Season 5, Episode 1: I’m a good teacher. Why does the business side feel so hard?

Tania Huddart: Being a great Pilates teacher and running a Pilates business need different skills. Nobody really tells you that when you qualify. You learn the exercises. You learn how to teach them. And then one day you're juggling clients, bookings, emails and money, and wondering why it all feels so hard.

Host: Welcome to Build Confidence and Purpose with Pilates. I'm here with Tania Huddart: Pilates teacher, teacher trainer and author of Teach Pilates with Confidence and Pilates & Purpose. Both voices you'll hear are made with AI. Every word Tania says is her own, and she's approved each one.

This season is a little different. We're going inside Tania's online course, the Pilatespreneur Academy, one chapter at a time. First the part most business training skips, which is you. Then the business itself.

So let's start with the question a lot of teachers carry around quietly. I'm a good teacher. Why does the business side feel so hard?

Tania Huddart: Because it's a different job. And most of us were only ever trained for one of them.

Your teacher training taught you the exercises. If it was a good one, it taught you how to teach them. It didn't teach you how to plan a year, or set a budget, or decide what to say no to. So you end up learning all of that on the go, usually late at night, usually tired.

Host: So it's not that I'm bad at business. It's that nobody taught me.

Tania Huddart: For most people, yes. And you're doing two jobs at once. You're the person who teaches. And you're the person who runs the business. Clients sometimes find it hard to see you in both roles. And honestly, so do we.

On any given day, you're juggling the teaching, your client relationships, the admin and the business itself. It's very easy to feel overwhelmed. And it's very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, because you're just trying to get through the week.

Host: Was it like that for you?

Tania Huddart: When I first trained in Pilates, I never imagined owning a studio. I thought I'd use it to help dancers with their technique. Then I opened my own studio, and I found out I loved the business side as much as the teaching. Which surprised me.

But I had to learn almost all of it. Through mentors. Through courses. And a lot of self-study. So I know what it feels like to be good at one thing and a beginner at the other.

Host: Here's the sceptical question, then. Couldn't I just figure it out myself? You did.

Tania Huddart: I did. Slowly. And some of it the hard way. I've talked on this show before about burning out, because I thought the answer was always more hours.

You can work it out on your own. It just takes longer, and it usually costs more. What a structure gives you is an order to do things in. You take one piece at a time. You do the worksheet. You put it into practice. And you don't have to work out what comes first, because that's been done for you.

Some of what I learnt, I'd have loved someone to hand me at the start. That's a big part of why I built the academy.

Host: And what does come first?

Tania Huddart: You do. We start with mindset.

Host: Why start with me, and not the business?

Tania Huddart: Because at the start, you are the business. It really matters that you have the right mindset when you're running it. You need to be in the best possible place. You need a really clear idea of who you're serving, and how you want to serve them. And you need to know your values. The things that sit underneath everything you do.

When you have that clarity about where you stand, it's a whole lot easier to talk to your clients. Your message comes from somewhere.

That's why the academy starts with you, and not with a spreadsheet. If you build the business before you know what you stand for, you can end up running a business that doesn't feel like yours.

Host: And then the business?

Tania Huddart: Then the business. The first half of the academy is about you. Your values. Your why. Your energy and your priorities. Your goals. And who you'd love to teach. The second half is the business itself. Your plan, your money, your policies, your marketing and your team.

And the order matters. Your values shape your niche. Your energy shapes your timetable. Your goals shape your budget. So by the time you reach the business half, you're not guessing.

I'd love people to take their time with it. Reflect on what you're learning. And most of all, put it into practice. Small, intentional changes can make a real difference.

Host: You said "who you'd love to teach". A lot of teachers would say, well, Pilates is for everybody.

Tania Huddart: I know. We all say it. "Pilates is for everybody, so whoever walks through my door, I'll teach." And it's lovely in theory. But it often gets a little bit messy. You end up with people you don't really want to work with.

That can still happen when you know your niche. But it's much easier when you know who it is you'd like to teach. We'll come back to that later in the season.

Host: So when the business side is working, what does it actually feel like?

Tania Huddart: It supports your life, rather than consuming it. That's the line I keep coming back to.

Plenty of teachers have a business that eats everything. Their evenings, their weekends, their family time. You know the feeling. Doing the paperwork at eleven at night. A business that works gives you structure, and clarity, and the freedom to do more of what you love. Which, for most of us, is the teaching.

Host: So what's the very first thing the academy asks me to do?

Tania Huddart: The Wheel of Life. It's a simple worksheet. It's a way of seeing where your life is sitting at the moment. A real 3D snapshot of everything. Your family life. Your work. Your friends. The things you're doing outside work.

It helps you see how things really are. And maybe which areas need a little more of your time.

Host: Walk me through it. Say I've got the sheet in front of me.

Tania Huddart: There's a circle, cut into eight segments, like slices of a pie. Each slice is one area of your life. First, look at each one and think briefly about what a satisfying life would look like for you in that area.

Then draw a line across each slice to show how satisfied you are right now. Think of the centre of the wheel as zero, and the outer edge as ten. If you're very unhappy with an area, your line might sit down at one or two. If you're very happy, it might be up at nine or ten. You can colour it in, if you like. Or just draw the line.

Host: That sounds easy to fudge. I'd probably give myself a seven for everything.

Tania Huddart: That's why there's one rule. Use the first number that pops into your head. Not the number you think it should be.

Don't overthink it. If you overthink it, you won't get an accurate picture. Your head starts doing too much of the thinking, and it undoes everything. The first number is usually the honest one.

Host: And then I'm left with a rather wobbly wheel.

Tania Huddart: Then you've learnt something. A wobbly wheel is useful. It shows you where the low spots are. You don't have to fix them all today. You just have to see them.

And notice where the business shows up. Often a low slice isn't really about that slice. It's about the hours your business has quietly taken from it. That's worth knowing before you plan anything.

And you come back to it. Revisit your wheel as you go through the academy and make your plans. You might notice the areas you were unhappy with start creeping up. Because you're making better decisions about how to change them.

Host: Why does a business course need to know how happy I am with my friendships?

Tania Huddart: Because the business doesn't live on its own. If your health is sitting at a two, it'll show up in your teaching. If your family time is at a one, you'll feel it every time you say yes to another class.

Your business runs on you. So it helps to know how you're really doing before you build anything more on top.

Host: So, three things to take away?

Tania Huddart: One. Teaching and running a business need different skills. If the business side feels hard, that's not a sign you're failing. It's a sign nobody taught you.

Two. Start with you. Your values, your clarity and the people you want to serve. The business is built on top of that.

Three. Fill in your Wheel of Life with the first number that comes to mind. Then come back to it.

Host: And the question to sit with?

Tania Huddart: If you drew your wheel tonight, which slice would sit lowest? And how much of that has to do with your business?

Host: Everything we talked about today is Chapters 1 and 2 of Tania's Pilatespreneur Academy: the Welcome, and the Wheel of Life. The academy is self-paced, with 39 video lessons and 11 worksheets. The first half is about you, and the second half is the business, and your access doesn't expire, so you can come back to it whenever you need to. You'll find it at taniahuddart.com slash academy.

Next episode, we go underneath the wheel. What do I actually stand for, and why do I teach?

Tania, last word?

Tania Huddart: Be kind to yourself about the business side. You learnt to teach one step at a time. You can learn this the same way. Draw your wheel this week, and be honest with it.