Hello! What’s your name and what do you do?
I’m Julie Granger. A former professional ballerina and Equinox instructor in NYC, I am the founder of The Studio Paris, the first NY-style boutique fitness studio in the center of Paris.
In 2020, I switched my business to online, and even launched my own platform of On Demand classes.
I have created unique concepts that are followed by my “Squad members” in over 20 countries. I am very grateful for them!
Where does your passion for ballet barre and fitness come from?
For me, everything started with ballet. I started ballet at 7 and by age 11 I knew I wanted to be a professional dancer. I worked very hard to do so, and when I got accepted to Boston Ballet School in 2008, it was like a dream come true. Ballet gave me so much discipline and focus, and I have to say I can kind of work endlessly.
Later on, I discovered 2 new passions: yoga and fitness. It was a wonder to me, because loving ballet so much, I did not know I could ever be as passionate about anything else.
I am so so grateful to have made my passion my work, and there’s always a bit of ballet in anything I do!
When did you decide to turn it into a business?
I opened my barre studio in March 2020 in Paris. Before that, I was teaching for Equinox in NYC, then for different studios in Berlin, and Paris. I always felt like I had a business because I was always freelancing, but I guess January 2020, the date where my company was registered, would be when my business really started.
I am lucky to have a very loyal community, so when I opened The Studio in Paris, classes were full from the start. I think I owe this to the year I spent teaching a lot and growing that community. For that reason, I’m so happy I had all of 2019 to settle in Paris, I knew no one there when I arrived.
What’s your favourite part about running your barre school?
Like any business owner, my weeks are very busy. My first class is at 6:30am on Mondays, my last ends at 11am on Sundays … The teaching part is physically challenging, but does not represent the biggest share of the time I spend on the business (contrary to when I was an instructor for other studios, where “all” I did as teach teach teach).
After my first morning class, I just spend my entire day on the computer, answering emails, trying to figure out social media, looking for and discussing with potential partners, drafting my newsletter, and just trying to grow the business in any way I can. Once a week, I also shoot videos for my On Demand platform, which is a lot of work and preparation, not to mention it’s very challenging to shoot 4 to 5 classes in a row!
Do you have a team or are you planning to have a team?
I have 2 amazing girls that help me out a few hours a week.
Axelle helps me with business development, she reaches out to potential partners and sometimes helps me with scheduling.
Jordane is the community manager for The Studio. She helps me out designing templates, gives me post ideas, designs and sends the newsletter … She has been a tremendous help for me these past few months !
Who are your customers?
I’m super lucky to have a great international community. I live in Lisbon now, and actually have 0 customers from here: my community is totally international!
Some of them are former NY, Berlin, or Paris clients, who want to keep taking class with me. Online has been great in the sense that it has allowed me to reconnect with NY clients I have known since 2015 and couldn’t teach to anymore when I moved to Paris!
Others have discovered me during the daiy Instagram lives I did during lockdown last year. I have never met them, but it is as if !
They are all performance driven, hard working people who want to have an efficient workout without getting yelled at 🙂
They come for the creativity of the workouts, and for my expertise (I think), and also for the “good vibes” I try to share during class. Even though most of them have never met, they have become friends to some extent. We see each other every day, they all put their cameras on, to some extent we “travel” together (when they go places, or when I go places)… I really love my Squad!
How long did it take you to breakeven?
I actually do not know how to answer this question. Last year, I invested 250k in construction for my physical space, which was supposed to break even in about a year. Since I switched to online, I have not made that money back, so I am not sure we can say that I broke even.
Solely talking about the online business, we can say that I broke even from the start (Jaunary 2021, when I let go of the physical space).
Let’s talk about the digital side of your business. When did you establish your online presence and what made you do that?
In a year and a half, I have had 3 different sites !
I designed the old “The Studio” website myself, and launched in 2019 when I moved to Paris, because I knew I would have a studio in Paris, called The Studio 🙂
I don’t have screenshots of it, but I remember the look of it matched the vision I had for it all along, though it did not have any fancy function.
Then we launched the second site, which was much more professional, in February 2020, just before opening The Studio. It was beautiful, cost me a lot of money, and would show the space, the classes, and allow for online bookings.
When I launched the On Demand platform in June 2021, we had to redo the entire site (money, again …), because we needed to have very different functionalities to allow for people to have access to videos with their subscriptions.
How was that change possible?
The first website I did was by myself, using Wix. I opened a ballet school when I was 22 with my boyfriend, who at the time showed me how to make a website. I just applied that knowledge (which was nothing very complicated) for my first site.
Then I worked with a developer that was quite difficult. Her design was beautiful, but the communication was not great, she would not be responsive nor share info I needed to be able to do things myself. Any change and she wanted money, I was not very satisfied with the service, even though I really loved that site!
Then I worked with another developer in Miami, whom was much easier to work with and much more available. I was bummed that we basically had to “erase” the old site (which was only a couple months old), because we needed a new host.
I have to say that I really don’t understand much about websites, and the only thing which I agree to pay for without even trying to do it myself first
Today, how much of your business is traditional and how much of it is digital?
All of my business in digital !
The split is more between Live and On Demand now.
Of course I will be doing events and such, but I don’t think I ever want a physical space of my own again. I have tasted the freedom to teach from anywhere and to have an international community taking class together from all over the world, and I don’t think I will be able to let that go!
Plus, and I should not say that probably, but I put all of my savings into the most amazing studio in Paris. I did not want any investor, nor partner, and wanted it to be my own project. The dream came true, it had everything to succeed (it was so beautiful it was featured in conde nast traveller and vogue, and the concept was so new that the classes were packed from the start) but covid took everything away. I have to say this is a bit of a shock for me, and I don’t think I want to take that risk, which I gladly took the first time, in the near future.
Do you have a chief marketing officer or a dedicated digital marketing/tech team?
Nope, it is just me (thank god with the help of the wonderful Giulia Cian Seren now) !
What digital activities do you do to grow your business?
Weekly newsletter
And am now trying to start youtube !
What learning resources would you recommend to someone in your industry to get “more” digital?
I would recommend Giulia!!!!! I unfortunately have not listened to any podcast or read any books about digital marketing… I admit this is where my limit is: I am a business owner, with a lot of ambition and drive. I have a BBA in entrepreneurship, because I always knew I wanted my own business. My parents are the witnesses of that ! But the artist in me is kind of allergic to reading business-related books .. I know it’s bad, but I guess I have to accept to be those two people , the business owner and the artist, and try to make them work together 🙂
What tools do you use in your business?
Mailchimp
Uscreen
Mindbody
What’s your advice for someone in your industry who wants to modernise their business?
Being open minded is the first step. I’ve actually tried to advise a studio that was struggling to implement online classes and they were very opposed. It’s a shame, and having an entrepreneurship degree, I always have in mind the famous Kodak case study ….
So be adaptable, look around you to see what’s out there, and be ready to change stuff if needed. In one year I went from opening a wonderful physica lspace to moving countries and running an online business ! Sometimes, the quicker you let go, the quicker you are back on your feet!
And when you are overwhlemed, ask for help. There is only so much we can do ourselves. I’ve understood that I can come up with different and super creative workouts everyday, but some other things might not be my strong suit !
Accept that and look for help when possible.
And of course: Talk to Giulia 🙂
Where can we learn more about you?
https://www.instagram.com/jujuonther0cks/
