The Entrepreneurial Asana: Blueprint for a Successful Yoga Venture
Wondering how to start a yoga business? Are you highly passionate about sharing with the world the transformative strength of yoga? Then this business is for you. This blog thoroughly explores all the essential aspects and provides valuable insights that will help you establish a yoga venture.
Overview
Yoga is an age-old Indian practice for physical and mental well-being with the primary goal of attaining a sense of divine awakening and free from suffering. There are numerous styles and versions of this practice but all comprise uniting body, breath, and mind for a positive change in consciousness. To turn this practice into a booming source of earnings, you need to follow some of the best business principles.
The yoga industry is flourishing; a lot of entrepreneurs (both newbies and pros) making an entry into this sector. Consumers are also increasing every day. As per the source, in the US there is a 15% rise in yoga practitioners each year and the same goes for other countries as well.
Yoga Statistics
- Yoga is embraced by over 300 million people globally
- The global yoga industry is set to hit $215 billion by 2025
- The yoga industry is forecasted to achieve a 9.6% CAGR from 2021 to 2027
- The average annual income for a yoga instructor is $30,000 to $70,000
- The hourly rates for yoga instructors are $15 to $70
- Projected to reach $66 billion by 2027
- Total Yoga Practitioners: 72 female and 28 male
- There are over 60 countries practicing yoga
All these statistics show that a yoga business can be a guaranteed way of earning money on regular basis. Whether you want to set up the business with a cozy home studio or a yoga center, you need a solid business plan and strategies.
Top five reasons to start a yoga business
- As unhealthy lifestyles become more widespread, the world is experiencing a surge in diseases and various ailments among the population of all categories. To keep them fit and healthy, a great number of individuals looking for wellness practices, particularly yoga, as a remedy. This trend emphasizes one of the primary motivations for establishing a yoga business.
- Another significant reason to start this business is a worry-free business and work-life balance. Let us explore more about this. You are your boss, you decide your work schedule; whether it is weekdays, weekends, morning, or evening. Furthermore, you can start this business from the comfort of your home, a studio, or even by the seaside.
- Stress reduction: You know yoga is the panacea for stress. We have a solid reason that will convince you to start this business.
- 41 percent people of in the world feel stress
- According to the American Institute of Stress, the global average of the number of stressed people out of 143 countries is 35%
- According to a 2023 study by ICICI Lombard General Insurance, 77 percent of India are stressed
- According to Clever Real Estate, about 61% of Americans say their stress level is at an all-time high, with 55% saying they’re unable to enjoy life due to stress.
- Grab the local market
- Grow your business globally
Hope you have the reasons to start a yoga business. Let us explore other areas.
The current market trend with statistics
Yoga is a booming business with an increasing number of entrepreneurs making an entry into this field and the number of consumers also increasing. In the last few years, yoga has become highly popular all over the world and this is the reason a large number of yoga studios and yoga classes are coming up everywhere. As per yoga industry statistics by expert market research, the yoga market value in the year 2020 was approx. $41 billion and it is expected to reach 60 billion by the year 2026.
Competition level
As demand is high so is the competition level, but do not worry. The market is huge; over 60 countries are embracing yoga. Your direct competitors can be other yoga studios that are providing the same classes, fitness clubs, and other meditation centers that have integrated yoga as part of their different offerings. Indirect competitors include holistic wellness centers offering alternative practices to various apps and online platforms such as virtual yoga sessions. As mentioned earlier in this blog; grab the local market first and then expand.
The yoga business future is on the rise
The yoga market will witness high growth in upcoming years because of the increasing demand among adults and children. Depending on the kind, the entire yoga market can be divided into regular yoga classes and yoga accreditation training classes. With the whole world turning digital, reaching your potential audience worldwide is easy. With a perfect business plan and digital marketing tactics, it is easy to grow and expand.
Investment
When compared with other fitness-based businesses, starting a yoga business is more affordable. This is so because there is less equipment to buy and every student requires very little space in the class, so you will not require a big space for setting up your studio initially.
If you want to start your yoga business through a yoga studio in India, then it needs an investment of around Rs. 7 lakh on the lower end and more than Rs. 15 lakhs if opting for big luxury yoga studios.
Similarly, in the USA, opening a yoga studio will require $15,000 on the low end and over $100,000 for large luxury studios. And if you want to start a yoga business at home, then you will require very little initial investment.
Profitability
Yoga studios have good profitability with a profit margin of 20 to 30 percent. This is a major reason why many yoga practitioners are turning their practices into a source of income. The profit margin depends on a lot of factors such as the target market, studio location, the type of service you are offering, and how you have you have set up your pricing.
If you create a detailed business plan, and assess your local market, level of competition, and then you will certainly be successful. If you want to increase your profit by threefold then we recommend you to hire freelance yoga teachers.
You can hire experienced and skilled yoga instructors who line up with the values and philosophy of your business. Find instructors who have expertise in varied yoga styles and who can cater to the requirements of varied students. In this way, you conduct more classes and make more money.
