Ep 14: The Power of Newsletters - Elevating Your Yoga Teaching Business

I remember when I first started sending newsletters out. Initially, my strategy for sending them was to connect with students and keep them updated on my teaching schedule and any additional offerings I had available, whether that was workshops, special classes, retreats, etc.  This was great because I didn't have to rely on seeing students in person in order to talk with them. And I wasn't limited by the short amount of time I had to talk at the start of class. 

I knew newsletters should be a part of my business, but at the time I didn't fully realize how important they are. Now after 10 years of sending out newsletters, I fully understand their importance and I want you to as well. 

In this episode, I'll share with you some ideas to add to your newsletters so your subscribers can't wait to open them because they know there will be so much value inside!

Transcript

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I remember when I first started sending newsletters out, initially, my strategy for sending them was to one, connect with students and to keep them updated on my teaching schedule and any additional offerings I had available, whether that was workshops, special classes, retreats, and so forth. This was great because I didn't have to rely on seeing students in person in order to talk with them. And I wasn't limited by the amount of time I had to talk at the start of class. I knew newsletters should be a part of my business, but at the time, I didn't fully realize how important they are now, after 10 years of sending out newsletters, I know for sure how important they are. So let's talk about it. Welcome to the essential conversations for yoga teachers podcast with me, I'm Monica bright, and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you're a yoga teacher. You're looking for support, you love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you my life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, all the stuff that wasn't taught in teacher training, my process for building my business, and helpful ideas, tools, strategies, and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover A diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you want to dive deep and set yourself up for success. I'm so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously. So expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together. Hey there. Welcome back to the essential conversations for yoga teachers podcast. Lately, we've been talking a lot about business strategies. In today's episode, we're diving into a topic that's sometimes overlooked or not explained very well, but it holds huge potential for your yoga teaching business, and that's newsletters. If you are a newer teacher, or maybe even a part time teacher, the idea of having an email list And sending newsletters may seem like a lot of work and you may be thinking, but what's the payoff? We're going to talk about that today. So before we dive into this subject, I just want to kind of as a side note, bring this up. Um, because I think of it as a life hack. It applies to whatever you're doing in life, and that includes newsletters, too. So, recently I put up a post on Instagram, and it was about going down rabbit holes, or getting an initial thought in your head and letting that thought take you down a rabbit hole. And for me, the reason why I posted it is because this is something that I've been trying to tame or work on for the last, like intentionally for the last few years. So I was at home one evening by myself and I could literally see myself. Catching a thought and starting to go down a rabbit hole. But equally as important is I caught myself also saying, look at what you're doing, Monica, you are going down a rabbit hole. Can you pull yourself out of this thinking that you're having? I was able to, and I was so proud of myself to be able to say, so, or Monica. Look at what you're doing, acknowledge it, right? Pause and, and stop that. Because the thinking that I was having was neither true because the scenarios that I was coming up with were some things that were possibly could happen in the future, right? And we don't know what's happening in the future. So they weren't true, nor did I agree. With the stories that I was making up, uh, in my head. So I share that with you because the, the times that I catch myself going down these rabbit holes and can pull myself out of it, it's been just such a joy for me and an accomplishment to say, I'm going to let that go because I don't have to travel down that road. And it just saves you a lot of stress. It saves you a lot of overthinking. And so I wanted to bring this up, especially when we're talking about newsletters, because sometimes you get in your mind is like, well, what's the point. Of. Sending a newsletter, who's going to read it. People's email inboxes are so crowded already. They don't want to get something else from me in their inbox. And what I'd like to caution you from doing is. Um, this, and this has been game changing for me as well, is to not make decisions for people, right? If somebody raises their hand and they say, yes, I want to be on your email list. I want to receive newsletters from you. Then by all means, accept their email address and start sending them newsletters. They're already showing interest in their saying to you. Yes, I want more of you. Okay. Sometimes what I notice is that we get in our own way, right? And we make excuses for not doing things that make us feel nervous or make us feel a little bit scared. So kind of set aside those barriers or those walls or those excuses that you're creating for yourself. for yourself. Now, let's talk about newsletters. I remember when I first started sending newsletters out, which I used in conjunction with my website. Initially, my strategy for sending these newsletters was to, one, connect with students, and two, to keep them updated on my teaching schedule and any other offerings that I had available, whether those were workshops, special classes, retreats, so on and so forth. This was great because I didn't have to, one, rely on seeing students in person in order to talk with them, nor did I have to be limited by the small amount of time before class starts where I could squeeze in some information. at the beginning of class. So this is a little story. I remember I was teaching at an exclusive club in Chicago and I really enjoyed teaching there, but their yoga room was ginormous, right? It could fit well over 70, 80, up to like a hundred students, right? So we had students in class From all walks of life. I just want you to imagine trying to please that many people at the same time. It's kind of hard, but a student sent feedback to my manager saying that she loved my classes. But I talked too much at the start of them. And I think the topic of receiving feedback can be an entire podcast in and of itself, and I may just like jot that down as an episode idea to kind of come back to, but my response to my manager was, well, what do you want me to do? I mean, I'm being