How Ads Became My Lifeline (And Built a Seven-Figure Coaching Business)

Stop Taking Certifications. Start Marketing Your Studio.

Let me ask you something:

How many certifications have you invested in over the past five years?

How many teacher trainings have you completed, thinking this is the one that will finally help you stand out, make more money, and grow your studio?

And here's the follow-up question: Did any of them actually increase your revenue?

I'm going to guess the answer is no.

Listen, I've been there. When I was first teaching yoga and wanted to learn how to make a living doing it, I went to a mentor teacher and asked, "What can I do to be able to make more money?"

She told me I'd need to teach for 10 years and get more certifications.

So I did what any eager yoga teacher would do—I signed up for my 300-hour yoga certification. I was so sure this would change everything. Studios would pay me more. I'd have more credibility. My classes would be packed.

And you know what happened?

It didn't change my revenue at all.

Not even a little.

Did my classes get better? Probably. I had more knowledge and more experience as a teacher. But did it directly reflect in my profit and loss statement? Absolutely not.

And that's when I learned the hard way: just because you are a high-quality teacher does not guarantee you will make any money.

The Myth That's Costing Studio Owners Growth in 2026

I was scrolling Instagram this week and saw a reel from a very popular wellness creator—not a studio owner, but someone with a big platform. She said something along the lines of: "If you want to succeed in 2026, with Pilates studios opening everywhere and yoga still growing, you need to have the best quality teachers out there."

And I had to call it out in the comments because I really, really disagree with that advice.

Here's the thing: if your quality of class is poor, it will become very clear very quickly. You'll get negative reviews. You'll get complaints. You'll have a hard time getting people to come back.

But for most studio owners I work with, that is not the issue.

They are delivering quality classes to their students. The problem isn't their teaching—it's their marketing.

Why Quality Doesn't Equal Revenue

Your skills as a teacher have nothing to do with your skills as a business owner.

If you're relying on your teaching to do the marketing and selling for you, you are literally just relying on referrals—and that is a strategy of hope when it comes to business.

Now, referrals are important. They're going to be part of your overall strategy. But when you anchor into real business skills—when you understand how to communicate your value, invite people into your world, and sell them something—you realize that referrals alone are not going to cut it.

Here's what is true: The best communicator wins. Not the best quality.

And while I wish that wasn't the case—I wish the best quality, the most ethical, the most skilled just won every time—it's not the way the world works.

What wins is clear, consistent, strategic communication.

What It Actually Means to Be a Great Communicator in 2026

So what does it mean to be a really good communicator of your message, your business, and what you offer?

1. You Cannot Use Generic Language Anymore

You cannot post your class schedule, say you're "for all levels," throw up a flyer for your upcoming event, and expect that to bring in leads.

Here's the litmus test I want you to use: If another studio could write it and just swap out their name, it's probably not specific enough to get someone's attention.

If you want to make it through 2026 and stand out among your competition, you need to refine your message. And your message should be about:

• The transformation your members experience
• The results you deliver
• Who you are specifically for
• The identity your people step into when they work with you

When you nail that down, any marketing you do will naturally stand out—because whatever you end up saying won't be what another studio says. It will be rooted in your values, your mission, and what you're actually about.

You may have heard of Mimi Yoga in Miami. I think they do a really good job at this. I spent a few moments scrolling their Instagram, and I immediately got the vibe: this studio is about me becoming my most confident, badass self.

Then I went to their website, and they described their members as "modern warriors."

And I was like, you know what? That tracks. It gives this strong, empowered energy right away.

Now, maybe that's similar to what you offer in your business. Maybe it's completely different. That doesn't really matter.

What matters is that you understand the identity your people have, the transformation they walk away with, and the results they experience—and that's what you're communicating.

Does that take effort? Yes. It literally means you need to sit down with your pen and paper and ask:

• What are my people thinking?
• Where are they going?
• Who are they becoming?

This is the work we do inside the Studio CEO Program. I help you map it out, step by step by step.

