Now that you’ve established the kind of business you will operate, the services you will offer, and the clientele you will serve, let’s dive into bringing this business plan into reality with marketing, operations, management, and financial planning.
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Marketing Plan

Many spiritual entrepreneurs have negativity towards marketing. They view it as manipulation to make people buy something they don’t need. The truth is, if your marketing plan focuses on educating you students, providing value, and inspirational communications, you allow your students to make educated decisions without any sales pressure.

As you begin to piece together a marketing plan, consider the following sections:

• Competitive Advantage What sets you apart from your competition? Avoid making negative remarks towards others in your field (bad karma) and focus on the value you provide that is unique and memorable.
• Product & Price You’ve already outlined the products and services you are offering. Now set a price for each of these services. You will also want to include prices for class packs or unlimited memberships, discounts for specific groups, and special packages for new students.
• Promotion How are you communicating your message and raising awareness about your business? A multiple prong strategy allows you to penetrate your target market more deeply. The more often your ideal client is seeing your name, the more likely they will be curious to check out what you have to offer.

Marketing your business is an ongoing process. Dedicating time to marketing each week – even each day – can drastically increase your business. Not only will you attract new clients, but you will reinforce your value to current students. As the saying goes – it’s easier to keep an existing client than to gain a new client! So don’t forget to consistently share your message with existing students to provide additional value outside the studio, increase student retention, increase class sizes, and generate referrals (word of mouth marketing).

Join me for the Intro to Marketing webinar to create a promotional strategy custom tailored to attracting your ideal client.

Operations Plan

Consider the operations plan to be your resource guide for running your business. This is your checklist for running your business. Make sure to cover your physical requirements for your business and operations checklists.

You may want to include in the operations plan:

• Physical Location Not only the address, but also the layout (if you are opening a studio). Make sure your layout allows for traffic flow between classes, accessible restrooms/change rooms, and access to the front desk. If you are planning to have a boutique, you may want to get some opinions on a layout to ensure you are placing furniture and products in favorable locations.
• Start-Up Equipment What do you need to open the doors to your business? List out each piece of equipment, purpose of equipment, cost of equipment, and supplier. Spend time thinking of anything that you will need – it is better to be prepared and have the money set aside than to be blindsided when you realize you don’t have a credit card scanner as you are checking students in.
• Suppliers Do your research before purchasing supplies, including equipment, marketing materials, or boutique inventory. Make a list of your selected suppliers, along with contact information, what you order from them, and the cost of supplies. This will make it very easy to delegate any purchasing in the future as well as provide reference if you are offered a deal by a new supplier.
• Opening Checklist Putting together these checklists, even before you have additional staff, will make life much easier. Admittedly, you will probably miss things the first time around, so continue to add to this checklist until you have the routine down. (If you are a teacher – this could be a pre-class checklist to ensure everything runs smoothly).
• Closing Checklist Many businesses create an opening checklist, but don’t have a system for closing. If you break up some of the tasks that simply must be done (housekeeping, followup with voicemails, emails, etc.), you will ensure that each day runs smoothly. (If you are a teacher – this could be a post-class checklist to follow up with students, build your relationship with studio or gym, or similar).
• New Student Checklist A new student is the lifeblood of growing your business! A quick checklist will ensure that each new student is welcomed into your community with love and without pressure. Include your student waiver, student information form, perhaps an interest survey, and especially a follow up thank you note!
• Housekeeping Checklist Housekeeping is one of the first things you can delegate! There are dozens of potential students who would love to build a practice, but can’t afford to pay $15 a class. Set up a work exchange – these students will happily sweep floors, wipe down bathrooms, and clean mats after class. A checklist will ensure that things are up to your standards.

Management Plan

Even if you are the only employee of your business, creating a management plan provides you with a strategy to bring in the right people at the right time.

