Imagine this….
You walk into your yoga class and every mat is filled with your dream students. Imagine your classes consistently full of people who rave about you once they leave the studio doors. They can’t get enough of you and your classes and they keep coming back for more!
Sounds good, right? All your yoga teacher dreams coming true? But how do you turn this dream into a reality? Well, in order for this to happen all you have to do is make one choice: niche down and narrow your yoga focus.
Do you love free stuff? Do you love a yoga class full of students? Yes? Well today’s your lucky day — use the form below to get my FREE guide on how to Niche Down for more butts on mats!
There are two main reasons yoga teachers avoid niching down. Today, I’m covering how to move past the two main roadblocks yoga teachers face and how to identify the dream students that will keep coming back for more.
Two most common niching down roadblocks:
The Why — Avoiding niching down because “I don’t want to exclude anyone”
The How — There are so many types of yoga classes “How do I decide on a specific focus?”
Let’s talk about the “Why”...
The “why” is all about mindset. Once you move past the mindset of being all inclusive and begin to open your mind to being focused and geared towards one niche — your yoga world changes (in a good way!). Let’s break it down:
If you are talking to everyone, you are talking to no one! One of my favorite analogies is that of going out to eat at a restaurant. It’s dinner time and you and your group of friends are hungry and need to make a decision on where to eat. What are you craving? If you’re craving Mexican, you go to a Mexican restaurant. If you’re craving Mexican and go to an Italian restaurant — well you’re not exactly getting what you wanted. Same with yoga and your students! Your students are craving different classes. Maybe some are craving prenatal classes, or stress-relieving yoga. Talk to the specific people that are craving what you offer! If they’re craving it and you’re the yoga teacher who offers it, you’ll get students!
Move past the idea of exclusion! By niching down you’re not excluding anyone — rather you are narrowing your focus so you can serve those who will benefit the most.
Another analogy (because why not?) Say you’re throwing a party — you don’t just invite everyone, you invite specific people that you know will enjoy the party you’re throwing.
Believe in yourself and your resourcefulness - you are gifted!
Now let’s get to the good stuff — HOW do you niche down?
Want a handy dandy form where you can fill out your answers to the below questions? Here’s a download to my (free) guide where you can fill in and keep your answers!
There are two ways to define your niche : either by type of yoga or by the person who would take the class. Regardless of how you decide to find your niche it’s important to understand who you will be serving.
Questions to help define your yoga niche:
If I asked you to give me an example of a student or client of yours, who comes to mind first? Tell me about that particular student in regards to demographics. What type of yoga did you teach to her/him?
Who is the one student or client that is constantly raving about you to others? Tell me about that particular student in regards to demographics. What type of yoga did you teach her/him? How do they describe you when they share you with others? Do they mention a specific result that you helped them achieve?
If you could replicate the results (emotional and/or physical) of one student or client, who would that be? Tell me about that particular student in regards to demographics. What type of yoga did you teach her/him? What was the result that came to mind? Who else could be helped with the same result?
What led you to become a yoga teacher? Were you healed by yoga in some way that made you want to become a teacher?
When you tell people that you’re a yoga teacher and they say “oh, I’m not flexible at all”, what is your response? What part of yoga do you typically share with them to explain that yoga isn’t all about standing on your head?
If you could wave a magic wand and your class would be filled of consistent students and you only taught one type of class, what class would that be and what would it look like? This is an ideal situation so think big! You could have a class of one or a class of 100. Tell me what it would look like and who would be in that class. Remember to get specific here.
How to identify your dream student
Now that you know who you want to work with, it’s time to get to know them like you know your BFF. To start you want to create a persona. You can outline a real person or make someone up but you want to get clear on who you want to serve.
Don’t forget to fill in your answers using the free guide!
Who do you want to serve? Give your dream student a profile!
Name
Age
Gender
Location
Marital/Family status
Current medical conditions
Current financial situation
Her/his story
What are her/his current struggles in life overall (pain points)?
What are her/his goals?
What can she/he receive from yoga and how can yoga help her/him achieve her/his goals?
Decided on your yoga teacher niche? What next?
Go you! You just made a fantastic decision that will impact your yoga career, future students and classes! You’re well on your way to having a class full of dedicated students to serve.
Celebrate and embrace it!
Talk to and learn more about your dream student
Start to think of a transition plan to teach more of those classes with those students
Market yourself and your new niche! Set up an Instagram account that reflects who you are as a yoga teacher.
Whatever stage you're at in your yoga teacher journey, it's never too late or too early to niche down. I'd love to hear from you - if you've defined you niche, what is it?
Talk soon,
If you haven't already, be sure to get the FREE Guide to Niching Down!