After owning gyms and starting a number of fitness-oriented businesses, Maria Turco, Honor Yoga’s founder and Chief Yogini, discovered yoga, which illuminated her passion for all things community. Her next step? She created a yoga franchise that opens its doors to beginners and people invested in their towns. Everyone who comes to Honor should believe, as the company does, that yoga should be accessible to everyone.
“We know someone is ready to open an honor yoga studio when they are passionate about yoga, but equally passionate about a desire to elevate their communities and, yes, have a desire to make a profit,” Maria explains.
To that end, when speaking with potential franchisees, Maria looks for the “Three Ps”: People, Purpose, Profit.
“Honor takes that desire with whatever skill set base interested yogis have and holds a 30-hour business school to teach potential owners everything they need to know,” Maria explains. “Every honor yoga studio owner first apprentices and shadows another studio owner and we work with them to put together with an operational plan.”
Honor Yoga studio owners best personify balance, Maria adds. You need to comprise all three “Ps” equally, because a focus on one more than the other two won’t help create success for you or honor. “Sometimes yogis are uncomfortable with turning their passion into a profitable business, but money is just another way of exchanging energy and if you don’t recognize that, you won’t be sustainable.” It’s the flip side, Maria says, of people not recognizing that they need to do yoga or mediate or be kind to their neighbors. “It’s not greed. Greed is different. We’re disseminating more yoga in our community as healthy exchange of energy.”
