What I wish someone had told me when I started to teach yoga. By Claudia Brown
Te acher zone
W
hen I was doing my yoga
teacher training I didn’t
plan to be a teacher.
Sounds odd? I just
fancied the challenge
and wanted to learn more about yoga. I
began flirting with the idea of running a little
class when friends and colleagues asked if
I would be teaching as they wanted to do
some yoga. I didn’t know that three years
later I would be a full time yoga teacher and
running my own yoga business.
After I qualified, I decided to hire a room
and run a class ‘for fun’. I had my rose-
tinted glasses on at that point. In the movie,
Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character
says, “Build it and they will come ...” and I
envisaged flocks of yogis pouring through
the doors for my classes. Here’s what I
know now:First lesson:
Schedule classes to suit you (the
teacher) not the public
What? That can’t be right? Running yoga
classes is a ‘service’ industry? Well, yes,
however the service provider (in this case
you, the yoga teacher!) may deliver the class
but people don’t always come even though
they promise they will. When I first startedteaching I drove myself mad trying to deliver
what people were asking for in terms of the
start times and day of the week for classes.
People mean well, they really do - they
want to come to your class. But life gets in
the way. The car breaks down, a child is sick,
the dog is sick, the husband is sick...I could
go on. Class attendance numbers will always
be a variable. August and December: almost
not worth running classes. January: best
month of the year for class attendance and
that’s a fact even though it’s a cliché.
After spending a small fortune on room
hire putting on three classes a week at
different times, I was running classes to pay
the room hire. I realised this was not the
way forward. Two classes in one night, three
classes in total in three days – my body took
about six months to get used to it. I cut two
of the classes and went back to one class a
week at a time that suited me. And I moved
the class to a cheaper venue. The start time
and number of classes needs to suit you
and your lifestyle, otherwise you get fed up
very quickly.Second lesson:
Don’t pay crazy room hire charges
Touched on in the first lesson. Room hire
can kill your profit when running a class,Advice... ...to my
younger
self
and if you are unlucky you end up paying to
run a class. When I first started I ran classes
where nobody turned up. Thankfully it only
happened twice but I still had to pay the
room hire. Unless you don’t need to make
money (great if that’s the case!) then shop
around for venues and ask for a deal – they
can always say no! Free rooms do exist. I
found them. Ask friends and colleagues if
they know of anywhere (ask verbally or use
social media), it’s amazing who and what
people know.Third lesson:
Classes = admin
I moved away from a career in local
government to become a yoga teacher.
I thought I’d be spending less time at my
computer and more time in Downward Dog.
If you are running lots of classes then be
aware of the time it takes to do the admin- mainly bookings, chasing up bookings,
processing cancellations and carrying over
payments, invoices and paying bills. Yes,
you can use a booking system but when you
are starting up this is cost prohibitive. All of
a sudden, every email is a possible income
source, so be on the ball, and remember
to check your junk mail as work emails
sometimes sneak in there.