Elevate, Exit, Evolve: Jill Agonias - Adventures in Selling & Starting Anew

In this  episode, we reconnect with Jill Agonias, a cherished guest from season two, as she shares her journey post-selling her beloved yoga studio, Sol Seek Yoga, and diving into her new venture in real estate. This episode is packed with insights, from the importance of community and branding in the yoga business to embracing new challenges and opportunities.

Highlights:
- Jill's successful sale of Sol Seek Yoga, including her strategic approach to finding the right buyers and securing offers 30% above asking.

- The pivotal role of systems, marketing automations, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in preparing a business for sale or scalable growth.

- Jill's transition into real estate, leveraging her entrepreneurial skills and passion for supporting fellow entrepreneurs.

- Advice for studio owners on resilience, navigating change, and the importance of self-care and community support.

Jill Agonias : http://jillagoniasrealtor.com

Mentioned Links
- Sol Seek Yoga
- Mitch McGinley, Boutique Fitness Broker

- Women's Economic Ventures, where Jill teaches entrepreneurship classes: 

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Michael Jay - Yoga Biz Champ 

Michael Jay, the Yoga Biz Champ, stands as the go-to Yoga Business Consultant, embarked on a mission to elevate yoga studios from mere survival to genuine thriving.

With a rich background as a yoga teacher, former studio owner, marketing expert, and yoga studio business coach, he possesses the insider knowledge necessary to elevate your yoga venture to new heights.

His passion for yoga, combined with a sharp business acumen and a sincere desire to see studio owners excel, encapsulates his professional ethos. Michael is not one to offer one-size-fits-all advice; instead, he's dedicated to providing tailored guidance, tangible outcomes, and supporting your studio to emerge as the next Yoga Biz Champ in your community. 

• Certified Yoga Biz Consultant • 
• FitTech Partner •
• Yoga Studio Launch & Growth Specialist

FREE RESOURCES AND BOOK A CHAT LINK
https://yogabizchamp.link/podlink

FREE RESOURCES AND BOOK A CHAT LINK
https://yogabizchamp.link/podlink

Transcript

Michael Jay: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of now named podcast, Yoga Biz Champ, formerly Yoga Biz Camp, season four. And I am thrilled to have a returning guest with me, Jill Agonias from season two when it was Yoga biz camp. Welcome Jill.

Jill Agonias: Hey, Michael. So happy to be here. Thanks for having 

Michael Jay: me. I am thrilled to have you here. I am not going to go through the whole introduction and your journey. I'm going to suggest if you haven't listened to it, folks, Jill was on season two, episode five, and it was called structure equals free freedom. Sol Seek Yoga.

And in the episode, Jill goes through the entire somewhat traumatic journey of buying a yoga 

Jill Agonias: studio. Just a little traumatic. 

Michael Jay: Going through all the [00:01:00] traumas of buying a studio and facing everything. You really did have it from every front on that opening. And then figuring it out, easing it all putting structure into place and building the most beautiful, amazing studio in Santa Barbara.

And I am thrilled because I don't get to meet all of my podcast guests and we hung out at MindBodyBold once and I got to visit your amazing studio and it is beautiful. But you recently sold 

Jill Agonias: it. Yeah, I did. And it was so fun hanging out with you, by the way. 

Michael Jay: And honestly, your studio, Sol Seek Yoga, downtown Santa Barbara.

What an amazing. When I saw it, I was like, wow, there's not much parking around here. As far as, all the things you look for in a studio there's a lot of odds against it location wise, I think. But. People made a massive effort to get to your [00:02:00] studio 

Jill Agonias: space.

Absolutely. Actually, the parking is not as bad as you think. It just requires a little bit of education.

Michael Jay: But it's tourist town though, right? So it's very It is. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jill Agonias: Very much tourist town. Very much in like the center of downtown Santa Barbara, where all the tourists are walking 

Michael Jay: by. Yeah. But people made that people live there. They made the effort to downtown, not being on the outskirts of town or anything like that.

But it was a place that drew people and you created community. 

Jill Agonias: Thank you. Yes. It was such a gem and still is a gem. It still 

Michael Jay: exists. I'm going to read your LinkedIn post, which funnily enough, I actually shared your LinkedIn post with one of my studios one of my clients this morning to show the possibilities, but Here it is.

