Unconventional Things I Do in My Yoga Business

This week on Yoga Insider, I'm sharing some slightly unconventional (and maybe even controversial) ways I run my independent yoga business. 

I think it’s important to share examples of what running a sustainable yoga business looks like and to be transparent about the decisions I’ve come to after teaching yoga for almost 15 years. My intention with Yoga Insider is to be real with you, and part of that involves pulling back the curtain and analyzing what it takes to build a yoga business that thrives.

In this episode, I'm discussing how my personal philosophy as a yoga teacher informs my pricing and business structure, even if it goes against the grain.

Instagram: @alexandria.waycott

YouTube: @yogainsiderpodcast

Website: www.alexandriawaycottyoga.com

Send me an email! alexandriawaycottyoga@gmail.com

Music & Production by Kyler Pierce

Photography featured in cover art by Colton Muma

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome back to Yoga Insider Podcast. I'm your host, Alex Wakott. If you're new here, I've been a yoga teacher for over 14 years, and today I run a completely independent yoga business that doesn't rely on studio classes. I offer pre-registered yoga series in my community as well as continuing education for yoga teachers who want to refine their skills. Over the years, I've learned a lot about what it takes to build a yoga business that's actually sustainable. And part of my mission is to share real conversations with yoga teachers around the world about what it's actually like to work in the modern yoga industry. That is exactly what Yoga Insider Podcast is here for. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and let's dive in to today's episode. All right, welcome to episode 550 of Yoga Insider. I want to say thank you for all of the love on last week's anniversary episode where we celebrated one full year since the trailer for Yoga Insider was released. And I really appreciated all of your kind comments on Spotify, on Instagram, just all the sweet messages about how you found inspiration through the podcast over the last year. And even how some of you said like that you like to listen to the episodes, some of them multiple times to kind of soak it all in. I just really appreciated you all sharing your feedback and just knowing that there's value and inspiration here for you. So today's episode is a little bit more business focused. And I thought that today I would share some of the more unconventional and maybe even slightly controversial decisions that I've made when it comes to running my independent yoga business. Now, I feel like before we get into like the good stuff in the episode, I need to give just a little bit of a warning. And I want to say that what I'm gonna share isn't necessarily advice. I want to make that clear that this isn't necessarily advice. Um, and I never want to say that the way that I'm running my unique yoga business is the exact way that you should run your yoga business because we are all in totally different circumstances, different places, we have different needs. Um, and so I just don't want you to ever think that that's the case, that I'm giving like blanket advice or saying that, you know, if you do things differently than I do, it's wrong, or anything like that. Um, my intention is to share examples of what running a sustainable yoga business can look like. And I want to be transparent about some of the decisions that I've come to after working in the yoga industry for almost 15 years. So my hopes with Yoga Insider Podcast as a whole, as well, is that this is a place where I can be real with you, a place where I can be transparent with you. And I feel like part of that involves kind of pulling back the curtain sometimes and analyzing what it takes to build a yoga business that thrives, as well as looking at some of the whys behind some of the decisions that we make as yoga teachers and business owners, um, and like what informs them and where you know those decisions come from. So if it's your first time listening to Yoga Insider, if you're just like popping in for the first time today and you don't know much about my lore as a yoga teacher, I'll give you a very quick little rundown. And basically, I spent years teaching in every environment you can ever imagine. I have been teaching for my entire adult life. I was literally a teenager when I started teaching yoga. And I spent years teaching a million classes a week, not actually that number, but like I spent years teaching way too many classes per week, working all over town, driving between cities, teaching for other people's businesses, and working for really, really low pay. And like so many other yoga teachers around the world, I have faced that inevitable burnout multiple times in multiple different ways. Um, and eventually I got to a point where I was like, there has to be a way to do things differently. And I started to transition towards a business model that is more independent. So my independent business model caters towards two different groups primarily, and one of those groups of people is yoga teachers, and the other is students of yoga who are committed to some sort of consistent practice. Now, within this particular model, I have an ecosystem of offerings that cater to different interests within yoga, as well as different price points or entry points, so that there are options that fit different budgets. Um, and so things for yoga teachers include like higher ticket items, if you want to call it that, like yoga teacher trainings and yoga retreats for teachers, which cost thousands of dollars. Um, there are things like continuing education, educational workshops, and then even free resources like this podcast. So lots of different ways and different price points where like yoga teachers, you know, where we can work together. Um and then for committed students, there's things like day retreats, workshops, monthly pre-registered yoga classes, um, pop-up classes, and even the occasional like special event class. And then there's obviously some crossover where, for example, I have a lot of yoga teachers in my community who also like to join my pre-registered classes every month. So there's a little bit of both, and then, you know, kind of