It may sound ironic, but being a yoga instructor can be super stressful.
We teach our students to disconnect and be rooted in the moment, while we’re secretly worrying about where our next class and paycheck are going to come from.
Meaning most evenings are spent like this:
You didn’t get into teaching yoga for the money, but doesn’t it feel like it all used to be, well…a little easier and more profitable?
But, there is good news…
The online yoga space is booming and if you’re an instructor, you can cater to the demand for at-home yoga by offering online classes of your own.
Though Youtube and social media are great ways to reach a massive audience, it can be hard to make a living off of these strategies alone.
Instead, we recommend you look to launch your own independent platform. It’s the most effective way to teach online yoga classes and create a stable, recurring income.
If you’re ready to find out how, keep reading…
Why You Should Offer Online Yoga Classes
Yoga has developed an incredible online community.
You may have already seen this with the rise of yoga instruction on Instagram and YouTube. Instructors like Sarah Beth, founder of Sarah Beth Yoga, have reached millions of people through online yoga classes.
So why are they so popular?
It’s for 2 reasons:
- Students can connect with their favorite yogis on their own schedule.
- Instructors can connect with a global audience and create an online community.
Taking your yoga courses online allows you to build a yoga business without the tight constraints of brick and mortar studios. It puts you in charge and lets you focus on helping your audience.
Better still…
Yoga instructors who transition to teaching yoga online go on to earn an average of $7,500 a month, and we’re seeing that number continue to grow.
When you establish your own independent platform, you can unlock a lot of other benefits too:
- Bring together a global community: lead an entire community to better health, happiness, and peace of mind.
- Gain location independence: teach classes, create videos, and connect with your community wherever you are.
- Generate passive income: earn money while you sleep, eat, and stretch.
- Help an endless number of people: there’s no limit to the number of people you can influence with your yoga practice.
- Monetize social media: earn money from the posts and videos you create and share.
But what exactly does it mean to “teach yoga online?”
I’m glad you asked.
Simple: you launch your own online yoga studio.
Let’s take a closer look at what that is.
What Is An Online Yoga Studio (and Why You Should Start One)
Online yoga studios are membership sites where you can offer premium yoga courses to your followers for a recurring fee.
Simply put:
You create a video streaming service that works as an online studio. It’s a website where you can upload all of your yoga videos, tutorials, and flows.
This online studio will let you:
- Offer easy-to-follow training courses.
- Build an online yoga community.
- Connect directly with your students.
Because the world operates online, you can scale this type of business model infinitely. You can motivate and connect with any number of students, from anywhere in the world.
Sadie Nardini used Uscreen to launch her own online yoga studio called Fit & Fierce Club:
Since launching, she has built a community of 20,000 paying members! All of which can access all of their favorite content, anytime, anywhere.
You’d struggle to find a local studio that can cater to that many students.
Plus, Sadie was able to further monetize her yoga platform by offering yoga teacher training and personal development courses for purchase on top of her membership content.
It’s safe to say that teaching yoga online provides the most profitable way to grow, help, and motivate your community.
Let’s take a look at how you can launch your own online yoga studio.
How to Teach Yoga Online In 5 Simple Steps
In this section, I’ll guide you through the 5 steps of creating your own online yoga studio:
- Decide the Niche You Want to Teach.
- Create a Few Videos to Discover Your Style.
- Create an Online Yoga Studio Website.
- Pick a Business Model and Set Your Prices.
- Create a User Funnel to Build Your Community.
If you follow each of these, you’ll be able to cultivate an impactful online yoga business.
1. Decide the Niche You Want to Teach In
You’re a yoga teacher with lots of hours on the mat. So, you already have a good idea of what types of yoga content resonate best with your community.
When you’re moving your business online, you need to establish a clear niche for your business – or, an area of expertise that will differentiate you from your competitors.
So what is it that makes your yoga practice different?
- Do you have a unique approach to mindfulness and overall wellness?
- Do you cater to busy business people?
- Do you want to educate students on how to create their own flows?
- Do you focus on pre- or post-natal yoga?
- Do you offer an ultimate guide for beginner students?
- Do you use yoga to help people become better athletes?
Keep in mind, there’s no wrong answer here – the right answer is whatever reflects your business!
Take some time to reflect on this. Think about what you want to teach in your online yoga business, and how it will benefit your yoga community.
You can also take a look at these online yoga studios for inspiration:
They all have different approaches to their yoga practice. Each is unique and incredible in its own way.
2. Create A Few Videos To Discover Your Style
Once you know what you’re going to teach, it’s time to experiment.
You should dedicate some time to trying out different ways of teaching on camera and find a style that feels comfortable for you.
There are 3 styles I suggest you try:
The first is studio presentation. This is where you instruct from your mat, as you would in front of group classes.
You can set this recorded class up quite easily and it’s a viewpoint your subscribers will be used to. It’s especially good if you have limited equipment, and it’s just you and your camera.
The second is class instruction. This is where you record your live classes in the studio and use them on your site.
This style is particularly good if you’ll be live video streaming classes. However, it can be a little impersonal. Use it sparingly!
The third is follow-along instruction. This is where you perform the flows for your students and provide instruction through voice over.
This has become the go-to style for the online yoga community because it saves you from having to multitask. There’s no need to talk while performing your different posts.
It’s a versatile strategy, but it will require a little more editing to get right.
Any of these styles can resonate with your audience. If you already have a style you know works, you can carry on with it. If you’re still unsure about which method will work best for you, it’s a good idea to create several videos in multiple styles to test your audience’s reactions to them. You can learn a lot by just playing around with different camera angles!
