After being in a leads group at my local Chamber of Commerce, and noticing the leads I was getting were from women, I decided to start my own women's lead group with key business owners in my community. An acupuncturist, massage therapist, chiropractor, attorney, etc., and we all help each other with referrals. In creating a relationship with these women, they are now my friends, so we send business to each other. As a small business owner, I also get inspired and learn new ways of marketing my business.

I started my studio 13 years ago, became exclusively an Iyengar studio in 2004 and added other styles back in in 2009. Iyengar Yoga now constitutes about 40% of our yoga revenue. We now offer over 90 classes a week in 3 studios, under one roof. We average about 250 new students a month. By San Francisco standards, we are still small, but we have no intention of stopping our growth--we have more than doubled our revenue in the last year.

Here are a few random points that I have learned from others that have been helpful:

1. People don't come to learn yoga -- they come for the benefits that yoga can provide: exercise, well-being, stress relief, and community (to be with their people). Other things also provide these benefits and these are your competition, e.g., restaurants and bars, movies, shopping, body work, church, other exercise, health clubs, vacations, etc.
2. People get easily discouraged when they encounter obstacles and can easily forget their initial intention. The obstacles include not feeling welcome when they walk in the door, not getting the information that they need to walk in the door, feeling alienated because everyone else seems to know each other, having complicated rules and payment plans, etc., etc., …
3. Every time someone has to pull out their wallet to pay, they have the opportunity to go somewhere else or to stop all together. Auto-renew memberships. These now constitute the majority of our yoga income. It takes some practice, but begin to think of average revenue and average costs when devising pricing, promotions and compensation.
4. Read the E-Myth Revisited, by Michael E. Gerber. Yoga studios are a business, and this book can help you enjoy being a successful business owner.

I'm happy to share my experience with you directly if it would be helpful. Contact me at http://www.yogagardensf.com

This is great Carmen. Many thanks.