454: How to Grow a Fitness Studio: Hitting Record Months and Opening a Second Location

Stephanie Swanson's boutique fitness studio growth story starts with a simple problem: she did not know her own numbers. Stephanie owns Oxygen Yoga and Fitness in Burlington, Ontario, and just opened a second location in Alder Shot, already at 50 pre-sales in under two weeks. In her first 60 days working with GSD Gyms, her revenue grew 15%, hitting close to $73,000 in a single month. In this episode, GSD's Director of Operations Ash Wimble sits down with Stephanie to unpack exactly what changed. For a year and a half, Stephanie ran her studio without fully understanding her own KPIs. Once she started reviewing her data regularly and translating it for her team, small changes started compounding into real results, including a simple congratulations card system that turned member milestones into a recurring source of referrals and social proof. They also cover how Stephanie built her team culture around education instead of authority, why she believes every member joins a gym or studio for either transformation or belonging, and what it actually took to open a second location while still running her first. This is what boutique fitness studio growth looks like when the numbers finally get tracked. In this episode you'll learn: — Why Stephanie went a year and a half without truly understanding her own KPIs — The system Ash and Stephanie built to track and communicate data to her team — Why quarterly trends matter more than short term ups and downs — The simple congratulations card system that turned member milestones into a source of referrals — How Stephanie leads a team of 26, most of them part time, without losing culture — Why she believes every member joins a gym or studio for transformation or belonging — The leadership lessons Stephanie pulled from 12 years as a teacher — Why she never asks her team to do anything she would not do herself — How Stephanie sold 50 pre-sale memberships for her second location in under two weeks — What changed for her once she stopped trying to do everything herself — Why setting aside real thinking time made her a better leader If you have ever felt like you were working hard on the wrong things, this conversation shows what changes once you finally understand your own numbers. Timestamps: — 0:00 Welcoming Stephanie Swanson to the podcast — 0:46 What ownership actually looked like versus what she expected — 40:11 Closing thoughts and thank you Connect with Stephanie Swanson, Oxygen Yoga and Fitness: Instagram (Burlington): https://www.instagram.com/oyfburlington Instagram (Alder Shot): https://www.instagram.com/oyfaldershot 100K Plan: https://100kplan.com Behind Gym Doors Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnwaMl7Us7dAkfE6idQW56EYkEEQ2E5eE Fitness Business Assessment Stephanie turned a year and a half of guesswork into a 15% revenue increase and a second location already selling out pre-sales. The plan behind how GSD Gyms helps studios build systems like this is right here. Turns out a congratulations card can outperform a marketing budget.