Do you plan to own a yoga studio? Would you like to start teaching yoga online? Do you already own a yoga studio but it is a bit old fashioned? Let’s begin with the most important step: making your own business plan.
Here's a complete guide to everything you need to know about writing a business plan for a yoga studio or any other yoga business.
Before we go ahead and share our tips on how to make a business plan for a yoga studio, let's quickly explain what a business plan is and why it's so important that you have one in your yoga studio.
What is a business plan, according to Investopedia?
"A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business - usually a new one - is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational standpoint."
Most of the time, a business plan is used to present to a potential investor or a bank for a loan, but it is also a good way for a new business to lay out all of its goals and objectives, as well as the strategies it will use to achieve them.
What you include in your yoga studio or online yoga center business plan depends entirely on your business model, but mostly it depends on whether you're writing it for yourself or if you're looking to get funding.
If you want to open your own yoga studio and make it one of the best yoga studios out there, you'll need to conduct an extensive market research.
This means taking a look at the industry, identifying who your target audience is and what they want, as well as who your competitors are and what they are doing.
You should already have an idea of the type of yoga business you want to start, whether it's a freelance business, teaching classes at home, setting up a yoga retreat location, or having an online yoga academy.
Regardless of the type of business you are writing your yoga business plan for, doing market research should be your first step. You can start by answering these questions:
"Yogis" are not a specific enough target market for your yoga business plan, so before you do anything else, you'll need to think about a more niche demographic of people.
At the same time, there's no point in having a specific target market and the perfect yoga business plan if there's already a studio in the area that does exactly that, right?
The same goes for private yoga teachers. If there are already a couple of home teachers working in your area, then you'll have to do something to stand out.
To figure out what your niche market is, you have to think about "what problems you want to solve."
By problems, we mean gaps in the market or anything that your competitors are doing, but that you can do better.
Your market research should aim to identify these problems and find any new and future trends that you can take advantage of to differentiate yourself from the competition.
To do a demographic analysis of your target audience, you should detail the following questions:
Once you have chosen your target market, you can start detailing what kind of classes you want to offer. Not only should you detail the style of yoga, for example "Ashtanga yoga classes", but you should also add what levels there will be, for what ages or what styles of yoga will cover each segment of your clientele.
When you open your studio, you'll want it to be in a visible location. Having a business in a place where a lot of people walk by and can see your studio without having to look for it is a wise move.
A visible location makes your brand known and makes your business known to everyone who passes by, but more importantly, it makes you known to your target market.
Plus, when a potential customer decides they want to try a class, they know exactly where to find you.
When we talk about accessibility in terms of location, we're talking about how your clients are going to get to your studio. Walking? Public transport? By car?
You can have a great studio and a brilliant yoga business plan, but if you don't have a location that's reasonably easy to get to, you'll have a hard time getting students in the door.
Your location must have at least one of the following things
This will also help when it comes to hiring new staff, as an accessible location can increase the quality and quantity of yoga teachers who want to work at your studio.
Good visibility and accessibility can often lead to higher rental prices and business rates, especially if you think your business would be better located downtown or on a busy main street.
You need to find a good balance so that your premises are accessible and visible without costing you so much in rent that you struggle to make a profit.
You may have decided that it's worth paying a higher rent for a central location, as it will make your business visible and accessible to a greater number of potential customers.
But wait! Any good yoga business plan should pay close attention to the competition, so where are your competitors?
Starting a business in a location where there is already a studio with very similar goals just down the street will reduce your potential students, as your target market will have both alternatives available.
At the same time, if there is a large chain gym or health club around the corner from a potential location, it's a good idea to look elsewhere.
Even if you offer better services, it's still hard to compete with the big companies that can afford to offer yoga classes at a fraction of the price you would have to charge.
Something else to consider before choosing a location is your plan for the future: do you plan on expanding the business? Would you like to have multiple rooms?
If your yoga studio business plan includes ideas about how you might expand your business, for example, becoming a personal trainer in addition to teaching yoga classes, you should consider that when choosing a location and venue.
A business plan should consist of these parts:
This is the part where you explain, roughly, what your business is about.
A good executive summary will explain the goals and objectives of the business, as well as other important information, such as where you plan to set up your business.
If you are still not clear about all these details, leave the introduction to the end and summarize the rest of the document.
This section should begin by explaining more about your yoga studio, starting with what your business will offer both in terms of what it will bring to the market and what type of products or services it will offer.
If you are already clear about your chosen premises or location, detail as much as possible where and why. If it is a virtual business, you can also detail which platforms you are going to use and in which domain you will be hosted. Are you going to give live or pre-recorded classes? You can tell all that in this section.
Regardless of the type of yoga business you propose, talk about the types of classes you will offer, highlighting any specialties or trends that will set you apart from the competition.
You should also tell what training and degrees you have and if you are going to specialize in any type of yoga.
Here you can use some of the results of your market research to explain what makes your business unique and talk about why you have chosen the direction you have taken.
Ideally, in this part you should provide statistics, survey results or internet searches you have done to make your case.
It's time to talk about one of the most important things: THE NUMBERS.
The actual prices of your services will depend entirely on your business, where you are located and your marketing.
When it comes to writing a business plan for a yoga studio, the two main options are to charge per class or "session" or to operate on a membership basis.
If you charge per class your students will have flexibility, but you will not have guaranteed income at the beginning of the month. What most studios do is charge more for single classes than for memberships, trying to build a loyal clientele.
Whichever option you choose, you will need to break down your pricing structure as part of your yoga business plan.
Trainingym is a powerful tool to get more customers, streamline bookings through a personalized App and also automate payments through the same App.
But of course, if you're thinking of asking for money from an investor, you'll have to think about who and how much you need!
And, of course, you will have to offer a PROFITABLE business plan. That is to say, that you show clearly why you are going to obtain income and how long you expect to recover the money from the investment.
If you want more information on how to finance your business, we recommend you listen to this episode of our podcast, in which a financial expert tells us how to start a business without money: