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Teaching Pole and ACTUALLY Making Money
Several months ago I commented on a post from a lady wanting to open her own studio. I suggested she start by teaching out of a gym or dance studio to get her feet wet and a few other things that might be helpful. Alongside my comment were several other comments, some sharing experiences that did not turn out so great. If you’ve ever belonged to a studio that has closed on you (this has happened to me a few times) you know how painful it is for EVERYONE involved, studio owner down to the clients. I really never stopped thinking about that post and consequently wanted to share what has worked for me and allowed me to teach, make money, still have a life, avoid burnout and maintain the love I have for pole. I’m not claiming to be a know it all by any means, but I have worked in commercial loans at a private bank the past five years and successfully generated my own income of about $1000/mo teaching 4 classes a week and doing private lessons for the last year. I will start booking 2 to 3 parties a month which will up that to $1500.
I’ve been working VERY hard to take all the information I’ve learned and write a how to book. Before I hit the publish button I’d like to know if there are any studio owners or instructors that teach out of gyms/studios that would like to read it and offer feedback. I’ll be sure to post the link as soon as the book is available, within the next week. Thanks in advance guys!
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33 Replies
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I would! I am an instructor and have had the painful experience of a studio closing as well. I just recently started teaching in a studio setting again…anyway I feel I have a lot to learn but I am always loving to hear others perspectives. And I love to proofread!
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I would like to read it too sounds helpful
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I’m just a student and never been an instructor/owner but I have been to various studios and am friends with owners who have been/are struggling with it being a business as well as a hobby. I’d be very interested to read your findings!
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I’ve got some fellow instructors/pole owners reading over it. Hopefully I will be able to make any and all corrections this week and list the book! That is my goal 🙂
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recently went to a studio for a first lesson. It will be my Only lesson at that studio. Over the phone she claimed her class is pole fitness oriented which goes with her gymnastic background. Only two of us showed up for the class with both of us stating we were there for pole fitness. Instead she worked on sexy walk and hip figures. We both left complaining about the lack of exercise during the session!
I had expressed interest in purchasing a pole for home. She claims that an XPole could be mounted anywhere due to the dome at the top – No support required. XPole and threads on here caution this would be dangerous.
Her DIY poles wobbled and had fastener sticking up from the floor. I scratched my foot on the highest protrusion.
She never followed up – No call, No email. Therefore, she is ignorant of why a customer chose Not to return. -
That sucks that your experience was so bad. Of course it doesn’t matter how much help and business background you have, if you’re unable to relate to your students you won’t have any.
I’m just curious…did you send her an email or call her and let her know how you and the other lady felt about the lack of exercise in class? If you thought her classes were misrepresented and won’t return I’m sure you’re not the only one. I don’t think the feedback would be in bad taste. Sounds like the comment may help her business.
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Hi! I’m an instructor who has experienced a closing of a studio and teaching at a studio. I would love to read your book! Always willing to grow and learn from others.
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Right now I am just a student but it is my goal to one day teach pole and open my own studio so I would love to read any and everything that might help me to do this successfully
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only way to make money is rent a studio by the hour to cut on overhead thats what i do i do 6 classes a week , 8 students per class
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Running a Pole studio or related business is not much different than most small businesses. Whether a real income is earned is determined by whether gross receipts are more than expenses. Sounds simple but more than three-quarter of all small businesses fail within 18 months.
Poor planning is the #1 cause. Planning not only the business model and the startup but a minimum five year plan. That plan will need to be constantly updated & adjusted over time. The way things move today fast means with poor planning you can not respond to the many changes a business needs.
Cause #2 is not knowing or understanding your customers or market and adapting to those conditions. That is what Ljroo7691 experienced. Kind of a combination of #1 & #2 is knowing whether the local market will support the business model. There are a lot of pole studios just like cardio studios that open in areas where the potential customer base is too low to support themselves. They start off getting people in and think they are on the road to success though reach a plateau and often cannot meet expenses. Often if proper planning has been done and a good knowledge of your market, you can still access other revenue streams or extend beyond your local market.
There is a fitness franchise called “My Gym” which has been around for over forty years. Last year they had a franchise failure of 51%! That means after paying a franchise fee, all the expenses of equipment & starting the business and using a business model that has been around for forty years, chances are greater your business will fail than succeed. This leads to cause #3: Business is easy. Business is not easy. It usually is a lot of work, thinking, planning, evolving & learning. Too many other things to list. There are already several Pole fitness franchises being offered. They will not guarantee success.
Have to stress the evolving & learning. Business & markets change very quickly. What applied and worked well last year is not the same this year. Let alone from five, ten or twenty years ago. Leveraging other people, associates, customers and sometimes even competitors to learn from. If you think you know everything and cannot learn from anyone else then you are part of the problem. Nobody knows it all including me! I still spend time regularly learning & keeping up to date. If you think because your business has been successful the last several years that you will never have to change anything, you will be having issues at some point. I work primarily with Fortune 500 companies and most change on a yearly or more often basis. Does McDonald’s have the same menu as a year ago? Notice Home Depot now markets more to women? While not all successful (JC Penny’s recent “fair and square” pricing was a major failure) a ship with a leak needs something done to stay afloat.
Cause #4 is sales and marketing. Most of my current consulting work is Internet Marketing but the concepts apply to any form of marketing. You want Targeted marketing. Most businesses (even successful ones) do a poor job in this area. They spend money that will not offer any (Return on Investment) ROI. As per Cause #2 if you know your customers & market then why don’t most businesses advertise & promote primarily to them? I know one pole studio that had ads in a sports supplement in a newspaper. The supplement’s demographics was more than 85% male. At least 85% of their marketing dollars were being wasted. Four weeks of ads equaled not one sale.
Website & especially Social media is often misused or neglected but today is the most powerful marketing tool. A lot can be done at little to no cost. How is that for value for marketing dollars?
Sales often for many small businesses is simply “Here is the product or service. Here is the price.” and waiting for a decision. I worked with a fitness center a couple of years ago (besides their advertising campaign) with three simple changes with in-person sales. 1) Introducing themselves by name with a handshake 2) Asking why they came to the gym (weight loss, build muscle, etc.) and presenting the facility towards that goal 3) At the end of the presentation Asking them “Would they prefer the 12 month or 18 month membership.” They Quadrupled (four times) their membership sales conversion rate! The last is the most important. You must ask for the sale!
It is the entire process of reaching new potential customers through paid ads, social media, Internet, community/event promotions, etc. Then providing an Action Item to draw them to your place of business. Then the sales cycle. That leads to avoiding Cause #1. Sales & Marketing must be carefully planned.For those in the US and have already or thinking of starting a pole (or any) business I want to suggest SCORE. They can be found at: https://www.score.org SCORE has free (no cost at all) business mentoring in nearly all areas from startup planning, finance, marketing, legal, Human Resources and beyond. I was a SCORE mentor for a few years when I “tried” retirement. What was fantastic was the people who came with enthusiasm and fresh ideas. Pole Fitness & Dance is still growing. With new pole studios and instructors, hopefully most becoming successful we can see greater acceptance and new outlets for what we all here enjoy so much.
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JenaeJames, it sounds like you’ve had good success with your studio. what is the name of your studio and where is it located.
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Phoenix Hunter, I actually teach classes inside a yoga studio in Norman, OK called YogaLife. That’s a major point of my book, eliminating the major costs, leasing a space, payroll etc. it walks you through how to do that and I’ve included my actual numbers from the first month I started contracting with a gym (I previously purchased 11 used poles and taught at a gym). I went from teaching 7 classes a week, doing all these parties, private lessons and making $500-$600/mo to 4 classes/wk, and just two private clients and 3-4 parties month and making $1200-$1500/mo. The numbers are in the spreadsheets I include with the book so you can see it’s legit. For a single mom who works full time, that made all the difference. So I COMPLETELY agree with Olivia on the point about renting space. I know you had commented on the previous thread regarding someone else wanting to open a studio.
