Yoga Business Q&A: Teaching Yoga Online & Who’s Responsible for Class Attendance?

In this listener Q&A episode, we’re talking about two questions that come up again and again for yoga teachers: What was my experience teaching yoga online? And how much responsibility should a contracted yoga teacher have for filling their classes?

I’m sharing what it was actually like to move my teaching online during the pandemic, why I never saw online yoga as “too oversaturated,” and how I used pre-recorded classes, Zoom group classes, private sessions, and an online subscription platform. I’ll also break down the difference between evergreen pre-recorded classes and live online teaching and how both can fit into a larger yoga business ecosystem.

Then we’re getting into an excellent question for studio teachers: Who is actually responsible for getting people into the room? We’ll talk about contracts, compensation, marketing, attendance, and why a quiet class isn’t necessarily a reflection of your ability as a teacher.

Grab your coffee and let’s dive in!

200-HOUR YTT IN PORTUGAL APRIL 2027

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 0:05

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 run a yoga business that's actually sustainable. And part of my mission is to have real conversations with real yoga teachers around the world about what it's 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 into today's episode. Alright, welcome back to another episode of Yoga Insider Podcast. Um, if my voice sounds a little bit scratchy today, it is because there is so much like wildfire smoke around um where I live in BC right now, and I feel like it's like affecting my voice a little bit. So apologies in advance. I hope that I don't cough on today's episode. Um, today we have another listener QA episode. So this is the third one that I've done, and I really, really enjoy these episodes. I really enjoy like hearing your questions and doing my best to answer them in any way that I can. Um, I just feel like if you know there's yoga teachers like asking questions about things, they're probably not the only one who has those questions. Um, so I've got two questions that I'm gonna do my best to talk about today, just because I think that it's gonna take me a little while to answer both of these. And if you submitted a question through the question box on Instagram, I have to apologize because I was informed that it like glitched out and I don't know, something something wasn't working with it. So if you sent me a question and I didn't get it or I'm not answering it today, don't be shy to send it to me again. You can always DM me on Instagram, you can always send me an email, and I would love to talk about your questions on a future episode. So I figured we will dive right into the questions today. And the first question is about what my experience has been teaching yoga online. So, just for a little bit of background context, I initially started teaching yoga online during the pandemic. And my intention during that time was to maintain a connection with my existing yoga community, um, who I had already been teaching for quite a long time at that point. What's interesting is that a few months prior to the pandemic, I had actually already started recording online classes as pre-recorded content. And this was like before I knew that the pandemic was coming or anything like that. I was simply wanting to branch out from the regular studio teaching that I was doing. And I wanted to start to grow my ecosystem of offerings in different ways. So it was a little bit of an experiment at that point in time. And then the way that things happened, suddenly there was this strange global pandemic going on. It turned into me wanting to stay connected with the students who had already been teaching. Now I remember during this time hearing a lot of other yoga teachers and studio owners saying things like online yoga is oversaturated, or there's, you know, already so many videos on YouTube. Why would I create more? Why would I add to that noise? Like I remember somebody literally calling it noise. And so there were there were a lot of people who chose not to create online content during that time, but I never shared that sentiment during the pandemic. I never shared the sentiment that online yoga was oversaturated or there was no point because everybody else is already doing it. I really feel like part of my dharma in this life is to teach yoga. And I didn't know how long the pandemic was going to last. So it wasn't in my nature to just like stop teaching. Instead, I was gonna find a way to keep teaching regardless of what that looked like, even if I wasn't able to teach in-person classes. I was gonna find another way. And I think that there's something comforting about being able to take a class, even if it's online, with a teacher who you feel comfortable with, with a teacher who you're already familiar with, you know what to expect with them. You know, this was such a challenging and uncertain time for so many people. And if there was a way that I could keep showing up for my community with some sort of consistency, and if there was a way that I could keep offering a sense of familiarity to folks in my community, then I was going to keep doing that. And I still feel that way today. Um, again, like people will probably try to argue that, you know, online yoga is oversaturated. And