Step-by-Step Guide to Opening a Boutique Fitness Studio

are you thinking of opening your very own Studio well before you go ahead and hang that open sign on the door there is a lot to consider from finding the perfect space to managing legalities the process I know can feel a little overwhelming and so before you dive in I want to share with you the key steps to make sure that your new space is set up for longterm success in this episode I'm walking you through the foundational steps from selecting the right space to aligning your budget with your vision so whether you are dreaming big or about to open up that new location you will have everything you need to get started well hi there I'm sarin glanfield I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique Fitness Studio owners like you if you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger imp impact you're in the right place all you need are a few key strategies the right mindset and some support along the way join me as I share the real life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable Studio this is the Pilates business podcast hey there and welcome back to the Pates business podcast I'm Saron glanfield and today we're diving into a brand new topic that I don't think I've ever really spoken about any great depth before on the podcast and is a super exciting topic but it's also often a topic that is filled with nerves and questions and anxieties and that is the topic of opening your very own studio now over the years I've had the great Fortune of getting to work with many Studio owners who' get in touch with me before they even find that perfect location and early in the stages of planning for a new studio and I have to say I love working with people at this stage of business because what happens when we get to work together early on in the process that it saves a lot of time and frustration and sometimes even some very costly mistakes so if you're thinking about opening a Pilates or yoga or bar or mov M Studio anytime in the next say 12 months then this is the episode for you because where you're at today and if you're in the space where you're thinking about opening a studio of your very own you've probably poured your heart into becoming the teacher that you are today you've probably poured your so many hours into your training countless hours of training um and you probably are enjoying working with clients but maybe you're also wondering okay but what's next what's next for me and I've got a few ideas for the things that I want to do um in for myself in my career and I want to develop my own business and be able to do the things the way that I want to do them and that's super exciting because although the idea of opening your studio might feel both exhilarating and a little bit terrifying what I want you to know know is that it's because of people like you that our clients get to experience incredible movement spaces what places that they can go where they feel like they found a home for their movement practice and so I'm going to encourage you and tell you that this is a pretty good time to be thinking about opening a studio because all of the signs that we're seeing in our industry right now point to an exceptional level of interest in health and wellness and movement and it's not a trend that we see changing anytime soon so if you're thinking about opening a studio you probably have a mix of feelings and one of the perhaps nagging feelings that is in the back of your head might be something that sounds a bit like can I really do it and so if you are thinking about taking the leap but you also feel the weight of responsibility I want you to know that you're not alone and that is a very common place to be and in fact it's exactly where you should be because starting your own business and committing to your own space is a big step forward but it is a step forward that can be so incredibly fulfilling for you and for how you are able to interact with the people around you everyone from your clients to your team members to other local business business owners that you get to collaborate with this is your chance to really build something that's yours and yours alone and take all that knowledge and love that you've poured into developing your skills as a teacher and turn it into a business that truly aligns with your vision and your values and it can be the incredible uh the beginning of a really Incredible Journey so what I want you to know is that unfortunately opening a studio isn't just about choosing paint colors or for buying equipment um there is a bit more to it than that and I want to make sure that you go in with your eyes wide open to what is involved because the more informed and educated you can be early on in your business Journey the better equipped and prepared you are to be able to handle and embrace any and all of the likely challenges and row bumps that will inevitably pop up along the way this is about you take taking that next step in your business in your career and I want to tell you exactly how you can do that so I'm going to take you through some steps and I do want to give you a bit of a disclaimer before we dive in obviously there is a lot to consider when you're starting a business and I'm going to Endeavor today to share with you as much as I possibly can about how to start your own Boutique Fitness Studio business however I cannot cover everything that has to be covered and so there might be things that I've what I'm hoping today is going to share with you or listening to this today is going to share with you is a few things that you might not have otherwise been aware of that might help you to move forward a little bit quicker than if you hadn't perhaps listened in today okay so I'm a big big big big big believer in planning and researching and I think that the sooner that you can start to get some ideas down on paper un formulated around what you want your business to look like and feel like and do the better equipped you are to then move to that next step of making it a reality so I want you to start with just getting clear on your vision and what it is you you want your business to do what is going to make your studio unique what you will offer in your studio who will offer it and how you will offer it this is also a good time to think about who your target audience is and when you Define these elements of your business early on it really is the becomes the foundation for so many of the decisions that you will ultimately end up making decisions about pricing decisions about marketing decisions about scheduling and teachers so this really is the one