Business Clarity 101: Essential Business Planning Tips for Fitness and Wellness Studios
Opening a soulful empire, er boutique fitness or yoga studio, that’s the easy part. Ha! You might be thinking I’m crazy. Stick with me here. How do you keep yourself focused on what matters most when the to-do list is infinite, the distractions are constant, and the squeaky wheels are so loud? It can be easy to get forget your big picture aspirations and goals of your business when the day-to-day roller coaster keeps you so busy. I propose to you that business clarity is essential to ensuring that you and your business are a success in all the ways you can be!
I’m seeing a lot of new energy and enthusiasm in studios that remained open throughout the pandemic, and for those who are opening on the tail end of it. It’s energizing and inspiring to be on the positive side of fit biz life again, after the isolated, difficult days of the pandemic. I love meeting ambitious, inspired wellpreneurs who are changing careers and taking the leap to creating a soulful community & lifestyle that they love. With all this excitement though, we don’t want to lose sight of the fact that opening a boutique fitness studio (or becoming an entrepreneur in general) is a business adventure filled with inherent risks and difficulties. If it was easy work, wouldn’t we all be doing it? Lets not make work life any harder on ourselves than it has to be. We want to ensure we keep our eyes on the big picture from the outset to ensure we don’t end up in a disproportionally painful business closure or ending down the road.
The following are some business clarity essentials to consider:
Mission Statement
A mission statement is the essence of you and your studio's purpose, values, and direction. Crafting a mission statement that fits can set the tone for your business, guide your decisions, and attract the perfect fit community for you. Here is a more detailed blog post on crafting your mission statement.
Vision Statement
A vision statement is a future-focused declaration that outlines what your studio aims to achieve in the long term. It’s not about the day-to-day operations but rather the overarching impact you want your studio to have. It should be aspirational, inspirational, and succinct, providing a clear direction for your business and a rallying point for your team and clients. Here is a more detailed blog post on crafting a future focused vision statement.
Core Values
Values express the priorities of you and your studio and describe the standards that drive you and everyone you work with. These aren't as goal focused as some of the other business clarity statements and they stand for the blueprint of your studio's vibe and culture. Here is a more detailed blog post on curating meaningful values list for your studio.
Value Proposition
A value proposition is a short statement that communicates why prospective customers should choose your studio. It's more than just a description of what you offer — it's the specific solution that your business provides and the promise of value that a customer can expect you to deliver to help alleviate their pains. Here is a more detailed blog post on value proposition.
Conclusion
To attract the right clients and team and to ensure your business is viable to your community, it can be helpful to reduce your business ideas down to some simple, easy to share concepts. In the following Business Clarity Template (In Google Slides - I only think in slides after decades of creating decks for work), we’ll put pen to paper (or keystrokes to decks) and offer tips and examples to help you craft and improve your business clarity documents. I believe it’s better to have something over nothing and don’t let perfection be the enemy of good enough.
I found it to be very helpful to include these statements in my business plan that I submitted for my SBA loan and that I used to drive my business forward. Yet, in hindsight, busy got in the way, as it so often does. I’m not sure I revisited these as often as I should have during the flow (survival?) of running my studio. I am now setting the intention to edit these if and when the energy strikes AND once a year to ensure I keep my eyes on the prize.
Instructions: Click here (or button above) for a google slides version of these business clarity essentials (go to File > Make a Copy) to have your own version to play with, share, and come back to as you grow your community.
Check out more blog posts on Business Clarity for more inspiration.
Additional Questions To Ponder…
You want to have a clear picture of the problem you’re solving for prospective customers.
How you plan to resolve said problems for your customers.
Which values drive you, your team, your community, and hook customers.
What are the benefits and pain points of your customers?
What is the market potential of your business?
Who is your audience?