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

What Happens When You Sell Memberships Before You Have a Lease with Heather Dana

• Jackie Murphy • Episode 68

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Heather spent 15 years in a public school classroom before walking away to open Lila Within Hot Yoga in Cortlandt Manor, New York. She sold founding memberships before she signed her lease, ran meta ads on $5 a day, and opened with 60 members and enough monthly recurring revenue to cover rent, her loan, and coaching. By month three, she was at $13,100. This isn't a "she got lucky" story—it's a strategy story.

TIMESTAMPS 
[00:11] Welcome & intro
[02:45] Heather's yoga journey
[06:30] Why marketing to every type of student matters
[08:00] Moment Heather decided to leave teaching
[12:18] Finding her studio space
[16:00] Selling founding memberships before signing the lease
[18:30] Running meta ads
[21:04] Founding membership pricing and urgency strategy
[29:00] Building an automated intro offer email funnel
[33:43] Why she re-enrolled in the Grow Mastermind
[36:38] Revenue milestone

KEY TAKEAWAYS
✓ You don't need a signed lease to sell. Heather sold 13 founding memberships before signing—and opened with 60.
✓ $5/day meta ads work. She spent ~$300 and brought in 151 new accounts in March alone.
✓ Tier your founding pricing to build urgency. Heather went $99 → $109 → $129, locked for life.
✓ Warm people up before asking them to buy. Her 2-week email funnel moved leads from logistics to membership offer.
✓ Stay focused on memberships—even when it feels boring. That discipline is what builds real MRR.
✓ Coaching changes the math on scary decisions. Heather can't imagine opening without the Mastermind.

PULL QUOTES
"I opened with enough MRR to pay for my rent, my loan repayment, and my coaching."
"I was pushed to not operate from fear—to operate from: what is going to solve the problem of not having money?"
"I wasn't expecting to be able to work hard and not feel so depleted."
"151 new accounts in March. At $35 a pop—that's thousands of dollars right there."

FAQ
Can I sell studio memberships before I open? Yes. Heather sold 13 before signing her lease. Worst case: you refund the money. Best case: you cover overhead before day one.
How much should I spend on meta ads? Start at $5/day. A simple graphic and landing page is enough. Heather generated 151 new accounts in one month on ~$300 total.
How do I convert intro offer buyers into members? Build a warm-up email sequence—start with logistics and storytelling, then move to the membership ask over 10-12 emails.
Is studio business coaching worth it when money is tight? Heather's answer: she can't imagine opening without it. The strategy and community changed every decision she made.
How do I negotiate a good lease for my yoga studio? Talk to other business owners in the area to get a sense of the landlord and market before committing. Bring a real estate agent and a lawyer to negotiations, and don't be afraid to ask for things—free months of rent, HVAC upgrades, tenant improvements.
What's the biggest mistake new studio owners make before opening? Waiting too long to sell. The fear of selling before you're "ready"—before the lease is signed, before the walls are painted, before everything is perfect. Heather wanted to throw up when Jackie told her to sell memberships before signing her lease. She did it an

Work with Jackie Murphy


Welcome And CEO Mindset

SPEAKER_00

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 help with passion, take your business seriously, scale, out and out. You are the right person. I'm your host, Jack. It's time to embrace your inner CEO and make more money without working more. This is just the beginning. All right, welcome back to the Studio CEO Podcast. I have another client interview for you guys today. My guest Heather is here. Heather, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be doing this.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Why don't we start with like, let's just start with introduction, your name, where you are, and then we'll kind of dive in from there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I'm Heather. Um I opened Leela within Hot Yoga in Cortland Manor, New York, which is in Westchester County. We're a little north of the city. Um, and our first class was January 21st, so just over two months ago. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00

I just realized that in my head I've been saying it wrong. Did you say Lila? Lila. Yeah, Leela. Leela within. Who knew? I love it. Does it mean anything?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so it's a Sanskrit word, um, and it just means divine play. Um, so the universe is unfolding in this playful manner. There's really no rigidity or rhyme or reason to it. Um, so Leela within is about like embracing that within ourselves. So, you know, approaching life in this playful, fun way instead of feeling like everything has to be done in this, you know, rigid line. Um, yeah.