of course, on online yoga had like a boom in 2020, and we're still kind of seeing that carry on. Like it was it was the start of online yoga for a lot of people. Um, and it's really cool that we, you know, continue to have access to different yoga teachers around the world who maybe don't live in our area. There's definitely an accessibility piece to it. Um, but yeah, I was I was really determined to just keep teaching. So that was kind of like the the beginning of my online teaching journey. Um, and another way that I I viewed it, which I think might be helpful for you to hear, is that it was another really positive opportunity for me to establish myself as an independent yoga teacher. And what was interesting was that during that period of time, a lot of yoga studios were closing down because they obviously like just weren't able to survive the circumstances. And like that was the end of those studios. And for a lot of teachers, they lost all of their classes that they had been relying on. Some teachers stopped teaching completely and never went back. And so this was a chance for me to really step up as an independent teacher and say, like, hey, I still have something to offer. I still am, you know, extremely driven to keep teaching, and I'm going to keep doing this regardless of whether or not I have a studio behind me. And so I think that that was a really good move. And I think it's one of the reasons why I am still connected with like a very long-term yoga community where I live, where I have a lot of students who I've been teaching for well over a decade, who continue to come to my weekly classes, I really was able to nurture that relationship with people during that time where I could have just stepped away completely and said, you know, there's no point in doing this. I've had it. I'm I'm not gonna teach online. Um, so when it comes to thinking about like my actual experience of online teaching, there was definitely like a tech side to it. And I would recommend, if you haven't listened to it already, that you go back and listen to an episode called Behind the Scenes Digital Marketing for Yoga Teachers. Um, that's the episode where I have my husband Kyler on the podcast, and we talk a lot about like the tech side of producing online classes and how we kind of manage to do it using pretty minimal equipment and all of the learning curves that came along with it. But what I will say, just in terms of the tech, is that I don't think you need a lot to get started. Um, these days, most of our phones have really good cameras on them, especially if you have a newer iPhone. Um, I would recommend if you don't have one already, grab yourself a little lav mic. So one of those little mics that you can connect to your phone and then it'll just clip on like the collar of your shirt or whatever you're wearing, so that you can at least make sure that you have good audio for your videos. You might want to grab a tripod so you could set up your phone on a tripod, and then maybe if you really want to invest a little bit more, you could grab some lights like from Amazon just to like illuminate the space that you're teaching in. Because one thing that I will say is that lighting makes a huge difference in terms of the video quality that you're able to produce. And even if you don't have the best phone or the best camera, or you're not in a place to invest in like a new phone or a new camera, you could get some lights for a lot cheaper. And having that good lighting is really gonna change the quality of your video. So if you're brand new to teaching online, you know, take a look at like the specs on the camera on your phone. You can probably work with what you already have, get yourself a lav mic, get yourself a tripod to put your phone on, and then maybe order some lights from Amazon. Um now, when I was teaching online classes, I was primarily running a subscription platform. So it was a subscription-based platform. I was producing weekly pre-recorded yoga classes. And in addition to that, I was also teaching private lessons on Zoom, like one-to-one with students. And I was from time to time running live Zoom group classes that I had obtained some like grant funding for. So the online yoga had like a couple of different categories, if you will. And then in addition to that, my experience with online yoga does extend into um working for a couple of years for a startup that was like an international online yoga app and website. But for the sake of today's video, I'm just gonna talk about my own experience producing my own online classes as an independent yoga teacher. Um, so I think it's helpful for you, if this is your first time going into teaching online, to get really clear on how you want your online classes to benefit you and your yoga business, and to also consider the experience that you hope or wish that your online students will have when they take those classes. So, like, how do you want these online classes to serve you and your business? And what is the purpose of the classes or what is the nature of the classes? Who do you think is going to be taking those classes? Like, start to think about those types of things because the answers to those questions are going to make it easier to know how to record your classes kind of moving forward. And when I think about online classes, I think about them in two like main big categories. So the first are what I