Mission Statement:
To inspire positive personal, community and planetary
healing and transformation through yoga and other spiritual
arts.
Company Description
Wild Lotus Yoga, LLC is a yoga studio and community devoted
to nourishing the human spirit through yoga. We are
committed to serving the health, well-being, and peace of
mind of New Orleans at this challenging and creative time,
and to nurturing the rebirth of our beloved city. We believe
that yoga is a practice that can benefit everybody, so we
deliberately offer a wide variety of classes to suit
particular needs and intentions, whether for beginners or
seasoned practitioners. Wild Lotus Yoga is the largest and
one of the most respected schools of yoga in the Gulf South.
The studio was established in 2002. We offer 43 classes per
week and serve an average of 500 students a week. Over 7,000
students have taken classes at Wild Lotus over the last five
years. Wild Lotus Yoga is five years old and has been voted
“Best Place To Take A Yoga Class In New Orleans” five years
in a row by Gambit Weekly readers.
Management
New Orleans native Sean Johnson, M.A., R.Y.T., founder of
Wild Lotus Yoga, is an internationally respected yoga
teacher and mantra musician who has championed the cause of
post-Katrina New Orleans, hosting benefit concerts in over
thirty cities across the U.S. since the storm. Johnson
teaches at Wild Lotus and is frequently invited to teach and
perform music at major yoga conferences and centers
world-wide. His work has been featured in The
Times-Picayune, Gambit, Philadelphia Inquirer, Yoga Journal,
LA Yoga Magazine, Fit Yoga Magazine, Yoga Life, Yoga
Chicago, and more. Johnson has been teaching yoga for 10
years and has owned and managed Wild Lotus Yoga for the past
five years. Wild Lotus Yoga currently has a staff of twelve
teachers, two managers, and two part-time administrative
staff.
Products and Services
Our current schedule at our Uptown location, held in two
large classrooms, including basics, gentle, medium-paced,
and vigorous classes as well as kids yoga, prenatal yoga,
postnatal yoga, therapeutic yoga, and kirtan singing/live
music. Wild Lotus Yoga will also be offering a weekly Yoga
in Spanish class at the new location. Students have the
option of dropping in anytime on our ongoing classes or
enrolling in one of our five week introductory yoga courses.
We also offer year-round workshops with expert visiting
teachers, retreats, and music concerts. Wild Lotus also has
a small boutique of yoga related products including mats,
yoga clothes, cds, and other gift items.
In collaboration with the other partners in The New Orleans
Hope and Heritage Center, Wild Lotus Downtown will be
directly focused on yoga as a complementary therapy for
stress relief, relaxation, healing, and self-empowerment for
people who live in the St. Roch- St. Claude Recovery Re-New
Target Area. We will offer the same variety of classes and
workshops available at our uptown location in two classrooms
and also offer discounted community classes each week as
well as need-based yoga scholarships to serve the
neighborhood.
Target Market
According to Yoga Journal, yoga is now the fastest-growing
exercise in America. 10.46 million people practice yoga—a
144% increase since 2001. Americans spend some $2.95 billion
a year on yoga classes, equipment, clothing, holidays,
videos and more. Our target market for financially
supporting the studio’s downtown location is the eclectic
mixed income neighborhoods of the upper ninth ward, Marigny,
Bywater, French Quarter, and Mid-City neighborhoods-- home
to many artists, musicians, and creative people. In
addition, as a service project, we will be pursuing ways to
introduce yoga to our lower income neighbors in the area as
a vehicle for positive personal and community
transformation, stress relief and empowerment.
Competition
There are two venues for yoga in the neighborhood. Yoga
Bywater is a small studio that focuses on one particular
style of yoga that is not taught at Wild Lotus. Swan River
Yoga is housed inside The New Orleans Athletic Club where
classes are reserved for members of the club. We are
confident that our experience, stellar reputation, skilled
and friendly staff, wide variety of classes and styles
offered, emphasis on service to the community, and
affiliation and support from our partners in The New Orleans
Hope and Heritage Center will attract an abundance of
experienced students and newcomers to yoga.
