If you want to be an entrepreneur and are considering how to open a barre studio, know it can be a fabulous life, or it can be miserable, depending on you, your personality, your strengths, your family support, and your risk tolerance. As a serial entrepreneur, business consultant, and previous barre studio owner, I get a lot of questions about how to open a barre studio. I often have people reaching out to take me for coffee to “pick my brain” to determine if they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
Some of the biggest questions I get from those who want to open a barre studio:
- Should I do it?
- Is “this” a passing trend that won’t be sustainable in the future?
- What if I don’t make it?
- Do I have what it takes?
- How will I make the bills if this doesn’t work?
Most of all, I want to be VERY clear… Launching a new barre studio is NOT for the faint of heart. It takes a LOT of heart and a LOT of hard work. There are days when it is good, and there are days when it is bad.
Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.
Oprah Winfrey
When I first opened a barre studio, I didn’t yet have a full staff. I taught 100% of the classes for the first two weeks. My first week, I was so tired that I actually started to pray that people wouldn’t attend a class just so I could get a break. Can you imagine launching a new business and actually praying that no one would show up? That’s not the ideal! But I learned within just the first week of my barre studio opening, that it was going to take more time and energy than I had anticipated.
Fortunately, I was young, I had the energy, the drive, and a super supportive spouse. But I talk to a number of business owners who after just the first week are already wondering if they made the right decision. (This is not uncommon… Most of us go through it at one point or another!)
What I find amazing is that there are franchisors, company founders, and business consultants that have never owned their own business. If they have never been in the same place as their client, they can study and sympathize but will never really be able to empathize or know from experience what it is like to run that business. In order to genuinely advise, I believe they need to have experience in what they are coaching or consulting on. I also believe that if they want to really be able to grow with their clients, they have to continue to experience some of what their clients do!
Before we get started on identifying your specific goals, let’s identify a few characteristics of you and what your life would be like as an entrepreneur.
How do you make decisions?
- I don’t need a lot of data. I trust my gut and jump in head first.
- I want a general outline of the Problem and Solution.
- I must take the time to create a checklist.
- I gather all the information possible. I will create a pro/con checklist and want to consider all the “what ifs” I can imagine before any decisions are made.
The most successful entrepreneurs are known to be quick, effective decision makers who follow their instincts. If you are someone who can’t make decisions, you may find that being an entrepreneur may be harder for you than many!
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Vidal Sassoon
Entrepreneurs Who Will Often Struggle:
- Someone Who Makes Slow Decisions
- Analysis paralysis
- Operates from fear
- Often has a scarcity mentality
Super Successful Entrepreneurs:
- Someone Who Makes Fast, Informed Decisions
- Gather all the facts
- Are confident in their gut
- Believe in abundance
Let your gut guide you. I’m not saying don’t research and don’t make an informed decision. I’m just saying, don’t second-guess yourself, and don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis – making no decision. Indecision is actually a decision in itself!
