Latest / Master Your Yoga Teaching with MaKenzie Fly / The Yogipreneurial Path: What It Actually Takes to Build Beyond the Studio
Transcript
- MaKenzie Fly: What's up, everybody, and welcome back to NYYT, where you are learning to level up your yoga teaching one masterful class at a time. Last week, I kicked off the Yogipreneur Mastermind 4.0. And if you are new to me and my world and my work, this is a group coaching program for yoga teachers who are ready to break out of the box, the studio box, and start building their own independent, thriving, profitable yoga businesses. And last week, We had our opening ceremony, and I am just still buzzing from this conversation. So, what I wanted to bring you today here on the podcast was actually a clip from the ceremony so that you could get a taste, you could get a feel of the energy in that room and the types of things that we're talking about. And I just believe now more than ever that yoga teachers simply cannot afford to not learn business. It is time. It is Past time for you to learn business. And honestly, I just wish I would have prioritized this sooner in my own life. I didn't even start thinking like an entrepreneur really until about 10 years into teaching. And now 15, I'm starting my, my gosh, my 15th year of yoga teaching. And if I look at what I make in studio, I make anywhere between $50 to $62 an hour in studio. And that, sadly to say, Is on the higher end. I mean, I don't know about you. When I started teaching, my class rate was like $25. So it took me 15 years to, and I'm saying in air quotes, scale to this number. And for some, you might be thinking, well, that's actually kind of a high rate, which is true, but there this the rate in teaching studios is just so low. And it's also so slow to grow to that number. It took me 15 years. And I also was actually never offered a well, actually one time. Okay, if I'm gonna be honest, I was offered one time a $3 raise by an employer. But all other times, for me to scale from $25 to $62, I had to ask for that raise. Now, my point in telling you all of this is that in this business model, No one is probably coming to you and saying, listen, you've done an excellent job. I've been observing all of the work that you do, the quality that you bring every single time. You know what? You need a raise. That's probably not going to happen. You might have to ask for it yourself. And also, my baby is knocking on the door and might need some attention, so I'll have to make this quick. But what I'm trying to tell you is. While that is my rate in studio and my public yoga teaching pulls in somewhere, somewhere around $700 a month, because most of my teaching now is online. If my public yoga teaching pulls in around $700 a month, and yet my online yoga business pulls in five figures, anywhere between 10 to 15K a month, I'm just so excited. I'm just like So many more people need to know this. This is life-changing, right? This is so different. And I cannot wait to teach the yoga teachers inside the mastermind what to do and how to do this, how to recreate it for themselves. And when you are ready for that, and when you're like, Kenz, how do I do? How do I how do I do this? I can't wait to teach you either. So that is what happens inside the Yogipreneur Mastermind. We're currently running round four. We kicked off last week. But if you are Wanting that eventually in your life, this is where you go. So I wanted to link the wait list for you to jump on. I've also got some really amazing goodies just for jumping on the wait list, a podcast playlist for you to sink your teeth into and get you into momentum right away. But I know you're gonna get a good taste of that experience just by listening to this clip here today and to just get you excited and get you on your way. So I know you're gonna love it. Turn it up and let's dive in. I would like to talk about the yogi prenorial path. And to address right out of the gate that it is helpful and it's advantageous for you to be the type of person who makes meaning out of challenges. From day one. And this is really the heart of the first training, to be honest, module one in the program. It's all on igniting your entrepreneurial spirit and starting to act like a boss. And what this code means is moving out of victim mentality and into growth mentality. And doing that, like practicing it intentionally so that you experience a state shift, you experience that moment differently, but doing it consistently through practice, that it moves not just from a state shift of changing the experience of that moment, but it it evolves into a trait shift that this is just who you are. This is your standard, and this is how you live your life. Making meaning out of challenges will help you in the entrepreneurial path. Because basically, an entrepreneur is just a problem solver, not just for other people, but for yourself. When you encounter a problem along the way, a hiccup along the way, starting today. And I know it's so hard. I actually just shared this on social media. Maybe some of you saw this post of talking about feedback that I received from a student that was so harsh, that was so hurtful. And I cried. I was like, ouch, that really hurt. I feel so embarrassed, you know, just like all sorts of things. But every moment choosing to look, look for the lesson and to. Do your best to transmute that pain into a portal or like that cliche. Make a message out of this mess. Like, is there something that you can extract from it? And in the book that I talked about in that post, it's thanks for the feedback. Has anybody read this book? It is such a great book. It's called Thanks the Feedback, even when it's unfair, off base, and quite frankly, you're just not in the mood. It's such a good tagline. But it has this story, and I've used this as a yoga class theme before, where it's this little boy, or it's a very optimistic boy, and his parents get him for his birthday a pile of a steaming pile of shit, thinking that it would make him more realistic. But then this boy opens the room, he sees this pile of shit, and he just starts digging in it enthusiastically. And the parents are like, What are you doing? And he's like, Well, if there's a pile of Horse dung here, there's got to be a pony in here somewhere. And I love that story because it's funny and kind of, you know, gross, but it perfectly paints this imagery of growth mentality that we're looking for. And being the type of person that, even in the garbage that life sometimes gives you, or these moments in your entrepreneurial journey when you're facing a challenge or a seemingly problematic thing. That you act like that little boy. And you get your hands dirty. You start digging around and you try to look for the pony, try to look for that golden nugget of okay, maybe I don't need to take all of the feedback, but can it help me become 2% better? And I cannot stress this enough because I also want to be honest with you that the yogiprenorial path and the entrepreneurial path is challenging. It's challenging because you have to lead yourself. You have to, you have to blaze your own path. And I've had some people go through this and they're like, it has been amazing, but I also learned like this is not for me. And of course, as a service provider, like I'm like, no, you know, like, did I teach it in a way that made it too hard? Or is that or is that actually, you know, saving that person years of spending more time doing this? And I had a conversation with that person. They're like, no, I'm so glad I went through this and like learned that sooner on and had more of a realistic expectation of like what this takes. And I'm not saying any of this to like scare you, but I'm just saying. Self-leadership is challenging and it takes a type of person, but it's less challenging when you have that growth mentality mindset. And in some ways, speaking about this at the very beginning and setting that expectation or just making that more normal helps you not be so number one, surprised and also victimized, not if, but when it happens. You know, you just start to recognize that it's part of the process. And it's not a you problem, it's just a this arena problem, not even problem. We're gonna anytime you want to say the word problem out of your mouth, be like scratch it out and say opportunity. And you are closer to being the little boy. Okay, so that's the first code that I wanted to talk about today here in the Yogipreneal Path. And then the second. Is with all that being said, of this being a challenging space, ripe with lots of opportunity, for you to commit again, for you to decide again that this is what you want. And you will do to the best of your ability what it takes to build this dream. The next thing that we need is for this space to be, like I mentioned, a space of radical self-acceptance. This is a sacred space, but this is an agreement that we all need to make. I would love for this to be a sacred space and a holistic space. I'm a whole human mentor, yoga teacher, and coach. Meaning that yes, we are here to talk about business, but the common deno like you, how do I say this? You like you're the common denominator in all things. It's like you're the one that's being the mother. You're the one that's being the teacher. You're the one that's building the business. You are the common denominator in all things. So you are not feeling good just as a human being. That infuses and affects everything. How you show up in all of your relationships, not just to your business. So sometimes the first thing that we need to clean up is just the human. And your heart as Claudette. Your role Chantel just with your amazing husband who brings you lattes every hot seat coaching. He'll come in with like a steaming cup of coffee that's like gorgeous latte art for her. And I'm like, where's mine? But let's say, for example, you two are having some sort of weird energy and it's like affecting your ability to do business. That's also okay in this space. And I want you to feel like you can be as transparent, as vulnerable, as open. About what is really happening in your life to the degree that is comfortable for you. I will never poke and prod and ask not like inappropriate questions, but you know, like questions that are outside of business, but I want you to also feel like you can come to me with anything and that it doesn't just have to be business related because I do believe that all of these things affect the way you're doing business. But that also means that we need to have an agreement between us that if it's a sacred space and people are free to share, that we need to hold a certain degree of confidentiality. We need to be supportive of one another. We need to be non-judgmental. We need to be kind. So can we just have an agreement that this is a safe space here and that what is shared, what is shared within here, I'd love the raise your hand. That what is shared within here isn't something that you will go off and and share with somebody else and definitely not something that you will share online, especially if it's something that felt vulnerable or was emotionally charged, that we can we can feel safe here. In the same vein, sort of, is this idea that anytime you want to share something, but you don't, that you feel the nudge to either speak up on something or share a tip or talk about a struggle, that anytime you shrink away from that opportunity, that in some ways, this is little dramatic, but in some ways you're denying all the other people. in this experience from hearing about your magic or learning from your experiences that you've been through. I guess I'm challenging you to not shrink. And that even if you feel like if you feel like you want to share something, but you feel nervous, or there's this other tiny voice in your head that says, don't share that, it won't bring any value. And then you stay quiet, to not do that. I would love for you to be loud. I want you to be vocal. I want you to participate in the hot seat coaching call and in the discussion of the Go Collab app. Our community space, please share what you're going through, even if you are currently judging it as low vibe or messy or broken or confusing. And I've had a couple conversations with one of you. You'll know who you are, who just keeps like feeling like, why did I do this? Like you are really second guessing and questioning your right to be in this room. And that is also something that I want you to bring to the group and also come to me for. This is my role in being your coach, is to help clear that mental narrative and to help you come back into the energy of empowerment. And so I never want you to silence, especially the voices of self-doubt. And isn't self-doubt the most insidious of voices? I I think of being a little kid in vacation Bible school and talking about the rumor weed. There was like some children's school song about the rumor weed and how it like weeds and takes root in your mind and then just takes over like a weed in the garden. I feel like self-doubt is like that, that it starts off, you know, not so big, but if left unchecked, if left unpruned, if less, if left unvoiced, that it can really take over. And self-doubt is like the quickest way to kill. Momentum and dreams and all that. So I want you to come to me and it will never be an inconvenience for me. And I will never tire of coaching you, cheerleading you, helping you remember why you did this in the first place. And I think a lot of people see the value of having a coach when it's in an athletic arena. You know, people don't question hiring a coach for an athlete, especially a like Olympic athlete. You would never question Simone for like hiring a coach. But entrepreneurship takes athleticism, maybe not physical athleticism of like acrobats, but a hundred percent emotional athleticism as well as mental athleticism. And the kind of athleticism of like endurance, emotional endurance, mental endurance, to be able to hold a vision for a long period of time before there's any proof that it's gonna pay off, and to hold a vision and hold excitement before anybody else has bought into your vision yet. before you have any proof, before you have any evidence, this takes incredible athleticism, emotional mastery, mental resiliency to bounce back. The image that comes to mind is Diana Nayad. Are you familiar with Diana Nayad? She's swimming this like channel, this ridiculous, I don't remember which channel it was like from one continent or coast to coast, like an insane amount of swimming. And she's in the water, and alongside her is a boat and she has her coach, and she, you know, she's swimming. And what I want you to feel like sometimes is that you're in the middle of the ocean. I don't want you to feel like this, but you might feel like this. Where you're in this ocean, this like deep ocean, and you've been swimming for a while, a long time, and you want to be in a shallow end and like touch your feet down and take a second to like rest and catch your breath, but you're in the middle of the ocean. You gotta keep paddling and keep swimming. And I want you to feel like I am in the boat next to you, and that it is my role and my job to speak life over you, to remind you of your strength, your stamina and resilience when you have forgotten. And when you feel weak and when you are tempted to give up. And I I'm pretty, I mean, I'm like, I'm pretty good at doing this. I'm pretty good at sensing when that needs to happen. But I also want you to give you permission that you can say out loud, like, doubt is back. I'm struggling. I'm tempted to give up. And that you can voice that. I do, you know, I I can pick up on some of these things and I I can sense when, you know, that love is needed, but I also just wanted to say that, that, that you can, you can voice that. Let's see. How do I? I mean, we've been harping on this, but my next one was like work, work is required. And that nobody, this idea that of course nobody can do it for you, that I can teach you all of the ideas and the processes and the systems, but nobody can really do this work for you. It has to be done by you, just like the yoga practice and and this concept of enlightenment. Or reaching higher states of consciousness. And there's this quote that I love that says preparing to do the thing, scheduling time to do the thing, making a to-do list to do the thing, telling the people that you'll be doing the thing, hating yourself for not doing the thing, are all not doing the thing. The only thing that is doing the thing. is doing the thing. And sometimes when we are, we talked about the bottlenecks in business and break out of the box. Like when you don't have clarity, when you don't have confidence, when you don't have consistency, some of these bottlenecks get us stuck in these loops of doing a lot of stuff. Like we're taking action, but it's just action in all the wrong places. And it's like busy work that is. Procrastinating us from actually doing the thing that will move the needle. what's the thing that I need to focus on that will actually make a change and get me into momentum so I can start to experience the compound code click in. And sometimes when you're in the thick of it, when you're in the weeds, it's hard to see. I'm the queen of procrastination. It's hard to see exactly what that thing is. And that's also the value of having a coach, like having a somebody outside of you, a bird's eye perspective that can help you see the bigger picture and reconnect you to that. Because maybe even Sasha can speak to this of yesterday when we were doing our one-on-one. When you're so close to it, then you're like, or should I go here? Or should I go here? Or should I go here? And it's like, which path do I choose? And so I love helping people. people come back to like focus on this, look here and help you put on some blinders a little bit as well. To know which play to run, but also run the play fully. Do not abandon the play mid-run and finish it out so that you can have some clean data, clean data of actually executing it all the way to the end and then looking at it at the end to make your adjustments and your tweaks from there. How much do you love that? Preparing to do the thing, scheduling time to do the thing, making the to-do list to do the thing. that's what I'm the queen of. Run the play halfway, then run away. Ooh. And I'm so glad you brought this up. And I'm not saying ooh is like a shame, shaming you for feeling that way. This I think is really good self-awareness, something to be aware of. And you are not the only one. I mean, how many others can relate to this? And that it's very easy in entrepreneurship to do that. Because when you don't have a coach, someone to help you make decisions based off of data instead of your emotions, it is easy to be like, I need to make a shift, but maybe you're like mid-launch, you know, and it's it's not a shift that's coming from a place of being regulated. It's just the shift that you're like, shoot, I need to like fix it. And it's coming from fear. Shiny object syndrome syndrome and ADHD, 100%. Okay, so the last thing I want to say within here, the yogi preneurial path, is just simple words that maybe package all of this up in a little bow. Be ready for the hard. Stay open to the flow and always remember why you started. Be ready for the hard, stay open to the flow, and always remember why you started.