In opening my first barre studio, I made a ton of mistakes. Even though I affiliated with a brand that was licensing their classes, they had no manual and no real tips for opening a studio. They didn’t tell me what I needed in terms of mats, that I had legal requirements in using music in class, how to get PR or press, or really much of anything other than how to teach a class.
So, unfortunately in that first year, I made a ton of mistakes – that literally cost me about $75,000 in profit in just my first year of business. Since that time, I have taken everything I have learned and put it into a low cost system that will allow you the autonomy to run your own business without having to follow franchise rules, but also that will help you avoid those costly mistakes and make tons more money in your business!
I’ll cover each of these in detail at another time, but for now, here’s an overview of the big mistakes I made in my first year in business and some of the big things for YOU to avoid!
1. Too much staff and too many classes – about $12,000 in the first three months in unneeded expenses.
2. Replaced the mats in less than a year – unanticipated cost of almost $3,000.
3. Mirrors were ruined – $8,000 cost in less than a year.
4. Improper PR – Cost of $8,000 in first 4 month
5. Advertising budget that wasn’t properly deployed – $12,000 in first 6 months.
6. Big mistake with the location – about $24,000 in first 12 months!
Add it up! In less than a year – I had spent over $75,000 that I didn’t need to spend!!! That was a LOT of costly mistakes. And more than that – it was a lot of money that did not go into my and Mike’s pocket!
When I left financial planning, I left a six figure per year job. If I had NOT made those mistakes – I literally would have made more in JUST my first year in the studio than I did in my last year of financial planning!!! Talk about mind blowing! I had worked with business owners for almost 10 years, and I had seen a lot of their success methods. I was able to take those methods and start my own successful business.
Since that time, I have really found my stride and passion – and that is helping women start their own successful studios! If you have wanted to be a studio owner, reach out to me. Let’s have a chat! If you want to do it on your own – check out our Fitness Biz Toolkit – For less than $99 we have taken some of the biggest decisions you’ll make in starting your business and created worksheets and videos to walk you through the biggest dangers in opening your own studio! This low cost product will get you on your way to determining if you need some more help – or you’re ready to launch your own studio alone!
We’d love to hear from you! What do YOU want to know about opening your own barre studio?
