From Surviving to Thriving:
How Three Studio Owners Built Sustainable Wellness Businesses

Running a yoga or wellness studio often feels like trying to keep your head above water. Between managing schedules, handling customer service, teaching classes, and everything else on your plate, it’s easy to burn out before you even reach profitability. But what does it actually look like when a studio moves from survival mode to sustainable success?

We recently hosted three studio owners with a combined 28 years of experience —Valerie Kaiser (Sunrise Yoga Studio), Samantha Harrison (Yoga Strong Studio) and Jennifer (Evolve Power Yoga) —who shared their journeys from struggling solopreneurs to thriving business owners. Their insights reveal practical strategies that any studio owner can implement, regardless of where you are in your business journey.

The Turning Point: When Studios Stop Feeling Chaotic

All three panelists identified a clear moment when their businesses shifted from feeling overwhelming to manageable. The common thread? Investing in help, even when it felt scary to spend the money.

Hire Before You Think You Can Afford It

Valerie put it bluntly: “The turning point is when I started hiring administrative help. I mean paying them like a W-2 employee, getting an office manager in, really working with an attorney and a CPA. When I was no longer scared to spend money, that’s really when we started taking off.”

For Samantha, the breakthrough came with hiring a virtual assistant who eventually became a full-time employee. But her first attempt failed because she hadn’t prepared properly. “I tried hiring before for administrative help and it didn’t work the first time. The reason why it didn’t work is because I didn’t have good systems or protocols or steps and guidance for the person to follow.”

The lesson: Before you hire, document everything. Write down every process, no matter how small, so your new team member can succeed.

Keep the Revenue-Generating Tasks

Jennifer took a different approach by stepping back from teaching multiple classes and focusing on business operations instead. “I hired a manager to do the daily tasks—taking towels in and out, watering plants—while I focused on really connecting with clients through phone calls and emails.”

The key is identifying which tasks generate the most revenue and keeping those for yourself while delegating operational work. Samantha follows this principle: “I keep the most revenue generating tasks. So I’m still the one emailing the clients, making sure that I’m having conversations with them. And I give her the tasks that are further away from revenue.”

Redefining Sustainability: Beyond Just Staying Open

When asked to define sustainability, each owner had evolved beyond simply “keeping the doors open.”

Financial Confidence

Valerie, with 22 years under her belt, has moved past worrying about survival: “Sustainability for me is profitability, just flat out. It’s not ‘am I going to make it?’ I know I’m going to make it. I’ve made it 22 years.”

Energy Management

Samantha focuses on maintaining her personal energy: “For me, sustainability means making sure that I’m doing all the things in my business with people that I love, and that I need to make sure that I’m having other people handle the tasks that drain my energy and excitement.”

Systems That Run Without You

Jennifer emphasized building processes that work whether she’s physically present or not: “Knowing that if something goes wrong, my team knows to contact my manager or they have backup procedures. It’s like the gears in a car—it runs smoothly.”

Building Community That Keeps Clients Coming Back

All three studios prioritize creating genuine connections among their students, not just between instructors and students.

Make Introductions Intentionally

Valerie uses her naturally chatty students as “unofficial ambassadors”: “When somebody new comes in, I grab my chatty students and make sure they get introduced to the new folks. My unofficial ambassadors take them around and introduce them.”

Samantha takes a similar approach: “One of the things we make sure we do is introduce new people to at least two people within the room. Sometimes I’ll announce to the whole class, ‘Let’s welcome this person for doing their first yoga strong class,’ and then people start talking to them.”

Create the Right Atmosphere

Jennifer noted the importance of setting expectations: “Sometimes you go into a yoga studio and it’s all very quiet and zen, which is lovely. But we’re kind of loud and chatty. I literally have to ring chimes to get people to quiet down to start class. We want students to know it’s okay to talk and chat with each other.”

Regular Community Events

Beyond regular classes, all three studios host special events to strengthen their communities:

• Vision board workshops
• Member-only events
• Friends-giving celebrations (Jennifer’s studio)
• Workshops and retreats

Smart Scheduling: Building Around Business Needs, Not Teacher Availability

One of the biggest lessons from experienced studio owners is learning to build schedules that serve the business, not individual teachers’ preferences.

Consistency Is Key

Valerie learned this lesson years ago: “We work it around our teachers? No, this is our schedule. I did that one time many years ago because we had a teacher who worked third shift and we started a class around her work schedule. Why are we working around her?”