of the most um foundational building blocks of your business this really is defining your value proposition and who it is you're targeting with your value proposition so this is about how you stand out from the crowd this is about how you do what you do but also why you're doing it the way that you are doing it and the way that you do this honestly is I'd encourage you just to put a pen to paper and to get all of those ideas and all of those thoughts about this from out of your head and onto paper quick side note um a few years back I discovered a little notebook that I had had in my um the bag that I would carry from my apartment in New York to my teacher training center in New York I have to take Subway every day for about 30 to 40 minutes and every day I got on the subway and I would write down ideas that I have about things I wanted to do when I eventually opened my studio things that I wanted to the experience I wanted to give to my clients and I have to say I'm so glad I did that because that really helps help shaped so many of the things that I do even today in the business that I am in right now and so getting ideas out of your head and onto paper is the sort of really the first step in making it become real so that's really a very simple getting started kind of first Quick Step for you if you're in the place where you're not really sure yet just find your favorite notebook open it up and start writing now early in this planning and research stage you also want to make sure that you're very very very familiar with the options that your target audience has for getting a similar or same value proposition what that means is you want to look at your competition you want to look at what are they doing what are they doing well what are they not doing so well and that can perhaps open up opportunities for you in terms of gaps that you can fill so this is a good time to just get the lay of the land is your is what you have what you're looking to offer is it something that a lot of other people are offering in your town and if so how can you make sure that you differentiating yourself also be aware of local demographics Trends growing and developing neighborhoods which will sort of feed into a conversation we're going to have in a minute about location um and even think about surveying some of your potential clients um some friends or people who are sort of fit your your ideal um client profile ask them what they're looking for and what they're looking for that you can deliver them so this market research element is kind of helpful just to get a a an understanding of where you're going to sit in the landscape of competition okay now the third component of this planning and research stage is the most important to do well and to really get your head around and that is the financial feasibility of your new studio now what this means is not only do I recommend that you really get very very clear on your startup costs that is things like what you can afford to pay in terms of your lease how much equipment is going to cost you what marketing is going to look like and cost you and any other Renovations and startup cost you might have but I also want you to really dive into your projections for your business so it's very common for a studio to have startup costs costs that are specific to that startup phase so just getting the door open but you also want to make sure that your business is financially feasible and viable on an ongoing basis get to know those numbers understand your expenses understand what your profit margin is going to look like so that you go into this eyes wide open in terms of what's possible for you in terms of income and revenue and what your business needs to do in order to reach those levels and those goals that you have for yourself so what I recommend you do is to play with some different scenarios in terms of growth so that you've got some base cases perhaps some midline kind of goals but also perhaps that big sort of Target that you might try to shoot for um if you've got the uh the ambition and I recommend that you have this projection cash flow specifically projection for the first 12 months and I would be I would really encourage you to build in a little bit of a buffer because what we found is that typically things things tend to be more expensive than expected there tends to be more costs rather than less um those surprise expenses do seem to always pop up okay so Financial feasibility there's no way of of avoiding this when it comes to running a business you have to know your numbers and it starts on day one okay so this this is the sort of the first step once you've kind of gotten through this planning stage you will have a really good idea as to what you want your studio to look like and how it is going to generate in in come for you and revenue for you so the next stage is kind of that stage which we probably all are not excited about which is those legal and admin stuff now depending on where you are in the world in the country um you're going to have to go to your local town city state country and understand the rules and regulations around opening a business in wherever you are in the world um we have listeners um listening in in this podcast from almost every country um around the globe and so you are going to I I can't tell you what you need to do for wherever you are but I want you to go and do and know that and you should get to know those rules really really well as well part of being a business owner is understanding the legalities of where what you are required to do as a business owner where you're at and then also making sure that you are keeping up to date with all of those things okay now with the same thing in mind you also want to choose the right structure for your business the right legal structure and I do recommend if you can to work with a professional to support you on this um to make sure that you are setting up your entity correctly that you're um in line with all of your local regulations and requirements and making sure that you're registered in all the right ways with perhaps even specific licenses that you that may be required of you depending on what you're offering and where you are in the world okay so that business structure and registration with all of the entities and organizations and and and that that's required um is going to be quite an important part of getting start start your business started in the right way so working with a small business lawyer UPF front someone who's local to you um who knows what you need to do will really help you to prevent those legal headaches down the line and I really