April 21, 2025 • 26 mins
 In this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield shares a game-changing perspective for boutique fitness studio owners who feel buried under admin, burned out by constant decision-making, or just plain overwhelmed by the daily grind. If your studio feels like it’s held together with duct tape and your to-do list never ends, this episode is your permission slip to breathe—and build better systems.
Seran dives into exactly how to streamline your operations, from scheduling and client onboarding to team training and automations. She unpacks how disorganization is quietly costing you revenue, time, and peace of mind—and what to do about it.
If you're ready to scale your Pilates studio, yoga space, or barre business without sacrificing your sanity, this episode is a must-listen. Discover how simple systems can unlock major freedom, drive growth, and give you your life back.
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~~~
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I know that some days, you feel pretty stuck in
the day-to-day grind of runningyour studio, but I want you to
take a moment to think about aworld where your business runs
so smoothly it feels like it'son autopilot.
In today's episode, I'm divinginto the strategies to
streamline your operations,claim back some time and focus
(00:24):
more on the things you love mostabout running your business.
By the end of this episode, youwill learn how to implement
seamless systems that save youhours, have less stress, and all
while driving growth.
Well, hi there, I'm SarenGlanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
(00:47):
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share thereal-life insights that will
help you grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
(01:09):
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Well, hey there, friend, andwelcome back to the Pilates
Business Podcast.
This is where we help peoplejust like you boutique fitness
studio owners to build thrivingstudio businesses without losing
(01:29):
their passion for teaching.
I know many of you get in touchwhen you're just at that point,
but please don't wait untilthen to get a little bit of
support and a little bit ofresources and a little bit of
coaching, because often by thenwe have to do twice as much work
of coaching, because often bythen we have to do twice as much
work.
Now I know many of you are in aplace where you feel like
perhaps your business is ducttaped together behind the scenes
(01:52):
.
You're just hanging on by athread.
But I want you to know thatthere is a different way of
doing things, and that's why Iwanted to put together an
episode like this just for you,because I love talking about
marketing and I love talkingabout branding, I love helping
you solve your pricingchallenges.
But what we know is that whenyou don't have systems in place
(02:17):
behind the scenes to help yourbusiness to run really, really
smoothly, it just creates a lotof overwhelm and potentially
even burnout.
And the truth that many studioowners don't even realize until
it's far too late is that youdon't rise to the level of your
goals.
You actually simply fall to thelevel of the systems that you
(02:40):
have in place, and what thatmeans is that, no matter how
lofty your goals are or how muchyou're willing to work hard, or
how incredible your classes are, or how great your community is
, if the behind the scenes, theback end of the studio is
chaotic or messy, your growthwill always hit a ceiling.
(03:02):
And so if you've ever, you know, tried to teach a class where
none of the props are in theright place, the springs are not
set up the way you want or thethings are in the wrong spot,
the bar's not where it'ssupposed to be, you know it
slows you down, you know it'sfrustrating, and we like to work
(03:23):
in a world where you knowthings are not chaotic.
We actually work better whenthings are streamlined, and so
we don't want I don't want tosee you get slowed down or
stopped actually, or stuckbecause your systems are not
there behind the scenes to helpyou to grow.
And so if you're constantlyreacting and you're not in that
(03:44):
space of flow and confidence andabundance, then perhaps it's
not necessarily your marketingthat's the problem or your
attention that's the problem.
It might be that there is alittle bit of disorganization in
your studio, and most of theburnout that I hear from studio
owners is not because they'reteaching too many classes.
Actually it's because they lovethat part.
To be honest, it's actuallymanaging that chaos and being in
(04:06):
that reactive mode constantlyand always feeling like they're
on the back foot.
So I want to talk a little bittoday about what you can do to
create a bit more operationalefficiency right, to make sure
things run a little bit moresmoothly behind the scenes.
And that means there arecertain things that you want to
be thinking about and good at,and that is things like having
(04:28):
some processes in place, havinga management style that is
supportive of encouraging a highachieving team, and it's about
having systems and it's aboutyour leadership and organization
as well.
And now, none of those thingsmight sound terribly exciting to
you, but they are absolutelycritical.
(04:51):
So I want to talk a little bit,first of all, about the bigger
picture and why having this sortof efficiency behind the scenes
, having these systems andprocesses in place and your
studio, is actually so important.
And I know that you know howthat feels when you're
constantly busy, and I know thatyou know how it feels when
(05:11):
you're constantly busy and youopen up your software, your
scheduling software, and youlook at your sales and you think
to yourself oh my goodness, Iam working so hard and I feel
like I work harder every singleweek and I feel like I added
more things to my to-do listevery single week.
But perhaps billing errors orchasing people down is time that
(05:47):
you can't spend on big picturegoal setting, on mapping out
your growth plan, on growingyour business or even just
catching a breath.
So it's a bit like having aleaky bucket where you keep
pouring energy in but it'sdraining out just as fast.
And you know there's a shiftthat often comes when you get to
(06:12):
a certain point and you kind ofrealize that maybe you are the
bottleneck in your business.
And I think every stage ofgrowth we find this and every
business owner finds this, nomatter the industry that they
are in.
