• Although she has plenty of contacts to ask
for Pilates advice, her network of potential
business advisors isn’t so evident.
I work every day with people like Karly. People
who are extremely good at what they do and
want to do it with, and for, as many clients as
possible; Pilates instructors, yoga teachers,
PTs, physiotherapists, chiropractors and
other health professionals. It’s a shame when
these skilled individuals are unable to turn
their passion into a successful business,
which is why I am such a strong advocate
for investing time in learning the business
skills to compliment those you have as an
instructor. There’s no point in being the best
Pilates instructor in your suburb if you can’t
pay the rent and instruct anyone.
Starting your own Pilates
business: seven essential
elements
Having the right foundations in place is
critical. These seven essentials are the basis
for creating a successful Pilates business.
1. You
Your business starts with you. Who are you
to start a business? Some people are more
suited to starting a business than others.
There are two key questions to ask yourself:
firstly, do you know what you’re getting
yourself into? And secondly, are you truly
capable of it?
Specifically, you also need to consider:
• Are your personal finances in order?
• What is your big ‘why?’ – the real reason
you want to start your own business,
besides making money?
• Are you action-oriented? Are you
resilient? Tenacious? Consistent? These
are just a few of the key characteristics
of successful business owners.
Who you are as a person will directly
correlate with the success of your business.
2. Your idea
Your idea is Pilates. But what sort of Pilates?
There are many options and your Pilates
studio can stand out from all the others by
having a specialty or a niche. This might be
mat, reformer, post-injury, pre- and post-
natal or another specialist group.
Carving a niche to serve a particular
need in the market can be one way to
really improve your chances of success in
business, and can help position you as the
‘expert’ in that particular field.
3. Your clients
about them, and what do you need to know
about them?
Every business needs to create their ideal
client avatar. There are four aspects of an
ideal client profile to consider:
1. Geographic
2. Demographic
3. Psychographic
4. Behaviour profile. financial basics: the difference between
revenue and profit; how to calculate whether
you are making a profit or a loss; and how
to manage cash flow, among other things.
Even something as seemingly simple as
deciding how much to charge for your
service offerings can take considerable time
and research.
Once you identify your ideal client, you'll be
in a position to consider how and where you
will find them. Marketing is all about attracting and
retaining clients. A few essentials in marketing:
• Create a client journey map that will help
you identify the various points of contact
where your clients interact with your
studio. I like to think of them as
‘moments of truth’.
• Advertising and social media are
important elements for communicating
with your clients, and the available
technology is constantly changing.
• Your underpinning philosophy is driven
by your values – both personal and
business.
• No matter what medium you are using,
there are fundamentals that bring clients
to your business and then keep them
coming back.
4. Your brand
It can be easy to think that branding is only
for big businesses, but in fact defining
your brand is just as important for small
businesses. Your brand is your story. Your
clients are looking to you to stand for
something and tell your story.
This is one of the strengths of a small
business: you get to say what is important to
you personally, and your clients can connect
with that on a more intimate level than is
possible with a big enterprise.
5. Your structure
When you start a business, there are
compliance matters and legalities to adhere
to. It’s critical to stay on the right side of the
law and to set solid foundations for your
business. It’s also important to understand
the pros and cons of the different structures
available and the impact they can have on
your business. This Network article on
choosing the right structure for your fitness
business is well worth a read. Also important
to consider are insurance, risk management,
and systems and processes.
6. Your finances
Over time, I’ve found that many of the
people who wish to start their own business
are not really numbers people. How much
will it cost to get started? Where will the
money com e from?
When you are running a business, it
is important to understand some of the
7. Your marketing
Taking the time to develop your marketing
plan will enhance your chances of success.
The choice is yours
Pilates is a wonderful idea for a business
because it enables so many different options.
Regardless of which route you take with
your venture, ensure you give yourself the
best chance of success by having the right
foundations in place.
Ingrid Thompson is the Founder of Healthy
Numbers Pty Ltd. The author of So You Want to
Start a Business, she has combined her business
savvy with her love of Pilates to create the online
program ‘So You Want to Start a Pilates Business’.
Ingrid can be contacted on 0405 212 882 and
[email protected]
Your idea is Pilates. But what sort of Pilates?
There are many options and your Pilates studio
can stand out from all the others by having a
specialty or a niche.
Who is your ideal client? What do you know
NETWORK SUMMER 2017 | 35