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

The #1 Reason Your Yoga Business Revenue Feels Unpredictable (And How to Fix It)

• Jackie Murphy

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What if your studio income felt as steady and reliable as a paycheck? Join me, Jackie Murphy, as I break down the proven strategies that turn fluctuating revenue into financial consistency. Whether you're tired of the feast-or-famine cycle or looking for smarter ways to scale, this episode is filled with insights to help you create a sustainable, thriving business.

In this episode, we’ll dive into:

  •  How to simplify your offers to boost sales and reduce client confusion
  •  Why prioritizing memberships over drop-ins leads to predictable income
  • The power of a well-structured core offer to drive financial stability
  • Marketing strategies that ensure consistent enrollment and revenue

Plus, we explore how creating a Most Valuable Offer (MVO) and Premium Value Offer (PVO) can reshape your business model for lasting success. If you’re ready to step into the CEO role and take control of your studio’s future, this episode is for you!

Tune in now and start building a business that supports both your passion and your paycheck.

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Speaker 1:

If your income feels like a roller coaster some months you're thriving, other months you're barely scraping by and the scarcity demons come back in it's not because you need to work harder or even sell more. It might actually come down to the structure of your business, and you need to know is your business actually structured for stability and sustainable growth over years? Tune in now. 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. 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 am Jackie Murphy and I'm your business coach and it's a good day to pop in your earbuds. Maybe let's go for a walk or let's sit on your couch. Let's chit chat about your business and what we can do to make it feel more sustainable and stable. Because if I've learned one thing over my years in business, is that I prefer a stable, sustainable business over sprints to burn myself out into periods of rest. So if that's your jam, you're going to really love this podcast. We're going to dive into how you can structure your business to make it feel more stable and so that you can feel at ease. And I remember thinking that you know, building a business or growing a business seems so risky and scary and a stable paycheck would be so much better. And I understand that perspective. And maybe if you're there, if you're listening to this podcast while you're still working your stable paycheck job. I'm not like casting any shame or judgment on you paycheck job. I'm not like casting any shame or judgment on you. I just want to offer you that your business can actually offer the same stable paycheck that your job does, and it's actually something I work with. I've worked with private clients. I've worked with my mastermind clients to kind of dive in and be like what's the paycheck you need to cut yourself, that delivers every two weeks and you get paid out like an employee? Can the paycheck you need to cut yourself, that delivers every two weeks and you get paid out like an employee, can bring so much ease to your business? Okay, before we dive in, I just have to tell you I got a message from one of you this week that was like Jackie, I feel like we're best friends and you've helped me so much grow my business, and I just want to say thank you. I know from the podcast that I listened to the coaches, that I listen to the coaches that I work with, I study their material and they're constantly in my earbuds and I'm learning from them, so much so that their voice starts to feel like second nature when I'm thinking through things in my life and in my business. And for me to be able to be that voice for you, it's really such an honor and it's such a gift and I just want to say thank you. I don't take that lightly. I actually take it very seriously and I am so happy that you are here.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to share this quick little story with you guys, because I just it's been on my mind recently a lot and I've been thinking about it a lot. But I went to a psychic when I was in high school. Her name was Angela, she was up in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina and that psychic in high school quite literally told me Hmm, you have something to do with studios. And at that time I was a dancer. So I thought, oh yeah, dance studios. I love dance studios, I would love to open a dance studio. And she was like no, that's not it. I see you behind studios, like you're behind the scenes, you're working behind the scenes where you are helping people. And this has just been in my head because it's quite literally what I do now. I always thought that what she meant is I would just have, you know, have lots and lots of studios and run them myself and be the front-facing person for these studios. And now I find myself being the behind-the-scenes partner for everyone who's in the business of Yoga Course, for my mastermind clients, for my private clients and for those of you listening to this podcast, and I just am having a pinch-me moment of like, oh, this is what she saw 20-plus years ago. And I just am like having a pinch me moment of like, oh like. This is what she saw 20 plus years ago and here I am, like in my element, doing what I've always been meant to do. So seriously, I don't take this lightly. Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about how to make your revenue and your business feel more predictable and how to set up your offer structure in a way that can facilitate that. Now, this is one of my main core philosophies and strategies. I teach my clients. So if you listen to this episode and you really want to learn more and you want to be able to use this in your business, I'm going to recommend two programs as we go throughout the episode and I'll talk about each and why, and I just want you to know that this is my personal philosophy from being in studios for so long, and you can either take it and run with it and love it if it's helpful or if not. There are a million different strategies for how to grow your business and this doesn't have to be it.

