and addiction across the country.
"I know how to build brands and community, and I know how to scale," Mahlum says of her successful endeavors. "This is the perfect business for me to start."
"I'm really proud of my career and how I've made my money because it's always been based on helping people be happier and healthier — and that's a really cool feeling to help people make their lives better," she admits.
Mahlum's background in nonprofit work became an asset to solidcore's development.
"With Back on My Feet and addiction, I used to get a lot of flack in the beginning of Back on My Feet, like, 'Well, you're just trading one addiction for another,'" the businesswoman says. "I'm like, 'Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing. If you don't have an addictive bone in you, you don't understand that the word moderation just doesn't exist.'"
Anne Mahlum stressed it is important to know 'what you're really good at' while pursuing a business idea.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Mahlum stresses the importance of knowing your strengths.
"Figure out what you're really good at, and I always tell people everybody has a scale," she shares. "There are things that we're a one or a two or a three at, and I just sort of let those things go because even if I work hard at those things, I may become a five or a six and I'm still not gonna really be able to compete or be the best at the world at that."
"I focused on things that I was really good at," she admits. "I'm great at sales, I know how to build community, I'm good at branding and I know how to put infrastructure and organization in place to make something operate."
solidcore fans often tell Anne Mahlum the fitness chain 'changed their life.'
Although Mahlum has since sold solidcore to a private equity firm, she gets excited about the positive feedback the beloved fitness chain still receives to this day.
"I never get sick of emails from people telling me how solidcore has changed their life," Mahlum says. "It's just a place where they've gone to get through hard things or solidcore has shown them that they can get through hard things. I feel it's transformative."