call pre-recorded classes, and those are your like perennial or evergreen classes that you can reuse and repurpose in many different ways. And then I think about live classes, like live classes that are taught on Zoom that are more ephemeral. And the goal with those is usually to be really present with the studios or with the students rather in front of you, and to be able to give them like individual feedback, and you're really there, like right up to the camera, you know, looking at the little boxes in front of you and teaching the people in front of you. I see those as like two different types of teaching. And so I'll talk a little bit about the process of recording pre-recorded classes first and kind of like what that looked like for me. So, like I said before, I was recording pre-recorded classes. I was releasing about one per week. And I was doing this for quite a long time. And the intention was basically to build up a library of online classes for my online subscription platform. So as time went on, that library of classes that was available built up and got larger. And the members who were paying to be on that platform had a greater variety of class types and styles and lengths to choose from as I continued to contribute to that library of classes every single week. When I was doing these pre-recorded classes, there was a lot of prep that went into creating a class. So if the class was 45 minutes long, for example, it took so much more than 45 minutes to create that class. Um, so that's like the first piece is that there is a lot of work that goes into these pre-recorded classes. But once the hard work is done, it's done. And then you have what I would consider a more polished, finished product that you can use and reuse and repurpose for ages. So a little bit of like the behind the scenes of what my process looked like was I would take some time to plan out the class. Sometimes when I was doing these, I would do like a monthly pre-recorded series, and maybe there would be a theme or something that would carry on. Um, so I'd plan out the class, write it out just how I would plan out a class for, you know, a regular public class that I was teaching. Then I would set up to record the class. And the process for this looked like using a really old, I think it was like a Canon DSLR camera. Um, I didn't purchase a new camera. This was like an ancient camera that was like designed for taking photos, not videos. Um, and I would set up that camera on a tripod in my living room. I would turn it on, I would get on my mat, and I would do the whole practice in real time from start to finish. And the idea behind that was simply to give students a really good visual of like what the poses look like. And yeah, obviously I was doing the class, but I wasn't talking. I wasn't giving any cues or anything like that. I was just doing the practice. One of the challenges with that is like often I would be doing the recording and the practicing totally on my own. And this really old camera that I was using at the time, it had like a 15-minute limit on taking videos. So I would be doing the practice, and then I would have to stop after 15 minutes, get up, stop the camera, restart the camera, and then continue making the video. And you can see how, like, if the video I was making was 45 minutes or maybe even closer to an hour, that I would have to get up and do that multiple times. And of course, you know, I would run into these times where I didn't time it right and like it had already stopped recording and I didn't realize, or I thought I was recording and I wasn't. Like those kinds of things where like the time that you're putting into creating the final product really starts to add up. But those were the first two steps was like plan the class and then, you know, do the whole practice in real time in my body and film it. Then once I had that done, I would take the video from the camera, upload it to the computer, and then go into what I'll call in quotation marks, like the recording studio, and sit down and record a voiceover for the video. And I would do that using a mic, kind of like this big mic that I'm talking into for my podcast. So, really similar idea. I'd have the video playing in front of me, like on a screen in front of me. And then I would sit there and teach the class using only verbal cues, the way that I would teach it in, you know, a regular class. And so, again, if that video was 45 minutes long, then I'm there for 45 minutes recording the voiceover. Once that was done, we would like edit everything together, stitch all the videos together, put the voiceover over top of it, bounce it, have to wait for the video to render and like all the things. So, again, there's a lot of time, a lot of waiting and processing that goes into all that. Once I had the final product, I would upload it to YouTube as an unlisted video. And then I would take that unlisted video and embed it into my membership site and write a description for the class and create like a little Canva cover and all the things. So, like when it's all said and done, it was pretty much a full day of work to get one video created. Um, and that that's what you don't see behind the scenes with that kind of pre-recorded online content. Um, but again, like once that hard work is done, it's done. And something that was really cool from like creating that whole library of pre-recorded content is that I was able to at one point like lease or license the content to a large institution that was looking to use my yoga video content for a certain amount of time. And so they were like, What's your price? And I was like, Here's my price. And we signed the contracts and I sent them off the videos, and they were able to use them. And that was really cool because that was something that I didn't expect would come from it, um, was to have somebody else, you know, coming to ask to use my content. And I feel like with those kinds of pre-recorded videos, like, I mean, you could package them up and, you know, sell them on their own as like a little course or a little like here's a foundations of yoga program. You could put it on a membership site. You could use those videos as freebies to get people signed up to your newsletter. You could put a couple of them out there on your website or on YouTube just to give people like a taste of how you teach and what to expect, what your style is. Um, I feel like there's a lot that you can do with those types of videos once the work is finished, but there is more work when it comes to doing that kind of recording, and there is a little bit more tech to deal with. Now, one way around this, if you were like, okay, recording and then doing voiceover, that sounds too complicated. I don't have the equipment to do that or the time or the know-how. Um, I feel like that's where that little lav mic would come in. And you could still get yourself set up, you know, with your phone on your tripod, get the lighting really good, and do the sequence in real time, but also talk like while you do it. Um, and that would definitely save you another step of having to sit down and do a voiceover. So that's kind of like another little um workaround. I also feel like you could, yeah, just like use these videos once you have them as like a little supplement or a bonus for some of your students. Like, hey, sign up for this, you know, in-person workshop with me. And then as a bonus, like you're also gonna get, you know, a couple of online classes and you can continue at home. Like there's just so much room to be creative with the pre recorded content. And I feel like it's something that has the potential to keep giving in the future once the work is done. So that's why I'm like a really Big fan of pre-recorded. Um, the other way that I was recording content, or not recording content, but the other way that I was teaching online was doing live classes on Zoom. So I use Zoom to do a lot of private lessons one-to-one with students during COVID specifically. And I feel like that worked quite well. I really liked being able to, you know, pop on at our set time and be able to sit on the camera, but like face to face with the student and just like check in with them, be like, how's your day? How are you feeling? You know, like, and and at that specific time, too, that kind of connection with people was really, really important, right? People were really isolated and just being able to have like a you know live phone call and like see someone else's face was was so great. And that kind of thing is gonna have benefits for folks, like even these days, right now, even though we're not actively in a pandemic, um, folks who maybe have limited mobility, who aren't able to get out of their homes easily, who are maybe a little more isolated, live in a more rural community, like being able to have that face-to-face connection with you as their teacher on Zoom is super great, super, super good. Um, so I liked doing the Zoom classes, and the way that I would do those was I wasn't necessarily like doing the practice. It was more like the student would just see my face there on Zoom and I'm talking to them, I'm walking them through the practice, I'm watching what they're doing on the screen and I'm providing them feedback in real time. Some of the challenges that came with teaching on Zoom were things like internet connection. Um, sometimes it just, you know, would totally like, I don't know, the screen would go black and you would like lose your connection completely midway through a class. That kind of stuff sucks, right? It like ruins the vibe when somebody's enjoying their yoga practice, and then suddenly they've got to go like fiddle with technology. Um, there was also one time where like our connection froze and or my connection froze, and I had the student in plank pose, and then suddenly she couldn't hear me anymore. And she was under the impression that I was just making her hold plank for like minutes, and that was absolutely not the case. And I was like, you can come out of the pose, but she couldn't hear me. Um, so little little things like that obviously like come with the territory of teaching online, but I felt like Zoom worked really, really well for private lessons, and I feel like it would work really well for um any type of like small group series. So maybe you're gonna run an online series for a small group of people, you have like five or six students signed up, you have a really specific focus, like yoga for back pain, for example. And you know, teaching on Zoom, as long as you don't have like tons and tons of students on there, you can totally sit there at the screen and like give people feedback and call on them by name and offer suggestions. And it works really well for those types of things. Um, teaching to like a larger group, so you have like 