Even if you are handling all the roles of your business, some day you will hire someone else to help you grow. Create job descriptions for your internal team including:

• Studio Manager
• Yoga Teachers
• Retail Manager
• Marketing Manager
• Karma Yoga/Housekeeping

Finally, you are not in this alone. Pull together a team of external experts and coaches. Share your business plan with them and ask them for advice and direction. Learn from the experiences and mistakes of other business owners. Even if they are not in the yoga business, business is business. Most entrepreneurs go through similar struggles. Mistakes are expensive – it is much smarter (and cheaper!) to learn from a mentor!

Pull together the following external team:

• Financial Planner/Coach If you are unsure about business finance, especially how it relates to your personal financial goals, find a financial planner who specializes in working with small business owners. Look for a Certified Financial Planner – they understand the types of business structures, can help you value your business, create retirement plans for small business owners, manage estate planning, and help you achieve your personal and business financial goals – such as planning for retirement or sending your kids to college.
• CPA/Bookkeeper Taxes are a major challenge for all business owners. Laws change frequently and mistakes come with hefty fines. Hire a good CPA to handle your taxes. When it comes to paying the bills and managing the day-to-day finances, look for a good bookkeeper or bookkeeping service. These businesses will help you stay on top of the finances including bills, paying suppliers, payroll, etc.
• Business Insurance There is more to business insurance than liability. What if something happens to you? If you are disabled even for only a short period of time, would your business survive? A insurance agent specializing in business insurance can make sure that no matter what happens, your business will stay open.
• Banking You may want access to online banking, but as a business owner, you don’t want to be talking to a different operator each time there is a question. Go to your local branch and introduce yourself to the business banking specialist. Make sure they know who you are. A personal relationship will help when there is a snafu in your finances.
• Lawyer A good lawyer is indispensable. They can save you a lot of headache when it comes to negotiating leases, writing contracts (for teachers or subleasing), and making sure that you are protected if someone decides to sue you. Don’t wait until something goes wrong – develop a relationship with a lawyer so that when something happens, they already understand your business.
• Mentors Find a mentor! A mentor is someone who you can turn to when you have questions or need someone to help brainstorm. Your mentor does not even have to be in your industry if they have a good background in small business and marketing.
• Business Coach A business coach can help you identify and achieve goals in your business by working with you to create strategies and action plans.

Financial Plan

The financial plan section of your business plan is one of the most complicated and crucial sections, especially if you have to carry the high overhead of running a studio.

Start your financial plan with your financial objectives. Consider:

• When will the studio break-even (ie income is more than expenses)?
• When will you be able to draw an income? How much?
• When will you hire additional staff? How much will they get paid?
• Any other assumptions that you may include when planning the growth of expenses.

Now consider your start-up expenses. Depending on what kind of yoga business you are starting, your start up expenses could be as low as a couple hundred dollars or as high as several thousand. Consider:

• Business license fees
• Rent/prepaid rent/deposits
• Signage
• Marketing materials
• Yoga props/supplies
• Any other expenses – depending on your business.

The most challenging part of the financial plan – financial projections. If you do now have a background in finance or accounting, save yourself the trouble and ask for help.

Many small business owners overestimate income, setting themselves up for failure by paying too much for rent or other fixed expenses. If your location only pays for itself with 5 maxed out classes per day, be aware that it could take years until your business consistently fills an entire yoga class. It is much easier to start small, with lower expenses, than to start with very high expenses and struggle to pay the bills.

When creating financial projections, create the following financial statements projecting out at least 5 years:

• Income statement/Profit Loss statement
• Cash Flow statement
• Balance Sheet statement

Download Quickbooks Simple Start to help you track income and expenses.

Milestones

Finally, wrap up your business plan with a section detailing milestones you intend to achieve. You created your vision for your business and your life in the first section of your business plan. In the milestones section, you can set target milestones, month by month, for each section of your business plan.

