How to open a yoga studio

Discover why now is a good time to open your own yoga studio and the requirements you should take into account

Yoga is currently a very popular practice in our society. Who doesn’t know someone who goes to yoga classes or does meditation sessions and/or mindfulness? There are more and more people who find release in yoga to combat our day-to-day stress, in addition to the many physical and mental benefits this practice offers.

That’s why it’s not crazy to think that now is the best time to open your own yoga studio either as self-employment or as an investment. According to the data the latest yoga study available (from 2014) offers, 28.9% of the Spanish population has practised yoga at some point in their lives. We’d like to emphasise that it’s a study from 2014, just when yoga began to experience a boom and that it‘s still increasingly popular.

If you already know you want to open a yoga centre, here are 8 requirements you should consider before taking any step towards your final goal.

What do you need to take into account when thinking of opening a yoga studio?

In order to create this guide, we’ve got in touch with Jordi Canela, co-founder of YogaOne, the leading yoga centres that offer multiple types of yoga at different times throughout the week and with highly qualified teachers. Jordi offers us his advice and provides invaluable information for those who want to open their own yoga centre, given his experience in the industry. Let’s go:

Create a business plan.

This is the first step you should consider when starting to work on your yoga centre project. You have to make a list and explore issues such as the business model you want, financial expectations, the organisation of the staff, the potential market for the project, the marketing and communication strategy, the description of your product, etc.

Study the area where you want to open your yoga studio.

This is an important part because a yoga centre needs members to be profitable. In this case, you should analyse if there are other competitors (including gyms that offer yoga classes) in the area where you want to open your studio, research the average income for the area, if it’s near busy areas, with nearby metro or bus stops…

Find the premises that offer the best conditions.

As we’ll explain later, depending on the yoga classes you want to offer, you’ll need one or two open-plan rooms to hold the sessions, as well as optimal market conditions that adapt to the business. Keep in mind that you also need a reception area, changing rooms, toilets, etc. That’s why it’s important to consider what you want to offer beforehand, to decide on the type of premises you need to look for.

Establish an initial budget to open your yoga centre.

Establishing a budget including all the initial expenses and of the first 6 months will help you estimate the amount of money you need to open the centre and run it until it starts generating revenue. You’ll have to take into account the cost of renting the premises, the refurbishment works, licenses, permits and insurance, furniture, the necessary equipment to practice yoga, staff salaries, advertising costs, energy use, etc.

Negotiate the best financial conditions.

Unless you have €100,000 to open your yoga centre, you’ll have to apply for a loan to cover all the costs involved in opening your new business. That’s why you need to negotiate the best financial conditions with the bank or credit institution.

Decide what kind of yoga classes and styles you want to offer.

It’s essential to choose the types of yoga sessions that suit your audience and plan the daily volume of sessions taking into account the ideal time for each of them. This factor will also be conditioned by your yoga centre’s capacity and resources (number of rooms, teachers, etc.).

Hire qualified professionals and a good sales team.

You’re clearly not going to be able to carry out all the tasks running a yoga centre requires: teaching, manning the reception, promoting your centre, etc. That’s why it’s important for you to know the role you want to do yourself and fill the remaining positions with qualified people for each job.

If you, as a business owner, want to be at the reception to welcome your customers and take care of new registrations, you’ll have to hire at least two teachers with the basic knowledge to teach the classes you want to offer. If you’d rather be a teacher, you should have a friendly, polite and positive person who knows about yoga so they can adequately answer the questions of customers who need more information.

At YogaOne, we have the Yoga Teacher Training Academy. We also have a staff of qualified teachers you’d be able to count on when you open your own centre.

Create a marketing plan that’s appropriate for your business.

Any business needs to promote its services in order to reach its customers and sell its product. That’s why you need to prepare a marketing strategy taking into account the habits of your potential customers. For example, investing in online campaigns (ads on websites, social media, etc.) if you think they use the internet a lot or offline methods (posters, flyers, mailings, events, etc.) for people who live near your yoga centre.

Open your own Yoga centre with the YogaOne franchise now

Make your dream of opening a yoga centre come true with the help of DiR Franchises. We currently offer the YogaOne franchise model that’s designed to maximise your return on investment as there already are 20 centres throughout Catalonia.

Our team offers you 40-years’ experience in the fitness industry, 1000 professionals and our own academy to train experts in different types of yoga, as well as training you and your staff in any field: how to manage a yoga centre, how to sell, customer service, learn about types of yoga, etc.

We can also help you negotiate the price of your premises, area exclusivity, include your business in our group’s marketing campaigns… and all of that with an investment from €84,092, franchise fee included. Find out more here.