And every business owner findsthis, no matter the industry
that they are in.
And that is when you have thatshift from thinking that the
more you do, the more you work,the more you'll grow, to
(06:33):
thinking about how can Isystematize this, how can I
create a process where Iactually remove myself from this
part of the business?
And so when you approach yourbusiness with that mindset
instead of oh yes, I'll takethat, I'll wear that hat, I'll
do that, I'll add that to mylist.
I'll do that tomorrow andyou're taking more and more and
(06:54):
more on.
Instead, when you think abouthow you can actually get rid of
those tasks or not take on moreof those things because you're
creating systems and processesfor it, then it shifts so much
right?
Growth without systems is likebuilding a house on sand.
Eventually it's going tocollapse under all that pressure
, and that may be where you'reat right now, and I know a lot
(07:17):
of people think that systems andprocesses are restrictive and
sort of keeps you kind of arenot freeing, but the reality is
is that those processes actuallycreate a tremendous amount of
freedom in your business, and sowithout the systems, you're
going to only find more chaosand more stress, but with
(07:40):
systems, you're going to be ableto find a lot of freedom for
yourself, and that allows yourbusiness to grow.
And so efficiency will bringout something for you that you
probably can't even put a priceon, and that is that sense of
peace of mind.
It's the knowledge that yourbusiness can actually run,
(08:01):
perhaps without you having yourhand in everything, and imagine
if it was able to do that andstill do everything the way that
you wanted, right?
So when things are runningreally smoothly.
You're no longer putting outfires, you're planning ahead,
you're thinking big picture and,yes, you might even be taking a
day or a week or even two weeksout and off of the studio a day
(08:27):
or a week or even two weeks outand off of the studio.
So let's look at the differentareas where you can streamline
your business.
That will probably give you thebiggest return.
Now number one this is somethingthat we can very easily fix,
very quickly, very easily fix,and that is scheduling and class
management.
If you are in a place whereyour clients are texting you as
(08:49):
the studio owner to book orcancel classes on your personal
cell phone, then you will findyou have got a big problem.
There's no closed sign on yourtext box, your text inbox, and
that means that you're probablygetting text messages at all
times of day and night, whichputs you constantly in reactive
(09:10):
mode, and I don't want you there.
I want you to be able to leavethe studio and relax and switch
off so you can show up the nextday energized.
So, instead of having that text, that phone, glued to you
constantly and feeling like youhave to always respond to it, no
matter what time of day peopleare texting you then instead,
you want to have a user-friendlyscheduling system that you are
(09:34):
encouraging your clients toutilize, and it's a shift that,
yes, it might be painful forthose conversations you're
having with those clients who'vehad yourself a number for years
, but you want to shift peopleinto using your scheduling
system and you want to automateand set up those automations for
those reminders.
You want to set up theautomations that manage your
(09:54):
waitlists and you want to set itup so that you are no longer
the point person for everysingle client's schedule.
And when you do this, you arefreeing yourself up tremendously
, not just from the burden ofwhat might feel like and you
might think to yourself oh, butit's a couple of minutes here
and there.
You're freeing yourself up fromthat burden of always having to
(10:15):
be on, and there are everysoftware that you have access to
, and I have a few of them Ilove that are in my resources
page on my website.
We'll all do this for youreally, really nicely.
I'm going to add to this thesecond one, another area that we
often see that some studiosstruggle with still, and that is
(10:41):
billing and payments, and ifyou are someone who still
receives checks or cash for whatyou do, then you are probably
chasing people.
You're probably taking time outof your day, your week, your
month to check payments are made, to perhaps invoice your
clients.
I still very occasionally seethis, although not very often,
(11:01):
and if you are doing that, thenI just want you to know that
auto billing and having theability to auto renew packages
is a very powerful thing foryour business and for your time
as well.
So I would encourage you tohave your clients book online
and buy online as well.
(11:22):
Credit card fees are a part ofdoing business.
They are in a business expenseand I want you to use that and
think about all of the time thatyou are winning back because of
that.
Software is a tool that reallyfacilitates so much scale, and
that means that we want to makesure we are using it as much as
possible.
So all of these features are inyour scheduling software
(11:44):
already.
I want you to make sure you areusing them all All right.
So scheduling, class management, cancellations, billing and
payments are all things that arereally time consuming and also
kind of stressful, becauseyou're dealing with a lot of
people and this pricing andmoney and transactions and like
that, all the things that oftenmake us all feel kind of like,
(12:05):
oh, I have to.
You know it's not such a goodfeeling.
If we can get that off of yourplate, oh boy, how much happier
you will be right.
So there's a couple of otherthings that you can do, another
couple of areas as well thatwill help you to really, when
you streamline them, will helpgive you the biggest return on
your time back, but also interms of your business growth.
(12:27):
The first is client onboarding.
What we know is firstimpressions matter and a new
client should feel welcomed andcared for without you doing it
all manually.
And that means that you canhave either templates or
automations in place thatwelcome clients in either via
(12:49):
emails or text, and I highlyrecommend you leverage these to
really nurture that relationshipearly on.
