A good sign that your yoga business is successful is running out of room to fit people in. Outgrowing your studio is a positive but it also means that you’ve hit your limit for growth. The only way to carry on growing is to move into new premises that can accommodate more people. However, you don’t necessarily need to grow if you don’t want to. If you’re happy with the amount you’re making now you could leave things as they are. These are a couple of the pros and cons of expanding your studio, to help you decide whether it’s the right move for you.

Increased Costs

This is the most obvious downside of a larger studio, it’s going to cost you more. The rent will be higher, unless you move to a cheaper location, but bear in mind you may lose customers if you move too far from where you are now. As well as increased rent, the running costs of the building will be more so your monthly costs will shoot up immediately. If you aren’t bringing in enough extra business to cover these costs, you could end up in financial trouble.

Increased Revenue

Even though you’re spending a lot more money to rent and run the building, you have more potential to bring in revenue. If you’re struggling at your current studio and you’re having to turn people away because you haven’t got the room, you’ll be able to bring all of those new customers onboard as soon as you move into a bigger space. But if you’re struggling and you haven’t got all those people waiting to join up, you won’t be able to fill the new space and you’ll end up spending more money than you’re making.

Maintenance Costs

The increased rent and bills are a foreseeable problem with renting a larger studio but you’ve got to watch out for maintenance costs that can surprise you. If you move into an older building that’s full of problems, you’ll end up getting stung by maintenance costs all the time. Even if you’ve got more business, it might not be enough to cover all of those costs. You can try to reduce the amount you’re spending on repairs by finding a relatively new building and having an inspection done before you agree to move in. You should also have regular checks on the plumbing and get a Level 2 Service provider to check the electrics. This regular maintenance will help you avoid any bigger faults in future and is cheaper than paying for major repairs in the long run.

Staff Costs

In a smaller studio, you can get away with just one or two people running the place so your staff costs are fairly low. But if you move into a larger place with more space, you’ll want to put more classes on, which means needing more staff. You may also have to take on more admin staff to deal with an increased amount of bookings. Your staff costs are likely to at least triple if you move into a bigger building.

Expanding your yoga business with a bigger building is a good idea, but only if you’ve got enough cash to cover all of the extra costs and you’re confident that you’ll get enough new business to sustain yourself.

Featured Image from: Splitshire