should i take on yoga clients that are outside of my niche?
do you wonder if you should take on yoga clients or teaching jobs that are outside of your niche or comfort zone?
for example...
#1 if you're drawn towards working with young women in their 20s, but someone in their 50s approaches you for private lessons. should you take them on?
#2 or, if you've only taught gentle vinyasa, but a teaching job has opened up for a power flow teacher. should you go for it?
#3 or, if you've never taught before and are fresh out of teacher training, and the studio where you practice requests that you sub a class. should you agree?
if you're wondering if you should branch out -- or reign yourself in -- today's video will hopefully provide you with the clarity you need to move forward. and depending on where you are in your yoga career, your course of action will be quite different!
watch today's video now, and let me know in the comments below what your take on the topic is!
how to find your true calling
this morning i themed my yoga class around the concept of finding your core message -- that thing you feel called to do, teach or share with the world.
and, i figured that you, too, might benefit from exploring this idea so that you can find your true calling.
sure, you likely feel called to teach yoga -- but let's dive deeper and go beyond that to the root of what makes you tick.
if you're ready to get real & honest with yourself, take a few minutes to check out today's vid which offers 4 questions to help you hone in on the message that you were put here to share.
gain some clarity? what's your core message? share it below!
biz: how do i find my yoga niche?
on tuesday, i talked about the benefits of having a yoga niche in a post entitled "should i have a yoga niche?". (if you haven't already, you can read that post here.) in this post, i'll talk about how to go about finding one :-)
first and foremost, your yoga niche (or area of expertise) should be a natural extension of you and your teaching. it should feel like "the perfect fit", and make you all the more excited about teaching and sharing yoga. if your niche doesn't light you up, get you excited, and come easily to you, it's likely not the niche for you...
so, how do you go about finding your ideal niche if you currently don't have one.
first, take some time to think and reflect...
- what hobbies/interests/passions to you have OUTSIDE of yoga?
- what do you do in your free time?
- what books/magazines/blogs to you read regularly?
- what do people ask your advice about?
- what life/education/work experiences have influenced you and shaped who you are?
- what comes so easily to you that you likely take it for granted?
- do any of these "outside" interests pair well with yoga? could they?
secondly, test it out!!!
sure, the first step is thinking about what you love and could pair with your teaching, but the next step is to see if you actually like pairing it with your teaching!
if you love gardening, and have an idea for hosting "yoga in the garden" at your local park -- try it out! invite people to attend, and see how it feels. did you love it? did people rave about it? or did the energy feel off? were you getting bitten by bugs or sunburned? any of these negatives don't necessarily mean it's a bad idea, or not the right fit for you, but may just indicate that your niche idea needs tweaking!
clarity comes through ACTION, not from just thinking about it!
the only way to know if you've found "your niche" is to try it out, and see if it feels like "your niche"! plain and simple!
it took me years to finally step up and "own" my niche -- business & marketing advice for yoga teachers. (don't worry, i'll help you find yours faster than that!) i kept looking for more "yogic" niches -- yoga for teen girls, therapeutic yoga, on-site yoga workshops for schools and offices -- but it wasn't until i paid attention to what i LOVED reading about which is business and marketing (don't laugh -- i LOVE reading about that stuff), and noticed what came naturally and what people (especially yoga teachers!) kept asking me questions about (i.e. blogging, marketing, and business), that i realized who i'm meant to serve!
your niche may not be what you originally planned or the picture you had in your mind, but ultimately it will be SOOOO much more fulfilling because you're going with the current, instead of against it! and when you do that, you're doing your life's work, and making the ultimate contribution to the world.
have a yoga niche? or an idea for one? share it below! i'd love to hear about it :-)