We're seeing a crazy number of new small/independent/boutique studios opening all over the world – which is awesome. I love being part of a growth industry, not to mention how all these new studios need Instructors!
But what's driving all this growth? I know that a whole bunch of studios have opened, who's owners will tell you that their initial motivation came from hearing my first interview with Bill Pryor/Spynergy Consulting; Start Your Own Indoor Cycling Studio from 2010.
But there has been another force at work in our industry; SoulCycle.
Google Trends is an interesting service where you can observe the popularity for a particular subject over time. The data is based on mentions in prominent media and Google searches. You plug in a few search terms and Google displays a trending line to show the popularity of the topic and easily compare with other searches.
So here's a comparison between the search terms; Soul Cycle and Spin Class – with apologies for omitting the ® which isn't normally used in an article or search.
Through the wonders of technology, Google makes it possible for you to see and interact with the results.
Admittedly, I needed to try a few different search terms before I found this one that I feel most accurately reflects the impact SoulCycle has had on the popularity of Indoor Cycling. “Spinning” alone doesn't work as there are too many uses of the word that don't apply. I did try to add Flywheel into the mix, but there are very few mentions of searches.
Google's data only goes back to 2004 – it would make this more interesting if we could see back before then. The graph does show “Spin Class” as relatively flat until the first mention of SoulCycle in the fall of 2005. I'm not sure we can draw a direct correlation (but I'll try anyway) to the noticeable uptick around the time we launched ICI/PRO in the fall of 2009 and then again around the time of Bill's interview in 2010 🙂
Love them or hate them, SoulCycle has had (at least by this method) a hugely positive effect on the visibility of Indoor Cycling and small studios.
I attended Club Industry last week. The show was pretty small this year, compared with my last visit in 2011. There were no rides being conducted this year and only Star Trac, Schwinn, Keiser and Matrix had Indoor Cycles on display – only a few each.
Here's what I saw that was new, dumb or otherwise note worthy.
“The 1990's called and wants it's Maximum Heart Rate chart back.” I was in too good a mood to confront explain to this vendor as to why the promotion of discredited myths, like age predicted maximum heart rate charts, is a real detriment to our industry.
I’m not sure peddling this nonsense is in any way creative 🙁
Tae Yoo from Performance IQ was exhibiting with Schwinn. His system connects wirelessly via Ant+ with the AC Performance's M-Power console and displays it on the screen.
You wouldn't have noticed it walking by, but this AC Performance Plus has a Gates carbon drive belt. Not sure when it will be available – you'll need to check with your distributor if you're planning a purchase. In case you're wondering, this belt system (same as on the FreeMotion S11.9) would be my choice if I was considering either brand of Indoor Cycles.
Matrix was displaying the new version of the ICG Indoor Cycle. It was kind of sad not to have Jim Karanas there to ask him about it. There's a bunch of changes, but I couldn't get anyone's attention to explain them to me…
And last, but not least… how about taking a class lead by a Holographic Instructor? I took some pictures of a scaled down display of a company called HolograFit, but they didn't turn out. Keying off the “Virtual Instructor” craze (which I'm not seeing as being overly successful so far for anyone) HolograFit's display system projects a holographic 3D image in the front of the room, for everyone to follow. Like multiple other virtual Instructor systems, they provide a catalog of classes that can be shown between live classes or some enterprising studio owner could purchase the $80,000 system and eschew Instructors all together.
Amy's fitness instructor professional liability insurance renewed this month. I offered to shop around to see if I could find the best / lowest cost annual policy – something more reasonable than the $170.00 per year charged by Markel Insurance who provided her coverage last year.
I did 🙂
We purchased a $3,000,000 Instructor liability policy from HPSO – Healthcare Providers Service Organization for only $112.00!We had a negative experience when we renewed 9/14 and have cancelled our policy with these people. Very disappointed by their customer service. Strongly suggest going somewhere else.
When Amy first started teaching Pilates at a local Catholic grade school, they required her to have a liability policy “just in case”. But in actuality the churches board wouldn't approve of using an outside contractor (Amy) without there being a policy in place that named the church as an additional insured.
That was about 6 years ago. We started with the insurance company recommended by IDEA – Philadelphia Insurance @ $170.00. But there was a catch to get their discounted rate… you needed to be an IDEA member. Fine if you already were, but, not knowing any better, we also purchased a year of IDEA @ $99.00 + the $170.00 for a total of $260.00. That's a lot and as it turned out, it ate up about a third of the potential revenue Amy had forecasted to earn over the winter.
Then we switched to Markel. Same cost, but without the hundred dollar IDEA membership.
Now what we found with HPSO is that she gets the same level of coverage, while saving $58.00. Not a king's ransom, but I know Amy and she'd much rather spend that on some cute yoga pants.
Feel free to share this with your Instructor friends.
*Different states require different types of insurance, as do the different formats you're teaching (at varying costs) so you'll need to check their site for the specific costs for where you live and teach.
I'm excited to attend the MINDBODY FitPro Conference in Los Angeles at the end of this month for a bunch of reasons. Are you planning to attend?
