How To Start a Zumba Business In 2023? 7 Practical Steps
Explore how to teach Zumba online and start a Zumba class business in 7 ready-to-implement steps
Pandemic made people super conscious of their health, fitness, and well-being. Everyone is suddenly revaluating their lifestyle choices and joining various fitness programs. So, if Zumba is your passion and you want to start a Zumba business, this is the best time ever! Don’t delay your precious dream any longer. But, how to start a Zumba business? In this blog post, we will walk you through everything you need to start teaching Zumba online and start a Zumba class/studio.
7 Steps to Start a Zumba Business
1) Get all the needed certifications
First of all, get certified and become an expert in Zumba.
- Zumba.com’s certificate: It is offered at $399. They offer virtual and in-person training, which ranges from 8 hours to 2 days.
- CPR training: A CPR certificate is highly recommended for any fitness professional to deal with unexpected health issues of a client during intense exercise. Red Cross is one of the best entities to get your CPR certificate from.
- GEI: The Group exercise instructor (GEI) is one of the highly desirable certificates if you’re starting a Zumba business or any type of fitness studio.
Other preferable certificates are NASM-CPT Certification and Registration of Exercise Professionals (REPs).
Check out this detailed article: How to be a certified Zumba instructor
2) Have a web presence
Whether you start a physical Zumba class or have a virtual one, having a web presence is a must. You can’t solely rely on social media pages and expect customers to find you when they search on Google. Here are the options to have an online presence.
- Create a free webpage on Yottled.com: It’s a complimentary feature you’ll get when you buy their all-in-one backend tools. You don’t need to pay for a domain name, hosting, or web development. It’s the easiest way to have a webpage.
- Use Wix or other website builders: You will get your own website with drag-and-drop facilities. Caution: Their renewal rates and add-ons features are very expensive. Plus, you need to buy a domain, too. Make sure you have the budget for it.
- Make a website using WordPress: Buy a domain name and hosting. Then install WordPress to make a website. You need some training on how to use plugins, themes, templates, etc. There are many free videos available on YouTube for that. Caution: Learning WordPress is a time-consuming job. Make sure you have enough time for it.
- Hire a developer or a third-party website developing agency: If you have a huge budget, then go for it! Caution: You still need to buy a domain name, hosting, SSL/TLS certificate, automated backup tools, security softwares, etc.
3) Get an all-in-one fitness management tool like Yottled
Once you have a web presence, you need a backend admin tool. You can’t keep all records in a diary and sticky notes. You must digitalize everything. Otherwise, you’ll end up spending all the energy managing the administrative workload instead of focusing on teaching Zumba.
Use a digital administrative tool that allows you to
- offer memberships,
- store customer information on CRM,
- schedule live Zumba sessions,
- sell Zumba videos or affiliate products,
- send automated reminders and marketing emails,
- make invoices,
- collect payment,
- store clients’ information, etc.
Yottled is one of the easiest fitness management tools (free) you can use, especially if you’re not a tech-savvy person. You can integrate it on your own website or have all the facilities on your Yottled webpage. Here’s a demo Yottled page.
4) Follow the below-stated marketing tips to attract clients
To start a Zumba business, you need to set up some proper marketing channels to fetch clients in this heavily competitive industry.
Social media: It’s a no-brainer suggestion. Have an account on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, if you don’t have one already. Join groups/ communities related to Zumba and share your tips and experiences. Upload your Zumba videos for free to attract followers and be an influencer.
Join Question-Answer platforms: Join Quora and Reddit. Find Zumba-related questions and answer them accurately. Genuinely help people by providing well-research answers to their questions and concerns. You can even post links to your videos and blog posts to redirect them gradually to your Zumba business.
Write and publish Blogs: You can write fitness-related blog posts on your own website, on Yottled’s blog, or any third-party blog platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Blogger, etc. Share it on social media. If you’re not a good writer, hire someone from freelancer.com or upwork.com to write for you.
Register your business on Google: Here’s a detailed guide on how to list your business on Google. If you have a Zumba studio or just a website, you still need to register it on Google for letting people know about your Zumba business’s existence when they search it online.
5) Start offering live Zumba sessions and memberships
Once you start getting followers and clients, organize live Zumba sessions. You can do Zumba from your home; no need for traveling or paying any other expenses. These live sessions can be free or paid. The second interesting thing you can offer is membership. Your clients can access n number of live sessions, unlimited free videos, join your Zumba events, etc. at a fixed monthly rate.
Once people start liking your virtual Zumba classes and your followers increase, be a personal Zumba trainer and offer 1:1 Zumba coaching sessions. This can be virtual or offline, i.e., you travel to the client’s location to provide Zumba training.
But how to offer memberships, give appointments, and get people to sign up for the live sessions exactly? For that, you need an efficient fitness management tool! Refer point- 3!
6) Tie up with local fitness studios and gyms
Tie up with local gyms for providing Zumba sessions to their existing customers at a nominal price or even for free. It’s a win-win game. For gyms, it will be a great marketing point and for you, it’s free publicity.
Gyms might also ask you to share revenue from the fees you receive from these sessions. In any circumstances, this trick will work finely because you are going to interact with a large number of fitness-conscious people in your area. If they like your training, you’ll get amazing leads for your Zumba business.
7) Start a Zumba class business/studio
Finally, this is the last stage of starting a Zumba business. Now that you have a decent pool of clients, take the big leap and open your own Zumba studio. You need to deal with some big expenses like rent, electricity, banners, admin staff, other Zumba instructors, music system, business insurance, etc. It generally takes $20,000 to 1 million to start a Zumba class business. Check out this detailed guide on expenses and legal requirements related to Zumba studio.
Conclusion on How to Start a Zumba Business
To start a Zumba business, you must have proper certifications, a web presence, a backend fitness management tool, appropriate marketing channels, strong branding, and a decent pool of clients. Starting a Zumba class business or studio is a risky decision due to the costs involved in it. So make sure you have followed all the above mention steps before opening an in-person Zumba class.