20 students and it's an online group class, I feel like that's where you kind of have to decide whether you're gonna just get on the mat and do the practice and have everybody follow along with you, or whether you're going to like sit there at the screen and watch everyone and try to teach mostly with verbal cues. Um, so just kind of plan ahead like how you're going to teach the online live Zoom class based on the nature of like the class that you're teaching. Um, the thing with the online Zoom classes, I know that every teacher is different, and like some people record those live classes and you know, save them from Zoom and then upload them maybe to YouTube or to their online platform or whatever. Um, that's not really my preference. And I feel like, especially if you're, you know, teaching people individually and like giving individual feedback, that there's gonna be some like privacy concerns there too, that maybe those people don't want videos of them up on your YouTube or up on your site. Um, so I see teaching on Zoom as something that is a little bit more ephemeral. It's just like we're there in the moment, we're present with our students in the moment. When the class is finished, it's finished, and I'm probably not gonna do anything with that content afterwards. And when I was teaching private lessons or group classes on Zoom for that matter, I certainly wasn't recording those classes. They were just there for the people who were there in front of me. Um, and if I was gonna be repurposing content and putting it online, then it would just be content of me practicing and teaching. So just some things to think about. Um, but I definitely think like do both, like experiment with both and trust that there will be a phase of experimentation, like especially if this is your first time teaching online or you've never done pre-recorded content, like just like with anything, you're gonna have to, you know, fuss around with it for a little bit. You're probably gonna make some mistakes or have some videos that aren't so good. And that is part of the learning process. And like, just start. Um, I I honestly feel like it's such a great addition to like your existing ecosystem of teaching. Uh definitely give it a try, like give online teaching a try. Um it's yeah, it's just another way to to contribute to to what you're already doing and to give people another way or another avenue to work with you and to just open yourself up to more folks. So try it out, see how you like it. Um, yeah, and I wish you all the best with teaching online. So I I hope that's helpful. And if you want more, you can always ask. Okay. Second question uh that I have today, another really, really good one, is as a contracted teacher, how much is it on me versus how much is it on the studio to get people in my class? So such a good question, such an important conversation. Um, the first thing that I'll say is that I think there is a little bit of a shared responsibility between contracted teacher and studio, but it's not necessarily a 50-50 responsibility. And there's like a lot of nuance here. Um I think that your contract and the compensation structure at that specific studio are two things that can help determine like where the line is and how much you should be contributing in terms of marketing or or helping to get people in classes. So my first instinct would be to ask, what did you actually agree to? And do you have a contract? So is there anything laid out in the contract about, you know, what those expectations are? Because if you are a contracted teacher, ideally there should be some clarity given to you by the studio owners or studio management around whether you've been hired to just teach the yoga class or whether part of your role at that specific studio is to like market the class and build the attendance of the class. Um and there are a lot of different factors that are gonna determine like which one it is. So I'll try to get into those just so that I can answer this in a more broad way that will hopefully apply to lots of different yoga teachers who are listening. So if the studio is paying you to show up and teach the class and show up on time and provide a positive experience for the students, then I wouldn't necessarily assume that like it's also your responsibility to completely fill the room and that all of that should fall onto you because that's that's not usually the case. Um, the studio has a pretty big responsibility there just because they're the ones who control the schedule, they control the pricing of the classes, they are gonna be in charge of the overall marketing, especially if it's in you know a brick and mortar space. They're in charge of their membership structure, their promotions, their sales, their location, the kinds of signs that they have, the way that they use social media, the way that they use email. Like they're the ones who are really, you know, creating that bigger relationship with their existing clients. Um, so just keep that in mind. Like most of the responsibility in that specific instance is like probably on the studio. But if you haven't had a conversation with them already, this is the kind of thing that might warrant a little bit of a conversation and just a friendly conversation with the owners or the management. And you could ask them, like, what are the expectations around me promoting my classes? What's the studio doing to help