the most authentic teacher that I can be, which is to tell students where I want them to put their props because I teach with props and I need them to be in a certain place around their mats. And I need to be able to offer a little bit of theming, which I want to structure the class around. So anyway, I share that because you just can't please anyone. And especially in a class with. That many students, it's really hard. It gets more difficult, the more students you have in class, but if you ever receive that kind of feedback and you want to change, that's cool. You can use newsletters for longer conversations. So think about that. So here's the thing. It doesn't matter where you are in your teaching career, whether you're a seasoned instructor, you've been teaching forever, or you're a newer teacher. I want you to know and believe that newsletters can be a game changer in building connections with your students, Honing in on your messaging and increasing awareness of your brain. So let's explore why having a newsletter and crafting a thoughtful strategy around it can elevate your yoga business to new and greater heights. I want to talk specifically about building relationships with your students and how to actually do that. I know that you know that at the heart of your successful yoga teaching career lies a strong connection with your students. You need that, right? Your newsletters are going to offer this through a direct line of communication. that allows you to engage with each one of your subscribers on a deeper level. When you communicate regularly, you foster a sense of community and build even more trust with your subscribers. You could be sending schedule updates, inspirational content, and valuable insights, or maybe it's sharing personal stories, wellness tips, or upcoming event information. The point is to provide valuable content that addresses their needs and interests. So I want to dive a little deeper Then suggesting that you share your teaching schedule and other offerings that you have and give you some additional examples of what you can include in your newsletters that are going to be so valuable to your subscribers that they cannot wait to open each and every newsletter that you send them. So remember, the most important point is that you should be committed to their needs. Well, being beyond and outside the yoga studio, let's get into examples of content that you can incorporate in your newsletters. That's beyond your teaching schedule or other offerings that you have coming up. So the first idea is to give some solutions to some common problems. And I'll give you some examples of. Some things with each idea that I give you, I'm going to give you some examples of what I've sent in my newsletters. So, solutions to common problems. Here's one example. I discussed, uh, a really common problem in yoga practice and that's wrist pain. I honestly love talking about risk pain in yoga. I've done a bunch of different things on this one topic. I've done a blog article, a number of social media posts, and this addition to a newsletter. What I did was I talked about what are common causes of risk pain in yoga and I talked about some solutions that students can take to alleviate this problem that may be showing up in their, in their practice. In addition to just writing all of that stuff out, I made a video and just uploaded it to YouTube and added the YouTube link in my newsletter so that I could talk to the subscriber directly And they could see a video of me showing them how to modify their practice or how to use props in their practice to address this problem, wrist pain in yoga. So that's one example. Another example or another problem that I brought up and this was in another newsletter was the step through from down dog to a low lunge. So I talked about the problem that some students have with this transition. I wrote this out in the email and I also talked about how, because I think this is really important to reiterate to students that it's not about if you practice it more and more and more, it's going to get easier. Sometimes it's body proportions that get in the way. Sometimes it's the amount of joint control that someone has at the hip. That makes it difficult to take this transition to a step forward to a low lunge. So I talked about the problem, right? And why some people have the problem and how practicing it more isn't a solution for some people. But I offered up the solution that you could use props to help you with this. With a solution, I, again, made a video and attached that link with detailed solutions to this common problem in flow classes. Both of those examples, solving those solutions, one, I've talked to students numerous times about these same two issues. So I know that there are plenty of students who have this common issue in their practice. And the more I can spread the word, the more that I can help give, um, students a solution, the better. And the easiest way is to put it in a newsletter, type out some information and then attach a video. So think about that right there. You're going to be adding so much value to their practice that they're going to eat it up. They're going to love it. All right. The second idea that you can add to your newsletters, which I think students will love, and I've done myself, is yoga sequences. One example is, say you want to teach moon salutations. And so you want to connect that with theme in your newsletter. So if you want to talk about like the full moon or new moon and some practices that you can do around this time or these times in the month, you can attach a video of what a moon salutation looks like and let people practice that on their own. And then explain why they would even want to. Valuable, right? Moon salutations are not common knowledge. So this is you teaching them something new that they just might enjoy. The second example of a yoga sequence that you could attach, including a description and a video, are sun salutation variations. So, really popular sun salutation A or full sun salutations that include plank and Chaturanga, up dog, down dog. If you think about going back to what I was talking about earlier, which is wrist pain in yoga, what if you came up with a variation for a sun salutation A that did not include planks or Chaturangas? And in order to solve the problem of this wrist pain, you had this different variation of a sun salutation and you want to Share that video with your subscribers so that if they ever show up to class and their wrists don't feel the best, they've learned another way to take a sun salutation that's not going to involve this pain in their wrists. That's just an example of a couple of sequences. that you might be able to add to your newsletters. The next idea is meditation practices. I know that you know that there are quite a few people who do practice meditation and then there are even more people who don't. Maybe you include like an intro to what meditation is. And explain what it isn't, because many of the students who don't practice meditation, they don't practice it because they don't understand what meditation is or