Tips for Becoming a Successful Yoga Entrepreneur
Perhaps you’re new to the yoga industry or are deep into it and considering your next move. Maybe you’ve always considered yourself an entrepreneur with a yoga studio, or a yogi that happens to have a yoga business. No matter where you fall in the wide world of yoga business ownership, you are a yoga entrepreneur.
What is a Yoga Entrepreneur?
At the Yogapreneur Collective, we get that being a yoga business owner is a fragile balance between making sure your business is profitable and making a difference in the lives of those you teach. Sometimes, it feels like you have to decide between being a yogi and being a businessperson. However, as a yoga entrepreneur, this is not the case.
The definition of the word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word “Yuj,” which means to join, to yoke, or to unite.
An entrepreneur is someone who takes great risks to set up a business in the hopes of becoming profitable. Being an entrepreneur is often thought of as a high-risk, high-reward career move. It has its challenges, that’s why so few people venture down this path. But surely, the path less traveled has a lot of undiscovered treasure along the way.
So, if we take those two ideas – yoga and entrepreneurship – and integrate them, we get you: a yogapreneur. As a yogapreneur, you bring these two complex ideas together seamlessly, integrating yogic ways into their everyday business practice to create something truly powerful for yourself and your community. When done correctly, the results are incredibly rewarding for both your bottom line and your soul.
There’s a famous quote about entrepreneurs that says, “Being an entrepreneur is like choosing to get punched in the face every day but getting up to do it again because you believe in it.” Whether or not this is true, there’s no doubt that yoga entrepreneurs take hits that traditional employees do not, yet they keep coming back for another try at making their business work.
Yoga and Business Aren’t Separate From Each Other
When we talk about yoga entrepreneurs, business and yoga come together as one. Rather than being two separate aspects of your company, they need to work together. At times, the work of a yoga entrepreneur will be challenging, but by implementing yoga (union) into the business in a positive way, you can create something that is truly powerful – inspiring many others along the way.
In order for your business to succeed, you need the yogi and the entrepreneur in you to work together. They need to co-exist in a way that allows them both to shine, playing to each other’s strengths in a harmonious way. This can only be done if you understand the intricacies of both roles that you need to play. Let us warn you, it won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.
Entrepreneur
Dharma is a word that comes from Sanskrit, meaning “law or decree.” In Buddhism, it dictates what duties you need to fulfill in this lifetime. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit then it is something that you need to bite the bullet and go for! Never miss out on the opportunity to follow your path.
Combine your Dharma with your passion, and you can create the life of your dreams – one that you dream of and strive for emphatically.
However, being an entrepreneur is one thing. Being an entrepreneur in the yoga industry adds a level of specificity, and it is so much more than simply teaching yoga. As an entrepreneur in the yoga space, you want to be sure that you’re not simply creating a job for yourself, but creating a business that works for you.
Yogi
Bringing the yogi in you into the business means you’re running a business with purpose, and you’re using ethical practices to do it. You’ll also make all business decisions in a heart-centered, yogic way: this will ensure union within your business. Yogapreneurship is a soul business – it means knowing that you’re consistently approaching your business in the way that most aligns with your practice and your beliefs.
Yogis consider the environment, their impact on it, and how their business can implement practices that not only minimize damage but help the environment and those around them. Being sensitive to your community is integral to your messaging, marketing, and impact.
Yogis take time to meditate and reflect. This gives you the opportunity to see and fill your community’s needs around yoga and create a holistic business that benefits those who make use of your services. When you see your ideal clients and their needs, it allows you to run your business sustainably, making waves well into the future.
Yoga Entrepreneur Tips
Being a yoga entrepreneur is about much more than profit. It’s about having a satisfying and rich lifestyle and career that feeds your body, mind, and spirit.
The best way to build a thriving yoga business is to focus on reaching your target demographic, showing them what you have to offer, and demonstrating how yoga can help them live a better inner and outer lifestyle. Everything from your website to your business plan should be infused with these ideas, so you never lose sight of your business’s purpose.
Below are the top 7 yoga entrepreneur tips you should follow to kickstart your yoga studio.
1. Create a Website
A comprehensive, intuitive website is crucial to running a successful business in the 21st century. A website tells potential customers what you offer and how to find you. It provides current customers with information about class schedules and special offers, and it provides rich data to help adjust your business strategy as you grow.
As you build your website, make sure it has:
- Clear and distinctive branding
- An easy-to-remember web address
- Intuitive navigation and clear contact info
- Calls to action and customer testimonials
- Comprehensive analytics on the back end
2. Find Your Niche
Yoga is multi-faceted, with an array of nuanced niches to explore. Choosing several related yogic niches to teach makes it easier to identify a target audience and streamlines the purpose of your business. For instance, if you want to appeal to underserved demographics in the yoga community, you might decide to teach beginner courses, restorative yoga for pregnant and aging individuals, and children’s yoga.
