← Pilates Business Podcast
Pilates Business Podcast
How Pilates Studio Owners Are Turning Classes Into Recurring Revenue (with Uscreen CEO Allison Yazdian)
00:29:15
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- [00:00]
A
Do you ever wonder how to scale your studio beyond the four walls and turn your expertise into a scalable on demand income stream? Well, in today's episode, I'm diving into the world of on demand and live streaming with Alison, who is the CEO of uscreen. Uscreen is a powerful platform that's helping teachers and instructors and entrepreneurs build their own video membership businesses. So whether you're thinking about launching an on demand library or growing a virtual membership, or simply curious about what is possible in that space for you, this conversation is going to spark some big ideas.
- [00:42]
Well, hi there, I'm Sarah Glanfield. I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you. If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact, you're in the right place. All you need are a few key strategies, the right mindset, and some support along the way. Join me as I share the real life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio. This is the Pilates Business Podcast.
- [01:15]
Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Glanfield, business strategist, certified business coach, and the founder of Spring3 Studio Business Consulting. For over a decade, I've worked exclusively with boutique fitness studio owners just like you, helping them build profitable, sustainable businesses doing what they love. And I'm really excited you're here today because we are digging into a topic that could truly change the game for how you grow your business in the next few phase of growth and also how you grow your revenue. So if you're like a lot of studio owners that I have worked with and teachers that I've connected with over the years, you've probably had the thought of how do I reach more people, how do I make more income and build something that doesn't always depend on me being there in the studio or on the schedule. And that's where today's conversation comes in. Joining me is Alison Yazdian, the CEO of Uscreen, which is an all in one video monetization platform that helps creators and educators and business owners to build their own branded on demand video platforms. So this is like your own version of Netflix or Prime Video, but totally tailored to your unique brand, your style of teaching and your studio's vibe. Alison brings over two decades of experience with scaling big businesses. She led the go to market strategy at big Compass companies like Compass, where she helped grow the business through an IPO as well as ltk, which is otherwise known as like to Know and which is you might have heard of it you might have linked to it from your Instagram, which is where influencers are able to monetize their recommendations. So while at uscreen, she's really leading the charge in helping fitness professionals just like you to build scalable digital platform membership businesses that serve clients all the time, anytime, anywhere. So welcome in, Alison. I'm so thrilled you're here with us today.
- [03:26]
B
Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited and honored to be a guest. So thank you.
- [03:31]
A
So let's start with a big picture question. You've obviously led growth at some big companies and some really sort of unique industries, and now you're at the helm of uscreen. So tell us a little bit about what sort of drew you to this world. What excites you most about what Uscreen is doing right now in the world of video based businesses, especially in wellness and fitness?
- [04:00]
B
Yeah, absolutely. It really starts with my why. And that really starts with how I grew up. I'm the daughter of entrepreneurship and so I saw firsthand just what it took for them to run a business. The ups, which, you know, can be really exciting, but also just sort of like the downs, just not knowing where your next dollar is coming from. Just the 24 7, always thinking about it, always working and pushing through. And so the majority of my career I've really spent at companies that serve entrepreneurs. So you mentioned Compass, serving real estate agents who are entrepreneurs. I was at a company that served dentists, again helping them think through how to grow their practices. And then as you mentioned, I was at LTK before this, which really helped me understand creators as entrepreneurs. And this is a new type of entrepreneur who really sort of grown these incredible audiences and communities offline and online. And I've really started to understand while at LTK what it means to be a creator as a, as a small business owner, as a larger business owner. And what does that look like? It looks like these creators have built massive audiences on rented land, meaning the social platforms have done them huge favors and helping them build these global communities. And but the other side of that is they really feel like they're beholden to the algorithm. They really feel like their revenue is unsustainable or at least not recurring because it really depends on the brand deals that are coming in. It really depends on who's clicking on the affiliate. And a lot of the advice that creators are often given as they start to become more serious about growing these businesses is to really be in a position to be able to own the data, own their audience, be able to reach their audience, have their own destination. And so the beauty of uscreen is it's really helping creators create these branded ecosystems. Not only are we giving them, you know, the technology and the tools and the software to sort of build out these ecosystems, we're also giving them the guidance so that they can build really sustainable, recurring businesses. And we serve a lot of different verticals. Fitness is our top vertical, especially Pilates. We have a lot. It's just. It's so natural to even consumers. Right. Like, people are used to paying for a gym, for a trainer, and so for our fitness creators, and we have thousands of them, to be able to scale themselves and offer their great work to their audience through a digital perspective and do it, you know, create passive income through subscription revenue for me is sort of like achieving that. That entrepreneur dream. And then, personally, Pilates changed my life. And I don't mean to sound cliche or cheesy by saying it, but it is one of my happiest places in the world is sitting on a carriage. And I know personally how not only did it make me feel, like, physically stronger, but just mentally. It is my place for meditation and reflection. And so to know that you screen can play a really big part in helping these incredible instructors, like, take their content, take their gifts to the. To the whole world in a scalable fashion is really what sort of gets me out of bed every day.
- [07:35]
A
Yeah, well, you're in really good company.
- [07:39]
Yes, we all feel very much the same way about Pilates, for sure. For sure. So I'd love to pick your brain a little bit about how the digital fitness space has evolved, expanded, obviously. You know, I was in this space through Covid 2020. Prior to Covid, I was. I, you know, worked with folks who are online. In the online space. We saw a huge growth in that time. I think everybody went online, and I think some of us have some traumatic memories of that period in our lives, for sure. But I'm kind of curious to hear from you what you've seen in terms of since then, the trends that have emerged in our space. And for those who are perhaps looking to come into that world or to build or to scale, what does that look like in 2026 and beyond?
- [08:35]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of us have PTSD from COVID and obviously we just saw this huge influx and surge of people just being forced to figure out ways to make money digitally. And so you saw a lot more fitness content cropping up across a lot of social platforms. And a lot of people really Trying to figure out how can I build these sustainable businesses? And there were a lot of spikes and, you know, definitely quite a valley. What we're seeing now is instructors, and they don't have to have large global audiences. They can even have engaged in person relationships. A lot of the folks that come over to uscreen are really looking for more of this like walled garden approach. They have clients, they have a community that is really bought into their content and wants to have more of like a closed experience and being able to access it, which also creates an opportunity for that creator to be able to monetize it. So obviously long form content on YouTube is great, obviously the short form on the social platforms. But for creators to have this place for their specific community to come together is really in their own library of content. Their own approach to bringing their community together and really helping them sort of unlock their own potential with Pilates at their own time, on their own time, is really quite meaningful. And so we're seeing this influx of these creators who want these private branded ecosystems taking more of like a hybrid, multimodal approach. So what does that look like? It's a website that's completely white labeled and branded for you. But also a lot of our creators are launching mobile apps, they're launching TV apps, we have Apple Watch integrations. And there's a lot within those apps and those experiences that help them build a stronger relationship with their community and really helps their community build a relationship with themselves. Like I think about when I go to Pilates, I see my friends there, I'm so excited about it. There's a way to actually do that digitally where they're building relationships with each other and with their trainer. And so we built in calendars and streaks and challenges. We have live stream capability, we have a lot of, we have a whole community feature. It's sort of like a Facebook and discord, all within Uscreen. All of these things really creates a much more engaging experience for the audience. And then in turn, we're seeing our, our, our creators build out these like, sustainable revenue businesses. And when you think about the price points that a Pilates instructor can charge digitally, you know, doesn't take that many subscribers to create something pretty meaningful. And I can share some examples.
- [11:27]
A
Yeah, I'd love to hear that. And I think, you know, there's a lot of concern about competition and is there demand out there? And it sounds like from what you're sharing is that there's a lot of opportunity for differentiation. And that's just like in the brick and Mortar space. We want to go into this with an idea that what you're building is unique and that means leaning more into perhaps your own way of doing things, what you care about, your why, your purpose, your impact. So yeah, I'd love to, I'd love to hear a little bit more about that and what you've seen work.
