A Question From Our Community::
“My main challenge is how to find my people, and (especially!) how to market myself. I feel really overwhelmed by the marketing aspect…I just don’t know where to start, and feel really uncomfortable “selling” myself and yoga.” “I just graduated from my first teacher training, and I feel like I should have my brand all figured out, but I don’t! Will that hold me back from getting started on my teaching path??”I am hearing this concern about marketing from more and more teachers, and this is what I would like to say:
When I started teaching yoga, there was very little business education or marketing support for yoga teachers available. That whole world just totally didn’t exist. In general, I think this new support system that offers business, branding, and marketing education for yoga teachers has the potential to have a really positive impact on our community. When it comes from an authentic place and is taught skillfully, these teachers and coaches can help yoga teachers get their message to the world in a more clear and wide reaching way. Business and marketing skills are rarely covered in depth in yoga teacher trainings, and it is often an area that yoga teachers don’t naturally thrive in.
That said, I think this new phenomenon of “Branding For Yoga Teachers!!” can put a lot of pressure on teachers (especially new teachers) to FIGURE OUT their brand and come up with some fancy marketing. I think all that pressure is totally unnecessary. If you are a brand new teacher there is no way you will know right away what your teaching voice will sound like, what students you will best connect with, and which populations you are best suited to serve. From my perspective, the process of developing a brand and marketing strategy that will help you connect with the students who need you most is just that, a process. And a long one at that. I recommend to new teachers that you take any teaching gig that you are offered {that interests you}, strengthen your teaching chops, deepen your anatomy knowledge, and do the inner work that is necessary to find your teaching voice. All of that will come in time, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
If you feel like you are settled into a steady teaching rhythm, and are ready to invest in some continuing education around marketing and business strategy, then you must check out my friends, Racheal Cook of The Yogipreneur and Cailen Ascher of Calm Biz. They are the best of the best in the world of marketing support for yoga teachers. Racheal is sort of the advanced level teacher, her curriculum really works for people who are developing their own training programs and certifications. She also has robust programs on developing an awesome website and a fantastic 30 Day Productivity Challenge that was so chock full of good content I can’t believe she offered it for free! Cailen’s work is really great for newer teachers, or teachers who ready to up-level their marketing strategies. She is a fellow yoga teacher with a previous background in marketing who has joined her two passions in supporting yoga teachers to develop business strategy, She has tons and tons of great free content on her site, go hang out with her, you will learn so much! I love the way she answers this question about taking on students who are outside of your “niche”. You’ll see why we are friends!
My advice? Don’t rush, go slow, and listen closely to your heart. Keep putting one foot in front of the other on your path. The world really needs the unique teachings that only you can offer.
