The yoga industry is growing rapidly and is on track to reach $215.8BN by 2025. Such rapid growth presents significant opportunities to create a business in the yoga industry.
If you are passionate about yoga and want to establish a business in the yoga industry, then starting a yoga studio might be the right option for you. Starting a yoga studio is challenging, but the rewards are significant if you are successful.
What You Need
To start a yoga studio, you will need to get these five areas right before you open your yoga studio doors:
- Business finances
- Location of the studio
- Business management software
- Recruiting yoga teachers
- Marketing & PR plan
In this guide, I will explore the steps you can take to get each of these critical areas right for your yoga studio.
Business Finances For Your Yoga Studio
Starting a yoga studio is a significant investment endeavor. You can spend anywhere from $50,000 to $1,000,000 to get a yoga studio ready for business.
Depending on your location and your brand positioning, you will know the start-up costs of your yoga studio. The primary ways to fund your yoga studio venture are:
- Personal savings
- Angel investment
- Bank loans
The most common way studio owners start their yoga studio is to fund the venture with their savings. The plan to create a yoga studio takes years to become a reality. During this time, the yoga studio owner is building up their savings and honing their teaching skills.
The second most common way to fund your yoga studio is through funds raised from friends, family, and angel investors. If you have a clear vision of what you want to create, you will be able to inspire your friends, family, and angel investors to invest in your dream for a share in the upside when your yoga studio becomes successful.
Bank loans are another option to help fund the start-up costs of your yoga studio. However, small business loans are hard to come by and require a strong credit history and a perfect business plan. Banks want to make a return on their investment, and you will need to prove to the lenders that you have a strong track record of success and a solid plan to make your studio successful.
Location of Your Yoga Studio
One of the most critical factors that affect your yoga studio’s success is the studio’s location. As a result, the lease/rent for your yoga studio can be significant.
Choose a location that aligns with your brand and is easily accessible by your target demographic. For example, if your target market is younger millennial workers, you could choose a location near other offices.
However, virtual yoga studios are becoming popular, and there is an emerging trend among consumers to do yoga at home. If you choose to offer your services only online, your start-up costs will reduce significantly. However, in this case, your investment in technology and tools will increase.
Business Management Software
One of the critical things you can do for the success of your yoga studio is to start using yoga studio software right from day one. Most yoga studio owners begin by managing their customer lists on excel and scheduling classes manually. A yoga studio software will automate your processes from day 1. Some of the uses of yoga studio software in your studio are as follows:
- It becomes the central database and system of record for all your customer contacts
- Allows you to create and share class schedules online
- Enables you to take online payments and mark attendance
- Provides insightful reports to help you forecast the growth of your yoga business
Without yoga studio software in place, you will need to take payments over apps such as Venmo and PayPal. Additionally, the data of your customers will not be secure if you store the information in an excel sheet on your computer. Investing in yoga studio software is one of the most direct investments you can make with a high return on investment.
Recruiting Yoga Teachers
Having the right yoga teachers working in your studio will help you attract your target customers on autopilot. You could begin by being the only teacher in your studio, but as your business grows, you will need to recruit yoga teachers to work in your studio.
Yoga teachers typically work on a freelance basis, and you will need to pay them on a per-class basis. Popular teachers have a significant following and can bring in many new students to your studio. Hiring and inviting the right yoga teachers to teach at your studio can help you differentiate from the competition.
To hire yoga teachers, you will need to post yoga teacher jobs on online job boards. You will also find freelance yoga teachers in Facebook groups. Another good way to find freelance yoga teachers is to use Instagram to identify the yoga teachers you want teaching at your studio and directly reach out to them.
Marketing & PR Plan
During the early days of your yoga studio, you will be spending most of your time on marketing and PR. Before you start your yoga studio, you will need to have a marketing and PR plan in place that outlines the steps you will take to reach and attract your target customers.
You can hire a marketing consultant to create your marketing plan. However, you are the best person to make the marketing plan and execute it during your yoga studio’s early days.
Your initial marketing and PR plan can be simple, targeting 1 or 2 marketing channels to reach your target customers.
For yoga studio’s the most effective marketing channels are:
- Google My Business
- Local SEO
With Google My Business, you will be able to get featured on local searches, and people looking for yoga studios in your location will be able to find you. Creating and maintaining a Google My Business page is an important marketing activity you should do for your new yoga studio.
Final Thoughts
Consumers today use social media for making purchase decisions, and Instagram is a great discovery tool for people looking to join a yoga studio. Make sure you create an Instagram account for your yoga studio and interact with the community.
Finally, invest in local SEO early on. Over time, local search will be the primary way new customers find your yoga studio. If you don’t desire to learn local SEO, you can hire an SEO consultant to work with you independently.
If you get right the five areas outlined in this article, you will be well on your way to starting a thriving yoga studio. Know more about yoga studios here!