MyYogaBusiness

Dear Yoga Teacher,

If you’re like most yoga teachers, you probably
get uncomfortable talking to your students about money.

And rightly so.

If you’re primary job is the teacher, it’s weird to have
to play cashier and debt collector too.

But with small businesses, there’s no other option. You
have to wear many hats every day. But there are tools
available to make your life easier.

#1: Sign up now for a Paypal Business Standard
account. It’s free and will allow you to take payments
from your students including echecks and credit
cards. http://www.paypal.com

*paypal will charge you roughly 3-4% for their
service. It is well worth it.
**get “business standard” NOT a personal account.
If you have a personal account, change it.

#2: If you don’t like paypal or want to make it even
easier for your students, the other simple option is

http://www.2checkout.com

You have to pay $50 to sign up, but after that it’s
similar to paypal with a 4% commission per sale.
2Checkout does not require people to create a paypal
account, so usually students prefer it as they can make
payments fast and easy with any payment form they
choose.

NOW WHAT?
Using either paypal or 2checkout, you can create
payment links you can email to your students or
‘buy now’ buttons you can put on your website.

You can sell single classes, packs of classes, or
even monthly passes that auto-bill the student
each month so you don’t have to worry about it.

Auto-bill is wonderful for both students and teachers
so you should offer your students a big discount if
they sign up for that service.

Both paypal and 2Checkout have excellent customer
service and tutorials. If you get stuck, just give them
a call or send in an email. They will respond promptly.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Studio Marketing Help

p.s. Both paypal and 2checkout work in almost any country.
All you need is a bank account to connect it to.

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

After finishing school, the average person reads
1 book per year.

Notice I said READS not BUYS because everyone
I know loves to buy books, but if you sat down and
asked them to be honest, you’d find most of them
never got past page 15.

A shelf full of books, head full of nothing but “plans
to read.” Why? Are we stupid? Lazy? Illiterate?

No, we’re just busy. And worse yet, many books
are just plain dull. And some are lousy. And it takes
5-25 hours to read just about any book, and that’s
a lot of time.

That’s why I enrolled in MP3 University.

All you need is an MP3 player (ipod or any other)
and an internet connection and you’re accepted.
And the wealth of knowledge you can absorb will
absolutely blow your mind.

I’ve always been a reader. In the old days, that meant
I’d read 10, 12 or maybe 15 books a year. I mean really
read them, study them, take notes.

But for the past 3 years, I’ve read no less than 50 books
each year. Sometimes as high as 90. This single habit
alone has literally doubled my intellectual property,
the value of my brainpower.

And I have the bank statements to prove it.

How can a father and a husband and a guy who
owns multiple businesses manage to read that much?
It’s simple. I listen to my books instead of reading them.

Every time I travel, I get through a minimum of
3 books. If I’m waiting for a friend or a meeting,
I pop in the headphones and go back to school.

I read business books, health books, yoga books,
and fiction. I listen to the New York Times, I download
obscure lectures, and most recently, I get lots of
great info from free podcasts (available from iTunes
Store).

We live in the information age, but for most people,
that just means they log onto Hulu or Youtube and
watch TV on demand.

The information age to me is all about instantaneous
access to the best and the brightest minds any time
you wish.

I’m fanatical about audio learning, and I think you
will be too. If you don’t already know, there’s a site
called Audible that has a great selection of titles.

They have a special now where your first 2 books
are free: CHECK IT OUT

I use their yearly subscription so I have ultra cheap
access to a minimum of 25 titles per year (though I
always go way over my limit).

I’d encourage you to do the same. The next place is
the iTunes Store where you’ll find both free and paid
content. There are hundreds of amazing, free Podcasts
on just about any topic.

Yoga? Yes, tons. Health? Yes, lots. Business? Absolutely.
So let’s all enroll in MP3 university. Flick off the TV,
pop in the headphones, and expand your intellectual
property.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Business Marketing Strategies

p.s. That audible link is here

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

Today I’d like to talk about the truth about
outsourcing, staffing, and getting help with your
business…

… whether you are hiring a maid, a web designer,
or a receptionist.

MYTH: successful people hire others to do all the
work they hate.
FACT: successful people have simply learned to love
and value tasks they originally hated.

MYTH: if you have enough money, it’s easy to make
money… you need money to make money.
FACT: 4 out of 5 businesses fail in the first year. Lack
of money is not the cause. Lack of planning is.

MYTH: you can outsource your life so all you have to
do is check your email and watch the money roll in.
FACT: staffing of any kind, is an extremely challenging
and involves skills that you have to learn.