increase attendance? And then what would success look like for both of us? Like, is there some kind of a middle ground where you're clear on like what your expectations are, what the studio's expectations are, and also what you both have capacity for, because that's obviously really important. Um, I feel like having that conversation up front, especially if you haven't already had that conversation, can help prevent maybe some resentment. And it's also one of those things that can just help manage everybody's expectations because you don't want to be in a situation where you know, you as the teacher think like I'm doing my job and I'm doing everything that I should be doing. And then the studio has this completely different perspective on the situation, and they're like, Well, we hired this teacher to help, you know, build up the classes or bring more people in or whatever. So you just want to get really clear on like, okay, what are everybody's like realistic expectations on this? And have we had a conversation on this? Um, is there anything written in your contract? If you don't have a contract, ask for one. Um, I love written contracts. I think that like they just keep everybody safe, right? It's nice, even if you're working with people who are like your friends, and I feel like in yoga, this is where things can get really sticky because often we are working with our friends. We're working with people who we really like and we totally vibe with them and get along with them. And sometimes it's so easy to think, like, oh, I don't need a contract because I like this person and I totally trust them, and you know, they're not gonna try to screw me over. And like, it's not about that, it's just about making the expectations clear for everyone. I'd like a contract because it also gives you something to refer back to if you're like, hmm, like, wait, what do what do I get paid for this? Or what's their percentage split on workshops or whatever it may be? It's like you have a document that you can refer back to that will probably answer some of your questions, right? And contracts can be negotiated as well. They can be changed, you can revisit them every year. Um, so that's just another thing is like check and see what your contract says. And if you don't have a contract, ask for a contract. I think that's really important. Um now, if you're asking this question from the perspective of like, how much is it on me to get people in my classes? Because I'm noticing that classes are a little bit smaller sometimes, or like, yeah, maybe they're even getting canceled because you just don't have the attendance some nights. Um one of the biggest things that I would say is don't internalize classes being slow. It's probably not you. There are gonna be times where like you have, you know, one person in your class or like everybody cancels 10 minutes before and only one person shows up. Like those kinds of things happen to every single yoga teacher, regardless of how popular you are, how skilled or talented you are. Like, you're just gonna have those weird situations from time to time where like nobody signs up for things, or people say they're gonna show up and they don't come. Um, and so it's really easy to think like, you know, people don't like my class, or I'm not a good teacher, I'm not good at teaching this style, and we just internalize it and like blame ourselves. So that's the first thing is like, don't blame yourself. Because if you're already asking these kinds of questions, like you're invested in what you're doing. I'm sure that you are really, really good at what you do. Um, attendance is influenced by so many different things that have nothing to do with your ability as a teacher. And often it comes down to things like the time of day, the traffic at that time of day, the day of the week, the season. So, like right now, you know, this question's coming up near the end of summer. And notoriously, yoga classes do get a little bit slower during summertime. A lot of studios have to even like pair back their schedules during the summer months because, especially where we live here in British Columbia, people are generally outside enjoying the nice weather. They're camping, they're going on vacation with their family, they're like savoring this limited nice weather outside time while we have it and they're not necessarily doing indoor activities. So we often see a dip in yoga class attendance in July and especially in August. And then typically, once school goes back in September and people start to feel like, okay, I'm ready to get back into my routine, you'll see class numbers rise again. And I can say that pretty confidently just because I have watched that cycle happen every single summer for the last like 15 summers that I've been teaching yoga. Um, so it is a pattern that I have observed. So yeah, it's it's so many different things. It could be also like the type of class and then like the clientele of that specific studio. What kind of classes do they like to go to? It could be the price of the classes, it could be holidays, it could just be that people don't know about the class yet. Um yeah, it's like it's it's not necessarily something that you can fix by like putting out an Instagram post. And so I think that just remembering that attendance isn't necessarily a reflection of you or your personality or a teaching style, it is usually a reflection of