Yoga Beginnings And Postpartum Return

SPEAKER_00

That's really cool. It connects, it like fits you knowing your stuff. So maybe we'll circle back to the name at the very end. Yeah. All right. So let's start with like do you remember your first yoga class? Why yoga? How'd you get started?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, my first class was in middle school, and I remember one of my classmates, like moms, came in and taught it to us. And what stood out to me was like the five-minute shavasana at the end. Like I remember just turning my mind off and laying there, and it just felt so good. Um, and then I really didn't keep up with my practice. I was an athlete um, like in high school and college, so um, I was playing softball, and that was like number one in my life. Um, and then when I got to college, I discovered the hot 26 yoga and I loved the heat and like the challenge. And I was in my young 20, my you know, low 20s, so I was very much in it for like looking good. So I appreciated like the physique that you know it was helping me get. Um, and I stayed with the hot 26 for a few years, and then I moved, and so I moved to like a very rural area, so we really only had you know yoga at the gym. Um, so I would take like gym classes and like weights would be dropped all around us, and um, it just wasn't the same vibe. Um and then it was like the pandemic happened, and I had kids, so I kind of just fell away from the practice. Um, and then after my second child, so they're 14 months apart, um, I went into like this really hard postpartum stage. Um, they put me on medication, which was just so weird for me because I was always like so happy. Um, and so I felt like this really just like, you know, knocked me, knocked me down. Um, I knew something had to change. My husband was away at pilot training, I was by myself. I went like 28 days without leaving the house. Like it was just such like a dark time in my life. Yeah. Um and then he came home and I went back to work after my maternity leave, and I came home and I was like, I need yoga. And I found like a hot yoga studio, and it was five minutes from my house. Um, and like that was it. I did not stop. Um, and I was able to like find like the real point of yoga, right? It wasn't like making me look good anymore, it was like giving me an hour to myself to kind of um not be needed by anybody and really just like you know, finds more of that um emotional benefit um and eventually spiritual.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Okay, I love that you won my first Shivasana was when I was around middle school too, and I like remember it distinctly. I don't know if like younger brains can turn off, but I remember like really relaxing. So I love that's where you're getting started. But two, I really think this is important to note because when you're young and you're, you know, in your 20s and you're doing hot 26 to look good, like there's nothing wrong with that. And a lot of the times we forget that those are the people we can be marketing to. Like they also deserve to be spoken to and brought into a yoga studio. And typically over time, like you get to the place where you're understanding the deeper parts of yoga and what it really means. And like, yes, you can market to that person as well. But marketing, your business is talking to all of those people in all of the different stages and welcoming their them in. And there can be some resistance to that, like, no, I don't want to, or it's more than just a workout. And yes, you're right. And someone might just need it to be a workout, and that's okay. Because that's how they get in the door. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. We used to talk about it, like we have to open the doors as wide as possible. And if you only talk about it this one way, it's a small crack for people to go through. So it's like anyone who wants to sweat, yeah, meditate, like they're all on here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. And I think hot yoga can get like a bad rep sometimes. Like people will be like, oh, it's just a workout. And um, I think that studios can still be really intentional with it being more than a workout. Um, and especially like guiding people who may be drawn to it just for that component of it. Um, and I feel like that's really special because that's something that we can guide them to see that it's just so much deeper than you know, sweating a puddle on my floor.

Quitting Teaching For Family Time

SPEAKER_00

Yes. And it is something where like come and see, experience it, and you will feel it's more than just coming to sweat. But I love that's where you in your 20s were with yoga because it's so real. Okay, so you mentioned this so like briefly, but you were like, Oh, I just went back to work and I wanted yoga. Why don't you tell everyone what you did what, six months ago?

SPEAKER_01

Uh yeah, up until January 5th. Um, I was a middle school teacher. I spent almost 15 years in a public school classroom. Um, the last seven of them have been working with sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Um, and it is exhausting. Like I was coming home, I was so overstimulated. Um, I was frustrated. I wasn't able to like show up for my kids at all because I was just so tired. And then I was choosing between, you know, I have a couple hours at night. Like, do I take a class, do I teach a class, or do I spend time with my family? Yeah, and it was like this horrible feeling of like, I don't want to choose. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I stopped choosing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that teaching is so hard. It requires so much of you. Were you teaching class too?

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Yeah. Um, so I would teach a class a night on Thursdays. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And then at school too. Did you ever teach the middle school?

SPEAKER_01

I didn't um because I what I didn't want to be away from my kids any longer than I had to be. Um, they tried to, there was already a woman who is like phenomenal, Missy. Um, she plays like the ukulele in the hallway for the kids as they walk into the school. And she ran a wonderful yoga program. Um, so it's not like they were hurting. Yeah, but when she she actually retired this December and she was like, Hey, did you want to take it over? I was like, actually, I'm leaving also.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so you were battling the like, I have a limited amount of free time and energy. I have a family, I want to take class, I want to teach. What was the moment that you were like, final decision made? I'm gonna leave.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was this summer. I was so happy this summer. Um, I spent so much time with my kids. I got to go paddleboarding during the day. I was teaching, it was still only two classes a week. Um my grandpa, um, you know, the last from January to July, we were um, he was at the end of his life, so he was um battling cancer and eventually on hospice. And I was able to be by his side the whole time. Um where if I was, you know, on a teaching schedule, I wouldn't be able to. And it was kind of just like between losing him and then like just this dread of like having to go back into such a structured calendar schedule. Um, it was just like this point of like, I I not only can't do this, but I don't want to, and I don't have to. Like I there has to be another way.

SPEAKER_00

Mm-hmm. And how old are your kids now? I know you said they're 14 months apart, but yeah, so they're four and three. Four and three, that's right. I was just talking to someone earlier today, and she's like, My kids are in elementary school, so I only work when they're in school, and then I'm you know, mom at the end of the day, and I get it, and that's how I also want to build my business. So that was a big driver for you of like, I want more flexibility, freedom, and time with family.

SPEAKER_01

I tell everybody, um, I just want to put my kids on the bus and get them off the bus. Like my son started pre-K this year, and he has like this huge backpack, and we have bushing in our district. And so, like, his little self climbs up these huge stairs, and it's just so sweet. Yeah. And I yeah, had to miss it because I have to leave the house before, and then he gets off the bus at 2:30. I wasn't getting home until 4 30. Yeah, and I was like, I want to see this, this is adorable. Yeah, um, yeah, and so I didn't know.

SPEAKER_00

I totally get it. Even dropping my kids off this morning, I'm like, wait, I'm gonna miss them. Yeah, and if I didn't have something that I love doing, I can't imagine how much harder that goodbye would be. It would be yeah, very, very different. So when you decided to walk away from teaching, career and education, was it a studio right away, or did that come later?

