Not all private yoga instructors are equal.
Find out how you can be more professional and more profitable when working with students as a private yoga instructor. These seven tips will help you take your private teaching to the next level!
1. Learn About Your Student Before Your First Session
Consider creating an intake form that your student fills out before the first session or scheduling an introductory phone call. Learn as much about your student as possible, including their yoga experience, medical history (surgeries or injuries), and other needs. This will help you prepare appropriately, save you from unwanted surprises, and help you satisfy the student’s needs.
2. Create A Clear Contract
Identify your business boundaries before you start promoting yourself. How much do you charge? Is it the same price if the client brings a friend or spouse? Are you willing to travel anywhere? Or do you charge an additional travel fee when exceeding a certain amount of miles? What is your cancellation policy? Figure out all of these answers on your own before you talk with a potential client and put it in writing. You can have your student sign the contract before your first session.
3. Do As Professionals Do
As a private yoga instructors, we are delivering a customized level of yoga teaching. The added value of individualized attention and instruction comes at a higher price. Notice the business practices and habits of established health and wellness professionals and tune in to the overarching themes present in their communications and customer experience processes.
Mirror the components that strike you as professional in their work—like how they communicate, how they present themselves, how available they are for their clients, and how they create a pleasant client experience.
PROFESsIONALISM IS KNOWING HOW TO DO IT, WHEN TO DO IT, AND DOING IT.
4. Get Liability Insurance
Every private yoga instructor needs liability insurance to protect them from the threat of litigation. Even if you add a clause in your contract waiving your responsibility if your student gets injured (which you should), you still need to protect yourself since waivers don’t always hold up in a court of law.
Unfortunately, if a student gets injured during a private session, whether it was from your instruction, adjustment, or any other factor, you could still be held liable. Luckily, annual liability insurance is relatively affordable, especially considering how much you can make teaching private students.
5. Develop Payment Packages
Charging students for one session at a time can work for some people. However, you might want to consider offering a payment package at a lower rate per session if they purchase multiple sessions at one time. This gives students an incentive to purchase more upfront, which means you will make more money at once and your student is committed. Plus, it eliminates the potentially awkward moment of waiting to get paid after every session.
6.Bring All The Equipment
Chances are your student might have a yoga mat but nothing else. If you want to offer a comfortable and luxurious experience for your student, you definitely want a yoga mat, bolster, blanket, strap, 2 blocks, and an eye pillow. To keep your life simple, you can buy everything all at once at the Yoga Journal store, plus a rolling bag to carry it all in. You might also consider whether you need to bring a music player, essential oils, Tibetan bells, or any other equipment to create the most special experience for your student that you possibly can. The more prepared you can be, the easier it will be for you and your student.
7. Know Your Value
Even the most confident of private yoga instructors can struggle when it comes to deciding what to charge for private yoga sessions, understanding your value as an expert yoga instructor who specializes in one-on-one work is crucial to having meaningful conversations with potential students. One of my favorite money-mindset mantras is “I welcome abundance, and with this invitation comes students, opportunities, and financial compensation for my skills and teachings.” As you become more confident in your teachings and the service you offer, continue to evaluate the value you deliver during your sessions and adjust your prices accordingly.
WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR WORTH, YOU MOVE DIFFERENT.
Like many of the subjects covered in yoga teacher training, teaching private yoga lessons is an expansive topic in its own right. The key to building a thriving practice teaching private yoga lessons relies on implementing concepts and principles that are designed to last long-term due to their ease, efficacy, and consistent refinement while allowing space for your teaching and business to evolve. Viewing the business of yoga as a practice in its own right will allow you to create relationships with the students you’d like to work with, be a professional problem solver, craft evaluation processes that get to the heart of what your students need in their lives (and then delivering practices and tools that meet those needs), and address any mindset limitations that may hold you back from arriving fully as a private yoga teacher and yoga business entrepreneur.
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