I N T E N T I O N

My intention over the next seven days is to consciously cultivate and apply an understanding of the
Business of Yoga

P R A C T I C E

Practice daily. Use your daily practice this week to create sacred seeing and a soft, gentle drishti towards yourself and others. Enjoy the Sacred Preparation SIGHT playlists on Spotify. We are working with the sixth chakra Ajna. The practice theme for this month is Envision. See the Virtual Class Studio or Live Class Recordings to support your practice and learning.

M E D I T A T I O N

Practice Alternate Nostril Breathing daily for 3-11 minutes. Use your meditation this week to see from a different perspective to elevate your thinking.

C O U R S E W O R K

one Write a basic + brief Business Plan.
two Write your yoga bio
three Write a 30 sec speech about why you love (teaching) yoga and the Y, or your space of choice (where you may want to teach)
Write a 2-3 sentence description of your 45 min community class and a 2 sentence yoga bio - for the flyer
+ Teach classes.

r E A D I N G

Catch up on articles and books. *If you haven’t already, begin to consider your book reports.

J O U R N A L

Write 3 Morning Pages followed by 2 minutes Listening to Silence each day.
*Reminder: Journaling helps to unclutter the brain - Einstein said, “Paper for memory, Mind for exploration.”

O N G E N E V A

Please share your personal reflections, insights, and ah-ha moments.

SIGHT - Week EIGHT: Business of Yoga 

Discussion
You have spent a significant amount of energy defining what you want. Now, how do you get there? Just as there is a vast variety in teaching styles, there is a vast array of possibilities for earning income as a yoga teacher. In the Art of and Business of Teaching Yoga: The Yoga Professional’s Guide to a Fulfilling Career, Amy Ippoliti outlines 11 avenues of income:

• Beginner series

• Special series

• Group classes

• Privates

• Workshops

• Teacher Trainings

• Retreats

• Conferences and festivals

• Product sales

• Partnerships/endorsements/youtube/instagram

• Corporate

Numbers and Budget
How much do you need to live? How much do you want - to be, do and have what you value?

Teaching yoga classes at the Y may not provide the kind of income that will make it possible for you to buy a vacation home in Costa Rica, but it can provide a decent annual income and freedom to create your own schedule and work on your own terms. (While teaching yoga, I have worked in: an event venue, sports arena, restaurant, wine bar, sushi bar, spa, office, yoga studio that I owned, hospital, at home, and online. I have also lived well below the poverty line, and on food-stamps and WIC. I have experienced the full gamut of income. I have learned to be resourceful and creative.) Knowing what is important and having a budget, goals and plan are the keys to navigating financial ebb and flow.

Look at the different channels available to you, determine your strengths and passions, and decide if you'd like to add a new channel or improve a channel that could provide more income. 

Envision success and take action. A Vision board is useful to prime the subconscious, but it is the actions you take consistently and the mindset with which you pursue those actions that will determine reality. 

Map out your year and create a marketing plan. Estimate your annual income. Does it suit your needs and wants?

Invitation
When you are starting out, you will have to put yourself out there. You will want to let others know that you are available and willing to teach yoga. You will also want to be clear about what you are willing and able to do. Experience has taught me to share from my heart and wait for invitations. We will talk about securing great opportunities soon.

A Balanced Schedule 
Allow your schedule to be balanced between offering, receiving, self-care and education. Make your practice, self-care and education a priority and offerings will come from a full and generous place and will influence the quality of your offerings. 

Building a student base
Return to Week SIX Session 2: Marketing, how can you:

1. identify the types of students you want to reach and what they want most? Value Proposition.

2. remain poised, calm, inviting, reassuring and responsive to ensure that new/potential students have a positive experience?

3. teach so that students want to come back?

4. grow a core group that feels like your offering is an integral part of their lives and schedules?

5. build loyalty so that students will choose your offering, even over other teacher’s offerings that might be more convenient?

Business Plan
Don’t freak out! A business plan, as defined in Amy’s book, “identifies a demand and explains how you plan to fulfill it.” You may not need a formal business plan unless you are seeking financial backing, but having a business plan will help you feel more solid and professional. Use your plan to keep you focused. We won't go into the details of a formal business plan here but here are a few things to think about.

Building your resume
Keep your yoga resume up to date with your training, experience, and special skills. List your education, yoga training credentials (like this YTT) and your main teachers and classes, workshops, privates, etc. that you have taught. Also, write your bio and get a picture of yourself. 
See mine here: katseltzeryoga.com/documentation and here: katseltzeryoga.com/about

Getting great opportunities
Get involved - attend classes, be friendly, offer to help out - put away props, fold blankets, etc., have conversations and develop relationships.
Get on the sub list and teach whenever you have an opportunity - when you sub/guest teach, ask students to recommend you if they enjoyed the class or invite them to give you feedback. 
Dress and act professionally on your way to and from a studio or practice space. 
If you connect with a space/studio - let them know! 
Share feedback in a supportive way and help build community and comradery!

Budget/Finances
Consider a professional - an accountant, or bookkeeper, or software and setting up a business entity or a separate bank account.
Create a plan to pay yourself, save, hold liability and health insurance, pay taxes and give. 
Yoga is free but your time is valuable. How can you ensure that you are keeping the currency moving?