SPEAKER_01

Um it was a studio. I um opened up this studio like in my hometown. So we live like 20 minutes from where the studio is. Um, but we just have this like really nice town with um so many wonderful people, and there's no heated yoga here. Um and so it was kind of just like this to me, it just felt like obvious, like Portland Manor needs hot yoga. Yeah. Um, and I was like, there's no use dragging my heels, like I want to be the one who brings it to them.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Um so and I kind of just like kept waiting for like a reason to like not do it. Like I came and saw the space and I was hoping to hate it, and I walked in and it was just like flutters in my belly, like I loved it so much. And I was like, Well, maybe the landlord is really mean. So I actually set up interviews with a bunch of different business owners, and they were like, Lloyd is the nicest guy, like you're gonna love him. He was so fair with negotiations, and I was like, I was like, Well, my husband's not gonna support this, and he was like, Babe, this is such a good idea, like I'm so for it. And like every time that I was like, Well, it's not actually gonna work, it was like, This is gonna work. Yeah, okay. Did you only see one space? Literally, only one. I've been like looking at places online for a year, yeah. And I kept coming back to this place. It's like we're in um a plaza that's between two major shopping centers, uh-huh, and like both major shopping centers are like the rent was like$7,500 like a month, like crazy. And then this space was less than half of that. And I was like, people go back and forth between these two major shopping centers. Like, I'll get the one in the middle that's a little cheaper. It has like parking, and we're um like right on this major road. So, like, some people have driven by and like seen the sign, and that's how they find us. Yeah, it's just such a good location. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00

So that's kind of wild that you only saw one spot. Like, that's yeah, crazy. Love at first sight. Let's think about like the people who are listening. I know Mary Kate just asked us in the group. She's like, I'm about to go into lease negotiations. Like, what should I do? And I was like, get yourself a professional. But what would you tell the person who's listening who's looking at spots right now?

SPEAKER_01

I it was really yeah. So I was really grateful that I talked to other businesses. I don't know. I mean, that's obviously not possible for everybody, um, but kind of getting an idea of what it's like in that area before like committing, yeah. Um, and kind of using that to gauge whether it's like a safe spot to be in. Um I worked with obviously a real estate um agent as well as a lawyer um to negotiate, and we weren't afraid to ask for things, and obviously we didn't get everything. Um, but you don't know until you try. And yeah, our landlord was like super fair with negotiating. Um, we didn't pay rent for the first three months. They gave us a brand new HVAC system before we moved in. And nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So definitely just ask, you never know. Yeah, I would agree with you. We used to go sit, camp outside a potential space, and watch everyone who walked by and make a tally all day long while we did other work. But like, you do need to like be in the location and see the foot traffic and see who's walking by and who's gonna be there. Okay, so talk us through like leases signed.

unknown

Next.

Selling Founders Before Signing

SPEAKER_01

I was selling memberships before my lease was signed.

SPEAKER_02

Talk us through that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that was something that you had me do, which like truly wanted to make me throw up all over everybody. Um, but then like once I started doing it, you were like, What's the worst thing that could happen? I was like, Well, I don't sign a lease. You're like, and then I was like, I refund people the money. You're like, yeah, or you could just like find a different space. And I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um yeah. So I was selling memberships, I think a month before we signed the lease, or maybe like three weeks. Um, and I think we had 13 memberships sold before the lease was even signed.

SPEAKER_00

That's so awesome. I love that you did that. Because me telling you to do it is one thing, but then you actually being like courageous and brave enough to do it is another thing. So you found me, was it through the challenge?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, it was your podcast first, and I was like, I love her so much. And then we did the challenge, and I couldn't, I was like, I just can't afford that right now. But then I was like, she's really selling me into like the girl mastermind, like she must know what she's doing. And I was like, All right, I'm in. I'm so glad she can sell me on this, like she could do anything.

SPEAKER_00

So you were you joined the mastermind kind of at this point in time, right? Like this was when we started. What was that? October.

SPEAKER_01

I think it was September was the challenge, and then October we probably started. Yeah, yeah. October we started the mastermind.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then like week one, you had me start selling founding memberships.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so let's talk through because I know there's someone listening. Like, how did you do that? What do you mean you sold before you had a lease sign? Like, what did that actually look like? Let's break it down.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so um I had a very small email list at the time, but I was working on growing that. Um, and then I gosh, this feels so long ago. It's so funny. Right. Um, yeah, but I remember I started emailing my list, which I was afraid to do because I am like, I hate emailing. Why would I have a list? I'm not gonna email them. Yeah, no, I just wanted to look at their email addresses and be like, oh, it's so cool. Um, yeah, and then I don't know, I started doing more marketing. I started um using like my social media more. Yeah. Um, and I didn't even, it was a really good rate. That's what it was. It was$99 a month. And initially it was only locked in for three months, so I didn't even lock it in for life. Um, and people already started biting.

