Free Download: 25 Ways Yoga Teachers Can Earn More Money
As yoga instructors, we are constantly challenged with coming up with new sequences and content to stand out in the crowded landscape. This can be exhausting. It takes continual practice, patience, and refinement week over week.
To create a yoga sequence is to create a work of art. Its not easily accomplished on a whim. The approach you take is crucial to the success of your class. Selecting each element with thoughtful and mindful consideration is a great place to start. Sharing this masterpiece is one of the greatest gifts of teaching It has the ability to change peoples lives!
But even with this incredible opportunity, come the unique challenges of sequencing.
The purpose of this article is to educate you on how to intelligently sequence a yoga class. This article is directed towards yoga sequences for teachers, but yoga students looking for inspiration in their home practice will also benefit.
I will show you my tried and tested formula on how to sequence a yoga class. Ill provide posture and transition examples, and you will learn more ideas to layer on top of a linear sequence. Youll walk away able to easily integrate what youve learned into your own class all in a safe and effective manner.
Whew.
Are you ready to dive in? Good. Me too.
Pin me Then keep reading!
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Hiring The Wrong Staff
Once youve decided to open a yoga studio, youve decided to undertake a tremendous amount of work. If you fail to build a reliable team and hire the wrong staff who dont share your passion, it can impact your progress. Starting a business may take you out of your comfort zone where you will be performing tasks that you might not have a lot of experience in. Hiring a team that can take charge of tasks that youre not confident in can help ease the pressure.
The right staff members can help your business thrive, but the wrong staff can be detrimental. Whether that means hiring a bookkeeper to look after your accounts or a studio manager to handle the day-to-day running, look for people with passion and drive. Check out our guide on how to hire the best manager for your fitness business.
Practice What You Preach
Dont ever neglect yourself or your own practice in the hustle and bustle of running a business. If you disregard yourself, you wont come off as authentic to your customers either.
Yoga consists around the idea of living one life, in the moment. We dont have separate lives for professional, personal and spiritual aspects its all one life. This can work to your benefit. Combing your spiritual passion with work can be extremely liberating.
That being said, it can be easy to focus only on running a business, rushing around in the least mindful way possible, neglecting your own wellbeing. Yes, running a business will probably require you to work more hours than most people, but its all about balance.
Combing yoga authentically into your business will allow you to direct your energy levels to the business, enabling it to balance perfectly with other aspects of your life.
The bottom line is, combining your passion with your professional life is an exhilarating, rewarding experience. Furthermore, the business of yoga doesnt have to conflict with itself.
Following standard business techniques, whilst upkeeping an authentic yoga practice will ensure that youre on the right path to yoga success, whether you aim to become a yoga instructor, yoga teacher or studio owner.
If youve been considering starting your own yoga business, theres never been a better time to do it. If you follow these steps, its a promised way to earn money, spread your knowledge and love what you do.
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Due To Its Popularity Many Yoga Lovers Are Quitting The Corporate World To Start Their Own Yoga Studios
Have you considered starting a yoga business of your own? It takes hard work and dedication, just like the practice of yoga itself.
Yoga is an ancient Hindu philosophical practice that combines body movement and fixed postures with meditation, spiritual, and holistic exercises. In recent years, many enlightenment seekers have jumped on the yoga bandwagon, lured in by donation-only sessions, and inexpensive one-off classes. There is even the Gawker-esque blog YogaDork, profiled in kind by The New York Times, that covers the frivolous nuances of the increasingly trendy $5.7 billion industry.
Don’t be fooled by its whimsical exterior – the business of yoga comes equipped with the joys and pitfalls of any other business. Before you make that career change, read on to discover he best ways to go about founding a prolific and profitable practice.How to Start a Yoga Business: Yoga Certification
Your first step should to obtain certification as an instructor from a Yoga Alliance affiliated institution. Yoga Alliance is the organization that presides over the national standards when it comes to yoga and, although it is not mandatory that a teacher or a school be certified, it is the industry standard. Yoga Alliance lists the certification requirements for individuals and institutions on its Web site.
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Discover Why Now Is A Good Time To Open Your Own Yoga Studio And The Requirements You Should Take Into Account
Yoga is currently a very popular practice in our society. Who doesnt know someone who goes to yoga classes or does meditation sessions and/or mindfulness? There are more and more people who find release in yoga to combat our day-to-day stress, in addition to the many physical and mental benefits this practice offers.