- [11:58]
B
I couldn't agree more. You know, we're moving because of the world we live in where personalization is so key people can sort of access any type of content. We're seeing some of our most successful creators really start with like a specific niche. So rather than it being fitness for everyone, they're coming in very narrow. If it's Pilates for longevity or pre and postnatal Pilates, they're coming in with their own unique angle. But again, just like an instructor in person has their own personality and their, and people taking the class will start to attach to them as their community gets to know them. They want to spend that time with the person. And we're again, we're seeing a lot of creators seeing a lot of success. So I'll give you a couple examples. Last year just on you screen alone for fitness creators, they generated 103 million in revenue with 13% of them like achieving six figures. So this isn't like, sort of like only for a few people. Like this is something where it's a big world out there and if you can, if you already have an online community or just a community of folks who love your content, again, you can very quickly start to see that revenue growth. And again, the beauty of it is, is like historically you could only really make money if you were actively teaching, if you were having a class, if you were having a private. This is a way for you to sort of build this infrastructure, record the content and give access to your community, to be able to access it whenever they want. And you have that passive income. So it's not just, you know, linear function to when you are actually teaching. It is sort of the entrepreneur's dream of making money in your sleep.
- [13:49]
A
Right, right. The scalability is there for sure. Right. I think one of the things that when I, when I, when we sort of talk through different ways to grow and moving into the online space is, you know, we talk about often and how to monetize. One of the things that folks are most concerned about is, you know, how, how much content, how tech savvy do I need to be what's involved in getting online? It feels very much, I think for a lot of folks listening that it's sort of like, where do I start and what, what's out there and what, what do I need to do? So can you share a little bit about what that looks like?
- [14:24]
B
The Uscreen platform is very intuitive. We designed it as such because we want folks to really understand how to make the most of it. A lot of creators who are just wading into this space, they might start with filming a few videos, uploading them and charging them on demand. And then as they start to understand what their community is looking for, they can start to scale into more of a subscription program and we can manage all of it. Not only do we have this intuitive user interface that helps you understand how to upload videos and charge for the videos, we also have a lot of tools and content that actually helps you think about strategy to the point where if you decide to launch mobile apps and TV apps, you'll have an onboarding team, a success team that's very dedicated to helping you maximize and optimize the opportunity. And we've developed a lot of tools that really help you do that. So not only is it subscribers and paywall videos, we also have marketing funnels, we have marketing automations, we have a built in CRM, we have community and other tools that really help drive engagement because not only do we want to help you drive up that revenue, but we want to help you retain it. And so there's a lot that we do and expertise that we'll share with our customers to help them make the most of it because we want them to win and we have a lot of experience doing this. We can even provide benchmark data on how much they should be charging for their subscription based on what we're seeing other successful creators do.
- [15:57]
A
Yeah, I have to second that. I have seen the inside of the platform and I have a few of my clients who work inside the platform and it is so straightforward to use. And I think that, you know, there's just a tremendous amount of opportunity and different things you can be doing. And there's a lot of support to help navigate where to focus. And so I've seen it and I. It is, it is very, very straightforward to use, for sure. And you know, I think one of the things that we're hoping for when we were building out a platform like this is that, you know, we'll ultimately be able to have that sort of scalable income that is sustainable. And I think a lot of folks worry they're a little bit too small to do this. What, what does it, what would you say Perhaps to people who are wondering, you know, how big do you have to be, how many followers you have to have? Or what does it really take to be able to make a nice income or, or the average income of what you see on your screen.
