Finding ‘Home’ in Yoga: Martine Hamers on Building a Studio around Community

In this episode of Yoga Biz Champ, Michael Jay welcomes Martine Hamers, the visionary owner of Home Studio Yoga in San Anselmo, California. 

Through her story, we explore the complexities of starting and running a yoga studio that prioritizes community and connection, and the innovative strategies she employs to grow her business and support her clients.

Highlights:

• Cultural Integration through Yoga -  Martine’s background in corporate anthropology and her experiences in Brazil influence her studio’s emphasis on community and cultural integration.
• Creating Community in the Pandemic: The isolation Martine experienced as a new mom during the pandemic led her to create Home Studio, a place for meaningful connections and support.
• Innovative Community Building: Home Studio hosts unique offerings like donation-based community classes and partnerships with local musicians for live music yoga sessions, fostering a strong local network.
• - Business Growth Challenges: Martine discusses the challenges of marketing, finance, and finding the right help, highlighting the importance of investing in services like The Sales Arms for improving client retention and engagement.
• - Embracing Leadership: Martine shares insights on the importance of clear communication, setting expectations, and the journey to confidently stand in her role as a studio owner, making tough decisions for the betterment of her studio and community.

Apps, Websites, and Tools Mentioned:
http://www.yogabizchamp.link/podlink to find all of my partner resources

- Canva: Utilized for marketing and branding, allowing for creative and professional-looking promotional materials.
- FitDegree: The studio management software used by Home Studio, noted for its community features that facilitate communication and engagement among members.

- The SalesARM: A service employed by Home Studio to enhance client retention and engagement, demonstrating Martine’s strategic approach to building and maintaining her yoga community.
BOOK A FREE CHAT WITH THE YOGA BIZ CHAMP DIRECT BOOKING LINK WITH THE SALES ARM OWNER CHRIS APPIAH

Martine Hamers' story is a testament to the transformative power of yoga not just as a practice, but as a foundational element for building community and connection in challenging times. 

https://www.homestudio.yoga/
https://www.instagram.com/homestudio.yoga/
______________________________________________________________

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

Transcript

Martine Home Studio

Michael Jay: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Yoga Biz Champ, and I'm really excited to have one of the latest Yoga Biz Champs out there, Martine Hamers from Home Studio in San Anselmo, California.

Michael Jay: Welcome Martine. 

Martine Hamers: Thank you. I'm excited to be here. 

Michael Jay: Martin is the owner of Home Studio Yoga in San Anselmo, California, a mom of two beautiful little children and the cutest pug in the world. She was born in the Netherlands, lived most of her adult life in South America and the U S and is deeply intrigued by culture and community.

Michael Jay: She also had a master's degree in corporate anthropology and formally helped companies sort out cultural integration following mergers and acquisitions living as an expat in Brazil. Her local yoga studio became her home away from home. The studio was deeply rooted in community and an inspiration for her studio today.

Michael Jay: Working at the YMCA and serving people in need was also a big life influence. [00:01:00] And shapes how she shows up for her community today. I love that. Living through the pandemic as a new mom, finding herself isolated and lonely is ultimately what inspired Martine to open Home Studio. A studio designed to be inclusive where people can come and get together to practice yoga and create meaningful local connections.

Michael Jay: Hey! Hi, yes. So great to have you here. There's a lot of words in there that showed up that rang true to me, which is community.

Michael Jay: Yeah, 

Martine Hamers: I feel like that is I feel like that is a thing that. has been weaving through a lot for me, community in many different ways and forms. But I, as it says, like I'm born and raised in the Netherlands. I did a master's degree in corporate anthropology, which a lot of people don't know even exists, but it's, It's a way where we really look at the cultures of companies and particularly when we start up a new company and we want to think about what [00:02:00] is important to us.

Martine Hamers: The culture is really important to also set, because that will set the tone for who you bring in, right? What kind of people will come? Who will be your customers? Who will you work with? Or if you have two mergers happening that also you bring two cultures together. So that is what I worked on and what I did for quite a few years until I moved to Brazil.

Martine Hamers: I followed someone along to Brazil and when I got to Brazil, there's a whole story there, but anyway, I followed someone to Brazil. 

Michael Jay: Sounds like a movie already. And when I was but when I got to Brazil, 

Martine Hamers: It turned out that I was not allowed to work there. I could stay there. I had visas to stay, but I couldn't work.

Martine Hamers: And so I had my, my I'd done my yoga teacher training and I was like, why not teach? Like, why not? This is the perfect time to start that. And so I started teaching and and also got, connected to a studio there, which was called Yoga Flow in Sao Paulo. And it was just such a [00:03:00] beautiful studio.

Martine Hamers: I've met so many of my friends in Brazil. I met through that studio because they had this place where you would walk in And they had the seating area and they always had some tea available and everybody would come in early. The teachers would be there. And so you would meet with them and talk to them.

Martine Hamers: And it was very, just very friendly, very community oriented. So 

Michael Jay: can you just talk about that part? Yeah. Why was that important? That part there? 

Martine Hamers: Why that was important for me? I was a foreigner, I didn't know anybody, right? And so for me, it was really important that there was this community, but in general, it was the first time ever I really came to a yoga studio where that was so much part of it in the sense that.

Martine Hamers: They thought it was really important that you would have a connection with your teacher, other than just the teacher is in front of the room and they will be teaching you something. So one of the things that was actually funny, and I learned later that part is actually normal, but it's like everybody after class comes up to the teacher and gives them a kiss [00:04:00] or a hug.

Martine Hamers: And and, but It was just really lovely. And I just and, sitting down there because most of the classes were upstairs in that building. So sitting down there with the people that you were going to do your yoga class with and drinking some tea and having that connection with your teacher, it was very natural that you started to have more connections with others too.

