We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Abby Price. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Abby below.

Abby, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Risk taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Taking a risk is a big step for anyone. No matter how big or small, all risks come with many challenges and celebrations. After receiving my yoga instructor certification, I knew I wanted to take action with it and begin to teach others the amazing mind, body, and soul benefits of yoga. I’ve always anticipated owning my own business. An opportunity arose, so I decided to take action and open my own studio. Starting a yoga studio in a small, rural community was definitely a risk, financially, mentally, and physically. My mind was flooding with, “What ifs?” from the time I agreed to sign a lease up until I hosted my first class. My mind was racing with thoughts of doubt and negativity. Will people think I’m crazy for opening a yoga studio in such a small town? What if I can’t pay the rent or the bills? What if no one comes? What if no one likes the classes offered? Will my body be able to handle working a full-time job along with teaching classes one to two times a day? So many thoughts.

I soon realized I needed to take these doubts and turn them into positives, or the business would spiral downhill before it even opened. What if people think it’s a great idea to have a yoga studio in a small town? What if I can pay the rent and bills and actually make some extra money? What if the studio fills with clients? What if clients enjoy the classes and share their excitement with others? I knew I needed to keep this positive mindset as I transformed the space and prepared to open to the public.

The space I rented needed a lot of work. It was not at all a space that could immediately begin yoga classes, but I had a vision that the space could work. Walls needed to be torn down, all new flooring needed to be installed, many gallons of paints needed to be put on the walls and rolls of wallpaper and window covering had to be put up. After two months of my husband, family, and friends helping to remodel the space and preparing day in and day out with ordering materials and equipment, decorating the studio, designing classes, and building a website and followers on social media, I offered my first class on April 11, 2022. Wow! What an amazing, heart filling experience. The studio was flooded with people from wall to wall full of excitement and support to check out the space and the classes. I was overwhelmed with joy. Throughout this first year, business has stayed steady, yet still growing and thriving. Our studio community is amazing and new clients check out the studio frequently. I can’t say it’s been easy, but it has been very rewarding and hard work and determination has undoubtedly paid off. Opening a yoga studio was certainly a risk I am glad I had the courage to take.

Abby, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a full-time Elementary Teacher of 13 years and a Certified Yoga Instructor and Sound Healer. I opened my own yoga studio in April 2022 part-time, to continue to fulfill my desire of helping others and owning my own business. Yoga was never something I could push myself to practice in the past, as I never had enough patience to fully enjoy and truly appreciate all it has to offer. In 2006 at the age of 19, I had a back surgery. Flash forward 11 years to 2017, I found myself in an even more debilitating state and had a second back surgery at the age of 30. I definitely did not want to live my life in pain and be restricted from many activities I love and limit what I can do with my own two children. After my second surgery my surgeon encouraged me to take up yoga for back health. I tried to begin a yoga journey, but the pain was too intense, and I could not balance due to nerve damage down my leg. Defeated, I gave up after a short time. After checking in with my surgeon, he encouraged me to push through the pain and give it time. After reluctantly pushing through pain and overcoming difficulty and frustration, I slowly began to gain my strength and balance back. Not only this, but I was also experiencing so many mental and spiritual benefits. The benefits of yoga had shown through. I decided I wanted to share this with others and began my training and become a Certified Yoga Instructor to share this sacred practice with others.

An opportunity arose to rent a space in town, and I decided this was my chance to take that risk and pursue my goal of owning my own business. With that, Be You Yoga & Fitness Studio LLC was created. I made the space my own of which by no means is anything fancy, large, or upscale. But it’s the perfect space to share with others to pass the gift of what yoga has to offer to the mind, body, and spirit. Here, everyone is welcome, and no judgement is passed. All come to our studio with different backgrounds, stories, and ability levels. Being in a small rural community has drawn others from neighboring small communities to the studio.

Be You Yoga & Fitness Studio LLC offers a variety of different yoga style classes including Yin, Hatha, Chair, Restorative, Nidra, Iyengar, Vinyasa, and Power. I enjoy welcoming independent contractors to showcase their talents and classes they have to offer. This leads the studio into having amazing, certified instructors who all specialize in a particular yoga style. The studio also has instructors certified in Yoga Up (TM) and WERQ Dance Fitness (TM) to add in some extra fun. On top of the regularly offered classes, specialty classes are created to add more variety and to give clients an opportunity to explore and learn new information. As a certified sound healer, some specialty classes also incorporate sound healing with Crystal Singing Bowls which adds an even greater benefit to help clients relax, heal, and let go. The studio is an amazing and inviting space that fills with a wonderful community of those open to the benefits and joy yoga brings.

I’m most proud of not giving up. There have been several instances when life has gotten too busy or there is a stretch of slow classes where I have thought of just giving up, even after just one year. Owning and running a business, having a full-time career, and having time for my family takes a lot of time management, discipline, and energy. When I think about how far the business has come in just one short year, it reminds me to keep pushing forward. I know there will always be difficulties and step backs, but there will also be even more celebrations and steps forward. Invariably having supportive people behind me and cheering me on is so important.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

As the business just passed the one-year mark, social media and word of mouth have been the most effective strategy for growing clientele at this point. There are still clients who are coming into the studio who say they didn’t even know this studio was in town. Consistent, daily marketing on Facebook and Instagram featuring clients, classes, updates, yoga facts, quotes, and personal stories keep running through feeds of followers. Clients have reached out saying they have been watching the Facebook page for several months before they have attended a class.

I also really appreciate and rely on word of mouth from our regular clients who share their enthusiasm and joy of particular classes or all classes with others to help bring new faces into the studio. Having discounted classes, fun specialty classes, special deals on packages and memberships, and giveaways helps to attract people into the studio to try out a class they otherwise may not have attended. Overall, relying on social media outlets and word of mouth have been highly effective strategies and successful to growing clientele.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Two months before opening the business I began to market on social media. I shared my page to my personal feed and relied on friends and family to share the business page as well. I invited people to follow the studio page on Facebook and it created a trickle effect. During the two months preparing to open, I frequently posted sneak peeks of the studio renovation, hints on what classes would be coming, and expressed a multitude of excitement throughout the feed. Once it was closer to opening week, I continued to share sneak peaks of completed spaces in the studio, gradually released class descriptions, released my website, and opened registration and grand opening discounts. The excitement and curiosity from the public and word of mouth began to spread. My followers on social media were growing rapidly before I even opened the doors.

I continue to post daily and showcase clients for others to relate to, which helps gain more followers and traffic. I am still no expert by any means on what the best strategy to build an audience on social media contains, but what I have learned is consistency with staying present, excitement, and real-life marketing definitely serve in building followers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beyouyogafitnessstudio.com
• Instagram: @beyouyogafitnessstudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyouyogafitnessstudio?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Krystol Davis Photography