Starting a yoga studio later this year. I've went for demos with Mindbody, Momence, WellnessLiving, Arketa, etc.
What would you pick if you started today, and what did you regret 6 months down the road? What do you use your software for beyond scheduling, bookings and collecting online payments? How about marketing?
I want to start a fitness class of my own but not ready to commit to my own lease/studio.
Would existing studios be open to renting their space out to when it’s unused?
How can I pitch my rental request to owners to increase my odds?
A little story first :)
I'm a big fan of Pilates and I've been doing Pilates for more than 2 years now. I'm also really into tech, so at some point I had this idea of building a booking system made specifically for Pilates and yoga studios.
But when I started looking into it, I realized how hard it would be to compete with big companies like Mindbody and the other big platforms.
So instead of trying to build another software from day one, I decided to start small.
About 6 months ago, I started a small service business helping Pilates and yoga studios get more clients through their website, Google Business Profile, SEO and other digital things.
I've now had the chance to work with a few studios and learn a lot from the owners.
But now I want to improve what I'm doing.
I don't just want to build websites or do SEO because I know how to do it. I want to build something that actually solves painful problems for studio owners and gets real results for the studio.
And this is where I need your help.
We all know getting clients is one of the hardest parts of running any business, but I'm sure there are many other problems that studio owners deal with every day that people outside the business don't really see.
So if you own or run a Pilates studio:
**What is the hardest part of running your studio right now?**
Is it:
* Getting new clients?
* Turning trial clients into regular members?
* Keeping clients for a long time?
* Empty spots in classes?
* People asking questions but never booking?
* Booking/CRM software?
* Marketing?
* Google visibility?
* Managing instructors?
* Keeping your schedule full?
* Something completely different?
And if you could make one problem in your studio disappear tomorrow, what would it be?
I'm really interested in hearing the honest answers, even if the problem has nothing to do with what I currently offer.
I'm asking because I want to understand the business from the owner's side and build around real problems, not assumptions.
Also, after reading the answers, I would like to choose 1–2 studios to test something with for free and see if we can actually solve one of these problems and get measurable results.
So please share your experience in the comments. Even if you have a small problem that sounds stupid, share it. It might actually be something many other studio owners are struggling with too.
And thank you 🙏
We're a small reformer studio, around 120 members, and our current platform just raised prices by $40/month. We can't afford the increases year on year. The app hasn't been great too and support has been hard to reach. I looked at Momence, but the sales rep felt dishonest and quoted a price that is too high for me. Arketa looks good, but i need a mobile app for my clients and they only offer branded app as an add-on. I just need something that books the class and handles payments. I've been to 5 demos and still undecided.
Is anyone running a studio similar to ours and happy with what they use? Or switched and regretted it? And please, do not DM me if you are selling me something.