Boutique gyms have become the status quo in urban areas where fitness veterans are eschewing the larger gyms for what the media has called an alternative to the anonymity of larger health clubs.
Several years ago in a business exercise, I was charged with the task of labeling my business model in two words. The goal was to clearly define what your business was and therefore what you wanted it to be. After a week of deliberation I settled on the phrase "boutique professional". This combination conveyed the combination of what I believed to be the hallmarks of Real Pilates - personal attention in a mid-sized space with all the modern amenities of technology to improve the administrative side of bookings, payments and retail. No one in my studio would be anonymous. Given that accountability is the best modifier of behavior I strongly prefer this fitness model.
As I surveyed some industry articles this month it occurred to me that my notion of the definition of "boutique" may be somewhat outdated. In fact, the new 'boutique" gyms seem to include corporate identities in multiple locations with anonymous owners and high level funding. Call me crazy but my local New York Sports Club is starting to feel like more of a boutique gym than the robust cycling and barre studios I'm seeing around town. To my mind, a boutique gym should afford you access to trainers, administration and an actual owner that are involved in your fitness plan. As a boutique studio that offers group classes, a cap of 10 bodies in a class seems fitting. I don't quite understand how 50-60 people in a room qualifies as a boutique fitness experience or how that isn't largely "anonymous". In fact, the bigger gyms hardly accommodate that many. It seems that smaller real estate with just as many bodies has come to define what it means to be boutique. In an effort to shed some light on this misnomer I went poking around online. I found that the word boutique is defined thusly:
A small business offering specialized products and services: an investment boutique; a health-care boutique.
Then I went looking to see what the definition of a Small Business was - this was a little murkier. It turns out the U.S. government actually defines a Small Business according to a few parameters. For the service industry - the defining variable is the income. Under $6M annual revenue defines the business as "Small" or in this case - Boutique. This means Real Pilates fits the bill. And thus, my "boutique professional" label is fitting and appropriate.
If boutique has come to mean mass market, commercial and big box corporate ownership masquarading as something smaller, I want nothing to do with it. I have exactly the business model I want.
In Pilates we like to say "go deeper, not wider". Meaning, you don't need more exercises or a bigger list to advance your practice and re-build your body. Rather you need the ability to dissect the exercises you already know and refine them. In business this is also true. Strengthening an area of your business that is already solid is often a better strategic move than chasing new markets. By September I'll be refining my already completed 2013 business plan and in an effort to hold true to my boutique model, I plan to follow the Pilates mantra and go deeper not wider. In so doing, I hope to discover even more about my wonderful clients, and the magical method of Pilates that has brought us all together here at Real Pilates. All while maintaining our legitimately "boutique professional" model. This month I challenge you to come up with a two word phrase to define your ideal workout or ideal studio. I'd like to hear about it.
Here's to discovery!
Please mark your calendars and plan on joining us for Cocktails and Contrology! We'll be showing archival footage of Joe Pilates demonstrating his exercise, the old fashioned way. We'll also have a few live demonstrations of some rarely performed exercises, and plenty of cocktails on hand.
