7 surefire ways to get more private yoga students {yoga teacher blog tour}

For those of you who are here for the first time, Hello! and Welcome!  

I’m Cailen — a marketing maven & yoga entrepreneur and founder of CALM biz and the premier online course Become a Yoga Brand.  My passion is working with yogis, like yourself, who want to transform their yoga teaching "hobby" into a fun, fulfilling and sustainable career.  And, it's my hope that today's blog post will help you do just that!

Before we dive in, let me just say that I am so honored to be in the company of all the talented bloggers, entrepreneurs and yoga teachers who’ve contributed their time and know-how to this amazing event :-)

Ok, so today I want to tackle a topic that comes up again and again with my private clients and in the CALM biz community in general -- how to get more private yoga clients.

As you likely know by now, building a yoga career is no small task.  

We leave teacher training starry-eyed and ready to hit the ground running, only to realize that there's a lot of stuff (like marketing, sales, business planning, budget-setting, community building and more!) that we still need to learn or fine-tune.

If you're committed to designing your dream yoga career (and I know you are since you're hanging with me today!), then you know that growing your yoga business means expanding your clientele and community.  And, a really fulfilling and lucrative way to do that is to focus some time and energy on getting more private clients.

Before we dive into how to get more private yoga clients, let's first cover why getting more private students is a great idea for your yoga business in the first place...

(1) you can really ensure that they’re getting the intended benefits & see the progress they’re making

(2) you develop a deeper bond and understanding of their needs

(3) it allows you to expand your repertoire and teaching know-how by working with a number of different bodies one-on-one

(4) you earn much more per hour than you do teaching public classes

(5) you get honest and instant feedback about your teaching, assisting, demos, explanations, and more!

(6) private students are loyal, LOVE you and refer you to family and friends :-)

(All these reasons and more -- like how I adore spending 1x1 time with my CALM bizers -- are why I’m opening up 3 spots in my summer mentorship program.  If you want a custom-tailored plan for your business, let’s hang out this summer!  And, better yet, if you claim one of the 3 spots by 11:59pm ET tonight, you’ll receive an AMAZING early bird bonus -- LIFETIME access to my popular online course, 2 Hours to Yoga Biz, which will help you improve all of your yoga marketing & maybe even get you to like marketing a bit too!  Get your bonus HERE.) 

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So, now that you fully realize the immense benefits of building up your private clientele, I want to share 7 tried-and-true strategies for reaching and landing the perfect private clients for your teaching style. Prefer to watch instead of read?  Check out my video which outlines these same strategies here. 

Identify who your ideal student is

First and foremost, you need to have a clear picture of who you want to teach?  Do you like working with young bodies, old bodies, pregnant women or athletes?  Do you like teaching fast-paced vinyasa or juicy restorative?  Once you know who you want to teach and what you want to teach them, everything gets easier -- your marketing improves, your communication gets clearer, you can develop better offerings, and the right students start finding you!

Remind current students that you offer 1x1

So simple & effective, but so many teachers don't do it!  If you're like many of the teachers I work with, you shy away from self-promotion.  I get it -- it can be awkward.  But, the truth is, the only way to help people and truly improve their lives with the power of yoga is to let them know what you offer!  

Before or after class, or during conversations with students, remind them that you're available for one-on-one work.  It might be the very thing they're looking for, and they may not even realize it's an option unless you tell them.

Let your studio know 

Your studio likely gets lots of requests for private lessons, so be sure to let them know you're the person to contact.  That way, they can send business your way when interested people request a private session.  Another good thing to do is to let the studio manager or front desk know who your ideal student is so that they can pair you you with the right people.

Send out an email or card

A little marketing can go a long way!  Send out an email or note to your student body and announce your 1x1 offerings & packages.  Again, the only way to truly serve your students is to give them as many doorways in to working with you as possible -- so, let them know what you've got going on & that you're available to work with them privately.

Also, it's totally OK to target specific students and send them a personal note if you sense they're ready to dive into private sessions.

Trade business

Another great way to find new private clients that aren't currently part of your student body is to connect with referral partners who you can exchange business with.  Think about complementary businesses that likely serve your ideal students like massage therapists, nutritionist, chiropractors, personal trainers, body workers, etc.  Introduce yourself and tell them about the work you do.  This doesn't have to be formal or stressful -- it's much better to focus on building one or two real relationships with like-minded business people than to simply focus on quantity.  

Wondering how to find the right referral partners for your yoga business?  Watch this video. 

Create packages

As you know, students get the most benefits from regular practice -- and same goes for private work.  So, instead of always selling one-off sessions, sell packages of 3, 5 or 8 privates instead.  This does two things, it ensures your students see the most benefits and get the most bang for their buck and it enables you to have steady income coming in that you can rely on (instead of focusing all your time and energy on getting more and more one-time clients).

