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Summary: This guide explains how yoga teacher training programs can structure faculty payment through flat rates or profit sharing. For this, you need to consider faculty responsibilities, calculate break-even points, and consider each teacher’s role and contribution. Ultimately, the best payment structure depends on your program’s finances, enrollment, and workload.
Faculty pay rates are probably the biggest expense of your yoga teacher training budget. And faculty is critical to your training’s success. So it’s important to pay your faculty well and balance appropriate compensation with meeting your bottom line. Figuring out payrates can sometimes feel as complicated as setting the correct fees for your program! Keep in mind that your faculty are not just teaching classes: they (should be) preparing lessons, mentoring students, grading assessments, and promoting the training.
So, how should you pay them? Should you agree on a flat rate, or should faculty receive a share of the program’s profits? Actually, there is no one-size-fits-all answer for every studio. The right approach depends on your numbers, your faculty’s responsibilities, your enrollment, and how much financial risk you want each person to carry.
Before deciding on a payment model for your yoga teacher training, you must first outline your expectations. Teaching a YTT is different from teaching a regular yoga class. Preparing to teach a YTT shoulder require more substantial preparation, content expertise, and classroom management.
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A flat-rate payment means that you pay your faculty by offering them a training or an hourly rate. (Prep time is generally not included in the hourly calculation.) The rate is established in advance and is the same regardless of the number of students.
The benefit of a flat-rate is that budgeting is much easier for you. Since your faculty pay will likely be your biggest expense item, knowing this number in advance makes it easier to plan. You know your faculty expenses before the training begins, and your faculty know what they will earn. Knowing this information means that you can accurately determine how many students you need to break even and profit on the training.
Profit sharing is a different approach. Instead of paying a predetermined amount, faculty would receive a percentage of the program’s profit. In this scenario, it’s very important to define “profit” clearly. Income is the money your students pay, and profit is what remains after expenses. You would have to determine with faculty what expenses could be counted against income (for example, your expenses could include marketing, room rental, student manual printing, credit card fees, curriculum fees and classroom expenses). If you choose to create a profit sharing agreement, make sure everyone understands exactly how the calculation works.
While a flat rate means predictable payment, profit share means payment is connected to student enrollment. In both scenarios, you will need to run a budget to clearly determine your break even point and minimum student enrollment. A flat rate gives your studio predictable costs and gives faculty predictable income. This scenario can be especially useful when you want a straightforward budget or when your faculty wants to be assured of a minimum payrate.
On the other hand, profit sharing can create a stronger connection between faculty compensation and the success of the program and encourage your faculty to be more proactive in their marketing. Neither model is automatically better. The important question is: Which model makes sense for your particular YTT?
Faculty generally earn more for an hour of YTT than they do for an hour of teaching a public class. That said, you also want to consider their experience. A faculty member who is a new teacher trainer should probably not be paid as much as a veteran expert.
Some faculty prefer to have a base pay rate that is consistent. They are risk averse, and would prefer to know what’s coming rather than risk a payrate fluctuation. In this case, a flat payrate (hourly or project based) may suit them. Also, it’s important to note that not all faculty are great at marketing. If you are tying profit sharing to the number of enrolled students, you need to ensure that anyone participant in the profit is actually making an effort to get “bums in seats.”
On the other hand, you may have faculty that are real “go-getters” and like the idea of marketing. In this case profit sharing may make more sense as they may be motivated by the idea of earning more if they can bring more students into the training. If you have a faculty member who is quite popular and entrepreneurial, then motivating them through profit sharing to promote the training could be a win/win for everyone involved.
In both models, you must understand your own numbers and break even point. Calculate your potential income against expenses and determine how many students you need to break even. From this point, you must establish “cancel by” dates if you don’t meet your numbers. Ensure that everyone (faculty and potential students) know these dates and understand that the training will not be confirmed unless minimum numbers are met. As you factor your numbers, make sure to consider all expenses (including credit card fees), as well as the impact of scholarships, refunds, and early bird discounts.
You obviously cannot run a training that is less than break even. However, running a “break-even” training can itself be a win. Even if your studio isn’t making a big profit, there are other benefits: you are still educating students, deepening community loyalty, promoting your brand, marketing your YTT for future years, supporting leadership and providing your key faculty with an excellent payrate boost.
There is no magic formula for every teacher training. A flat rate can make sense when you want predictable costs, simple administration, and guaranteed payment for faculty. Profit sharing may make sense when you want compensation to be connected to the financial success of the program and you have faculty that will contribute actively to marketing and promotion.
Whichever model you choose, ensure that you create clear contracts with your faculty. These contracts should be clearly written, easy to understand and outline the following points: payrates (including viable expenses if relevant), training deadlines and cancellation terms, scheduling obligations, intellectual property considerations (especially if they are using your curriculum and you don’t want them reusing or sharing it), and privacy/confidentiality. To protect everyone’s interests, be very clear about the minimum number of students required and the deadline by which a training will be considered “go” or “no go.”
Finally: remember that your faculty are the heartbeat of your yoga teacher training. They will make or break the quality and experience of your training for your trainees. Communicating transparently and paying them well is an investment in the quality, consistency, and long-term sustainability of your program.
Rachel supports yoga teachers and studios around the world to create transformational education experiences that help them thrive in their business, share their passion, and inspire more people to practice yoga. Her extensive knowledge and experience include: earning two masters degrees, authoring three books, leading 4,000+ hours of TT, building a teacher training college for a national yoga company, and working behind the scenes in yoga studio & teacher management for more than fifteen years. As a writer and speaker, she continually wrestles with the juicy bits of life: relationships, authenticity, and discovering meaning in this crazy, wildish world. E-RYT 500, YACEP, BA, MFA, MSci. Learn more about Rachel.
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