I’m Shannon @cocobyshan, owner and founder of Club Coco (@clubcoco.reformer), a reformer Pilates studio based in Chatham, Kent.
Before opening these doors, I spent ten years immersed in Pilates as a client before finally taking the leap to qualify as an instructor nearly two years ago. But before any of that, I spent a decade in fashion, working as a model and influencer agent and diving deep into marketing. I managed high-profile talent, negotiated schedules, built out brand events, and handled difficult conversations daily.
When I left fashion to open Club Coco, I assumed the transition from instructor to studio owner would be a natural progression and in truth? Teaching and running a business require two entirely different skill sets..and I can tell you the jump between them is a wild ride..
What Being an Instructor Didn’t Prepare Me For About Owning a Studio
When you’re on the ground as an instructor, your sole priority is giving energy. You’re personable, you are the high-energy queen, and focused on making every single person in the room feel good. It’s visible and really face-value work.
What it doesn’t prepare you for is what happens behind the scenes:
Managing other instructors: You go from being a peer to a leader who has to make tough calls on performance, schedule alignment, and brand fit. I audition everyone who we have on board at the studio and I can tell from the first second I meet an instructor if they are right for the studio or not.
Managing clients beyond the class: On the reformer, your goal is to make the client happy. Off the reformer, you’re battling your electrical bill, being reactive to broken equipment in the studio, enforcing late-cancellation policies, and dealing with people wanting refunds for missed sessions.
The constant decision-making: As an owner, if you care about the studio enough you are focusing on building a brand not just a studio, which is executing marketing strategies, social media & email strategies, managing cash flow, and constantly making decisions on your own.
My "instructor head" and my "business owner head" are seriously two completely different people. As an instructor, you thrive on pleasing people. As a business owner, you sometimes have to be comfortable disappointing them..that is the reality. Enforcing a policy when it’s right for the business means having the courage to say no, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Luckily, my decade in the fashion industry gave me the serious backbone for this. Learning the "why" behind brand building, understanding how events drive engagement, and navigating tricky interpersonal dynamics were the exact skills I brought into the studio. Teaching Pilates taught me how to connect..my corporate background taught me how to lead.
Shannon, founder of Club Coco Reformer Pilates studio in Chatham, Kent.
The Balancing Act (and Why Being an Instructor First Is Still a Superpower)
One thing people rarely talk about is the sheer exhaustion of splitting yourself between teaching and managing..you just will not understand unless you have taught a fitness class yourself. You’re giving ALL of your energy to a room full of clients for hours, only to go home, open your laptop, and start the administrative second half of your workday is a mental shift that shouldn't be underestimated and is so exhausting.
Yet, despite the juggle, I firmly believe that being an instructor first is the ultimate superpower when opening a studio..
With boutique fitness studios popping up everywhere & gyms opening reformer studios, you can immediately feel the difference between an instructor-led studio and one run purely by a silent investor/gym. Our clients may start there journey at a reformer studio in a gym ..come to us for a session and say ‘omg I will never train pilates at a gym again’. When you’ve spent hundreds of hours teaching, you know your clients inside out. You know what kind of energy they need, what kind of instructors to hire, and how to market to them authentically. That empathy creates a community vibe you simply cannot fake.
Thinking of Making the Leap?
If you’re an instructor dreaming of opening your own studio, my biggest advice is to look beyond the movement and ask yourself the hard questions:
Can you manage people, not just teach them? Are you capable of letting an instructor go if they aren’t delivering the standard your brand demands?
Do you have the stomach for boundaries? Are you ready to say no to clients when enforcing your business policies?
Are you ready to face competition? Are you ready to be so confident in what you are delivering as a brand that competition won’t matter?
Can you steer the ship? Are you prepared to handle the schedule, bring fresh ideas to the table, and continually innovate to stay ahead of competitors?
Owning Club Coco is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, but it demands far more than just a little love for Pilates. You need high energy on the floor, but off it, you need vision, drive and the business skills to back it up.
30 Blogs in 30 Days
Throughout October, we’re sharing one new blog every day, bringing together studio owners, instructors and industry experts to share their experiences, knowledge and perspectives on the Pilates industry.
Day 25 of 30, come back tomorrow for the next blog.
