Six ways to stay in the black
Surviving as a yoga studio is hard. I know: I’ve been behind the scenes at Yoga Works in New York City and YYoga in Vancouver, Canada. Both of these entities are what we would call “corporately owned yoga:” they have multiple locations managed from a central business and central corporate structure.
You’d think that with pass prices going up, yoga studios would see a greater margin for profit. However, that’s often untrue. Rent, staff costs, teacher costs, laundry expenses, equipment costs, and cleaning can start to eat into your profits. Here are six tips for beating the curve.
1. Cut costs
I know, I know…obvious right? However, those small costs can cause a slow hemorrhage that drags you under. You may find that your students grumble when they don’t have the nice shampoo, but they’re really there for the yoga, right? If you’re opening a studio, consider that including amenities like showers (which will require shampoo, conditioner, water, cleaning and laundry) may not be your best investment and will require you to fork over more money in maintenance. Many times, students prefer to pay less for their monthly nut even if that means showering at home. If you do have luxury add ons (or say you’re a hot studio, and a shower feels like a must have), then keep it simple and charge appropriately.
2. Charge more
Again, obvious. But let’s say that you’re renting mats. Are you really charging what it takes to source them, clean them, and dry them? Figure out your true costs. Even if you’re trying to keep the yoga fees low, charge appropriately for add on services.
3. Focus on what you do well
If you’re a mom and pop shop, the reason that students will choose you over a corporate studio or gym is because of the feeling of your studio (like more yoga-ish and authentic) and the intimacy of your community. Don’t compete where you can’t win (amenities, number of classes, bells and whistles). Do what you CAN do really really well. Have community events, encourage teachers to connect with students, and focus on the roots of yoga. Differentiate yourself by doing what a gym or corporate studio can’t: focus on individuals and create an authentic, yoga-delish space.
4. Get lean
At most corporate studios, staff – not teachers – signed in students. However, unless you’re doing a booming business, most smaller studios do well to have (trustworthy) teachers take on this task. It reduces your costs and provides an additional touchpoint for the teachers with the students for community. (However, I’m going to leave the sticky question of whether teachers are independent contractors or employees in your company for you to figure out.) If you do have staff, my experience is that they are very busy during sign in, and then are often under utilized in down time. For a smaller studio, it may be cheaper to have one full-time manager than to have five rotating staff members. When your manager is not signing in classes, they can manage payroll, social media, retail (if you have it), and everything else that goes along with running a studio. (And if this person is you, then you must take the bonus point very much to heart.)
5. Diversify your products
You need a high priced product that can boost your revenue. Teacher training (which nets you at least 3K per student) is a product that helps keep many studios afloat. Invest in creating a branded, customized training, schedule it smartly, market it well, and you’ll have a cornerstone for your revenue for years to come. Not only does it flush out your revenue, it builds and reinforces your community. You run a training, the students start posting on social media and create your buzz for you. You hire your graduates, which then incentivizes students to take your course. Create a passive stream of income by putting some simple courses or classes online. This will never be your meat and potatoes (there are too many people doing it already), but it will help expand your brand and give your students a way to stay connected when they can’t be at your studio in person. Be smart and be lean, but get a toehold in the marketplace.
6. Schedule smartly
Set up your schedule smartly. When can your people come? Close the studio when no one needs to be there. Most studios run early morning classes, lunch time classes, and evening classes. But if your demographic is a bunch of stay at home parents, they may love coming in just after they dump the kiddies at school (9:30 AM). If you have a bunch of 9-5’ers, you may want to tuck in a 50-minute lunch time class (not one that is too sweaty!) so they can squeeze in some yoga over their break. Find out what your community needs and go from there.
Bonus: Don’t do everything
Yes, I mean, don’t try to be everything to everyone, but more specifically, I mean, don’t YOU try to do everything. In a smaller studio, owners almost always start out by doing everything themselves. They teach, they manage, they’re the staff and the cleaning crew (see #4). You must practice some serious self-care and learn to delegate if you want to stay in for the long run. Remember why you started your studio (because you love yoga!). You didn’t start it to become a frenzied, overworked person who never actually gets to take a yoga class. Set up clear boundaries: take a day off, delegate smartly, protect your energy, and let things slide occasionally.
Then take a good look at your students’ happy faces after Savasana. That’s almost as good as kombucha.