Speaker 1:

So, to begin, let's talk about the struggle with inconsistent, unpredictable revenue, and this is happening for a lot of people in the yoga and Pilates world because they're structuring their offers in a way that's going to work against them. They will start to structure their offers where they're trying to make too much money from too many different sources. So think about when you pull up a Pilates studio website. Oftentimes you'll see that they have like four different class pack options, at least four different memberships options, drop-ins, gift cards, workshops, events. They have all of these different pricing structures that they're trying to sell and what happens here is they're thinking, okay, if I have more options, then more people are going to buy, and actually it's the opposite. It creates more stress because your business should be so easy for someone to continually take the next step, whatever that next step is, and more offers often inhibits that. There's a word I'm looking for. It often inhibits that and it creates more stress for the client. But it also creates more stress for you, because you may be making a thousand bucks for some of your class packs and then one month you make, um, you have one-off membership, so you make, you know, 2000 bucks from those, but then the next month you don't have any and it's going to change and your client follow-up is going to be inconsistent because everyone's on a different path.

Speaker 1:

The next mistake that I see people make is that they rely off one-off sales instead of predictable revenue. They don't have a solid foundation of recurring revenue, so every single month you're starting from zero and that can really get you into the hustle mentality very quickly. One of the things that I really hone in inside of the Grow Mastermind is what is your monthly recurring revenue and can we get that number up? And that's our focus. Most people one either don't have monthly recurring revenue because they're not focused on selling those packages or they don't have an idea of what their monthly recurring revenue is or a strategy to increase it month over month.

Speaker 1:

The third mistake is just believing that clients won't commit to memberships or long-term pricing. It's really common to hear like, oh, people don't want to commit to another membership, like. You have probably heard that from clients, you've probably maybe said it yourself, and it's true for some people, obviously, but there are people every single day who are creating, you know, a lifelong community at a studio and they're committing to memberships or long-term pricing. Actually, just this week, one of my clients inside the mastermind is having an amazing Valentine's Day annual sale from people committing to a year long of work with her. So, yeah, some people don't want the commitment, but there's a lot of people who do want the commitment. I'd rather you focus on that and create a marketing system and a sales system that encourages commitment in the long run.

Speaker 1:

Now I want you to think about how this would kind of work outside of business and I want you to think about your own personal finances. Like, imagine if you relied on Facebook marketplace and selling one-off pieces of furniture and random birthday money coming in from aunts and uncles or picking up like extra gigs as needed, and that was your only way to bring in money to your life. You would be highly stressed. And it's not that nothing is. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just more stressful because there isn't a predictable income, because you can't say, okay, this is how much money I know is coming in next month. And if you can't say this is how much money I know is coming in next month, it's really hard to save, to budget your expenses, to invest. So you really would have a hard time ever feeling financially secure, and you have a right to be financially secure in your life. You deserve to be financially secure and you have a right to be financially secure in your life. You deserve to be financially secure and I know some of you need to hear that and hear that every single day and business owners. You deserve to be financially secure and so you have to build and structure your business in a way that actually creates that financial stability so that you can get out of the unpredictable cycle and into predictable revenue.

Speaker 1:

I don't want you walking around feeling like you're on a sales treadmill, always having to push out a new workshop or really like push drop-in classes or do a retail sale, just because you don't know where the money is coming in this month. If you're living in that land, you'll never feel like you have enough and it's really hard to be present with your clients when you're in scarcity of never enough. You'll feel like you have to work harder than you need to and you'll just struggle to imagine how you can grow because in your mind, growth in your business will mean more work, more hustling, more freak out, more scarcity. So we really want to get you to a place where you have a consistent routine, just like if you were trying to get healthy, just like if your clients come to you and they want to be physically, mentally and emotionally more healthy. One of the first things you're going to tell them is that you need something consistent, you need to follow a plan, you need to set your eyes on long-term progress and and work the plan, trust the journey along the way.

Speaker 1:

So here's the offer structure that I recommend to my clients. Again, you can take this or leave this, but this is what I have found that works best. So I teach my clients that, in order to create stability and financial security, you want to prioritize that reoccurring revenue. Now, this could be in memberships, this could be in payment plans or packages. It doesn't have to be like an unlimited monthly membership that's not like the only option here, but 60% of your revenue should come from what I call your most valuable offer, or your MVO. This is going to be your core membership package, your core thing that you're selling that brings in recurring income.

Speaker 1:

Now I want you to think about your business and ask yourself what is the thing that I want to be 60% of my revenue? And it might not be that today, like clearly, it might not be that today You're listening to this podcast today, like clearly, it might not be that today you're listening to this podcast today, but you can put in your mind this is the offer that I want 60% of my revenue to come from. And then you want to ask yourself do I spend 60% of my time when I'm marketing and when I'm selling talking about that offer? And for a lot of people the answer is going to be no, and we'll talk about why. So 60% is coming from your NVO. 30% is going to come from your PVO. This is your premium value offer. These are higher ticket programs, like privates. It could be teacher trainings, it could be a one-on-one special offer with you.