But when you do this, whatyou're doing is you're also
setting those expectations, andwhen you set the expectations
with your new client early on,guess what happens later on?
Retention is much higher andyou're setting the tone for the
(13:11):
rest of that relationship andfor it to be a long and
fantastically fruitfulrelationship for both of you.
So you want to have sequencesand automations or even task
reminders in place for welcomingnew clients into the studio,
for making sure that yourclients are engaged with their
sessions and scheduling theirsessions in the studio, and then
(13:34):
even to move from perhaps thattrial or new client special
intro offer into that long-termpackage.
And finally, the fourth corearea that I think, as your
business grows, is reallyimportant to also streamline is
your team communication andtraining.
(13:55):
And if you've expanded in thelast couple of years and you've
been very, very busy, you mighthave overlooked this part of the
operations.
But as your team grows, youwant to give them as much
clarity and direction aspossible.
And that doesn't meanmicromanaging, it just means
having processes in place forthe where and when you
communicate with your team andon what, and so some folks will
(14:19):
use a group chat, whatsapp, somepeople will use emails, some
people will use even Slack forupdates.
Whatever it is that or howeverit is that you communicate with
your team, you want to make sureyou're doing it in the same
place so that they know where togo to get those updates.
And when you hire people andbring them in, you can let them
know that's where they go tohave these conversations.
And please, please, please,please, please.
(14:41):
I want you to create a verysimple training for anybody that
joins your team, and this meansyou're training them on not
just the way that you want themto perhaps teach your classes or
their sessions in your studio,but perhaps etiquette around how
to communicate with clientsbefore and after class.
If there is anything else thatyou want them to do as part of
(15:04):
their role in your business, youwant to make sure that you have
processes and documentationthat are step-by-step, that
shows them how to do this.
A Google Doc will do.
You can also make videos.
You can do voice recordings oftasks however it feels best for
you, but make sure that you havesome processes in place and
when you have this, it reallyensures that your brand stays
(15:27):
consistent and you're not sortof retraining everybody Every
time you come in.
You're not starting fromscratch.
You've got a document there inplace.
Now, if you're wondering whereall your time is going right now
, you're not really sure thatyou're getting the most out of
the hours that you're spendingon and in your studio.
Sometimes it can be reallyhelpful to do a time audit Now,
(15:49):
yes, this is the most painfulthing you may ever do in your
business, however, it isincredibly enlightening.
So what we do is we would trackyour time for about a week, and
during that week you will logpretty much everything that you
do.
So if you're teaching, if youare scheduling clients, if you
are organizing your team, ifyou're responding to emails, if
(16:12):
you're doing outbound marketing,you want to track your time and
track your tasks, and once youhave that kind of data set, what
you can do is you can look atthose tasks and perhaps you can
already see some tasks that aredraining to you that you dislike
.
That you perhaps could thendelegate to others, and when we
(16:34):
have this sort of clarity aroundwhere you're spending your time
, you can then get strategicabout where you want to spend
your time or where your businessneeds you to spend your time,
and so doing a time audit can beactually incredibly powerful if
you're wondering if you'redoing the right things for your
business.
Anything that gets done on avery repetitive basis that you
(16:54):
can train someone else to do, Ihighly encourage you to hand off
as soon as you can, and ifthere's anything that you're
doing that can be automated, sothat might be something like I
mentioned earlier.
Maybe it's billing, maybe it'sscheduling, maybe it's client
onboarding, maybe it's retentionactivities, maybe it's team
communication right, all ofthese things you could automate
(17:16):
or streamline into a process insome way that relieves you of
that effort and gives you backthat time.
So there are a number of toolsout there that can help you with
streamlining your operations aswell, and I think that the
right tech really does make allthe difference, and that's why I
really recommend that you havean all-in-one studio software.
(17:38):
I am very fortunate that thestudio owners that I work with
inside of Thrive I think we havebeen working together for a
while, and often the questioncomes up when they join of which
software should I use?
And I will always recommendthat you use an all-in-one
studio software.
That means a studio softwarethat does scheduling and
payments and marketing, as wellas reporting as well, and that
(18:02):
sort of that one one stop shopwill just help to make your life
a lot easier, and so you wantto make sure you find one that
fits your studio and your budget, and that's.
It makes a lot of sense to haveyou know, to explore what is out
there for your business, butdon't be afraid to put
everything into one of the most.
(18:23):
You know some of the bettersoftwares out there.
We've had them all on the show,so you know them.
I really would recommend thatyou do, and I also.
Within those softwares you wantto make sure you are using
those automations.
The email sequences, thejourneys, the follow-ups, the
win-backs all of those willreally save you a ton of time,
(18:44):
and what I see every day of theweek is that they will drive
more revenue into your business.
But not only that.
Inside of those softwares, youcan often allow for task
automations as well, which meansthat you get reminders to
perhaps check in with that newclient, and so not everything is
completely automated.
It just facilitates theprocesses a lot easier as well.
(19:08):
Now there is a bit of a mindsetset shift that comes when you
get to this sort of point whereyou can't grow anymore because
there is no more hours in theday for you to actually work or
you're exhausted by it.