- [16:51]
B
For fitness professionals, it doesn't have to be massive, right? Like I feel like follower count is, is such a, it's such a vanity metric. Obviously that is one leading indicator. But you also have to remember like the relationships that you have in person and also like the engagement you have because there can be creators who have millions of followers and you know, maybe the engagement isn't there or people aren't bought in enough to want to subscribe. And then you have influencers and creators with, with much smaller communities who are able to. For us, we've seen creators, you know, generating thousands of dollars a month. There's one woman, Katia, she had her own studio in London, decided to go and create and launch a you screen membership. Again, it's all white labeled for her. And she started making 8200amonth in addition to teaching the classes. There's actually an article that just came out, the Biz, the, the Pilates Business Journal about Leah Micelli. She 6x her income, so she jumped up to $28,000 per month. She actually migrated from another platform and she saw 90% revenue growth. So it, it doesn't have to be large. I mean, we have another creator back to that notion of niche. She focuses on pre and postnatal studio Bloom. She's making over a million dollars in annual recurring revenue. And so for us, it's really about how do you let your audience know that you're doing this, make sure you're building what they want. And again, we can provide a lot of guidance and expert to do that. And then we, we built in giveaway funnels, marketing funnels, landing pages even for you to start teasing them and getting their email addresses. Because you can download an app, you can send them push notifications. Part of this too is being able to reach them. Free trials is another way to get people into your funnel. So the, the short of it is, is like you can actually have a pretty small following and be able to create like a really nice business out of it with recurring revenue.
- [18:58]
A
Yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, there's a, it's like any business, right? You have to understand what your value proposition is. You have to know who your audience is. You have to be able to have those marketing channels in place. So, you know, it's, it doesn't just because it's online, it doesn't mean that you can't, you shouldn't or you not need. Those are not needed. They're still needed. But you're going to help, you will help folks to figure out what exactly what's the best way. And I think know you mentioned some of the key features that uscreen offers, but can you talk us through a little bit about, you know, which of those key features anyone who's looking to move into the online space should be really paying attention to as they perhaps are looking into January and 2026 and beyond. What, what they, what sort of features are kind of really key when it comes to launching but then monetization?
- [19:48]
B
Absolutely. So if you think about like the life cycle of sort of launching and getting as many subscribers as possible, first, just think about do you have a destination that you own for your creators to visit? And so that's why we do white label websites. We have this branded ecosystem with mobile apps and then having a mechanism to basically start to market to them. So, you know, we encourage everyone to promote this on their socials. But those email addresses are super valuable to be able to let them know that you're open for business. If you're going to have. We're seeing a lot of creators right now with the holidays, have Black Friday specials. Obviously, January is a big month for fitness. They start seeding that early. And so we built in a lot of features to allow them to communicate and automate emails to their various segments of, of community. And so first it's how do you actually get them into the subscription? We have trials, we have promo codes, giveaway funnels I reference. And then once they're using the apps, once they're part of the community, how do you drive engagement? And so for us it's, we have a whole community feature. We have a calendar feature. We see a lot of creators who will launch challenges where there's streaks and badges. We're seeing tremendous amount of engagement that way, which not only drives up satisfaction, but also helps manage Churn. And then on the Churn piece, there's a lot that we can do to help mitigate it. We can help you segment your audience to see, you know, maybe who isn't as engaged to help you do dedicated campaigns to bring them back into the fold. Or if someone does want to churn, you know, there's maybe offers that you want to provide to them to bring them back in. We have an integration with wearables with the Apple Watch and just a lot of Other features that is, will really keep them engaged and keep them as part of your community.
- [21:47]
A
Right. And that's just so important in the online space. You know, I think way more so than in a brick and mortar studio that to keep people's attention engaged in your act, you know, in your, in your movement practice that you're sharing is, is a bit more of a challenge than when you're seeing someone face to face. Right. And you have them on your schedule every week. So these sorts of features are really helpful and really critical. Right. Without them you probably, it's, it's, it's a bit of a, it's a struggle. But when you have the gamification, the, the rewards, the recognitions, the tools and the funnels, you know, that's what helps to keep that revenue because turn that revenue into that recurring revenue so people stay. Right. So that lifetime value is, is really important.
- [22:32]
B
That's exactly right. And again, I want to say like you obviously want to have some great recorded classes and content, but a lot of our creators use do. We'll do live streams with their audience which is a great way to sort of create that community feeling, bring them all together as well as they may post like shorter form content. Like we have a lot of creators who in the community will post, you know, a two minute affirmation video and other ways to sort of bring them in because again they're, they're subscribing for you and so the more they get to know your personality, the more they feel like they get access to you really creates a lot of that value add. It's not just about the catalog of videos that you create. Obviously those are really important and we're investing a lot at you screen and creating more personalized experience based on watch history. We're doing some really interesting stuff with artificial intelligence so that we're not only bringing them back, but making sure they're getting the best workout once they're on your site.