SPEAKER_00

Um were those first few members people you knew, or were they like just cold email on the emails? Yeah, cold. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

So I think I ran, I want to say that I must have run an ad over. Like right when we started working together. Yeah um and so I was just getting people who saw the ad and they were cold.

SPEAKER_00

Um now we've added a whole other element to that. So inside the mastermind, if you don't know and you're listening, when you learn how to set up ads, meta and Google, I feel like you've gravitated towards meta ads. I still don't have any Google ads. Okay, we should fix that. We should do that. But but you you you jumped in very quickly with Meta. You didn't have any prior meta experience, correct? No. Okay, so what would you tell a person that's like, oh, I know I need to run ads. She ran ads, she got founding members. Like, was it that hard? Could they do it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I only have my budget at$5 a day. Um, and so like this month, I think I've spent like$300, or the last two months or something,$300, whatever it is. But it's brought in so many leads that it's like more than pays for itself. Um and so all I did was I made like a graphic that literally just had like hot yoga, Cortland Banner coming soon. And that was like my image. I didn't like make videos or anything, like I wasn't crazy with it. Um and I just let it run. And so many, I think it was going to my landing page and I was collecting emails from there. Um, and then I was using that email list to send um like studio updates and um yeah, selling my founding membership.

SPEAKER_00

It's awesome. I mean, I think you've just made it sound as simple as it can be, right? Like$5 a day is really the you don't need to run more than that. People ask me all the time, what do I have to spend? And I'm like, it depends on what you want to spend. Like you can set it to what works for you or you can pour$20,000 a month into it. Like it's totally up to you. But the way that you're doing it makes it accessible, it makes it so like you could get started. And it just takes a lift of marketing off your plate where you know for sure there's something letting people know that the studio is there. So you started with founding members, you sold them before you signed the lease. You signed the lease. When was your like big push of members? Was that around Black Friday or was it closer towards opening?

Pricing Urgency And Launch Momentum

SPEAKER_01

Uh closer to opening. So we did some Black Friday work. Um New Year's Day was when founding memberships closed. Um, so they rocked, they ended up locking in$129 a month for life. So they paid$99 for their um first three months, and then it kind of went up. So I think the first month we did founding memberships, it was$99. The second month was$109, and then the third month was$129, um, just to kind of build that urgency. And then that$129 a month was locked in for life. Um, and so we got 50 50 founders before New Year's Eve. Awesome. And then we did an early access membership from New Year's Eve to January twenty first, and that was$141 a month. Um And then we gained another another 10, I think. So we opened with 60 founders.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. What was it like I don't know when school went back first week of January and you didn't go? It was so good. Did you have a moment of like this? Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like so busy at the studio, but it didn't even matter because it was like busy that I wanted to be. Um, they gave me a choice. So I have two and a half years of child care leave that I'm out on. So that I have to hold my position for two and a half years. Um so I can go back anytime. So it's just like a really nice safety net. Yeah. But they said if I come back January 5th and I stay to the end of the quarter, then um I can get full two and a half years. If I leave January 5th and I don't stay till January 21st, then they're gonna use half a year. I was like, that's fine. Like have it back after after Christmas.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Enjoy it. It's like the hardest. Yeah. Those are like the hardest three weeks to get through.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah. So you were like fully studio owner, start of 2026, going into the year. Your studio opened what, three weeks later. Yeah. And now we're into March and the studio's been open. And I I keep telling you this, but like opening a studio the first few weeks, the first few months, it really requires so much of you. It's so much energy, it's so much like putting out into the world. Um, because I remember I think it was like one mastermind call. You hopped on, you're like, I just painted the walls. Like it was I'm like air drying it. Like that's the work that goes into it ahead of time. So have you had a moment where you're like, oh my god, I thought this would be easier and it's not, or is it like what you thought it would be? Opening expectations.