on the same side, there's like long-term students who maybe eventually decide that they want to take a yoga teacher training, just for example. But based on how I see a lot of yoga teachers working around the world, I think that the business that I've built is pretty unique because I'm making a full-time living teaching yoga, but I'm not teaching 20 classes per week or running around all over the place just teaching nonstop. And in fact, I don't teach in studios at all. I haven't taught in studios for a couple of years now. I'm also not selling any type of coaching. I don't do like group coaching programs, I don't do life coaching, um, I'm not selling ebooks or anything of that nature. And at this point, the majority of my work is actually in person with like real people in the room with me. I also don't own a yoga studio and I don't have a commercial lease on a space that I'm like locked into. So even though I have specific spaces and like rental agreements and places that I use to teach, my teaching isn't necessarily dependent on those spaces being there forever. And so if a space was to go or I don't have access to it anymore, like my teaching and my offerings would continue, but just in a different space. So I'm just kind of giving you a little bit of like a backstory or a little bit of context so that you have that, um, so that hopefully this conversation, you know, makes a little bit more sense. Um, and it's interesting because I feel like I've built something that exists somewhere between like a community center and a yoga studio. And it's not either of those things. It's like, again, it's its own entity, its own ecosystem. Um, and I'm not trying to offer something for everyone. I'm not trying to offer yoga classes seven days a week, you know, morning to night, every day. Like, I don't want to do that. I don't have the capacity to teach that much. Um and so there's a lot of intentionality behind the way that I run things. My yoga classes are intentionally pre-registered. They're designed for people who want to deepen their practice, who want to build a student relationship or a student-teacher relationship over time, rather. Um, and it's for people who want to be part of a community where the other people in the class like recognize you and know your name. So I'm really big on creating environments that people want to come back to. That's really important to me. Community is like the foundation of the work that I do. And so that's why I love pre-registered series, because they lend themselves towards not only progressive learning that builds over time, but community connections that build over time, because you tend to see a lot of the same folks in class week after week. And it's also why I invest so much time into things like education for yoga teachers, support for yoga teachers. Every offering is designed to deepen relationships and there are opportunities to continue to go deeper, whether you're a student or a teacher. So I thought that today I would walk you through some of the decisions that I've come to that have helped me build this type of business. And what I'm gonna focus in on, because I feel like this episode could potentially have multiple parts. So maybe this is something that I'll come back to later on if you're interested. Um, but what I'm actually gonna kind of focus in on today is like the financial side of running a yoga business independently. And some of the decisions that I've made that are maybe a little unconventional or controversial, but my hope is that by sharing them and being a little bit more open about like the why behind how I operate my yoga business is that this will encourage you to think outside of the box and just help you see that in order to have like a unique yoga business that thrives, sometimes you have to do things a little bit differently. So the first thing that I do that is not necessarily the most common thing, is that your first yoga class with me is not free. So I don't give out like free passes for a free yoga class or anything like that. Everyone pays for their first yoga class. And there's two sides to this. So I'll kind of get into my why on both of them. But the first is that I know for a fact, because this is something that I've encountered in my career as a yoga teacher, that as yoga teachers, we often have to work really hard for people to see the value in what we have to offer. And even after teaching for years and years and, you know, building careers in yoga where we're respected in our fields, a lot of times we still get emails from like big corporations and big companies asking for free yoga. And so there's still this idea out there in the world that like yoga teachers just want to work for free or that yoga is something that you should be able to get for free. And like, of course, you can get it for free online. Um, but like in an effort to increase the value of the yoga industry as a whole, I don't want to offer any type of like first class free type deals. So just like any other service, for example, if I go to the nail salon, it's a nail salon I've never been to. Like I'm never gonna go in and be like, hey, do you will you do my nails for free the first time? Like you pay for the service, right? And obviously, you know, if you don't like the service that you get, you don't have to go back. Um, but no first free class. And the other side to that as well, so kind of the second piece, is that I feel like offering the first class for free isn't necessarily going to attract people who value what I have to offer. So there's a lot of people out there, and this goes like beyond the yoga industry, but there's a lot of people out there who like just want something for free because it's free, not because they value the actual thing that you're offering. And I don't want to have to bring people in for free to convince them that what I'm offering is valuable. I want people to know that there's value before they even step through the door. So if people pay, it's kind of like, you know, there's an energetic exchange there. It's fair, it helps hold people accountable. If they paid for class, they're more likely to show up for class. And, you know, you're not holding spaces for people who are probably just gonna no-show anyways. So, like, that's the first thing is no free