The Studio CEO: Business Coaching For Yoga & Pilates Teachers & Studio Owners

Transforming Dreams into Reality: Katelyn's Path to Business Growth

• Jackie Murphy • Episode 2

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Have you ever wondered how to start and grow a yoga studio while growing a family? In this episode of The Studio CEO podcast, we talk to Katelyn, the owner of Port City Power Yoga in Wilmington, North Carolina. 

Katelyn shares her story of opening her studio in 2020 with the support of her husband, and how she manages life as a mom of two energetic boys while running her business.

Katelyn explains how she went from being part of the Yoga Boss group to implementing advanced strategies from the Grow Mastermind program. She shares how she learned to delegate tasks, hire the right people, and set big goals - like reaching $10k-$20k in monthly revenue! 

We discuss the differences between the Yoga Boss program and the Mastermind group, and how to decide which program is right for you depending on where you are at on your journey.

Katelyn has lived most of her life in North Carolina and now calls Wilmington home. She is passionate about helping others through the power of yoga and created a Baptiste-inspired yoga studio just a short walk from her house.

If you're a yoga studio owner or want to start your own business, Katelyn’s story offers helpful insight and inspiration to get you started!

Connect with Katelyn:
Www.portcitypoweryoga.com
https://www.instagram.com/portcitypoweryoga

Work with Jackie Murphy

Start with the Pack Your Classes Challenge
Learn about The Business of Yoga Program
Apply for the Mastermind

Speaker 1:

If you are a yoga or Pilates studio owner or teacher who wants to feel confident, take bigger action in your business and have a team that you can delegate tasks to, then this episode is for you. Welcome to the Studio CEO, the only podcast that empowers yoga and Pilates teachers and studio owners to step confidently into their role as CEO. If you are ready to show up with passion, take your business seriously and scale to new heights without burning out, you are in the right place. I'm your host, jackie Murphy, an award-winning certified business coach with over 12 years of experience inside the yoga industry. I have seen firsthand what it takes to build a profitable and scalable business. Join me as we dive into strategies, insights and real world advice that will help you grow your revenue, build a thriving team and create a business that serves you as much as you serve your students. It's time to embrace your inner CEO and make more money without working more. This is just the beginning. Hello and welcome back to the Studio CEO podcast.

Speaker 1:

I have a client interview for you all today. I have Caitlin on, and Caitlin has been a client for years, right, yeah, I don't know exactly when we first started working together, but she's now currently within the Grow Mastermind, so I wanted to have her come on and kind of share her story and her business. But she has spent most of her life in North Carolina and currently lives in Wilmington. Caitlin believes in creating her life exactly as she wants, or as you want, so she created a Baptiste-inspired yoga studio within walking distance of her house. She is a wife to a traveling golf broadcaster and mom to two energetic boys. She is passionate about empowering others, especially through the power of yoga, so Caitlin runs Port City Power Yoga. Welcome Caitlin.

Speaker 2:

Thanks, thanks for coming on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm happy to have you here today, so why don't we just start with a little bit of your story, with opening the studio within walking distance from your house, because that sounds amazing, and then we'll go there?

Speaker 2:

It's a good and it's a kind of funny story. So my family and I moved to Wilmington in August of 2020. And it was kind of, of course, a weird time in the fitness world, in the yoga world, studios were still physically closed in North Carolina or they were about to be opening up, so we had not been physically practicing yoga at the studio we were practicing at where we moved from in Greensboro, north Carolina, and then we moved to Wilmington and I was like I need to practice yoga. I had a 10 month old. I also knew that yoga was like the place that I made community and made friends and just figured out life. So, moving to a new town, it was the first thing I looked for.

Speaker 2:

It was a weird time to be looking for that because, like, I literally went to the first class that people open back up and I'm like, what does your space look like? I want to be your new best friend. And they're like we don't even know how to do this. We've been closed for nine months, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So it was great and interesting and it was a weird time to move, but in in all of that we really I really realized, my husband really realized like how important yoga was to us and the community was to us, and so, on a stroller walk saw a sign that said for lease, and my husband said you need to call and I said what for? And he said to open a yoga studio. Oh, we're not doing that, we have a one yearold. And he was like, well, just call and see what the lease says, what the guy says. So I did and we toured the space and I walked in and I was like this will be the lobby, this will be in studio, this goes here, this goes there. And they're all looking at me like I'm crazy, cause it was a old building, everything needed to be torn out. It was a old building, everything needed to be torn out. And then, probably nine months later, from walking in the door calling the phone number. We opened a yoga studio.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I didn't know it was him that, like, prompted you to call. I just didn't know that piece of the story. That's really cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I had looked at opening the yoga studio years before and just like life didn't add up at the time, and so he, and that was right before I met my husband and, um, he kind of knew that was a piece of my story and he was like this is the time to do it.

