With summer in full swing, things change in our communities. Some people leave on vacation, others take on new projects. Some just relax. I live in a college town along the Central California coast. This means that half the city (about 17,000 students) leaves during the summer. But as a coastal community, thousands of tourists descend upon us at the same time. I think the average age in the area changes from 21 years old to about 50 during the summer. This transition can make it hard for businesses, including yoga studios, to offer products and service that appeal to their customers. Fore example, a 20-year old college student likes a restaurant that has lunch for under $5, has surfboards hanging from the ceiling and plays happeningӔ music, while a 50-year old couple might prefer to dine at a place with tablecloths and fine wine, while having little concern for price. Like I said, its hard for businesses around here.
But in most cities businesses have a much easier time. In most areas, the clientele donҒt change a lot during the year. However, we can learn a great deal from carefully considering the type of student or customer we are serving. You see, what classes you offer should not be based on what you are interested in or what you like to teach, it should depend almost entirely on what your potential students want or need. Most studio owners believe that if they do a good job at teaching their classes, people will learn of their studio and business will increase. In reality, this works on rare occasion. The truth is that many studios struggle because the classes they offer are only valued by a small number of people out there, and if they offered (and effectively marketed) other classes, they would have many more students.
There are two things every business must do in order to be successful:
1.You must provide products and services in line with the companys vision or mission.
2.You must make money (or you will not be able to do #1 for very long)
Most often, studio owners ask me questions about #2, so IҒll assume you have the first one handled pretty well. So, heres the deal. We must figure out what kind of yoga is really of value to the people in the community. There are four simple steps to achieving #2 successfully:
1.Find out what people want
2.Get it (or create it)
3.Let them know you have it
4.Give it to them
Most studios fail to ғFind out what they want. Think about the restaurants I talked about earlier. If you are serving food to college students, you know that their top two desires are low prices and hanging out with friends. The most successful college restaurants offer students discounts and also have student parties, beer nights, ԓstudy break specials, etc. They circulate coupons around campus and sponsor college clubs (to gain loyalty from members).
Now letԒs take this concept to your studio. What are the primary groupsӔ in your community, and what is important to them. For example, if you are in an upscale retirement community, you may want to offer gentle yoga for seniors. But call it Staying in shape over 60Ӕ or Fitness for the Golden Years.Ӕ Give a free class for seniors. Promote it through the local senior center and senior publications (even give one at the senior center). At the end, give seniors the opportunity to sign up for a 4-session workshop just for folks their age. Have tea and cookies afterwards. Create what I call The Exceptional Experience.Ӕ (Note, if you have the Home Study Studio Success Program, this is covered in more detail in Session #4. See http://www.centeredbusiness.com/homestudy.htm)
Remember, these are people who would have had no interest in yoga before. They are only there because it would serve some need of theirs (staying in shape, improved flexibility, reduced joint pain, etc.) Be sure that you focus on promoting these needs. The fact that it is yoga is of very little interest to them (please, dont take this personally, they just donҒt know anything about it yet). Weve just looked at an example of offering gentle yoga to seniors, but weҒre packaging and presenting it in a way that lets them see how it will benefit them personally.
Now letҒs attract many different kinds of students. First, we need to pick the group to target (make sure there are a lot of them). If you live in a community with lots of kids, then pre and post-natal are great (be sure to offer child care during classes team up with the daycare center around the corner if you need to). Remember, it֒s not pre-natal yogaӔ that you want to offer. What these people really want is Easier Childbirth YogaӔ or Natural Childbirth Yoga.Ӕ Be sure to explain what the class is when you promote it: Many women have had easier, less painful, natural birthing experiences by having practiced yoga just twice a week. Come experience a no-cost introductory workshop. No prior yoga experience needed.Ӕ
This same idea applies to anything from Yoga for Rock ClimbersӔ to Losing Weight for Summer with Yoga.Ӕ Pick your niche. Describe it in language that appeals to the people youre targeting (keep it informal and down to earth). Then promote it directly to these people. If itҒs for rock climbers, go to a local climbing club meeting and arrange a business alliance with the local climbers equipment store and also the climbing gym. For weight loss, youҒll find your potential students at Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous meetings, plus size stores, etc. (If you have the Home Study Studio Success Program, review session #7 for more details on implementing this. See http://www.centeredbusiness.com/homestudy.htm)
The key is to pick a niche that already exists in your community, identify a problem or need of theirs that yoga can help with, let them know you can solve this problem and finally give them a class they can try out. ItҒs pretty straightforward, but does take some effort to implement. Many studios, not to mention other businesses, have used this formula with great success. Best of luck until next month.
Namast,
Coach Al Lipper
P.S. Please let me know what other studio business topics would you like to learn more about in the future? Most of my articles come from reader and client questions. You may email me at:
About Coach Al:
Al Lipper is a master business coach, business teacher and writer. For free resources on running a yoga studio as a successful and fun business, visit http://www.CenteredBusiness.com.
