185: Dealing with Schedule Drama UPDATED
As yoga teachers, we often fall in love with the practice and the craft of teaching without realizing how much time and energy we'll spend managing our schedules and building our businesses. In this episode of The Mentor Sessions, I'm revisiting an early episode of the podcast to share what I've learned over the years about creating a more sustainable teaching career.
Most yoga teachers are freelancers, piecing together a living one group class, private client, and workshop at a time. That means some instability is inevitable. Student schedules change, studios close, private clients cancel, and our own lives evolve. We can't eliminate all of that uncertainty, but we can create structures that make our schedules and businesses more stable.
In this episode, I share practical strategies for designing a teaching schedule that reflects your energy, values, financial needs, and responsibilities outside of work. We'll talk about why it's important to know your ideal weekly and daily schedule, how to decide whether to keep or drop a group class, and why you may need to give a promising class at least six months to grow.
The big takeaway: You can't control every fluctuation in freelance yoga teaching, but you can intentionally build a schedule, business, and teaching practice that become more sustainable over time.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
Why yoga teachers need to think like freelancers and small-business owners
How to identify your ideal weekly and daily teaching schedule
The difference between having a flexible schedule and intentionally designing your workweek
Why new teachers need a long-term vision for their ideal schedule
How to decide whether to keep or drop a group class using eight practical criteri
Why giving a promising group class six months to a year to grow can pay off
Setting boundaries with clients who frequently cancel or reschedule without taking their behavior personally
Why diversifying your private client roster and maintaining additional income sources can create financial stability
The “Should I Keep This Class?” Formula
Before dropping a class, consider whether you
love the students
enjoy the material
are learning as a teacher
earn good money
meet potential private clients
value the studio
find meaning in the service
feel good about the time and location
Aim for at least four yeses across these eight criteria.
🎯Workshop TODAY! All the decisions you need to make BEFORE you build your website
Building a website for your wellness business sounds simple in theory. In practice, it means deciding what you're offering, how you want to talk about it, and what you're charging, and then sharing photos of yourself with the world. It's easy to get stuck somewhere in the middle.
On Tuesday, October 27th at 2pm ET, I'm hosting a free support and strategy live session with OfferingTree on the decisions to make before you build your website. Whether you haven't started, started and paused, or have a site you don't love sharing, come join me.
And if you need help finding your first clients, I’ve got you! Check out this resource!
This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. The best thing about OfferingTree is you can get up and running in 10 minutes with no tech skills needed. As an added bonus, If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months or 15% off any annual plan!
Recent Podcast Episodes
In this episode, I share practical strategies for designing a teaching schedule that reflects your energy, values, financial needs, and responsibilities outside of work. We'll talk about why it's important to know your ideal weekly and daily schedule, how to decide whether to keep or drop a group class, and why you may need to give a promising class at least six months to grow.
The big takeaway: You can't control every fluctuation in freelance yoga teaching, but you can intentionally build a schedule, business, and teaching practice that become more sustainable over time.