Your outlook contributes to the success of your training videos, too. Potential students seek a role model who promotes the expected results from joining your yoga classes. Maintain a positive mindset, prioritize self-care through adequate sleep and a healthy diet.
Here’s our resident fitness expert, Dan, on all the techniques you need to film the highest quality workout videos:
3. Create an Online Yoga Studio Website
Your video streaming website is the storefront for your membership program. It’s where potential customers will come to learn more about your online courses, check your prices, and see if your style of yoga is right for them.
It’s important that you create a professional-looking website to grow your online presence and attract the right people into your community – and you don’t need a degree in web design to do it!
Uscreen gives you the tools to make this easy. Our templates and website editor are simple to use, and give you complete control over how your studio looks:
You can choose from any of our flexible themes to get started, and then customize your site from there!
Take a look at these video streaming websites (all created using Uscreen) to see what’s possible on our platform:
You can also browse more Uscreen examples right here.
Branding plays a large role in how your website looks and the community members you attract.
That topic is a little beyond the scope of this article, so we’ll break down the anatomy of a good fitness brand here.
These tips may look at the wider fitness space, but they are highly applicable to the yoga industry too.
Once your website is built, it’s time to set your prices.
4. Pick a Business Model and Set Your Prices
Yoga instructors often struggle with pricing. It can be hard to translate what you charge in the studio to the online world.
Let’s start by briefly looking at how you can sell your videos. There are 3 conventional models you can use:
AVOD – Ad-Based Video On Demand
AVOD is when you don’t take a payment for the video, and instead place adverts before, during, or after your video. Like how videos on a YouTube channel work.
I don’t recommend you use this when you teach yoga online. It’s an unreliable and unpredictable income stream, at least at the start.
TVOD – Transactional Video On Demand
TVOD is where you charge viewers to access a single video. You can either sell them unlimited access to the video, or have them “rent” it for a specific period of time.
Image Source – Sweat Yoga
This model can be useful if you’re selling access to a specific course. Say, if you have an exclusive Zoom webinar, or an hour-long athletic yoga routine with lots of downloadable educational material.
The plus side of this model is that you can charge a higher price. The downside is that payments are not recurring and require constant marketing.
SVOD – Subscription Video On Demand
Subscription revenue is the pricing model yoga instructors use to create strong, community-driven membership sites.
Your customers pay a monthly or annual fee for complete access to your videos. They can log in to your site and access content as long as they make their payment.
Image Source – Yoga Today
Although the point-of-purchase price is lower, your income is recurring and your earnings can steadily increase over time. At the end of the day, It’s more profitable to retain existing customers than find new ones.
We did some research into what prices you’d need to charge to run a healthy yoga business with a subscription model. We found that the average rate is around:
- $15 for a monthly subscription.
- $150 for a yearly subscription.
It’s common for yearly subscriptions to offer “2 months free” – this provides a high level of value to your community and ensures you a year-long customer!
I recommend you begin with these price points and adjust from there. If you feel uncomfortable, go a little lower. If you feel confident, go a little higher.
5. Create A User Funnel To Build Your Community
Your user funnel is a system that constantly brings new people into your community.
When you get it up and running, it will give you peace of mind that you have a constant stream of new potential subscribers viewing your content and visiting your site.
At a basic level, your user funnel will look like this. People will:
Discover your brand > Visit your site > Trial your product > Become paying subscribers
Based on our research into online yoga instructors, we have found this 4-step approach to be the most effective:
- Generate buzz: Use promotional strategies (like podcast appearances, Facebook groups and email lists) to share your content and brand.
- Refer them to your site: Create a strong message that brings them to your site.
- Offer a free trial: Give people 7 to 14 days to try out your product, at no charge to them.
- Contact people who don’t convert: Create a gentle sales message to people who cancel their free trial or their paying membership.
Click any of the links above to find more information on how to do each of these.
However; if you want to learn how to create a strong sales flow that will ensure the health of your business, check out our guide on how to create a “marketing engine” right here.
It will show you everything you need to make this work!
Okay, Now You Can Relax…
Phew! That was a lot to work through, right?
By now you know the potential is limitless when you transition to teaching yoga online. Moving beyond the brick-and-mortar studio and into the online world can help you:
- Teach your yoga, your way.
- Access a global audience and build a community.
- Build a happy, healthy yoga business.
- Become location independent.
- Earn an average of $7,500 a month.
You can launch your own online yoga studio in 5 steps:
- Reflect on the topics you want to teach.
To start a successful online yoga studio, you need to first establish a clear niche for your business – or, an area of expertise that will help you stand out.
- Discover your unique style as an online yoga teacher.
Once you’ve established your niche and target audience, it’s time to experiment. You should dedicate some time to trying out different ways of teaching on camera and find a style that feels comfortable for you.
- Craft your yoga studio’s website.
Your video membership site is the storefront for your online yoga program. It’s essential that you create a beautiful-looking website to grow your reach and attract the right people into your community. You can use a membership site platform to build, launch and grow your online yoga studio.
- Set your prices.
Yoga teachers often struggle with pricing. It can be hard to translate what you charge in the studio to the online world. There are 3 main monetization models you can use, these are subscription, ad-based and transactional.
- Create a user funnel to grow your community.
Your user funnel is a system that constantly brings new potential subscribers to your membership site.
And, if you need any help with your online yoga journey, Uscreen is always here to help!
Launch Your Yoga Membership Platform