A five year action plan to achieve your milestones may look like this:

• Year 1 – Monthly action steps (Marketing/Management/Financial milestones)
• Year 2 – Quarterly action steps (Marketing/Management/Financial milestones)
• Year 3-5 – Annual action steps (Marketing/Management/Financial milestones)

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July Business Bootcamp

Allow The Yogipreneur to guide you through the process of creating a functional, results-oriented business plan. This series of 4 webinars will take you through each section of a business plan with a bonus session on creating systems to allow you to achieve more of your goals with less time and energy!

Two Week Series | Tuesdays & Thursdays 1PM – 4PM | July 14 – 23 2009
Creating a five year strategic action plan for your business.
Read more and Register Online

So it surprises me that many yogis begin on the journey of a yoga business (teaching or owning a studio) without a goal in mind. They spend more time planning classes than planning for their business.

Without a clearly defined purpose, the business is more likely to be unfocused and lack direction. When opportunities or roadblocks arise, how do you decide what to do or what not to do if you don’t even know where you are going?

A business plan is a tool that can bring clarity to decision making in your business. This is not a static document – a functional business plan is a dynamic plan that is consistently reviewed and updated. It keeps the business on track so that you can achieve the vision for your ideal life.

What is in a business plan?

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Executive Summary

The executive summary provides direction for the business. This is the section that would be read by investors or a board of directors to get a feel for your business. An executive summary answers the question “What does this business do? Why does the business to this?” while the remainder of the business plan answers “How? Who? When? Where?”.

In your executive summary, include:

• Vision If you have been reading any of The Yogipreneur blog, you have now created a vision for your business and your life. In your business plan, you should craft a statement that states the major purpose for starting your business. By including a vision statement in your business plan, you are setting a powerful intention and setting the law of attraction in motion to magnetize your vision to you.
• Mission How is a mission different from a vision? Your mission statement is your talking logo. It is a statement that tells your students who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you different. It is a powerful answer to “What do you do?” that intrigues people and sets you apart from similar businesses. This is the statement you will include in your communications, marketing, and public relations campaigns. This statement may evolve as your business evolves to resonate with your community.
• Values Most businesses do not include this in a business plan, but I find that stating the values of the business, you set clear expectations of yourself and your employees. Limit to the top 5 values that are the most important to your community. For example, the values of The Yogipreneur LLC are: Integrity, Fun, Gratitude, Philanthropy, Creativity.
• Business Summary The business summary highlights the major points of each of the key elements of the business plan. Any outside person should be able to read this section and understand: who the business serves, the products/services offered, and who is on the business team. You may want to write this section last and keep it about a page long.

Market Research

This entire section is dedicated to understanding who you are serving. Many businesses open their doors without understanding the market they are trying to serve. If you don’t know anything about your clients, how can you possibly communicate how your services can benefit them? By positioning your business to serve the needs of your clients, you will provide more value and your services will sell themselves.

Market research does take some time and detective work. National statistics may not apply to your community. By answering these questions, you will have a better understanding of your community and potential students:

• What industry are you operating in?
• What are the trends in your industry?
• What is the growth of your industry?
• What are the key success factors in your industry?
• Who are your competitors – where do people in your community take yoga?
• What services do your competitors offer? How much do they cost?
• What are the demographics (sex/age/income) of your city?
• What are the demographics of your yoga community (sex/age/income)?
• Who is your primary customer/secondary customer?
• What are the needs of your primary/secondary customers?
• Why do your primary/secondary customers practice yoga?
• How can you provide value to your primary/secondary customers?

Admittedly, there is not much information already available about the yoga market. Where can you get this information?

• Yoga Journal publishes a study on the yoga industry. Search for the Yoga in America Study to find some fantastic statistics.
• Interview local teachers, yoga studios and even gyms.
• Create a survey! Make it short and sweet – no more than 10 questions – and survey at least 50 people. A great way to do this is to frequent other businesses that serve similar clientele (Whole Foods is a fantastic place – get permission from the manager first).