Here’s my experience with employees:

I first started hiring staff when I was 19 years old.
I hired office help and freelance designers to do
custom projects when I was in the non-profit and
later the corporate world.

I hired people from the local newspaper. I used
craiglist.org and I even used elance.com before anyone
even knew what it was about.

And after hiring over 86 full time employees and 30
part time employees, here’s what I’ve learned:

Hiring is difficult NOT because there is a lack of talent
in the world, but because you have to be organized,
crystal clear in your direction, and ruthlessly picky
about who you allow into your life.

So what do you do?

Well, you proceed with caution. You start small, by
hiring for small tasks, part time, and then slowly if
people prove themselves, you give them more responsibility.

You’re in the yoga business, not the diamond business,
so you need to be very conservative with your spending.
If you get a funny feeling about a new hire, don’t hesitate
to let them know. Be honest. Tell them you feel like it’s
not a good fit. If they don’t prove to you otherwise, then
let them go as soon as possible.

A bad employee should be fired. It’s the right thing to
do for them and for you.

For your yoga business, the first thing you probably
need is a web designer. There are hundreds of thousands
of them, but you need a good one who you can trust.

Eventually, you’ll also need an assistant.

For me, I use a virtual assistant because I have too
much work for me to do alone. And at some point,
you’ll need help with other things too like graphic
design, video production, writing, and editing.

I’ve already mentioned craigslist.com and elance.com,
both great places to find staff. But if you’re new to
this and you want security and reliability, there is
a new service that my colleagues use that is highly
recommended: AGENTS OF VALUE

They provide you with a part time or full time help
for web work or administrative tasks. This is a real
person who sits in a desk in the Philippines and
helps you grow your business.

Maybe you hire them for 1 month. Or maybe you
hire them forever. But when it’s time to get help,
this is a great way to start.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Studio Business & Marketing

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

When I lived in New York, I was a theater junkie.

I watched a minimum of 2-4 plays each week for about
3 years straight which means I’ve seen more plays than
about 99.90% of the world.

Why? I like stories. I learn a lot from them.

There’s a play that anyone involved in theater knows
well. It’s called WAITING FOR GODOT. It’s an absurd play
about two guys chit chatting, playing games, and basically
doing anything and everything possible to avoid
talking about the fact that this dude, Godot might
not ever show up.

And even if he does come, they might not even
recognize him.

I’ve seen the play a couple times. I don’t love it,
but I do love the message, the absurdity, and
the truth of that situation.

Here’s how it applies to me (and maybe you).

As a yoga teacher, I used to think I was so clever
with my “go with the flow” attitude. I used to tell
friends “things always work out,” and “I’m just
going to do what I love and success will follow.”

Well, I was right. Things DO always work out.
But they almost never work out the best way
possible unless you captain your own ship. I did
what I loved for many years, passionately, and
yet success hadn’t come. My relationships were
crap. I was broke. And I felt like my life was a
big frustration.

And that’s when I realized that there’s nothing
spiritual about letting life happen.

Yoga is about controlling the chatterbox mind,
the chaotic life, the fidgeting body. It’s not about
giving up and letting a distracted world kick
you around until you roll into a fox hole where
you can survive un-bothered.

Yoga is a practice. Success is a practice too, and it’s
knocking on your door each and every day – but you
might not know what it looks like. Talking about
it, or around it, or distracting yourself is not going
to help.

Success follows swift, decisive action.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Studio Marketing

p.s. If you don’t already keep “to-do” lists, you should
start now. I rewrite my to-do list every single morning
with numbered order of priority and clear deadlines. Choose
your path, write it down, make some choices.

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

An angry student once told me that I was uneducated
and ignorant because “The first rule of business is that
the customer is always right!”

That’s what she said.

I agreed with her about the education part. Turns out
she was a lawyer and had spent about 10x longer in
school than me.

But I wasn’t trying to prove that I was smarter than
her. I’m not. Actually, I wasn’t trying to prove anything.
I simply told her that she needed to stay in class until we
finished Savasana or she could not come back.

This was the 3rd time I’d told her this, so I had to be
firm.

“But I have so many things to do, and so many places
I have to be. And I paid for class, and you don’t know
anything about business because I can do whatever I
want!”

That’s what she said.

Now I’m not a confrontational guy. I like to leave people
alone, let them find things out on their own. I don’t
freak out if a cell phone goes off in class. I don’t yell
or preach.

But if people don’t figure things out, I tell them. And
if they don’t follow the rules, I kick them out.

