With diverse benefits such as health and stress reduction, Yoga has become a big hit in recent years. Statista reports that yoga participation levels in the United States surpassed 34 million in 2023 and that yoga ranked among the most popular self-care activities in the country in 2024.
Besides, it was estimated by Grand View Research that the global yoga market size was 107.1 billion US dollars in 2023, which shows yoga is a profitable business. Thus, many people are thinking about opening a yoga studio to ride the wave of yoga industry.
If you are one of them, follow us in this blog and we'll offer you tips and steps to open your own yoga studio.
How to Open a Yoga Studio?
If you have made up your mind to become a yoga studio owner, you may be all at sea when it comes to how to open a yoga studio. Don't worry. We have listed some key steps for you here:
- Define Your Yoga Studio's Mission and Vision
- Research Your Market and Target
- Do a Yoga Studio Business Plan
- Set up the Budget & Price for Yoga Business
- Get Yoga Alliance Certified
- Get the Licenses for Your Yoga Business
- Select the Right Location
- Establish Brand Image
- Hire Good Yoga Teachers
- Start Marketing Early
Step 1. Define Your Yoga Studio's Mission and Vision
"A goal properly set is halfway reached." This is the guidance from Abraham Lincoln. Before starting to open your yoga studio, you need to define its mission and vision. Specifically, you can ask yourself:
- Why do I open a yoga studio?
- What's the goal of my yoga studio?
- What do I want my studio to look like in the future?
Besides, it is also vital to find out the niche of your yoga studio, such as the selling points of yoga classes. Only by making clear your mission and vision can you shoot a good start.
Step 2. Research Your Market and Target
If you have defined your yoga studio's mission and vision, it is time to conduct market research (steps shown in the chart above). To know about your target consumers, you can open some free yoga courses or activities while creating questionnaires on their preferences for types of yoga.
According to the market research result, you can choose to specialize in one type of yoga, such as Vinyasa yoga and hot yoga, or offer a wide range of yoga classes. Teaching high-end clients or students at all levels is also a good option. Additionally, you can try out other yoga studios' classes to understand your competitors.
Step 3. Do a Yoga Studio Business Plan
A business plan for your yoga studio is key to clarifying your business idea, spotting potential problems, setting out your goals, and measuring your progress. You can include types of yoga classes and how to arrange a class schedule. There are some elements in your business plan:
- Executive summary: It is an introduction to your business plan including your target customers, classes you offer, goals and advantages.
- Products and services: Give details about your products and services, such as yoga classes you provide, membership, water bottles, workout gear, etc.
- Market analysis: Use surveys, interviews and data analysis to define target customers, analyze competition, understand market trends, and analyze pricing and costs.
- Marketing strategy: It helps you reach potential customers and bring in new clients. Word of mouth, sponsored social media advertising, influencer marketing, and local community events are common marketing strategies.
- Financial plan: It includes cost projections and funding. Class and membership prices, rent, and maintenance costs are key elements of your cost projections. As for funding, you need to write down the financial help you need and your plan to use it while showing your yoga studio has the potential to grow.
Step 4. Set up the Budget & Price for Yoga Business
How much does it cost to open a yoga studio? What's the budget for daily business expenses? How to set up the price for yoga classes? These are problems related to the financial management of your yoga studio.
To open a yoga studio, you need to consider the initial investment. It depends on the location, cost of renting or buying a space as well as buying mats, equipment, and liability insurance. A cheap tiny house is highly recommended for your yoga studio.
In terms of the ongoing expenses, you should think about rent, utilities, maintenance costs and maybe your employees' salaries.
Additionally, as for the price of yoga classes, you need to choose a suitable pricing model for your yoga classes. You can adopt an hourly model (charge per hour) or flat rate model (charge a fixed price), or you can give discounts for buying a series of classes. It is important to consider both profit and client experience.
Step 5. Get Yoga Alliance Certified
To increase your business's legitimacy and credibility, you need to get credentials from Yoga Alliance, a U.S.-based nonprofit membership trade and professional organization for yoga teachers and yoga schools.
Step 6. Get the Licenses for Your Yoga Business
The next step is to register your business and get the licenses. You can choose the appropriate business type from sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company or corporation and obtain a license.
Certainly, if you want to start a yoga studio in a physical location, you will need to get a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) which ensures compliance with all building codes, zoning laws, and regulations, or the necessary commercial, health, and safety licenses.
Step 7. Select the Right Location
Finding the right place is one of the most important things for opening a yoga studio because it has far-reaching effects on your productivity, customer satisfaction, and brand image. You need to consider factors like your budget, studio size, parking spaces, distance from competitors, and surroundings.
To pick a suitable space, dome structure is a good choice as it has many advantages. The dome is made of multiple triangular panels and unlike traditional buildings, it does not need to be covered with concrete and steel. So, it is very easy to install with its simple structure.