And even if you've been operating for 10 or 20 years using the old messaging—"here's our class schedule, we're for all levels, everyone can come here"—if your messaging is from 10 years ago, it is time to update it.

I'm seeing this a lot right now. We're getting emails and messages from studios saying, "I've been around for 10 years. We have a solid membership base, but last year we saw a drop in new members. What do we do?"

And I think that is the direct result of more competition rising within the industry—which inherently requires you to get better at marketing. It requires you to be more advanced in your skill set.

2. You Have to Become More Visible

The best communicator doesn't just have a clear message. The best communicator communicates the most frequently to the most people.

Let's use Club Pilates as an example.

Club Pilates didn't have its massive franchise growth because every single class you take there is the highest quality class ever. That's really hard to do when you're operating at that kind of scale—thousands of studios, tens of thousands of classes.

So if quality isn't what drove their growth, what did?

Visibility.

You can actually go and look at what ads your competitors are running. It's publicly available. And when you look at what Club Pilates is running, you'll find that at any given time, they're running around 20,000 different ads.

That might be different franchises running those ads—I don't know the ins and outs of how that works. But what matters is this: Club Pilates is being seen. Their message is being heard. They are 20,000 times more visible than you if you're not running paid ads.

Prior to 2026, most businesses could get away with organic social media bringing in leads. But if you're relying just on social media and referrals alone, you are going to fall behind your competition.

Because at this point, most businesses understand that running some sort of ad is key to increasing visibility—paying for cold audience traffic, paying to be seen more often, paying to get in front of people who would never find you organically.

So I really want to encourage you to think about: Am I ready to start running paid advertising in my business?

And here's where I want you to start: Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google.

That's it. Don't overcomplicate it.

I'm not saying you can't run TikTok ads or YouTube ads or—who knows—eventually ChatGPT ads. But right now, with the information we have for yoga and Pilates businesses, what I see as most successful is the combination of Meta and Google ads running at the same time.

Here's why:

• Meta ads get you in front of people who would never come to your website, who maybe never have seen your Instagram, who have never driven by your studio. You're giving them the opportunity to realize, "Oh my gosh, this business is just down the street. This is exactly what I've been looking for. I can't believe I didn't know they existed."
• Google ads show up the moment someone is literally searching for the service you offer. And that's a really good time to show up if you're a business owner. That's a really good time to be seen.

And do you know what that has nothing to do with?

Your quality of class.

It has everything to do with your message being in the right place, at the right time, seen by more people.

What If You're Not Ready for Ads Yet?

Now, some of you might be thinking, "Jackie, I'm just not there. I don't have the revenue. I don't want to spend on paid advertising."

That is totally fine. I'm not saying this means the downfall of your business.

But if you're not ready to invest in ads, I would double down on making sure your organic message and your organic social media traffic is bringing in at least 30% of new leads.

There are ways you can set up your Instagram and your Facebook to make sure that is happening. But if you are ready to spend even just $5 a day—it doesn't have to be much—then I would absolutely look into paid advertising.

Because you're adding this lever in your business that makes it easier for you to get to the right people at the right moment, to welcome them into the studio.

And once they're there, once they're in—that is when the quality of the experience matters.

But if you just focus on the quality of the experience, you are missing the first half of the equation: getting people to know who you are, what you're about, and getting them to walk into your business.

The Real Equation for Standing Out in 2026

So if you really want to stand out in 2026—if you really want to be the studio that most people know about, even with all the competition opening around you—don't take another teacher training.

Don't take another certification.

Or you can—but do it for fun. Do it for education.

And instead, double down on your marketing skills and make sure you become the best communicator of what you offer, not just the best teacher of what you offer.

Because here's the deal: the best teacher doesn't win.

The best communicator does.

Want to become the best communicator in your market?
Join the Studio CEO Program and learn how to refine your messaging, build a marketing strategy that actually works, and think like a CEO. Start by grabbing the 3 Marketing Mistakes Workshop—it's free, and it's the perfect place to start.