Is Teaching Yoga A Good Career?

I get this question a lot from students who are considering doing a teacher training, or from graduates who are wondering if they should quit their corporate day job. They wonder, “Can I really have a yoga career?”

Here’s the thing: it depends what you mean by “good.”

Here’s what’s good about being a yoga teacher:

  • heartfelt connection to a community
  • sharing what you love
  • you must practice in order to be a good teacher (so it keeps you on track with your own wellness)
  • you are engaging in a rich and elevating philosophy of life and living
  • it’s a life if continual learning, self-examination, and growth

Here’s what sucks about being a yoga teacher:

  • you don’t get paid a lot (see this article for info on how you’re paid)
  • you have to scrap to get more money (see here on how to ask those questions)
  • you usually have to run around town to different studios in order to make ends meet
  • if you want to only teach yoga classes, you’ll probably need to teach between 20-30 classes per week to make a living. I did this for two months one time and then decided never to do that again.
  • to resist burn out, you’ll need to create different streams of income that aren’t only pay-per-hour

Here’s my personal advice: if you want a yoga career – if this is your passion and it’s all you want to do – then you must do it. You will be sad if you don’t, because your dharma is calling you. And if your passion changes in five years, at that point then you must allow yourself to be resilient and flexible enough and allow yourself to be moved in a new direction.

If you love yoga, but you also love having financial security, then blend your yoga with a more traditional way of earning income. Yoga is so forgiving that way! A “yoga career” can look like anything! I know amazing teachers who teach twenty-four classes a week and I know amazing teachers who only teach three. I’ve usually taught anywhere from 5-8 classes per week, combined with a more managerial/educational leadership role in the yoga biz. The combination approach has worked for me and allows me to use different parts of myself in my work, which I like.

Let yoga SERVE your life. Don’t let yoga BECOME your life.

Yoga is a tool to your own personal development, health, and well-being. A yoga career can take so many different shapes. Listen to your heart, listen to the needs of your whole self, and listen to your energy. Stay aligned with joy. And the right relationship with your teaching and your career will naturally arise.

How To Run A Yoga Studio

Six ways to stay in the black

Surviving as a yoga studio is hard. I know: I’ve been behind the scenes at Yoga Works in New York City and YYoga in Vancouver, Canada. Both of these entities are what we would call “corporately owned yoga:” they have multiple locations managed from a central business and central corporate structure.

You’d think that with pass prices going up, yoga studios would see a greater margin for profit. However, that’s often untrue. Rent, staff costs, teacher costs, laundry expenses, equipment costs, and cleaning can start to eat into your profits. Here are six tips for beating the curve.

1. Cut costs

I know, I know…obvious right? However, those small costs can cause a slow hemorrhage that drags you under. You may find that your students grumble when they don’t have the nice shampoo, but they’re really there for the yoga, right? If you’re opening a studio, consider that including amenities like showers (which will require shampoo, conditioner, water, cleaning and laundry) may not be your best investment and will require you to fork over more money in maintenance. Many times, students prefer to pay less for their monthly nut even if that means showering at home. If you do have luxury add ons (or say you’re a hot studio, and a shower feels like a must have), then keep it simple and charge appropriately.

2. Charge more

Again, obvious. But let’s say that you’re renting mats. Are you really charging what it takes to source them, clean them, and dry them? Figure out your true costs. Even if you’re trying to keep the yoga fees low, charge appropriately for add on services.

3. Focus on what you do well

If you’re a mom and pop shop, the reason that students will choose you over a corporate studio or gym is because of the feeling of your studio (like more yoga-ish and authentic) and the intimacy of your community. Don’t compete where you can’t win (amenities, number of classes, bells and whistles). Do what you CAN do really really well. Have community events, encourage teachers to connect with students, and focus on the roots of yoga. Differentiate yourself by doing what a gym or corporate studio can’t: focus on individuals and create an authentic, yoga-delish space.

4. Get lean

At most corporate studios, staff – not teachers – signed in students. However, unless you’re doing a booming business, most smaller studios do well to have (trustworthy) teachers take on this task. It reduces your costs and provides an additional touchpoint for the teachers with the students for community. (However, I’m going to leave the sticky question of whether teachers are independent contractors or employees in your company for you to figure out.) If you do have staff, my experience is that they are very busy during sign in, and then are often under utilized in down time. For a smaller studio, it may be cheaper to have one full-time manager than to have five rotating staff members. When your manager is not signing in classes, they can manage payroll, social media, retail (if you have it), and everything else that goes along with running a studio. (And if this person is you, then you must take the bonus point very much to heart.)