I'm proud to announce that I sold my business in September, 2023 with multiple offers closing at 30 percent over asking. Thank [00:03:00] you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supported me and Sol Seek Yoga Studio. Those five years were a wild ride. I started out wearing every hat, working 16 hours a day and slowly grew an empowered team of 40 who ran the business with grace.

Even in my absence, listen to that folks together. We weathered the storm of a global pandemic, a full rebrand and an epic renovation through it all. We became stronger, more organized and more unified by our shared values, small business, heart, big business mindset. Truly, it was my greatest honor founding Sol Seek Yoga and growing it into a space loved by thousands in Santa Barbara and beyond.

As I made the transition from wellness into real estate, I'm bringing with me the values of inclusivity and warmth that define my studio. Always. Thank you so much. And I can't wait to share what ventures are in store next. P. S. The new owners adopted the Sol Seek brand at their two [00:04:00] studios in Manhattan beach.

So now there are three Sol Seek yogas in the world. Make sure to check them out at solseekyoga.com yay! How long did it take you to write 

Jill Agonias: that? Forever. And I wrote it. I didn't put it into chat dpt or anything. 

Michael Jay: That is super you and I feel like every word was thought 

Jill Agonias: out.

Totally. Yeah. Actually it took me four months. Yeah. 

Michael Jay: Yeah. Cause you didn't, you posted it recently, 

Jill Agonias: right? Really recently. I think towards the beginning of this year and I sold the studio September 2023. 

Michael Jay: Yeah. So I sold the studio too. So I know that it's a feeling you gave birth to something and that you're, it's like the legacy continues.

Jill Agonias: Without. Yeah. It's I don't have children, so I don't know from firsthand experience, but it is like having a baby and then letting your baby run off [00:05:00] and be their own person and go to college. 

Michael Jay: Yeah. You nurtured it into something, right? And yeah, and I love that feeling because my studio is now in its 20th year.

Wow. And on its third owner. I feel like my studio opened at that generation. Of when the studios just started opening, we were in basements before that. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah. Or like DVDs and tapes.

Michael Jay: Yeah. Yeah. So how do you feel now, having, how does that, how's it feel you, there's been a bit of space between, selling it and. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah, to be totally honest, when I first sold it, I have, I had known for about a year or so that I was on the brink of potentially selling and, like you were saying, it's my baby and I put my whole entire heart and soul into it.

The process to get from thinking about selling to actually reaching out to Mitch McGinley, the most amazing boutique fitness broker out there. 

Michael Jay: [00:06:00] Yeah, 

Jill Agonias: he's the best. Was like bittersweet to say the least. It was like breaking up with a significant other that you've been with for a long time.

Michael Jay: They grieve you too, 

Jill Agonias: right? Absolutely. Yeah, that's true. There was a lot of grieving a lot of emotions at the studio, mostly, positive, of course, because I was close with mostly everyone and they're very supportive of my transition, but there was a lot of hard work. Heartbreak. Like it took me quite a few months to, and I think that's one of the reasons why it took me so long to post on LinkedIn because I was still going through that grieving and that letting go process.

And yeah, and just like rediscovering who I was as a person because my identity was so wrapped up in the studio. But now that a few months have gone by and I was able to take pretty much a couple [00:07:00] months off of work. I feel. So much lighter, so much more empowered and had a ton of time for reflection.

And yeah, I feel really good. Really good right now. 

Michael Jay: Can you tell me why you chose to, cause you chosen to, I feel like I remember a post you wrote. I'm not sure if it was an Instagram post, but I feel like there was a post at some point where you said something about, I did as much as I could.

Yeah. Did I see that or did I hear that? Totally. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah. Again, to be totally honest, I almost felt like I reached a professional and personal ceiling at the studio. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And I the next Step in yoga studio ownership to scale is opening other yoga 

Michael Jay: studios. That was my, so I want to know, I want to know why that decision, because, you have a choice at that point, right?

