In The Mentor Sessions Sangha we have been having a robust conversation about online yoga class library memberships. These are very popular now, and can be a great way to diversify your teaching income and support your students. They also require a decent amount of work to set up, there are an endless number of ways to organize the process and the pricing for these offerings are all over the map.
If you have thought about creating an online class library, or a membership model for your live classes, I think today’s episode with Catherine la O’ will be inspiring for you! Catherine is a long time yoga teacher, who despite not feeling very tech savvy, decided to set up a membership and online class library for her students in the summer of 2020.
Catherine la O’ (she/her) is the founder of liminalspace.net – a virtual studio designed to empower introspection through a variety of movement classes and personal growth programs focusing on inner-Shadow exploration. Catherine is an ERYT-500 and certified Mindset Coach. Her interest in what’s-just-below-the-surface of our thoughts, feelings, and personal stories motivated her twenty years of personal practice and formal study in social psychology, yoga, and integral coaching.
In this episode you’ll hear:
- why Catherine felt this was the best way to continue teaching through the pandemic
- how much it cost her to set the platform up
- a deep dive into all the platforms and software she uses to film her classes and host the online library
- a specific breakdown of her teaching, filming, editing and uploading process
- the pricing structure of her membership
- how many members she has currently
- why her unique collaborative approach with other teacher colleagues is serving both her and her students so well
- how she recommends teachers get started if they are interested in creating something similar
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Hardware
- Rode mic
- Patch cable for mic
- This is a great explanation for the mic set up
- Note- if you are using a laptop as the computer you won’t be able to have sound while the RODE is plugged in, so you will need a bluetooth speaker. If you are using the TV then you can use the TV speakers, which is what I do.
- Beelink Mini PC
- Samsung 40″ screen TV
- Wide-angle Logitech 930e camera for small spaces
- Wireless mouse and keyboard
- Iphone tripod
- ipad for Video Editing
- Studio Lighting
Software
Contact
- Graphic and site set-up support: Fiona O’Neil: [email protected]
- Catherine’s email: [email protected]
- Catherine’s website: liminalspace.net
- Catherine on Instagram
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. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.
Hi Francesca,
I really enjoyed the latest episode with Catherine, especially the breakdown of all the details. One question: does she use a Vimeo Plus or Pro membership?
Thank you!
Cori
Hi Cori! I’m so glad you enjoyed this episode. I really appreciated Catherine sharing so many details as well. I don’t know which version of Vimeo she is using, but I’ll ask her! I use Vimeo Pro in my business.
Hi Cori,
Because I had to upload a lot of videos at the beginning to set up my library, I started out with the “Pro Unlimited”–this plan doesn’t limit your uploads per-week like “Pro” does. After my library was set up, I downgraded to “Pro” because I was only uploading 2-3 videos a week to maintain the library. Note that the “Pro Unlimited” is only mentioned in the text ABOVE the list of plans and can’t be found as an option anywhere else on the site (that I have seen): https://vimeo.com/upgrade
Side note: If you’re using a membership model like I am, be sure to go into the advanced settings of each video and under “who can watch” mark “hide from vimeo” and then unclick the “people can download this video”, so they can only be viewed from your library. If it’s a video you are sharing in a newsletter the “who can watch” needs to be marked “public”.
I hope that helps!
Cheers, Catherine
Thanks for sharing all these details Catherine!