Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Katelyn Webb, Owner of Sampson12, LLC., located in Redding, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I help Pilates and yoga businesses improve their profit and achieve financial security without feeling fearful, anxious, or overwhelmed about money.

Tell us about yourself

Before helping business owners, I created and implemented financial forecasts for a portfolio of $6–9 billion at a large tech company. And before that, I worked as a financial analyst in the financial services industry (big banks), energy industry, and telecom industry. I worked side-by-side with senior vice presidents and other high-powered executives, providing them with facts, figures, and analytical advice for managing money in their business segment.

I grew up in the dance world, and in my early career, I relied heavily on yoga communities to find community, exercise, and passion. I moved around, taking on elite corporate finance roles, and it was hard and stressful to move to new parts of the country. Every time I moved, I would seek out the perfect yoga community to find my community. When the stresses of work brought me down, I had a safe haven on my mat.

I remember one 5 AM class practicing inversions. I had finally achieved a really tough position, and the whole class got up and cheered me on, helping to memorialize the moment by capturing a photo. That’s the kind of community that I value and want to see succeed despite these uncertain times. The pandemic was very hard on the yoga and Pilates business, with forced closures. Then the studios that made it through that now have record inflation, difficulty finding instructors, and rental prices that are doubling. It breaks my heart when I meet Pilates and yoga business owners who have to shut down after 20 years in business because they can't make ends meet or they are just flat burned out with everything stacked against them.

Since Pilates and yoga studios have such an important place in my life, I developed a program based on my corporate background and proven to my customers that it improves studio profit AND gives studio owners their time back. When my customers show me month after month that their businesses are doing better and they are getting their time back, it motivates me to keep going.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishments are my customer successes. I help my customers grow their businesses within 90 days.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

This is something that I learned first-hand, even though I knew better! It's important not to think that growing your business in today's day and age is intuitive. It isn't intuitive because technology has evolved in a certain way, that you have to follow certain steps for success.

Many people (myself included at the beginning of my business) spend a lot of time on strategies that don't directly correlate with success. I like to help my customers implement the strategies that directly result in growing their business.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Absolutely. Here are the three tips that will make a big difference for Pilates and Yoga Businesses.

  1. Use paid ads to grow your community. Paid ads are designed by tech companies to work for you. Interestingly enough, tech companies also make the algorithms for organic social media posts difficult for you to reach potential new customers. They want you to pay for ads, and they have the means to change the algorithm so that it is your best option. Organic social media (like posting on Instagram) should not be your main strategy to attract new clients. It should be used to engage with your existing community.
  2. Connect with your community regularly online. The way people engage with businesses over the internet has evolved post-pandemic. People want to connect with their local businesses regularly online, not just in person. Regularly connect with your community through email storytelling, going "Live" online, or even a podcast. Each time your community connects with you, it actually will grow your relationship with them and encourage them to get help from your studio.
  3. Don't just talk about the workout. Talk about the problems your classes fix and the lifestyle your customers will get from your services. For yoga and Pilates, this includes things like healing from the back, shoulder, or knee pain and improved mobility later in life, which equates to more freedom.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://sampson12.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katelynwebb.biz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katelynwebb.biz/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sampson12/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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