like all of those other factors. So I just want to say that as like another reminder because you're asking these questions. Um now, one thing that's a little bit tricky is when you are asking this kind of question and you're in a position where you're teaching somewhere where they pay you more based on attendance. Because I feel like that kind of changes the situation. If you're teaching at this studio and you are getting a flat rate for your class, whether there are two people in your class or 20 people in your class, then it's probably reasonable to say that your job is to show up and teach the class really well and just do your best to give everyone a positive experience. Like, like my perspective on that is that if you're getting a flat rate, then that's like your primary job as a yoga teacher. But if you're teaching somewhere that offers you a base rate plus top-up for having more students in class or top-up once you get like a higher or certain level of attendance in class, um then that brings me to like a much stronger argument that you should be doing more marketing because you have that motivator that, like, yeah, if I'm out there promoting my classes and more people show up, I'm gonna get paid more versus you get paid the same rate, whether there's two people or 10 people. Well, the the motivation to do marketing for the class isn't necessarily there. So if you're teaching somewhere that offers top-up, then like you're both financially invested in growing that class. The studio is financially invested and you are financially invested as the teacher. Um and so instead of like the studio saying, you know, you need to get more people into the class, and the teacher feeling like all of the blame is on them, you can create a structure where like both of the parties have a more equal reason to contribute. And that's where that kind of top-up pay model comes in and can be really motivating for both parties. Um, and so if that was the case, if you were getting top-up, then you could say, like, you're gonna promote the class online, you're gonna invite people to come, you might create some content around it, talk about it with your community. And then the studio can do the same thing, right? And they're gonna promote the class too. They're gonna, you know, put it in their newsletter, they'll feature you on their social posts. Um, it feels more like a partnership in that way when there's like extra pay for more people coming into the class. But like I said, if it's just a flat rate, I feel like it's it's a little bit different. Um, now there is kind of like a middle ground that you can try to find here. I feel like if you are passionate about the class that you're teaching, regardless of whether you get paid a flat rate or you get paid a base rate plus top up, um, it makes sense to talk about your classes, to try to make some posts about them online, to invite your friends to come, to tell people out in the community that you're teaching. Um, and the way that I see this is more from like a big picture standpoint that this is like an investment in building up your personal brand as a yoga teacher. Because the reality is the teachers who are visible online and are telling people where they teach and what they do and what their philosophy is and what makes them different, like those are the teachers who are generally going to get more opportunities because they're visible and people know who they are, right? And I know that that can suck to hear, especially if you're someone who's like, I don't want to market and I don't want to be online. Um, but if you are invested in teaching yoga long term, and this is something that you want to do for a long time, I would start to think about just marketing yourself in general. So don't get too fixated on like I have to market this class and sell it and get more people in. Just think of it as an investment in like telling people in your community that you're out there teaching and doing things. Because, in my experience, like classes come and go, studios come and go. If you haven't built up any kind of online presence in this day and age, it can be a little bit trickier to get more opportunities, especially if if something goes or they do kind of take your class off the schedule or the studio closes, or or whatever it may be. It's like a little bit of an insurance policy. Um, so that's just like one thing to consider is if you want to do this long term, I would put a little bit of effort into just marketing yourself and your classes. And you could start really small. It could be even just like one post a month. It doesn't even have to be a picture of you, it can be a picture of like somewhere that you went this month and just post your schedule or say, like, hey, I've got a theme that I'm working with this month. Here's where I'm teaching, here's the class times, even if you only teach one class a week. Um, that already sets you apart from the teachers who aren't doing any type of marketing. Um, and like I'll just use, I know it's not yoga related, but like I'll use my husband as an example. He's a professional musician. He's not super big on social media and he certainly doesn't use it in like a serious way, but I would say about once a month, he makes a post and he just posts like all of his upcoming shows and upcoming gigs. He's not using professional photography most of the time. He's usually using some like