Instead, create a consistent schedule where there’s “a level one every day at 10 o’clock” so students know what to expect.

Test Smart with Pop-Up Classes

Rather than committing to new class times immediately, Valerie uses “pop-up” classes to test demand: “If we want to experiment with something, we can throw a Tuesday at 6 p.m. class in the back classroom. If it works, great, maybe we put it on the schedule. If it’s got four people, we don’t do it again.”

Communicate Clearly About Class Viability

Don’t be afraid to be transparent with your community about class attendance. Samantha recently told her 6 AM class: “If you want to keep this class on, we got one more month. I need to see the numbers be here. Invite your friends, get some other people in here, and if we can get more bodies, we will keep the class.”

Systems and Tools That Protect Your Sanity

Each studio owner has developed specific systems to maintain work-life boundaries and operational efficiency.

Automation Is Your Friend

Valerie credits automations with saving significant time: “We used to have somebody reaching out individually during the sales process and touching base with students. Now our automations are pretty complex and help keep us in contact with students and remind us of stuff automatically.”

Structured Onboarding Prevents Problems

Samantha developed a comprehensive onboarding system that saves time later: “We go through everything with new members so they understand how to use the app, they’re aware of all their membership perks, and they know what they signed up for. It saves us from having to answer the same questions repeatedly.”

Set and Maintain Boundaries

Jennifer has strict communication boundaries: “After five o’clock Friday, you cannot contact me. Unless it’s super pressing, I’m not answering emails until Monday. I don’t work past five o’clock, and I just don’t need to.”

The Power of Membership Models

All three studios have found membership models significantly more profitable than drop-in or class pack models.

Financial Benefits for Studios

Valerie, who switched to memberships in 2012, was clear about the impact: “We are so much more profitable with membership than we were with class cards, flat out. Because of the recurring revenue, we know what to expect and I can make projections.”

Value-Added Benefits for Members

Beyond unlimited classes, successful membership programs include:

• Bring-a-friend passes (Jennifer’s studio)
• Exclusive events and challenges (Samantha’s studio)
• Special merchandise only for members
• Access to online libraries
• Discounts on workshops and events

Making the Math Work

Samantha structures her membership benefits so they’re clearly the best value: “We try to make sure that we have big perks for members. It’s not just about how much they’re paying per class, but all this added value that makes them feel special and part of something.”

When New Competition Appears: Stay in Your Lane

All three owners had the same advice for dealing with new studios opening nearby: focus on your own business.

Valerie’s approach is simple: “I just don’t look at what else is going on around me so much. What we offer is strong enough that I don’t worry about that anymore.”

Jennifer adds perspective: “There’s plenty of room for all of us. Think of how many massage therapists and hairdressers there are. If you have your core people and you’re treating them the way they need to be treated, you’re not going to go wrong.”

Action Steps: Where to Start Based on Your Stage

If You’re Just Launching

• Here’s a detailed breakdown of yoga studio set-up costs
• Document every process before you need to hire
• Focus on building relationships with early customers
• Consider membership models from the start
• Use automation tools to handle routine communications

If You’re in Survival Mode

• Identify your most revenue-generating activities and protect those
• Look for the first administrative task you can hand off
• Create consistent class schedules rather than accommodating individual requests
• Test new offerings with pop-up classes before committing

If You’re Looking to Scale

• Develop comprehensive onboarding systems
• Set clear boundaries around your time and communication
• Focus on community-building events
• Use data to make scheduling decisions, not emotions

The path from struggling studio owner to sustainable business operator isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter. By investing in help, building genuine community, and creating systems that work without your constant attention, you can build a wellness business that serves both your students and your own well-being.

Remember Valerie’s hard-learned lesson: “You’ve got to spend money to make money.” The key is spending it strategically on the things that will free up your time to focus on what matters most—serving your community and growing your business.

Ready to streamline your studio operations? OfferingTree’s all-in-one platform handles your website, booking, payments, and automations so you can focus on what you do best—teaching and building community. Book a demo to see how other studio owners are saving time and increasing revenue.

What You’ll Learn

• How successful studio owners moved from chaos to clarity, and what helped shift things
• What actually works for retention and client relationships
• How to make decisions about scheduling that feels right
• The tools, habits, and boundaries that protect studio owners’ time and energy

You’ll learn what helps a studio not just survive, but stay steady and sustainable over the long haul. This isn’t just theory but real-life examples from studio owners in the business, today.