With a strong aluminum alloy structure, the dome provides high stability and can withstand strong winds and heavy snow.
In addition, its exterior is made of PVC, which is a tear-resistant material. Our PVC tarpaulin is also waterproof, so it has strong water resistance, especially suitable for long-time use. The durable material makes PVC the choice of many and can be used for up to 5 years if well maintained.
Step 8. Establish Brand Image
For a yoga studio, brand image matters more than you think. A good brand image can leave your consumers a good impression on your studio. It also creates recognition and builds credibility and equity. You need to name your studio, design a logo, and create a website.
- Brand name: A simple name is easier to understand for customers. It should also convey what your business offers.
- Logo design: Showing a unique identity for your yoga studio, a creative logo can quickly catch customers' eyes.
- Website: Your yoga studio's website can help you reach out to more potential customers. It should include information like styles of your yoga classes, their advantages, pricing structure, contact information, and so on.
Partner with a Decent Designer for a Strong Logo and Graphics
A unique logo and graphic design can bring in customers in the local community. You can choose to work with a partner company to create them, which is an efficient way to build up a good brand image. Firstly, you need to choose a design partner who knows your industry or has worked on similar projects. Next, it's crucial to show your partner the examples, sketches or mock-ups of your vision. A decent designer listens to your ideas, shares helpful feedback and keeps you updated throughout the project.
Build a Respectable Online Presence
To boost brand visibility, you can build a respectable online image to connect a broader range of customers in the digital-first market. It also helps you build a good reputation for your brand. Meanwhile, you need to decorate and manage it to make it better.
How to build a respectable online presence? You can create a website or start a blog on different social media platforms where you publish user-friendly content. Video content, paid ads, and collaboration with influencers are effective ways.
Create an Appointment Booking Site
An appointment booking system allows customers to schedule service on line. It shows available time slots for customers, and lets them book appointments, leading to reduction of manual work and scheduling conflicts.
To make your services accessible to your customers, you can create a website or an online booking app with details on your yoga classes and other services. It is also effective to raise the SEO rank and increase the exposure to the website.
Step 9. Hire Good Yoga Teachers
Good yoga teachers decide on the quality of the yoga classes you provide for consumers. When evaluating the candidates, you need to consider whether they have certifications from official yoga agencies like the Yoga Alliance and whether they have a passion for yoga. You should also consider whether they align with your goals of business.
Step 10. Start Marketing Early
Early and effective marketing can attract the right audience and turn them into loyal customers at the beginning of opening a yoga studio. More importantly, it is crucial to adopt digital marketing strategies that can help you target new regions or demographics. In a word, marketing isn’t just about selling but creating value that drives sustainable growth. There are some marketing strategies below.
Use Social Media
Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn can help you increase the visibility of your yoga studio through profiles.
Network
As one of the most critical resources for a business, the network can help you get customers, suppliers and business partners. To expand your network, you can attend industry events, host meet-and-greets and post fliers of your yoga classes, etc.
Advertise
Developing effective advertising is a good way to attract customers, inform them about your products and build customer trust. You can design your advertisements according to your studio's location and demographics or opt for pay-per-click ads through Google, Twitter or other online platforms.
Mistakes You Should Avoid
In the process of starting your yoga studio, you may encounter a few problems. To avoid them, you can take a look at some examples.
Not Knowing Your Customers
The customer is God. If you don't know much about your customers, like their preferences and demands, it will be hard to improve your business. You should talk to your customers regularly about their needs and attitudes towards your services.
Choosing the Wrong Location
A suitable location for your yoga studio can improve your productivity, customer satisfaction, and brand image. Don't choose a location which is difficult to reach or has limited parking spaces because accessibility is also very critical to customers. If you choose the wrong location, remote or inconvenient, it will reduce your clients' passion for getting to your studio frequently.
Going over Budget
If the finance meets imbalance, it will cause problems for your yoga studio and personal life, so you need to budget effectively. You should know where the cost comes from. The cost of opening a yoga studio may include rent, equipment, insurance, marketing, branding, website, event launching, etc. It is necessary to download the software which is designed to manage the budget of your yoga studio.
Cutting Back on Marketing
Marketing is a must for a business owner, but it can be done in a cost-effective way. Not all the marketing campaigns are successful and some may drain profits, especially for smaller businesses. So it is important to figure out ways to promote your brand without expensive brand advertising and marketing.
You can start by conducting a marketing audit, find out some free or lower cost alternatives to marketing tools and subscriptions and take good care of your existing clients first in order not to throw marketing dollars out the window.
Conclusion
Generally, before opening a yoga studio, you need to put hard effort such as defining a clear vision, conducting market research and doing a business plan. We hope that the 10 steps offered in this blog can give you some help. If you need any other help, contact us!
