If you have a deep passion for flows, poses, and breathwork, you may have already considered starting your own yoga business. Starting a business is a great way to share your passion for yoga and may help you make connections in the wider health and wellness industry.
However, getting a yoga business off the ground can be harder than nailing your first headstand. You must approach your passion with an eye for profitability and will be forced to make tough decisions as a business leader.
You’ll also need to find ways to raise funds to book venues, market your new company, and expand your client base. If successful, this can completely transform your way of life and help you form a deeper connection with your passion for downward dogs or dancer’s poses.
If you want your yoga business to get off the ground, you’ll need to build a brand that entices people to practice with you. Fitness influencers are a dime a dozen in the digital age, so you need to separate yourself from the herd. You can maximize your impact without overloading yourself with marketing responsibilities by leveraging micro-content. This is particularly useful if you plan to sell an item like mats, blocks, or courses to other yogis. Micro content can boost your marketing if you leverage content like:
These forms of micro-content can bolster engagement on your page and raise your profile as a new yogi or yoga vendor. You can further enhance your marketing efforts by following in the footsteps of successful influencers:
Becoming an influencer can increase your cash flow and help you pay for things like rent, spare mats, and accredited courses. This will set you up for future success and help you build a business around your passion for yoga. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when marketing your yoga brand, either. Rather than getting bogged down in website design or PR outreach, consider sticking to tried-and-tested social media marketing techniques like:
This approach will help you build a following and draw clients to your business. Just be sure to properly tag your location, as this will improve your visibility in the local area.
If you want your business to grow, you can’t continue to work from kitchen countertops or living room couches. Much like finding the right mat for your practice, finding the right office space ensures that you’re able to achieve peak productivity and hit your goals that much sooner. There are serious benefits of a personalized workspace, such as:
Creating a personalized workspace can improve the professionalization of your business, too. You won’t have to worry about feeding the dog or looking after kids when working from a dedicated office space, and you can fill the room with on-brand mantras, posters, and graphics. Doing so can meaningfully enhance your productivity and help you overcome your business challenges.
As an expert yogi, you’re the perfect person to lead classes and run a yoga studio. However, if you’re new to the idea of teaching, you may be worried about making mistakes in front of your students. This fear is perfectly natural, and even the most experienced yogis occasionally make errors during their practice.
If a fear of failure is holding you back, get started by teaching yoga online. Teaching online gives you a buffer between yourself and your students and means you can teach from the comfort of your own home. Teaching online is cost-effective, too, as you won’t need to rent a studio space when leading a class from your front room or home gym.
Learning to teach will also give you a deeper appreciation for yoga and may help you overcome your fear of failing. You’ll have to deal with setbacks when starting a yoga business and may need to pivot multiple times to different business models while finding a way of working that suits you. By embracing the same flexibility and agility that you use in your practice, you’ll be sure to find success as a professional yogi and will become a more resilient business owner in the process.
Getting your yoga business off the ground is easier today than ever before. You don’t have to spend a lot on marketing campaigns, and you can even teach from home. Just be sure to create a dedicated workspace when working on your yoga business, as you’ll need to focus all your attention on building your brand if you want your startup to succeed.