If you like eating ice cream does it mean that you know how to make it from scratch?
I know it seems that ice cream has nothing to do with Pilates but I beg to disagree. If you love Pilates then you can compare it to eating the most delicious ice cream. As a teacher you probably also find pure joy in teaching Pilates, educating clients about better body mechanics and spending your free time learning and becoming a better instructor.
However, in order to be a successful instructor you need to have clients; you need to grow your business whether as an independent contractor working at a studio or as a studio owner.
Teaching Pilates is like eating your favorite flavor of ice cream, it comes natural to you. But building the business aspect of your Pilates career is like trying to fix that ice cream from scratch. You need to have the recipe, the tools, the ingredients and the time that is required for this job.
A lot of instructors believe that if they are great teachers then the business aspect of Pilates will take care of itself. The clients will simply come pouring in through their doors and every satisfied client will feel an unquenchable thirst to share the joys of Pilates training with his/her friends. The reality is often quite different from this movie-perfect scenario.
Real Pilates instructors often find themselves scrambling for clients, they can’t decide what equipment to invest in to bring the highest profit, their business fluctuates during the year, they have trouble keeping good Pilates instructors on staff or have to deal with clients who are not consistent with their payments or showing up on time.
Gina Axelson
Today I am talking to Gina Axelson, the creator of the Profit with Pilates training course for Pilates professionals. She is a fully certified Pilates instructor, a former studio owner and an amazing Pilates business coach. When she opened her first studio over 12 years ago she made all the usual mistakes of a new Pilates business owner.
I felt overwhelmed, like I was spinning my wheels, and even though I was making “ok” money (charging only $45 for a private lesson if you’d believe that!) I was unfulfilled teaching day in and day out and just getting burned out.
After opening a second much larger studio, Gina was forced to make some changes to ensure the health of her business. She has studied with the best business consultants to find surprisingly simple ways to grow her business without getting overwhelmed. The result?
I was able to build a Pilates studio with several instructors teaching there where I could teach as much or as little as I wanted. That income generated allowed me more time for my family, to start another business and take better care of myself.
After realizing that she wasn’t the only Pilates business owner struggling to bring her business to fruition she decided to open a consulting business teaching Pilates instructors how to have a successful business. The results of her coaching were phenomenal so she created an online Pilates business training program to help the instructors who were dealing with the same problems that she once had.