You've grown it to a point where it's [00:08:00] profitable, it's value is 30 percent eventually over, asking and so why was that decision to not, expand or franchise,

You could have got done that route, but what was your decision to not do that 

Jill Agonias: route? So even before I. Started at the studio or I guess right when I started at the studio I told myself that I was going to give myself four years to figure out what my next step was going to be I knew that I was either going to The four options were either to close if for some reason the studio was not profitable to sell if the studio was profitable, but it was potentially taking up too much of my time or maybe I wasn't enjoying it as much as I would have liked or like in this situation reached a ceiling.

And then the third option would be to franchise, which at this stage of the studio, it didn't really seem that possible. We just weren't big [00:09:00] enough and we didn't already have other locations. And then the fourth would be to open up additional locations. And so I landed at that number two spot of selling not because I didn't enjoy.

The studio, I loved the work, the people, everything it was my, it was, like, almost my dream job but I didn't, yeah, I just didn't want to take that next step of opening up an additional yoga studio. It's super capital intensive yeah, the only caveat to that would have been if I could own the building.

Right, 

Michael Jay: okay. So you had a team of 40, you've got it to this place. You've got systems, you've got marketing automations. Can you tell me, so a lot of my young, Female studio owners, they, they get to this place. They've started it with passion, they're teachers.

And then they get to a place and, a little bit of overload. And so you put a structure in of, can you [00:10:00] tell a new studio owner how to put a structure of a team in place that helps build your business? Where to 

Jill Agonias: start with that? Totally. Definitely listen to the other podcast episode that we did because it'll go into more detail.

But but yeah, it's just a slow burn. I think a lot of it is you have to be patient. You have to find the right people. Finding the right people is probably one of the most important things. Someone that you trust someone or people that you trust, people that want to stick around and who are invested in your mission and The yoga industry just in general and to document every single thing that you do and just know that it's going to change.

And every time you change it, just update it. And that's one of the best ways to grow a team because then you can literally just hand new team members. Here is the, our standard operating procedure for this specific task. And [00:11:00] as you start to grow your team bigger and bigger, it's. It's so important because, if you think about, we had one general manager and then myself and the general manager really took care of most things.

And so instead of 40 people calling her all at the same time, they know that they can just open up the manual for whatever department they're in and find the answer themselves. 

Michael Jay: So can you tell me. All right. I just had this conversation, honestly, before we met today. SOPs we started because yeah, it's everything right.

And what you said there, you said something in there that it changes, you can update it, which is really important that you can create procedures. But when something comes up, up like an instance, where a lady in the studio, I got a text on the weekend, a lady in a studio screened at somebody else in the middle of the room, right?

 And also, so a [00:12:00] big whole drama over in one class, but to me that's okay. Okay. What can we learn from this? First we need to support our teachers. And so what structure we're going to put into the safety of the teachers.

And so all of this comes into, who do we contact? Who was in that class? Does that all. Ring. 

Jill Agonias: Totally. As you're starting to build your systems, and first of all, I feel like people are intimidated by the word systems and standard operating procedures. It is literally just figuring out, writing down and standardizing what you do on a day to day basis.

It can be very simple, but yeah. When you start writing them, there are bound to be a bunch of things that you don't think of until they actually happen. But I think like in that scenario specifically, it is good to just have a baseline for like, how do we handle conflict? How do we support teachers? How do we support students?

And maybe it's not [00:13:00] necessarily, line by line, this is a script, but this is the overall goal of what we're trying to do. For us, it was like, it was, diffuse the situation, have empathy for whoever is screaming things to help them calm down and then, go from 

Michael Jay: there. Where do you, what is your SOP in, are you printed out, are you online, are you Google, are you, what are you, where is your SOP?

Google Docs 

Jill Agonias: for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes we print stuff out, especially things that are that usually don't change that often, but to have the flexibility in Google Docs, to be able to edit and for everyone to see real time updates is super valuable. But what we did too, just as a side note is every, we would have an announcement.

Updates sheet like Google doc that we would update as time goes on. And if there are ever any changes to the SOPs, we would use that update doc to let people know Hey, [00:14:00] this has changed. And then everybody initials next to the thing that changed. So then everyone's still consistently updated. 

Michael Jay: I love it.

And everybody, I think on the last podcast episode, you spoke about your training was all in your marketing automations and you put everybody into a funnel and did that get any bigger? 