Build in bonuses

Think about fun add-ons, bonuses or other elements you can include that will set you apart and thrill & delight your private students. A good way to do this is to draw from your other talents and interests.  

Trained in massage?  Why not offer a private package that includes some massage work?  Love to cook?  Couple private yoga with a healthy cooking lesson or two.  Skilled meditator?  Guide them through mindfulness meditation or lead them in yoga nidra.  

All these complementary talents that you likely overlook when it comes to private lessons may be the very thing that would make a student come (and come back!) to you instead of another teacher.  Capitalize on your strengths and uniqueness, and you can't go wrong!  

Who would I be if I didn't take my own advice, right?  

Check out the super awesome early bird BONUS that I built-in to my latest offering -- a 1x1 summer mentorship -- here.

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So, there you have it -- my top tips for finding & getting more private yoga students.  I guarantee that if you put any or all to consistent use, you'll definitely see an uptick in the number of private sessions you're teaching :-)  

I sincerely hope that you found this info helpful and informative, and if so, I invite you to join my CALM biz community of heart-centered entrepreneurs.  When you sign-up here, you'll receive a FREE copy of my Yoga Biz Essentials e-book chockfull of tips, techniques, articles, resources and video teachings that'll help you craft the yoga biz of your dreams!  

But before you mosey on out, remember, the fun doesn't stop here!  

Check out Carrie's brilliant post from yesterday, and be sure to drop by SheOms tomorrow for Laura's post -- it's sure to be a goodie!  Or, follow all the action on social media with #YogaTeacherTour :-)

xoxo,

P.S. Grab your free copy of the Yoga Biz Essentials e-book here :-)

P.S. I want to help you get more private clients, make more money and build a yoga business you absolutely LOVE and are totally proud of.  So, let’s work together this summer!  Learn more about working 1x1 with me here.  I’m only taking on 3 mentees at this time, so claim your spot ASAP if this is the right opportunity for you.  Plus, register by 11:59pm ET tonight & also get LIFETIME access to my popular online course, 2 Hours to Yoga Biz {a $297 value for free}! 

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i wrote a blog post -- now what?!

Today's post is extra special.  You know why?

Because this post is part of my dear friend, Racheal Cook's, <3 Your Community Blog Tour!

You likely know Rach as the founder of The Yogipreneur, and for the entire month of April, she's organized an awesome blog tour.  This tour features the wisdom of 30 innovative, successful bloggers and entrepreneurs all with one mission: to help YOU grow your community!  

Each day of the blog you'll be introduced to someone new who will share their secrets, tips and strategies for building a loving, supportive, and lucrative community around doing what you love most!  Very cool, right?!  

You're going to love this blog tour if...

• you want a behind-the-scenes peak into how top bloggers, entrepreneurs & yoga teachers grow their communities
• you want to draw the RIGHT people into your community, but don't know how to find or reach them
• you're not sure what community-building strategies are worth your time, and which ones aren't
• you struggle to find your voice in the content you create
• you're not sure what style of content creation is right for you or your community (blogging, podcasts, videos, etc.)
• you want to know what platforms and software are the best options for your business
• you feel like you're doing a lot of work but aren't seeing the results
• you wish you had someone to just tell you what to do!

For those of you who are here for the first time, Hello! and Welcome!  

I'm Cailen -- a marketing maven & yoga entrepreneur and founder of CALM biz and the popular online training Become a Yoga Brand.

I am so honored to be in the company of all the talented bloggers, entrepreneurs and yoga teachers who've contributed their time and know-how to this unique event so that you, too, can totally <3 Your Community.

So, without further ado, onto today's topic: "I wrote a blog post...now what?!"

Ok, you've written a beautiful, heart-felt, informative blog post that you KNOW your ideal students will love.  But, there's a little problem.

You have no idea how to reach them or get them to read your blog post.

Sound familiar?

The thing is, content creation (i.e. blog writing, video making, or podcast recording) is just the first baby step of the community building process.  Next, comes the leg work.

Most people avoid the leg work because it's not as fun or glamorous as the content creation.  Content creation draws on your creativity, your uniqueness and your gifts -- and that's why it can be so much fun!

But it's the leg work that grows your community.  It's the leg work that will enable the right people to find you so that when you sell your next workshop, program or course, you have people who cannot wait to sign-up.  The leg work is what separates the yoga biz amateurs from the pros.

So, I guess the question is...are you ready to go pro?

If your answer is "yes" (and I have a creeping suspicion it is since you're hanging out with the blog tour crew), I want to share with you some of the biggest pitfalls new entrepreneurs face when it comes to community building (so you can avoid them!), as well as some of my personal favorite strategies for spreading great content far and wide in order to grow your community and draw the right people to you and your business.  