Right and that and so when weget to that point, it's often
it's not just necessarily abouthey, what are the actions you
need to take or what are thetools you need.
(19:28):
It's also about having ahealthy mindset around what you
want your business to look likeand what you want your role in
your business to look like aswell.
And when it comes to growingyour business, it's you have to
let go of that myth that onlyyou can do it.
(19:48):
And this is a big one, you guys, because I know that probably
for many of you, especially inthe early stages of your
business, you were doing it all.
You have done it all and youcan.
You can do all of those tasks,you can do all of those jobs.
You are able to do it, but thatdoesn't mean that you should be
doing it all.
And so what I want you to focuson, and what the smartest way
(20:10):
to grow, is for you, as the CEO,to focus on the tasks that only
a CEO can do, focusing only onthose high value tasks.
And that means you're going toneed to delegate some and you're
going to need to automate someand you're going to invest in
efficiency.
And so, when it comes to systems, they don't have to be perfect,
(20:30):
but they do need to just work,and once you have a system in
place, you can always refine itand edit it.
I know behind the scenes hereat Spring 3, we have a lot of
different systems, a lot ofdifferent pathways and processes
, and we're constantly lookingfor ways to improve and make
sure we're getting the outcomesthat we want.
Without the baseline system inplace, that baseline,
(20:51):
step-by-step process we wouldn'teven be able to do that.
So that's just where you haveto start, and I always say you
do want to be thinking aboutthat.
It's not about being perfect.
It's quite possible, by the way, that no one will ever be able
to do it as good as you, andthat's OK, right, but an 80
percent effective system thatruns on autopilot is probably
(21:12):
better than manually doing it100 percent yourself, and
sometimes money upfront tocreate these systems, but they
should always save you so muchmore in time and energy and
sanity as time goes on, right?
So, yes, there might be anearly setup time, and that is
(21:36):
okay as long as you're investingthat time, because it's going
to bring you back more time downthe road.
And so, like I said, you want tomake this efficiency a habit.
You want to look for thingsthat you can make into a system.
You can make a process fromthat.
You are, if there's thingsyou're doing on repeat, that you
have a system and a process inplace for either making sure
(21:59):
those things get done or thatthey get done by someone else.
And when you do this and youreview your systems and that's
when we start to see this sortof really nice sort of machine
working behind the scenes foryou, because you can figure out
very quickly what's working andwhat's not working.
(22:19):
So it becomes a bit of a habitand a mindset shift to think
about okay, can I do this in mybusiness?
Is this going to just requireand drain more of my time, or is
it something that I can buildinto a system that I can either
allow to run automatically in mybusiness or that I can train
other people to help me with?
Okay, so it's critical to bethinking about how you can grow
(22:40):
and scale your business withoutyou being the one to do it all.
Quick recap, because I covereda lot very, very quickly today
and I want to make sure that weare, I'm really clear on what
this looks like for you in yourbusiness.
Now, I have to say that thisoperational chaos behind the
scenes has a very obvious cost,and that is that it's keeping
(23:03):
you stuck.
But the hidden cost is thatit's also probably making you
feel a little frustrated and alittle overwhelmed and possibly
even burnt out, and so youcannot scale a studio without a
strong foundation, and thatoperations is really a critical
component, and that's why,inside of Thrive, it is the
(23:24):
third pillar of my studiosuccess blueprint and we focus
on that inside of Thrive to makesure that you are running your
business as effectively and asefficiently as possible.
So you want to make sure you'reat least streamlining the four
areas of scheduling, onboarding,payment and team communication.
Those are the core areas thatusually take up a lot of time
(23:46):
but that can be quitestraightforward to streamline.
And I want you to use the toolsand the automations that you
have already at your fingertipsfirst to simplify not to
complicate, but to simplify andthen perhaps consider adding
other tools and automations astime goes on tools and
(24:08):
automations as time goes on.
But, most importantly, I wantyou to embrace that mindset that
systems equal freedom, and Iwant you to have a business that
brings you fulfillment andincome and the freedom that you
want.
Now, if this episode hit homeand you finally want to get out
of the weeds and build a studiothat runs smoother, I would love
to invite you into Thrive.
(24:28):
Thrive is my studio success.
There's a system for successfor studio owners.
It's an accelerator for you tobe able to build that business
that you want inside.
We help you to build, toimplement the systems and
strategies that will help you torun and grow your business in
the most efficient way.
(24:48):
We help you to optimize whatyou have and to grow and scale
from there.
So you can check that out atspring3.com forward slash thrive
.
We look for wherever yourbiggest operational leaks are
and then we give you theplaybooks and the tools and the
resources and the steps towardsputting more flow into your
(25:08):
business.
So I hope this is helpful toyou as you go about building
your boutique fitness business.
If you loved what you heardtoday, I'd be so appreciative if
you could take a quick minute,go to wherever you're listening
to this and rate and review thispodcast.
It really would mean a ton tome.
We'll help get the podcast outinto our community so that more
(25:29):
teachers and studio owners, justlike you, can feel encouraged
and supported on their journeyin our industry.
Did you love this episode andwant more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
(25:49):
And before you go.