- [23:38]
A
Yeah, I mean I'm sure that there is like just an incredible amount of opportunity for more personalized experience with using AI. And so yeah, there's so much there. So much there. So looking ahead to 2026 and beyond what is on the horizon for you screen and how you are helping movement professionals to monetize their talents and expertise in the online space.
- [24:06]
B
So there's a lot that we're really excited about. So one is we've recently launched a coaching division that is very much dedicated to helping our creators make the most out of the USCREEN platform. We are constantly investing in the platform, rolling out new features and functionality or just improving the platform itself to help our creators reach that scalable revenue. And so having coaches who will do one to one or recorded content is a great way to help them think about it. Beyond that, we're really looking at every different way through the technology that we can help our creators win. So we actually, I'll give you an example. We just launched as part of the checkout experience, a new feature that all of our customers can use called local currency. So we know that if someone in another country wants to subscribe, if they don't see their home currency, their likelihood of subscribing is lesser. It's a psychological thing. So we've launched a new feature where you can show them their currency and whatever they're used to paying. So if you charge US dollars, you can show them what the, the pound equivalent is in the uk. And we're seeing that drive up conversion significantly. And that's just one example of like how even on like the checkout experience, we're making it just a lot more seamless because if you've gotten someone to that page, we want to help you bring them back. Abandoned Cart is another example. We're also investing pretty heavily in our CRM and marketing automation. So I've sort of alluded to this, but we, we don't want our creators to feel like they just have to be operating on the screen platform all the time. I mean, obviously we want them to set it up and that's what's going to make them successful, but we want to build a lot of like set it and forget it. So sequences that you can set based on where someone is in their life cycle with really great sort of like design templates and really easy ways to sort of segment your, your audience and even know who your audience is to be able to communicate with them to drive that engagement and that viewership. Continuing to invest in analytics. Right? So really understanding your data, but more importantly, and this is where artificial intelligence comes in, giving you AI insights based on what we're seeing in the data as well as recommendations of the actions that you should take. So that's a big focus for us. We're also continuing to bolster the community features, just the overall viewership experience. How do we make sure that we are getting customers to come back and when they are in your apps on your site, that they're making the most of it? That's another big investment piece that we're making as well. But, and generally we we are just investing based on what we hear from our customers. One of my favorite parts about uscreen is we are all so customer obsessed. You know, we really feel like we're supporting our parents, our siblings, our nieces, our uncles, everyone in our community. So we listen a lot to our customers, are continuing to build for them.
- [27:14]
A
Fantastic. It's so exciting. So exciting and thrilled for you. Well, thank you so much, Alison, for coming on and sharing. Sharing a little bit about what, what's happening behind the scenes at uscreen and a little bit how about how fitness professionals can use the platform to, to monetize their talents and expertise and grow from here. No doubt there is so much more opportunity for us in that world. So thank you for sharing.
- [27:42]
B
Of course. Thank you so much for having me. And for anyone listening who wants to learn more about you screen, you can visit our website. It's just you like the letter, you screen tv. You can request a demo, you can actually go into a free trial to sort of experience it for, for yourself and just start to understand all that is available to you. You can also see case studies of other fitness instructors, specifically Pilates instructors, who we've really sort of transformed their, their lives by helping them build these sustainable revenue businesses.
- [28:20]
A
Absolutely. And I'm going to add all of that into the show notes, you guys, so go check it out. Go learn a bit more about what's possible for you guys in, in the online space and how uscreen can help. Thanks so much, Alison.
- [28:31]
B
Thanks for having me. This was great.
- [28:37]
A
Did you love this episode and want more? Head to spring3.com and check out my free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And before you go, one last reminder. There is no one way to do what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this. Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.