Posted: February 17th, 2022

How Software Is Helping Yoga Studios Keep Their Balance

Poornima Vijayashanker had practiced yoga for greater than 6 years when she had a realization: Yoga studios weren’t utilizing like they need to. Whatever the studio, she noticed yogis who had entered the enterprise considering they’d be serving to college students excellent their poses, however had been as an alternative spending their time monitoring attendance and chasing renewals to remain afloat.
In fact, Vijayashanker wasn’t simply any yoga scholar. She was a budding software program engineer who’d turn into one of many first workers on the on-line private finance web site and dropped out of Stanford’s pc science graduate program to do it. When the was acquired by monetary administration powerhouse Intuit, she struck out looking for a brand new enterprise enterprise that will encourage her to “bounce away from bed within the morning.”
From her tenure at Mint she knew that enterprise house owners have restricted time and would “slightly do something than handle their funds.” In January of 2010, Vijayashanker launched her personal firm, , largely via bootstrapping and $450,000 from angel investments. The straightforward, cloud-based service tracks membership, attendance and revenues for unbiased health companies. The software automates repetitive duties corresponding to billing and sophistication reminders, saving instructors time and retaining all the corporate’s information in a single place.

Whereas related instruments corresponding to and exist, BizeeBee is tailor-made to the particular wants of younger and small companies with a single location, modest enrollment and annual income of $100,000-200,000. Vijayashanker designed BizeeBee to be versatile and low value: No contracts are required and month-to-month subscription charges are lower than $70. With yoga on the rise — the variety of yoga practitioners grew 29 % to 20.four million Individuals from 2008 to 2012, in keeping with Yoga Journal’s — Vijayashanker anticipates a rise in instructors who’ll probably want administration Help when beginning out.
Within the two and a half years since its launch, Palo Alto, Calif.-based BizeeBee has constructed a consumer roster that features private trainers, instructors, and house owners of yoga, dance and martial arts studios, whose 36,000 shoppers are at present tracked by the software.
Suggestions from its subscribers impressed Vijayashanker so as to add new options to the software program in 2011, together with an internet storefront to promote provides and sophistication packages. BizeeBee Billing, designed to streamline fee assortment at a value of four % per transaction, is at present being beta-tested.
Simple administration software program is very vital to rising small, community-driven companies, in keeping with Rob Schware, co-founder of the , a gaggle that brings yoga to underserved communities and trains instructors who do the identical. He explains, “[Management] instruments which might be easy to put in and straightforward to implement Help the start yoga studio proprietor or teacher to achieve their communities extra successfully.”
Vijayashanker says income is rising at a charge of 1-2 % per 30 days and reached break even on the finish of 2012. The corporate is now run by Vijayashanker and her technical co-founder Alex Notov, with the Helpance of two interns concerned in advertising and marketing and growth.
BizeeBee’s subsequent step is to extend its on-line presence via Web advertising and marketing through social media, electronic mail campaigns and search engine marketing. It would additionally develop its YouTube-hosted : brief episodes that intention to provide enterprise house owners suggestions and improve BizeeBee’s credibility.
Impressed by her experiences in tech, Vijayashanker has additionally created , an ed-tech startup created to coach, encourage and empower ladies constructing tech merchandise and companies. The programs cowl subjects like product growth and interview methods and college students are (naturally) scheduled and managed via the software. Utilizing BizeeBee as a case examine in her curriculum, Vijayashanker encourages aspiring ladies in tech to be self-motivated, self-reliant and to take dangers. She inform them: “Acknowledge you’re resourceful sufficient.”

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