Why? Because in my world, the student (a.k.a. the
customer) is only right if they’re playing by my rules.
The job of yoga teacher is NOT the same as a waiter
or bartender. The teacher’s job is to create a space for
practice, to lift people up, and help them find whatever
it is they came to class looking for.

And a sweaty woman jumping over a silent roomful of
people who are mindfully resting is not acceptable.

So if someone wants to send text messages, snack on
a banana, or invent their own series in the middle of
class (all have really happened), then I quickly tell
them to stop.

How? I walk over, squat down, and say “You can’t
do that in my class.” And then I walk away. If they
do it again, I don’t whisper, I make an announcement.

“You can’t do that in my class.” I just let everyone
know.

And in the rare case that someone still wants to play
Tetris on their mobile phone during the floor series,
then after class, I tell him he’ll have to stop or else
not come back.

It’s the 3 strikes you’re out kind of thing.

I’m not talking about being nasty here. Just the opposite.
I am talking about having very clear boundaries so that your
class is your class, not a circus where you’re the lion
jumping through hoops.

It’s better for your, better for your students, and ultimately
better for the occasional trouble maker as well.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Studio Business Coaching

p.s. After I offered to refund that woman her membership
fees and asked her politely not to come back if she couldn’t
say for 4 minutes in Savasana at the end of class; she then
admitted that she left class early so she could be first for
the showers and hated waiting on line.

She apologized and remained a member for a long time.

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

Most yoga teachers have never worked at the front
desk of a yoga studio…

… so they don’t know the most common question
asked by walk-ins and callers.

Wanna know what it is? “What kind of yoga do
you teach?”

This is THE question because students want to know
what they’re getting into. And rightly so. 60 or 90
minutes is a big time commitment, and if someone is
going to spend money and give you a huge chunk of
their day, it’s only reasonable that they know what’s
going to happen.

This is why having a set schedule is ALWAYS smart.
This is why having set class styles is ALWAYS smart.

So if you teach a class called “Flow 1″ on Mondays at
6 p.m. and you decide the day of to switch it to a
Yin class. Guess what? Even if it’s an awesome class,
students are going to be leery before they come
again.

It’s your class. You get to call the shots and make up
the rules, but there are limits that you must respect.
A 90 minute class shouldn’t be a 120 minutes. And
it shouldn’t be 70 minutes either.

And a class called “Power 2″ on the schedule should
not be a pranayama session.

Switching your class styles constantly and surprising
students is a sure-fire way to have blah classes that
get smaller each week.

Never underestimate how much students value consistency.
I have personally surveyed and interviewed over 200
students on this very topic, and it’s one of the top 3
concerns.

Consistency.

Students want their 7 p.m. Bikram class to start on time
and kick their butt every time. They want their 6 a.m.
Mysore class to be dead silent and expect to get 3-4
adjustments during their practice.

This might sound dull or “cookie cutter,” but ultimately,
the class is about the student experience, not yours.

And there’s enough chaos in the world already, so
students want structure and reliability from their yoga,
their teacher, their studio.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Marketing Consultant

p.s. When I first opened my studio, I spent days looking
at hundreds of studios’ schedules, studying the class
descriptions and timetables.

A great class schedule is extremely simple, usually just
12-35 classes per week, but there is NOTHING random
about it all. Every day of the week is different, every
time slot is different, and it’s crucial to your success.

Is there any rhyme or reason to YOUR schedule?

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

When you look at your own income, it’s important
to be honest with yourself about where you are now
and where you’d like to be.

But what does it mean to be poor?
And what does it mean to be rich?

When I was a kid, my buddies and I used to talk about
someday earning $100K. Somehow, that seemed like
the threshold to “riches” in the 1980′s.

Depending on where you live and how big your family
is, $100K today might still be a very comfortable living.
But for many families in many cities, it might be just
enough to get by.

So what IS enough?
And how much money do you need?

I struggled for many years because I didn’t know the
answer to that question, so I had no specific goal in mind.
As a result, I always fell short, spending everything I
earned, and just barely getting by…

… but everything changed when I learned a simple lesson
from one of my early business mentors.

He taught me this about money:

POOR PEOPLE
Poor people make just enough money each month to
pay all their bills and expenses with nothing (or less
than nothing) left over.

This means that you can live in a mansion in Beverly
Hills and still be poor if at the end of each month your
net worth is $0.

WEALTHY PEOPLE
Wealthy people pay all their bills and expenses each
month, and have at least 20% of their earnings left
over to invest, save, or to use for charitable giving.

