How to go from yoga qualification to a freelance yoga teacher
By Angela Pham
Firstly, congratulations on becoming a yoga teacher! Cheers to you for putting in the hard work and diving in deeper into your own yoga practice. The world is in desperate need of your gift and your future students are eager to meet you. As a business coach for Whole Self Yoga, I help newly qualified yoga teachers jumpstart their yoga teacher career. So here it goes, 9 steps to go from downward dog to yoga teacher (with clients):
Shine… publicly. How will people know you're a yoga teacher if you're not sharing publicly? Share what you're doing on social media, with friends, at work, within your network. No one will know what opportunities you have to offer if you keep it to yourself.
Create your yoga CV - CVs are daunting to create, but remember that it’s ok to tell future truths. Future truths are items that you put on your CV that aren’t currently true, but will be true at some point in time (provided you are working on making them a reality)
Create value for others. How can you utilise your yoga skills to help others or better your community? Volunteer to teach at a community centre, offer free classes, assist for a yoga teacher whose teaching is aligned with yours, gain experience and build your cv.
Find the right connections - Create genuine connections within your own community or create a group of like minded individuals that can be a source of encouragement as you begin this new journey. Help others when you can, but also do so without secretly expecting something in return. Check out Sunday School Yoga, Palms Up Club and Digital Yoga Academy - they all offer a great community for yoga teachers.
Leverage Free Online Resources - I always emphasise do NOT pay someone to build a website, marketing, etc until you’re actually earning money. There are plenty of great online resources that are FREE and easy to use. My favourite free online resources are Canva (for everything), Strikingly for a good website builder, Carrd for a simple landing page.
Cover classes - Drop off your yoga cv at the nearby studios and offer to be added on to the list of cover teachers. Remind them that they’ll need you to cover when their scheduled teacher can’t make it to the 6am sunrise yoga class. There are also Facebook groups for teachers that are seeking covers for their classes.
Keep knocking on doors - The answer is always no until you ask. So many times, new yoga teachers will shy away from seeking out opportunities because they are afraid of rejection. So often times, they’ll anticipate being told “no” before even asking. Truth is, most of the successful individuals I know have become successful by repeatedly asking for opportunities despite being rejected.
Done is better than perfect - Often times, we sit on ideas or potential opportunities because we’re waiting for the “right” moment. Guess, what? In the time it takes to perfect a product, business plan, yoga offering, you will have lost out on 287,482 opportunities. So start with your sh*tty first draft! The only way you can perfect your art is through learning from experience.
Remember why you started - On a post it, write down your why. Write down why you want to be a yoga teacher and keep that post it note in your wallet. On days you feel overwhelmed or want to give up, open up that post it note and remember why you started in the first place.
Most important of all, enjoy the process. You’re living out your wildest dreams (yay!) and it’s meant to be a fun (and at times a challenging journey). I’m here if you need support and know that I’m cheering you on from the sidelines.
Angela can be found on Instagram here.