Mastering Day-to-Day Management as a Yoga Studio Owner: The Art of Leading with Structure and Flow
By Dennis Bluthardt, Namaste Studios®
Many yoga studio owners will know exactly what I’m talking about when I say that we must play two roles every day. The first is that of a yoga teacher. A role that requires us to bring the spiritual and physical benefits of yoga to class. The second is typically that of a manager or business owner. In this role, we perform all tasks necessary to run a yoga studio, from managing finances to creating and executing social media advertising campaigns. There is often an inherent balance between these two roles, and the strain of having to bounce between them can impact our ability to be genuinely present.
Why is this a problem for us? I think it’s because the very aim or purpose of teaching yoga is to help our students realize the very highest levels of spiritual aspirant and freedom. Swinging day after day between business and teaching can lead to extreme states of fatigue and burnout if we don’t get it right.
Looking at the studio owner community, I think we could all benefit if we were to see the “task” of studio logistics as a form of rhythmic regulation or moving meditation. Even though we commonly see these two tasks as being quite “complex,” “separate,” and “challenging,” these roles could be seen as something that’s not “Medi-tough,” but as something that can be “meditation.” Many, if not most, of the movements we will be involved in today, while operating our yoga studios, and this evening, while teaching our yoga classes, will involve, at some level, the experience of moving body parts in space along a directed line of singular concentration and desire. Though they both have movement, rhythm, and breath in common, they are both Mind-full, not complex.
What Day-to-Day Studio Management Means
Daily operations for any wellness business, and a yoga studio in particular, encompass a wide range of tasks, from the nitty-gritty of scheduling classes and coordinating instructor availability to maintaining the physical space and keeping clients informed. But unlike more “traditional” businesses, you can’t afford for any of these to NOT be Zen-like and peaceful at your studio! Proactive and “from love, not fear” daily management is the goal, but rocking out yet another forward fold is the result we all want to allow for.
You need to be proactive in all daily operations within the yoga studio environment. That is, in the most basic sense, don’t wait for the “OMG” moment, when an instructor calls in sick and you don’t have anyone to fill in! or “Darn it, we’re out of toilet paper in the bathroom (and I also haven’t cleaned, stocked, or checked that bathroom in forever)!” So why would you want that for your people? Instead, prevent this by creating an environment where instructors and staff feel supported, while you provide them with that support.
Next, to cultivate a sense of creativity that is also transferable and consistent, you must also include a selection of plans, procedures, programs, policies, practices, and/or positions that are repeatable at your yoga studio. The goal is to free up cognitive load so you don’t have to think about it again and can continue with your day.
Core Daily Responsibilities of a Yoga Studio Owner
If you’ve ever been a part of a yoga studio, then you know that the best ones have excellent systems for the following:
- Studio Class Scheduling: Critical when optimizing class times in a yoga studio. The more that the yoga studio pays attention to the peak schedule of people coming in and out of the studio, the better the times/classes will be for the students. Keeping a full schedule is beneficial for both students and teachers. You do not want to overwork your teachers, but you also can’t keep them teaching if their classes consistently don’t have students.
- Impulse People (walk-ins): Along the same vein as above, if you’re having excellent fill rates for your yoga studio class schedule, then you can surely expect walk-ins to contribute to your class-attendance numbers.
- Customer Support: Prompt email responses. Prompt call-backs when someone leaves a voicemail. To name a few.
- Facility / Amenities: Beautifully designed studios gain more trust from students because a good, clean space is pleasant to be in.
- Studio Client Exceptions: Again, the more optimized your class schedule, the more likely you’ll book more people into less saturated classes. The more that you do that, the more that you standardize your classes, meaning you’ll get a ton of the same people every day in the same classes. This not only retains community, but from a money perspective, allows you to process “set-it-and-forget-it” payments from students.
- Referral engine / Online Reputation: You can name this one without even studying what good yoga studios do well.
- Social media: Not only achieving the above points, but also good documentation of your culture in a yoga studio gains excellent rapport with people who are considering your studio, which entices them to come in, and maybe even try an “OPEN HOUSE CLASS”-style thing.
- Identifying the Stench of Drama: This is last and number 8 on this list for a reason. In a yoga studio, it is essential not to mix personalities that crave attention. There must be a conscious effort to assemble teams that work well together; otherwise, a front-desk worker (who may harbor a personal grudge against a teacher at the studio) may be rude or unwelcoming to the front-desk teacher’s community or students. People notice these things right away at the front desk and over the phone, especially if they visit the studio daily.
Weekly and Monthly Rhythms for Studio Success
Staff meetings are the primary source of communication that keeps everyone informed about what’s happening, what needs to be done, and any approaching deadlines. These meetings keep the team on track with weekly and monthly duties, ensuring staff align their responsibilities with the tasks that need to be completed for the week.
Email newsletters keep both members and staff up to date on any changes to policies, bills, or work that is supposed to take place, designs, or any other notable information that could be disseminated within a blog.
Marketing is something that your organization must do to keep and attract consumers. Marketing can range from social media campaigns to email blasts.