This means that even working class people can live
a wealthy life. Abundance is NOT limited by how much
you earn. It’s only limited by how much extra you’ve
got at the end of the month.

RICH PEOPLE
Rich people pay all their bills and expenses each month,
and still have 50% (or more) of their income left over.

There are certainly rich oil tycoons, but there are also
rich construction workers and factory laborers who
have simply arranged their lives in such a way that
they ALWAYS have much more than enough to meet
their needs.

So you see, it’s NOT so important how much you make.
What’s crucial is that each week, each month,
and each year, you have more than enough.

It’s that simple. Abundance always manifests with
spiritually evolved people. The opposite, “a state of lack”
or “need,” is the telltale sign of someone just starting
out on their path.

So… do you have to work your butt off? No!

Maybe you’d prefer to work as little as possible or
maybe you love working fulltime and hope to continue
forever. Both scenarios are perfect for different people.

The key question is: Can you live in abundance that way?
Can you become wealthy and/or rich?

I’m not talking about stretch limos or exclusive VIP parties
here… but I AM talking about generating more than enough.
Abundance is the natural state of the planet, and once you
click into the rhythm of abundance, money become so MUCH
easier to manage and attract into your life that you’ll look
back at and kick yourself for not adopting this attitude earlier.

It’s not about making a million dollars.*
It’s not about buying a big house on the water.*
It’s not about being a superstar yoga teacher.*

(*though all of these are fine and wonderful for certain
individuals)

Instead, the NEW RICH is all about CREATING more than
you consume.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Marketing & Business

p.s. Almost all of us have deep “wealth wounds” which
cause us to feel guilt, hatred, or repulsion toward
earning money. But when we look at money as energy,
and when we’re simply striving to have an abundance
of that energy, it becomes easier to break down those
negative belief systems (a.k.a. B.S.).

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

In the information age, people like to pretend that
websites are super easy to setup…

… well, I’ll be the first to tell you that websites
are a LOT of work, especially if you’re trying to figure
it out all on your own.

But, with the right advice, it’s just a matter of following
the steps.

And if you go step-by-step, you can get a really nice
site that works great up and running in 3-4 days for
hardly any money at all.

But first things first: You need a URL (web address) and
a host (the server where your website lives).

I manage over 7 websites myself, and believe me, I wasted
so much time trying to figure out simple things that I could
have learned in 30 seconds had I asked the right person.

Hopefully, I can be that person for you.

(1) You need to pick a URL (web address)

Don’t over think this. The obvious stuff is best. If you
teach in just one city, try to get www.CityNameYoga.com

Do NOT buy .net or .tv or any of those names. You only
want .com names. If your city name is taken, try adding
in your yoga style, like: www.AshtangaYogaCityName.com

If that is taken, just use your name, like: www.YogaWithName.com
Simple is better. Complicated Sankrit transliterations might
sound or look cool, but no one cares. They just want
something obvious, something easy to remember.

I made the mistake of buying web addresses from many different
sources – big mistake! Godaddy is THE best domain seller
online, and they’re dirt cheap too.

Do NOT order your URL form anywhere except Godaddy or
you will regret it later. You can order here

TIP 1: use promo code “OYH3″ upon checkout and your URL will
only cost $7.45 (if that doesn’t work, email me and
I’ll send you another promo code)

TIP 2: do NOT order any of the add-on’s Godaddy will offer
you… no hosting, no special upgrades, nothing. Just register
your URL for 2 years, and pay for 2 years. Forget the rest.

(2) Now you need a web host

Your web host is where your website lives. Basically
you need to rent hard drive space for your website files
to live on. There are a zillion web hosts, but most are
garbage.

I HIGHLY recommend Host Gator. You can sign up here

For about $8/month, you can get a good, solid hosting
account that should take care of all your needs (at
least until you become super famous and your website
is jam-packed with thousands of visitors everyday;)

Now, when I give most people these recommendations,
they say, “Yeah, yeah… that’s what I need!” and then
they spend 6 months trying to figure out the most catchy
website name.

Don’t bother. Take action now. Buy a URL, get a hosting
account; and from there, you can move forward quickly
to get yourself online with your yoga business.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Business Marketing & Coaching

p.s. With my 1-on-1 coaching clients, I usually just
build the website for them. I have 2 full time
webmasters so that makes it easy…

admin Yoga Business Insights

Dear Yoga Teacher,

I know an excellent teacher who has been practicing
longer than I’ve been alive and teaching for over 15
years in over 12 different countries.