Martine Hamers: So I would see that same person over and over again. And so at some point you start talking and then you see them in another class. But the fact that, you were all there and hanging out with your teacher, seeing your teacher as a human, just as the teacher, it's like a real human, that to me just changed a lot about how I looked at who I am as a teacher, who I wanted to be as a teacher or what I find important when I look at community and yoga community.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. 

Martine Hamers: And so I also taught a bit there at that studio, but it all had to be in Portuguese. So that was I did learn to speak Portuguese, but that was quite the challenge.

Martine Hamers: But still, [00:05:00] it was nice. Did you learn 

Portuguese. 

Michael Jay: Yeah I definitely made my really big fair share of like mistakes or said really weird stuff because it turned out that the word that I thought was that word wasn't. But 

Martine Hamers: anyway, the other big thing that I did there, which was really awesome, actually, was like, there was this now I can come up with the name of that organization, but there was this expat organization that is known worldwide.

Martine Hamers: And I just logged into that one and I said, Hey, I'm going to organize like a donation based yoga class in Iberapuera Park, which was the biggest park in Sao Paulo. Anybody who wants to join can join. And so I started it on a Saturday morning and I, the first few weeks, it was mostly my friends, the people that I had met already, but it quickly grew.

Martine Hamers: And I was there for, or I did that for two years. And by the end, like it was always somewhere between 60 and 80 people that showed up. And it was very much also community [00:06:00] because it was people bringing other people and like people were hanging out afterwards at some point, we would just all have picnics and hang out for another hour or two and it was super fun.

Martine Hamers: And also that was like, but it was an expat community so it was a lot of foreigners that were all like trying to figure out like, where did, where do the people go, like, how do I make friends and and so that was a really great way. Thank you. To just yeah, get, get the people coming together and and practice together and use yoga as a way to create space for people to come together.

Martine Hamers: Yeah, so that was a really fun experience. And then from there, I which is funny, I was with the same person that I followed to Brazil. We got an opportunity to move again and they said you can go to either Melbourne, New York or San Francisco. And I'd never been to San Francisco and somehow it was calling me and I said, okay, we're going let's pack up and leave.

Martine Hamers: And so I [00:07:00] went to San Francisco. And then I came here and it's, it's a beautiful place, but there's a lot of yoga, right? A lot of people, a lot of yoga places, a lot of like great teachers. So anyway, I also here I used yoga as a way to find community. The other big community, which is something completely different that I got into was more like a the creative burning men community that also taught me a lot about how community is.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. And then I Yeah. And so through, through yoga I ended up just also again, making a lot of friends and finding like minded people. And then fast forward, I moved to North of the city to Marin County, north of the Golden Gate Bridge into small town, San Anselmo. And I became a parent in the pandemic, feeling completely isolated, lonely.

Martine Hamers: Everybody has their isolated story, but like becoming a parent in the pandemic without any help was quite jarring. It was like, wow. [00:08:00] And I really had such a strong yearning for community. And so now the story of the studio was interesting because I have to back that up a little bit too.

Martine Hamers: So I share my studio with someone else, the space with Jocelyn is her name and she does WeYogis and that's kids yoga. And so we shared a space because we found out that. You have you can utilize space a lot more because kids yoga happens a lot of times at times where adult yoga doesn't.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I was on maternity leave for my second baby in 2022 December. And I went to a retreat in Hawaii at Ram Dass legacy retreat. And I'm, I took my kids with me and I'm doing the kids yoga class there. Okay. And this amazing woman is teaching it and after class I come up to her and for whatever reason she asked me for my phone number and she goes Oh, that's the Bay Area number.[00:09:00] 

Martine Hamers: And I was like, yeah, that's where I live. She says, Oh, me too. I was like, Oh, that's awesome. Where do you live? She goes north of the bridge. 

Michael Jay: I was like, Oh, me too. Where do you live? She's San Antonio. I was like, no way, me too. 

Martine Hamers: So we got along really well. And then. She did a little pop up for kids yoga in San Anselmo, it turned out, and she was looking for another space.

Martine Hamers: And in the meantime, I had just started working, like started teaching yoga again, also at a local studio here because I didn't want to teach in the city any longer because my community now really was here, local. And that's how I and and while I just got started. Teaching a few weeks into it, like less than eight weeks into it.

Martine Hamers: The studio owner comes up to me and says, Martina, I've decided to close down the studio. And I was like, no, just found his local place. And he was like, are you interested in taking it over? And I looked at it when I was like, hell [00:10:00] no I have 

Michael Jay: a two year old and a five 

Martine Hamers: month old I don't know. That sounds.

Martine Hamers: Like crazy. I said, no, but I said my friend is looking for a place. She, Jocelyn, she does Wii Yogi. She should talk to her. So he did. And then, but then I started thinking, I was like, wait, what does it even mean? Take it over. What do you mean with that? And so I started talking to him and he was like, no, I'm giving my studio away.

Martine Hamers: You just need to take on the lease. And that changed everything for me because I had been manifesting community. I'd been talking about it. I want community yoga is the way I get community. And here I am, somebody handing me literally a yoga studio. And I was like 

Michael Jay: this is, I think the universe handing me a yoga studio.

Michael Jay: So it's I guess I have to do this. 

Martine Hamers: So that's how I started my studio. He did close everything down, so I didn't start it with the studio had a different name. So you started 

Michael Jay: fresh as a, you started. I started completely new. You started fresh, because this is what, the area I do, I [00:11:00] help people with is in that starting of the studio phase, and so this wasn't like you were buying the studio and taking on, on, passes and things like that.

Michael Jay: You were starting from scratch with this. The only thing 

Martine Hamers: I, the only thing I took over was his software. So I had like previous emails of people that had come through his studio. Yeah. So I had some sort of something to start with, like some kind of mailing list. Okay. So you did take 

Michael Jay: on, they, he gave you, with the studio, they gave you the, 

Martine Hamers: Yeah, he told me I can close, yeah, it was like, I can close it down or you can keep it and I was like that's very valuable to keep it because, it has all the information in there.

