Following your path into the world of teaching yoga is an exciting leap. Professional yoga teachers have the awesome responsibility of helping pass on their knowledge, while ensuring the well being of the students under their instruction. An equally important responsibility is managing the business side of yoga well so that you can support yourself financially and continue doing what you love.
That’s why we’ve created this guide to dig into everything you can expect when it comes to your yoga teacher salary. We’ll explore topics like knowing how much to charge, increasing your offerings, and even low-cost marketing strategies that work.
So, How Much Do Yoga Instructors Make?
Answer: The Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs a yoga teacher’s median pay at $40,390 per year or $19.43 per hour.
The average yoga teacher wage varies based on factors such as location, years of experience, and specializations. Highly-skilled yoga teachers in high-priced markets can easily pull large annual salaries. But, as with all goods and services, economics is always at play. Supply and demand is a basic economic principle that most have heard of. The idea that, the more supply there is, the less demand and vice versa.
When there is a lot of competition in a particular area, consumers don’t have to work hard or look far for really good yoga instruction at a reasonable price. So one of the best ways to increase your yoga teacher salary, or earnings potential, is to stand out among your competition. Additional skill-sets, experience, or even methods of offering your service can all help differentiate your brand of yoga from others in your market. Since there’s less competition at this level of service, seasoned yoga teachers can often command higher rates of pay.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects how the yoga industry is expected to grow and sets a growth rate of 15% over the next few years. This figure is tremendously high relative to other occupations making yoga, health, and wellness a great field to be in going forward.
How Much Do Yoga Instructors Get Paid Per Class?
This is an important distinction versus asking, “how much do yoga instructors make a year?”. As your experience level grows and you can expand your level of services to a more intense level, you’ll be able to set higher class rates. Advanced instruction will attract those students looking to push themselves and expand their yoga training beyond the basics. With a greater level of skill required by the teacher to pass on this level of yoga, yoga teachers are able to charge more with each class.
A great tactic to use here is to offer an intensive two or three-day course of instruction at a bundled rate. You’ll help fill your schedule and get the benefit of adding to the value being provided to your students.
Increasing How Much Yoga Teachers Can Make Per Student
In business, the value that each customer brings to your organization over the course of their entire relationship with you is called their “customer lifetime value”. When you nurture that relationship and the customer continues seeing the value in your offering, they’ll continue to pay for more classes.
A few ways you can make sure your students are having a great experience during your yoga class include:
- Stay organized and maintain a clean space.
- Plan sequences in advance and be creative to keep the experience fresh.
- Stay abreast of new techniques, training, and methods.
- Actively listen to your students' feedback.
A lot of theory and books are written about this subject but at its core, you can greatly maximize a customer’s lifetime value by simply doing your best as their yoga teacher. This means continuing to offer a great service, treating everyone with respect and dignity, and remembering the impact of imparting yoga principles on another individual.
Yoga can be truly transformative, but the daily grind can make it harder to stay at your best as an instructor. Make sure to take time for self-development and mental health, even scheduling these into your routine to make them habits.
Less Spending Means More Profit
Another way to maximize earnings is to keep costs down. To set yourself up for success as a yoga teacher, there’s some capital outlays that usually occur when first setting out. From the get-go you should have yoga teacher insurance in place to protect yourself from the unexpected. When a simple accident can cost hundreds of thousands, leaving your career up to chance is not a good strategy for long term success.
Other necessities like yoga mats, blocks, bands, and accessories are needed, as well as a place to offer classes. The latter means renting space, which usually requires a deposit and monthly payments. Expenses, profits, accounting, oh my? Accounting can be tedious but being smart about how you handle your money will greatly increase the likelihood of success as a yoga teacher.
A few key areas that can be worked on each month can really add up to a big difference in how much a yoga teacher makes.
- Know How Much You Are Making and Spending: At least on a monthly basis, add up all your expenses and all your revenue so that you know exactly what is needed to run your yoga business. Knowing exactly how much is needed to keep your doors open sets a goal for you to meet. This is called your “breakeven point”. As you work through the month keep an eye on your revenue and expenses to make sure you’re at least hitting your breakeven point. Otherwise, you’re operating at a loss which means it’s costing you money to offer yoga instruction. Unless you happen to be independently wealthy and very altruistic, most yoga teachers need to make money from offering services.
- Separate Needs Versus Wants: sure getting in a huge new yoga studio space would be great but if the rent is more than you can support each month, you’ll be setting yourself up for a tough road. Make sure to weigh spending carefully so that you maintain a healthy balance.
- Negotiate for Better Rates: when times are hard, it can be difficult to service all of your obligations. Often, creditors or landlords will be amenable to giving you more flexible payment terms so that they at least have some income. In some cases, you may be able to settle an outstanding debt for a lower amount. All you have to do is ask, the most someone can say is no and you're no worse off.
- Save on Necessities: take full advantage of members-only discounts and exclusives that come with beYogi yoga insurance policy. Not only does the policy offer comprehensive protection for yoga teachers at one of the lowest prices in the industry, but you also get a members benefits program that’s worth hundreds by itself. Small savings on everyday purchases really add up to a healthy bottom line. Just like starting a new yoga training regimen, the longer you employ strategies like these and the more disciplined you are, the greater the impact.
No matter if you’re an individual yoga teacher or own a string of yoga studios, smart money management is one of the best ways to ensure long term success and maximize how much you make. Yoga, like most business endeavors, is not a “get-rich-quick” strategy. Turning yoga into a career takes time and dedication. If you truly put in the work, you’ll reap the benefits.
Effective Yoga Marketing on a Budget
One of the best ways to increase your yoga teacher wage is to market yourself effectively to the right clients. The right clients are those that see the value in your service and are willing to pay the rates you’ve set. When setting rates for your classes, do your homework and see what others in your space are setting. You can charge a premium to this rate as you increase your service offering and differentiate your yoga training from the competition.
One of the greatest benefits that comes with a beYogi yoga insurance policy is a free, professionally-designed website from which you can get your service offering in front of those seeking the services you provide in your area. Digital marketing has become a vitality for just about every business. When your customers are looking for “what’s the best yoga near me?” on their smartphones, you need to have a web presence in order to show up.
Utilizing a free website means, number one, that you didn’t pay for this benefit, and two, you have the opportunity to tailor your offering, branding, messaging, etc. to a specific market segment.
Getting Started with Yoga Teacher Insurance
By getting yoga insurance in place from the get-go, you get to take advantage of a full suite of coverage and protections as well as a rich member’s benefit program that can have a big impact on your bottom line. See how and talk over the policy with a licensed agent now.