Here’s where it gets depressing…

My friend has students who LOVE his classes, courses,
and workshops; but the poor guy still struggles to fill
his calendar with teaching events.

Why?

He never kept track of his students, so students who
he hasn’t seen recently, have no idea what’s going
on. How would they?

These students would LOVE to keep studying with
him, to come to classes or even retreats, but they
simply don’t know what’s happening.

In the old days, mailing lists were a nightmare, so
I understand why some people still resist.

These days, it’s so easy, that any teacher who does
NOT have a mailing list is just plain crazy. Yoga people
love the internet. They all have email, and your biggest
fans will love to hear the latest news, teachings, and
special event announcements you have to offer.

There are many different ways to keep track of
your students, but there is only ONE way that you
should consider.

It’s a $20/month service that is 10x better than
anything else on the market, and every serious
yoga teacher should have an account.

Sign up here

So what is it? Basically, it’s a really simple program
that keeps all your contacts organized and allows you
to send messages on auto-pilot, or whenever you want.

So if you want to send an email on Monday at 12:00 to
remind students about a special class that day at
6:00 p.m., it’s no problem.

If you want to send out a monthly e-newsletter with
an article and some posture tips, that’s easy too.

You can have up to 10,000 students on hundreds of
different lists. I HATE learning new programs, but
trust me, this one is dead simple.

NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS…

Q: I only have a couple dozen students, can’t I just
use an Excel spreadsheet?

A: No, it’s incredibly hard to get through email filters
these days, and the service that I recommend is THE
best for deliverability… that means you send the email
and people get it. For emailing groups of people, this
is extremely important.

Q: I have an address book in my gmail, hotmail, or
yahoo account… is that good enough?

A: No, if you email to more than 3 people at a time,
chances are good your message will get sent to junk
mail. Also, you want to be able to personalize your
messages. “Dear {!firstname_fix}” is so much friendlier
than “Dear Friends” and with the service I recommend,
that’s very easy to do.

Q: On my website, I already have an email opt-in box
that collects emails… is that good enough?

A: I can’t stress enough the importance of having THE BEST
email list management program otherwise you’ll lose students
again and again. So if you have a different service, replace
it with the one I recommend.

Q: How big will my list get? Is this really worth the effort?
A: With very little effort, you’ll have at least 1,000 students
on your list after 1 year. My lists are 10-20 times that size.

Q: Don’t people hate email?

A: People hate spam, but people love high-quality email
with actionable tips and advice they can use. They also
love to hear about your travels and events. It’s always
important to respect email (and not abuse it), but when
done right, your students will look forward to receiving
your messages.

Q: What if I don’t have a website yet?

A: Your email list is easier to setup than your website, so
do this first and you can start adding students today!

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Business Trainer

p.s. Don’t forget, to start building your list today:

admin Uncategorized

Dear Yoga Teacher,

Let’s talk about tools of the trade.

In the same way that every serious yoga student needs
a yoga mat, every serious yoga teacher needs some
essential tools to get kick their business up to a
sustainable level.

Sustainable means that even if you go on holiday for
a couple weeks, when you come back, you don’t have
to start from scratch.

Sustainable means that you work less and earn more
as the years go on, not vs. versa.

Sustainable means that your efforts are long-term focused
and community-based as opposed to paycheck-to-paycheck,
and single-class-based.

Here’s a shortlist of 4 tools you MUST have:

1. A website
2. A contact list of students
3. A contact list of partner studios
4. A very clear focus to your teaching

These four tools all seem straightforward enough, but
most teachers have none of the above. Some teachers
take the leap and get a website up, and a very savvy
few actually keep and maintain an active contact list with
students and studios.

And hardly anyone has a clear focus to their teaching.

And what about the ones that do? Well, those are the
guys and gals you see in Yoga Journal. They are the
ones that lead workshops at the big yoga conferences,
and they’re the teachers that have no trouble filling
a classroom of any size.

It’s NOT because they’re the best in the world. More
often, they are good teachers (just like you) who take
their yoga business seriously…

… because great teaching is all for naught if no one
shows up to class. And it’s no fun if it takes you 365 days
to fill a 1-day workshop.

Live outside the box,

Lucas
Yoga Business & Marketing Coaching

p.s. Your website is not a place to show off your
amazing poses. Instead, it’s an extension of your yoga
studio classes. It’s a place to teach, post your schedule,
send out a newsletter, update events, post videos, blog,
and more. It’s really that simple.

admin Yoga Business Insights