How to Start a Professional Meditation Business

Part 1 - How to start a Professional Meditation business - Background

A professional meditation business provides a location for clients to practice different forms of meditation in order to become more relaxed and focused. Different clients seek out meditation centers for different purposes. Some clients merely want to achieve a better sense of relaxation and peace. Other clients see meditation as a path towards performing better in their careers and relationships.

You may also be interested in additional unique business ideas.

Our guide is in 3 parts:

• Part 1 - How to start a Professional Meditation business - Background
• Part 2 - Our planner tool to see if this idea is the right fit for you
• Part 3 - Action plan to get started

What are the costs involved in opening a professional meditation business?

The costs involved in opening a meditation business vary greatly depending on your region and the location of your studio. For instance, it’s possible to run a successful business out of a 1,000 square foot studio, but the cost of opening one can vary from $30,000 to $500,000 or more depending on the region, the market, and how extensively you wish to redecorate the interior. If you have the space and are comfortable doing so, you can conduct such a business out of your own home, which drastically reduces the overhead, but it may also eliminate the convenience of a central location for your customers. Beyond the cost of the studio itself, you are really only paying for utilities (which should be $500 or less per month in a small space like this) and for any equipment you and your clients need (which should cost $500 or less as well, considering that you typically don’t need anything more complex than some comfortable mats). Finally, you may wish to allot $1000-$2000 dollars for initial advertising.

What are the ongoing expenses for a professional meditation business?

The ongoing expenses are very simple for such a business: it will be whatever the monthly lease of your studio is (some meditation businesses lease for $3,000 a month, though this amount can vary both up and down) and the cost of utilities (typically less than $500, though this, too, can vary, especially by season). Beyond this, you should not need to buy or replace equipment very often, and much of your advertising will be online and, thus, very cheap, though it may be worth allotting $500 a month or so for printing flyers, business cards, and so on.

Who is the target market?

Ironically, some of your best clients will be businessmen. While this does not seem like the stereotypical clientele for meditation, recent years have seen an increase in successful businessmen (including the late Steve Jobs) embracing meditation as a way to enhance creativity and productivity. Thus, business clients will be focused on their own particular goals, making them much more likely to become frequent visitors.

How does a professional meditation business make money?

The most basic way that a meditation business makes money is to charge clients a fixed fee for sessions, with sessions typically lasting between thirty minutes and one hour. Your own studio may experiment with models such as charging higher monthly fees for unlimited sessions or charging higher fees for individual lessons.

How much can you charge customers?

Meditation sessions typically run between $10 and $30 for group sessions. As mentioned earlier, you may want to experiment with a model where you charge more for private sessions, or offer clients a discount if they sign up for multiple sessions at once. Be sure to research your competition in the area, though: you do not want to severely underprice or overprice your services relative to the area.

How much profit can a professional meditation business make?

Of course, the exact amount of profit your business can make will also vary by area, amount of customers, and price per session. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics notes that the average recreational therapist income is just below $47,000. However, Forbes notes that meditation is now a billion-dollar industry, and that more employers than ever before are helping pay for employees to take mindfulness meditation training. This means that your prospective clients will only grow as the years unfold.

How can you make your business more profitable?

If you are willing to move or to commute, establishing yourself in an area with little competition is a great way to increase profits. Don’t forget that it is acceptable to raise your rates, too: as with any other business, once you have demonstrated value, customers are going to be willing to pay a bit more, and a rate increase multiplied across all of your customers will be huge. Finally, don’t forget the power of giving free talks and demonstrations at places like colleges and community centers. This helps build your brand, demonstrate your value, and most importantly, to recruit customers!

Day-to-Day and Growth

What happens during a typical day at a professional meditation business?

Your primary daily activities will involve conducting meditation exercises with groups of clients. In-between sessions, you will likely be communicating with current and prospective clients as well as ensuring that your studio has the proper ambiance. You must also ensure that your business is aggressively advertising itself towards key demographics. It is worth noting that a successful meditation business will keep later hours in order to attend to clients who can only visit you after their work shifts have ended.

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful professional meditation business?

Specialization (or at least familiarity) with a wide-range of meditation practices and styles can help you reach a more diverse clientele and also help you establish your brand more quickly. Skills in marketing can help you quickly establish yourself in the community. These marketing skills will also help you set up an ongoing social media presence with your clients. As mentioned earlier, previous experience as a client of one or more meditation centers can help you figure out what you will need to do to successfully run your own.

What is the growth potential for a professional meditation business?

The growth potential for a meditation business is quite solid. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics considers this a form of “recreational therapy,” and that field is projected to grow 12 percent in-between 2014 and 2024.

What are some insider tips for jump starting a professional meditation business?

Don’t underestimate building your brand. There may be a lot of competition in your area, so make sure that everything from your business name and logo to website and advertising help to set you apart from the competition. As alluded to earlier, it’s important to have a location convenient for many clients, and that includes easy, accessible parking. Finally, really take the time to know your clients, and communicate with them regularly. The key to return business is that they see their time with you as part of a friendly relationship and not just a periodical transaction.

How and when to build a team

The nature of a meditation business is that it is usually conducted by one person. This is partly because your studio is likely to be small, and a large team would mean expanding to a larger space and taking on a correspondingly large overhead. If you simply have more clients than you can reasonably see, it is possible to take on one or two partners and simply divvy up the shifts, allowing you to expand your team before making the larger step of expanding your operations.

Part 2 - Is a Professional Meditation business the right fit for you?

Part 3 - Action plan to launch your Professional Meditation business in 90 days