Martine Hamers: It's a good 

Michael Jay: boost to start with. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. So it gave me just at least yeah, an email list and contact details to start with. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So that's how I got to to this studio. So was it called the 

Michael Jay: same name prior or did you rename it? [00:12:00] 

Martine Hamers: I renamed it before it was called Sen and Selma yoga. And it also in an older version was called Marine power yoga.

Martine Hamers: And I called it home studio for the reason that community, like community literally weaves into everything for me. But when I was teaching in the city in San Francisco, I was teaching in different studios and people would always ask me, what's your home studio? What's the studio where you feel most at home, where you feel like that's your studio, like your main one.

Martine Hamers: And that was just a thing. And so when I opened my studio and I was like this is home studio and it needs to feel homey. So people can come like that experience in Brazil. So also my studio, when you come in, it has this, has like couches and a nice seating area and has tea and a place where people can sit and come together.

Martine Hamers: So that's. People also, when I, when they talk about the name, they also say it's homey, like a very homey space. Yeah. 

Michael Jay: And did you [00:13:00] have to do much to the space? Did you put your own stamp on it? Did you 

Martine Hamers: I put my own stamp on it, but because it was a yoga studio before, and it had all the props and all the stuff that you need, I had a nice floor in there.

Martine Hamers: It's a simple startup. It was a simple, it was simple. So I painted the walls and we redid sort of the spaces and it looks very different. Now we put in a lot of plant, a lot of, life. Plants and like couches and we just reorganized the whole space, but we didn't have to make this big financial commitment in okay, now I need to need to put a floor in and I need to buy all the blocks and I need to, like most of the stuff was there.

Martine Hamers: So that's it. So you take on 

Michael Jay: any of the previous teachers or 

Martine Hamers: yeah, I took on. So before the pandemic, the studio was. Really successful. It had about 600 [00:14:00] memberships and then past pandemic, it only had three teachers left and then I added on as a fourth and it only had less than 40 memberships. So it got crushed, in the pandemic and I did take on all three of the teachers.

Martine Hamers: And luckily with all three of them, they have been a good fit for the studio and for what I've been doing. And I also know that I'm very lucky there because it could also have been, completely different. 

Michael Jay: I've worked with, I've worked with studio owners that, yeah, taking it on the you start from scratch there, but taking on some legacy things, but some of the studios that purchase somebody that purchase a studio is also quite often inheriting a lot of the problems that were there as well.

Michael Jay: And people wise too. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah, there were a lot of. There were a lot of problems with the studio, still some of them that I, I'm not 100 [00:15:00] percent sure of what exactly happened, but there were like, there was a lot happening in, among the teachers and the owner and the teachers. And there was one other teacher actually that was still with the studio.

Martine Hamers: So I, I said that wrong and I didn't take her on because she decided to leave by herself, but she would. He had been really big with the previous studio, and at first when she was like, I'm leaving, I'm going somewhere else. I thought, no, she was the biggest name for the big draw, but afterwards I was actually really grateful that she did leave because the other ones were newer.

Martine Hamers: And so they didn't come with all the baggage and I knew that if 

Michael Jay: firing wonderful. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. Yeah. And so that was actually perfect. It worked out perfectly because with her leaving yes, I, I lost some people that might've otherwise come to the studio and started because she was there. But then at the same time, I think I, it would have been so much harder to deal with all of the stuff that was already there.

Martine Hamers: [00:16:00] So it felt more like a cleaner slate the way it was 

Michael Jay: doing. And it's having people in alignment, so that you're not feeling awkward as a new person coming in. And yeah. Yeah. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. I did. And then I did hire some more, some other teachers. Yeah. Can you tell me about 

Michael Jay: that process? How did you go about that?

Michael Jay: How did you build your, how did you build your faculty? 

Martine Hamers: So one of them was extremely easy. I had a, someone that I had already taught with in the city. And. She had also moved up here and she's an amazing teacher. And so when I opened, she was the first one. It was like, do you want to do this? Yeah. Yeah.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. I was like, because she had also, she, because when she moved up here, she stopped teaching and she had just been telling me about Oh, I wish at some point I could go teach again. And I was like, okay, I got it. I'm opening a studio. You want it? 

Michael Jay: What hours do you want? 

Martine Hamers: I'll, I'll work with you.

Martine Hamers: And so [00:17:00] that one was really easy and I knew that she would really fit with what I wanted. And that was an easy one, but the other ones I mostly just. Went to some of the people that I trusted that I know that would, know people in the community that might be yoga teachers that would fit, I explained to him what I was trying to open this home studio that was really based in community, around community.

Martine Hamers: I wanted people to be really local. So instead of getting people from further away, I've really looked into our local community and who are the best teachers that I can find in this local community that also fit with what I'm trying to do that also want to come and practice at the studio and really be part of it, be part of the community.

Martine Hamers: So you're not just What's your definition of best 

Michael Jay: there, cause I always say a studio is only as good as the teachers. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. Best for me is Oh, that's a really good question in the sense that, 

Michael Jay: it's the standard, right? 

Martine Hamers: It's the standard. Like when someone comes in and teaches it's just, when someone does a demo for you, [00:18:00] you very quickly know okay, you have done, you have the experience, you have done this several years.

Martine Hamers: I can see how you know how to offer Different variations of things. I know I can see that you can commend a room. You have the voice projection of it, or you can see that you feel secure about doing this. Don't you think confidence 

Michael Jay: has a lot to do with it too? Yeah. There's a confidence as far as.

Michael Jay: I feel like people in a class setting want a leader. And I don't mean that as an, in an ego, but they want to follow, just tell me what to do. And so someone that stands up there and says, Hey, let's do this, modifications, but follow me. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah, exactly. So it's like that, that commend of the room, right?

Martine Hamers: It is the commend of the room. Yeah. And yeah, that is a big thing that I look for when I'm looking with people. It's did you learn 

Michael Jay: it? Did you learn that by mistake, trial and error, or did you already have a good 

time? I am, 

Martine Hamers: I was fortunate in that sense [00:19:00] that I for several years was a, it was called a director of healthy living at the YMCA.

