As we discussed in our recent post, “Our #1 Yoga Teacher Complaint,” making enough money to pay the bills as a yoga teacher can be a challenge.
Many teachers resort to creating multiple streams of income in order to make it work. It’s all about finding a balance between serving people from a heartfelt place and making enough money to take care of your own needs as well.
Here are some suggestions you might want to consider to increase the value you provide your students and possibly go from teaching one-on-one to a model of teaching one-to-many, thereby being able to increase your impact while increasing your income.
1) Teach yoga online with zoom
Zoom is a cool option for people who want to start teaching and charging for online yoga. It will only cost you $15 per month for the Pro version. You can have up to 50 people on live and record the class. I love that it works like skype where everyone can see each other and interact as if they were in person. When it comes time to present you can make your screen full screen and mute all the other participants.
Have the students pay you through paypal (I like a recurring monthly model) and remind them about class through your email list (we use Aweber to collect and store email addresses and send out reminders).
2) Run niche-specific workshops
What are you good at outside of yoga? Are you a runner, a swimmer, a cyclist, or a mom? Are you 50+ in age, or in college or pregnant? What’s unique about you and what are you passionate about, in addition to yoga?
Combining your passions is a perfect way to discover a niche for whom you could teach special-interest workshops.
Teaching niche-specific workshops can be a great way to earn additional income and attract new people who may just love you enough to become regulars to your other yoga classes. Because these workshops are more specific and require more specific expertise you can charge more than you would for your normal yoga classes.
3) Record classes for Audible Yoga
Audible Yoga is one of the coolest ways to leverage what you’re already doing in order to create a passive income stream. You can set up recording equipment (Audible gives you instructions on its site on how to do this) and just record the yoga classes you are teaching live then upload that content. (Zoom is another great way to record your classes).
People can then find your classes on the Audible Yoga platform and purchase your classes. Using this website, you can promote your classes to your long-distance fans as well as to those who just can’t make it to the studio everyday for a live class.
4) Develop your own online course
This is another favorite way to make extra money online as a yoga instructor. By developing your own online course, you can reach people around the world with your yoga expertise.
Think about it: There are so many people living in small towns that don’t have access to yoga. You could be the teacher to bring yoga right into their living room.
Most people think this has to be a complex process and that you can’t set up and market a course on your own. A great place to start is on Udemy. You could also post some shorter videos on YouTube that could have a link to your Udemy course for those who want a longer class.
5) Write an ebook
Every yoga teacher should have an ebook, no matter how big their following is! It creates a sense of instant credibility and professionalism as a teacher.
There are several types of ebooks you could write. You could write on a niche yoga topic about which you’re passionate, a nutrition or health program book, or even your personal story and biography. It doesn’t have to be super-long! Think about 20 pages at first.
It’s possible to generate a nice little side income with a single ebook on amazon. I know some teachers who are making over $100 in passive income every month from one ebook. Now you may think that’s not very significant, but remember that’s passive income, meaning you do the work once and continue to get paid for it month after month. That one book brings them an extra $1200 a year.
Now when I talk about writing a biography I’m not talking about some in-depth snooze-worthy book about your life. In fact, don’t even call it a biography. This is a 20- to 30-page book that talks about you and your journey into yoga. In the book you can talk about your specific passions and why yoga is so important to you. It can also talk about what specific skills or talents you bring as a teacher.
It’s said that ebooks are the new business cards. When you have a student that comes up after your yoga class asking about you and asking how they can learn more about you, you can just refer them to your self published $2.99 ebook on amazon. Each time a student purchases your book you earn $2. Again, this may not seem like significant money, but it’s an additional stream of income. You’ll also find that random people interested in yoga around the world might find your book and become a fan.
If you have a specific workshop offer or want to promote your new Udemy course, this is a great tool to use to reach potential students.
BONUS TIP: Recommend a product you love
This is the main way Tania and I make money alongside our yoga business. It’s also the most fulfilling, because we truly love and find immense value in the products we recommend. This is also the way that we helped other yogis earn additional incomes.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we’ve created this additional monthly income stream to augment our yoga teaching and are building towards retirement, email us for more info…we’re always happy to share.
If you have any favorite side-hustle as a yoga teacher, please add them below!
I would like to hear more about your bonus tip: specifically how are you making money for the product recommendations you are making? Thank you!
Awesome, Melissa! You can go here and sign up for a 15-minute Discovery Session with Tania and I: http://bit.ly/blissfulyogini
Look forward to speaking with you!