Marketing and Sales Strategy
We have built our marketing around being voted “Best Place
To Take A Yoga Class In New Orleans” in Gambit’s annual
reader’s poll in each of the last five years, which has
helped distinguish our studio. We will use all the proven
promotional tools we have utilized to create success at our
uptown location: our e-newsletter to 5,000 recipients each
month, weekly advertisements in Gambit Weekly, bi-monthly
issues of Alternatives Magazine, Natural Awakenings
Magazine, the Yellow Pages, numerous websites, and we
hand-delivers our fliers and schedules to over 40 bulletin
boards across the city each week. We will also be offering
free yoga classes in the neighborhood through schools and
neighborhood programs.
Wild Lotus will also be relying on its presence and
connection with the healing center as a whole to draw
students. The various entities in the healing center will be
supporting and promoting each other. We anticipate our
clientele being drawn from customers of the café and co-op,
students in the street university, and clients in the
healing arts area. The building will effectively be like a
village where people can receive tremendous support a
healing lifestyle through a variety of complimentary
activities and services.
Operations
Wild Lotus Yoga’s current uptown location is located at 4842
Perrier Street at Upperline in uptown New Orleans. The
building houses a lobby/retail area, two spacious
classrooms, an office, and three bathrooms.
The new Wild Lotus Downtown will be housed on the second
floor of the proposed New Orleans Hope and Heritage Center
at 2372 St. Claude Ave within the St. Roch-St. Claude Office
of Recovery Re-New Target Area. The new location will house
a lobby, two classrooms, and office space. Wild Lotus Yoga
will be located in a serene wing of the building, right next
door to the Healing Arts facilities.
Wild Lotus Yoga utilizes Dharma Tribe, a state of the art
software system designed specifically for yoga studio
management.
Development
We will establish a comprehensive yoga teacher’s training
program, one of the few in the Gulf South region that will
reseed New Orleans with yoga teachers committed to helping
the recovery. To date, most local people seeking yoga
teacher training have had to leave Louisiana to find a
program. The training program will be registered through The
Yoga Alliance, a national organization that sets standards
for yoga teachers and teacher trainings. A select group of
graduates of the Wild Lotus teacher training program will
teach at Wild Lotus Yoga Downtown.
Financials to Date
Wild Lotus Yoga Uptown has consistently shown a year over
year increase in total revenue, gross profits, and net
income with the exception of the net income in 2005 related
to Katrina losses. Total revenue increased from 2003 to 2004
by 60%. This increase is primarily associated with the move
to the new larger, renovated uptown location. Total revenue
increased from 2005 to 2006 by 22%. This can be attributed
to the renovation and expansion of the second classroom. The
net income continues to fluctuate due to Wild Lotus Yoga’s
funding the production, marketing, and travel costs related
to national concerts and cd production of Sean Johnson and
The Wild Lotus Band. Wild Lotus Yoga has continued to grow
in 2007 in class size, enrollment, and expanded retail
sales. See Exhibit: “Growth by Year Based on Actuals” and
Exhibit: “12 Month Financial Statements for 2005 and 2006”
for detailed year over year growth percentages and business
expansion details.
Projected Financials
The attached annual budget projections for years one through
three show a conservative growth rate of 10% in year two and
15% in year three. These conservative estimates are based on
the smaller population density in the downtown area, than in
our current uptown location.
The second classroom enables us to offer an additional 25
classes per month during peak hours. The projections assume
the rent for our second classroom will be subsidized 100% by
grant money in year one ($12,000) and 50% in year two
$6000.00). Years two and year three assume a 5% increase in
expenses with the exception of the rent, which is assumed to
stay constant for the first three years.
Our three year projections indicate sustaining year over
year growth in revenues, profit, and income resulting in a
viable business venture in the heart of the St. Roch- St.
Claude redevelopment area.
Appendix
1. Wild Lotus Yoga 2005 Income Statement
2. Wild Lotus Yoga 2006 Income Statement
3. Wild Lotus Yoga Growth by Month. January 2003 – December
2006
4. Wild Lotus Yoga Downtown Three Year Annual Projections
5. The Growth of Yoga Graph
6. Yoga Market Profile
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Wild Lotus
Yoga Downtown Executive Summary