Martine Hamers: And what I did there was we had, I basically ran all of their programming, which was like about 100 classes a week. That's a superpower to bring to a studio. Yeah, it was maybe 120 classes a week. It was actually 120 classes a week for 125 and 100 teachers, but I had to do a lot of hiring and firing.

Martine Hamers: And so I had to do a lot of demos and this is not all yoga, right? This was all sorts of things, but yoga was a big part of it too. And so I luckily Had the experience of seeing the differences when someone walks in and be like, Oh, okay. So you really can command this room. And there might be some things that I would do a little different, but we can work on that.

Martine Hamers: But the commanding of the room is something that needs to be there. And the other things we can perfect and make better. But then, sometimes when someone walks in and they're really insecure, not sure what to do or have a really hard time with it. [00:20:00] Then that is, that just takes more time and it doesn't mean you can get there, but that was not what I wanted to start my studio with for sure.

Martine Hamers: I wanted to just have people that felt strongly. I'm 

Michael Jay: not sure if you feel the same way, I hired a lot of teachers over the years as well. And I always found that they. Not all, some of them, but right out of teacher training, they're just not quite ready. It's just like you, you don't have it.

Michael Jay: I did, like I did a year apprenticeship, but it's, it takes a while to find your voice. 

Martine Hamers: Yes. To find your voice and your own style, because that's also a thing I see when someone comes just out of teacher training. You start with what you've been taught. This is what we emulate 

Michael Jay: are. Yeah. We, I feel like we emulate and use the words of other people until we find our own inner feelings of it to express.

Michael Jay: So yeah, I think you have to go through that process. Yeah. 

Martine Hamers: You have to, yeah, and it can take a while, I do have someone right now that I've put on a sublist for us who is newer out of the gates, but had a pretty [00:21:00] strong command of the room and has some stuff to learn. But I was like if you want to come onto our sublist and you can get the opportunities to come and do it and learn without me having to put someone onto the.

Martine Hamers: Full schedule yet, but I did see a lot of potential in this person. I had 

Michael Jay: a few, I did, had a few people like that. One that's gone on to become a really great teacher in particular that they used to come to my class and I would have them help me adjust and look and because for me, teaching, It's actually about watching.

Michael Jay: It's actually about looking. It's what is really going on here? So it's 

Martine Hamers: a lot about that. You're talking, but yeah, but are things, are people doing what you think? Yeah. And you're looking at their bodies, right? Like how are their bodies moving? What is going, what are they struggling with?

Martine Hamers: What do you, what can you verbally at least offer give as cues that more than one person might benefit from? Yeah. And so I always joke whenever with my friends [00:22:00] and they, like they do something and I, I have I make a comment that maybe it's out of the ordinary about their body.

Martine Hamers: And I'm like, that's what I do. I look at bodies all day long. I'm just looking at your body. I know. 

Michael Jay: I know. Cause they're like sometimes it's weird when you say something, you're like, were you watching me? I was like like it's what I do. It's yeah. I know. I'm walking. It was walking around my with my partner around the Rose Bowl.

Michael Jay: I'm like, yeah. Your right arch is collapsing. Yeah, your ankles. We say these weird things and we're like what? Yeah. Exactly, yeah. Okay, so you've built, you've got, you've opened this beautiful studio, you're building this team. Can you tell me the process about how you put your class schedule together?

Michael Jay: Did you, was that a, did you throw it at the wall and see if it was going to hit? Did you use previous studio as an example, or did you do any research into audience and what they need? What was [00:23:00] your? 

Martine Hamers: So the first big one was obviously I'm sharing my schedule with kids yoga. So I've had certain hours that I couldn't touch because it was like, that is the hours that we put up for kids.

Martine Hamers: Okay. Yeah. So that, limited agreement, upfront agreement so I had certain other hours and then the classes so I mostly tried to focus on like families and like parents and. The greater of that too. So it does include everybody in the end, but I just looked at okay, younger parents and like their grandparents, caregivers what would they need?

Martine Hamers: What are the things? So you're 

Michael Jay: talking to we're talking about here globally, going, what is my, what's my general, what's my general person here? What's my general avatar? 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. Who am I writing to? Who am I trying to get into the studio? Who am I building this community for?

Martine Hamers: And since we have the kids also, it was like a [00:24:00] natural sort of, thing of we're most between. Yeah. We're going to be. And they were run as two 

Michael Jay: different businesses. 

Martine Hamers: We were run as two different businesses. Yeah. Get obviously we get kids in and then their parents come bring the kids the other way around.

Martine Hamers: We get people in and they have kids and they bring the kids. So it's like a perfect thing. So anyway, so how I built the schedule from there was I just. I just basically asked around like a lot of people that I knew that I thought okay, you would be my demographic and what kind of classes would you be looking for?

Martine Hamers: And what kind of hours would you be interested in coming? And so I set up a schedule my first schedule when I started and it has, it looks pretty different now. 

Michael Jay: Yeah. Because once we started 

Martine Hamers: doing it, I was like, 

Michael Jay: First of all, we find out that everybody will tell you what they want. 

Martine Hamers: Everybody will tell you what they want.

Martine Hamers: Everybody will give you suggestions about, but it's actually 

Michael Jay: when they, I was talking to a studio and a couple of days ago, it's actually [00:25:00] when they show up, they're actually voting for the class because they can say it, but it's right. Because 

Martine Hamers: there's a big difference between someone saying I would really love this on a Thursday night and then they never show up.

Martine Hamers: You're like, okay I just tried to put this in for you now. But the main thing I just realized was actually really beautiful. So my, my, my first focus is okay, we're going to be really focused on families and younger parents, et cetera. But then when people started showing up. It was so beautifully, a really diverse community, which was like actually like a gift to me because it's that is, was maybe more of what I wanted without me actually really knowing it, but it was like, there's people in there that are 16 and there's people in there in their eighties and when I do a class, it's literally like this morning, I was teaching a power class with someone in there that's in their early twenties and someone in there that's in his seventies.