A local resident, Bill Weiser, said Mr Thompson had been a colourful character who flew planes, raced boats and owned a custom motorcycle shop which also sold guns.
“He was pretty unique,” Mr Weiser told AP. “He had a different slant on things. I never knew him to hurt anybody, and he took good care of the animals.”
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nakai, Oct 19 at 12:38 AM
The beauty of this mass deployment on behalf of Shalit was the affection of the many for one simple young man, the unbridled love for your average Joe. Gilad Shalit is no better than the man who sat in front of you in the shared taxi, the cashier at the cafe who gave you the wrong change, or the medical resident who can’t make ends meet and is thinking of immigrating to Australia.
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nakai, Oct 19 at 01:32 AM
“You lose all of your standing from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew about it for a year,” Perry said, calling Romney’s claims of being tough on illegal immigration the “height of hypocrisy.”
Perry was referring to a set of newspaper investigations starting in 2006 that found Romney had employed a contractor that used illegal immigrants. When it was reported in 2007 that illegal immigrants were still being used by the contractor, Romney fired the company. The issue surfaced during Romney’s 2008 presidential run – its reappearance suggests the Perry campaign has been scouring for new ways to come at Romney.
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nakai, Oct 19 at 06:42 AM
A more aggressive Perry showed up during the debate and quickly assailed Romney’s character.
“Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew for about it for a year,” Perry said, raising a topic that was an issue during Romney’s 2008 presidential run. “And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you’re strong on immigration is, on its face, the height of hypocrisy.”
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nakai, Oct 19 at 08:18 PM
The software has a new typeface, new logos and a main screen that users can customize with applications that are updating even when the phone isn’t in direct use. Google also updated several core programs such as a calendar and camera that are integral to the operating system.
The new Samsung smartphone, dubbed Galaxy Nexus, has a 4.65-inch active matrix organic light-emitting diode screen which makes for a brighter display, a five-megapixel camera processor and access to Google software including Google +, the U.S. firm’s social-networking program. It is run by a new microprocessor by Texas Instruments Inc. that spreads tasks around several cores, or “brains” in the chip to improve the phone’s battery life.
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nakai, Oct 19 at 08:32 PM
Cain’s two days in Las Vegas has had an air of a victory lap for the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, who has seen a meteoric rise through the polls in recent weeks.
“If I had listened to the political experts in August, after the Iowa straw poll, I was supposed to shut the doors in the campaign,” he told the Republican Women of Las Vegas, recounting how he was criticized for last of national political experience. “That’s the part that they don’t get. You don’t care if I’ve never held political office. America needs a problem solver, not another politician.”
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nakai, Oct 19 at 08:54 PM
(For election news, see ELECT <GO>.)
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg)—Texas Governor Rick Perry says he will soon offer a flat-tax proposal, his latest bid to draw distinctions with Mitt Romney in a Republican presidential race that is becoming increasingly contentious.
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nakai, Oct 19 at 11:03 PM
Governor Rick Perry of Texas pointedly challenged Mitt Romney on the issue Tuesday, calling it the “height of hypocrisy’’ that the former Massachusetts governor takes a hard-line stance given that illegal immigrants had landscaped the lawn at his Belmont home just a few years ago. Romney retorted that Perry was playing with facts before battering his rival for supporting “magnets’’ that attract such immigrants.
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nakai, Oct 20 at 12:32 AM
Protesters are set to rally in front of parliament from 0800 GMT and will try to stay on the square till late at night, while lawmakers vote on the bill.
The bill foresees an average wage cut of about 20 percent for public sector workers, bringing total income losses since the crisis started two years ago to about 40 percent, and reduces the tax-free income threshold.
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nakai, Oct 20 at 01:35 AM
Thompson freed dozens of exotic animals—from Bengal tigers to grizzly bears to baboons—setting off a frightening scenario outside Zanesville, a town of 25,000 in central Ohio. Authorities killed at least 49 animals, including 18 rare tigers.
“What happened here was one of the largest animal escapes in our country’s history,” said Hanna.
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A recent change in California law means that Murray, 58, might serve any possible incarceration in a county jail rather than a state prison. A prison term could be shortened by overcrowding.
If acquitted, Murray could still be pursued by medical licensing authorities in the states of California, Nevada and Texas.
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nakai, Nov 4 at 10:05 PM
"We do what we can to caveat that we may be getting an overrepresentation of the urban elite,” said Naquin, acknowledging that only a small slice of the population in many areas being monitored has access to computers and Internet. But he points out that access to social media sites via cellphones is growing in such areas as Africa, meaning a “wider portion of the population than you might expect is sounding off and holding forth than it might appear if you count the Internet hookups in a given country.”
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"There’s that fear that something might possibly happen again,” Nigerian Red Cross official Ibrahim Bulama said.
In Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, a car bomb exploded Friday afternoon outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks, killing many uniformed security agents, Bulama said.