Thats why its not crazy to think that now is the best time toopen your own yoga studio either as self-employment or as an investment. According to the data the latest yoga study available offers, 28.9% of the Spanish population has practised yoga at some point in their lives. Wed like to emphasise that its a study from 2014, just when yoga began to experience a boom and that its still increasingly popular.
If you already know you want to open a yoga centre, here are 8 requirements you should consider before taking any step towards your final goal.
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Monitor Renewals And Attendance
Without students. you cannot run a yoga studio! In the beginning, when you are teaching most or all classes yourself, it is much easier to build up a good relationship with students. It is very important that you know the names of your students. We often say : The sweetest sound for a person is their own name. This does hold quite some truth and by simply knowing your students names you create the foundation for trust and loyalty. Knowing your students goals will also help you to guide them more effectively in the classes.
To run a successful yoga studio, you want students to keep coming back. This is called renewal. Usually the percentage of renewals, give you a good impression of the quality of your service.
When hiring and paying teachers to teach at your studio, make sure to instill the importance of building trust and loyalty with students. It is our advice to pay teachers at your studio based on renewals or attendance of their classes. A good yoga teacher does much more than just give instructions. A yoga teacher who is only concerned with leading the class, becomes very replaceable and students are much less committed to keep attending the class. A yoga teachers value lies in his or her ability to guide students individually, to challenge them, to help them and to make them want to come back for more. If you, as the studio owner, or your teachers are not performing up to these standards your studio most likely wont flourish.
What Exactly Are You Looking For
You should be looking for answers to these key questions:
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What kind of business do you want to run?
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More importantly, what kind of business do your target market want?
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What kind of studio or business is missing in your area?
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How can you offer something different from your competitors?
Yoga lovers is not a specific enough target market for your yoga business plan, so before you do anything else, you’ll need to think of a more niche demographic of people.
At the same time, there is no point in having a specific target market and the perfect yoga business plan if theres already a studio in the area doing exactly what you want to do.
The same goes for freelance yoga teachers.
If there are already a couple of home-based teachers working in your area, then youll need to do something to stand out.
The purpose of market research is to establish what will make your business different from your competition.
Then when it comes to writing your yoga business plan, you can clearly state what problems your business will solve.
Your market research should aim to identify these problems and find any new and upcoming trends that you can jump on to set yourself apart from the competition.
As a starting point, you should start with a target market in mind and then research what they want that other yoga professionals in your area dont currently offer.
You should choose a specific age, gender, and even consider targeting people based on their budget.
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Plants For Your Yoga Studio
Plants will play a role in differentiating the aesthetic and decor of your yoga studio. If you do consider having plants in your yoga studio, there are five groups from which I suggest you choose:
- Large plants
- Air purifying plants
- Plants with calming properties
In my article, 41 best plants for your yoga studio, I provide a list of plants you can consider for your yoga studio. The list is across the five categories outlined above and will be a good starting point for your search.
Yoga Studio Franchise Cost #4 Exterior Branding Signs
Each franchise cares that its brand is well-represented, and they expect you to invest a significant amount in the logo/sign placement on the exterior of the yoga studio.
The sign has to portray the franchise logo accurately and also have high visibility to attract attention. Franchises expect you to spend at least $2,000-3,000 on the exterior signage and lights in total.
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The Ins And Outs Of Real Estate
Your studio wont be successful if its not in the right space, says Maria Turco, founder of Honor Yoga Studios in New Jersey. She handles the leases for all 11 of her studio locations and offers this checklist of must-dos for selecting your building and analyzing your lease.You need a lease that costs you no more than 20 percent of your revenue. In an expensive market like Santa Barbara, this can be difficult, but it should be accounted for in your business plan and in the amount you borrow from investors or take as a loan.
During negotiations, talk about a tenant improvement allowance, which means the landlord improves the space before you move in. At the very least, you should get whats called a vanilla shellan empty space with working heat and air conditioning that only needs paint, floor furnishings, and fixtures.
Take your measuring tape because when it comes to yoga studios, the magic width of the room is 20 feet. We want to get one person for every 3035 square feet, so a smaller space of 600 square feet can accommodate about 1520 people. If your business plan calls for that number of students per class, make sure you can accommodate!