Martine Hamers: And we're still doing a powerful class, right? But [00:26:00] it's it was just really beautiful to see that the community that started showing up was from all walks of life, from all ages. And so I also started changing a little more to what type of classes I was doing. So in the beginning it was a lot of finesse, power, like flows, like a lot of movement.

Martine Hamers: And now I have been putting in like yoga nidra, yin yoga. Something I call mindful flow. So it's a flow, but it goes, are you saying that 

Michael Jay: the, did the audience change or did you change or did the attendance change? 

Oh, 

Michael Jay: yeah. 

Martine Hamers: Oh, in the sense that the the audience was a little Was just more diverse than I first anticipated on. Then two, when the audience started showing up, even like the young parents that I thought wanted to just, the ones that I spoke to were all like, I just want to work out and I just want to feel like I, I walk out and I've had done a workout, like a lot of [00:27:00] them ended up coming to classes.

Martine Hamers: Like a mindful flow, for example, that I started putting in, which is way slower and way more just more calmer. And they loved it. They were like, this is. This is exactly what I need. Because I just actually need to slow down. It's 

Michael Jay: the antidote. Yeah. It's the antidote to life.

Michael Jay: All the life stresses. Yeah. 

Martine Hamers: And so it, it was just funny because people were thinking, I need this. And then they showed up for something else. They were like, oh, wow. This is actually what I need. Yeah. And so isn't that the case? That is how it changed where I was like, oh, so we need to have a way bigger variety.

Martine Hamers: And so now. I'm at like, I don't know what version of schedule I am, but I've recently changed stuff around again. Yeah. And I see that, 

Michael Jay: You've got a pretty full schedule. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. Yeah. And I see that I'm just 

Michael Jay: looking at it right now. You also, did you switch to fit degree? I 

Martine Hamers: know that was what I took over from the previous owner.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. Yeah. And it's been a great tool actually to [00:28:00] have because they do have a lot of community options in it too. They do. That's actually one of my favorite options is their community. Do people 

Michael Jay: use that? Does your community use the 

Martine Hamers: community? Yeah. Yes, they actually do. People send me chats all the time.

Martine Hamers: So they're connecting on there, right? Yeah. And then also my teachers, they send out messages to people. When someone is, hasn't been there for a while one, one teacher in particular, she's amazing at this. She's just Oh, I haven't seen such and such for a while.

Martine Hamers: Let me send them a message. And then she goes into that chat and sends them a message. And then most of the time they'll show up next week, or the next class. Oh yeah. You send me a message and. Yeah. Yeah. That is one of my, 

Michael Jay: I always look for it when the software companies, I always ask, what's your differentiators, and and that's one of the things I'd love.

Michael Jay: I fit to be there a great company and great people, but but yeah, the it's, that's for me, it's their differentiator. And I feel like it's actually in perfect alignment with everything that's important to [00:29:00] you and your studio to, to have a piece of technology that actually Helps support the humanness of the studio.

Martine Hamers: Yes, I agree with that. That is just really important to have. If that's what you find really important. Because there's also this thing which is a little bit away from what you're saying, but I hear it very often people saying, I really want Community or community is important or I do this for the community, but then I don't see the actions or their software really reflecting it because often what it means is that people say Hey, I know that community is not that's wrong.

Martine Hamers: Let's be so from it. Hey, I see that community is good because that means that I can sell more of this thing where I can make bigger what I want to, but it's not necessarily that they're That their choices that they make are also informed by the fact that they really want to build community.

Martine Hamers: As we just talked about, like hiring people, like for me. One of the [00:30:00] big things was also, as I said, that they wanted to be part of the community. So they also wanted to come and practice. They also want to, they are local. So people they'll see, our members out in the street and in the supermarket, and they need to be okay with that.

Martine Hamers: It is also in, One of the things that I've started doing and I've been doing it for almost from the start is that people in the community come up and say I, I have this offering. Can I offer something to your community which I do. So it's a free community offering. And so someone has done a free sound.

Martine Hamers: Healing. I have someone that did a talk on like posture and pelvic floor. Because that was an issue that a lot of people in the community had. And she was like, yeah, I would love to talk about it. We have someone that wants to come in and do some chanting or someone that wants to go.

Martine Hamers: But it's like a community offering. So it comes from the community, from my members and they offer it and people love it because the other members show up for it. Yeah. And so it has been [00:31:00] really, 

Michael Jay: Speaking of that, I'm just looking at a website where it says every Sunday morning, join us for the live music.

Michael Jay: That must be like church on Sunday mornings going. Yeah. 

Martine Hamers: Yes, that is. And that's also for local musicians. So I have four local musicians that rotate. They all have their fixed Sunday. And yeah, and they come in and it's fair. It's also diverse. So one place is sitar. I have a DJ. I have someone that sings acoustic.

Martine Hamers: Songs. And then someone that comes in with like different types of guitars and plays those and it, that also has just been really, cause that's the thing. 

Michael Jay: Those are the things that people, it's the buzz kind of talk, one of my clients and the local amazing Vancouver yoga studio here, stretch Vancouver.

Michael Jay: They do, and I've been dying to go to it and they haven't done it for a while, but they have the hammocks, the yoga hammocks and they do cello. Evenings for that. And I've been dying to go to that, but yeah, I love that. So we've looked [00:32:00] back to you. We've launched this amazing studio. We've got these great classes now.

Michael Jay: This is Yoga Biz Champ Podcast. So on the business side of things You and I had a little bit of a pre chat about this. And so I'm really, want to delve a little bit here, but it's that, I, this has been a theme this season on this podcast, but it's that, yoga teacher, passionate, driven yoga teacher, creative serving.