dumb, silly picture that we took somewhere, like a picture of our dog or something. And he's just like listing the gigs, and then his main goal is just like connecting with community. So just replying to comments, telling people where he'll be. Like it's super simple. Try not to overthink it. Um, but yeah, if if you aren't doing so already, I would try to do like a little bit of marketing, but it's not necessarily about that specific class, if that makes sense. Just think more about like big picture. I want to teach yoga for a long time, even if it's not my full-time gig. Let's try to create like just a little bit of an online presence. Um, ultimately, like another question that I would ask is who has the power to influence attendance? And this is another thing where like it's quite a nuanced conversation. Now, I said before, the studio is the one in this case who probably controls most of the factors. Again, they control the schedule, the pricing, the promotions, the memberships, communication, website, booking system, advertising. Like they have a significant responsibility for bringing people in. And if they haven't laid that groundwork to get people coming into their studio, then it's certainly not gonna all fall on you. Like, yes, you can promote the class online, you could start an email list, but like if they are not putting in that big effort, um, it's a little bit more challenging. Now, there are some instances where a yoga teacher might have a really large following online, or they've been like specifically hired to build community. And maybe there's even like some compensation that's tied to class attendance. That teacher has agreed to promote the class, and then that teacher is gonna have more responsibility. This is something that I experience sometimes as a more experienced yoga teacher, is like sometimes I'm hired specifically because that place or that business thinks that I will bring in more people just because I have an established base of students and clients, and you know, there's awareness about who I am in the community. Um, but I would say that like if you're a newer yoga teacher, then that's probably not the case. And so that amount of responsibility is probably not falling onto you. Um, so I would really say that like your responsibility when it comes to getting people into your classes should be proportional to your role. So, do you teach tons of classes at that studio? Are you a really well-established, you know, experienced teacher in the community, or do you teach one class a week and maybe you're a newer teacher? Okay, so like just to put that into perspective. So responsibility should be proportional to your role. Um, it should be proportional to your compensation. So, once again, if you're getting a flat rate, regardless of how many people show up, um, there's probably not as much responsibility on you as there would be if you were getting base rate plus top-up based on attendance. If you are getting paid more money to have more people in your classes, then there's more responsibility on you, generally speaking, to get more people in the classes. Um, your responsibility should also be proportional to your influence. So, once again, if you're a newer teacher, you're just starting out, you've only been teaching for a couple of years, you haven't built up a following in the community or an online presence, you probably don't have as much responsibility as a very experienced teacher who is maybe hired to bring people in and is most likely being compensated more, regardless of whether it's a flat rate or base pay plus top-up, just because maybe they're bringing, you know, a decade plus of teaching experience with them. Um, and then your responsibility should also be based on what you actually agreed to. So, what have you talked about with the studio management, with the studio owners? What are your shared expectations? What is your shared capacity? And what does your contract say? Um, I would just definitely remember when it comes to this kind of conversation that, you know, a smaller class is not a failure. A smaller class is usually not a reflection of your teaching skills. Um, and to really just kind of take a step back, look at what's in your control when it comes to influencing class attendance and what is not in your control. And then if you do have the desire to market and create a little bit of an online presence, see it as an investment in building awareness about you as a yoga teacher as a whole, like big picture kind of thing, and not necessarily like you're doing it because you have to and because you have to get more people into this one class. Okay, so I hope that helps. I hope that wasn't too rambly. Um, I'll leave you with that for today because this has turned into quite a long episode. I feel like I could just talk and talk. So we only get two questions for today. Um, as always, thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of Yoga Insider Podcast. Before you go, if you are interested in taking a 200-hour yoga teacher training next April 2027 in Portugal, I would love to have you. I'm gonna link the sign-up info and all of the details in the show notes. And if you've been enjoying Yoga Insider, make sure to leave a review or leave a comment wherever you're listening. It just helps push the podcast out into the algorithm to more teachers who might enjoy it. Thanks for being here. I'll see you next time.