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nakai, Nov 5 at 10:20 PM
Officials anticipated a dusk-till-dawn curfew to fall over the town, though state officials repeatedly declined to comment on the violence. The violence destroyed federal offices, public buildings and an immigration office, said Aliyu Baffale Sambo, an official with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.
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nakai, Nov 5 at 10:26 PM
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s moving day for bank customers.
A grassroots movement that sprang to life last month is urging bank customers to close their accounts in favor of credit unions by Saturday.
The spirit behind “Bank Transfer Day” caught fire with the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country and had more than 79,000 supporters on its Facebook page as of Friday. The movement has already helped beat back Bank of America’s plan to start charging a $5 debit card fee.
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But the call to action shows just how incensed consumers were at the prospect of a debit card fee at a time of so much economic uncertainty. Even those who were appeased by the industry’s reversal may have tapped into a new sense of empowerment.
That’s the case for Dan Blakemore, a Bank of America customer for the past 10 years. He said he no longer plans to close his checking account now that the debit fee has been scrapped. But he’ll be on the lookout for any other changes that might hit his wallet.
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nakai, Nov 6 at 01:04 AM
But some analysts say there’s a disconnect between polls, believed to favor the establishment candidate Perez, and what is really a tight race.
“The polling methods are inadequate,” said former Foreign Minister Edgar Gutierrez, who runs a think tank in Guatemala. “They’ve failed to capture how between 25 and 30 percent of the people intend to vote.”
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nakai, Nov 6 at 08:00 AM
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalans rattled by soaring violence choose Sunday between two right-leaning presidential candidates: a former general who promises law and order and a tycoon-turned-political populist whose proposals include more social programs and zero tolerance on crime.
Polls show Otto Perez Molina, 61, a retired general and former military intelligence director running for the right-wing Patriotic Party, at least 10 to 15 points ahead of Manuel Baldizon, 41, of the Democratic Freedom Revival party.
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nakai, Nov 6 at 08:45 AM
The wild card has been the sudden popularity of Baldizon, who the traditional ruling class in Guatemala has painted as inept.
One of his more surprising supporters is the left-leaning Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu, who ran for president but barely had a showing. She urged her supporters, mainly Guatemala’s indigenous and poor, to vote for Baldizon. Many say the rural poor will simply choose not to vote, and a low turnout favors Perez.
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nakai, Nov 6 at 09:22 AM
SPARKS, Okla. (AP) — Clouds of dust belched from the corners of almost every room in Joe Reneau’s house as the biggest earthquake in Oklahoma history rocked the two-story building.
A roar that sounded like a jumbo jet filled the air, and Reneau’s red-brick chimney collapsed and fell into the roof above the living room. By the time the shaking stopped, a pantry worth of food had been strewn across the kitchen and shards of glass and pottery covered the floor.
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nakai, Nov 6 at 06:59 PM
Saturday night’s big one jolted Oklahoma State University’s stadium shortly after the No. 3 Cowboys defeated No. 17 Kansas State. Fans were still leaving the game.
“That shook up the place, had a lot of people nervous,” Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon said.
The temblor sent Jesse Richards’ wife running outside because she thought their home was going to collapse. The earthquake centered near their home in Sparks, 44 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, could be felt throughout the state and in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, northern Texas and some parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.
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nakai, Nov 6 at 08:12 PM
"In an emergency like this, we have to have a structure that works,” he said, adding that the presence of the European Commission and of European Council President Herman Van Rompuy guaranteed that the interests of smaller member states would be taken into account.
EU officials had held conference calls with the 15 other euro zone states during the Cannes summit “to keep them in the loop.” The head of the EFSF, Klaus Regling, was secretly flown to Cannes to brief the leaders on the state of accelerated preparations to leverage the rescue fund, one source said.
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nakai, Nov 7 at 01:19 AM
BP said in a statement on Sunday it will repay a deposit of $3.5 billion received for the PAE stake at the end of 2010, which would not impact its level of gearing.
Late last month, CNOOC said Bridas Corp had not obtained the necessary regulatory approvals to complete the $7 billion bid. It had said Nov 1. was the deadline after which either party would have the right to terminate the agreement.
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nakai, Nov 7 at 06:05 AM
The ruling Sandinista party declared victory and caravans of thousands of supporters flooded the streets shouting “Daniel! Daniel!” But Nunez said his party would not recognize the results until the last vote had been counted.
Since returning to power in 2007, the 65-year-old Ortega has boosted his popularity in Central America’s poorest country with a combination of pork-barrel populism and support for the free-market economy he once opposed.
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BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stocks stalled Monday as investors remain unsure whether Greece will be able to work itself out of a debt crisis despite a weekend deal by the country’s leaders aimed at implementing a controversial austerity program.
Oil prices rose to near $95 per barrel, while the dollar gained against the euro but slipped against the yen.
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nakai, Nov 7 at 09:14 AM