If you’re looking for tips on how to become a yoga celebrity, become Instagram famous, or if you want to earn six figures in your yoga business overnight, you’re in the wrong place. I have nothing for you.
If, however:
- you want to help heal the world by teaching yoga but are burnt out and exhausted from constantly running from studio to studio
- you would love to build a community of students who practice with you regularly
- you’re barely making ends meet
- you’d like to make enough money to eat organic and have extra cash in the bank
- you want to shift from just surviving to a state where you’re thriving
Or, maybe:
- you’re a brand-new teacher who’s overwhelmed with your get ‘started list’
- you’re feeling anxious and want to start off on the right foot
Then keep reading or watch the video —because I do have something for you.
Many of us have days that, we can look back in hindsight and say, “That was the day everything changed.” The story I’m about to share with you is about one of those times in my own life.
I remember the day so clearly: It was Good Friday in 2010. Since it was Easter weekend, I had four days off in a row, which barely ever occurred—and wow, did I need it! I had been teaching for five years at that point, the first three while working part-time in a coffee shop and two as a full-time yoga teacher. After teaching 13 – 15 classes a week, six days a week, for two years, I was exhausted.
Although I desperately needed the break Easter weekend provided me, I also really needed the money. As I calculated what I wouldn’t be making due to missing those six classes, sadness hit me like a crashing wave. Missing those six classes meant that my monthly groceries would have to go on my credit card.
It turned out that what I didn’t learn during my teacher training was:
- Making a living as a full-time yoga teacher just by teaching public drop-in classes was almost impossible.
- I would be living paycheck to paycheck.
- I wouldn’t be able to afford to take a sick day, a long weekend off work, or a vacation.
- I wouldn’t be able to afford to continue my studies as a Yoga teacher and take more training.
No one told me I would be sobbing on the floor on Easter weekend feeling lost, broke, and confused.
And yet, I knew I was meant to be teaching yoga. I knew it because of the resonance I felt in my heart when I taught my classes when every cell of my being said, “Yes!” I knew it when my students told me how grateful they were after class when they described how much the practice and the community had changed their lives.
So, how was it possible that I was doing what I was meant to do but was barely making ends meet?
After two days of sobbing, lamenting, and soul-searching, I found my inner fire.
“No,” I said to myself, “I was meant to do this!” I knew it in my bones, and I would not give up. If other yoga teachers could somehow teach yoga for a living and eat organic food, go on vacations, and continue their training and education, there had to be a way that I could do it too.
And so I put on my detective hat, got really curious, and started studying. I opened my eyes and ears to the opportunities that were there the whole time but that I couldn’t see because I was so obsessed with getting one more class.
I spent many hours (and many Saturday nights) watching webinars, taking free mini-courses and live marketing workshops, reading blogs on websites and following social media. These were all helpful, to an extent, when it came to learning how to build my yoga business. But at a certain point, these resources just weren’t cutting it, and although I had more clarity, there were still gaps in my knowledge.
I knew I needed more, so I pulled out my trusty credit card and enrolled in online business training that, at the time, I could not afford. Still, I knew it was the next, right step. And now that I’m on the other side of it, I know my investment was worth every penny. But I still had to take all that newfound knowledge and customize it for my yoga business, because what we yoga teachers do is unique.
Today, when I look back on how far I’ve come in my business knowledge and skills, it kind of blows my mind. All the hours I spent, and all the hard work I did, paid off.
Still, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have someone who was already in the yoga world guide me through this; I wonder how much time and money I would have saved.
If you’re ready to begin one-on-one work right now click here. If you have any questions I’d love to hear from you reach out to Contact me here
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