Did you know starting an online yoga business can fetch you up to 70 percent profit?
For your convenience here is the yoga studio profit calculator
Give all the details of your yoga studio and through this calculation, you can know about the monthly profit of your yoga business. This helps in forecasting your revenue and also the breakeven point to cost.
Yoga Profit Calculator
Your Monthly Income From Yoga Classes: $0
Your Monthly Profit: $0
Profit Percentage: 0%
Important Steps for starting a yoga business
Obtain your certification: Before you start a yoga business whether at home or yoga studio, it is highly recommended that you need to have a certification to start teaching yoga. Credentials help in making the best impression on your clients and attract new customers. It’s good to get certification with Yoga institutions.
Pick up a specialty: If you are an experienced yoga instructor then you must know all of these yoga styles. But if you are a beginner, then you should know that there are different kinds of yoga disciplines such as:
- Kundalini Yoga
- Hatha Yoga
- Ashtanga Yoga
- Vinyasa Yoga
- Prenatal Yoga
- Bikram Yoga
Teaching methods are different for different kinds of yoga. Therefore, we recommend you focus on one or two specialties for getting your business off the ground. Make sure you have decided on what kind of yoga specialty you will focus on before you make plans for your business.
Decide where to teach (location): The whole concept of the yoga business is very simple: Teach and get paid. But in real you can implement the business in various ways and divide it into three different business models:
Home-based yoga studio: If you are an experienced yoga teacher with some loyal students then this is one of the best options. As a beginner also you can start at home, but your room at home must be big enough to accommodate at least 8- 10 students. The main benefit is you will require less initial investment.
Yoga studio: Here you can either take on rent or buy a property for setting up your studio. It is an expensive one and needs more investment. On average Small to Medium yoga studio owners make over $7,000 per month
Make a business plan: A good business plan offers you a priceless roadmap to assist you in the initial stage of your business. It should cover all important factors such as an executive summary, market analysis, plan of operation, and other vital things. A proper business plan is required to safeguard the future success of your yoga studio. Things you should include in your business plan are:
- A good teaching location whether at home or studio
- Who your target audience or local customers are?
- The type of business model – Membership-based or pay for each class.
- About staffing
- How to market and promote to reach prospective clients such as SEO, email marketing, and partnerships with other businesses?
- Legal factors or compliance with legal requirements
- Financial planning
Pick a name and logo for your business
Creating a robust brand identity helps in reflecting the values, offerings, and personality of your business. For this, you need to generate a persuasive brand name along with a perfect logo that resonates well with your potential audience. Maintaining consistency in branding on all platforms helps in building trust and brand identity.
If you are looking for the best font for your yoga business; go for san-serif (sleek font) such as Aerial, Helvetica, Roboto, Calbri, and Open Sans to name a few. Should you aim for creative, we recommend script font provided by Google Fonts.
Build a strong online presence
In this digital age, it is vital to establish a sturdy online presence for your business. Here are the ways through which you can easily establish a strong online presence:
A well-optimized website: Your website is your digital storefront. You can hire a website developer or a firm to design a professional website. In an alternative way, you can also make use of WordPress for developing your website. Your website must be quick in loading, mobile friendly, and contain all the right and relevant information.
Facilitate online booking: A lot of your clients might try to make bookings for classes outside of your business hours. So, it’s important to facilitate a reliable, 24/7 yoga scheduling solution on your website. For WordPress, you can execute a booking plugin.
Leverage digital marketing strategies
With the increase in global acceptance, the yoga industry has become crowded. So, if you want to get noticed, you need a foolproof marketing strategy for the rapidly evolving digital world. A good digital marketing agency for yoga studios has a strong understanding of all your business requirements in the competitive world. They can create good digital solutions for the achievement of the best results.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an effective tool for organic growth of your yoga business. If you make some investment in SEO, you will not only enhance online visibility but also generate leads and business. Starting from appealing to local customers to nurturing trust and integrity, SEO is an important collaborator in increasing the chance of achieving success and business reach.
Social media: Nowadays it’s important to have a strong social media presence to succeed in business. Besides Instagram and Facebook, you can also make use of YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter. Maintain the right balance between three options: organic, paid, and influencer.
Video marketing: As you know yoga is more about showing than narrating, so what can be a better way than a well-crafted video? The key benefit is that video helps in branding awareness. Nowadays video is one of the best ways for consuming content and this is the reason why video marketing is becoming very popular.
More than 50% of internet users search for video reviews before investing. You can make video marketing through long-duration videos, or short videos on platforms like YouTube and many others along with Instagram and Facebook reels, YouTube Shorts, etc. Video creates positive and familiar feelings in users who want to connect with their yoga practices. Sponsored marketing such as Google/Bing PPC helps you get instant footfall and leads.
Must read books to be a successful yoga entrepreneur
Conclusion
Starting your yoga business is indeed challenging, but it can also be an exciting journey with huge potential for success. If you follow all the steps shared above, you can easily start your planning and business setting and run your yoga business to achieve success quickly.