Why River Flow Yoga Transitioned To WellnessLiving and Thrived
Last Updated on 24 October, 2025
With WellnessLiving, River Flow Yoga and Wellness started saving 8% on merchant processing right away and had its best summer ever.
Meet the River Flow team!
Just over four years ago, Alee and Ben Link moved back to their hometown of Columbus, GA to start their yoga studio, River Flow Yoga and Wellness. “We moved back to our hometown to start our yoga studio, but more than anything, we wanted to return to home to help make our entire community better,” Ben told us. With a shared passion for the healing arts, a vision for their business, and Alee’s years of experience in dance and yoga, they had the tools to provide a truly unique and personal experience for their clients.
But there was one problem: “When we started out, we had almost no business experience at all. Although we could rely on our families for general advice and assistance, we were mostly flying by the seat of our pants.” With really only one other yoga studio in their hometown, the River Flow Yoga tribe had the added challenge of educating their community on what yoga truly is and how it can impact their lives outside the studio.
“We moved back to our hometown to start our yoga studio, we wanted to return home to help make our entire community better.”
Like any path to good health, their journey to success took time, but their effort and dedication paid off. “About four years in, we finally felt like we had a solid foundation. We hired a great support team, who have been integral to helping us grow the business. Now, I feel like we’re heading in a great direction with plans to offer teacher training, increase the studio space, offer complimentary services, and expand our philanthropic efforts!”
The Problem
When River Flow Yoga first opened, everyone seemed to be using MindBody, so that’s what Ben and Alee decided to use as well.
“There never seemed to be an easy solution to our problems with MindBody. It was like we were still using Microsoft Windows in the 90s.”
After getting the software setup with some basic pricing models, they were up and running, but they were far from thriving. Despite their entrepreneurial spirit, Ben and Alee needed help to find the exact software that would help their business grow and allow them to make a living. Unwilling to let one roadblock stand in their way, Ben took it upon himself to learn how to use the software better. Ben had to travel to a MindBody conference, where he met with several consultants.
After the conference, their business saw improvement based on some general recommendations; however, their positive feelings for MindBody slowly dissolved. “There just never seemed to be an easy solution to our problems with the software. At worse, it seemed glitchy, like we were still using Microsoft Windows in the 90s.”
The River Flow Yoga team was contacting MindBody support every week. Unfortunately, their requests for help and system improvements were brushed off with non-committal statements. “It felt like, ‘yeah, we’re not really working on that. But here’s a new feature we’re really excited about that may or may not help your business.’”
MindBody announced another rate increase. And that’s when Ben made the decision to get out.
Eventually, the problems with MindBody piled up. From taking a cut of introductory offers to ignoring feature requests, and even automatically opting the business into services that they hadn’t requested, it was almost too much to handle. Still, they hung in there for another year.
Finally, in late 2016, MindBody announced a rate increase. And that’s when Ben made the decision to get out. “We had a great demo with WellnessLiving that winter… That’s when I decided to make the big switch.”
The Solution
Alee and Ben had over 3 years of client data and over 100 autopay memberships that they relied on each month. “We were both a little worried that the data transfer could be a nightmare.” But no matter what difficulties his former provider caused, WellnessLiving took care of everything.
“They transferred the data overnight after our last class and before our first the next day.”
We still had MindBody running for another month just in case there were any major issues… But whatever hiccups we had during this process, WellnessLiving was there the whole time, helping us through the process. Even months later.”
After such a pleasant transition, everything seemed to continue to fall seamlessly into place and the whole River Flow Yoga team was very impressed by the level of support they received. “They were constantly listening to our feedback and even adding features within days or promising to add them. They even sent out questionnaires asking us directly want we wanted them to prioritize… it’s been very, very good for our business, both on a financial level and user level with the software. It’s just easier, much easier.”
Ease of use has been hugely important to the studio’s success with WellnessLiving. Because WellnessLiving is so intuitive and so simple to learn, Ben was able to use the features in a way he never could with MindBody.
“With Mindbody, it felt like we were stuck in a maze, trying to do simple tasks with the data. With WellnessLiving, there are no mazes. It’s easier for my staff to sell the memberships and class passes, which means it’s easier on the client, taking less of their time to get things sorted out for them.”
Together, Ben, Alee, and WellnessLiving have worked wonders for River Flow Yoga. Their studio immediately started saving 8% on their merchant processing. “That’s money in our pocket to pay bills, taxes, etc. And that normally would have just gone to the merchant.” And since then, it’s been nothing but growth. “This was our first full year with WellnessLiving and we had one of best summers yet. We were able to bring on more staff and start chipping away at our loan. We’re even paying ourselves fairly well.”
Thanks to a great relationship with the support team and some of the easiest-to-learn-and-use software on the market, River Flow Yoga and Wellness has achieved the growth that they always needed and has made significant use of the features offered by their management software without all the hassle.
If you would like to talk to a WellnessLiving representative about how we can help your studio grow, contact us today at 1 (888) 668-7728, or, book a free demo of the platform.