Michael Jay: And then all of a sudden you're running a business where you've got rent, you've got payroll, you got marketing, you are also the janitor, the pay, doing the payroll, you're the HR person, you're the marketing director. So it's a lot of things. Pieces, right? Can you tell me a little bit about that? And was it easy for you?

Michael Jay: Or was that a learning process? I'd love to know. Not easy. [00:33:00] Not easy at all. That's why people hire me when they are before they open. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah, no it's a lot like, the funny thing is when, when obviously. I don't know. Obviously I wouldn't wanna assume anything when you open a studio, I think you probably go and Google some what does it mean to open a studio?

Martine Hamers: What does, what do you have to do? At least that's what I did, open a studio marketing plan. I know like you, you Google all of the things, but one of the things that I kept on seeing was like, make sure you don't do it all by yourself. And I was like, okay, but like, how do you not. You just start this thing, like, where does the money come from?

Martine Hamers: And yeah I did, I, I did it all and do it all mostly still by myself, but I also really quickly into it was like, this is very unsustainable. You can do it all by yourself because the thing, when you say it wasn't easy, I very naively, I call it naive, particularly because I just did not realize how much goes into running a yoga studio from the outside.

Martine Hamers: It looks like, [00:34:00] okay you need to have a schedule. You need to have your teachers in place. And then, there will be some subs happening and you might be teaching some. and to some emails, but it's so much more than that. It's, that's changing quickly and it changes constantly.

Martine Hamers: There's constant movement in things. And yeah, so I was very shocked by how much work it actually was. And then on top of that, which was also my bio, I have two really little children, one, one in three. And so trying to learn this 

Michael Jay: during the pandemic too. And 

Martine Hamers: trying to do this. Yeah, that was that's hard.

Martine Hamers: And I I've just been looking also to okay, what are what are ways that I can find help? What are ways that, 

Michael Jay: because did you feel like it was a, this is the conversation I have with new people I meet, studio owners, that it can be a bit of a lonely, it's like partners don't really understand the nuances of running a yoga [00:35:00] studio, which is a people business, right?

Michael Jay: We are teachers of people are students of people and they come with challenges and and then there's the final, 

Martine Hamers: yeah. Yeah I think that it's very lonely. And, yeah, I find it, that was the funny thing about it because I started it because I felt very lonely in the pandemic and I was like, yoga has always been my community and it is, so this is the side to it.

Martine Hamers: I love how many people in the community I've met, how many people I see on the street now and then, way from the other day I was out with my kids. For a little walk and I, I can't, three cars after each other stop Hey, Martina, these are your kids. 

Michael Jay: There's the bonuses and the other side.

Michael Jay: And then the other 

Martine Hamers: side to it is also lonely because you have to make all the decisions by yourself. You have to arrange all the things by yourself. And then I had this conversation with my mom the other day, who lives in the Netherlands still when she was here.

Martine Hamers: And she goes Just I don't understand why you're so busy. What do you even do? And I was like, 

Michael Jay: I [00:36:00] don't even know where to start. It's a lot of things, 

Martine Hamers: mom. Like anything you would see in the studio somehow needs to be done, right? So yes, I have someone that comes in cleans, but it also in between needs to be cleaned.

Martine Hamers: I have water that people can drink and tea that people can drink. So we need to make sure that there's water. We need to make sure that there's tea. We need to make sure that the cups are clean. Can you tell 

Michael Jay: me about the, what were the things that just briefly of What was super easy for you running the business and then what were the things that you identified as Oh my God.

Martine Hamers: Let me get one second. The community because 

Michael Jay: community is easy for you, right? The community, the teaching, the. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. The community teachers teaching Finding who I wanted to be part of the studio, like which teachers I wanted to be part of the studio, I, I didn't struggle with that very much. And opening it up and just having this buzz and yeah.

Martine Hamers: And then the part that I find. Hard is I'm actually not a marketing person right not a [00:37:00] finance person. I like numbers. Yeah, but Yeah to have a good plan in place of okay How do I market this because there's this first buzz that's like we're opening up and people talk about it and then you know Yeah, then you exist Cause you've always got 

Michael Jay: to keep feeding it with new people, right?

Michael Jay: That's that's the lesson. That was my lesson quickly. I said, I've said this on multiple episodes. I opened, I thought I've got my tribe. This is it. But there's a thing called churn. 

Martine Hamers: So people come, people go. Some, yeah. Some, one of the things that I think was most. frustrating for me was that I opened up the studio.

Martine Hamers: I did something, it was called a founding membership. I got like this, that was my starting capital basically, to pay for the bills and et cetera, which was amazing. But then, to get people to at some point it became this thing it was like one in, one out, one in, one out.

Martine Hamers: And I was stuck in that pattern and it just drove [00:38:00] me bonkers. I was like, what's happening? And over time, because in the beginning, when I put out, what I learned though, was like in the beginning, when I put out that founding membership, there were just people that just signed up because it was just a damn good deal, because that's also part of this community.

Martine Hamers: But it didn't mean they actually attended. Didn't mean they actually attended. And also one thing I want to say where I live, it's like it's a really expensive area in the country. And so I priced everything a little lower and I do a lot of like memberships for like people that, Educators and healthcare workers.

Martine Hamers: And so that other people actually also can do a membership because when you live in an area with a lot of wealth, the first thought is like, Oh, I can just make it more expensive because people can pay for it. But there's also a ton of people that live here that actually can afford it. But anyway But I saw just a lot of people that had just signed up and never really showed up.

Martine Hamers: And so it was like this slow process of people dropping off and people that actually come, joining. 

Michael Jay: Because if they're not going to see the value of their membership, right? So [00:39:00] if they're not attending, they're going to go out. And you don't see it in 

Martine Hamers: your attendance. It doesn't mean that fills up your, Yeah.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. But it also, you don't see it in your numbers of attendance in you don't see it in your classes. And so you wanted people to actually also come to your classes. You're actually teaching people. So yeah, I, that part I found extremely frustrating and that made me really realize how much work goes into Getting people in your door.

