Starting a Yoga Business. How to build a successful yoga business?

Building a Yoga Business: How to Make Money from Yoga?

Blog Business tips Yoga Reading Time: 9 minutes
BY: jacob wildman

For those who decide to start their own business, a yoga studio can be a good line of work. It is always difficult to start something because challenges are everywhere – the lack of information makes itself felt and the future is quite ambiguous. And the biggest concern is money. 

The main thing is to prioritize correctly. Do not immediately expect big money. We need to find higher and longer-term motives. When developing a business plan, it is important to consider that yoga is a certain philosophy that requires a balance between physical and spiritual practices. In this article, we will tell you how to start a yoga business from scratch and what points you should pay special attention to.

Factors that determine the success of your yoga business

There are not many things that will play an important role in the success of a yoga business. But you should definitely pay attention to them in order to propel your studio to the top:

    • Staff. You need to hire yoga instructors – they are a key element. These are the people on whom the influx of customers depends, hence your income. Therefore, you should hire experienced yoga instructors and pay attention to appropriate certificates.
    • Yoga center equipment. The simplest yoga studio package for one student includes mats, blocks, straps, bolsters, three or four blankets, and towels.

It must be of high quality to last longer, and customers should see that you care about them.

  • Location. The more potential clients located closer to your yoga center, the higher the chance they will go to you. It doesn’t have to be downtown. The main thing is that people should be comfortable and easy to get to.
  • Quality marketing. It is crucial to present your yoga center correctly and beautifully. Advertising should be noticeable, catchy, and memorable.
make money online yoga

Steps to building a yoga business

Because of its rich history and time-tested practices, yoga enjoys stable popularity in modern society. People do not have enough sports to gain and maintain an exclusively physical form. They also need the opportunity to shed the burden of accumulated negative emotions, put their thoughts in order in a calm environment, and take themselves out of the brackets of everyday fuss. Therefore, yoga studios are steadily opening everywhere – even in small towns.
Most often, yoga businesses are started by former or current masters. Some of them are not very profitable, but owners get to do what they love. So how do you build a successful yoga business?

Choosing the direction of yoga

Before opening a yoga studio, you need to choose a niche for work. Modern yoga has many different schools, each of which professes its approach. Among the most popular trends are:

Direction

Target

Methods

Hatha yoga

harmony of positive and regressive energy

physical practices: asanas

Raja yoga

mind control

meditation practices: dhyanas

Prana yoga

samadhi – a state of deep peace

breathing practices: pranayama

Ashtanga yoga

cleansing the mind and body

a complex of asanas and vinyasas – special breathing and motor exercises

Kundalini yoga

awakening creativity

kriya – a special technique consisting of dynamic and static exercises

Iyengar yoga

getting into perfect physical shape

a complex of asanas using supports

Market analysis

The next step is analytics. It includes target audience research, competitor analysis, and risk assessment to make your yoga business ideas come true. The data obtained will help you understand the profitability of your business.

1. Target audience

About 80% of yoga studio clients are women between the ages of 25 and 40. They can be divided into three groups:

  •  Creative people who consider yoga as a means of self-knowledge. They are more interested in spiritual practices than physical exercises. Due to unstable income, they prefer one-time classes or short-term subscriptions. So, you can make money doing online yoga with them.
  • People for whom yoga is a way to relax after a working day. They do not delve into yoga philosophy too much but pay attention to the level of service. If they are satisfied with the quality of services, they can afford additional expenses.
  • Women who perceive yoga as a kind of fitness. Their main need is to have a beautiful and toned body, so they actively participate in loyalty programs and are ready to buy annual subscriptions.

2. Competitors

Your direct competitors are nearby yoga studios. Indirect competitors are organizations offering wellness services or adhering to a similar philosophy. Have a study of reviews on the Internet to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Check the ratings of the nearest studios on Google and read what users write. If they complain about a problem, consider how you could solve it. This information may be useful for your marketing strategy.

3. Risks

The key risks for a yoga studio are:

  • an increase in rent;
  • an increase in the number of competitors;
  • a decrease in the level of service.