SPEAKER_01

What I thought it would be, but I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. Like I'm so used to working hard and feeling drained that I wasn't expecting to be able to work hard and not feel so depleted. Yeah. Um, you know, so it's just it's hard work and like my body's exhausted, but my mind isn't, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00

It makes it so much sense. It makes perfect sense. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Was that I'm sure I'll be like not saying that in like three years. Like, I'm sure that there's definitely gonna be a point of burnout that comes, but like right now, I'm just like in this honeymoon la la station.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, you wouldn't keep this pace for three years, which is a conversation we're already having. It's like teachers, and how do we start to pull you off of your schedule and make it easier for you to grow? What has been like the most surprising part so far?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I mean, I still can't believe that I opened with 60 founders. Like I opened with enough monthly recurring revenue to pay for my um my rent, my loan repayment, and my coaching. Yeah, and then like some software stuff. Yeah. Um so like I felt like when I opened, I could really just focus on like delivering the best classes, like building my team and like things like that, as opposed to like panicking, like trying to find people to come in the door. Like I felt like I was able to open really comfortably.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I love that. I love that you got yourself into that position too, because it makes it so much easier than if you were, oh my God, how are we gonna cover rent and what's gonna happen? Yeah. So, what would you say either to the version of you that was like, I don't want to sell memberships before the lease assigned, or someone who is struggling with selling right now, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, um, I mean, I swear by like these cheap meta ads every day. Like, I my March, I had 151 new accounts created. So and even if I don't remember how many of those were intro offers, but at$35, like a pop, like thousands of dollars right there. So like have you know your meta ad or whatever running, like do what it takes to get people in the door. Um and I would have been crazy not to sell founding memberships. Like I was so scared, and I'm so happy that I like was pushed to not operate from like fear that I was pushed to operate from like what is going to solve the problem of not having money, making money.

SPEAKER_00

Um that amount of leads in one month is very solid. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

It's crazy. There's so many new people. Yeah, in February, we had 89 new accounts, March, it's 151 new accounts.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I remember this was like right at opening. I think you posted in the written community for the mastermind, and you were like, ah, when should I start selling my intro offer? And like, we're open. And I was like, no, uh-uh, not quite yet. Pump the brakes, girl. Pump the brakes. But it's such a common thing for any business and any entrepreneur. Like, you were essentially in my mind at the peak of your launch, right? Like, we still had the right time, urgency, and scarcity for people to buy family memberships. And your brain was like, oh, something else. Let's go focus on another problem. And it's not that we aren't gonna work on the now, we have like what as many years as we want to to sell an interoffer. Like we were gonna pivot our focus there, but coming back to memberships being the main thing is so key, but it's so hard. Have you found yourself like distracted almost?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it was so interesting because when we did our grand opening week, I almost felt like a sense of guilt of like reopening up that early access membership because I was like, well, these people like bought before, and we sold a lot of early access memberships again that week. And I like that's what this studio, that's what I want for this studio. Like, I want to be a membership studio. I tell all of our students that, um, you know, like that is what I want to sell. So to be so like obsessed with this intro offering.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's part of it, it's part of the process. Yeah, but it's hard to talk about the same thing, open it up multiple times, sell it as much as you've sold it, and like stay fresh and committed to it. Like that takes literally your focus being really trained.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we had a lot of conversations of that. Of like, I mean, that happened, I feel like so much over the like course of the six months or whatever it was. Because they're like, Well, what should I talk about now? You're like, no, still memberships. I'm like, okay, well, what about now? No, they're still memberships. I'm like, but that's boring. Like, like, no, no contest, just talk about memberships.

unknown

Yeah, yeah.