One last reminder there is noone way to do what you do, only
your way.
So whatever it is that you wantto do, create or offer, you've
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
So I know that some days, you feel pretty stuck in
the day-to-day grind of runningyour studio, but I want you to
take a moment to think about aworld where your business runs
so smoothly it feels like it'son autopilot.
In today's episode, I'm divinginto the strategies to
streamline your operations,claim back some time and focus
(00:24):
more on the things you love mostabout running your business.
By the end of this episode, youwill learn how to implement
seamless systems that save youhours, have less stress, and all
while driving growth.
Well, hi there, I'm SarenGlanfield.
I'm a business and marketingstrategist just for boutique
(00:47):
fitness studio owners like you.
If you're ready to be inspiredand make a bigger impact, you're
in the right place.
All you need are a few keystrategies, the right mindset
and some support along the way.
Join me as I share thereal-life insights that will
help you grow a sustainable andprofitable studio.
(01:09):
This is the Pilates BusinessPodcast.
Well, hey there, friend, andwelcome back to the Pilates
Business Podcast.
This is where we help peoplejust like you boutique fitness
studio owners to build thrivingstudio businesses without losing
(01:29):
their passion for teaching.
I know many of you get in touchwhen you're just at that point,
but please don't wait untilthen to get a little bit of
support and a little bit ofresources and a little bit of
coaching, because often by thenwe have to do twice as much work
of coaching, because often bythen we have to do twice as much
work.
Now I know many of you are in aplace where you feel like
perhaps your business is ducttaped together behind the scenes
(01:52):
.
You're just hanging on by athread.
But I want you to know thatthere is a different way of
doing things, and that's why Iwanted to put together an
episode like this just for you,because I love talking about
marketing and I love talkingabout branding, I love helping
you solve your pricingchallenges.
But what we know is that whenyou don't have systems in place
(02:17):
behind the scenes to help yourbusiness to run really, really
smoothly, it just creates a lotof overwhelm and potentially
even burnout.
And the truth that many studioowners don't even realize until
it's far too late is that youdon't rise to the level of your
goals.
You actually simply fall to thelevel of the systems that you
(02:40):
have in place, and what thatmeans is that, no matter how
lofty your goals are or how muchyou're willing to work hard, or
how incredible your classes are, or how great your community is
, if the behind the scenes, theback end of the studio is
chaotic or messy, your growthwill always hit a ceiling.
(03:02):
And so if you've ever, you know, tried to teach a class where
none of the props are in theright place, the springs are not
set up the way you want or thethings are in the wrong spot,
the bar's not where it'ssupposed to be, you know it
slows you down, you know it'sfrustrating, and we like to work
(03:23):
in a world where you knowthings are not chaotic.
We actually work better whenthings are streamlined, and so
we don't want I don't want tosee you get slowed down or
stopped actually, or stuckbecause your systems are not
there behind the scenes to helpyou to grow.
And so if you're constantlyreacting and you're not in that
(03:44):
space of flow and confidence andabundance, then perhaps it's
not necessarily your marketingthat's the problem or your
attention that's the problem.
It might be that there is alittle bit of disorganization in
your studio, and most of theburnout that I hear from studio
owners is not because they'reteaching too many classes.
Actually it's because they lovethat part.
To be honest, it's actuallymanaging that chaos and being in
(04:06):
that reactive mode constantlyand always feeling like they're
on the back foot.
So I want to talk a little bittoday about what you can do to
create a bit more operationalefficiency right, to make sure
things run a little bit moresmoothly behind the scenes.
And that means there arecertain things that you want to
be thinking about and good at,and that is things like having
(04:28):
some processes in place, havinga management style that is
supportive of encouraging a highachieving team, and it's about
having systems and it's aboutyour leadership and organization
as well.
And now, none of those thingsmight sound terribly exciting to
you, but they are absolutelycritical.
(04:51):
So I want to talk a little bit,first of all, about the bigger
picture and why having this sortof efficiency behind the scenes
, having these systems andprocesses in place and your
studio, is actually so important.
And I know that you know howthat feels when you're
constantly busy, and I know thatyou know how it feels when
(05:11):
you're constantly busy and youopen up your software, your
scheduling software, and youlook at your sales and you think
to yourself oh my goodness, Iam working so hard and I feel
like I work harder every singleweek and I feel like I added
more things to my to-do listevery single week.
But perhaps billing errors orchasing people down is time that
(05:47):
you can't spend on big picturegoal setting, on mapping out
your growth plan, on growingyour business or even just
catching a breath.
So it's a bit like having aleaky bucket where you keep
pouring energy in but it'sdraining out just as fast.
And you know there's a shiftthat often comes when you get to
(06:12):
a certain point and you kind ofrealize that maybe you are the
bottleneck in your business.
And I think every stage ofgrowth we find this and every
business owner finds this, nomatter the industry that they
are in.
And every business owner findsthis, no matter the industry
that they are in.
And that is when you have thatshift from thinking that the
more you do, the more you work,the more you'll grow, to
(06:33):
thinking about how can Isystematize this, how can I
create a process where Iactually remove myself from this
part of the business?
