In the midst of COVID-19, San Luis Obispo-based yoga studio, Spark, not only kept its doors open, but further expanded its network by opening a second location, and by creating an on-demand yoga platform.
Spark Yoga founder Steph Young, who has helped keep Spark thriving for almost 10 years, sat down in one of the studio’s warm wooden yoga rooms to discuss how Spark managed to survive through one of the most trying times for everyone, but especially for small businesses.
When the initial lockdown happened, Steph started purchasing a bunch of recording equipment to gear up for offering online classes, as she knew her business was going to be forced to temporarily close its doors.
“We knew that we were going to shut down the second we got news there was one death of COVID-19 in the county; we were the first to close. We pivoted overnight, set everything up, and started doing online live classes; those live classes turned into a huge successful on-demand platform,” she said.
The income generated from Spark’s on-demand platform ended up being an instrumental factor in being able to open its doors once again, but it wasn’t the only contributing factor.
“We did graciously receive a PPP loan, which helped us widely pay back our rent, and we got a grant from the chamber which wasn’t expected; although it didn’t help us pay back all of our losses, it helped us be sustainable,” Steph stated.
Not only did Spark create a successful on-demand platform through COVID-19, but they also managed to open a second yoga studio location! When approached by a Spark patron looking to sell his space to Steph for the second location, she thought to herself how crazy the idea was at first.
“You have to be out of your freaking mind, my business is closed, I have no idea when it’s going to open up again, I don’t even have any revenue coming in besides on-demand; we still had rent we were paying [at the first location] even though we closed, so we thought ‘no this is crazy,’” she said.
But the more Steph thought about it, the more she knew the opportunity was too good to pass up.
“Before we had to close, people were canceling memberships because they simply couldn’t get into classes, like they couldn’t get off the waitlist, that’s how impacted we were…but June 2020 we signed the lease [for the second location],” she said.
Steph and her husband were able to work on the new yoga studio location throughout COVID-19, and the new space has been open for just over a year now. While the time during COVID-19 was the most challenging season of Steph’s life, she was able to see the silver lining in it all.
“If the pandemic had not happened, these opportunities wouldn’t have been feasible,” she said.
The B Side 
I truly enjoyed reading your article on Spark Yoga Studio. What an inspiring story of triumph through uncertainty. I can totally relate to Steph’s story, I too made a pivotal change during COVID which changed my life and the life of my family. It’s so important that we take risk in life and follow our heart when it comes to making big decisions. I often say to friends and family… although COVID was bad and truly a pandemic, there were some good things that came out of it. This is not only true for people like myself and Steph, but for many people across the country. Choosing to see the good when everything appears to be dark helps us to not only keep pushing but to continue to thrive as well.
Hi Vanesa,
I enjoyed reading your story and thought you did an amazing job sharing details on the yoga studio and how the owner was able to support her small business as well as grow it during COVID. I liked that you added a photo to your news story as it tied in well and added to the story.
Very inspiring to hear how traditionally in-person businesses transitioned virtually after COVID. Thanks for sharing!