Launch Math
What will you charge?
Say you wanted to teach a series - like a Beginner’s Series, and you get 50% percent of the people you have talked to to sign up (10 people) for your $55 Beginner’s Series totaling: $550 that decreases to $478 net after taxes

Maybe you spent:
4 hours planning your class and creating content
3 hours writing an email newsletter and promoting via social media
3 hours teaching
Totaling 10 hours of your time
Equals $47.80/hr

Note: Don’t personalizer your launch - don’t look at the price as what they would pay - look at the total value and time you are spending. When you personalize your prices, emotions may confuse you and halt your process. 

Consider asking yourself:

What is sustainable? Can I do it over time?

What lifestyle do I desire? What quality of life am I trying to create for myself and my family?

Does the value I’m putting in match what I’m charging?

Do I feel my time is valued and what I earn represents the value I offer?

Do I want money or can I thrive on a “karmic salary” or joy of the job?

I hope these questions will encourage you to look at your ideas about money and practice prosperity.

Yoga Alliance Certification
Get certified with Yoga Alliance. Submit your certificate upon graduation and pay $55 annual. Then continue your education - 30 hours per year.

Coursework:

• Write your business plan.

• Write your yoga bio and cv.

• Write a 30 sec speech about why you love yoga, teaching yoga, and the Y or your space of choice (where you may be teaching)

• Write a 2-3 sentence description of your 45 min community class

IMPORTANT! - BY MONDAY Please send a 2 sentence bio and a 2 sentence class description to me katseltzeryoga@gmail.com this will go on the flyer for the Community Class / Practicum

SIGHT February WEEK 8
The Business of Yoga
Friday 11:30am - 1:00pm
Date: 2.9.24

Prep
Hello!! 
Looking forward to our call on Friday. I would like for you to prepare in the following ways:
Have your Purposeful Position Statement ready to share.
I’m excited to hear some of your business ideas and as always bring your questions. 
In a breakout session you will be asked to share what you see in your fellow students :) 
Reflection - we are mirrors for each other .. what do you see in your YTT cohorts? 

Call Flow
11:30-11:45am (15min) Openings 
11:45-12:15pm (30 min) Talk Topics: Purposeful Position Statement, Launch Math
12:15-12:45pm (30min) Forum
Share your Purpose Statement. 
Share your business ideas. 
Breakout - Reflection - What do you see in your YTT cohorts? 
12:45-1pm (15min) Questions and Closings

Openings

• Share your Purposeful Position Statement

• Share your business ideas. 

• Next is a breakout session. In the breakout session you will be asked to share what you see in your fellow cohorts :) We are mirrors for each other. One person will share, the other will listen then switch - 10 min each (20 min) then share with the group (10 min)

• Finally, we will end with Launch Math

Purposeful Position Statement
A Purposeful Position Statement answers the first set of questions (from p. 212 in your workbook) that asks Who is your ideal student? with a heart centered on the second set of questions: What are they’re dreams or goals? What are their fears? What and who are they influenced by? How do they spend their time? These questions are a way to get to know your students on a deeper level so that you can nurture the relationship. However, that ethical relationship looks like to you.

PPS is 

• brief

• memorable

• true to your core values

• communicates how your are unique

• crystal clear 

On pg. 213 of your workbook there were two formulas:
Formula One:
For [your target] who [target market need/pain point/problem], [your class name] provides [main benefit that differentiates your offering from other offerings] because [reason why target should believe your differentiation statement].

EXAMPLE: For those desiring to share their practice through the art of teaching, clear, nourishing content, empowers you to create classes of substance within the joyful support and encouragement of community

Your target: those desiring to share their practice
You target market’s need/problem/”pain” point: short on time, unsure/anxious
Main benefit that differentiates: classes of substance, community
Reason why target should believe you/trust you: joy and encouragement

Formula Two:
I help [your target market] create/get [the results they want] without [their objections - unknowns] by [their ultimate desire].

EXAMPLE: I help Oshkosh yoga students find clarity of purpose without sacrificing time by completing a transformational 7 month yoga teacher training.

Your target: Oshkosh yoga students
The result they want: clarity of purpose
Ojections: they are short of time - so in my statement i said “without sacrificing time”
Their desire: they want to complete at 200hr YTT

Side note: These came after doing a lot of market research and asking questions about what my students needed and wanted (and sold out my program).

Please share. (10 min)

Mashup
My father was a CPA, a graduate of Wharton Business School and he was a COO, CFO, CEO 
My mother was a stay at home mom.
I worked in procurement for the US State Department.
I started a company when I was 26.
I opened a yoga studio when I was 30 and ran it for four years. I closed my studio after Brendan was born due to health issues.
I applied for and received a $10k grant which paid for most of the equipment I still use - my computer, an iPad, this blue snowball microphone and the video on my website. 
I have some understanding of business. 
I was always more interested in the creative and community side of entrepreneurship than the money. This may have had something to do with a desire to have control over my own life. And I also have dyscalculia - math dyslexia. 

So my mash up is that I can see beyond the money for time exchange model and the possibilities but I also understand the reality of the details. 

Let’s hear some of your business ideas. (10 min)
Breakout session (30 min)
Reflection - we are mirrors for each other .. What do you see in your YTT cohorts? One person will share, the other will listen then switch - 10 min each (20 min) then share with the group (10 min)

Launch Math
Share screen
ask: Someone give me a number between 23 and 94.
Now someone give me 5 streams of yoga income.
Now someone price them out for me. 
Next, how many people did you think you can enroll?

Closing: For contemplation
What if, in order to create anything that has enough juice to keep you or your eventual students going, you have to begin?

You have to be brave before you can be good.