Webjunk, I don’t quite agree that opening a pole studio is like running any small business though. I think it presents different challenges than the average small business and you have to be creative and proactive dealing with them. I do wholeheartedly agree that lack of planning is major reason for failure. Advertising just makes you get to where you’re heading faster. If your business model and plan are good, you’ll succeed faster. If they suck, well your business will just close quicker. With your background though I’d be very interested on your thoughts of my book. I’m working to get it on Amazon.com in the next day or two but if you’ll send me your email I’ll forward a pre copy to you.
I really believe this book is going to help so many people who want to open a studio save so much money and stress. For those of us who have watched someone go through a studio closing or have been through it ourselves, we know how heartbreaking it can be. I’m excited about saving people from that.
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I can’t wait to read your book. Sounds exciting! I love the community that studioveena has created. I am counting my blessings for all the help that I have obtained on this site. Let us know as soon as it’s on Amazon. I’m ready to purchase.
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I just want tell everyone thank you first of all. I’ve REALLY enjoyed this discussion on here! PolePixi, I’m with you about studioveena. This is a VERY helpful community (I mention it in the book!) and I look forward to my daily emails from this site. As I said earlier, it was a post several months ago that encouraged me to write this book! Who knew so many were struggling with running profitable studios?
I’ve got to change a few things to meet Amazon’s specification for the cover and then they said it will be 12 hours before it’s listed so I made my own sure for the book in the meantime.
DRUMROLL PLEASE 🙂
With that said “Teach Pole Make Money” is available!!! (WOOHOO!)
http://www.teachpolemakemoney.com
After your purchase it emails you the link to download the book and the spreadsheets. I’m really excited to share this and cannot say thank you to everyone. Please let me know what things in the book are working really well for you 🙂
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Just to clear a couple of things up:
It is a business. Even if you are operating as a sub-contractor at a fitness center. A business is while not the dictionary definition (which would include anything that generates income) the accepted definition is: enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activities.
That is important to understand because if this is how you are supporting yourself and family, it needs to be treated as a professional practice. While it can be successful, it can also just as easily go in a negative way leaving you with searching for other ways to support yourself.
My main point in my earlier post is that every business is different. What works for someone in Boone, North Carolina will not be the same and may not work at all in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are differences in attitudes, income levels, general demographics, competition and literally hundreds of other items. What works with dealing inside one fitness center may be different at another fitness center even across the street. This is one of the reasons franchises may be very successful in one location and fail miserably in another in the same town. Also why Cause #2 of business failures is not knowing your customers. Never presume you know them or they are the same as someplace else.The statement of “Advertising just makes you get to where you’re heading faster.” is misleading.
Even if you only tell friends and family about your business, word-of-mouth is still a form of advertising. If you did no advertising at all then how will anyone know you are offering classes or lessons?
A few years back I used to speak at seminars at trade shows. I did a popular session four years in a row called “If you build it, they will NOT come!” It was for website operators but the same applies in general business. People want to believe like the line from Field of Dreams, “If you build it they will come.” Without advertising & promotion, “If you build it, no one will ever know its there!” Anyone with any type of business experience will tell you, that its not something you do to get to a point and stop. Customers will always come & go. That makes advertising important over the life of a business. Not something you ever should stop doing. Cause #4 of business failures.I myself have owned six successful businesses in the past 25 years in different localities and industries. Some that spanned two decades. I have experienced first-hand the ups, downs, changes & evolution that a business goes through. That is addition to working with many business owners over the years. Plus helped a few people on here with pole related businesses & studios. There is no one size fits all. And Cause #3: “Business is not easy.” Between this website and elsewhere have talked with close to ten pole studios or instructors. It has been a great learning experience for me. Can admit that I am able to provide better help to those people today than I could even yesterday from what I learned. Each one I have talked to has a little different type of customer/student; facility, issues, and almost everything else. Wish I could give a template to each one (would save me a lot of time) but what works for one usually will not work for another except for a few things.
You would not go to a doctor and say “treat me the same as someone I talked to on the Internet.” You should not run a business blindly either.
Hope this helps some of you further.
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