We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dana Yarn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dana, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I decided to take the big leap into opening my own business after grabbing lunch with a old co-worker who also opened up her own Pilates studio. I was so inspired by her ownership in her business, customer service and financials I was ready to leave my corporate fitness job. I was also pregnant with my third baby and I was frustrated at the demands of corporate fitness including several unpaid meetings, mandatory holiday shifts and the pressure to meet sales quotas was priority over actually helping clients improve their lifestyles. I was ready to have more freedom to raise my children and have more time to spend with my husband.

I called an old friend who I knew would be interested in partnering up and we decided to open up our own place. My business partner suggested that we set a date of when we were going to open and then we worked hard to make it happen. It was about a 6 month process of finding a space, building out, ordering equipment and passing all of the county inspections to actually open our doors. There were several hurdles along the way including an unexpected expense of building out an additional bathroom to adhere to the county code requirements. I like to think that we were ignorantly optimistic and thats how we stayed sane through all of the unexpected expenses of being new business owners. We opened up in January of 2014 and have been going hard since then! I have since bought out my former business partner and I am now sole owner.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I own a fitness boutique in the northern suburbs of Atlanta offering Pilates, Yoga, Barre, functional training, massage, health/nutrition coaching. We have over 40 classes offered per week and we also offer private sessions. Our clients appreciate the variety of classes that we offer, they can get their strength training, cardio, core cork, yoga, stretching and zen all in the same place, most small studios only offer one or two options but we have much more. Aside from what we offer I am most proud of our community and culture, everyone is welcome and we will have fun together as we work to better our health and lifestyle. We have a chair yoga class with seniors, we have groups of NFL players, company ballet dancers, empty nesters, executives and your typically younger moms who are squeezing in workouts while their kids are at school. Several of our clients have named Lifemoves Studio as their “happy place.”

My background as an athlete is in endurance sports including swimming, cross country/track and triathlons. Yoga and Pilates found me as a young college student at the University of North Florida, I was offered free certifications to learn how to teach both yoga and Pilates and since then I have built on those initial certifications and eventually opened my own space. My creative outlet is through movement and creating fun classes that will deliver results without people getting bored.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As I mentioned before I worked in a high pressure sales corporate fitness program director and everything was about “the money.” This is the worst mindset ever! I have changed to focusing on my clients, providing them with excellent customer service and developing relationships with each person. I know that if I deliver high quality service with integrity I will never have to worry about money again. This does not mean that I give away things for free, it means that you should know your worth and deliver on that. Focus on your “why” and the numbers will crunch themselves. My “why” is to help people and make a difference in their overall lifestyle, build their confidence, improve performance and in some cases to help relieve chronic pain.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My team of 12 instructors is the lifeline of the business, they are truly my number one asset. I treat them with respect and love. I do not micro manage, if they interview and get hired then I believe in their abilities I give them the freedom to be creative as an instructor. I do not meet to just meet because I value their time and we keep open communication as a group and with my individually. I am beyond grateful for the group of talented and educated instructors. Four of my instructors have owned their own studios before and they have deeper empathy for my day to day task and they understand the profit margins at a different level then those who have never owned a business.

Most of my team have younger families so we all have each other’s back when it comes to last minute subs or emergencies. Its important to hire team members who will fit into your culture, if my gut tells me someone will not mesh well then it is simple I do not hire them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lifemovesstudio.com
• Instagram: @lifemoves_lady
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lifemovesstudio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcwbCKv4ITIlwrOAciREdIw

Image Credits
@crystalbarbeephotography @liviegeephotography