Jill Agonias: Oh my gosh. You, I can go into marketing funnels forever. Maybe we need to do a podcast. Yeah. I'm they consistently grow and what was really important for us.

And what our marketing manager, Taylor, did really was in our yearly calendar, we would schedule in audits. So it's really easy to get overwhelmed by how many automations there are, but it's also equally, it's also super important to make sure that you're spending the time to update them regularly.

Cause you know, maybe your voice changes, maybe a rule at your studio [00:15:00] changes, maybe your price changes. 

Michael Jay: Yeah. So it was you and your manager and then with the teaching, who oversaw the teaching team? Was that you? 

Jill Agonias: Our general manager did. I did for quite a while, but the last year or 

Michael Jay: so she did. And then front desk was general manager as 

Jill Agonias: well.

Yes, she was, Sierra was just a rock star. 

Michael Jay: You just found that, so you just found that magic one person that could do all 

Jill Agonias: of that stuff. She is literally magical. 

Michael Jay: Because those people are out there, right? It's like even with the, when I have new studio owners going through those learning phases of hiring and, and that, that.

Person just not fitting in. I'm like, there are other people that will fit in and be part of your team and want to be part of your 

Jill Agonias: team. Absolutely. Yeah. You just have to put it out there and, show people that you're hiring. And on, I actually recruited Sierra. She was a teacher at the [00:16:00] studio and I don't know exactly what it was, but I just saw something in her and I asked her, do you want to be more a part of the business and start doing some admin and social media work was how it started, which is so funny because she like hate social media.

And then that eventually evolved into something deeper. I think if. Sierra is an anomaly. I think what most studios probably do is have a general manager who does operations, front desk team, sales, and then a teacher manager, and then a marketing manager. 

Michael Jay: But you found that all encompassing person that could do 

Jill Agonias: it all.

Oh yeah, like I said she's magic. 

Michael Jay: So you said that, in the process that you got to that place where you cat to yourself. Can you talk about that? 

Jill Agonias: Yeah, so full disc disclaimer, I have ADHD. 

Michael Jay: And I honestly think [00:17:00] almost so many people in our world do and a lot of my studio owners do too.

Absolutely. And 

Jill Agonias: I think that's Superpower too, though. Totally. I think that's definitely one of our superpowers. I think it's also one thing that, after you do something a certain amount of time, it just becomes a little less exciting, especially because for me, it's I spent four or five years just hyper focused on this thing.

Yeah. Yeah. And 

Michael Jay: so I love that mode, by the 

Jill Agonias: way. Yeah. Oh my gosh. It really, that's the superpower part of it. I have to like, I have to like rain 

Michael Jay: it. Trying to find your keys might be another thing. 

Jill Agonias: Totally. I don't know where anything else is ever. It took me like 10 minutes to find the AirPods for this podcast.

But what was the question again? Oh, there's that ADHD ceiling. Okay. The ceiling. Yes. So yeah, it's After a certain point, I feel like [00:18:00] repeating things just got repetitive for me. And I felt of course there's definitely a lot more to continue to learn and grow, but I felt Like where can I find that?

Where can I find that mentorship? Where can I find that growth? And I had been part of some really amazing mastermind groups and whatnot, but this is just me personally. I don't think this is necessarily like the yoga business in general, but I was just feeling like slightly starved in a way, like I wasn't getting the nourishment that I needed.

Yeah. And also financially Our studio was packed. 

Michael Jay: We had post COVID too. 

Jill Agonias: Post COVID, yeah. We were packed. They came back, and maybe our morning classes weren't that great, but like our bread and butter classes were the evening, and they were so full. People were canceling their memberships.

Because they were like, it's too crowded I don't being in such a hot, sweaty room with so many people, we feel like we're packed like [00:19:00] sardines, and that was a big wake up call for me to think, okay, this is the amount of real estate that I have inside my studio. 

Michael Jay: Yoga mats are real estate, right?

That's 

Jill Agonias: all you got. All you have. The space is yeah, and that's it. And I was just thinking, that's when it clicked for me, like the next step is to open up another yoga studio or to increase the prices, which we had already increased the prices a bunch, or to find a different space in Santa Barbara.