Products & Services

This is the one section that all business owners are able to create very easily. Even if you don’t write a business plan, you know what services you are offering!

How do you ensure that you are offering the right products and services? Understanding your market (see above). If you are targeting young professionals, don’t waste your time trying to create a class for gentle yoga or yoga for 50+. Offer products and services that your core market will value. You will be able to spend less time and energy marketing and selling if you have tailored your business to serve a specific type of student.

Make sure you create descriptions of the products and services you are offering. Write these descriptions as if you were talking to a potential student. Each description should answer: 1) What is the student looking for? and 2) What value does this service provide? Here are some suggestions for common products and services:

• Yoga Classes Create a class description for each type of class you offer. Do not write this description full of yoga terms – make it clear to anyone the type of class, the intensity, and what types of students will benefit from this class.
• Private Yoga Why would someone take private yoga sessions? Provide value in your description of the benefits of working one on one – this will drastically reduce price resistance.
• Corporate Yoga Many companies, large and small, are looking to reduce the cost of healthcare, improve employee moral and loyalty, and help employees manage stress. How can you help these corporations achieve their goals? Create a compelling description that educated the human resources manager about the benefits of yoga for employees.
• Teacher Training Many people enroll in a training program to deepen their own practice. Some are looking for a career in yoga. Make sure your address the different reasons someone would enroll in a teacher training program and how your program will provide value.
• Yoga Workshops Workshops are a fantastic way to bring guest teachers to your business OR for you to boost your resume by offering workshops at other studios. Create a list of 10-12 topics for potential workshops.
• Yoga Retreats Retreats are becoming a popular way to take a vacation. If you are considering yoga retreats, be prepared to market your retreat outside of your core student base. Consider combining a yoga retreat with a philanthropy project to create the ultimate experience.
• Yoga Retail Warning – Retail is another business! If you have no experience managing inventory, merchandising products, or selling products – you may not want to enter this world without the help of an experienced retail manager. Determine what kind of products you will offer – yoga props, clothing, lifestyle, accessories, etc. Focus on a specific

Keep Reading – Creating a Business Plan Part II
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July Business Bootcamp

Allow The Yogipreneur to guide you through the process of creating a functional, results-oriented business plan. This series of 4 webinars will take you through each section of a business plan with a bonus session on creating systems to allow you to achieve more of your goals with less time and energy!

Two Week Series | Tuesdays & Thursdays 1PM – 4PM | July 14 – 23 2009
Creating a five year strategic action plan for your business.
Read more and Register Online

Who is your ideal student?

A common thought in the yoga community is since everyone can benefit from yoga, you should market and offer yoga services to everyone that you come across. Often this leads to unfocused marketing campaigns that are ineffective and expensive. It also leads to students who simply are not a good fit – they are demanding of your time and energy and are often the same students who are asking for you to discount your services!

Focusing on a specific type of student allows you to become more efficient, create a stronger personal and professional brand and expand your business. Does this mean that you turn away students who do not fit this “ideal student” profile? Of course not! But you are more likely to attract the students to appreciate and value your teaching.

The law of attraction is a simple concept: like attracts like. So what kind of student are you attracting?

When I think of myself as a yogini and yoga teacher, there are several personal qualities that resonate with a specific type of student. I am very focused on my health and fitness, but I also value a relaxed lifestyle that is focused on friends and family. I eat organic and vegetarian most of the time, but I love a family cookout and a glass of wine. Staying in shape is important to me, but I don’t like to run. So the students I’m looking to attract work hard and play hard – they are looking to develop a yoga practice that provides energy, focus and personal growth in their life.

Another example could be a friend of mine who teaches Gentle Yoga a few times a week. She is a more mature woman with a sparkling personality and calm demeanor. Her voice is very soft and soothing. Her full time career is demanding; she prefers a relaxing and soothing practice. So her ideal students are a similar demographic – more mature, career oriented people who are looking for a practice that will be relaxing and soothing.

