Marketing Off the Mat | Business for Yoga Teachers

Ever wondered how you'll be able to sustain your teaching practice for the long haul? It's not easy, but fortunately, we are joined by the incredible Pip Roberts who will help us demystify the path to a sustainable teaching career. Pip is a yoga facilitator, mentor, reiki practitioner, heavy meditator, sound therapist, creator of Now Studio in Bristol, and a well-being event curator and producer. In this episode, Pip shares her expertise on how to create a thriving and sustainable yoga business that aligns with your values and supports your lifestyle. She dives into the importance of understanding your niche, identifying your unique offerings, and building a strong brand that resonates with your ideal clients. Be sure to give her a follow and hop on her email list so that you can hear about all of her incredible offerings and upcoming retreats!

Ever thought that 'getting sued' and 'yoga' would be in the same sentence? Nor did we, but not to worry. We've you covered! Today, we delve into the legal essentials that every yoga teacher should know to avoid potential lawsuits, including the ins and outs of non-compete agreements, with our guest Cory Sterling. Cory is an attorney and Founder of Conscious Counsel, a health and fitness law firm, which won the Legal Elite 2021 Award for Most Innovative Fitness and Wellness Law Firm, and Most Innovative Legal Document Drafting and IP Firm. He has nearly ten years of experience in the legal and fitness industries and has assisted hundreds of entrepreneurs in drafting service agreements, privacy policies, independent contractor agreements, terms and conditions, disclaimers, and other important legal protections they require. He is also a group fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and author of The Yoga Law Book, which outlines business law basics for yoga professionals and business owners. Cory keeps it real with his incredibly approachable and applicable legal advice every yoga teacher needs in this episode. You won't want to miss it!

The pandemic has taught us so much about what is important and how we can approach life and our career differently than ever thought possible. People all over the world have traded in their 1 hour commute for the work-from-home life or even making massive changes to how and where they work entirely, including taking on the digital nomad life.  Yoga teachers all over the world are also making massive career and life changes, and the incredible Ali Temple is one such yoga professional who’s done just that. Ali Temple is a global yoga teacher, retreat leader and yoga teacher mentor. She has been traveling full-time for over 2 years, leading sold out retreats and mentoring yoga teachers around the globe as they begin to build their own thriving remote business and cultivate the freedom of a location independent lifestyle. Ali tells us what held her back initially from making the big leap to traveling and teaching full time and how she overcame that to live the incredible international life she’s living today. She shares how we can make the big shifts we need to make to make this our reality too! Be sure to sign up for her free 3 Day Video Training, Liberate Your Life and give her a follow on Instagram and Youtube to stay in touch!

As yoga teachers, we must diversify our offerings to THRIVE if we truly want to make a living in the yoga business. Diversifying our offerings takes the pressure off our weekly teaching schedule and increases our reach beyond the studio environment to bring more yoga to more people. It’s a win-win and Sarah Barguirdjian is on the show today to tell us exactly how she’s done this in her business. Sarah is an ERYT 500 Yoga Teacher currently living and teaching in Winchester, UK. She’s been teaching for 16 years and has lead classes and courses on Yoga International, Apple Inc, Canopius, SMU and Yoga studios worldwide. She teaches weekly classes, workshops, international retreats, recorded Sarahs Shorts on YouTube and Yoga Teacher Mentorship Programs. If you’re wondering how to expand your teaching beyond the studio, this is a must listen episode and Sarah is so generous with her tips in making it a reality for you too. Be sure to follow Sarah and find out more about her offerings! Are you looking for a yoga business coach to find your way in diversifying your teaching income? I'm here for you! Send me a DM and check out how we can work together. You don't have to do this alone

Have you ever wondered how running a yoga business relates back to the roots of yoga itself and how we can use this wisdom in our modern day entrepreneurial journey? We’re super excited to have Barbara Courtille on the show today to help us tie the ancient wisdom together with today’s needs and use it as a way to move forward in our yoga career’s with clarity and purpose. Barbara started practicing yoga in the late 80's with the Iyengars. She has explored various Hatha traditions since that time including Jivamukti, ashtanga and vinyasa yoga. In the last decade she has delved into the more gentle practices of Yin, Restorative, meditation and sound healing. Barbara mentors yoga teachers who want to make yoga their profession. She is currently writing a book on yoga philosophy to help yoga teachers bring the wisdom of yoga to their students in a practical way. This episode is packs a punch with ancient wisdom and practical application to fill your cup today. Be sure to check out Barbara's How to Create a Successful Yoga Career course and stay in touch with her on Instagram as she author's her new book!