And so when you approach yourbusiness with that mindset
instead of oh yes, I'll takethat, I'll wear that hat, I'll
do that, I'll add that to mylist.
I'll do that tomorrow andyou're taking more and more and
(06:54):
more on.
Instead, when you think abouthow you can actually get rid of
those tasks or not take on moreof those things because you're
creating systems and processesfor it, then it shifts so much
right?
Growth without systems is likebuilding a house on sand.
Eventually it's going tocollapse under all that pressure
, and that may be where you'reat right now, and I know a lot
(07:17):
of people think that systems andprocesses are restrictive and
sort of keeps you kind of arenot freeing, but the reality is
is that those processes actuallycreate a tremendous amount of
freedom in your business, and sowithout the systems, you're
going to only find more chaosand more stress, but with
(07:40):
systems, you're going to be ableto find a lot of freedom for
yourself, and that allows yourbusiness to grow.
And so efficiency will bringout something for you that you
probably can't even put a priceon, and that is that sense of
peace of mind.
It's the knowledge that yourbusiness can actually run,
(08:01):
perhaps without you having yourhand in everything, and imagine
if it was able to do that andstill do everything the way that
you wanted, right?
So when things are runningreally smoothly.
You're no longer putting outfires, you're planning ahead,
you're thinking big picture and,yes, you might even be taking a
day or a week or even two weeksout and off of the studio a day
(08:27):
or a week or even two weeks outand off of the studio.
So let's look at the differentareas where you can streamline
your business.
That will probably give you thebiggest return.
Now number one this is somethingthat we can very easily fix,
very quickly, very easily fix,and that is scheduling and class
management.
If you are in a place whereyour clients are texting you as
(08:49):
the studio owner to book orcancel classes on your personal
cell phone, then you will findyou have got a big problem.
There's no closed sign on yourtext box, your text inbox, and
that means that you're probablygetting text messages at all
times of day and night, whichputs you constantly in reactive
(09:10):
mode, and I don't want you there.
I want you to be able to leavethe studio and relax and switch
off so you can show up the nextday energized.
So, instead of having that text, that phone, glued to you
constantly and feeling like youhave to always respond to it, no
matter what time of day peopleare texting you then instead,
you want to have a user-friendlyscheduling system that you are
(09:34):
encouraging your clients toutilize, and it's a shift that,
yes, it might be painful forthose conversations you're
having with those clients who'vehad yourself a number for years
, but you want to shift peopleinto using your scheduling
system and you want to automateand set up those automations for
those reminders.
You want to set up theautomations that manage your
(09:54):
waitlists and you want to set itup so that you are no longer
the point person for everysingle client's schedule.
And when you do this, you arefreeing yourself up tremendously
, not just from the burden ofwhat might feel like and you
might think to yourself oh, butit's a couple of minutes here
and there.
You're freeing yourself up fromthat burden of always having to
(10:15):
be on, and there are everysoftware that you have access to
, and I have a few of them Ilove that are in my resources
page on my website.
We'll all do this for youreally, really nicely.
I'm going to add to this thesecond one, another area that we
often see that some studiosstruggle with still, and that is
(10:41):
billing and payments, and ifyou are someone who still
receives checks or cash for whatyou do, then you are probably
chasing people.
You're probably taking time outof your day, your week, your
month to check payments are made, to perhaps invoice your
clients.
I still very occasionally seethis, although not very often,
(11:01):
and if you are doing that, thenI just want you to know that
auto billing and having theability to auto renew packages
is a very powerful thing foryour business and for your time
as well.
So I would encourage you tohave your clients book online
and buy online as well.
(11:22):
Credit card fees are a part ofdoing business.
They are in a business expenseand I want you to use that and
think about all of the time thatyou are winning back because of
that.
Software is a tool that reallyfacilitates so much scale, and
that means that we want to makesure we are using it as much as
possible.
So all of these features are inyour scheduling software
(11:44):
already.
I want you to make sure you areusing them all All right.
So scheduling, class management, cancellations, billing and
payments are all things that arereally time consuming and also
kind of stressful, becauseyou're dealing with a lot of
people and this pricing andmoney and transactions and like
that, all the things that oftenmake us all feel kind of like,
(12:05):
oh, I have to.
You know it's not such a goodfeeling.
If we can get that off of yourplate, oh boy, how much happier
you will be right.
So there's a couple of otherthings that you can do, another
couple of areas as well thatwill help you to really, when
you streamline them, will helpgive you the biggest return on
your time back, but also interms of your business growth.
(12:27):
The first is client onboarding.
What we know is firstimpressions matter and a new
client should feel welcomed andcared for without you doing it
all manually.
And that means that you canhave either templates or
automations in place thatwelcome clients in either via
(12:49):
emails or text, and I highlyrecommend you leverage these to
really nurture that relationshipearly on.
But when you do this, whatyou're doing is you're also
setting those expectations, andwhen you set the expectations
with your new client early on,guess what happens later on?
Retention is much higher andyou're setting the tone for the
(13:11):
rest of that relationship andfor it to be a long and
fantastically fruitfulrelationship for both of you.
