Many people dream of being a yoga teacher and working for themselves, being their own boss, and having the freedom to only take on clients and projects they love. 

What they don’t realize, though, is that there is a huge difference between building a yoga business and being a self-employed yoga teacher. 

Yoga business owners scale their income. Self-employed yoga teachers trade pounds for hours.

Yoga Business owners leverage the skills and talents of others. Self-employed yoga teachers rely only on their own skills.

Discouraged? Don’t be. Every yoga business owner started out as a yoga teacher – and that doesn’t mean that you’ll stop being a yoga teacher – but it does mean you can choose to run a sustainable yoga business, that can also more than cover your bills. These tips will help you build a sustainable yoga business instead of just another job.

Don’t Try to Do It All Yourself

Building a sustainable yoga business requires that you leverage the talents and time of others. While it might seem cost-effective to simply do everything yourself—especially in the start-up phase when you likely have more time than money—it’s a path to major burnout and stress. 

Instead, separate your tasks into those that you love and are especially suited for (such as teaching yoga classes) and those you dislike and aren’t good at (for me that’s bookkeeping!) Then make a solid plan to get those that you aren’t good at off your list of things to do. If you feel like you can’t afford to outsource it all right now, start with what you tend to procrastinate the most on, even if it’s just a few hours each month. 

Don’t Allow Yourself to Work All the Time

The trouble with working from home is that you live at work. And that means that there’s no clear line in the sand between your workday and your home life. 

Since there’s always work to do, it’s easy to find yourself working every available moment—often to the detriment of your family and relationships. 

You can help avoid this by:

• Setting—and maintaining—clear work hours
• Having an office or a studio with a door you can close when you’re done or at very least a space or table at home that is your ‘workplace’
• Scheduling time for family and other activities
• Taking time for yourself

Taking Holidays and Downtime Are Important

Don’t create a yoga business that requires you to be “in the office” or studio every day. At the start, you may need to be available more, but you should definitely be planning for the day when you can be “off the grid” for extended periods of time. 

• Have trusted contractors who can handle things when you’re not available
• Leverage automation tools such as autoresponders and online booking systems
• Create repeatable systems so you’re not always re-inventing the wheel

While you might not be able to hit the road with no internet access for weeks at a time, at the very least you should be able to reduce your workload to a daily email check-in. 

Sound impossible? It’s not. With some forethought and planning, you can create a team for your yoga business —and the systems they need—to successfully run your yoga business without becoming an overwhelmed, overworked yoga teacher. 

Want to know more? Register here for my free upcoming webinar Are you ready to teach yoga full time? 5 Things To consider before leaving your 9 to 5. Join me on Sunday the 20th of March at 8am UK time and 4pm SGT.

Learn more about EMPOWER 300-hour yoga teacher training here – live training places limited but taking bookings for 2022 now!

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