Are you feeling burnt out from social media or marketing in general?
If you are, you’re not alone because I get this question all the time: “Amanda, what do I do if I need to take a break from social media?”
First, I love that I get to work with yoga teachers who recognize this need to take a break and respond to it so well. I’ve worked with other people who just keep on pushing even when they know they need a break and this usually doesn’t end up well. So kudos to you my friend!
Second, it’s 100% awesome to take a break from social media or from marketing in general. The thing I want you to remember is that taking an intentional break doesn’t have to mean that you take a break from growing your yoga business.
In this episode I’m going to talk to you about the difference between being in a growth phase from being in a maintenance phase in your yoga business. This was a conversation that came up with one of my students specifically and I knew it would help more of you so I’m here to share.
What’s a Growth Phase in Your Yoga Business?
When you’re in a growth phase, you’re willing to work. This can look like growing your email list, growing your class size, growing your impact. Whatever is motivating you to grow your business, this is the growth you’re looking at.
You’re ready to put in some extra effort to grow your business. Maybe you just came off of a break or you have some extra energy a certain time of year or you have a new idea for an offering that you’re really excited about.
No matter what it is, you’re ready to jump in and focus on growing your yoga business.
What’s a Maintenance Phase in Your Yoga Business?
When you’re in a maintenance phase, you’re looking to rest. This doesn’t look like sitting on your butt and not growing your business but rather it looks like taking a step back from the “hustle” or the push that you’re feeling in the moment.
Let’s face it, 2020 has been a crazypants year and many people have needed to take a breather. This is okay. Let me say that again, it’s okay to rest, to take a break, to do what you need to take care of you.
Maybe you just wrapped up a heavy growth phase in your business and did a lot of work. Or maybe you had something hit in your personal life that you just need a little space. Regardless of the reason you need a break, it’s time to hit the pause button for a bit and focus on you or a family member or friend.
We will all go through these phases in business. You can’t always be in a growth phase because you’ll completely burn out. And you can’t always be in a maintenance phase or you will be at a plateau and start to see a decline in business too. We need both to have balance in our business.
Increased presence on the marketing channels you use
Potentially adding in a new marketing channel or learning about a new marketing channel
Creating a new offering
Hosting a live challenge
Adding in another workshop or class series
Actively seeking new private clients and following up with leads
Further defining and clarifying your niche by updating your website and marketing channels
What Marketing Looks Like In a Maintenance Phase
But if you came to me and said “I’m feeling burnt out Amanda” then I would say, take a pause for a little bit. But before you completely checked out and went into a cave for 3 months I would look at what you could automate while you were taking a breather.
For example, could you buckle down and write a few emails that you schedule out for the next month so you’re still connecting with your email list but not necessarily showing up and writing an email each week.
The idea is that you stay connected with your students and still take a break.
And just so you know and have this permission, if you said “nope, I need a full on break” I would say that’s okay too. Just know that coming back into the marketing routine will be a little tougher and that your audience won’t respond as fast as they typically do. But everything will be okay.
What this can look like:
Decreased presence on the marketing channels you use
Reusing previous content or offerings
Taking away a workshop or class series that’s on your schedule
Not adding new private clients but continuing to work with the ones you have
Journaling and making lists of ideas
**Check out episode #60 for more information on reusing your previous content
Helpful Things You Can Do During the Maintenance Phase
Like I mentioned, we need both of these phases in order to have a successful business. So my goal for you is two fold:
Recognize when you need both of these phases and go with that energy
Use the maintenance phase to help you in the growth phase
And I have one tool that will help you do both of these things --- journaling.
Journaling will help you notice when you need or are ready for the next phase and it will help you make use of both of the phases to help the other.
I’ve received this question many times so I wanted to share it here and elaborate on the answer:
“What steps can I take when I don’t want to use social media but I still want to grow”
My answer to this is actually a few suggestions:
Journal - write anything and everything you feel like when you’re taking a break from social media. These journals will come in handy later.
Delete the app - if you want to take a break, take a full break from the channel. This will help you disconnect if that’s what you’re needing.
Get inspiration - if you decide to keep the apps for social media, use it for inspiration, not looking for comparison or simply scrolling. That’s not a real break.
Write - I know, this is the same as journaling but it’s that important that I say this twice. Write down your ideas somewhere. A paper journal, a google doc, whatever. Write down thoughts for social media posts later, blog posts ideas, offering ideas, whatever comes to mind.
The key here is to use this time as a creative time, not for actual creation but for letting the ideas come to you. Remember that writers often go off to the woods for weeks to write their book. Think of your break like this.
You can completely stay engaged with your current students or clients but just pause on marketing for a bit. And during this time, write down any ideas that come to mind. These don’t need to be fully thought out ideas, it can be bullet points or pictures you take. Whatever catches your attention, capture that so you have it when you’re ready to jump back in. Because….the other question I get is this:
“How do I get started again?”
If you have an ideas document, you’ve got a great start! This helps you get back into that rhythm, I promise. If you have a system and process now that’s working for you it will be like riding a bike if you have some content ideas for when you get back. But if you come back and are ready to jump back in but aren’t sure what to say…..you will feel bummed.
We don’t want this. We want your maintenance phase to fuel your growth phase!
So do yourself a big favor and write, capture those ideas and be okay with taking a break too. Just remember that if you can keep something going - hint: email - you will be in better shape coming back than if you hadn’t. You can even slow your email’s down for a bit during a season too.
Your next step
Start a google doc with ideas if you don’t have one already. Start adding things to it now so you already have it started. Then the next time you’re in a maintenance phase, add things to that document. And the next time you’re in a growth phase, use that dang document!!!
Until next time, give yourself permission to take a break when you need to and grace along the way. I’ll talk to you soon!
Which Mistake Is Stopping You?
After working with hundreds of yoga teachers, I've found 3 common mistakes that keep you from filling your yoga offerings -- no matter what the offering is. Which mistake are you making? Take the quiz to find out!
