Laura Munkholm has been a yoga teacher, studio manager, and studio owner who knows firsthand both the joys of helping people improve their lives and the technical and business challenges faced by boutique fitness studios. She and her Walla co-founder integrate their passion for fitness with cutting-edge behavioral psychology research and technology tools to empower studio owners and teachers to attract and retain motivated clients.   

Key Takeaways 

• Existing studio software is not equipped to handle the complexity of the fitness business. Studio owners struggle to get the data they need to understand the profitability of individual classes, students, and teachers.   
• Few people understand how complex many fitness business models are. Clients can select from various packages, each with a different per-class rate. Many studios offer a free unlimited period to attract new clients. Without detailed attendance and profitability tracking, it’s impossible to understand the financial impact of many business decisions.   

• COVID transformed consumer expectations, and now 60% want a hybrid approach that allows them to take classes at the studio or online. This further complicates the tech demands on each studio owner.   
• Without better insight into what motivated individuals to stick with a program, studios relied on discounts and deals. These have limited benefits and can be difficult to sustain financially.   
• There’s a whole behavioral psychology movement around fitness, wellness, nutrition practices, and how people can ultimately create a habit.   
• Skillpower is a company that worked with leading behavioral psychology researchers from MIT, Stanford, and Penn State because changing your nutrition, fitness, and wellness habits is a mental effort before it’s a physical one. These researchers identified four personality types that are each motivated differently.   

• Walla integrates this research into its studio software. Clients take the survey. Teachers can see each student’s photo and profile and use it to communicate more effectively. Studios can adapt their marketing to match the individual’s motivation style.   
• Another pain point for studio owners is easy access to critical data. They need to track the profitability of individual classes, teachers, and students to inform important decisions. Existing software makes this data collection very challenging. Walla brings it all to you.   

Quote of the show: 

10:27 “Can we adopt this [behavioral psychology research] in a boutique fitness studio when people are walking through the door? And the answer is absolutely because it’s really based on customization, how you communicate, and how you motivate the individual. And we all need different types of motivation… It’s not necessarily what makes [clients] go to the gym. It’s what makes them come back [and] what makes them stick with it. That’s the challenge. So that’s the key.”   

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramunkholm/ 

Company Website: https://www.hellowalla.com/   

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD