I had a nice class last night at the smaller studio I teach at. It was cozy and I felt a lot less nervous than I usually do going in to teach a class. I am really grateful my “teaching nervousness” is subsiding. I didn’t get into teaching yoga to feel more stressed. It was my hope that teaching yoga would allow me to share something I love while reducing the amount of stress in my life.
At the end of the class I handed out some “free class” passes to the students so they could share them with friends that might be curious about yoga. It felt a bit odd and business-like. Networking, marketing, print collateral… this is all stuff I do in my other job. My “day job”. I have years of experience working in design and marketing. I know how important it is to get yourself out there. I also know there are about a thousand yoga teachers in the town I live in so there is lots of competition. But somehow it all feels a little strange. Business, marketing, competition and yoga in the same sentence?? It is kind weird. I have to be aware of keeping things balanced in this area. I believe in what I am doing and that it can help people. I enjoy teaching. Promoting in this way feels easy because I have confidence in the product/services offered… but then I put my “marketing hat” on and it all feels a little odd. In some ways I wish I could hire someone else to do this part of the promotion. However being a new yoga teacher certainly doesn’t give me the financial means to be hiring marketers. Besides I do actually know how to do this so it seems silly to source it out to someone else at this point. Maybe later.
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