class and everybody pays. And that includes like my friends pay for yoga too. And like, this is a hard one to kind of, I don't know, like be strict about because honestly, if I could give everybody free yoga all the time, I would. Like my first instinct, especially when it's like a friend of mine or someone I've known for a really long time, they reach out and they're like, Hey, can I drop in for your class? Like, instantly, I want to be like, Yes, come to my class and come for free. Like, don't pay. And like, I have to be so strict with myself about it and be like, no, like everybody pays, even my friends pay for yoga. Um, and it just I I have to I have to stick to that. So that's the first thing that I do that I think is a little bit uncommon is I don't do any sort of free class. Now, the next thing, again, I know this is a little unusual, but I have never had a sale. So I don't offer discounts on pre-registered classes. I don't do any sort of special promotions, I don't do buy one, get one free. Um, nothing like that. The way that I see my prices is that whether it's a training, a workshop, a monthly series, the price is kind of like tuition. So the price is set. It is what it is, and the price is based on my cost to run my business. I take into consideration my expenses, what I need to be paid, the value, the experience, the expertise that I offer, how many people I can accommodate into my space or into my program, and what I think is fair based on industry pricing. So I know that that's pretty unusual to like never do a sale, but I feel like it creates this sort of unnecessary urgency. And that leads me into something similar that I don't offer, which are new student promotions. So everybody pays the same price. Yes, I know that sales and promos can be really helpful in getting people through the door and giving people the opportunity to try out what you're offering, but I'm not running a yoga studio. I don't own a yoga studio, I'm running monthly pre-registered series. And I don't think it's fair to my long-term committed students to give somebody who's brand new a better deal. So to me, being really consistent with my pricing and just keeping pricing the same every single month, keeping pricing the same, whether you are a new student or a long-time returning student, really communicates a sense of fairness and consistency. So that, you know, long-term students don't feel like there's some sort of penalty for them, like being part of the pre-registered series before there was a sale. I feel like it also demonstrates confidence in the value that I have to offer. And it suggests that I believe my offering is worth the price that I am charging for it. I'm also really big on integrity over urgency. So there's no flash sales, there's no discounts, my business is not relying on scarcity tactics. And I feel like for yoga specifically, my personal like no-sale philosophy aligns with the practice itself. And so there's this, to me, like subtle underlying communication that as a yoga teacher, I value consistency, I value sustainability, and that is more important to me than this sort of consumer-style urgency. And I hope that that feeling will resonate with students and that they will know and be able to trust that my pricing is relatively consistent. I am never going to suddenly lower the price or suddenly raise the price. Like there is a consistency that people can come to expect and budget for. And I feel like that is just the fair and ethical way to do things for me and for my business. Now, one thing that I do instead of offering sales is I do offer a lower rate per class if folks sign up for more classes per month. So basically how it works within the context of pre-registered classes is if you just drop in, you don't commit to weekly or twice weekly, it's a little bit more expensive. If you come just once a week to class, it breaks down to less than paying the drop-in fee. So it's a better deal if you commit ahead of time. And then if you commit to twice per week, it's an even better deal. So there is a little bit of like a reward worked into the price if you are willing to commit to more classes or more frequent classes, but there's no sales or discounts. Okay, another thing that I do that is again a little bit uncommon these days is I don't have an app. So I don't have my own app for yoga classes or signing up for anything. Um, now I know that it's pretty easy to get yourself an app these days, and I'm sure that having an app could make signups easier and it could make things a little bit more hands-off for me. Because instead, in order to register for the majority of my offerings, you do have to reach out to me directly, and then I invoice you. I want to make sure that you're getting what you need from the yoga classes that I'm offering. And so sometimes in that initial conversation, that Email exchange I have with people, I can find out about their injuries, their concerns, their previous experience with yoga. I can help make sure that they're getting into the right class that suits their needs. It might even give me information to know, like, hey, I need to pack this special yoga prop for this person. Or maybe I find out about them and realize that like my classes aren't the right fit for them at all. And I can refer them out to somebody else in my community who offers something that's more in line with their needs. So I don't know if I'll be able to sustain this forever because it is a lot more admin for me. It's a lot more work for me to like physically respond as a real person without AI to like emails from people that are, you know, come in honestly every day. Um, but right now it's important. I still have the capacity to do it. Maybe one day down the road there'll be an app, but there isn't an app yet. And the other side to this is that kind of being that person that people have to go through to get into classes gives me a little bit more control over who is entering the community. And I know that that can sound weird, so you're gonna have to bear with me on this one. But as someone who's been working in the industry for a long time, like I've seen some shit. And there are some very rare, very uncommon instances where someone is inappropriate or has a history of being inappropriate, and it is a way for me to basically