So you want to have sequencesand automations or even task
reminders in place for welcomingnew clients into the studio,
for making sure that yourclients are engaged with their
sessions and scheduling theirsessions in the studio, and then
(13:34):
even to move from perhaps thattrial or new client special
intro offer into that long-termpackage.
And finally, the fourth corearea that I think, as your
business grows, is reallyimportant to also streamline is
your team communication andtraining.
(13:55):
And if you've expanded in thelast couple of years and you've
been very, very busy, you mighthave overlooked this part of the
operations.
But as your team grows, youwant to give them as much
clarity and direction aspossible.
And that doesn't meanmicromanaging, it just means
having processes in place forthe where and when you
communicate with your team andon what, and so some folks will
(14:19):
use a group chat, whatsapp, somepeople will use emails, some
people will use even Slack forupdates.
Whatever it is that or howeverit is that you communicate with
your team, you want to make sureyou're doing it in the same
place so that they know where togo to get those updates.
And when you hire people andbring them in, you can let them
know that's where they go tohave these conversations.
And please, please, please,please, please.
(14:41):
I want you to create a verysimple training for anybody that
joins your team, and this meansyou're training them on not
just the way that you want themto perhaps teach your classes or
their sessions in your studio,but perhaps etiquette around how
to communicate with clientsbefore and after class.
If there is anything else thatyou want them to do as part of
(15:04):
their role in your business, youwant to make sure that you have
processes and documentationthat are step-by-step, that
shows them how to do this.
A Google Doc will do.
You can also make videos.
You can do voice recordings oftasks however it feels best for
you, but make sure that you havesome processes in place and
when you have this, it reallyensures that your brand stays
(15:27):
consistent and you're not sortof retraining everybody Every
time you come in.
You're not starting fromscratch.
You've got a document there inplace.
Now, if you're wondering whereall your time is going right now
, you're not really sure thatyou're getting the most out of
the hours that you're spendingon and in your studio.
Sometimes it can be reallyhelpful to do a time audit Now,
(15:49):
yes, this is the most painfulthing you may ever do in your
business, however, it isincredibly enlightening.
So what we do is we would trackyour time for about a week, and
during that week you will logpretty much everything that you
do.
So if you're teaching, if youare scheduling clients, if you
are organizing your team, ifyou're responding to emails, if
(16:12):
you're doing outbound marketing,you want to track your time and
track your tasks, and once youhave that kind of data set, what
you can do is you can look atthose tasks and perhaps you can
already see some tasks that aredraining to you that you dislike
.
That you perhaps could thendelegate to others, and when we
(16:34):
have this sort of clarity aroundwhere you're spending your time
, you can then get strategicabout where you want to spend
your time or where your businessneeds you to spend your time,
and so doing a time audit can beactually incredibly powerful if
you're wondering if you'redoing the right things for your
business.
Anything that gets done on avery repetitive basis that you
(16:54):
can train someone else to do, Ihighly encourage you to hand off
as soon as you can, and ifthere's anything that you're
doing that can be automated, sothat might be something like I
mentioned earlier.
Maybe it's billing, maybe it'sscheduling, maybe it's client
onboarding, maybe it's retentionactivities, maybe it's team
communication right, all ofthese things you could automate
(17:16):
or streamline into a process insome way that relieves you of
that effort and gives you backthat time.
So there are a number of toolsout there that can help you with
streamlining your operations aswell, and I think that the
right tech really does make allthe difference, and that's why I
really recommend that you havean all-in-one studio software.
(17:38):
I am very fortunate that thestudio owners that I work with
inside of Thrive I think we havebeen working together for a
while, and often the questioncomes up when they join of which
software should I use?
And I will always recommendthat you use an all-in-one
studio software.
That means a studio softwarethat does scheduling and
payments and marketing, as wellas reporting as well, and that
(18:02):
sort of that one one stop shopwill just help to make your life
a lot easier, and so you wantto make sure you find one that
fits your studio and your budget, and that's.
It makes a lot of sense to haveyou know, to explore what is out
there for your business, butdon't be afraid to put
everything into one of the most.
(18:23):
You know some of the bettersoftwares out there.
We've had them all on the show,so you know them.
I really would recommend thatyou do, and I also.
Within those softwares you wantto make sure you are using
those automations.
The email sequences, thejourneys, the follow-ups, the
win-backs all of those willreally save you a ton of time,
(18:44):
and what I see every day of theweek is that they will drive
more revenue into your business.
But not only that.
Inside of those softwares, youcan often allow for task
automations as well, which meansthat you get reminders to
perhaps check in with that newclient, and so not everything is
completely automated.
It just facilitates theprocesses a lot easier as well.
(19:08):
Now there is a bit of a mindsetset shift that comes when you
get to this sort of point whereyou can't grow anymore because
there is no more hours in theday for you to actually work or
you're exhausted by it.
Right and that and so when weget to that point, it's often
it's not just necessarily abouthey, what are the actions you
need to take or what are thetools you need.
(19:28):
It's also about having ahealthy mindset around what you
want your business to look likeand what you want your role in
your business to look like aswell.