And I still had a bunch of years on my lease and the capital to renovate another space just felt like it didn't make any sense. So yeah, I hit. My personal ceiling. And then at the studio itself we just didn't have that much more room to necessarily 

Michael Jay: grow. Yeah. And so what was the step that you took?

So I imagine Mitch is part of that. And so tell, can you tell me about that kind of moment where you decided [00:20:00] to take that 

Jill Agonias: step? Yeah. So I've known Mitch for a few years now. I actually reached out to him during the pandemic when I 

Michael Jay: thought he helped you through your roughest stage. Oh 

Jill Agonias: my gosh. Mitch was my guardian angel throughout the pandemic and he, we were not able to sell the yoga studio during the pandemic for obvious reasons.

We got one offer, which was just like so much of a low ball. Like I just couldn't take it. And, So I told Mitch during the pandemic, I'm like, I'm not going to sell right now. Maybe I'll sell in a few years. We'll see how it goes. What can I do to prepare my studio to sell in a few years? And the main things that he said were.

Net profit is the most important not your gross profit, but your net. So like how much money you're actually keeping and then your systems and just making sure that the studio can run without you. So those were the things that I focused on for the next couple of years, thinking that there could [00:21:00] be a potential to sell.

But even if I didn't sell, those are just great business strategies to begin 

Michael Jay: with. Taking note there, everybody listening. 

Jill Agonias: Totally. That is the foundation of a business right there. And if you're 

Michael Jay: opening a new studio, start right away. 

Jill Agonias: Absolutely. There's no reason to think otherwise. You you need to be making money.

You need to start building your business. And when you start to build the systems, then you eventually no longer have to necessarily work it, work in the business. You are just working on the business. So yes. When I decided that it was time to sell, I reached out to Mitch again and was like, okay, let's get the party started.

And he's the master. Because I had a little bit of experience with trying to sell my business before I already knew exactly what I needed to give him, which was, yeah. 

Michael Jay: Did you find it? Cause I found, I didn't do it [00:22:00] with a business card. I did it all by myself. Yeah, that's a lot of work. It was, for me, it was a very invasive process, right?

Because it's you just get everything gets dug into because, they're doing their due diligence, right? The buyers. And so it's a, yes. Okay. We're going to get another report for you, but I'm sure Mitch made that easier than what I went through. 

Jill Agonias: Totally. And I am. Extremely organized.

So getting that stuff was just like so easy. And yeah he makes it really easy. I think one of the biggest benefits of working with a broker is that you can still work. It doesn't take away from the time that you're still working on your own business. So he handles a lot of the initial contact and Yeah.

Like we had a ton of interest too. And it was really nice to have Mitch to talk to all the potential leads, Mitch and his team. He has a really great team as well to talk to [00:23:00] everyone instead of me having to talk to them. Also because, as a yoga studio owner myself, there's a lot of emotion in it.

And so it's really nice to have a broker. To be the middle man and to help one, he was like a therapist, to be totally honest. And then two for him to deal with. A lot of the stuff so that I didn't have 

Michael Jay: to. The negotiations and 

Jill Agonias: the Yes, although I loved the negotiations. I was like very much a part of the back end strategy for 

Michael Jay: those.

So which is probably really helping you now as you're in real estate. 

Jill Agonias: Oh totally, yeah. But I've always loved negotiating. 

Michael Jay: Can you, before we get to the sell part, I want to go back a little bit to, when you first started and you've learned so much along the way, you've literally taken this to as far as you could have taken it.

And [00:24:00] what would you say to those? Young studio owners that were like you back then then, are buying a studio and there's all those learning curves that get thrown about out at you, I think I helped mitigate a lot of that by helping put structure up front, and onboarding manuals and things like that, but not everybody has a coach, at the beginning.

And so what I'm noticing. A lot is these wonderful, passionate young women by opening these studios and then having a hard time standing firmly in their own two bare feet in their studio and finding this confidence to say, it's okay that I have to let a class go. It's okay that this teacher doesn't fit.

Into our vibe. It's okay for me. It's just, there's just that [00:25:00] confidence to say it's okay to be firm, fair, but have expectations. I really, I feel like you are the person to say to them. Yeah, it's It takes a lot, right? 