5. Diversify your products

You need a high priced product that can boost your revenue. Teacher training (which nets you at least 3K per student) is a product that helps keep many studios afloat. Invest in creating a branded, customized training, schedule it smartly, market it well, and you’ll have a cornerstone for your revenue for years to come. Not only does it flush out your revenue, it builds and reinforces your community. You run a training, the students start posting on social media and create your buzz for you. You hire your graduates, which then incentivizes students to take your course. Create a passive stream of income by putting some simple courses or classes online. This will never be your meat and potatoes (there are too many people doing it already), but it will help expand your brand and give your students a way to stay connected when they can’t be at your studio in person. Be smart and be lean, but get a toehold in the marketplace.

6. Schedule smartly

Set up your schedule smartly. When can your people come? Close the studio when no one needs to be there. Most studios run early morning classes, lunch time classes, and evening classes. But if your demographic is a bunch of stay at home parents, they may love coming in just after they dump the kiddies at school (9:30 AM). If you have a bunch of 9-5’ers, you may want to tuck in a 50-minute lunch time class (not one that is too sweaty!) so they can squeeze in some yoga over their break. Find out what your community needs and go from there.

Bonus: Don’t do everything

Yes, I mean, don’t try to be everything to everyone, but more specifically, I mean, don’t YOU try to do everything. In a smaller studio, owners almost always start out by doing everything themselves. They teach, they manage, they’re the staff and the cleaning crew (see #4). You must practice some serious self-care and learn to delegate if you want to stay in for the long run. Remember why you started your studio (because you love yoga!). You didn’t start it to become a frenzied, overworked person who never actually gets to take a yoga class. Set up clear boundaries: take a day off, delegate smartly, protect your energy, and let things slide occasionally.

Then take a good look at your students’ happy faces after Savasana. That’s almost as good as kombucha.

How To Create A Successful Yoga Career: Six tips for staying focused on your goals

This is part 3 of a three-part series. To read part one of the series on goal-setting, click here. To read part two on Taking Action, click here.

Goal setting is a critical part of achieving what you want in your personal and professional life. Taking steps to accomplish your goals is incredibly powerful and cultivates a sense of personal responsibility, pride, and confidence.

But what happens when you map out a clear goal, take consistent action, yet the results don’t show up in the time frame you planned?

It happens, and it’s frustrating.  

But it also allows an opportunity to reflect and make shifts in the present. Often we focus so much on building for the future we neglect the opportunities are right in front of us. Too much focus on the future also breeds stress and negative thinking. Achieving your goals requires flexibility when things don’t go as planned as well as being open to reassessing your goals.

Eckart Tolle summed it up perfectly when he said:

“Nothing has happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.”

Tips For Staying Focused

  1. Realize the present is all you have right now.  The past is history, and the future is entirely unknown. You have today. Now. Don’t squander it.  
  2. Remember life is unpredictable and you can’t control everything that may happen in the future no matter how much you plan and prepare. Don’t waste valuable time and energy focusing on what might happen.
  3. Be open to not knowing and discovering new opportunities. Some of the best opportunities present themselves after a big disappointment. Sometimes it takes hardship to shake you up and realize your strength and capabilities.
  4. Focusing too much on the future is stressful. Although some stress can help to motivate you, the importance of not living in the present can be detrimental to your emotional and physical well-being.  Trying to over plan and control the future just prevents you from living in the present.  
  5. Pay attention to your thoughts. Our thoughts are often so clear and specific they feel like facts – although they haven’t even happened yet. When you notice yourself projecting or worrying about the future, realize they are just thoughts and not reality.  Once you are aware of your thoughts, you can redirect your attention.
  6. Flexibility is crucial. Often the most significant results happen by not achieving precisely what was planned and being flexible enough to spot the win.

I would love to talk to you about your goals!  If you’re interested, click here and schedule a complimentary 20-minute coaching session.