And when it comes to growingyour business, it's you have to
let go of that myth that onlyyou can do it.
(19:48):
And this is a big one, you guys, because I know that probably
for many of you, especially inthe early stages of your
business, you were doing it all.
You have done it all and youcan.
You can do all of those tasks,you can do all of those jobs.
You are able to do it, but thatdoesn't mean that you should be
doing it all.
And so what I want you to focuson, and what the smartest way
(20:10):
to grow, is for you, as the CEO,to focus on the tasks that only
a CEO can do, focusing only onthose high value tasks.
And that means you're going toneed to delegate some and you're
going to need to automate someand you're going to invest in
efficiency.
And so, when it comes to systems, they don't have to be perfect,
(20:30):
but they do need to just work,and once you have a system in
place, you can always refine itand edit it.
I know behind the scenes hereat Spring 3, we have a lot of
different systems, a lot ofdifferent pathways and processes
, and we're constantly lookingfor ways to improve and make
sure we're getting the outcomesthat we want.
Without the baseline system inplace, that baseline,
(20:51):
step-by-step process we wouldn'teven be able to do that.
So that's just where you haveto start, and I always say you
do want to be thinking aboutthat.
It's not about being perfect.
It's quite possible, by the way, that no one will ever be able
to do it as good as you, andthat's OK, right, but an 80
percent effective system thatruns on autopilot is probably
(21:12):
better than manually doing it100 percent yourself, and
sometimes money upfront tocreate these systems, but they
should always save you so muchmore in time and energy and
sanity as time goes on, right?
So, yes, there might be anearly setup time, and that is
(21:36):
okay as long as you're investingthat time, because it's going
to bring you back more time downthe road.
And so, like I said, you want tomake this efficiency a habit.
You want to look for thingsthat you can make into a system.
You can make a process fromthat.
You are, if there's thingsyou're doing on repeat, that you
have a system and a process inplace for either making sure
(21:59):
those things get done or thatthey get done by someone else.
And when you do this and youreview your systems and that's
when we start to see this sortof really nice sort of machine
working behind the scenes foryou, because you can figure out
very quickly what's working andwhat's not working.
(22:19):
So it becomes a bit of a habitand a mindset shift to think
about okay, can I do this in mybusiness?
Is this going to just requireand drain more of my time, or is
it something that I can buildinto a system that I can either
allow to run automatically in mybusiness or that I can train
other people to help me with?
Okay, so it's critical to bethinking about how you can grow
(22:40):
and scale your business withoutyou being the one to do it all.
Quick recap, because I covereda lot very, very quickly today
and I want to make sure that weare, I'm really clear on what
this looks like for you in yourbusiness.
Now, I have to say that thisoperational chaos behind the
scenes has a very obvious cost,and that is that it's keeping
(23:03):
you stuck.
But the hidden cost is thatit's also probably making you
feel a little frustrated and alittle overwhelmed and possibly
even burnt out, and so youcannot scale a studio without a
strong foundation, and thatoperations is really a critical
component, and that's why,inside of Thrive, it is the
(23:24):
third pillar of my studiosuccess blueprint and we focus
on that inside of Thrive to makesure that you are running your
business as effectively and asefficiently as possible.
So you want to make sure you'reat least streamlining the four
areas of scheduling, onboarding,payment and team communication.
Those are the core areas thatusually take up a lot of time
(23:46):
but that can be quitestraightforward to streamline.
And I want you to use the toolsand the automations that you
have already at your fingertipsfirst to simplify not to
complicate, but to simplify andthen perhaps consider adding
other tools and automations astime goes on tools and
(24:08):
automations as time goes on.
But, most importantly, I wantyou to embrace that mindset that
systems equal freedom, and Iwant you to have a business that
brings you fulfillment andincome and the freedom that you
want.
Now, if this episode hit homeand you finally want to get out
of the weeds and build a studiothat runs smoother, I would love
to invite you into Thrive.
(24:28):
Thrive is my studio success.
There's a system for successfor studio owners.
It's an accelerator for you tobe able to build that business
that you want inside.
We help you to build, toimplement the systems and
strategies that will help you torun and grow your business in
the most efficient way.
(24:48):
We help you to optimize whatyou have and to grow and scale
from there.
So you can check that out atspring3.com forward slash thrive
.
We look for wherever yourbiggest operational leaks are
and then we give you theplaybooks and the tools and the
resources and the steps towardsputting more flow into your
(25:08):
business.
So I hope this is helpful toyou as you go about building
your boutique fitness business.
If you loved what you heardtoday, I'd be so appreciative if
you could take a quick minute,go to wherever you're listening
to this and rate and review thispodcast.
It really would mean a ton tome.
We'll help get the podcast outinto our community so that more
(25:29):
teachers and studio owners, justlike you, can feel encouraged
and supported on their journeyin our industry.
Did you love this episode andwant more?
Head to spring3.com and checkout my free resources that will
help you run a profitable andfulfilling studio business.
(25:49):
And before you go.
One last reminder there is noone way to do what you do, only
your way.
So whatever it is that you wantto do, create or offer, you've
got this.
Thanks again for joining metoday and have a wonderful rest
of your day.
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