Jill Agonias: It is a lot. Entrepreneurship is a lot. And I think as people who are coming from a place really deep within our heart, we feel emotions a lot heavier than perhaps other people do.

And we usually tend to put other people before ourselves. And I think that's an amazing quality, actually. And I don't think that you necessarily need to repress any of that. I think over time, things start, things do start to get easier. Those hard decisions that you think were hard a year ago, one year later feel like a little blip, and I think for me, what I really struggled with in my yoga studio, especially when it was struggling was my own self [00:26:00] worth and I think that I feel like a lot of people can identify with that.

And there's this one quote, and I have no idea who said it, but it's always been sticking with me. You deserve to love yourself for all you are, not just the best version of you. And I think that when we're going through hard moments as entrepreneurs, we have to somewhat separate ourselves, not completely, just, compartmentalize.

Here's your business self. Yes. And then here is. Your personal self and take care of you however you need to, but then also take care of the business. however you need to, whatever is best for the business, there's definitely that, that balancing act that eventually I promise gets easier over 

Michael Jay: time.

And I feel like some of the clients I work with, especially when you've got things like ADHD and if something, Knocks you off that, right? You can [00:27:00] get on this. I don't know about you, but you can get on a loop train in there, right?

And it can knock people out for two or three days, right? But it's it is that thing. It's it can mentally knock you out, but we still have to have the business. Like intro offers still need to be sold and, still need to be taught and subbed. Can you talk about that?

I don't know if you resonate with that, but it's something. 

Jill Agonias: Totally. I think that burnout is a huge problem in our society and especially as entrepreneurs and, when you get knocked off, like you were just saying it's really hard to get back up. And I think, again, that's.

That's where the compartmentalization can happen. And for me, one, one strategy that I would do was I would let myself sulk and give myself like a time limit and be like, okay, Jill, now's the time to go ahead, cry your eyes out. Scream into a pillow, do whatever you need to do. And then at 12 o'clock let's get back on that horse.

And [00:28:00] then be like, okay, from 12 to three, I'm like really in work. And then after three, just, you can let it go to shit 

Michael Jay: again. But you're giving yourself permission to go down, right? Absolutely. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah, you have to, if you continue to suppress and. press, then one day you're just going to explode.

And actually I did that, I was like, I'm an entrepreneur. I'm just going to be resilient and I'm going to keep going no matter what. And then I crashed for a long time and I fell into a pretty deep depression to, to be honest. And then, yeah. And then I realized that. You can, you have to have that balance.

You have to let yourself, cry, sulk feel your feelings, and then you also have to give yourself permission to try again. 

Michael Jay: And we lose our practice too. I think it's very common with I think with studio owners that are over teaching over, over teaching. And I think we lose why we [00:29:00] started it.

Conversation this morning was with one of my clients is you need to go to one of your classes. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah, absolutely. I think, and then I feel like, then the spiral is we feel like imposters. Then 

Michael Jay: we're just all about the business. It's we're all about the business. All right. So we need to move forward here because that's honestly so amazing though, that you've given those insights because it's just raw.

It's honest. And it's I would say. 50 percent of the people I'm talking to is, are feeling these things. Totally. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah. 

Michael Jay: Yeah. But you, anyway you've now got this business, you've maxed what you can do with it and yourself, and you've reached out to Mitch. You've gone through this process and then the perfect buyers have been found.

Can you talk about. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah. We had quite a few people interested in the business, which was great. I feel [00:30:00] good. Oh my gosh. Like extreme validation right there. Which is, yeah, that felt really good and it feels good to talk about. But yeah the people who eventually ended up buying the business are this Couple Justin and Greg who I've known.

Just through the yoga world the last couple of years and I actually reached out to them. I've been prepping them for a long time now. Oh, really? I don't know if that's creepy and weird. But, yeah they came 

I have just been planting the seed. Really? Planting the seed.

Michael Jay: , so you had a gut feeling they were the right. 

