Yoga is said to have been around since time immemorial and is said to be based, at least in part, on ancient Hindu practices. Nowadays, however, it has become more of a fitness trend than a religious one, and there are so many different ways to practice it, you’d be spoilt for choice.

With hundreds of certification courses and a huge demand for classes from celebrities and regular folks alike, it is no wonder that yoga studios are all the rage around the world. If you are a seasoned and certified yoga practitioner, now is as good a time as any for you to set up a yoga studio.

Here’s a quick guide on how to build a profitable yoga studio in 2023 to help you do just that.  

8 tips to open and run a yoga studio in 2023

Just being a yoga expert is hardly enough to run a profitable yoga studio, and we know not everyone has the knowledge of how to run a business. That’s why we’ve put together some handy tips to help you open and run a yoga studio.

1. Mission and vision

First and foremost, you need to clearly define your mission and vision statements. Not sure what those are? Well, read right on.

Your vision statement should describe where you see your business in the future, based on the purpose of the business,  the values you want to build, and the aims and aspirations you have for the studio.

Your mission statement should describe how you’re going to go about achieving that vision. Basically, the mission statement should be your blueprint for success.

To be able to create these, you will need to answer some questions for yourself honestly, such as what your core strengths are, where you see the business in ten years based on those strengths, what your values as a person and as a business owner are, where you might need help and what defines success for you.

When you are sure of these aspects, making decisions for the business becomes a lot clearer, because all those decisions are guided by your vision for the business and the mission.

2. Rock solid financial plan

Based on your mission and vision, you need to work on coming up with a rock-solid financial plan. If you think you’re not great with finances, get the help of an accountant to crunch the numbers with you

You will need to consider multiple factors while creating this financial plan, such as whether the investment you’re putting in is sufficient or if you need outside funding, a practical ROI period, ideal pricing, what expenses you need to expect, a buffer, and more.

Knowing what your break-even is, when you can start making profits, and defining your relationship with money will help pave the path to success for your yoga studio.

3. Location is everything

Where you locate your yoga studio is one of the most important factors in its success. Keep in mind that you need to choose a neighborhood where the residents are likely to be interested in yoga, and can afford to pay you as well.

A general rule of thumb is to ensure that the area you’re setting up your studio in has a population of at least 50,000 people to be able to draw in around 100 paying customers.

Here are some handy tips for you to use while looking for that perfect location.

• Be sure the place is easily accessible by public transportation and by car.
  
  
• Look for rectangular rooms, and be sure there’s enough space for the number of students you want to engage in each batch.
  
  
• Look for a place that either already has or can facilitate essential spaces such as a reception, showers, changing rooms, and toilets.
  
  
• Look for a well-ventilated space with neat and clean surroundings.

• This bit ties in with your financial planning. You want to make sure that your expenses on the space, including rent and utilities, do not add up to more than 20% of the turnover you expect to make in the first year.

Of course, it also helps to scope out competition within the area while you’re looking for a space to set up your yoga studio and to consider other factors, such as the average age of the residents in the area, their propensity towards physical activity, and their average income.

4. Work on marketing and promotions

So you’ve got the vision, you’re on a mission, you have the financial parts in place and you’ve found the place. It’s time to start bringing in the moolah, or in other words, finding customers.

We all know that social media marketing is where it’s at, considering the amount of time people spend on their phones.

That doesn’t mean you should abandon the older, tried-and-true methods of marketing and promotion, such as sticking flyers and distributing pamphlets. Also, remember that paid marketing through Google ads and social media platforms tends to reach more people.

However, the single most important thing you need to do is build a world-class website that has all the information anyone may want about your yoga studio on it. It should have a great write-up about the courses you offer, pictures that bring out the best in the space you’re using, pricing options, timings, contact information, an option for people to pay for your classes online, a blog section, and more.

Keep in mind that your website should be optimized for mobile phones as well, considering 50% of all website traffic is from mobile devices.

5. Create communities, both online and offline

Let’s dive a little deeper into marketing and promotions for your yoga studio. One of the most effective ways to create buzz around your business is to build an interactive community on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Here are some tips on how you could do that.

• Create accounts for the yoga studio on these platforms, and generate specific content for these platforms.
  
  
• Pictures speak a thousand words, but videos grab a lot more attention. Be sure to post plenty of both, including reels and stories.
  
  
• Encourage your students to post about their experiences and tag your yoga studio in their posts., With their permission, share pictures and videos of them practicing yoga while tagging them as well. This way, the content generated by both of you will reach a larger audience, and promote your studio more effectively.
  
  
• Nothing attracts a crowd like freebies. Host online competitions or giveaways, offering free classes or discounts on special courses as rewards.

An even more organic way of improving your reach is by building a physical community within your studio. To do this, you must build a rapport with each of your students.

Here are some tips on how you could do just that.

• Get to know your students’ names, and make it a point to greet them by name every day.
  
  
• Try to have conversations with your students, getting to know them as people.
  
  
• Tweak your teaching style to suit individual capabilities instead of having a one-size-fits-all approach to your yoga classes.
  
  
• Host group sessions and encourage more experienced students to mentor those who joined more recently.

When you build a community this way, not only will your students engage with your online content more proactively, but they will also promote your business among their friends and relatives, employing the oldest of all marketing tools: word of mouth.

6. Know your responsibilities as a studio owner

As a studio owner, your responsibilities will extend far beyond teaching yoga classes. Here are some of the other responsibilities you will need to stay on top of.

• Managing expenses, including staff salaries, rent, utilities, marketing costs, and more.
  
  
• Ensuring you pay your taxes adequately and punctually.
  
  
• Ensuring the upkeep of the yoga studio, toilets, showers, and changing rooms. In addition, you will need to pay extra attention to safety, considering you’re likely to have a lot of mirrors around.
  
  
• Managing fee collections and new enrollments.

Of course, we understand that you may not be able to handle all of this by yourself, which is why getting management software like Bookee is an investment you should consider to streamline your operations and make life easier.

7. Retaining students is all important

While it is important to get in new students and continue to grow your business, the backbone of your yoga studio will always be your long-time students. This makes retaining them one of your primary responsibilities.

Here are some pro tips on how to retain students at your yoga studio.

• Do periodic surveys, including when they join your yoga studio, about what their expectations are and if they are happy with their experience. Use that feedback to improve or change the way your studio functions, if needed.
  
  
• When you find out someone wants to discontinue, find out why, even if the answer isn’t what you want to hear about your yoga studio. You may be able to help them change their minds, and improve your standards as well.
  
  
• Treat your staff well, because the way you treat them will reflect on the way they treat your customers. If your customers are treated well, they are less likely to drop out.

8. Expand the services you offer

The key to increasing profit margins and growing your business is to slowly expand the number of services you offer.

While you may have started off as a small yoga studio, with time you could expand to include other services such as power yoga, aerial yoga, beer yoga (yes, that’s a thing), pilates, spa services, and more.

Take your yoga studio to the next level with Bookee

Bookee is a lot more than just a CRM for your yoga studio. Sure, we can handle billing, memberships, scheduling classes, and everything else a CRM should do. But we have a lot more to offer than just these functionalities.

• We will build your yoga studio a fully functional and branded website, including payment gateways. We can even build you a branded mobile app to mirror your website as well.
  
  
• Want to increase your revenue stream by opening a merchandise store? Bookee can handle everything from maintaining stocks to POS facilities.
  
  
• Automate push notifications, messages, and emails from a single dashboard.

Discover these and other amazing features that Bookee has to offer yoga studios by signing up for our 14-day free trial today! You’ll see why we are the most comprehensive management software for all fitness businesses.

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