recommend you do that the second part is you're going to want to get very familiar with permits and Zoning so depending on how you're going to go about finding your space um whether you're buying a space or you're leasing a space you're going to want to understand what the permits and the zoning looks like what the zoning laws are for boutique Fitness Studios as well and understand how those permits work for any Renovations for signage and so on these are all things again that sort of fall under things you now need to know that you never knew you needed to know so get familiar with those again they're going to vary from town to town city to city state to state country to Country okay finally you want to also get familiar with your insurance needs this will again vary however you probably are going to need some level of liability insurance property insurance employer insurance or workers compensation th and and any others that are required by law or best practice for wherever you are in the world okay and finally I do recommend that you have you work with a lawyer to develop contracts and waivers for your business early on so you have them and you can get started you're not waiting on those to be created for you um when you're itching to start working with clients so that means you want to draft clear terms and conditions for the relationship that you're developing with your clients and with your team members or employees and also any liability waivers that are necessary as well again a small business lawyer who understands your industry understands where you're at in the world will be able to tell you exactly what you need to be completely covered okay so now that we've got some of those legal and admin Parts out of the way we've got our plan the next part is kind of the fun part maybe for some of you this is where you start to see things come to life and this is often where people find themselves first and then we kind of have to backtrack and do Parts one and two but it's all good because part the third part of opening a studio is finding and preparing the perfect space now uh it's going to be no surprise for me to tell you that um location really does matter the ideal scenario is that you're in a spot that is highly visible is easily accessible super convenient for your target audience has parking has beautiful lighting um and is pretty close to being able to be move in ready now obviously that's the ideal that's often not the reality and so you will want to spend some time looking at all the different options and getting familiar with what is available in your area for the price point that you are able to reach and think about what um and get really familiar with it and and and and don't rush this part I have to say this is something that you want to feel really good about typically when we sign a lease we're in there for a while so you want to make sure it is the right choice for you and your business you also want to make sure that you are able to cover the costs um we see that rent is one of the most significant costs you will have as a business the next significant cost is going to be your teacher teacher costs and so it's pretty important to make sure that this is a cost that you know is going to be easily easy for you to meet with the revenue you plan and know how to generate now you may also need to be thinking about Renovations and design so as you're looking at spaces you might also want to be talking to some uh construction company or renovation company to help you to think about the expenses behind any Renovations and that might mean that you might want to spend a bit of time thinking about your layout materials um for example what you're going to put on a floor mirrors soundproofing and so on and this is obviously when you want to start to build your brand your beautiful brand into the decor as well and as we know competition is on the rise and what will set you apart is going to be investing in your unique brand so I encourage you to make sure you're thinking about some of the small details that you want to include as part of your customer experience that's going to help you to really stand out make the space feel like you make sure that you your space feels good to you you and is going to be able to deliver that experience that you really want and then there's also the question of equipment and when it comes to equipment um you certainly want to be mindful of the lead time it takes to get equipment delivered this varies and has varied quite significantly from provider to provider and you may want to start with fewer spots in your classes or fewer pieces of equipment with the idea that you can add over time so that is always an option if you are trying to keep your startup cost low and then you want to be able to add and expand space in your classes later on be mindful of the lead times make sure that this is a great time to reach out to equipment manufacturers get really clear on the lead times and the process involved in making your orders it's an exciting time too so enjoy this as well so find in repairing the space is the next step now once you have all of that we really want to make sure and we want to Circle back and kind of make sure that once we have that location we have those equipment we now know how big our classes or our our our space is going to be we perhaps have a better idea of the cost involved and this is a good time to really come back to those financial uh the financials again and just make sure everything makes sense and so this a good time to think about your budget think about your um pricing structure um and make sure that you have some of that sort of ironed out and built into those projections and that it still all makes sense if it does then you want to make sure you're moving forward with choosing your software for your studio so boy oh boy this is a whole many many many whole podcast episodes in of itself but choosing the right Studio management software is absolutely critical you have some great options out there to choose from you can find my recommendations on my website under the resources section I do have some favorites um and I'll let you go and check those out I'm always happy to talk through different options and my experiences as well um but you want to make sure that you're choosing a software not just based on price you want to think about what your business is going to do over the first 1224 for months in terms of size and number of clients and how much you want it to really support you in developing and growing your business so some of the software providers will be able to give you a lot of support in