Jill Agonias: I had a gut feeling. Yeah. I think like part of it was our personalities just clicked. Actually, Justin, we have the same birthday and I don't know, that's 

 Yeah. He has the studios down there. And they came up to Santa Barbara during the pandemic actually, when we were still outside and I was. in the middle of demoing the our studio space. And I remember them walking into the studio when it was like a total mess and being like, [00:31:00] Oh my God, it's beautiful.

I'm like, Oh. So they had already loved the studio and took a couple of classes with us. And we stayed in touch. So a few months before listening to the studio, I actually poked, Justin reached out to him on Instagram and was like, Hey, just so that I'm going to, I'm probably going to list my studio for sale in March or April.

And he was like, great. Keep me updated. Yeah. Cause sometimes. Sometimes it takes a long time for someone to commit to buying a business and so planting the seeds there with him was very strategic and obviously worked to my favor. Yeah, and then we had a couple of other people who are interested as well.

People who found us just through biz by sell. Yeah, which is a great platform. And and then one person who had a franchise who wanted to rebrand to their franchise, which I wasn't very much into. And then another very sweet couple [00:32:00] who used to live in Santa Barbara. And eventually when it came down to it we had two, two final remaining parties who were interested and we went into very fun negotiations.

And yeah, eventually landed on Justin and Greg, which. Which I'm very happy about. It would have been, the other people would have been amazing too, but ultimately super happy with who 

Michael Jay: we have. Was it important that you got, that it was the right people? Because it was for me. Oh my 

Jill Agonias: god, so important, like again, a yoga business is, it's not I don't know, like a laundromat, it is our souls manifested into a space and into a community and finding the right people to care about it and nurture it and continue to grow it was like the most important. 

Michael Jay: For me too. I've told this story a few times, but when one person came into my studio and she was [00:33:00] prime to buy it.

But she had, I think her other studio was a faith based studio. So she walked in and we had a very prominent 220 pound beautiful concrete Buddha on a beautiful handmade bench. And it was like the prime real estate, no focal point in the studio. And the first thing she said was the Buddha would have to go.

And I'm like, They immediately would hate you you really threw that Buddha away. Everybody in that studio would, it would not be a good start for you. For 

Jill Agonias: sure. I think that one important thing that is hard to come to grips with, but is the truth is that once they buy your business, it is no longer.

Yeah. So they can do whatever they want with it. So 

Michael Jay: When you sold it, did you have, did you, you already had systems. I want everybody to listen here when you have systems and you sell your studio, you literally hand it over and go, this is how your business is [00:34:00] run. Good luck. Was there a part of it where you're in there to help support for a while or answer? Was there a 

Jill Agonias: Yeah, it was unique with Justin and Greg, I think, because they already have two studios in Manhattan Beach, and a lot of the things that we were doing were already Very much in alignment.

But yeah, that was essentially it's here's access to our Google drive. Like the team. Actually, we pre closing, we created a timeline for two weeks. So there's two weeks of training, where we went over everything from how I do payroll, which, of course, they have their own business in Manhattan Beach.

So that I believe has already changed. Introducing them to the different departments and then from there, I honestly like they just met with the team themselves instead of me because everything was already set up and the team was great, super, super supportive, , but yeah, they honestly didn't really need me that much.

I [00:35:00] think we met three or four times very briefly and then that was it. 

Michael Jay: I stayed involved way too long. 

Jill Agonias: Really? How 

Michael Jay: long? Just probably a year. That's a very long time. It was a long time. What I didn't know then, I didn't know. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't a business coach then. I was just, the same thing.

I was a yoga teacher that opened a yoga studio and scrappily found my way. And what I didn't know then, was that, prior to me having a coach, I didn't know I had something of worth. And and I think a lot of us with passion, people go into a serve and, then we go Oh, it's a business.

Jill Agonias: Totally. Eventually, you can start something with passion, of course, and wanting to help people. Eventually, it has to. to become a business in order for you to continue to serve 

Michael Jay: people. But I think even in the past, even in the past, since I sold the studio, I think our industry has changed, it, when I was selling, there wasn't all the knowledge and [00:36:00] the, the automations we have now and the knowledge we have on stats and things like that, it was a different time.

And so we have all that. Those amazing tools now. All so you've chosen these amazing people to buy your studio. You've gone through that process. What's next for Jill? 

