Business Models
Exploring Business Models for Yoga Studios: A Guide for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
By Dennis Bluthardt, Namaste Studios
People want to be well; they are increasingly weaving wellness and mindfulness practices into their lives, and those practices commonly include yoga. If you are one of the legions of people passionate about yoga, you may have thought at one time or another about making that thing you love the foundation of a new business.
You are not swimming upstream here. There is no question that you can make a good living running a yoga studio or being involved in the downward-facing dog game in one form or another. The potential for financial success in this industry is significant. Here are a few different models to consider.
No list of this sort would be worth its incense if we didn’t mention the traditional local shop with classes, workshops, and events. This version is for the people who value being together with a group in close quarters, the yoga entrepreneur who savors the community-building aspect of the work and likes to live where they live. You have options on what other replaceable revenue streams could be built in besides the classes. You could have a shower and changing spaces; there could be a small shop with mats and apparel; you could sell drinks and other items associated with wellness. The retail biz can be a very high-profit business and doesn’t necessarily need to replace something else to be included in your thinking. Generally, the fixtures to hang apparel or mats and a bookshelf in a cozy corner are all you need to flesh that out (even if only merch for your place). You can mitigate some overhead by doing retail and conversing with your peeps about something hot and trending (a new way to add value).
Your other big option in the COVID era is to operate that same local studio concept or not and promote a big brand with faces they endorse and run conventions on social media. This group has film-editing capability in-house or has a partner that helps them produce a constant stream of digital courses designed for the public (that they sell for $20 or $30 bucks on their site) and licenses course content for group settings in other locations. They also do some cool things to promote that primary platform, such as launching photo contests that get their instructor network to bring their community of peeps to their site by creating custom hashtags for events and promoting them on their print-out pieces designed for social sharing. The adaptability of the yoga studio business allows for various strategies to be implemented, ensuring its resilience in changing times.
Understanding the Yoga Studio Landscape
The terms rise, and yoga studios have been prophetic allies in the past 10 to 20 years as health and wellness hotspots. It’s just one more global statement about the individual and collective health of the people of our day. This raises more awareness and will always benefit the sectors and segments of the fitness business.
The rise of yoga studios creates business examples that support all members’ community needs, whether in the pose of a hang ten or a headstand. The idea here is that these highly deep-seated niches exist using form elements that address yoga practices representative of:
Very traditional Hatha yoga environments
Scorching hot yoga spaces
Hanging anti-gravity aerial yoga or adjoining fitness environments like its developed system, “The Harrison Anti-Gravity Hammock.”
There are no community aspects, no yoga. Therefore, the community setting enhances that scenario. The importance of community in the yoga studio business cannot be overstated. It is a sustainable, historical approach to human worry and tension release. The company approaches the subject as a presenter of the ideas as a community connection through established regular classes and extracurricular revenue pool hustlers, workshops, retreats, and teacher training.
Other subtopics addressed here are directly extrapolated into other businesses and yoga relevance.
Key Business Models for Yoga Studios
The traditional membership model. This is where people pay a fee and, in return, get a membership for a period, usually a month or a year. It is a model that is as old as time. This type of setup works well in situations where the goal is to build a community of people who see themselves as birds of a feather and are dedicated to engaging with the organization regularly.
One of the things association executives like about this model is that it helps them to cultivate long-term relationships with community members, many of whom come to be seen, both by themselves and by association staff, as family. These warm and fuzzy relationships can often lead to high degrees of loyalty and member retention. Predictable revenue is also possible through this model.
The drop-in class model. Some people like to run alone! For women who fit this decidedly causal profile, the perfect solution may be the drop-in class model; these women do not want to be members of anything. This model allows women to tailor their routine, usually on a per-class basis, just paying cash at the door. Very informal. What a great way to organize girls who generally like to fly under the radar, just doing their own thing and not worrying about involving themselves in some big production. This model would work very well with introverted women. For painted toenail/sandal-wearing liberal women who like to live life on relatively loosey-goosie terms, association executives can bundle a bunch of classes together, packaging them in a “Surf, Not Turf” Come to Yoga, Yoga for Women #Pro-Choice, #ClimateChange awareness roll-out to some hip and calm Great Lakes beach city beaches, scoping’ out all the hipsters.
The hybrid model. This hot-pants class type is sort of a “why not, either/or” model that plays to every woman with even the slightest bit of femininity about her body who might be interested in joining a club that offers this type of class. Remember, this is all about what most traditional women consider beauty. Yes, the club provides classes taught by talented instructors who are so good at what they do that they are just as capable of delivering dynamic instruction in live classrooms as they are at teaching the same classes, filled with identical content and nary skipping a beat, online. Very cool, indeed. Again, it is that feminine-centric appreciation for the efficiency and effectiveness of the finely tuned, aesthetically and philologically appealing female form that the digital media marketing mavens are so good at converting into the efficient (reusable) allocation of classroom resources. Classes that are shown on video can reduce the number of live bodies required to teach courses and can be just as effective at doing so as is the case with face-to-face classes. The hybrid model is perfect for women who like to play and hate sports.
