Studio Business · Dance, Yoga & Movement
A practical walkthrough of the Studio Class Planner, the tool that turns a feeling into a framework.
Most studio owners already know which class is the problem. They've known for months. The numbers don't surprise them — they confirm what the gut has been saying quietly while the heart kept overruling it. But fear of confirmation is no reason to avoid looking at the numbers.
The Studio Class Planner isn't designed to tell you what to do. It was designed to make the picture clear. Here's how it works.
"Data doesn't make the decision, but it makes making that decision easier."
Step one: Is the class covering its costs?
This is the financial baseline. Enter your average class attendance, your class price (or drop-in rate), and your instructor fee. The planner calculates whether the class is profitable at current capacity, and what fill rate you'd need to reach to break even.
A Barre class running at 40% capacity with a €12 drop-in rate and a €60 instructor fee needs nine students to break even. If your average is six, you're subsidising it from elsewhere. That can be a business decision, but it should be a conscious one.
The important output here isn't just yes or no — the question to ask is: what would it take to make this work? Sometimes the answer is a small pricing adjustment. Sometimes it's a format change. And sometimes the class is genuinely not viable in its current format.
Step two: Is it feeding the rest of your timetable?
Some classes run at a loss and still earn their place by bringing people into the studio who then stay for other things. An introductory yoga class might not be profitable on its own, but if 60% of those students move into your paid membership programme, it's one of the most valuable things on your schedule.
The planner asks you to track, over a 90-day window, how many students from this class have taken at least one other class with you. If the answer is under 20%, the class can't be justified as a pipeline — it needs to be profitable on its own.
If the answer is over 50%, the class is a pipeline. Pipelines are worth protecting, even running them at a small loss while you find ways to market the class better.
Step three: Why is the class on the schedule?
The final question in the planner — and the one a lot of owners love to skip when they do this alone — is: does this class align with the direction you want the studio to go?
It is incredibly hard to look objectively at the class that you started five years ago. But you have to ask: does it still align with where you are headed?
If you want to be known for technically rigorous adult training and the class is a casual drop-in for beginners, that's a positioning question that probably should be addressed. The class might be profitable. It might even feed the pipeline. But if it's pulling the brand in a direction you didn't choose, it's worth considering whether you can build a pipeline class that does a better job of staying on brand.
"The numbers don't make the decision. They just make sure the wrong one can't hide."
The Studio Class Planner works best when you sit with it for a whole timetable, not just the one class you're already worried about. Often the class you thought was the problem isn't — and the one you'd never have questioned turns out to be worth examining.
Run it once a term. Put it in the diary. It takes under an hour and it's one of the clearest business reviews most studio owners ever do.
The Studio Class Planner, instructor analysis and scenario modeller are all inside the Amber Light VIP membership — along with everything else built to make these decisions easier.
Join the Amber Light VIP Club here.
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