I'm BIG on ANY aspiring yoga teacher doing what I call "due diligence."

What do I mean by that?

I mean DON'T jump into developing your yoga career without giving it some serious thought and ALWAYS do the following 3 things:

• START WITH THE END IN MIND. GET CLARITY SO YOU CAN FOCUS!
  

  First step is having at least some kind of idea about what you'd like to do with your yoga - at least for the next 12 months or so - and maybe even longer.
  
  Here's some of the things I really do advise you to start knowing some answers to which will help you build some clarity into your thinking:
  
  a) Who do you most want to teach? (Students or prospective/existing yoga teachers? And what type of students?
      Please don't say you'll teach anyone! No time to go into this in detail here - but just believe me - when you try to  attract everyone -  you attract no-one!)
  
  b) Where are you willing to teach? Do you just want to rock up and teach at someone else's gym or studio or do you  hanker after building a following and some classes of your own?
  
  c) How many classes a week can you realistically fit into your schedule right now? Think this through. As a yoga teacher you know the damage over-stretching your body can do - it's no different if you over-stretch your energy and work life balance!
  
  d) Ball park - you don't have to pin this down just yet - but honestly - do you want to make a little extra money from your yoga? Do you hanker after changing your work-life balance so you do more  yoga? Do you wish you could reduce full time work to part time by generating income from yoga teaching? Or do you dream of making yoga a full time career and business?  Be honest with yourself. Ideal scenario - what would you want?
  
  Seriously! Fail to answer these 4 questions - and there's a high probability that 12 months from now you won't be where you hoped you'd be. And that's a shame - because there's a lot of people out there who would benefit from your skill and knowledge and passion for yoga.
  
  

• DO YOUR RESEARCH!

  In the words of my own business mentor THIS IS NO PLACE TO SKIMP.
  
  But your research should be led by your answer to  question 1.
  
  Want to teach at gyms or studios? Research which ones you'd like to work at. Draw up your "ideal wish list" - then prepare to approach them!
  
  Want to set up classes of your own/run workshops or retreats? Research venues/costs/other retreats and offerings out there.
  
  Want to target a specific market/demographic? Research where your target students hang out/live/work. Research who else sells to these people - could you collaborate? Get to know everything you can about your target market. (Watch out for another blog post on this one - it's absolutely critical to getting, and keeping your students.)
  
  You get the picture. Obvious huh? You'd be surprised how few people do this diligently. (Me included when I started my first business!) But this will make the next steps SO much easier.
  
  

• Work out your numbers! DON'T play ostrich!

  Perhaps the most imortant step of all.
  
  I've met too many yoga teachers now, and read too many articles where yoga teachers say their yoga teaching is an "expensive hobby."
  
  If you want to earn money from yoga - you HAVE to know your numbers. I know, I know. Talking money doesn't seem very "yogic".
  
  But the truth is - many yoga business models mean that yoga teachers are either earning little or no income from their teaching or worse, they are paying for the privilege of teaching! Whoah! That's a recipe for frustration and resentment - don't go there. You'll give up.
  
  So - what numbers do you need to start getting clear about?
  
  Well, there's a few  you need to know, review and monitor on a regular basis if you're serious about making a consistent income from yoga - but for now, let's start with the 2 most basic ones:
  
  What's my ideal target income I'd like to earn from yoga teaching in the next 12 months?
  (The temptation here is to pluck some figure out of the air which is neither realistic nor sensible!
  
  Sit down, take a good look at your finances, and work out a figure which you feel comfortable with. Is this income to help you pay bills? Which bills? Is it for little luxuries - such as holidays or other adventures? Is it to replace  an existing, or part of an existing income source?
  
  Work out as near as you can what you'd ideally like - and write that figure down.
  
  What would you need to do in terms of yoga teaching in order to generate that income?
  Ask yourself the following:
  
  - How many classes would I need to teach to generate that income I said I wanted?
  - If I'm to run my own classes, how many students would I need every week or month to generate that income?
  - How many students would be needed to make a workshop viable?
  - How many students would I need to  make a retreat viable?
  - How many retreats or workshops would I need to run to generate that income?
  - How else could I generate income from my yoga skills?
  
  
  It's tempting to avoid answering these questions - because they may make for uncomfortable reading. The higher your figure - the more uncomfortable you're likely to feel.  You might suddenly realise, to earn the figure you set you're going to need to teach 20 classes a week: honestly? That's unsustainable - even if you had the time!
  
  But isn't it better to work that out now - so you can make more robust decisions about what steps to take next? The risk if you don't is that you invest a lot of time, energy - and  money, but don't achieve what you'd hoped.
  

  Don't leave this to chance. Don't "play it by ear" or "see how it goes."
  Doing your "due diligence" now - will save you money - and make you more money in the long run.

  Actions you could take right now!
  
  
  

• Join our Facebook group - if you;'re not already a member then this is a great place to ask further questions about what you've been reading; share a little of your own experiences and get further support.
  
  
• Download an essential free guide which will help you work through these first key steps to developing your own, thriving yoga career. The truth is, if you actually take these actions, you'll be in the top 3% of qualified yoga teachers out there!