During the COVID-19 pandemic, many yoga teacher trainings moved online and went down in price, making becoming a yoga teacher more accessible than ever.

That said, the market is now saturated with an abundance of yoga teachers and a limited audience.

Many of you have probably started or intend to start by teaching online. You might have listened to other podcasts, blog posts or even attended a webinar looking for advice on starting your business and capturing your target audience.

I’m going to be real with you for a minute. It has not been easy starting my online yoga business over the last year. Here is one takeaway from my first year of teaching online yoga.

Lesson 1: Free Yoga Does Not Guarantee Students

Typically, when you visit a yoga studio for the first time, they will give you a class for free. Many studios often do open house days with free classes to attract students.

One of the first things I tried as a yoga teacher was making all of my classes the first month free. I advertised organically on Instagram, Facebook, Eventbrite and by word of mouth. I was also working on a fitness podcast at the time and even advertised there. In the end though, I had one student the entire month, a friend of mine. A couple other people signed up but didn’t show up for their class or respond to followup invitation emails.

You are going to have to work hard to find an audience and may need to think outside of the box. One suggestion I can offer is partnering with an organization that already has an audience in order to grow yours. If reading is your thing, reach out to a bookstore or library about partnering for an event. If you like coffee, try working with a local coffee shop. Think about something that interests you or fits your yoga niche and find another business or organization who might make a good fit for a partnership.

I will go into specifics about what to include in your request or interest letter in lesson two. Lesson two airs on October 16, 2021.