like stop that person from coming into my environment. And so it allows me to try to keep the environment that's created in my classes as safe as possible for people. And again, this is like such a rare occurrence. Like most people are so good, so respectful, but the odd time, like once every few years, you know, there's someone who's a creep. And I feel like it's my responsibility, it's up to me to be the gatekeeper in those instances and say, actually, no, I don't have a space for you because of XYZ. Um, so that's another thing that I think is important. And if people are signing up for an app, I'm not able to, you know, have have that same kind of exchange with people and and really know like who's coming into classes. Okay, next one is I don't offer memberships. So students can obviously pre-register for a monthly series or they can do a drop-in if they prefer, but I don't have any contracts or any kind of ongoing memberships. And for me, this is another reflection of my personal philosophy when it comes to yoga. Um, and it's interesting to see this intersection between like yoga philosophy and then the way that we like price our classes and the way that we run our businesses. I feel like there's there's something here. Um, and so for me, like yoga is a practice, it is not a subscription. My intention is to always keep things simple and transparent and fair. And the reason I encourage monthly commitment and the reason I encourage people to pre-register month by month is because it's meaningful, but it's not because there is a contract that people are tied into financially that is like requiring them to do that. So, to me, a monthly commitment is a commitment that you make to yourself. You pay for your classes ahead of time, you schedule them into your calendar ahead of time as a way to hold yourself accountable. And I know so many people give me that feedback. They say, like, pre-registered classes help me show up for class because even on those nights where I don't really feel like coming and I kind of had a bad day, like I'm still gonna go because I already paid the money for it, and then they come to class and they feel better. And so, like, commitment is encouraged because it's something that's going to support your practice, but the commitment isn't required. And for people who want to build a routine, who want to have that consistency, they can register for the month. Obviously, the price is like a little bit lower if they register for the month. But if your schedule is unpredictable or you're just someone who likes to decide last minute, like, hey, I feel like going to yoga tonight, I also leave drop-in spaces available and people can drop in when it works for them. So even if you can't commit, like you're not excluded from being able to join classes. But the thing is that you're never locked into any type of contract. And this is because the autonomy of my students is very important to me. I want people to know that they are free to come and go as they please. And I want students to want to be in class and be there like because of their own free will, not because they are stuck in some kind of year-long, you know, financial agreement that they can't get out of. So they have to keep coming to class even though they don't want to. Like, that's no fun. So no memberships for me. And this also kind of brings me into my next point. And another thing that I do differently is that if students stop coming to class, I don't chase them. So I'm not out here sending we miss you emails or offering people a discount or a free class because I haven't seen them for a while. I think it's really important to respect that people's lives and people's priorities change. There are a lot of reasons why people stop coming to class. Most of the time it's not personal and has nothing to do with you as the yoga teacher. Sometimes there's things like people have changes to their health, changes to their finances, changes to child care that they have available. Um, their work schedule changes. Maybe they are training for something specific. And that time that they have in their week that, you know, they would normally dedicate to like a movement practice needs to be dedicated to like marathon training for a few months or something along those lines. Um, people move away. People decide that they want to practice with a different teacher or try a studio or go to the gym down the road. Like, there's so many reasons why people um leave and stop coming to class. And a lot of times people do let me know why or send an email and be like, hey, like, you know, thanks for so much for the classes. I've had a change to my schedule or I'm focusing on other things right now. You know, see you around and and that's so nice. But if people don't tell me, it's actually not my business to ask. And it doesn't mean that I'm not concerned. It doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about that student being like, oh, I hope they're okay. I hope nothing has happened. You know, I haven't seen them for a while and I haven't heard anything. But I actually feel like in our role as yoga teachers, that would be overstepping to be like, hey, why haven't you been in my class? And so I know that for me, like, I want relationships that are based on trust and that aren't based on some kind of pressure of like, hey, you have to come back to class. Like the other thing, too, that's cool just from teaching for a long time is that I have seen students come back after years and years of not seeing them, you know, they they show up again and like I welcome them with open arms. And I feel like I just try to let people know on those more kind of public forums like social media, like the podcast, like my newsletter. I I want people to know that like the door is always open, right? Like, even if you haven't practiced with me for 10 years, I don't care. Like, come on back to class. I'll be so thrilled to teach you. And I feel like most of us yoga teachers would say the same thing. Um, but I'm never gonna chase anyone down or be like, where did you go? Or why are you practicing with this teacher now or at this studio? Like, that is so unprofessional beyond overstepping. So, like, people are just free to come and go, and that is my philosophy. Okay, another thing that I do a