Research suggests that the ancient practice of yoga has numerous benefits. Those who participate in the practice can experience positive changes in their physical, mental, and/or emotional well-being. In addition to helping people, owners of yoga studios can also profit financially.
Owning a yoga studio can be made profitable by clarifying your studio’s purpose, creating meaningful experiences, meeting the needs of your clients, and developing responsible financial plans.
Millions of people are yoga practitioners. There continues to be a need for welcoming studios for yoga practice. Continue reading for ideas on how to own a profitable yoga studio.
Clarifying Your Studio’s Purpose
There are different philosophies on whether you should focus on offering one form of yoga in your studio or multiple types of yoga. Before making this decision, think through a few of these ideas.
- What are other studios that would be viewed as your competitors offering?
- If you can, survey potential clients. What yoga practice sessions are they most interested in?
- What is the availability of instructors for different types of yoga?
- Is there a type of yoga that you are more comfortable with or that you have seen greater benefits from?
- Some types of yoga, for example hot yoga, require different facilities.
Regardless of the path you choose, do it well. If you will provide a variety of classes, be sure you offer a balanced schedule.
Creating your brand identity is a visual means of displaying your studio’s purpose. You need an image that will resonate with potential clients. A yoga studio brand that people will recognize will help grow your business and profits. Woven together in your logo are aspects of you and your business. You want to use your logo to increase your profitability.
As you design your logo or work with a graphic artist, consider the meanings of colors as you select them for your logo. If you can, you will want to infuse your color palette throughout your studio, as part of your marketing campaigns, and on the merchandise that you sell. Fonts and their colors and size are another part of your steps in logo creation. You need the name or symbol of your studio intertwined in your brand’s symbol.
Brainstorming ideas to ponder as you generate your design –
- Why do you want to own a yoga studio?
- What benefits do you want your clients to realize?
- What will make yoga practice at your studio different from others?
- What in your background or future will make this a profitable venture?
- How do you define profitable?
- How do you envision your role in the community?
- How do you personally benefit from the practice of yoga?
- Why do you feel yoga is important?
Self-reflection will assist you in crafting a logo that speaks for you.
Creating Meaningful Experiences
For many, yoga sessions or practices are different from working out at a gym or attending a cardio-class. Yoga practitioners are seeking an experience. Your yoga studio can be profitable if it is a welcoming community. When people feel as though they belong, they are most apt to continue participating in classes at your studio. They will also share their positive encounters with others.
Everyone comes to class each day with differing abilities. You and your teachers’ roles are to guide your clients, so they have a meaningful session. Treat each of your students as individuals; therefore, learning each person’s name is paramount to developing a warm community of learners. Discuss their growth in their yoga practice with them. Encourage your students to try new poses and/or other classes at your studio.
Part of your community are your instructors. Be sure to treat them with respect. Support your teachers in their development as yoga instructors. Provide opportunities for your staff to learn new types of yoga or increase their hours of certification. Teachers who speak highly of the studio where they work will entice new clients to attend classes.
Additionally, studios with frequent turnover of staff will often see clients leave. Customers who enjoy their teacher’s classes will frequently change studios to attend classes with that teacher.
Whenever you have a new client or a guest trying a class in your studio, make sure that someone acquaints them with the amenities of your facility. It can be very awkward to walk into a new location and not be able to easily find your way. Have a staff member or you show a new customer where the changing rooms are located, water refill stations, etc.
Your yoga studio can be more profitable if you create an environment that is accepting of all clients. Passionate instructors who enjoy teaching will help you retain clients and other instructors.
Meeting the Needs of Your Clients
When you developed your logo, you considered the type(s) of yoga classes you were going to offer. If that has not been solidified, take the time now to revisit who your clients are. For your yoga studio to be profitable, you need clients attending all the classes that you offer. You can either start with a location then determine what type of classes are needed in the area, or you can begin with the type of classes you want to offer and find a location that would have clients.
Once you have a location, you need to determine who your potential clients are. For your studio to be profitable, a mix of demographics is ideal. You will want to offer classes throughout the day and evening. Your schedule needs to consider the times that clients will be available for different types of classes.
For your retired clients, you want to consider class during the day. Perhaps there are a number of people who work from home, a noontime class might be ideal. It will offer a break from their computer screen and an opportunity to refocus for their afternoon work sessions. To expand your business and profitability, consider adding online classes.
A necessity for your business that will meet your clients’ needs is a website. Class schedules should be available to view online. Students should be able to sign up for their classes online. Billing should be through your website as well. Certainly, if you are offering online classes, your website needs to be able to fully function without technical glitches for those at home.
Before building your website, return to your logo. The design of your website should complement your logo, so that your business image is consistent and memorable.
How To Start An Online Yoga Business In 8 Steps
Developing Responsible Financial Plans
A cohesive financial plan is another reason why owning a yoga studio can be profitable. Your business plan is your financial roadmap. While yoga may be a passion for you, owning your studio is your business.
Components to consider as part of your financial plan include –
- Determine the size of your potential client base.
- Estimate how many classes you will offer.
- For each of those classes, approximate the number of students. Remember it does take time to build a consistent client base.
- Calculate the costs for instructors.
- Analyze the competition.
- Create and implement your marketing plan. Assign cost to it.
- Add together your costs for rent, utilities, licenses, etc.
- Compute the cost you will charge for classes.
- Think through offering different packages for multiple classes and/or a membership fee.
Studios that monitor and adjust their financial forecasts can be profitable. With more data on your class attendance, you can adjust fees accordingly. Remember different times of the year can impact the number of people who attend sessions. You can offer differing rates to encourage participation in slower seasons.
Additional revenue can be garnered through selling merchandise with your logo. Your logo will also help market your studio. Consider offering –
- Water bottles
- Towels
- Yoga blocks
- Mats for yoga
- Apparel
- Lotions and creams
Review your financial statements at regular intervals and adjust accordingly.
Key Items You Need for A Hot Yoga Studio
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you do not need to be certified to teach yoga. However, most yoga studios and clients do want certified instructors to teach their yoga classes.
RYT is an acronym for registered yoga teacher. RYTs need to successfully complete a 200-hour certified course, which must be taken through a school that is a registered yoga school or RYS. There are three levels of RYT: 200, 300, or 500, which denotes the total number of certified training hours.
YTT is the abbreviation for yoga teacher training. This training is available for those who want to teach others how to become a yoga instructor. There are different courses available for the various types of yoga practices.
A yogi or yogini is someone who lives their life inspired by and through incorporating the practice of yoga. Yogis and yoginis are viewed as having achieved the highest level as a practitioner of yoga.
A nonprofit organization, the Yoga Alliance works to support the practice of yoga. They work toward ensuring yoga is practiced and taught in safe and equitable ways. The Yoga Alliance develops standards and codes of conduct seeking access to yoga for all.
To learn more about starting your own Yoga Business check out my startup documents here.
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a legal expert to address your specific needs.
Meet Shawn Chun: Entrepreneur and Yoga Fan
I’m a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online yoga business resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a yoga business owner in public at a studio or anywhere else I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Yoga Business Boss: I want to help future yoga business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.