Speaker 2:

And um it there was. I had a lot of support from my husband and my family and that was um helpful Cause I was like I'm just going to do the mom thing right now, and then I barely, very quickly, became a studio owner.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, Studio owner and mom to two young, young babies which I'm in the same boat with the not a studio but a business, and that I mean I have a whole podcast dedicated to the complexities that that brings. So you opened your studio when your first was like 19 months.

Speaker 2:

Well, so um he turned to. The studio opened on November 20th and my first birthday is November 22nd.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

Um, I say that I had that. I have three children um a human child, a yoga studio and now another human child.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, that. So you have three kids. Three kids back to back. So I'm thinking about the person listening who's like, wow, like that sounds like the dream to see a space to call to lease, to get open in nine months. Yeah, what would you say to that person looking back now? Either like what did you do well, or what would you do differently, or what would you do differently if you were going to do it again?

Speaker 2:

Sure, what I did well is, I think, the naivety and innocence and enthusiasm, excitement that was great Like a little bit of not knowing, um not worried about it, just like if you build it they will come and that was really important without it, with more fear.

Speaker 1:

It would have stopped.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it wouldn't be what it is. I would have stopped, Um, and so what I would do differently? What I would. What I would do differently is have a little bit more intention in getting the word out and bringing people into the studio before the doors opened.

Speaker 2:

So I did have fear in that. Who wants to be a part of a yoga studio that doesn't even exist yet? A part of a yoga studio that doesn't even exist yet? And like I don't even think, I announced that the studio was something until September 1st and our doors opened November 20th. Yeah, so a longer runway for people I would have had a longer runway of getting people on board with my idea or even just sharing sharing what I was building from the beginning with a larger audience rather than just like my tight knit.

Speaker 1:

That makes sense, right. Like and it's something we talk about a lot in the group of like always selling like, even if you're not fulfilling on the offer at that moment or currently have openings. Like, you're always selling just to build the demand to be there. So, fast forward to when you found me, was it 2022?

Speaker 2:

It was 2022. So the studio had been open for about six months and the um initial enthusiasm, belief, naivety, all day today said it had faded. Yeah, real day today set in and I thought there was a part of I don't know what I'm doing and also it was all on me. I had some teachers, I have a very supportive husband and it was all on me and I was like I know how to teach yoga. I even know how to lead teachers.

Speaker 1:

And you're pretty, you're smart, you're really intelligent with systems and tech and set up.

Speaker 2:

I am. I am pretty savvy and I pay attention to details and I needed a boost of support, a partner in business and without hiring somebody, which I'm getting better at thanks to the mastermind. I decided to work with you as I always saw you, as I saw you or the program or the mastermind as my business partner yeah, to support the business decisions um, as you say, like working on the business yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I see it that way too.

Speaker 1:

like it's almost like your board of investors, right, like if we were to sit down and have a conversation about where the business is going, which is, what do? That's how I feel, like I'm, I'm like coming in and being like, okay, here's what you've shared with me as your vision. Here's where you want to go. Are we still on track to get there? What needs to to move peak, peak, not peak pivot tweak in order to make that happen? So, when you joined the mastermind six months ago, tell me a little bit about, like, where your business was at that moment in time so 2022,. You found me. We worked together in the yoga boss group and then the mastermind you came back in six months ago. Yeah, tell me what happened then. Where was your business?

Speaker 2:

then, mind, you came back in six months ago. Yeah, tell me what happened then. Where was your business in? So I had about a year of kind of doing it by myself. Um, and it was great and I took a lot of what I learned from you in the yoga boss group and I launched a teacher training and I ran that teacher training and, yeah, that's fun, fun, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I did things that I felt were supported from the foundation and things that we worked on together. And then a year, a year of doing all of that, I was kind of like things felt steady, but not steady where I needed and wanted them to be, so I had plateaued a bit in the middle. So halfway to my goal I plateaued and. I was like, okay, I got halfway to my goal and that's great.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 2:

I've done a lot of good work to get here and I it was again like I don't know what to do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Which I know is a loaded statement, but I there is always another layer of learning. There was what's next, and so I felt halfway to my goal and I needed that business support in getting all the way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and at that time you had a VA, you had hired, I had hired a.