How To Create A Successful Yoga Career: Taking Action (Part 2)

This is part 2 of a three-part series. If you missed part one of the series on goal-
setting, click here to read the article.

You have identified a goal. Fabulous!  However, now the “real” work begins. It’s one thing to have a goal but quite another to commit to consistently doing what it takes to get there.  It’s challenging to propel yourself into action – but even more so to stick to your plan.

Why is that?

The biggest obstacle is your mind.  Your mind is incredibly powerful and can work hard for or against you.  The stories you tell yourself and what you believe about yourself can make or break your plan of action.

If you buy into thoughts like:

  • I don’t have enough time…
  • I can’t do it…
  • I have to wait until “x” happens to get started…

Then the game is over before you’ve even stepped onto the playing field!

It’s evident that type of mindset will result in either complete inertia or quitting before reaching your goal.  Also, once you get started, if you don’t take consistent action, you’re not going to make real progress. Will Rogers said, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Here’s the truth:  it’s the daily actions you take that will change what you believe about and for yourself.  The key to success is not only creating an action plan but, more importantly, sticking to it.  Commit to the process of taking daily actions instead of worrying about attaining the end goal.

Here are 8 tips for taking consistent action towards career success:

  1. Make time for yourself and your career.  Take a close look at your priorities and don’t be afraid to say “no” to people and things that don’t align with your career and personal goals.  Be willing to reduce or give-up your involvement in activities and projects that aren’t a high priority.
  2. Think creatively.  If you keep hitting the same brick wall, consider other alternatives.  Many roads lead to success so you may have to take an unfamiliar detour.
  3. Be willing and open to learning and trying new things.  Thinking you know it all and resisting help and advice is not productive. Be open to listening and learning from knowledgeable people and resources.  If something doesn’t work for you or sit right, you don’t have to continue.
  4. Review your progress regularly and be accountable for your results. If you are busy spinning your wheels and making little to no progress, it’s time to re-evaluate and re-organize.
  5. Don’t compare yourself and your progress to other people.  There’s a reason for the saying, “compare and despair.” Stay focused on your goals and actions.
  6. Be consistent in taking action.  There will be days you “don’t feel like it” and want to procrastinate.  Don’t fall into that trap; it’s usually a slippery slope!
  7. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.  Nothing great ever happens inside your comfort zone.  If you think back to your most impactful accomplishments, you will find tolerating discomfort and pushing through fears was part of the process.
  8. Enlist the help of a mentor or coach.  If you are stuck, confused or overwhelmed, a coach can help you see a way through it and regain control.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers

If you would like to discuss your career goals and progress with a coach – I would love to hear from you. Just click here to schedule a complimentary 30-minute discovery session.

Next Steps:
What actions are you committed to taking to achieve your goals right now? Remember to be as specific as possible; “I’ll have a conversation with my manager by Friday” versus “I’ll talk to my manager.”

Take tuned for the next instalment!

Yoga Teachers: Should I Create a Teacher Training?

Being a yoga teacher is hard. It’s time to think beyond the class to class grind and create a business strategy that helps you not just survive – but thrive financially. While creating a signature educational program can be a keystone of a successful business strategy, not everyone feels the call the be an educator in this way.

So if you want to make a change in how you’re running your business, you need to ask: Should I create a teacher training program?

There are so many great ways to be a yoga teacher and leader that don’t include a teacher training, such as:

  • creating community through classes,
  • creating a vibrant outreach program,
  • running a retreat centre or specialized yoga travel,
  • offering corporate yoga,
  • offering specialized yoga,
  • yoga privates,
  • offering amazing workshops.

OR, you may wish to be an educator, but you feel your niche will be specializing in continuing education programs, online classes, or online mentorship.

So now’s the time to pause and honestly reflect: what is your mission – as a yoga teacher and as an entrepreneur? Once you have clarified your true purpose, we can consider, how do you get above the daily grind and create a business model that really works.

Check out this great worksheet to clarify your mission as a yoga teacher. Jump in!

If the answer is YES, then it’s time to stop waiting and start doing. Check out how I can help you make it happen.

Creating Career Success: How To Deliberately Design Your Goals (Part 1)

This is part 1 of a three-part series.