Jill Agonias: So I have been, even during the studio, I was dabbling in real estate, both investing and as an agent. So at the beginning of this year, I Dove head first and now I am just full time in real estate and flipping a house right now working with a few buyer clients and Yeah, it's been fast Like everything has been moving so fast and I absolutely love it.

I feel like with real estate There is no ceiling, so I feel like there's a lot of room for me to grow in this space, and ultimately, oh, and another thing that I'm doing is I'm [00:37:00] actually teaching entrepreneurship classes at a local nonprofit called Women's Economic Ventures. Yeah. 

Michael Jay: Congratulations.

Is that the one that supported you on your opening? Yes. Yes. Yeah. So now 

Jill Agonias: full circle, baby, 

Michael Jay: because we spoke about it on the podcast, I believe on the first one. Oh, that's so great. 

Jill Agonias: Yeah. And so I'll be doing that for hopefully as long as I can, just because it's really my passion to help entrepreneurs. And I don't have the capacity that you do, Michael, to.

Start my own yoga business consulting company. So this is like for me, the next best step. So still get to help people. And then my ultimate longer, longer term plan is to become a venture capitalist and specifically invest in women owned businesses, support LGBTQ, BIPOC [00:38:00] and environmental companies and founders.

Michael Jay: You just put that out there and I a hundred percent think that you will be able to make that, goals, so important and I usually end my podcast , what are your, so business tools, they might have changed now.

What do you go to, what's your go to business app or tool that you use a lot now? Yeah. Yeah. 

Jill Agonias: As of right now, as far as software goes, I'm rebuilding my social media and automation is very key. It's been a long time. Before the yoga studio, I was primarily working only in marketing.

It's been difficult to get back into the execution part. I'm definitely missing our marketing manager at Sol Seek. Because it's all 

Michael Jay: about, it's you now, right? It's just me 

Jill Agonias: right now. 

Michael Jay: And it's different, than a product or a studio or 

Jill Agonias: Totally. Yes. So I'm just starting from zero again, rebuilding the automations, rebuilding the [00:39:00] systems and text messaging has been my greatest tool in real estate, all about connections and just letting people know what I'm up to and getting updates, life updates on what other people are up to, which is so fun, so exciting.

Michael Jay: Personal app website that you go to now. 

Jill Agonias: Personal website that the MLS for real estate. It's so fun. I just love it. I love seeing what's coming, what's on the market. And yeah, totally different than the yoga studio life, but 

Michael Jay: But are you still, okay, so teaching, is that done for you? Or because you're still doing, are you still doing teacher training?

Are you? 

Jill Agonias: Yeah. When, after I sold my studio, actually, I wanted to finish the teacher training that we were just about to start. So from September to December, I still managed and taught some of the yoga teacher training, which was the perfect transition [00:40:00] for me. It was like a slow out. and still got to be in the space.

Yeah. And but yeah, I have not taught a class in a few months. I definitely would like to continue to sub at Sol Seek. And my, it's funny, my personal practice is actually. way more consistent than it has been in the last five or six years. So it feels really good to be back into practicing yoga for me and just me instead of as part of my 

Michael Jay: business.

Yeah. And when you teach also, I found I was using a lot of one side of my body. 

Jill Agonias: Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Let 

Michael Jay: me demo on this side and then walk around the room. 

Jill Agonias: Bill, 

Michael Jay: you I'm so happy to always have this connection with you. I think you're an amazing person. I think you're a super inspiring to young women out there.

[00:41:00] Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. And I just adore you. 

Jill Agonias: Thank you, Michael. I love you so much. You're amazing. And thank you for helping people like me and other yoga studio business owners. I think that like we were talking about earlier, it can be such a challenge. It's a great challenge, but it is so valuable to have someone who is your Champion.

Oh! I'm happy I didn't sneak 

Michael Jay: that in there. You definitely know that you've got a marketing background, thank you. 

Jill Agonias: Oh yeah. But no, you're awesome. And I, That'll be my next reel, Jill. Nice. Love 

Michael Jay: it. Jill. Thank you so much. Good luck with all your real estate ventures. 

Jill Agonias: Thank you so much. And just sending all of my love to all of the yoga studio owners out there.

You got this. 

Michael Jay: You got this for sure.