Before I opened my teacher training program, Pilates Career Institute, I worked long hours running a busy, successful independent Pilates studio. Opening a teaching studio was a big leap, as it was a whole different sort of business..but it was also a natural next step in my career that’s always been about helping people be their healthiest, happiest selves through Pilates.
Initial Changes
When I first decided to open PCI, I felt an initial sense of excitement. I knew I was stepping up a career ladder and that this new addition to my business would help me grow in so many ways.
Once I started teaching my first students, I saw the other things, big and small, that would need to change in how I ran my studio. Student teachers are trustworthy interns who I knew would do a good job working with clients – with the client’s approval – during group and individual sessions while I observed. Student teachers are also my partners in studio maintenance, which helped them learn more about the equipment.
The most helpful thing I did when adjusting my business was to plan everything carefully.
While my days used to be filled with group and individual sessions, I now had a certain number of hours per week that I would be spending with student teachers. I needed to plan my days and weeks differently and create a schedule that worked for everyone, including my current clients.
A Day in the Life
My day starts at 7 am with breakfast and coffee. I typically work 7 am – 7 pm so I need to get sleep and eat well to maintain my energy. I still have a full client schedule, and 12 hours of my week are dedicated to training my student teachers, with half of those scheduled for Saturdays and half for other times throughout the week.
At the start of the day, my main focus is on organization. I make sure I know what I’ll be teaching my student teachers and which clients will be coming in when. I maintain detailed student records to track their progress and hours so I look those over to make sure we’re staying on track. This also helps me remember what the student teachers have mastered (or are close to mastering) so I can assign them to help clients or have them work independently on studying their notes, practicing with a small piece of equipment on their own, or studying for an assessment.
Once I have a good sense in my head of what’s going on for the day, it’s time to execute my plan! The day goes by quickly between individual lessons, group classes, mentoring student teachers, and day-to-day studio work. I also like to save some time for me to work on my own Pilates practice.
As I have become better at juggling these competing responsibilities, I’ve seen how working with student teachers creates a community of Pilates practitioners all working together – often seamlessly – to keep the studio running. Student teachers are highly motivated to help in whatever ways they can: they need to learn more about studio practices and some of them are thinking about opening their own studios one day.
The biggest thing that has changed since opening my teacher training studio hasn’t been the amount of time I spend cleaning or the number of clients I teach. The most meaningful change has been within my own mindset. I have grown into a more experienced business owner while deepening my knowledge around Pilates, improving my own practice, and expanding my community of Pilates lovers. More than anything else, these are the things that make me so glad I took this leap!