Intro Offer Funnel And Conversion Focus

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It but it results in people hearing enough in order to be able to buy. So now we are kind of pivoting. We're talking about teachers, we're talking about the intro offer. Let's talk about your intro offer set up right now because you already have automated emails set up. You have people buying the intro offer, and we're just optimizing conversions, which is kind of also a dream for a studio, but you've done it what within the first few months of opening.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's still something that I want to come like that's definitely an area of focus that I want to spend on because we were up at like 35% when we were running our like early access memberships and everything. Um, but it's kind of gone down to like 18 to 20%, kind of depending on, you know, whatever. Yeah. Um, which I know is like in the range of okay, but that's something that I really want to focus on. Yeah, but it's I have this two-week intro funnel that I made on like mail or light. And so once somebody buys my intro membership, I just add their name to that email automation. And so for two weeks, it starts by just like, hey, welcome. Like, this is our story. Here's a map of how to get here, like this is what you need for your first class. And um, the first couple days is just about like, hey, did you book your next class? Like, make sure you're coming to class. Um, and then it kind of turns into like why I choose membership when I practice, and then eventually, like, become a member.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but it's warming them up and talking to them all the time about who you are, what you offer to be a member studio to really grow that. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

And that was another one where it was like, I think I had like six emails in the funnel, and you're like, uh-uh-uh, make that more.

Confidence Boundaries And Growth Milestones

SPEAKER_00

It's so hard for people to email enough and get there. And that's the kind of thing where like I wrote an email about this on Friday. Like, strategy, strategy is great. Like, I can sit here and be like, yeah, write nine to 12 emails and like go send those out. But until it hits the human who's writing the emails who has thoughts of, I don't want to be sales here, I don't want to push people away. Like, that's where it really matters. And so we do the work of like, well, what's holding you back from sending 12 emails about this offer? Like, let's figure that out and make sure that we can clear that up. Would you say that you feel like more of a I mean, it's cheesy, but like it's on brand, feel like more of a studio CEO now, a leader than maybe you did six months ago?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I just can't believe like how much confidence I have like in this seat already. Um, it's an entirely new career for me. And like I went to a networking event and like I just felt like super confident when I was in there, like with all of these other like it was like women in business in Westchester. And it was just like I felt like I was able to like hold conversations with like these women who like before I would have been like, ha, and now I'm like, oh like that's me.

SPEAKER_00

I'm a woman in business. I I am her. Okay, so let's go back to like an honest question because a big part of this for you is more time with your family. Have you had that yet? Have you experienced that?

SPEAKER_01

I get my kids on and off the bus. Mondays are hard because I teach war classes, but we're working on that. Um, Thursdays and Fridays, I'm not teaching at all. Saturdays and Sundays I'm off. Yeah, so like camping season's coming, and we're going to open up our camper in two weeks. Um, and I'm just so excited. I booked like a um a paddleboard retreat with my friends. Like yeah, it's it's really nice.

SPEAKER_00

So you've like already built in time in the schedule that you want to have and the life you want to have.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's the point of this.

SPEAKER_01

It is, it's everything. And I uh definitely still find myself like on my computer at home and I'm like, Heather, get up, like I can wait. Um, so you know, there's obviously times where I could definitely be better. Um, but you know, even when I am on my computer, like my daughter is like snuggling in my lap, and like we're you know, it's still time together. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Have I talked to you about the brick?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, you did.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I need it. It saves me because it's so easy. When you need the brick for Walla. Yeah, it's it's just so easy. Like, you know, your kids, our kids are young, and so like, am I always gonna want to be playing? If they were throwing Easter eggs around, like, am I gonna be playing with them? No, it's so easy for me to pick up and work and be on my phone, but if it's bricked, if it's away, then I'm like, oh, I can't actually just sit here and be a mom and and yeah, watch them.

