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

Think Like a CEO: Why ROI Is the Only Metric That Matters

• Jackie Murphy

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If you’ve ever hesitated to invest in your business—even when you know it’s the right next step—this episode of Studio CEO will shift your entire approach. 

Today we'll do a deep dive into the mindset trap that keeps entrepreneurs stuck: treating their business finances like personal finances.


In this episode, you'll learn:

  • Why personal finance habits (like “only spend what you have”) don’t work in a scalable business
  • How to shift from cost-based decision-making to ROI-based leadership
  • The hidden cost of debt shame—and how it impacts your growth
  • Why “doing it alone” is slowing you down (even if you’re good at it)
  • The real difference between help and support—and why you need both
  • How my own landing page flop turned into a team-powered breakthrough


If you're ready to stop asking, “Can I afford this?” and start asking, “What return will this create?”, then this episode is your new decision-making filter.


Listen now and learn how to lead with strategy, not fear.


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Speaker 1:

We've all been there. The moment that you see something you want to spend money on Maybe it's a business coach, a course hiring a new employee or another reformer for your studio and you ask yourself but can I really afford it? This week's episode of the Studio CEO Podcast is your answer, because that question isn't just about money. 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. Without working more, this is just the beginning. Hello and welcome back to the Studio CEO Podcast.

Speaker 1:

I am Jackie Murphy, and today we are talking about something that will completely change the way that you invest in your business. If you have ever found yourself hesitating on a decision, whether it's hiring, joining a program or even buying something for your studio because your brain says do I really need this? Should I really buy this right now, you are not alone, but I want to show you that the fear of investing isn't actually about numbers. It is about mindset, and today's episode is going to help you make a powerful shift from scarcity thinking to ROI thinking, because the truth is you don't need to build a successful business by saving every penny. You build it by strategically investing towards a return. So let's get honest around the fear about spending money and it can feel scary to spend money in your business you may be looking at an offer that feels like exactly what you need to grow, but the thought of actually pulling out your credit card makes your stomach turn. Maybe you have started calculating what's in your account and you wonder what if I spend this and it doesn't work out? Or, oh my God, I should wait until I have more saved up. That fear isn't random and most likely it has been conditioned into you Because most of us have only ever been taught about personal finances and how to think about personal finances, which essentially, if you boil that down and you've listened to Dave Ramsey, the message is spend less than you make, save whatever's left and avoid any kind of debt. That thinking keeps you relatively safe in your personal finances and it works in that situation. Safe in your personal finances and it works in that situation. But in business, this way of thinking can actually keep you from growing the way that you want to.

Speaker 1:

The real problem is that you've got this fixed thinking in an expandable business. Here's exactly what I mean In personal finance. There's a limit. You have one paycheck a month and you try not to overspend. If you spend more than what you brought in that month, you are now in debt. Business doesn't work like that. Your business can always create more money, you can always launch again, you can raise your prices, you can take on more students, you can announce a new offer, you always have options and flexibility, you always have leverage. But if you're still making decisions like your money is capped, like there's only so much to go around, then you're making CEO level decisions based on personal finance beliefs that will not serve you in the long run.

Speaker 1:

So let's just talk about debt, because this is big and it's one of those things that most people want to avoid talking about or feel some sort of shame, even embarrassment, for talking about debt. But it is so common and we need to have the conversation around it. You maybe have taken out a business loan, or you opened a business line of credit and it's sitting there and you're like, oh my gosh, I have this loan. I could use that loan to invest and do this, or I need to pay off that loan. I wonder if I will ever pay off that loan.

Speaker 1:

And you feel like there's some need to prove that your business is quote unquote successful by eliminating any and all debt. You think, oh my gosh, I just can't add more debt. I can't have debt. I need to get rid of debt, because if I have debt, it somehow means that I'm behind or I've done something wrong in my business. Like, maybe you've used that debt and you're already paying it off monthly, which is smartly over time, but it still feels like a burden, no matter how hard you work, you never, ever, feel like you're going to catch up. Listen, you never feel like you're going to catch up, even if you have a plan to strategically pay it off and that is not a numbers problem, because the numbers are showing you eventually, over time, the debt will be paid off. And that is not a numbers problem because the numbers are showing you eventually, over time, the debt will be paid off. What's happening there is there's just that shame that we can learn around debt as we grow up, and again, that comes from personal finances.

Speaker 1:

It is not the same to go into debt over buying a bunch of shoes than to invest in your business and build out what you need to build out. It has nothing to do with the math and it has everything to do with how you're trained to think about money. So I want you to think about this. You have to start really thinking about money like a CEO would.

Speaker 1:

In business, the goal isn't to spend the least. The goal is to generate the most. Have your expenses be in line so that you can be a profitable business. Actually, just this week, I was scrolling Instagram and I saw someone post that their business expenses for one month was almost a million dollars that month expenses. And this is what I want to tell everyone out there as your business grows, your goal isn't to spend the least and see how far it can go. Your goal is to learn how to increase your capacity to hold what will probably be bigger and bigger expenses as you make more and more revenue. And you can't generate more revenue if you're only ever focused on saving, on not spending. So instead you have to shift into ROI thinking return on investment thinking.