Dont underestimate the importance of parking. If theres no adequate parking nearby, do what it takes to make it easier. Perhaps your landlord has a garage that you can negotiate a parking validation program with. Or get a parking lot lease from a neighboring business, such as a bank or a restaurant.
Ing Words: Practice Practice Practice
An easy yoga sequence to teach is one youve practiced. Get to know how each of the postures and transitions feel in your own body. Youll quickly begin to realize where you can adjust your sequence to flow more fluidly. If you have a yogi friend you trust, practice the sequence on them so you can try different cues to get them in and out of postures. Practice as much as you can you will feel so much better feeling prepared.
Lastly, dont put so much pressure on yourself. There are benefits to repeating sequences so no need to create a new one for every single class. Just be yourself, there is no best yoga sequence anyways
What am I missing? What tips can you offer for building a yoga sequence? Do you have any yoga class sequence ideas to add?
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Yoga Studio Franchise Cost #2 Equipment Purchase
Yoga franchisors want reassurance your yoga studio will be equipped to their standards before they permit you to use their brand name. Doing so ensures quality and consistency across all franchise yoga studios.
The franchise retains control over which brands of equipment youre allowed to purchase, or they can withdraw your license. They might ask you to purchase yoga mats from a partner brand or LED lights from a company that each studio uses to maintain consistency. Usually, equipment costs are low and tend to amount to $1,000-5,000 in total.
Figure Out Your Finances
Opening a wellness center is quite expensive, so make sure you have all your finances in order. Its important to highlight all costs from purchasing equipment to staff salaries, in order to gain a better view of how much youll need to keep your center afloat.
Write down all aspects of your business and how much each will cost. For instance, how much are you willing to spend on renting a space? How much will utilities cost to keep it up and running? Owning a wellness center means that youll need a lot of different types of equipment for various services. What is the going rate for this type of machinery in the industry? Also, consider how much itll take to keep your center open for the next year. How much will marketing initiatives, employee salaries, and product cost? Do your research and come up with an estimate of how much youll need as an initial investment.
There is no need to worry if the figure you have calculated is beyond your reach. There are several options you can choose from such as a business loan or grant, to finance your center.
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Establish A Marketing Plan
Now itâs time to start generating some buzz around your new studio. Any small business owner wears many hats. That means youâre not just a yoga instructor – youâre the marketer and content creator.
For example, if youâre running a wellness studio aimed at athletes, you have to communicate why they should be there. Yoga is beneficial for recovery and rehabilitation – two areas athletes are interested in – so you might decide to highlight those features in your marketing.
There’s no shortage of . You can network at yoga industry events, do meet-and-greets, hand out flyers at the local mall or mail vouchers to people in your local area. You can appear on yoga podcasts, do an ad on television, or commission a giant billboard with your face on it.
Particularly in your first year of your new business, a big part of your and strategy will be dedicated to promotions. Youâre trying to create a buzz and get new clients through the door.
Another great way to spread word of mouth is to run a referral program where people refer friends and receive a discount. Check out our referral form template below.
You should also be undertaking digital marketing. Any decent marketing plan should include a combination of social media and content marketing – what Chandelle refers to as the single best avenues for marketing online.
Offer A Unique Experience
One important aspect to think about when it comes to opening a yoga studio is . its important that you differentiate your services from other yoga studios and classes in your area. Create unique offerings to ensure customers stay loyal to your business. Make your students feel special by sharing your personal journey with them and so you can ensure they are getting what they want from your classes. Create loyalty programs and offer giveaways for those who continually come back to your studio. In turn, youll organically for your business, word-of-mouth marketing, and a thriving yoga business!
What other tips do you have for aspiring business owners looking at opening a yoga studio? Let us know in the comments!
Editors note: This article was originally published in September of 2018, and has been republished with updated content.
About the Author
John Anderson is a freelance journalist and corporate blog writer based in northern California. His specialties are travel, business, technology and lifestyle.
Any views, opinions, advice, or endorsements herein are the authors and are not necessarily the views of Groupon or its partners.
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Name Your Yoga Business
To name your yoga business, follow these simple guidelines:
- Use yogic themes and keywords
- Combine words to create a unique name
- Avoid using your name unless you are an influencer with a significant following
In my guide on naming your yoga business, I explore the three key stages you will go through when naming your yoga business. I discuss the entire process of:
- Identifying the name for your yoga business
- Creating a brand identity and online assets
- Registrations and trademarks