The offering of a few fun and funky specialty classes and/or workshops. It is what professional association executives do! Back to the future, day by day. They must! Like the changing of the seasons, the evolution of yoga continues to influence people in different ways. These classes or courses of instruction are often geared toward helping women solve specific problems, such as the touching of their toes (believe it or not, this is a real thing with some women), the development of better balance (which would be a good thing for women of any age who have not quite figured that one out yet), and (get this, guys) helping women of a certain age feel better about menstruating. It could be just these women; I am not sure, but maybe not. As unlikely as it may seem, many post-menopausal women probably have never come to terms with their periods, or themselves, during menstruation and, therefore, see their periods as a lifetime (more or less) monthly exercise in the slings and arrows of menstruation misery and, because of this, are continually wracked by various forms of menstruation-related guilt that for some women never seems to go entirely away.
Essential Considerations for Studio Management
If you are opening a yoga studio, location can play a big part in the number of clients you will get. If you are in a community that values health and wellness, your space is easy to access, is visible by heavy foot traffic, and prospective clients can see the value of your space, you may be successful. Beyond the location, if the studio looks and feels nice, prospective clients will likely want to step inside and try a few classes.
There is a lot of competition in the yoga industry, and having a full-service offering dramatically increases the need for marketing. Offering a free class, using skills on social, maybe having a good friend with a large audience or collaborating with other local businesses that have a large audience to share the product, having introductory packages, workshops, etc., can all make things more enticing for a new student to share their trust and give yoga a try.
Rent takes much monthly revenue, and a good community drastically decreases that negative. Knowing people will come back for a variety of classes is essential. Everyone wants a sense of belonging. They want to chat with their other local community group about a brand that delivers good experiences regularly.
Financial Considerations and Sustainability
Keeping the lights on in your yoga studio will require thoughtful budgeting and financial planning. A well-defined budget helps ensure you spend money on things you know will cost you the most.
Some areas of your budget will include the following: rent/mortgage, utilities, staff pay, and marketing. Additionally, it is excellent to reach out beyond where you are today and project future revenues and expenses. When will you have any slow times? What will The Fourth of July or Labor Day do to this month’s profits? Forecasting allows you to ride out the waves with some stress levels, fully expecting financial shortfalls. A complete budget often takes several years or months to develop fully. However, without one, you’ll likely be shooting in the dark in some areas that might have allowed you to squeeze a few more pennies for the community!
Stop now, grab a whiteboard or a pencil, and take your best shot at this.
Other revenue streams
Working hard to define ALL the different revenue streams is key to your yoga studio’s long-term success. Most yoga folks we talk with start by listing the four primary fees we generate at home.
Beyond the physical space and the actual studio, I encourage you to think beyond what you consider your traditional space. You may already be considering merchandise sales. It’s a big business! Selling colorful yoga mats, men’s and women’s yoga clothes, and specialized apparel for the pros makes for an incredible apparel and e-commerce business. But again, when we begin to put the local location and merchandise on your class lists, even product sales can be fun!
Consider jewelry, nutrition, beauty products, specialized props for your yoga class, essential oils, candles, and other accessories. Many diverse products and instruments will help you reach a growing number of students + participants in your area.
And, of course, having just lived through the exceptionally stressful COVID-19 pandemic, the Open for Business DOORS may also be slamming shut. The obvious solution is to head online and post your instructor’s classes via the site here on Suzie’s Diaries. You can simultaneously deliver your living room to the broader community you will create on the internet. You can provide it via a paid URL or some other site of your choosing and establish all NEW forms of revenue streams based on what you will establish as YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE.
A shop will always be part of your presence on the internet. SIMS provides a branded modal shopping solution, a fun-wide collection of all your accessories! With Mr. Donald recognized on the FACE OF SB, ownership of all you will need is there. Setting up shop and reaching out to begin class will be easy.
I look forward to sharing a part of my class with you. Studio managers and personnel will be interested in the many diverse studio accessories that I have been able to consider.
Aspiring yoga studio owners have several business models to choose from:
Membership model: Clients could pay a monthly fee to attend unlimited yoga classes. This model gives people a reason to show up every week (since they’ve already paid), but it requires many members to be profitable.
Drop-in class model: Some people can’t or won’t commit to a membership, so charging by the class might make you more money.
The future of fitness studio model: You offer yoga in the park every other weekend, live-streamed yoga classes on YouTube, and on-demand yoga classes inside your custom-branded mobile and TV apps. You’ll need more software (more time to onboard and train your team), but you get 4 to 5 additional revenue streams in exchange.
Evaluate your market to decide whether you should open a no-frills yoga studio for the students nearby who can pay little or a wellness center for the well-off.
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