Speaker 1:

From here on out, you are not going to ask yourself how much does this cost. You're going to start asking what is the return on this investment? Roi thinking means every decision you make, every dollar, every hire, every hour. You're not evaluating it by how much it takes, but you're evaluating it by how much it can create. Does this save me time? Will it make my business more efficient? Does this unlock growth? And, most importantly, will this get me closer to the results that I want faster than I could do alone? Let me say it one more time Will this investment get me closer to the results that I want faster than what I could do alone? This is the lens that every CEO needs to adopt, and I just had to relearn this the hard way.

Speaker 1:

And I just had to relearn this the hard way. Most recently, we had a landing page that wasn't converting the way that it should. So we were using ads and organic marketing to send people to this landing page and people were clicking, but they weren't converting on the page and I knew something wasn't right. But instead of going and investing and getting help, I told myself I can fix this. I've done it before, I'm good at this. Essentially I shouldn't need anyone else. And so I tweaked it and I rewrote, and I did all this in my little office by myself.

Speaker 1:

But what I really wanted is this feeling that I have a team, the support. When I walk into my business, I feel like we're all moving in sync towards a common goal. And I'll tell you that I have a team, this support. When I walk into my business, I feel like we're all moving in sync towards a common goal. And I'll tell you, I have an amazing team. I have an incredible assistant, we have a contract COO, we had a website designer help with a page. But here's the thing Even the support that I had already invested in wasn't the right support for fixing this specific problem. None of those people are messaging strategists. They're not a copywriter. I need CMO level support.

Speaker 1:

And then my business coach called me out and she said Jackie, use me, I am that person, I can have my eyes on this and I can help you. And when you don't fully use me, you're slowing me down. And she was right. I wasn't afraid to spend money on a business coach, like I already spend money on a business coach. I was afraid to trust and make sure that I got the return on that investment. I was afraid to let go and trust someone else's expertise and trust someone else's advice. I was afraid to lean into that support so I could really get an ROI on the investment I was already paying for. So I did. I handed it off, I put the landing page on her desk and I said let me know what you think. And already the energy is different and I absolutely know the results will be too.

Speaker 1:

But sometimes going alone can feel safer. But when you invest in support and you utilize that support, you're going to get to the destination that you want so much faster and you're going to be able to go so much further. So when you stop trying to spend the least, stop trying to use your investments the least and start really thinking about what can I do to get a return from this, things will move. You can go ahead and stop trying to prove that you can do it all alone. Business is not meant to be done alone in a silo. You are not going to be a solopreneur for very long if you want your business to be successful in the long run. You can stop hoarding your time and your energy.

Speaker 1:

Just to say I did this all by myself and in my situation. I wasn't doing that intentionally, I wasn't doing that on purpose, but there was still a piece of me that was like I can do this by myself and that was slowing down my ability to reach more students, to impact more people. Instead, you want to start thinking like a CEO and what's going to happen is you're going to get some of your time back. You're going to have more support, you'll have more clarity, you'll get more speed and the results that were never going to come from white knuckling your way through it will come from strategic investments that you ensure that you get a return on All right. So if this is heading home for you and you know that you are ready to lead like a CEO and not just a solo business owner, then I want to invite you to the Studio CEO program.

Speaker 1:

This is where we help. We will help you structure your business for growth. You get support and strategy and systems and figuring out your aligned offer and figuring out marketing and selling so you can stop running your business just like a passion project and really start running it like a company that pays you well and supports your life well Inside. We're not just going to talk about ROI, we're going to ensure that you're building that mindset into every single part of your business and it becomes the way that you think.

Speaker 1:

Now, right now, inside of the studio CEO program, it is less. If you do the 12-month payment plan, it is less than what you are currently charging one member for unlimited classes, I guarantee it. And so the investment think about ROI is less than you getting one new person. So you have to ask yourself is the skills and the strategy and the support that I'm going to gain inside of this program going to help me bring in just one new person? If the answer is yes, then it's already paid for the ROI is already there.

Speaker 1:

But in reality, what I can tell you is that most likely it will help you bring in a lot more than that, and obviously I can't promise that for every single person, but from what I've already seen, people are getting way more than just a breakeven return on investment inside of the program, because you're learning how to lead, you're learning how to think like a CEO, and that's how real returns will be created. So here's what I want you to take away with this week. You got to stop making decisions like this is your personal finances like a saver from scarcity and you're going to start making them CEO. Start thinking about ROI over fear, strategy over scarcity, because when you lead that way, you don't just build a business that grows, you build one that works for you, your team and your future. All right, my friends, thank you so much for being here. I'd love to see you inside the Studio CEO program. I will talk to you in the next episode.