From YouTube to an $8,200/month pilates & yoga membership

Katja’s journey started over two decades ago as a professional ballet and contemporary dancer. Over time, her passion for movement led her to teach Pilates and yoga classes in local studios across London. As she built a following, Katja began uploading free workouts to YouTube, hoping to give her in-person students a way to stay consistent at home. 

But she soon realized that relying on YouTube ads wasn’t enough to turn her passion into a sustainable business. 

In June 2022, Katja launched her membership, Pilates & Yoga with Katja, with Uscreen. Since then, she’s grown her average monthly recurring revenue (MRR) to $8,200. Her membership has grown by 216% in members, 173.4% in paid subscribers, and an impressive 223.1% boost in MRR since launching on Uscreen. 

Before Uscreen, Katja wrestled with doubts — why would people pay if so much content is available for free on YouTube? And how would she handle all the tech without being an “IT expert”? Her biggest challenges were: 

• Uncertain monetization and lack of a sense of community 

Katja had been posting free Pilates and yoga videos on YouTube to support her in-person students but hesitated to launch a paid membership, questioning if viewers would pay. "I wondered if people used to free videos would actually pay," she explained. 

Ad revenue proved unsustainable, and she sought a membership model to enhance value and community engagement, as YouTube comments couldn't match the connection of live classes. "I wanted to maintain the personal touch from my studio sessions," Katja said, feeling that merely uploading videos was insufficient.

• Balancing in-person classes and filming

Even with a clear vision for online growth, Katja was juggling a busy schedule of studio teaching. Finding time for recording and editing was a challenge. 

“I’d teach all week, then try to film on my day off,” she said. “It’s exhausting if you don’t have a solid plan.” Without a team to handle production, she and her son tackled every aspect themselves. 

• Technical roadblocks

Katja also felt intimidated by the tech side of hosting a membership. “I’m no IT expert,” she admitted. “I needed something really intuitive to organize videos and handle payments.” 

She wanted a robust system that could scale as she added more content—without forcing her to learn complex coding or invest heavily in outside help.

Katja’s decision to launch her membership in 2022 was a turning point driven by both family support and a timely opportunity with Uscreen. She shared some behind-the-scenes with us saying, 

"So my husband encouraged me to do the membership. I would have waited a bit more probably and tried to build YouTube more, but he was like, “Go for it!.” We chatted with Uscreen and that's how I took the step and set up the membership.”

With her family and the Uscreen team’s constant encouragement and dedicated support, Katja was able to not only build but grow her membership fast.

Katja designed her membership with care, intention, and smart strategy. From how she structures her content to how she prices and promotes it, every decision reflects a deep understanding of her audience and a workflow that actually works. And with Uscreen supporting the backend, she’s been able to focus on what matters most: creating an experience that keeps members coming back.

1. Batch-creating videos and categorizing them in a viewer-friendly way 

Like many creators who can't be spread too thin, Katja embraces the classic batch-recording trick to streamline her production process. First, she and her son batch-record new classes, tackle camera angles, and refine edits side by side.

“It’s a family business. Me and my 15-year-old son do almost everything. He handles the filming and editing, and we do the editing together. We just do it all ourselves!” she said, laughing. 

Katja loves how straightforward it is to manage her content on Uscreen. "Very, very easy," she says about uploading and organizing her 250+ videos. With just a few clicks, she organizes her content into viewer-friendly categories and schedules each release—ensuring that every new class reaches the right audience at the right time.

2. Offering a free trial  and designing flexible pricing plans 

On social media platforms, you’re at the mercy of algorithms, ad revenue, and ever-changing rules. Katja knew this, so when she launched her membership, she knew it was something that could help her increase revenue immensely. 

She offered two membership plans: 

• A €19.99 monthly option 
• A discounted annual plan at €16.59 per month

Katja also offered a 7-day free trial to let new members explore the platform before committing.

“It’s the same effort in terms of content production, whether 50 or 300 people subscribe  But now, I actually earn from it.” 

She scaled Pilates & Yoga with Katja from scratch to a successful membership that drives an average of $8,200 every month. That’s a 223.1% growth if you look at Katja’s membership trajectory from the beginning. 

What made this all easier was Uscreen’s flexible monetization system. Like many creators, Katja wanted to offer multiple pricing tiers, but without the tech headaches. 

With Uscreen, she could easily set up different subscription plans (monthly, annual, quarterly, etc.), each with its own price point, trial period, and content access, no coding or complicated setup required.

3. Launching a community that increases membership engagement 

Katja knew that real growth wasn’t just about acquiring new members, it was about keeping them engaged, supported, and coming back week after week. So she made community a core part of the experience.

With Uscreen’s built-in community tools, Katja gave her members a dedicated space to ask questions, share wins, and connect, right inside the membership.

“Being able to talk with everyone in one place keeps them motivated—way more than YouTube comments ever did.”

It’s one of the reasons her retention remains strong. Members don’t just show up for the workouts, they stay for the connection.

And with features like comments, direct messaging, and a private forum built right into the platform, Katja doesn’t need extra tools to nurture her audience.

4. Running surveys to identify opportunities to enhance member experience

Katja recently ran her first big member survey, asking both platform-specific and content-related questions.

Why?

Because many of her members are over 40 or 50, and not always tech-savvy. Katja doesn’t let that stop her from delivering them the best member experience they deserve. 

I’m hoping from this survey I’ll understand where I need to guide them more… like how to find a video, how to use the search function, how to use filters, and more. Not everyone’s a tech wiz and I understand that.” 

She’s already picked up on small but impactful suggestions like members wanting to organize their favorites into custom folders. And she plans to personally reach out to members who seem stuck.

It’s a smart retention tactic: instead of guessing what her audience needs, she asks. And then she acts on it.

Katja has created a business she fully owns, a workflow that supports her lifestyle, and a community that keeps growing with her. With Uscreen as her foundation, she’s turned passion into profit, free content into a membership, and viewers into loyal members. And she’s just getting started. 

“Now I can teach fewer in-person classes if I want,” she said. “And I know my membership’s there—growing and evolving along with me.”

Story written by: Aarushi Singh