"Slam dunk": How a non-technical owner runs her studio from her phone
Susan Mathers ran her cycle studio solo for four years with no computer background to fall back on, and MyStudio's support and simplicity made that possible from day one.
The challenge
Cycleology is a cycle studio opened by Susan Mathers in September 2022, now heading into its fifth year. Susan is candid about where she started: "In my mature age, I did not grow up with computers, so it was challenging from day one. I had no idea how to set up a website." She ran the business alone from day one, buying and setting up the bikes herself, handling everything except teaching.
A friend of a friend who owns a karate studio suggested MyStudio, betting the fit would work even though she wasn't running a martial arts school.
Susan's early years were rough for reasons that had nothing to do with software: a batch of bikes that wouldn't clip into cycling shoes, a vendor with no customer service of its own, and a saturated local market. "Where I'm located, there is a training studio or fitness studio or yoga studio on every corner. So it was difficult to open."
Underneath it all sat the same fear: technology she'd never learned. "Originally I had a notebook taking down my customers' names. I mean, it was ridiculous."
What they did
She looked at other fitness apps and what nearby studios were using before deciding. "When I looked at MyStudio, something just clicked with me... I really had no regrets. Zero." What sold her wasn't a feature. It was how the platform met her where she was.
Her rep, Megan, walked her through everything with more patience than she expected. "She really helped me build my business from the beginning. She did." Susan went from a paper notebook to running the studio end to end inside MyStudio. "I don't think I could have opened without MyStudio. I couldn't have."
The results
Attendance tracking stopped revenue from quietly slipping away. As a punch-card studio, Susan needed a way to catch clients who registered but never checked in. "If they do register and they're not checked in, I lose money... I have a really good handle on who's coming to class and who isn't." Automated signup emails add another layer of accountability: "There's a lot of extras that help me that I never would have thought of myself."
Support that matched her pace, not a manual's. "I found when I did have issues, when there were things that needed tickets, there was always a workaround... I always felt like I had options, which as a non-computer person, I mean, I needed to know: this is step A, step B, step C. And I got that from the beginning."
"I had Megan from the beginning, so it was like slam dunk. You couldn't go wrong."
— Susan Mathers, Cycleology
Time back, checked from her phone. "Oh god, so much. It's just everything. From class signups to, at a glance, I can see, oh, I'm a little low this month... from my phone, boom, I can check it all out. I know exactly what my business is doing every moment of every day."
Steady growth toward a clear goal. Cycleology opened with about 20 clients in a tough, competitive market. Four years later, Susan is in the 70s, working toward a year-five goal of 100. "It's been slow growth, but it's been constant... I do believe these people are lifers. Once I get them in the door, they stay. So I need to just get more in the door." She's counting on getting fluent in MyStudio's newest version, particularly for capturing new leads, to close that gap.