little bit differently is I offer community-supported spaces in my yoga classes. And these are basically free spaces in my pre-registered yoga classes. And what this means to me is that the majority of folks pay full price every single month when they sign up. And because of that, I am able to subsidize a few completely paid for spaces in my classes for folks who aren't in a place to pay. So there's lots of different reasons. Maybe people are experiencing financial strain, maybe they're on disability or some kind of a fixed income, maybe they have lost their job or they're experiencing an illness and like they can't work for a period of time. It doesn't really matter what it is, it's all confidential. Nobody knows within the class, like who paid full price and who has a community-supported spot. And like it's not a lot of people. It's it's just a small amount of people who are using those community-supported spots. Um, but to me, I feel like that helps preserve the value of my classes while increasing accessibility. It brings more diversity into the classroom. It opens up the classes to people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different walks of life, and it's truly community-minded because if you're a member of the community, like you're never gonna be kicked out because you suddenly can't afford classes, because you suddenly lost your job or got sick. Like that's something that is always there, and it's cool. It works because, like, you know, 98% of people are paying full price every month. And so then when something does come up and somebody can't pay for classes for whatever reason, like it's covered. We've got you. There's a space for you. You don't have to lose your routine. Um, and so that works really well for me. So rather than doing sales, doing promos or anything like that, it's just like, let's keep the prices solid. And then everybody knows that, like through those consistent prices, I am able to subsidize some free classes for folks who need them. And then the other exception to these community-supported spaces is that I also offer free spaces to my mentors and my elders in the yoga community. So if there is someone who has been a mentor to me for a long time, somebody who's like one of my yoga teachers, if they ask to come to class, I offer them a space as a sign of respect, as a way to honor them. Um, because I wouldn't be doing what I was doing if it wasn't for them. I wouldn't be doing what I was doing if it wasn't for the teachers who have walked this path before me and who have taught me what I know, who have given me opportunities, who have sat with me through really hard seasons. Um, and again, this is like there's there's not that many of them. It's a rare occurrence, but um, when it does come up, I do also gift spaces to to my mentors. And I just feel like that is um a nice way to be able to kind of honor our elders like within the yoga community. And I'm glad to be able to do that. Okay, one more is that I don't offer early bird pricing anymore. So I used to offer early bird pricing um when I first started running YTTs, and I think I also used to do it when I was running like some smaller continuing education programs. Um, but I feel like my mindset around this has changed. And again, maybe it would be different if I was like exclusively running yoga teacher trainings or exclusively running like higher ticket retreats or something like that. I feel like early bird pricing like definitely has a time and place with those types of offerings. But because I have such an ecosystem of offerings with such a broad range of prices, um, I've come to the place where like I don't do early bird pricing anymore because I feel like it rewards the people who have the cash flow like in that moment. Um, it rewards the people who like have the money for it right away. And then the people who don't have the money for it up front end up having to pay more later. Like that part just doesn't really make sense to me. Um and I also felt like when I was doing early bird pricing, that I was like doing all the calculations, figuring out like the price that my offering needed to be, and then reducing that price to like create the early bird price. And I always felt like I wasn't charging enough when I was doing early bird. Um, so now what I do instead, and I feel like this this feels good to me, so maybe be interesting to you as well. But instead of doing early bird, if I have something that costs a little bit more, like a day retreat or like a weekend workshop or training or something, I let my community know ahead of time what day it's going on sale. So for example, I'll send out like a newsletter and put out social media posts and be like, hey, I have this thing in two weeks from now, on this date at this time, it's gonna go on sale and this is the price, and the price is the same for everyone. And so I think like giving people advanced warning of what's coming so they can prepare and budget for it if it's something that they're interested in, um, feels better to me than just throwing something out there and being like, hey, if you have money for this today, you can have the early bird pricing. Um yeah, that's just that's just kind of like the the place that I've come to. And again, I feel like that allows me to be consistent in pricing in a way that values my time, my work, and the experience that is behind it. So that's what I've got with uh for you today. I hope that this was interesting for you. Let me know what you think. Let me know if there are any of these things that maybe you do in your own business, or maybe some of the things that I've mentioned where you're like, I do the opposite of you and it works great. Um, again, like Yoga Insider Podcast, it's all about transparency. It's all about just showing you, you know, behind the doors, behind the curtain of like how things work and some of the thinking behind, you know, why I do the things that I do within my yoga business. So until next time, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Yoga Insider Podcast. If you have been enjoying these episodes, please leave a rating wherever you are listening so that more yoga teachers around the world can listen and benefit from the podcast. Thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next time.