Speaker 1:

Inside of the Grow Mastermind, I teach you the components of a premium value offer and how to create one for any business. And inside the Business of Yoga course, we really hone in and focus on your most valuable offer, your MVO. Those two together should make up 90% of your revenue, and then 10% of your revenue is going to come from everything else One-off events, drop-ins, retail sales, one-off workshops. But this is where we have to circle back to the question about your marketing and sales, because most often when I see marketing sales from a client, I'm not working with a future client. We'll call them. Their marketing is all about the next event, the next workshop that's coming up, the retail sale that's happening, and so you're spending all of this time and energy and effort marketing what's only going to create about 10% of your revenue.

Speaker 1:

And then you're wondering why you aren't building up more reoccurring revenue in a sustainable way. Revenue in a sustainable way. So this is how you can build financial stability. When you're 60% of your revenue is MVO recurring revenue. This can be a monthly paycheck for you. This is how you know you can cover your rent. This is how you can invest in business coaching with a steady investment plan without feeling overwhelmed. It's the foundation that's going to cover you so that you feel safe.

Speaker 1:

The PVO this is going to be your like cherry on top income. This is in my opinion. I'm working with a studio right now who's going from. We really want to take her from like 20K monthly revenue to 40K monthly revenue and we're working on building that little boost from the PVO because the MVO is already in place. All right, so follow me with all the acronyms. This is like your extra this is what you're. You know it's going to boost profit. It's not guaranteed every month, but doesn't need to be guaranteed every month. And then everything else is going to be extra, but it's not something you rely on and it's a really good place to generate leads to then funnel into your MBO.

Speaker 1:

So if you're selling a ton of drop-ins, if you're selling a ton of class packs that don't renew, those are your people you need to look at and be like. Well, they need to come over here so they have a consistent experience and so I can consistently help them. So I really want you to think about following this structure. You would shift from relying on small, inconsistent sales, ignoring the power of recurring revenue, and totally reframe that. Your marketing and your sales at least 60% of it should be focused on that NVO to make predictable revenue come in, and then you can add on with your PVO, your premium value offer, to increase your profit. So just know that if your revenue and your offers aren't structured in the right way and this also goes into pricing and are things priced in the right way to make them want to buy the MVO that so that you can see like, huh, does it make sense, based on the offers that I have, that my clients would naturally want to go to this one offer, my MVO, that I want to build up over the next few years and this doesn't have to happen overnight and it doesn't have to be fast. This is a long-term, consistent game and this is something that in the Grow Mastermind we really, really hone in on, because we start to take your marketing and your sales for that MVO and make it automated. Can we get an ads funnel that consistently works even if you're not working? Can we make sure people are converting effortlessly into this MVO on purpose because of the systems and the automations that we've set up?

Speaker 1:

So if you are interested in joining the Grow Mastermind, I do have some exciting announcements, because it's like the Grow Mastermind revamped. It's the Grow Mastermind revised. We have made some changes to better support everyone in the Mastermind and we are launching or opening up enrollment for the Mastermind in March or opening up enrollment for the mastermind in March. Open enrollment is going to be March 13th through the 18th. If you're interested in getting on the wait list, hearing the details and seeing what we've changed, you can click the link below in the show notes and I'd be happy to talk to you to make sure it's the right fit. All right, my friends, I will talk to you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 1:

What that means is you have to educate them. You have to share with them what they need to know that you already know. Does your certification create confident teachers? That's a unique thing. Does your certification create intelligent teachers? Does your certification really focus on helping them find their specific teaching style in their niche?

Speaker 1:

And listen, you can't tell me your certification does all three. That doesn't make you different. You need to know what you are best at. You don't need to be the best at everything. All right. So those are the three types of buyers. That third type of buyer is really going to be you're going to need to know how to do remarketing ads so you can hit up your already warm audience. These are going to be the sales that happen in person, in the DMs, with people who already know you, and so having the skills to do that are going to be really, really imperative.

Speaker 1:

Now, when you do this, when you speak to these three groups of people, here's what's going to happen You're not just going to have one little group of people that's going to be ready every time you open your certification, but you're going to have a full pipeline of interested people because you're speaking to the entire journey.

Speaker 1:

You're going to increase your demand over time by showing more and more people that your certification solves their problems, and you're going to be able to fill your programs more consistently rather than relying on, like, pushing through, hustling right when you have an opening If you've hit a plateau, if you find that selling teacher training is getting harder and harder the more that you sell.

Speaker 1:

This is why this is the problem that's been going on. Now, this episode, you guys, is quite heavy and in depth, and part of me was like, oh, should I say all this on the podcast? And then I decided, of course, but if this is something that you want to talk through, that you're like, okay, I need to understand how specifically to do this for my certification, then I want to invite you into two programs. Program number one is the Business of Yoga program. It is open right now. You don't have to wait to join us inside of the Business of Yoga program. This is where you can get weekly coaching, daily written coaching. You have the option to like get in today and start learning the sales skills that you need.