Speaker 2:

VA and my goal of the VA was 15 new members a month. Um, and that didn't happen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I love my VA. He's still my VA, have kept him, but it's been a different um, a different relationship uh kind of like my assistant. If I need something, want something done, I just ask him to do it and he knows how to do it. But it wasn't um, like new. The ideas are not going to launch us forward. Another 10 K they're great, but they're not going to go 10K.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I see virtual assistants, executive assistants. They're incredibly important for doing tasks, but they're not typically trained to be business managers. And the business managers where that person's going to come in and say here's our system and our process to go to this next place. And I think sometimes I just recently did this too I think sometimes we confuse those two roles, thinking that they can be one in the same, and sometimes an assistant can become a business manager, but they need the training to get there. They need the leadership training and what that's going to look like. And I think it's an important piece to note.

Speaker 1:

As you start to hire, the thing that you did really well was give him a goal at all of, say, 15 members. A lot of people miss that step completely and then, as you get into the positions, it's like wait, who actually is good at what role and what gaps do we need to fill in order to get where we want to go? So talk about we're doing this tomorrow on the mastermind, but talk about where do you want to be in your business 3 years? What's your vision? If you want to share numbers, if you want to share team, what do you see as what you're creating?

Speaker 2:

The next thing Well, 2 things you're creating um the. The next thing well, two things um 10k months, consistently in 2024. Yeah without like thinking about it 20k months in 2025 with consistently, just like, it's how, it's what we do, it's how, without feeling, grinding, begging yeah, new offer, discount, like those types of things, yeah yeah and then.

Speaker 2:

So, numbers wise, and then I would like to have myself plus myself, my VA. He's not going anywhere. I, I've adopted him, he's's mine, um, and then two other. I'd like two other people outside of teachers, like that are staff um no business manager and either a director of teachers or marketing support Haven't quite landed where those roles will be, but I'm looking at like me plus two, so there'd be three of us that are making the business grow. Is that to?

Speaker 1:

give you more time to do work? Does it give you like more time off? What are you looking for with that?

Speaker 2:

More time to do work the right work the right work yeah yeah, yeah, I. I think that there's lots of great ideas and there's um, I have lots of great ideas. My community has lots of great ideas and the execution of them is all on me. Um, outside from my teachers teach classes. They're incredible and um, if we do anything outside of our current schedule, then that lands on me. So, wanting to grow in that kind of way, I need support business-wise to do a lot of the things that I do. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So it's what I hear is like really getting clear, like what has shifted? Maybe you tell me if this is on track. Is getting clear on everyone's job description, their role and how it all operates together? And I think we actually had that conversation in Boxer of like everyone needs their own lane, where it all then comes together or all then falls back on somebody. And I think what I hear from you is like, over the past three years three years being in business you're getting more and more clear on what your role needs to be so that you can do what you're really good at and then delegate what you don't want to spend your time on. Does that seem on track?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I like to think.

Speaker 1:

I'm good at all of it. You are. I mean, that's the kind of piece of like being a solopreneur is. You do learn how to do everything, so you could keep doing everything.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, and I that's. I am joking about that, I, and I do think I'm good at all of it and I want, instead of the hour a week I can spend on it, I want five hours a week spent on it, and so then, so it can grow exponentially like that, and so, passing that on to someone who is also really good at it- yeah. So that we can be like times three, times five, times 10 instead of just one.

Speaker 1:

And it's cool to give someone the opportunity to do what they're good at and make money. And your baby that was born is now so sufficient that it's providing for these other people to do what they're really great at in the world, like that's. The cool thing about a business is, as it grows, it starts to give more, not just to your students, but to your team and to you.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I think it's so cool that I pay people money.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Right, I think it's kind of a mind game Like oh, I do that every month.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it's very cool. That was not something that I ever. Of course I was going to pay people, but I never thought what that would be like.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you don't really think through it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

That's cool, okay, so tell me, like in the last six months you're halfway through your year of the mastermind, so we've done one retreat together, we've had six months together. What would you say is like the thing that stands out the most from the mastermind so far?

