A guest article by Antonia Reinhard
Working as a yoga teacher is a dream job for many, but unfortunately it is often accompanied by financial uncertainty. Many yoga teachers cannot make a living from teaching alone, although they would actually like to, as the lessons are often not well paid. In addition, there are a number of things to consider when working for yourself and, as experience and knowledge are often lacking, many do not dare to take the step into self-employment. But that is a shame, because the demand is higher than ever and many people are looking for yoga. The target group is there and at the same time there are more and more opportunities for teaching, for example online.
That's why it's worth approaching the business strategically so that you can follow your passion and make a living from it at the same time.
As an expert in yoga as a profession, I support yoga teachers in becoming successful self-employed. Here I share eight of my top tips with you so that you can tackle the challenges of your yoga business:
1. Think about how you want to teach
There are more and more different ways you can teach: offline, online, hybrid, in the form of an online course... The good thing is that you don't have to commit to one type of teaching. Although it is currently trendy to build a digital yoga business, as the saying goes: you do you. Do what suits you best.
Many yoga teachers offer online yoga courses and digital products, but also continue to teach offline. Ask yourself: What feels good for you personally? There is no right or wrong, the important question is: What suits me best?
2. Create an offer that suits your target group
Get to know your target group: Is online yoga more suitable for your target group or do they prefer yoga classes with you in a room? What times of day does the target group prefer? Weekends? During the day? In the evening? Does your target group like individual lessons, large groups, or small groups?
Don't be afraid to create surveys, design questionnaires and send emails to find out everything you can about the needs of your target audience. Then adapt your offer accordingly.
3. Find a niche
Trying to make a yoga offering accessible to everyone is one of the most common mistakes as a yoga teacher. The more you focus on a niche, the faster you will attract exactly those customers who will benefit from you and your offering.
Examples of good niches:
- Yoga for pregnant women
- Yoga for athletes
- Yoga
- Therapeutic Yoga
- Yoga for people with disabilities
- Yoga for overweight people
4. Define your independence
As a newly qualified yoga teacher, do you have to become completely self-employed? No, you don't have to. Many yoga teachers continue to work as employees and teach yoga alongside their jobs, organize retreats, workshops and much more.
This is perfect for trying things out, gaining experience, finding a niche and creating an individual offer.
If you are interested in becoming self-employed, the question often arises: freelance or business?
You have created your offer, found a good niche and finally want to earn real money with it - the job of yoga teacher is a teaching activity and therefore falls into the category of self-employment.
Be sure to register your self-employment with the tax office as soon as possible. This is very easy; you just need to fill out a form from the tax office. If you offer other services in addition to teaching (e.g. selling yoga equipment or similar), you may need to register a business. However, you often only have to register a business when you open your own yoga studio. Also let your current employer know that you have become self-employed on a part-time basis; you need their consent to do this.
What you should definitely keep in mind: If you decide to work freelance, you should definitely have several clients. Otherwise, your self-employment will be considered bogus self-employment.
5. Keep an eye on your insurance
You always need professional liability insurance, regardless of whether you are self-employed part-time or full-time. It is also important to inform your health insurance company that you are now self-employed part-time or full-time, because this can affect your contributions. In addition, you are obliged to pay into the statutory pension insurance if your gross profit is above 450 euros per month, as this is a teaching activity.
6. Ensure good accounting
Good bookkeeping is a must. You can get help with this from a tax office. As a part-time or full-time self-employed yoga teacher, you have to pay your own non-wage costs (health insurance, pension insurance, income tax). This is important to know because the more you earn, the higher your taxes will be.
Attention: VAT liability. If you earn less than 22,000 euros a year, you fall under the small business regulation and do not have to pay VAT. You must then also state on your invoices that you are a small business owner. If your turnover is above this, you must include 19% VAT on every invoice and regularly submit VAT advance returns to the tax office.
7. Make your offer visible
One of the most important topics as a yoga teacher is marketing. Whether you offer yoga online or offline, your offers will only be visible if you promote them accordingly. There are many ways you can get your offers to people. Here are a few ideas for you:
Create a good website, preferably with SEO-optimized texts/blog posts
Use your network of friends, acquaintances, relatives, other yoga teachers, etc. to spread the word about your offer and recommend you
Make yourself visible locally and distribute flyers in shops or cafes or advertise your offer in local newspapers
Create a newsletter - this builds trust over time and is still one of the best marketing strategies in the yoga business. Your subscribers regularly receive great added value directly in their inbox and you can always draw attention to your new courses and offers as well as blog articles, podcasts, etc.
8. Use social media
Use Instagram, Facebook, etc. to do content marketing and draw attention to your offers. Instagram in particular is a wonderful way to make your yoga offers visually authentic and professional.
It makes sense to make one of the social media platforms, such as Instagram, a main marketing channel. This means that you are regularly on a platform, posting your content there and building a community.
Ideally, you then have one or two secondary channels such as Facebook and Pinterest that you use to occupy your niche.
Of course, you don't have to be regularly active on every platform. But make yourself visible online in your niche and use the advantages that social media brings.
Another important note for you:
Success doesn't happen overnight and building a yoga business is a marathon, not a sprint. Things are allowed to happen and sometimes they take time. If you are passionate about yoga and want to be successful as a yoga teacher, then get started and don't let anything stop you. The world needs you, your voice, your expertise and exactly your way of teaching yoga!
Antonia Reinhard
As an expert in yoga as a profession, Antonia supports yoga teachers to be successful self-employed. Antonia is an Anusara and Yin yoga teacher and has been teaching yoga for over eight years and organizing retreats and workshops. Her heart's desire is to empower women in their yoga business to be successful, fulfilled and relaxed. In addition to online courses and yoga mentoring, Antonia also has the podcast "Yoga as a Profession".