Please say hello if you are at the Friday morning networking breakfast. Or, if you're not afraid of heights, at the Saturday evening party up on the helicopter pad. In between you can text me 612-868-0064 so we can meetup.
There's a good chance you'll run into me at the Spinning® booth where Performance IQ will be showing off their display system, connected to the new Spinner® Blade ION indoor cycle with power. I don't have all the details yet, but it sounds like Performance IQ will be integrated at some level into the Spinpower education program. Very cool and I'm excite to hear what studio owners have to say when they see it in action + get their thoughts about using rider performance data as a retention tool.
This all connects with your MINDBODY Online system!
Tae Yoo and Mark Davids from Performance IQ invited me to attend this year and are sponsoring my trip. Thanks Guys 🙂
There are a number of workshops featuring Josh Taylor, Natashia Iacovelli, Marci Williams and others. I'm waiting on a response from Josh to know if there will be any power based classes and will update this once I know more.
Studio owners can partake in a ton of informative business sessions. Here are a few I'm hoping to attend:
Corporate Wellness: Making it Your Business — David McAtee
Join David McAtee, Sales Manager for MINDBODY Exchange, to review the latest trends in the corporate wellness market and learn how to promote your practice through the new MINDBODY Exchange.
Connecting the Dots: How to Build a Breakthrough Business– Rick Stollmeyer
Join MINDBODY Co-Founder and CEO, Rick Stollmeyer, for an inspiring discussion of what it takes to build a business from the ground up. Rick will share his own entrepreneurial journey from garage start-up to global leader, highlighting the “dots” every entrepreneur needs to connect before a business can truly break through the barriers to success.
Creating, Cultivating and Living Your Brand in the Fitness Industry — Jessica Matthews With a plethora of information and services out there, what makes you or your business different from the rest? The road to becoming a recognized and respected name in the world of health and fitness begins with identifying and embracing who you authentically are, clearly establishing what it is that you uniquely offer, and ultimately building trust and maintaining the loyalty of those that you interact with. From leveraging your knowledge and skills to optimizing your reach and enhancing how you communicate your message, discover how to establish and grow your personal brand while inspiring others to live happier, healthier, fitter lives.
You can download the full schedule, session descriptions and register here. You can save 20% on the registration fee using the coupon code READY4FITPRO
The Senior Group Fitness Instructor and I spent a weekend in Door County WI last month. Lots of quaint little towns to explore along the shores of Lake Michigan. We did what most tourists do as we walked along all the shops and restaurants… we stopped to check out the menus posted along the sidewalk, with the intent of finding the place where we would have dinner that evening.
I hadn't considered it at the time, but if one of the restaurants we passed didn't have a menu posted near the sidewalk, we wouldn't have considered eating there. Without some of the basic information (type of food, pricing, ambiance, entertainment, etc…) we'd never know if they had the best food in town or not.
We weren't looking for anything specific in a place to eat – the best I can tell you we were just looking for some place that fit us. Does that make sense? I guess it follows the; “I don't know what I want… but I'll know it, once I find it!”
So, is your class “menu” displayed somewhere prospective participants can find/learn more about you and your class? Or classes if you're a studio owner/manager?
I'm thinking this menu needs to be more than; “Indoor Cycling with John” which really doesn't tell you anything about me or my class. Maybe I could improve my menu by adding a picture of me and something all flowery and word-smithy like; “Experience outdoor cycling… indoors. Take a virtual training ride with John. Blah, blah, blah” which may or may not be effective. What else could you include?
Beyond your; charming / energetic personality, comprehensive knowledge of exercise physiology and dazzling smile, what else (if they could know more in advance) would be of interest to potential participants to our classes? Or your regulars for that matter?
How about your music!
Consider what primarily gets shared between members about your class:
How hard/easy is her class?She killed us this morning!
Was his music good?We rocked this morning! or What was he thinking with that playlist?
Technology from Spotify and Deezer now gives us the ability to easily share our playlists. Surge Cycle is a studio near me. On their Meet our Instructors page (Internet menu of sorts) studio owner Zion Anderson has posted a sample Spotify playlist of each instructor's class music. Here is Zion's playlist.
Now I think that's an awesome idea… now if I could get Life Time to do something similar.
It was the Podcast that launched dozens of new cycling studio startups. Our February 2010 interview with Indoor Cycling Studio consultant Bill Pryor (Podcast #88) presented the idea that a passionate Instructor could open a successful studio. We're aware of dozens who did and Bill has assisted over 200 entrepreneurs around the world plan and operate their new fitness business.
That was three years ago and there's been a lot of changes in our industry as it affects independent studios; all the new indoor cycles with power/watts, MyRide+ big screen virtual ride offerings from ICG and others, rider metrics displayed and captured by Performance IQ & MyZone and the ascension of SoulCycle, Flywheel and the new Peloton studios that have interjected an enormous amount of buzz in our market.
Online payment systems from MindBody Online and others have dramatically reduced both the time and effort required to manage a profitable studio.
