STARTING YOUR OWN
PILATES BUSINESS
Qualifying as a Pilates instructor is the first step to living the life you want. So,
asks Ingrid Thompson, what might the next steps look like?
arly’s dreaming about starting her own Pilates studio. Now
that she’s fully qualified as a Pilates instructor, the idea of
her own facility is an exciting one. Her vision is to bring
Pilates to as many people as possible, while also making enough
money to live her desired lifestyle. How can she do this? She feels
like she has so many options.
K
Freelancing
Many of the graduates from earlier courses work in other studios.
Her friend Mandy has an ABN and teaches Pilates in three different
studios as well as at a gym. She says she loves the flexibility and
variety of working across a few different studios and with all the
different clients. Getting an ABN was easy, she just had to follow the
prompts on the ATO website, ato.gov.au
An extension of the freelancer option is to teach in people’s
homes. A group of friends can get together and arrange regular
Pilates sessions in one place, or individuals can have private sessions
in their own homes.
Being a freelancer takes a bit of organising to get your days and times
lined up and establish a base of regular clients, and once it’s in place it’s
always liable to change at the whim of facility owners or private clients.
Freelancers are responsible for their own taxes and superannuation.
Those who do it and enjoy it wouldn’t choose anything else. Karly’s
definitely considering starting out as a freelancer and seeing how it goes
before potentially taking the plunge and running her own studio.
Studio owner
It would be great to one day have her own studio, and if she does,
there are essentially two options: buying an existing studio, or
starting her own.
NETWORK SUMMER 2017 | 33