A common thread in conversations I have with yoga teachers is they face a lot of overwhelm, when establishing workflows for their businesses. This is very relatable and understandable, with all the tasks we have on our daily to-do lists at teachers.  Not only do we need to deliver well-crafted yoga experiences for our students, but we also wear a ton of hats when it comes to marketing, budgeting, and balancing all of the needs of a small business. So, how can teachers combat this overwhelm? We have the incredible Amanda Kingsmith on the show today to help us find balance and a way forward. Amanda Kingsmith is a 500-hour RYT, a yoga business coach, a podcast host, and a world traveler. She blends her background in business with her love of yoga and is passionate about helping yoga teachers create careers that they are passionate about and that are sustainable. Amanda is the host of Mastering the Business of Yoga and also the co-host of The World Wanderers, a podcast on travel and travel as a lifestyle. We dive into actionable steps that the teachers can implement right away that will make massive shifts in their businesses and cut through the overwhelm with new systems and tools that Amanda shares with us. Be sure to follow Amanda @masteringthebusinessofyoga and listen to her show, which is a favorite of mine! You can check out her offerings here and find out more how you can work with her directly. 

Yoga studio owners are often inundated with a multitude of tasks, be it understanding their membership numbers, finances, and operations just to name a few. The days for studio owners and managers are dizzyingly long and filled to the brim. How do studio owners prioritize the needs of their businesses and make true progress toward revenue, and ultimately, making lasting impacts in their communities? Today, we have Laura Munkholm on the show to share her wealth of knowledge, from working on the front line to leading studios, to coaching wellness entrepreneurs and her latest adventure, founding Walla Software, a powerful, all-in-one studio fitness studio software company built to revolutionize the way boutique fitness studio owners take control of their businesses. Laura co-founded Walla to help make business management easy and efficient for the female studio owner who is historically underrepresented in tech, and therefore stuck using software that was not developed with her needs in mind. Laura is also a lifelong athlete, yogi, book junkie, and live music lover. She resides in San Diego with her husband, daughter and son. She shares so many insights and actionable tips with us in this episode from her personal experience in studio leadership, carving her path in the fitness tech industry and her journey through life. Studio owners, current and future, this is one not to miss! Dive in to this wonderful chat with Laura now and check out their blog for so many more insights that will take your business to the next level!

Equity has been top of mind, and even a trending topic in the past few years. This concept has had many teachers and business owners taking stock of how they are, or often are not, creating intentional spaces for all voices and bodies within their yoga businesses. This notion also extends to wellness entrepreneurship for professionals of color and particularly yoga teachers who haven't felt welcome in traditional studio and wellness spaces. Today we are joined by the incredible Angie Franklin, Founder and CEO of Afro Yoga, who shares generously from her vast experience in teaching, entrepreneurship, and creating safe space for practitioners and teachers of color to flourish in their practice and business. Angie founded Afro Yoga, a global platform with local roots that offers yoga with a social justice lens and emphasis on community connection. As a wellness entrepreneur, certified Kemetic and Vinyasa yoga instructor and business mentor, Angie's work is focused on increasing access to wealth and wellness for practitioners and professionals of color. She is also a 3X Lululemon ambassador and has worked with clients that include the NBA, international Lululemon leadership teams, Microsoft, Duolingo, Kaiser Permanente, Rebbl and many more. Today, we discuss the need for white yoga teachers and business owners must prioritize progress over comfort to make lasting change, why it's important for teachings to reach beyond traditional yoga spaces and how wellness entrepreneurs of color can thrive in business today. Go follow Angie to stay in touch, and be sure to get on her email list to stay in touch on all the amazing things she has coming up, and to work with her directly. 

It's no secret that the pandemic changed pretty much everything, and the yoga business is no exception. It's been a wild ride for in-person and online yoga teacher trainings all over the world. Today we are joined by Katy Zyrina, creator and director of Transformative Online Yoga School.  Katy is a yoga practitioner with 15 years of experience, international yoga teacher, teacher trainer and certified life coach, based in Barcelona. She gives us a peek behind the scenes in how her business began, and how it evolved throughout the pandemic. She shares what's worked, what hasn't and the way forward into 2023 to save us some work on the path ahead. Be sure to follow Katy and to check out her upcoming 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training if you're ready to dive in deeper. 

In connecting with teachers and hearing their stories, it's often the case that yoga teachers find their way to the yoga business after a foray in a previous life and career. Sometimes when we embark on our career journeys, we find that the destination was sure was ours, was actually just the beginning and that's true for the incredible Colynn Vosbourgh. Colynn's teachings are a fusion of her education and experiences in life, the medical field, conscious community and personal development work.  She creates and holds space that she's  dubbed queer friendly, age friendly, body friendly and completely inclusive.  We hear about Colynn's career path and success in healthcare, how she received acceptance to medical school and signed up for her first YTT in the same weekend and how all the twists and turns in life and her career have led her to the success she's found in leading YTTs and Business Coaching for Yoga Teachers from her new home in Costa Rica.  She tells it like it is and generously shares from her successes, but also from the lessons she's learned along the way. You won't want to miss this episode!  Check out her upcoming 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Costa Rica here and follow her to stay in touch!