how to practice it. And even though they've heard how beneficial it is, maybe they're hesitant because what they think it is, like what they've seen on social media, or. What they think they have to do. So this is your opportunity to teach something and convert more people into meditation. I think that you would agree with me when I say that the more people in this world meditating, the better, right? So teach people how to meditate, give them short practices. You could even include some audio meditations. I think that would be very valuable. And again, I've done that in the past and, and people love it. Add that to your repertoire of ideas that you can send out in your newsletters. The next is self care tips or wellness tips. In the past, I've done like a whole self care series where I give unconventional self care practices. I remember one of them was like oiling your cuticles. I started doing it and I was like, Oh my God, I got to share this, um, with people. So oftentimes when we think about self care, we think about bubble baths and quiet time and other like more common self care practices. And I just wanted to offer up some ideas that maybe my subscribers hadn't thought about. That way, I wasn't giving like run of the mill advice, but something different that they could look forward to receiving in future emails. So think about how you can change up some of the more common self care tips to help get your subscribers engaged. And then the last idea is to share some recommended readings. You could share some books that you love, some articles that you've read. Maybe it's some self help practices, or you could follow up on what you taught in class with some other readings. Maybe it's a quote that you used in class that a lot of students resonated with and you want to share it with everyone on your email list. I shared a quote at the start of the pandemic. It was about slowing down. Rediscovering what's important and what's not. And I saw this quote, it was all over social media. And I thought that everyone had seen it, but I shared it in my newsletter and I got so many replies from subscribers that they loved it and had never seen it before. And that right there is the connection value add that I want you to incorporate in your newsletters. When you do this, you'll notice your subscribers will look at you as the expert. And as someone who will provide solutions to their problems. So again, the key point is to add value to their lives. And when you do this, you're going to cultivate long lasting relationships that extend far beyond the in studio classes, far beyond whether you teach at a studio or whether you move to another city, you just will keep up these relationships for as long as people stay on your email list. So, right now, I teach about 90 percent of the time online, but I still have relationships with students that I taught over 10 years ago. And that alone makes me love having my email list and my newsletters. So now that you have a few ideas for the kinds of things to include in your newsletters, aside from your teaching schedule, let's talk about how to create a strategy around your newsletters to ensure that your newsletters effectively reach and engage your target audience. And so that writing them doesn't feel like a chore. We don't want feeling like writing your newsletters or keeping in touch with your subscribers is a bore or is a chore. We don't want that at all. So the reason why a well thought out strategy is so important is because I want you to think about the reason why you do everything in your business. The purpose that every piece of the puzzle brings. Why are you incorporating a newsletter? Why are you creating a website? Why do you have a social media account? And what's the plan or the intended outcome from all of these things? So the first thing I want you to do is to begin by defining your goals. and your audience. Who are you trying to reach? And what is it that you want to achieve? Next, create a content calendar to plan your newsletters in advance, which will ensure consistency and relevance. You can incorporate important days or holidays, for example, and then tailor your content to provide value to your subscribers, whether it's educational, inspirational. And then finally, it's important to analyze your results and adjust your strategy based on feedback and engagement metrics. In my previous podcast episode, that was episode 13, emails, how building a list can catapult your business. I talked about not using Gmail. And the reasons why, and one reason is that you can't track analytics when you use Gmail. There are other reasons why, so go back and listen to that episode because it's packed with some great information for you. I'll link it in the show notes so you can listen when you finish this episode. But it's important for you to be able to go back, look at, and analyze your metrics so you know what's working, what's not working, what resonates, who clicks on what, who's interested in what, and who is not. Lots of analytics for you to gather when you use an email. All right. As you can see from everything I've shared in this episode, there's so much that you can accomplish with your newsletters. There are strategies that you can put in place so that you're not only sharing your schedule and offerings, but you're building relationships. along the way as well. And that's the key to newsletters. And we don't talk about that a lot. All right. I mentioned earlier in this episode about my four month coaching program, The Business of Yoga 2. 0, that I run with a small group of teachers each round. In it, you will learn and practice honing in on and clearing up your newsletter strategy. I even have a content calendar to share with you, which makes the process even easier once you nail down who you serve and the type of information you want to offer. It's like cut and paste, and it's going to save you tons of time. If you aren't on my email list, join the waitlist. It's linked in the show notes below, and I'll send you more information about my coaching program. See you soon. Applications open in April. I'm super excited every time I run this coaching program. As always, I want you to be clear about your career or at least be getting clearer on it day by day. It's so important to have this conversation about why a newsletter strategy is important and is necessary. And when you have one, it makes sending newsletters easy peasy. Thank you. You know that my goal for you is to love the teaching life and allow it to be rewarding. If you loved this episode, let me know, and I'll give you a shout out on a future episode. Subscribe to the podcast so you know when a new episode drops, and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations because teachers have asked for business related episodes. I'm excited to keep bringing you more. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. And finally, if you haven't already, again, join my newsletter. It's just for yoga teachers and it's linked in the show notes below. I would love for you to join it so we can always stay connected. Alright, that's it for now. Bye.