Martine Hamers: And that was one thing that I realized as a teacher. 

Michael Jay: The, like the actual lead of getting the new person to see. Yeah. Because 

Martine Hamers: if you are a teacher, 

I 

Martine Hamers: had taught for many years and I had really gotten pretty good at, if someone comes to my class, how do I get them back into my class? If they like, I was good at that part, but then getting someone Back to your class is a whole different ball game than getting someone into your studio completely different.

Martine Hamers: And I, that was like a really big learning. And I'm still figuring that out to be very honest. Like [00:40:00] how do I reach the people that I want to with all the different platforms that are there because I haven't really found Yeah, it's just a constant feeding. I was like, okay, I'll try this out and then I'll try that out and I'll see what happens when I put up, like I said, a lot of 

Michael Jay: partnerships.

Michael Jay: What have you figured out? Or what did you figure out for help? Or? 

Martine Hamers: So I started, so there's a few things. What have I figured out? I I figured out. In what sense do you mean that actually? 

Michael Jay: So you, we got introduced by via the sales are Stephanie, my good friend and Chris sales arm who've been on previous episodes of my podcast.

Michael Jay: And so I was super curious, like how this community studio, so the sales arm is a. What would you call them? They're real human people that help studios with lead retention, follow up kind of thing. Yeah. And so you made a decision [00:41:00] at some point to get some help. 

Martine Hamers: Yes. And so how I, so it was funny because I was looking for Some help around marketing.

Martine Hamers: I was like, I'm not good at this. And I don't know how to do the social media very well. That's not my forte. And so I was actually looking for something like that. I was like, okay. And I started talking to different people and I just couldn't really find the right click. I couldn't really find the right place in the night.

Martine Hamers: And then fifth degree Send out this 

Michael Jay: I think they've done some webinars and yeah 

Martine Hamers: send out a podcast with a sales arm and I listened to it and I was like, Oh, that actually sounds really interesting and maybe a little more of what I need right now. And that's how I got connected with the sales arm and what is so interesting.

Martine Hamers: Great with working with them is that they take on you can, they basically are in contact with everybody that comes into my studio and it's new and they'll send them a text message and they'll get them engaged. And so they get people to come back in. They keep track of Oh, [00:42:00] I have, you 

Michael Jay: can see all those conversations and the activity that they're doing with your clients, right?

Martine Hamers: You don't see the literal conversations, but everybody they're in contact with when the contact points are and they share with you like any feedback they're getting. So if it's positive or negative, like you get, I get a lot of feedback on Oh, people like this and this going well, we've had very few negative things, but.

Martine Hamers: The few things that we had, or for example, like people wanted, we're not a hot yoga studio. So people wanted it to be hot and I was like okay, that's not, who we are. It's a choice I've made. But yeah, that, that was the part where I was looking for help and I was like, this is, I need to upload something and and it's just a lot of time and effort that goes into this and they are personal.

Martine Hamers: So it's an actual person. behind a text message and it's not something that is automated. And that was important to me because we get so many automated text messages and phone calls. And so what's the 

Michael Jay: results been for you? [00:43:00] So people getting back on the mats more what's the feedback to that?

Martine Hamers: So what I saw was

Martine Hamers: You have the metrics that say Oh, you're like when a new person comes in, like after in how many, what percentage of new person comes back in, in 30 days. And so mine was I think somewhere consciously hanging around somewhere between 15 and 20 percent pre prior to doing this. And now it's been up to 35 to 40%.

Martine Hamers: So there's a lot more people that come in for the first time that come in again and that. And that's mostly because they just book them again. They'll just contact them. Hey, how did it go? What do you think? So awesome. Do you want to try out another class? And so they, and they'll book it for them.

Martine Hamers: They'll, and so that makes it easier. And today I had someone in actually that was like, You have to thank your Emma is my person at the sales arm, just like you have to thank Emma because Emma [00:44:00] kept on texting me and I finally decided I need to do this. I need to do this membership, yeah. So yeah. 

Michael Jay: Can you talk about that decision? Because this is the one that a lot of my studio owners, when they've opened and are, they're making that decision to invest money Something that's going to cost them money, where they might not have a lot of extra. But that, that, I always say that if you're investing in people, software, systems, whatever, it should result in better sales, better attendance.

Michael Jay: It shouldn't be a big drain on you. 

Martine Hamers: Yeah. I, for me, it was scary to make the decision because I was like it's money that you like, do I have that right now, but it was, I think it was the right thing to do because you need to invest if again, like you can do it all by yourself because it's just not, it's not sustainable [00:45:00] investing though.

Martine Hamers: It's like smart investing. Yeah. Yeah. And you need to think about what it is for you that you need help with. So be clear on that, what is the thing that you need help with? And in my case, I just felt like having someone really dedicated to helping me get. My low hanging fruit, people that already found their way to the studio and coming in.

Martine Hamers: And they also do other stuff like grass roots. So I'm setting up a lot of partnerships with local businesses and and they helped me out with that. And so to get like a stream of more steady stream of people coming in and then. Have them and 

Michael Jay: then keeping them 

Martine Hamers: and then keeping them and then leakage, 

Michael Jay: right?

Michael Jay: We spend a lot of time, effort, money to get people in the door. And then, I've been to so many gyms where I bought an intro offer. Nobody's been there to greet me. I've never, I've gone to classes and then my gym membership, my intro expired. And I didn't hear anything. Yeah. It's and so what you're trying to do is.

Michael Jay: Get that [00:46:00] retention part up and stuff. Get that retention 

Martine Hamers: part up. And the thing also is right now as we're as we're growing and building, I don't have a dedicated front desk staff yet. And some of my teachers are great at this. Like asking people after class, how was it? And I'll have people engaged and some of them aren't.