Create a description of your ideal student.

Start with these questions to identify who your ideal student is:

• Who is your ideal student?
• What do they do for work?
• Are they married or single?
• Do they have kids?
• How much do they earn?
• Where do they live? What kind of home/neighborhood?
• What kind of car do they drive?
• What do they do for fun?
• What stress/problems do they face?
• What kind of food do they eat?
• Why do they practice yoga?

Why are these questions important? Understanding the lifestyle, values, and stresses of your student allows you to provide more value.

When you focus on attracting students who you resonate with, amazing things begin to happen. People feel that you have created a class just for them! Students share their positive experience with friends. Word of mouth is the most effective marketing – so create an amazing experience!

Positioning yourself as an “expert” with a particular type of student is also helpful when approaching gyms and studios to get a job as a teacher.

Consider another friend of mine who is a former firefighter. He had started taking yoga while still in the fire department and knew the benefits yoga provided to those who have very stressful careers. Before he even finished his training program, he started talking to local fire departments about offering yoga to the fire fighters. Because he is a former firefighter, his students are more likely to respect and value him as a yoga teacher.

Next…where is your ideal student…

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When I was first recruited into the corporate world, I was so naive. I did not realize that the recruiter was “selling” me on the position I was about to take. They completely glossed over the negative aspects. When I told them that I would be getting married a few months after starting, they seemed to be very supportive and told me that I would be able to manage everything, no problem.

Then reality set it. I knew that getting started would entail long hours, but then I found out that I was expected to work during evenings and Saturday mornings as well. When I submitted a vacation request for my wedding and honeymoon, I was told that I hadn’t earned my vacation time yet and would only get 4 days off! I found out that many of the people I worked with had experienced divorces and separations due to the long hours.

At the time, the opportunity of that position seemed worth it. But several years later, I realized that I was living someone else’s values and goals. So I left and have been much happier ever since.

Even now, as I have founded The Yogipreneur, I find myself getting sucked into the demands of others. I am constantly reminding myself that this is my business, I control my time and the pace at which I decide to grow. And most of all – that the business is a part of my life plan – and that my husband and family will always come first.

I am sharing this because I find that people often start businesses or stay in a business for the wrong reason. While all business owners experience working long hours and reduced income, if this is beginning to strain relationships with your spouse, family, or friends – it is time to re-evaluate.

Before starting a business, there are some things you need to consider:

• How will this business help you achieve your personal goals?
• Have you created a business plan including an analysis of your market, marketing plan, financial projections, and operating budget?
• Are you financially able to shoulder the expenses of running a business?
• Do you have a support system, spouse, family, and friends, who will help you when things get tough?

Some realities of being a yoga business owner:

• You will work long hours.
• You will will not get paid for awhile. It’s called sweat equity.
• It will cost more than you think to open your business.
• You will have unexpected costs/issues arise.
• It takes most businesses up to three years to break-even.
• Over 80% of yoga studios fail in the first couple years.
• Most studios operate on less than an 18% profit margin.

Starting June 1, 2009, The Yogipreneur will begin posting articles that will help you to start or grow a business. The right information and planning can make or break a business.

But most importantly – starting a business for the right reasons and with the support of your loved ones – will make it much easier to forge ahead when the times get tough.

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Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit … and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or evenshattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life.

How?

Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.

Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be pave.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way…

–Brian G. Dyson

President and CEO, Coca-Cola Enterprises during his speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address Sept. 6, 1996

So it surprises me that many yogis begin on the journey of a yoga business (teaching or owning a studio) without a goal in mind. They spend more time planning classes than planning for their business.

Without a clearly defined purpose, the business is more likely to be unfocused and lack direction. When opportunities or roadblocks arise, how do you decide what to do or what not to do if you don’t even know where you are going?

…to be continued…[/private]