Why Didn't I Franchise?

I had an interesting chat today with a good friend of mine who I've know for years and she was a Pilates student of mine in Tennessee. She asked me if I had ever considered going the franchise route when I opened my studios. I gave her probably a longer answer than she expected! I figured some of you may be interested in my answer as well.

When I opened my studio in Tennessee, I don’t believe the Pilates franchises existed yet. This was over 15 years ago so it was never a consideration. I simply used the skills and background I had and I figured it out. I learned by trial and error and course corrected along the way! I managed to create my own success and build something I could be proud of.

When I made the decision to move to Lexington and open a studio, I had been participating in a mentoring group for Pilates and like fitness studios. This business training opened my eyes to some ways to grow my business and also reduce my workload. I was doing the training to learn and grow and possibly approach things in a new studio a bit different. I had been an island so to speak and I knew I could benefit from learning from others. I had had success with my TN studio and wanted to set myself up for bigger success in KY. What surprised me the most about the others in this training group was most were part of franchises and they were failing and struggling to be profitable. I had not had that issue. There was a lot of discussion around the issues with franchises. It was eye-opening to me.

I fully intended to be an independent small business in Lexington. That was my plan. A girlfriend of mine, who I had met at a Pilates conference, suggested I check out the model of one of the franchises. Mostly to appease her I looked into it (I won't name names but you’ve certainly heard of it). With what I heard in my mentoring and what I knew about running a business, it did not make sense to me. I also could see how profitability could be challenging. I did not see the benefit for the initial investment and continued need to pay monthly. I knew I knew how to run a business and wanted to run it the way I felt was best for my clients.

One of the other big issues for me with a franchise model was taking direction from a company more interested in the bottomline and less interested in teaching Pilates as Joseph Pilates intended. It’s always been important to me to keep my classes small and offer individual help and personalization. I want my students to see the benefit and transformation like I did. I can’t imagine Joseph Pilates having a class of 12 or 16 or more students with an instructor on a microphone giving out exercises to all as if they are the same ability. I was content to make less by having less bodies but to feel I was doing it right and really helping my students reach their goals. That’s why I got into Pilates - it was for the love of it not the money.

Here we are some 15 plus years later and I am so glad I believed in myself, trusted my gut, and stayed true to my dream of helping people. Being able to make decisions that benefit my students not a corporation has always felt right to me. And to be clear - this is just my perspective and my approach but it’s one I stand by.

So there you have it - the long winded answer my friend didn’t see coming when she asked me a simple question this morning!