As a yoga business owner have you ever worried about having enough income month to month, not knowing exactly what money is coming into your business, relying on drop-in classes and studio cover classes?
In 2023 we want you to be able to relax and really enjoy running your business, the best way to do that is to create a reliable consistent recurring income in your business – recurring revenue.
Is passive income a myth?
The most consistent income you can create as an online yoga teacher is by having a monthly subscription or membership, or evergreen courses that students are being enrolled on with an automated process that requires little to none of your time.
These are the holy grail of entrepreneurship, passive income being the dream for most online business owners but the reality is that it’s never truely passive. There’s a lot of work that goes in to creating an offering, setting up a sales funnel then continuing to optimise and feed new leads into the funnel. The evergreen funnel is something we teach inside The Profitable Yoga Teacher but it’s not the focus for this blog post.
Most of these techniques and strategies and likely things you have heard before but if you’re not making money in your business, you’re probably not doing them, or not doing them consistently.
The biggest mistake I see yoga teachers making when it comes to making money or trying to make money is that they don’t show up to sell often enough.
That leads us nicely into our first idea.
#1: Sell more
Sounds simple doesn’t it but the number one reason you’re not making money in your business right now is likely because you are not showing up and selling enough.
Things that hold yoga teachers back from selling:
- Being uncomfortable getting online and selling your offering (it feels safer to stay invisible).
- Money mindset – An underlying belief that selling is sleasy, or that money is evil.
- Fear that you selling will put people off and they’ll stop following you (spoiler: it doesn’t matter how many people are following you if nobody is buying).
The truth about selling your online yoga course or membership
People need what you have to offer, you have created a solution that is going to help them reach their desired goal or result. Your offer of service to them and if your message is connecting with them, you’re not going to scare them off by putting your offer forward – whether they buy or not.
By being consistent with your messaging and selling your offer you will lose some followers, that’s okay – they are not your people. Think about it as refining your audience so only the people who are really connecting with you are there, they are the ones who are most likely to invest with you.
Work on your money mindset and beliefs around selling is really important as a yogipreneur so that you can show up confidently and sell your offer.
How we do it
We understand our ideal students – what they are struggling with, what results they desire and how to get them and have created offers that are solutions as well as a vast array of free tools and resources. We know our offers will change their businesses so are confident showing up and selling them!
#2: Include more ways to work with you
Having different ways to work with you, a product suite of offers will give you different things to sell at varying price points, this does not mean you have to create many different things for different types of students. Stick to your niche.
How it works
One you know your niche, all your offers should provide a transformation, a specific result that your ideal student wants. What are all the ways you can get your student to the result?
For example:
- Short online course
- Signature program, perhaps a longer container
- Three month 1:1 coaching program
- One day coaching intensive
How we do it
Here at Digital Yoga Academy we have a range of offers, including:
- Free resources
- Yogipreneur Launchpad for yoga teachers getting started online.
- The Profitable Yoga Teacher for teachers ready to create an online course.
- The Visionary Mastermind
- 1:1 Coaching with Kelly
All of these courses are for one single niche – yoga teachers who are creating successful, profitable businesses online.
#3: Create a tripwire for your freebies
How it works
A tripwire is a low cost offering (under $20) that you include on the thank you page for your freebie, so it is offered once your ideal student has opted in to receive your freebie.
This could be a taster of what you signature program offers, or something related to what night be holding them back from taking the leap into working with you in your online course or signature program. It is a micro investment to give them a taste of the results of working with you so they are more likely to purchase your higher ticket offers in the future.
Think about:
- What do they need to overcome first before working with you, physically or mentally?
- What’s the first step before they would consider working with you?
- What wins can you give them? They need to experience results from your tripwire.
Your tripwire isn’t going to solve all of their p[orblems and get them 100% to their desired result – that’s likely going to take more work and a longer period of working together (ie. in your signature program) but it must give them something tangible and help them to unlock a pathway of working together in the future and continuing on the journey that they’ve started with you!
If running ads is part of your strategy for your freebie, a tripwire can help offset the costs by generating some income off the back of the freebie.
How we do it
We have a mindset mastery bundle that recently replaced our visibility bundle. We know from working with hundreds of teachers inside our program and thousands more in our community that mindset is one of the first barriers to unlocking your potential as a business owner. Your desire is to trust yourself and cultivate the self-belief that you can succeed, this tripwire offer has resources that will give results at a very low investment.
#4: Increase your prices
Raising prices can feel scary but it comes down to money mindset again and the value of what you are offering.
How it works
Rather than just picking a number out of thin air and upping prices on your existing offers, think about what extra value can you add to what you have to offer.
For example:
- If you currently offer a three-month 1:1 package, what would a longer offer such as 6 months together look like?
- If you have an eight-week online course, what extra value and support would you add to make it a twelve-week course?
Chances are when you look at your students’ results and journey, you’ll notice that it actually takes more time for them to achieve the desired result, beyond your original time together.
How we do it
In the beginning of Digital Yoga Academy, our group program was a three-month container. The students were only really getting started when the program was finishing, which is why it has evolved and expanded into a six-month program in The Profitable Yoga Teacher AND students get lifetime access to support from Kelly and our team.
Our goal is to get our students to the finish line, to get the results they desire – create and launch their online course. On average that can take teachers a year, so ongoing support is essential to get them to their goal.
Results and transformations take time, don’t shy away from offering a longer process thinking it will be easier to sell a lower priced, shorter offer. Your ideal students want results, if you can demonstrate the value and offer a container with the support to get them there the price will not be the deciding factor. Your price should match the value you offer.
#5: Affiliate marketing
It’s really easy to become an affiliate for someone else’s offer or product if there’s something you love that could also be of benefit to your ideal students, for example, Canva, Teachable, or Mailerlite.
How it works
- You sign up as an affiliate and get given a link or code to share with your community.
- Every time someone purchases from your referral, you will get a small commission.
It’s a really simple way to create a small passive income that you need to do very little for, especially if you would be recommending the program or tool anyway.
How we do it
We are an affiliate for the tools we use in our own business and recommend to our students including:
- Teachable (for hosting online courses)
- Convertkit (for email marketing)
- Leadpages (for landing pages)
- Thrivecart (for payments)
- Interact (for quizzes)