Revenue Tracking: Track your revenue goals and sales metrics for any vendors or products that your organization offers.
Membership Review: Review and maintain your membership to ensure you have retained all members from before and assess what you could have done differently or what you did well to increase or prevent a drop in membership.
Payroll: An absolute must to pay your team, which includes seasonal staff, lifeguards, gate attendants, after-school leaders, directors, and more. Payroll is also incredibly crucial to do accurately and on time!
Performance Metrics: Reassess your key performance metrics monthly to continue improving. This helps you understand your role and the effectiveness of your organization in completing projects.
Cleaning schedule: Since all these activities are happening, don’t forget to clean up afterward.
Event planning: A season of events is coming up?
Prepare and launch events before the start of these seasons and get the heavy-duty monthly work out of the way early. After your events go live, hold on to the reins and coordinate things day by day with small social media posts. Consider using scheduling features on reminder posts from your favorite social media platform for additional communication.
Tools and Systems to Simplify Daily Operations
“The best way to run an efficient yoga studio is to invest in strong ‘admin’ and ‘team’ tools. Consider working with a studio management program (Mindbody or Wellness Living) to handle nearly all the administrative work of running a yoga studio, including filling up classes, bookkeeping, and internal staff management.
Ensure that your “teaching team” communicates well. This is very important for retaining teachers. Use “team” tools such as WhatsApp and Slack for communication. Keep everyone informed about all aspects of the studio. Treat all teachers with a transparent and open attitude that fosters communication. Moreover, use tools like Notion, Google Suite, or another “wiki” or “how-to” software or toolset to publish any updates or new procedures on a rolling basis.
Effective financial management, including invoicing and accounting (e.g., QuickBooks), is a requirement for running a financially successful yoga studio. In this case, maintaining the “budget” and using implementation tools like QuickBooks to track progress on tasks regarding accounting and invoicing is especially helpful. Keep a “running” or “active” budget up to date, and don’t shy away from introducing much-needed tech tools to alleviate the burden of administrative and financial work. Pre-write stuff on a checklist,”
Delegation & Team Empowerment
To increase your studio’s productivity, delegate, delegate, delegate! Tasks such as admin, scheduling, and responding to inquiries do not have to be done by you. These tasks take away from time spent on the business (working out strategic plans) or in the industry (teaching or crafting the next beautiful post for Instagram). Be clear in your role delegation and set out distinct KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) so your front desk team knows when they are meeting expectations.
This cannot be done without trust. Build trust in your team at the front desk, your pool of teachers, and any VAs (Virtual Assistants) you might hire. Check in with your team at set periods and give them feedback on how they are performing in their role (positive feedback and areas to develop form part of ‘expectancy theory’ and are shown to increase employee output levels). Let your team members share feedback with you during these meetings and express any new and exciting ideas they have, as well as any problems they encounter that week in the studio. A problem shared can often be halved. Your team will also appreciate being heard and may gain that extra sense of job satisfaction they were lacking before, which in turn will secure you as a key employer in the local area. Tell your team why! Building on from the point of communicating with your team, explain to them why a new pricing structure might be coming into play, why you have changed the schedule, or why the script has changed, for example.
Suppose people are involved in the planning process or are informed about the reasoning behind it. In that case, it will save time during the implementation process and give staff and customers a reason to stay at your studio, as it makes sense.
Set a team target. It may be beneficial for your business to set a team target, increasing the output expectations of your employees (e.g., increasing productivity, reaching more people, interacting with a specific number of clients). Alternatively, targets might not fit with your model at all. You would like your customer service assistants to do less . . . either way, setting up a clear objective for front-of-house staff will be helpful for you in getting everything you want out of your business, and provides your team members with that all-important why!
Self-Care and Mindful Management
It is essential to take steps to prevent burnout. This is for both your health and your professional output.
- Schedule blocking: Block out different parts of your daily schedule so that you know what you are working on and when. Additionally, schedule time for breaks and rest. You don’t have to be doing anything actively during the break. Take a moment to step away from your work and relax. Doing this regularly will help you avoid burnout in the long term. You will also have a better idea of what you are supposed to be doing daily. Your plans for every 24 hours will be clear, and you can follow through on those plans to ensure they get done.
- Do a daily check-in: Check in with yourself and others. This refers primarily to your emotional state, but you can also apply this principle to various areas of your life. Checking in with others is also essential. Doing this solo is a tough ask, but staying connected with others in your community or business will make this easier. They are likely dealing with similar issues (or they will eventually). The collective aspect of this activity makes checking your emotional state a group endeavor.
- Incorporate breathwork: Breathe. Talk with any spiritual teacher or guru, and this is likely one approach they recommend to their students. Your body and mind need air (specifically, oxygen) to function. This element helps to stimulate the rest of your body. Breathe in and breathe out. The guru “Osho” has a “chaotic” breathwork meditation that I do, but if you’re not into that, it doesn’t have to be that deep. Any breathwork is fine. Breathe in deep. You can likely go a lot longer on an intake than you expect.
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