Dollar for Dollar - What's the Best Pilates Job?
If you became a Pilates teacher to make a shit-ton of money - walk away now. Ok, not totally but let me help you think now about your best job and what the real value of that job is to your life. And for more on designing your life, I encourage you to follow lifestyle design guru Tim Ferriss. He's cute, cocky and right about a lot of things mere mortals don't have time to ponder. But I digress.
Pilates jobs come in a variety of styles. Chances are you have not even thought about what type of job would suit you best because no one has laid it out for you. Let me give it to your straight. It's basically two categories.
CATEGORY A - Work with a Company
- Work in an independent studio or chain studios
- Work in a chain of corporate studios
- Work in a health club or gym studio
CATEGORY B . - Work for yourself
- Work for yourself in your own studio or apartment
- Work for yourself at other people's homes
- Rent space at one or multiple studios
Let's talk about Category B first. And know that I have worked all of these variations across both categories so I speak from first-hand experience.
Category "B" is for those of you that dig the hustle. You will stay up late promoting on social media. You never meet a person you don't pitch a little Pilates to. You literally can not turn off your brain from plotting the next career move. You never get distracted by vacations or long for an easier paycheck. You thrive on the grind, it feeds you. Every new client is a personal victory. Working for yourself requires that kind of mindset. It will never be easier but if you built for it - you don't care about that - not one bit. Easy is for other people.
That brings me to Category "A". As an "A" you like the work-life balance thing. You want to arrive at your job, kick some ass and then leave it behind. Let others deal with balance sheets, rent, and cancelation policies. If you are asked to sell something, you shrivel up inside and run for cover. You just want to teach. Your focus is solely on your craft. You love a team, you play well with others and thrive in community.
Can you do both? Sure. Will you love both equally? Likely not. Sit with it. It may take time to come to which category you fit in but once you realize where you fit, you'll map out the best career trajectory. And that shit-ton of money? There's a way to get that too, once you're in the right place.
Bottom line though - not all jobs are created equal. Make sure what you're getting paid for is what you signed up for and what you genuinely want to be doing. If you are doing three jobs (selling, scheduling and teaching) you should be paid for three jobs. If you are doing one job, expect to share some of your pay with those who do the other two jobs for you. It's a personal choice.
Want to keep up this conversation? Share your thoughts.
~Alycea