SPEAKER_01

They did eventually get hurt, so yeah, of course, yeah. They beat the crap out of each other on that.

SPEAKER_00

It's earned to be a rock that was being thrown, not an Easter egg. Yeah, um, okay, so you've enrolled for the mastermind again, which I'm so pumped about. I can't wait to keep working with you. What would you say to the person who's like on the fence right now, who's like thinking about it, doesn't quite know if they want to do it or not?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I initially um the money scared me. Like when you're starting a new business, like every single penny in is so sacred. Um, especially like in build out, I was so afraid to um run out of money. Yeah, and so that was my biggest pain point. And I couldn't imagine where I would be not being in the mastermind. Like if I wasn't in the mastermind, like how I would have opened. Like I think money would have been a lot scarier, yeah. Um, you know, like I felt like I was able to open the studio confident with members, um, and like a clear path forward. Yeah. Um, whereas if I didn't have like that um, like the coaching from you, and then just like the camaraderie of the group, like I love all of like the other teachers and just like hearing their struggles or like hearing things that work well for them, like just having that group. Um it's like invaluable.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I what would you say, like, especially as a new studio opening, because there's a range in the group, right? Studios have been open for a while, studios that are newer. What what was it like to be around studios that were existing for a while?

SPEAKER_01

It was so in yeah, it was so inspiring. Like it was like it was really nice to see um like studios that were open, even if it was just for a year, yeah. How successful and how confident um they're operating. And then it's also interesting too to have conversations with people who aren't even like brick and mortar, like people who are um, you know, doing like the online thing. It's just I like having like this full picture of like ownership.

Revenue Jump And Where To Find Her

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, of business, right? Like yeah, because we we have some people in there who have prenatal, postnatal online memberships. And essentially, while we may be talking about their targeting for ads is different, it's all the same. They're finding leads, they're talking to them, they're building a relationship, they're making an offer. And that's why it like I don't just say this one type of business can come in because I'm like, you can learn. I have learned so much from the coaching industry of what to do that I wouldn't have known if I had just stuck with like my history of the yoga and Pilates world. It all can really support each other. Well, we love having you in there and can't wait to hear something fun, please.

SPEAKER_01

So February revenue was about 8800 and March were at 13,100.

SPEAKER_02

What? What?

SPEAKER_00

Right? Isn't that?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um that was so funny because I went in when I was asking you all if you wanted to rejoin the mastermind. And I was looking at revenue growth, and I was like, I can't even calculate hers. Like she went from zero to open. That's awesome. What is the what's the jump to 13k?

SPEAKER_01

Uh we got more memberships. I'm telling you, this intro offer, like, people are just coming through the door.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. I saw a reel of yours where it was, I think it was a while ago, where you're like, it's finally spring outside. Like, I think that can make a difference too.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, people want to leave their house. I'm leaving my house now. Yeah, we had a brutal winter.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah. Wow. Three months in.

SPEAKER_01

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00

13k. It's really it is, but it also isn't based on the work you put in. Like you really deserve that. You made that happen, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's a fun celebration for March.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, hell yeah.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

March. I can't believe March is all over too.

SPEAKER_01

I know, I know. Crazy. Okay, on to April.

SPEAKER_00

Right. So why don't you tell everyone where they can find you? We'll link it in the show notes. So if they want to connect, um, whether they're local to take class or they are just wanting to ask you a question.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So my name is Heather. Um, our studio Instagram is Leela Within. So L I L A Within. Um, we're also on Facebook and yeah, and we're in Courtland Manor, so come to a class.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, come take class, come play. I love the name. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here today. And I know people are gonna love listening to this episode, especially if they're opening or in the process of opening. It's such an inspiration that you've opened with such a stable foundation and like now the possibility to really grow. So congrats. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, my friends. I will talk to y'all in the next episode.