Speaker 2:

I'm I'm implementing pretty fast. You know lots of days that feel slow, but also we just had a coaching call yesterday and there was great conversation and I even I didn't even write it down. Instead of writing it down, I text my VA and asked him to do two things and put it out there.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 2:

I think it's the it's. It's like is it right? It's not. I'm not in the is it right anymore? I'm willing to test. That's a new mindset that has come from this mastermind like test and seeing and hearing what others in the mastermind are doing, so I really, really appreciate the group aspect of it.

Speaker 2:

I mean, jackie, I can talk to you all day long, every day, and you can on Vox. Her and I get so much from from the other people in the group that you know they said something triggered a thought in me. I immediately asked my VA to change something and we did, whereas it wasn't. Like I'm thinking about this, I'm putting ideas on paper, I'm figuring out how to execute it and then press play. Who knows, days later, weeks later, months later. This is huge.

Speaker 1:

You're making it sound so easy and simple. You're like I just implement quickly and then I just like I'm a leader, but let's just break it down. So like being able to be on a coaching call yesterday and have whatever you got done in less than 24 hours, like that is such a skill that I don't think most entrepreneurs realize they're going to have to learn. What I mean by that is like when you look at the people who are making six figures, seven figures in their business, they probably are doing more. They are getting more done faster, and it doesn't mean you have to hustle, but it's like you start to get really good at just quick, quick, quick, quick decisions and to be able to delegate it and not have to do it yourself. That's even the next level. It's not even you doing the quick things, it's you saying get this quick thing done in a clear way, with a relationship built that he or it's a he right, yeah, he will listen to you and do it. Like that is huge, that's huge.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and we've definitely created that relationship and language of of he understands what I'm asking for and then, if not, we can tweak things pretty quickly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

We do a lot of things just through screenshots and voice memos and written text and it's I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

Did it require more direction and explaining than you thought it would to get that relationship built in?

Speaker 2:

um, yes and no. I feel like I got lucky in a way. Yeah, you hired well. Yeah, I feel like I got lucky that we jive with each other and, in a way, can speak the same language. We're both visual learners, I think, and visual implementers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So seeing with like a screenshot or seeing something visually works for both of us.

Speaker 1:

Wait, but that also, you're just like saying these things that are like it's so simple for me. This is just what I do. This is actually we break it down in one of the modules. I don't even know if you've watched it, but it's talking about with your team, you have to tackle all seven different learning styles and you actually have to know which learning style each of your team members has. So if you didn't know he was visual and you just like kept saying stuff to him, it would be this like constant miscommunication. So that's huge. So you're like, oh, we just happened. We just happened to be both visual, but I think it probably was. You figured out, you know your visual, you figured out that that worked for him, or did he tell you?

Speaker 2:

No, I figured it out that that worked and it was more like you're not giving yourself enough credit yeah, well, tasks I gave him, um, it ended up being like the more visual tasks. He's explained that really well. So that's now heavy. That's what I, that's what we work on most, so.

Speaker 1:

So you notice like what worked well, like what he did well on, and then evaluated how am I communicating? That's creating this result? Yeah, without even like knowing that you were doing that probably.

Speaker 2:

Probably it was. I leaned into what was working.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2:

So I just let go, which I think that's like some learning and being an entrepreneur and being in business and and trying and learning and um, failing and even being a part of the mastermind is that and like every week it's like you're in it, you didn't have, you're in it whatever you didn't tackle, you're in it whatever you didn't tackle the week before, like maybe it's just gone because we're onto something new. So that kind of speed and accountability, um has been helpful too.

Speaker 1:

There's plenty of ideas that are in the notebook that didn't make it and that's okay, and they may or they may not, and like that's fine. So we've got the speed. The second thing you mentioned was the, the leadership. How I heard it was I'm no longer in the employee mindset of like someone else tell me what's right or wrong, but really willing to just be like I. This is what I'm going to test, this is what my gut says, Like let's go with this and then we'll evaluate it. And then the final thing was the group, and I do think there's an element of like having them give you ideas and inspiration is one thing, but being in a room where everyone is performing at this level, where everyone is like quickly implementing and leading and doing changes, and one week they have one studio, the next week they have two studios, or one week they have no teacher training.

