Build It Like You’re Going to Sell It

Most Pilates studio owners tell me the same thing when we first talk: “Selling isn’t on my radar. I’m building something for the long haul.”

And then, two years later, I get a call.

The lease is coming up. A competitor made an offer. Life changed—a move, a health issue, a new opportunity. Or sometimes, honestly, just burnout. The studio they built with everything they had is now worth less than it should be. Not because the business isn’t good. But because no one ever told them how buyers think.

I’ve closed more than 70 transactions in boutique fitness—yoga, Pilates, barre, Lagree—totaling nearly $30 million. And the single biggest driver of whether a studio sells well isn’t the brand, the equipment, or the neighborhood. It’s how the business was built.

The decisions that make your studio more valuable to a buyer also make it more valuable to you. Right now. A stronger team, cleaner books, a lease with runway—these don’t just raise your sale price. They make your business more profitable and more sustainable today.

So even if selling is the last thing on your mind, read this as an operating strategy—not an exit plan.

What Buyers Actually Buy

When a buyer evaluates a Pilates studio, they’re not paying for the equipment. They’re not paying for the brand or the Instagram following. They’re paying for what continues to work after you leave.

That comes down to five things:

• Your team. The first question every serious buyer asks isn’t about the numbers—it’s about the people. Do you have a GM or lead instructor who could run the studio without you? If you’re teaching 15 classes a week and know every client personally, you are the product. Buyers want a business—not a job.
• Your systems. Can someone follow a clear process for onboarding, scheduling, billing, and communications? Or is it mostly in your head? Buyers price that risk in.
• Your customer base. Retention over 24 months—that’s the metric. Not new client acquisition, not social followers. How long do people stay? That’s what tells a buyer they’re buying a community, not just a service.
• Your lease. This one surprises people. The lease is often the deal’s biggest variable. Buyers need enough runway—remaining term plus renewal options—to justify the investment. And your assignment clause determines how much leverage your landlord has when ownership transfers. Read it this week. Seriously.
• Your financial records. Three years of tax returns. Twenty-four months of monthly P&Ls. Twenty-four months of bank statements. More on this in a moment.

The Number Your Accountant Isn’t Talking About

Boutique fitness studios are valued using a formula: SDE × Multiple = Value.

SDE stands for Seller’s Discretionary Earnings—the real, adjusted cash the business generates for its owner. Net profit, plus your salary, plus any personal expenses running through the business. Your Multiple reflects how attractive and transferable the business is: typically 2×–3× for a single location, higher for businesses with strong management, growth trends, and long leases.

Here’s the uncomfortable part: years of tax minimization—which most of us do—can significantly reduce what a buyer can finance. A lender looks at your reported income. If you’ve been underreporting profit to cut your tax bill, you’ve also been reducing what a buyer can borrow to buy your business.

An extra $50,000 in reported SDE, at a 3× multiple, is $150,000 more at closing. That math is very real—and it doesn’t happen overnight.

This is why exit planning and operating strategy are the same conversation. The earlier you start, the more runway you have to fix things that actually move the number.

Three Things to Do Right Now

You don’t need to be planning a sale to do these. You just need to own a business.

1. Run your financials like you’re being audited. Accurate P&Ls, clean expense categorization, and tax returns that reflect real profitability—even if it means paying a bit more now.
2. Reduce your dependence on yourself. Hire or promote someone who can run the floor without you. Document your processes. Take a real two-week vacation, fully offline, and see what happens. If the business struggles in your absence, so will your valuation.
3. Read your lease—specifically the assignment clause. Find out whether your landlord’s consent is required, under what conditions, and what it would cost. This single paragraph could affect your sale price more than any other document in your business.

I’ve worked with instructors who built studios worth many multiples of what they imagined—because they treated the business like a business from day one. And I’ve worked with owners who had incredible communities but left real money on the table because nobody had this conversation with them early enough.

The good news: this isn’t complicated. It just requires intention. Start now—even if the sale is years away, or never.