3. Invest in Marketing
Marketing lets your target audience know you exist, how to find you, and what you can do for them. Social media and graphic design platforms make it easy to market on a budget, but you should still set a budget for professional marketing assistance. A marketing consultant, for instance, can help you develop a strong marketing strategy, establish brand design guidelines, and help you build a marketing team for long-term success.
4. Don’t Immediately Leave Your Day Job
Balancing a day job while building a business is undoubtedly a challenge. However, a full-time job guarantees stability and an income while you get your yoga studio up and running. Your work will come from a place of passion and anticipation, which will be reflected in your branding and messaging. There will also be less pressure to be successful right away. Instead, you can begin by hosting and teaching just a few classes a week and allow word-of-mouth and targeted marketing to help your studio grow over time.
5. Create a Financial Plan
Building a business doesn’t have to be expensive. It will cost something, but a well-crafted budget and clever financial planning help keep expenses low by showing exactly where your money is going. Robust financial plans prevent overspending and keep your financial efforts focused on specific goals, so you get the most out of every cent.
To create a solid financial plan, calculate your initial setup costs—these should be fairly straightforward. From there, you can research similar businesses in your area to make predictions about profit, loss, and cash flow to calculate your break-even point. If working out the numbers is stressful for you, Josh Biro, a yoga business coach, can help get you set up.
6. Build a Like-Minded Team
If you’re trying to pull a boulder up a hill, it’s impossible if everyone pulls in a different direction. When everyone unifies and begins pulling upward together, the boulder becomes lighter and the work easy.
The same is true in business. Success depends on every member of your team moving down the same path. That means hiring individuals who understand and agree with your business’s goals. They don’t have to agree with all of your decisions—in fact, they shouldn’t—but if they disagree with you, their focus should be on the health of the business and its employees and customers, not solely on the bottom line.
7. Work with a Business Coach
Owning and operating a yoga business is a challenging undertaking. Experienced business coaches like those in the Yogapreneur Collective can help you make sound business decisions, create a business model to automate specific tasks and advise you on things like team development, ethical sales, and community-oriented marketing.
Our dedicated business coaches take the guesswork out of building and running your business, enabling you to continuously move forward, grow, and thrive.
Two Brains Coming Together: Yogi + Entrepreneur
Your yogi brain and your entrepreneurial brain need to come together, working together within the business. When making decisions, they need to check in with one another, making sure your decisions are both yogic as well as good for the business as a whole.
If you’re making a decision and weighing your solution between both your yogi brain and entrepreneur brain, then it’s likely in alignment with your yoga business. Not only will it make your business a more profitable one, but it will be mutually beneficial for your lifestyle, your business, and your community.
So Why Should You Aspire to be a Yoga Entrepreneur?
Yogapreneurs are an incredible bunch. However, let’s be clear: being a yoga entrepreneur is different from being a yoga business owner in a couple of ways.
A yoga business owner is someone who has purchased or created a yoga business but might not be running their business in a yogic way. This means that they’re simply profit-driven. Profit is extremely important, but when your sole purpose is to return a profit, decision-making doesn’t include bringing your yoga practices to the table.
Yoga entrepreneurs are ‘why’ driven. They have a purpose for what they are doing and work to ensure that they are creating a business that jives with their personal needs. This means creating a business that doesn’t feel like a job.
Being a yoga entrepreneur is difficult, but it’s incredibly satisfying. It’s often going to be a challenge that requires you to check in with both your yoga and entrepreneur brain when making decisions. But this also means that you get to work from within your business, creating a product that you truly believe in. And isn’t that what everyone wants to achieve in their life?
Being purpose-driven, knowing what your business stands for, and sticking to your guns are what yoga entrepreneurs are about. They don’t compromise on the things they believe in.
So, yogapreneur, are you ready to tackle the world of business in your own way, leveraging your Dharma to create a stellar impact and increase your profits?
In the Yogapreneur Collective, we help yoga businesses make more money and a larger impact through integral team development, sound systems, ethical sales, and community-oriented marketing.
If this sounds like what you need, we encourage you to join the Yogapreneur Collective. Yoga business ownership isn’t easy, but with a team of experienced coaches on your side, making sound business decisions has never been easier. You can breathe as easily as your students when you work with our team of Yogapreneur Method certified Business Coaches, learn from our community, and join us at our incredible Yoga Business Summits.
Join hundreds of yogapreneurs just like you in the Yogapreneur Collective right now.
Schedule a Free Strategy Session with Josh Biro
Whether you’ve just opened your first yoga studio or are ready to expand your business, the Yogapreneur Collective can help you increase profitability while having a greater impact on your local community. Additionally, you’ll have access to our team of certified Yogaprenuer Method Business coaches and have the opportunity to join us at our comprehensive Yoga Business Summits.
Book a free strategy session with one of our experts to learn more. We look forward to supporting you in making your business a success.