You want to take your career to the next level and move beyond that survival mindset.  You’re ready to feel like you’re proactively creating versus scrambling and reacting. But, what do you want? Take a few minutes to really think about what YOU desire. Maybe you want to create teacher trainings or impactful retreats. Maybe you’re ready to get out of a survival mindset and stop scrambling. It’s time to think bigger about your career path and be deliberate about taking steps to get there.

It can feel scary to actually dream about and declare what you want.  What if you fail? Where do you even start? It often feels overwhelming to even THINK about your career dreams and goals.

Let’s start at the beginning:

The first step to achieving career success and happiness is being able to clearly articulate where you want to go. Most people don’t walk around thinking about what they really want and creating a plan to get there. If you want to achieve your goals, you actually do need to do the thinking and planning about what you truly want. Otherwise, your life is lived by default. Thinking and writing out your goals is the first step to making them happen. Your dreams and goals are your internal picture of the future. Everyone has them yet many are unconscious and based on personal history versus deliberately created.

Here are five tips for designing your goals and creating a career plan:

  1. Your goals should be a stretch for you but achievable.  Many times we go from one extreme to the other when setting goals.  If you think too small, you probably won’t be excited to go for those dreams. On the other hand, if you design goals that aren’t realistic, most likely you will feel like it’s too much and set yourself up to fail.  
  2. Put aside the “should’s” and other people’s opinions.  Often we set goals based on something we think we “should” do but either aren’t ready to do or it’s not truly what YOU want. Don’t set your goals based on someone else’s opinions or desires. Either of these scenarios will result in you having no real connection to the goal or why you’re even putting in the effort to achieve it.  
  3. Focus on the positive versus limiting yourself a negative mindset.  You don’t want to create goals based on what you don’t want.  It is easier to envision change from a mindset of positivity of what already exists. This calls for you to be imaginative and push aside the limitations you may have created based on where you are right now.
  4. Watch out for the mediocrity mindset. Settling for mediocrity is tempting. It’s easier and more comfortable to sit in “it’s not great but it’s not terrible”. We tolerate, justify and have a list of reasons why it’s OK to not reach for our greatest potential. I promise you weren’t put on this earth to be mediocre or live an “it’s just OK” life. Challenge the human tendency to just settle!
  5. Share your goals with people in your life and who will be supportive. Steer clear of talking about your dreams with those who are prone to focus on the negative. Having positive people in your corner helps with accountability and support. Also the more you talk about your goals, the more likely you are to stay connected to them and follow through.

Action Step:

Take some time to think about what you really want and why. Take the time to research and investigate what you would need to do to get there. Let go of the negative and limiting internal chatter that may tell you it’s not realistic, too hard or you’re not good enough. Focus on deliberately designing goals that reflect what success looks like for YOU.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of this blog series, Taking Action!

Yoga Teachers: How Much Should I Be Paid?

At some point, every teacher struggles with the question: how much should I be paid?

Yoga teachers often feel disempowered when it comes to setting pay rates. After all, we are auditioning to teach in a competitive market and usually feel like we need to take what we can get. (If you’re scared about having a heart to heart with your manager about pay rates, read this.) But you must create a business that is sustainable. Even if you’re teaching yoga on the side as a passion project, you should feel adequately compensated for your time and effort. After all, you’ve invested at least $3,000 in yoga tuition, plus all those years of practice.

Based on my 15+ years in the biz, here are some brass tack guidelines.

A caveat: every community is different, and market forces in your community may vary. A teacher may make one salary in NYC and quite another in a rural area in Winnipeg. It’s a good idea to canvas your yogi friends and colleagues in your marketplace to adjust for the financial realities of your particular area.

How Studios Pay

Studios pay their teachers in different ways. These include:

  • set rate for all classes
  • rate based on time (60 minute class is one rate, 75 minute class is another, etc.)
  • per head rate
  • minimum with a per head bonus (ex. you get $15/ class plus $5 for each student after 10)
  • incremental rate (ex. $30 for 1-10 students, $35 for 11-15 students, etc.)
  • percentage split

Established studios will pay a flat rate for their classes because they want to know exactly what their expenses will be each month.

Starting Out

When you’re just starting out, usually there’s a time period of “paying your dues.” For the first year after I graduated from TT, I taught several classes for free in order to get experience ($0/class). I also taught classes for free in order to get a toehold at the studio in which I really wanted to (eventually) teach (again, $0/class). I taught at gyms and small studios where the pay was very low ($20-35/class depending on how many students showed up). After about a year of teaching, I started making what I would call a “new teacher” wage.