1. Don't fall prey to couch potato content.

Can you guess what couch potato content is?  It's content that sits -- on your blog, on your Youtube channel, etc. -- and, well, just continues to sit there, doing nothing.  This is one of the BIGGEST mistakes I see bloggers and budding entrepreneurs make, they don't put their content to work!

Instead of letting it just sit there gathering cyber-dust, send it out & share it.  Be proactive (not pushy).  Pass it along via email to your students, send it to fellow professionals in your industry or complementary ones, share it on your Facebook Page and Twitter feed, or simply talk about it to people and invite them to visit your site and read it.  

Do something (anything!) to get it out there in front of more eyes!  You'll be doing yourself, and your soon-to-be thriving community a big favor.

2. Leverage your content.

Every piece of great content that you create should be squeezed for as much juice as you can get from it.

What does that mean?  It means that you should use and reuse (and reuse) every piece of content that you create, 'cause let's face it, content creation, though fun and creative, can also be extremely draining and time consuming.

So, instead of developing unique content for your blog, newsletter, next Youtube vid, and webinar, allow the same teaching to inspire it all.  

I've, personally, done this numerous times, and not only does it save you a lot of leg work (yippee!), it also allows your teaching of the topic to deepen and develop.  And, by the time you're done re-churning your content, you may realize that you, too, have a much better understanding of what you were sharing in the first place.

Needless to say, leveraging your content saves you time and energy, makes the same amount of content go much, much further, and also gives people more "doorways" in to learning from you since some people enjoy reading, others watching, others listening.  

A simple way to get started with this method is my 3-prong approach -- (1) write a blog post, (2) send it out via a newsletter service (like Mailchimp, which is FREE!), and (3) post a link to it on your Facebook Page or Twitter account.  Rinse and repeat!

3. Schedule it in advance.

If one of the things that holds you back from sharing and spreading your content on a regular basis is that posting on social media takes so much darn time, I hear ya.  

Facebook and Twitter can be a major time suck as we try to schedule in time every single day (several times a day, mind you) to post relevant, interesting and witty info to our social accounts.

Instead of letting social media control you, take back the reigns and sign-up for a FREE sites like Hootsuite.com or Bufferapp.com.  Both these platforms are user-friendly and let you schedule social posts in advance so you don't have to constantly worry about sharing timely info.

So, what should you share?  Links to your past (totally awesome!) content of course!  Think published blog posts, Youtube videos, webinars that you hosted, or any other piece of great content that deserves to be shared again.

4. Ask people to share it.

One of the simplest ways to grow your community is to ask people to share your content.  Simply put, when you send out your newsletter or share a link to your latest online teaching, ask your current community to share it with 1 or 2 people that they think would benefit from the info, too.

Remember, people like sharing stuff that they enjoy and find valuable -- which is why Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. are in business, right?!  So, you needn't feel "pushy" by suggesting that they share.  Sometimes a simple reminder to pass along your great content is all that your community will need to become brand ambassadors for you.

5. Share your content on other people's sites.

This is a goodie :-)

Guest posting is one of my absolute favorite ways to invite new people to join my CALM biz community.  

Now, keep in mind, most sites that accept guest posts will want original content, but a little extra leg worth is well worth it in this case.

When you write a guest post, you expose yourself to someone else's audience that they've taken the time to curate and build.  And, if their readers like what you have to say (and you've included a clear link to sign-up for your email list in your guest author bio), you'll have a flood of new, excited community members buzzing over to join you.

Not sure who to guest post for?  The most important factor to consider is where your ideal clients are hanging out.  What blogs do they read?  What newsletters are they signed-up for?  What sites do they frequent?

Once you have a sense of where new, soon-to-be community members are spending their time, submit a pitch for a guest post.  Again, keep in mind that particular blog's audience -- it's often a good idea to read some of their current content to get a sense of their content structure, style and voice.  (Want some ideas about where to guest post?  Check out my portfolio here.)  

When your pitch gets the go-ahead, whip up a fabulous, teachable piece of content that you know will add value to your (potential) ideal clients' lives, and (this bears repeating!) always include a call-to-action in your author bio that invites interested readers to join your community!

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Well, that about wraps it up.  

I sincerely hope that you found this post helpful and informative, and if so, I invite you to join my community.  When you sign-up here, you'll receive a FREE copy of my Yoga Biz Essentials e-book :-)

But, the fun doesn't stop here!

Check out Emily's post from yesterday which covers how to build community through launching, and be sure to venture over to Carrie's blog tomorrow for more creative, fun ways to grow your community!

Or, click here to join the entire <3 Your Community Blog Tour so you don't miss a single day!

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want to grow your yoga career by leaps & bounds in just 2 weeks?  

join my Design Your Dream Career Jumpstart -- a totally free 14 day challenge to help you build the yoga business of your dreams!  sign-up below. 

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