TRIYOGA OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA CASE STUDY
BENEFITS
- Helps grow the businesses and serve more students
- Saves time by eliminating manual administrative tasks
- Makes tracking key business metrics effortless through dashboard and reporting
- Supports nonprofit and multi-location business model
- Eliminates the need to make guesses for key business decisions
BUSINESS PROFILE
TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania is a multi-location, nonprofit yoga studio owned and operated by long-time yoga practitioner, Theresa Shay. This studio is home to over 150 students in central Pennsylvania, offering classes like prenatal yoga and senior yoga to support students in all stages of life. TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania is a well-loved and respected studio, and it serves as the training hub for the TriYoga® practice on the east coast.
CHALLENGE
For the first 14 years, Theresa ran her business manually. From tracking attendance to collecting and recording payments, communicating with students and overseeing business revenue and expenses, all business administration was done by hand. “Every waking moment that wasn’t spent teaching, eating or driving to the studio was spent on administrative work,” Theresa explained. “The work was time-consuming and took away from time that I could spend with my students.”
Besides being extraordinarily time-consuming, running the business manually forced Theresa to rely on her intuition to make critical business decisions. “We were running the business with pencil, paper and clipboards,” Theresa said. “All the business numbers were in my head. I remember trying to do the business budget by laying out 12 to 16 different pieces of paper on my kitchen floor. I’d then start counting numbers to try and make sense of everything.”
Collecting student fees was also difficult. Like most business owners without management software, she was forced to chase down payments and didn’t enjoy the problematic conversations about late membership fees. “I have a great relationship with all my students, so it always felt awkward discussing late payments with them,” Theresa explained.
“The first person I ever hired to help me with my business was a Penn State MBA graduate. She pointed out that we had a leaky collections system with too many people not paying on time or at all. I realized that if we couldn’t get our payment system under control, we’d have a serious problem that could jeopardize the business,” Theresa said.
It was then that Theresa learned about yoga studio management software and how it simplifies business management, including streamlining the billing and payment collections process. “Once I heard about studio management software, I knew it was the answer. But not just any software would do,” Theresa said.
Theresa needed affordable software that would work for multiple locations and allow the studio to continue serving students with their specific, nonprofit business model. She also wanted to work with a company whose values aligned with hers. “Through yoga, I help people live better lives, so I wanted a software company with a soul and spirit who understood that. After learning that Zen Planner’s company value is OHANA, I felt they were the right fit for us,” Theresa said.
SOLUTION
Once Theresa started her free trial of the software, she was amazed by how easy it was to set up and use. “Zen Planner’s Customer Advocate team was there for me every step of the way. They were focused on actually helping me, and they never pushed me to buy anything. I felt supported, encouraged and welcomed way before I became a customer. So, joining the Zen Planner family was the obvious answer,” Theresa explained.
With Zen Planner, running the business is much easier and more enjoyable. Theresa reports doing very little administrative work now that the business is run on software. All the manual work is now automated, so she and her team save countless hours each week. She also no longer needs to chase down payments because all billing and payments are automated, so they don’t fall through the cracks.
“I love the Staff App. It has streamlined the way we train new teachers since the interface is intuitive and simple.”
Theresa can monitor TriYoga’s metrics through Zen Planner’s dashboard and reports, which gives her the power to run her business on more than just intuition. She said, “There are so many things I didn’t even realize I wanted to know until getting Zen Planner. I can stay on top of my metrics and run the studio successfully without getting overwhelmed.”
Without manual administrative tasks, but with easy to use metrics and reporting at her fingertips, Theresa is finally able to focus on growing her studio. “Zen Planner saved my sanity and brain capacity. We can now take on more teachers, students and events since I don’t have to try and manage everything in my brain. Every aspect of the organization is better since implementing Zen Planner,” says Theresa.
“When I’m on the go, I love that I can see what’s happening at all three of our locations from my phone, rather than having to log in from my computer or work on the studio end from my tiny screen. It’s easy to see whether a studio is available for a private session or meeting, and I can tell who’s teaching and who’s attended a class with great ease.”