Class payrates vary city to city (so adjust accordingly for your market). However, as a general rule, you can expect:

  • brand new teachers “paying dues”: $0-$30
  • new teachers: $30-$40 per class
  • moderately experienced teachers: $40-$60 per class
  • senior teachers: $60-$80 in smaller markets, up to $90 in a larger market such as New York City.

Studio Realities

Unless you’re a corporate entity, running a yoga studio is usually not that profitable. A senior teacher in a prime time slot may look around and think, “There are 30 students here paying $20/class, that’s $600! Why am I only making $60?”

Here’s what the teacher is not seeing:

  • the other five yoga classes that day that only had 6 students (but the studio is still paying the teacher $50/class to show up)
  • even though $20 is the advertised drop in rate, no one is really paying that. With all the memberships and promotions that the studio has to run to stay in business, the real drop in revenue is about $11/head.
  • rent, utilities, insurance, props, staff, laundry, cleaning, marketing: all the other fixed costs that go into running the business
  • the owner needs to pay themselves: usually they’re the last ones to get paid

With all these expenses, the only way out of the “glass ceiling” of class pay rates is to teach at a studio that splits the revenue. For example, we have a by-donation studio here in Vancouver that pays the teacher 70% of the class revenue. I taught for them when they first opened, and it sucked. No one came. I left class with maybe $10 (sometimes $0). But now their business is booming. The teachers who have the primetime slots take home an excellent wage (if there are 30 students paying $10 each, the teacher walks out with $210).

There are very few for-profit studios that run this way (because it’s impossible to budget when you’re paying everyone something different); however, if you’ve hit the glass ceiling at your current studio, it’s worth checking around.

How To Earn More Money

If you want to earn more money as a yoga teacher, you have some other options: privates, corporates, workshops and teacher trainings.

  • Private yoga classes tend to pay more than public classes: $70 (new teacher)-$150 (experienced teacher)
  • Corporates: $100-$300/class (Depending on organization. Work for Facebook and you can even charge more!)
  • Workshops: usually a revenue share with the studio (you should get 70% as the teacher)
  • Trainings: teacher trainings usually charge $3000-$4000/student. If you’re hired by a studio, you may earn $50-$100/hour.

I, of course, specialize in coaching people how to create amazing teacher trainings, so they have a special place in my heart! However, here’s my strong advice: don’t take on any of these options simply for the money! These offerings must align with your vision for yourself as a teacher. If you’re considering alternate branches of revenue, determine first which offerings align with your personal mission as a teacher (Pssstt, you can take this module for free and it includes a section on crafting your mission as a teacher. If you haven’t done that yet, go check it out and just do that part, it’s worth it.)

Tips for Conversations About Money

When you start teaching at a studio, have a candid conversation about pay rates and the process for increases. (If you have a hard time with challenging conversations, check this out. If you want to quickly see how much you’re earning per year based on your hourly class rate, check out this easy calculator.) Unless you’re teaching at a corporate yoga studio or gym, the studio probably won’t have a system in place for reviewing teachers or regulating pay increases. (If you’re working at a corporate yoga studio as an employee, though, they may.) Most teachers are independent contractors and there is little oversight of their work after they are hired. Often the teachers who get pay increases are simply the ones that ask for them. (Although participating in the community, having large classes, and continuing to work on your education may all be factors in your manager’s willingness to say yes.)

When you start teaching at a studio, find out if the studio offers workshops or teacher trainings. If these programs resonate with your teaching mission, it’s a good idea to connect with your manager ASAP to find out how you can apply to be involved.

Last Words

Being a career yoga teacher is challenging.

My hand to god: in my fifteen years of teaching, I had a one-month period of teaching more than twenty classes per week. After that, I said, no thank you. The time spent commuting and the energy output made such a lifestyle unsustainable. I have far preferred to teach 6-10 classes per week and earn my living through other means (albeit within the yoga world as a studio manager, teacher trainer, and educational designer).

There are so many ways to be a yoga teacher; it doesn’t have to look one particular way. Give yourself permission to be creative about your offerings and gives you time for self–care. Let your teaching serve your life.