Speaker 1:

The next week they're hosting a teacher training. The next week they have two studios. Or one week they have no teacher training. The next week they're hosting a teacher training. That makes it more normal to move that fast and to be that successful. For sure, for sure, which is so. It's so important to be in that room, kind of like you're saying, week after week you're going to be reminded of stepping up to that level, stepping up to play that big game. So one question I want to ask you as we start to wrap up, because you have the experience and there's some people listening who were like yoga boss group and they're considering the mastermind, but they're like I don't know what's different, I don't know what's different about these two offers and like what I'll learn in this mastermind. What would you say is the biggest difference in your opinion?

Speaker 2:

I mean the level of what we're talking about, what we're working on um it. It feels like an upgrade, it feels like the next level. It is and, yes, I kind of grew too. So I I started at, you know, six months old and then came in at two years old, um, but then also, like you, you've grown. However, however long it's been, you've grown and it's present in what our conversation is, how it's delivered, um, and you know what we're doing. I also think, in a way, there was more structure to our conversations in yoga boss, like they were really we start at one and we go to two and three, four, five and then we're done and um, the mastermind is a little more like what's happening right now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And you do a great job of listening to what the tone, the temperature is of everybody, and then the next week or our next gathering, you're like, I'm hearing this. I think you guys need this and we all catch to it really well.

Speaker 1:

So that's been really fun. It's kind of like leading your first teacher training, like this is the first group of it and I should show you guys like what I thought the course outline was going to be to like what it's turned into, because it's just so night and day, because, as I create with you, I'm just like, oh, they need this, we need to add this and teach this. Even just this week, I'm like we got to talk about project management systems. They don't have it. We're not operating like this. We got to add that in.

Speaker 1:

But I also think, too, there's an element of the leadership skills that I never touched on in the Yoga Boss group, because marketing and selling are so important when you're first getting started. So I'm like pulling out this like old skill set that I have, while on top of teaching you like paid advertising and taking your marketing and your selling to the next level. But I will say that it's not like I don't think it's the place for the person that's like teach me, it can't be because you're a leader at this level. It can't be for the person that's like step one is this and step two is this and step three is this, because everyone is moving in different paces, in different ways, so fast.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I, I would say I mean, I do think someone would be overwhelmed if they have top five yoga classes and they want to grow their business and they do the mastermind. Yes, they're going to be like what are y'all talking about? I'm supposed to be doing all of this right now and you're like no, no, no, you're not.

Speaker 1:

Um, right, so it's which is why the business of yoga is there, and I mean a lot of times. I'm pointing you guys back to the business of yoga too. I'm like go watch this module in there, come back to the foundation and then write your ad copy.

Speaker 2:

A hundred percent and you need both. Yeah, um, but I do feel like the mastermind is, is next level and it, um, in a way, requires some type of prerequisite, but more just like you're ready to to really dive in and and and the rapids they're, they're coming fast.

Speaker 1:

We're moving quick. If you want to move quick, let's go, okay, so let's just start to. I know you have a baby waiting for you at home, so what's the last little piece of? Like the person listening who maybe maybe they're six months into their studio, or maybe they're just about to open their studio, or maybe they're in the same place where they're like next year, I want 20 K consistent months. That's three different people. But what would you say to that person?

Speaker 2:

Um, I would say it's, it's worth the investment. And even when you think it's, it's not, I'm talking to myself. Um, and money is hard in business, it's every time I invest I'm talking to myself Spending money is hard in business.

Speaker 1:

Every time I invest I'm like I know this is going to work, but I hate it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's worth it. And what you put in and what you ask for, you're going to get back tenfold. So it's almost 20 fold because it's what I put in, but also what I ask and receive, and then that multiplies by 10.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so 10 times the investment. Yeah, 20 times the investment Amazing. All right, tell people where they can find you or come practice with you.

Speaker 2:

We are in Wilmington, north Carolina, port city power yoga. If you are in Wilmington, north Carolina, port City Power Yoga. If you are in Wilmington, we're downtown-ish, we have a big, beautiful mural on the side of our building and it's an awesome community that is kind of all ages, a wide range of ability, and some of my favorite students are those who have this like itch to try yoga and then they come in and their life is forever changed. So, it's you. Port City Power Yoga in Wilmington, north Carolina.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome, cool. All right, we'll link your website and your Instagram in the show notes. People can check you out there. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your time and everyone. I will talk to you in the next episode. Bye, y'all.