Martine Hamers: And I felt like I can't always be dependent on the teacher that Where this might not be their thing, I can't really. Yeah. I would hope that they can help me out with that, but yeah I just can rely on it. And so this has just been a great way to get people. That's super 

Michael Jay: helpful because I think, everybody needs help in some everything.

Michael Jay: I always say every single day, I'm saying triple down on your own superpowers and your passion. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Delegate the things that. You pop off every single day because it's at the bottom of your list because it drags you down. We've been talking a long time here. I do want to just touch on one thing if you have time.

Michael Jay: And that [00:47:00] is that just touching on that, standing into your own bare feet as a studio owner and being able to, we had a pre talk about this, but just that, that, that moment of standing in your own two feet. Bare feet at the studio and saying, it's okay for me to have these expectations. It's okay for me to want my stu, my teachers to be upleveled.

Michael Jay: It's okay to say when something doesn't feel right. 

Martine Hamers: Yes. I think when we talked about this in a little pre chat, I was saying to you how that has actually also been a part of a learning for me. Yeah. Like a big learning curve because I, studio owner, you have to, and I think you even owe it to your teachers to do it, but for me it was a hard thing to do and I found it really hard to find examples of people where I was like, how do you do this in a way that's really compassionate and kind and [00:48:00] still true to who I am and sending my own two feet, and who I'm as a leader of this studio or as a.

Martine Hamers: Owner of the studio without really 

Michael Jay: and not caving to some diva attitudes. 

Martine Hamers: Exactly. And that part I really struggled with, but I do think that a great example for me was there was one teacher and she was teaching a class and that was at like a more primetime hour and we just couldn't get the class to grow.

Martine Hamers: And I was, I didn't know how to talk to her about it because I knew that if I was going to pull it or anything, she was going to be really she was going to be sad about it, and disappointed until I started realizing that she was teaching a format where she needed a lot of props.

Martine Hamers: First of all, I couldn't grow it because I didn't have enough props, but second, like she was really good in like the personal attention. And so whenever it would grow beyond, like whenever a class would be beyond 10 people, it just became mayhem and chaos and people just really [00:49:00] didn't like it. I, yeah, at some point I was just like, I need to I can just really talk to her about this concept of Hey, you're doing is really amazing and people love it, but we need to keep it smaller.

Martine Hamers: And so I need to keep you in other places. And she actually was relieved. And that was the biggest lesson for me. She felt the relief because she kept on feeling the push of it needs to be bigger. And she was like, I can't like not, it's not what I can do with this particular class. And so we were able to move it around and put her somewhere else where she is happy, where I don't feel like it needs to actually be really big and she can keep it really personalized.

Martine Hamers: And that was a big moment for me where it changed, where it flipped in my head. It was like, it's so important to actually be really honest about it, to let people really know where they stand to not tiptoe around it, to not, you can still be kind and compassionate and really explain it. But it's for the greater good of your studio, of the community.

Martine Hamers: [00:50:00] And so you, yeah, it's important to really be clear on, on certain decisions that you make. 

Michael Jay: And sometimes it's okay that they're not a fit. 

Martine Hamers: Sometimes it's okay that they're not a fit. Also that like you're going to also have that, obviously, luckily I haven't had that yet, but sometimes they're not.

Martine Hamers: Yeah. 

Michael Jay: I. I'm really happy. We got to talk today. I find stories like this just so inspiring because, I help studio owners open and grow, quite often they come out of just the spark. We create a space just from an idea. And you know how, you created this amazing space from your spark in Brazil and wanting to come back and create your own home studio.

Michael Jay: So I want to really thank you for your time. I'm here today. I've just got a couple of final questions. Would I end my podcast with, and that is what's a business tool like a go to business tool that you find really helpful or website or [00:51:00] app or something that's Canva. 

Martine Hamers: I use Canva. Canva. Yeah.

Martine Hamers: A lot. I like it. It makes doing marketing. Yeah. Anything. Branding. So much. Yeah. It's worth it. Create your branding kit in there. Yeah. Create your branding kit in there. And once you have that set up, bang. It's so easy. You're posting your logos, your colors, your photos. Oh my God. And there's certain 

Michael Jay: things that you pay for monthly and that's one that doesn't hurt me when I look at it on the credit card because it's I get value out of that.

Yeah. 

Martine Hamers: Totally. It's worth the money invested in. 

Michael Jay: What about a personal website app? Where do you, where would you hang out? Where do you app website? 

Martine Hamers: I thought it was one for giggles, I wonder where you will find me sometimes when I need to zone out. Yeah. It's 

Michael Jay: people. com.

Michael Jay: People. com. Okay. Yeah. 

Because 

Michael Jay: it's just really easy where I'm like, okay, I can just look at people, look at bodies. [00:52:00] That's what we do. But then in a very different way. That's great. Yeah. And nothing yoga. If you're to be, if you were a yoga pose, what would you be? And why? 

Martine Hamers: I would be a dancer both. And the reason for it is that I think in dancer, you have to balance and being a yoga studio owner, being a mom, there's a lot of balancing that needs to happen, balancing all these different needs.

Martine Hamers: And I also think That pose is very heart opening. So keeping your heart open, in it to not close off. And then it's also dancing to me is very community based. Like you do that with others and it creates connection.

Martine Hamers: It's a very freeing pose and also fierce in a way, but you've got to be 

Michael Jay: strong on the leg. You get that beautiful opening, you get the chest and shoulder opening. Yeah. It's yeah. That's 

Martine Hamers: me. And that's me. I love 

Michael Jay: [00:53:00] it. Where do people find you? What's your website? 

Martine Hamers: My website is homestudio. yoga. On Instagram, that's also at homestudio.

Martine Hamers: yoga. My personal one is at yogi teen. And I love that there's a 

Michael Jay: dot yoga URL now. I know. Isn't that exciting? I couldn't get what I wanted in dot com and I was like, they have dot yoga. Oh, perfect. I'll take that. Yeah. Martin, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for sharing your story with my listeners.

Martine Hamers: Yes, you're welcome. Thank you so much for having me.