The last risk is associated not so much with the staff’s qualifications but with the management’s personal ambitions. The main mistake most entrepreneurs make when starting a yoga business is to do everything on their own instead of delegating part of the work to subordinates. If your employees perform the same tasks daily, they will lose motivation to work. And this, in turn, will lead to a deterioration in the quality of services. Sometimes for business development, it is important to admit your incompetence and entrust the problem’s solution to professionals. Therefore, you need to initially look for people who are ready to improve with you.

yoga business

Open a yoga studio

The next stage is organizational. Its task is to form the structure of the future club.

Business registration

The main question arises when registering a business entity: individual entrepreneur or LLC? The first option is suitable for those who do business alone and do not want to burden themselves with reporting and taxes. The second is for those who implement the project with partners and have authorized capital.

Choice of location and premises

While choosing a location when starting a yoga business, you need to be guided by 2 criteria:

  • Presence of competitors. Open Maps and draw a circle around the proposed location, the radius of which is equal to 10 minutes by car. How many competitors are inside the circle? 1-2? This is the right location. 3-5? It is worth looking for another option.
  • Convenience for customers. What percentage of the people living near the gym are part of your target audience? How comfortable will it be for them to get to the studio? If the property is located in a business or shopping center building, inquire about the availability of free parking. In addition, it is worth checking if there are bars or nightclubs nearby. Such establishments can create a background noise that interferes with classes.

Room area for yoga business should be at least 80 m². Particular attention should be paid to the ventilation system and flooring. A slippery floor can cause injury. If the studio is stuffy, it is unlikely that the clients will be able to relax.

Calm shades and neutral colors are suitable for wall decoration: beige, pistachio, and marine. To create a specific mood, you can decorate the interior with characters from Buddhist mythology. However, try not to turn the studio into a monastery or data. Among your clients, there may be representatives of different religious denominations – everyone should be comfortable without exception.

Zoning of the premises

In order for the studio area to be used as efficiently as possible, you need to zone the room correctly. For example:

  • 10% — reception;
  • 20% – locker rooms and showers;
  • 40% — yoga room;
  • 15% — tea room;
  • 10% – yoga goods store;
  • 5% – utility room.

Equipment for classes

The list of necessary equipment for a yoga studio includes:

  • yoga mats of 2 types, thick and thin;
  • cushions for meditation;
  • blankets;
  • ropes for deflections, belts, blocks, and rollers;
  • corners for stretching exercises;
  • audio equipment.

Marketing

Campaign planning is essential when choosing among several yoga business ideas. Before opening the studio, you must conduct an advertising campaign to attract the maximum number of customers. To do this, you can organize 1-2 free classes and offer all visitors a discount on a subscription. Closer to the opening, urgent matters will definitely arise, and there simply won’t be enough time for a competent organization.

When creating a marketing strategy, you need to rely on the concept of the studio. If you want to promote a particular area of ​​yoga, for example, Kundalini yoga, for the first time, a landing page for collecting contacts will be enough to promote services.

To effectively communicate with customers, budget for the cost of implementing an automation system. For example, 1C: Fitness club. Thanks to it, you can simplify workflows and relieve yourself of the need to fill out reports regularly. The program will upload the data itself and, at the same time, analyze the work of the studio.

It takes time to bring in a stable income when starting a yoga business. Develop a solid business plan and pay attention to detail. We hope you find our tips useful!

FAQ

Requirements: Left, right, front, and rear must have at least 1-1.5 m of free space. The distance between the attachment points of the hammock is 60-80 cm. The minimum height from floor to ceiling should be 2m.

Yoga centers should be equipped with exhaust ventilation, air conditioning, and air ionization systems in the room. The interior of the room should be designed in calm colors and details should not attract attention. It is advisable to use diffused light from small lamps in the room.

It takes about $10,000 – $35,000 to open your own yoga studio. If you are going to teach some exotic types of yoga, then your expenses can increase by $5 – $10,000; this amount includes the training of one specialist and the equipment of the hall with everything necessary for classes.

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