Outcome
Set up a one to one yoga service
Time
60 minutes
Difficulty
3/10
Overview
Relying solely on yoga classes for your income is the number one reason yoga teachers burn out and stop teaching.
Below you’ll discover the steps to set up a profitable one to one yoga (private yoga lessons) service. Don’t be afraid to charge a premium for your one to one yoga service. You might be tempted to only charge £15 or less for a 60 minute one to one session.
Unless you don’t need money (e.g. you are retired and teaching is your hobby), I recommend you charge £35 upwards.
Private Yoga Lessons Step 1
Copy My Package
This link will take you to my 1 to 1 yoga package.
You can copy the text and images, and use them on your site. I highly recommend that your 1 to 1 yoga service includes an option for people to purchase a 5 session package for a discount (e.g. 5% discount).
Private Yoga Lessons Step 2
Personal Yoga Folder
Give all your one-on-one students a personalized yoga folder.
The folder will help them with their home yoga practice and makes them feel a bit special. We all like unexpected gifts. It does require a little outlay of money but think of this as an investment, not an expense. The folder also acts as a giant business card.
When a friend visits your student’s house and sees their impressive-looking yoga folder, you might have yourself another one-on-one student.
The Steps
- Go to eBay and type in ‘presentation ring binder’
- Pick one you like and purchase several of them
- Click here to download the insert template (for the folder’s front cover pouch)
- Edit the template (add the student’s name)
- Insert into the presentation folder
- Give to your new one-on-one yoga student
Private Yoga Lessons Step 3
Chat About It
When you have a chat with a new student, whether it’s on the phone, just before class, or just after class, make them aware of your 1 to 1 yoga package. Don’t be shy. If you want to make a reasonable living as a yoga teacher, and want to help change people’s lives, you have to get used to chatting about all the yoga services you offer.
For example, you could say something like this:
“If you’re interested in a creating a personalised yoga practice, you might like my one to one yoga package.”
And if they say:
“How can a one to one class help me?”
Here are some ways you could respond:
“A one to one yoga session can help to improve or maintain your physical, emotional, or mental health.”
“A one to one yoga session can help you to recover from or learn to live with a health problem.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to improve your self-confidence and relationships with others.”
“A one to one yoga session can help you to gain greater concentration skills and increase vitality for work.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to improve your performance in golf (if they play golf): Yoga can be used as mental or physical preparation, a way to strengthen a particular part of the body, or to relieve over-strained muscles.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to calm anxious nerves before going on stage.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to relieve insomnia.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to heal an emotional wound, or resolve an emotional conflict.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to stay healthy during pregnancy, and gain calm and confidence for the approaching delivery.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to relieve the symptoms of the menopause.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to cultivate emotional stability.”
“A one to one yoga session can help to get through a difficult period.”
Optional Step
Email Your Students
Remind your students about your 1 to 1 yoga package by sending an email reminder every month or two. See below for an email I sent to a lady who emailed me wanting to come to one of my yoga classes.
Hi Bev,
Many thanks for your email. We are pretty full, but there’s always room for more. No need to register. We have lots of yoga mats in case you don’t have one. If you have a blanket, bring it along for the relaxation exercise at the end of the class. And bring a bottle of water so you don’t get dehydrated.
Some of the new students like to combine their yoga classes with a package of 5 or 10 one to one yoga sessions with me. This is a good option if you have any specific issues (e.g. back pain or arthritis) and want to create a yoga practice that suits your body and personality.
If that sounds interesting, click on this link for more info: http://georgewatts.org/services/1-to-1-yoga/.
The first class is free. And, I have a bribe system on the go at the moment. Bring a friend and you both get a £1 discount per class.
If you have any questions, please call me on [your telephone number].
See you on Monday.
Joy and Inner Peace,
[Your Name]
[Your Website]
[Your Telephone Number]
Optional Step
One-on-One Yoga Page Analysis
Don’t reinvent the wheel when creating your one to one yoga program. I recommend going to the websites of your fellow yoga teachers, and taking a peek at what they’re doing.
Below I take you through my thoughts on one of the best one-on-one yoga pages I’ve seen…
* My comments are in red
Header: The header at the top of the page is: Private Yoga Classes – Edinburgh and Lothians.
This is the perfect header for visitors to the page because they immediately know what the page is about. And it’s also the perfect header for maximum SEO effect (helps get you on page one of Google), because the header has an H1 header tag, and also includes the location (Edinburgh and Lothians).
Opening Paragraph: Your health journey is personal – there is no single solution that works for everybody. Through working with me, you will experience a tailored and unique approach to achieving your wellbeing and fitness goals – and leave you seriously relaxed in the process. Whether you are a complete beginner or looking to expand on your current practice, I am confident that private yoga classes will benefit you.
The opening paragraph is short, personable, and tells the visitor what to expect.
Benefit Bullet Points: There are 8 bullet points (see below).
Wish you could move with more ease and flexibility?
Want to feel more comfortable in your own skin?
Dreaming of relaxing and breathing more easily, or being more present?
Craving more guidance than you would get in a group setting?
Want to feel physically stronger than ever before?
Looking to integrate more self-care into your routine?
Wish you could improve your ability to cope with stressful situations?
Want a movement practice that will have a positive impact on the way you live?
Each bullet point gives the reader a benefit of one-on-one yoga. And each bullet uses an eye-catching icon (instead of the usual bullet points). And each bullet point asks the reader a question that helps to engage the reader. Come up with your own benefit bullet points. Make sure to keep them short and sweet (one sentence).
Call To Action Button: Immediately after giving the reader “8 benefits of one-on-one yoga, she calls you to action with a colourful call to action button (PRICES + BOOK NOW).
It’s really important to ask for the order. She asks for the order four times on this one page. That’s good. That’s very good. And the text for the order button is in capitals. That’s good. Though, I would have made the button twice as big.
Order Page: Below is the text on the order page with my comments in red.
Although I mostly hold these classes at a centrally-located studio, I am also happy to teach in the comfort of your own home (depending on location and time of day – get in touch to find out more).
Stating that she has a studio subconsciously tells the reader that she is a pro. The student immediately feels in safe hands.
For home-based clients only: use codes 2HOME, 4HOME or 8HOME to get discounts off 2x, 4x or 8x class blocks respectively.
It’s a great idea to offer home-based sessions. In fact, it’s usually better for the student if you go to their home because you’re able to help them set up a space for their yoga (crucial to building a daily yoga practice habit), and subconsciously the student gets comfortable with practicing yoga at home (also crucial to building a daily yoga practice habit).
She offers discounts for “block bookings” which is clever (and very easy to do if you have a WordPress site and use the free WooCommerce plugin). I would have made it clear what the discounts are (the visitor has to go through the order and input the code, before finding out what the discount is).
Get in touch to discuss whether I am able to teach at your home first.
I’m not sure why she has written this? I can’t think of any reason why she wouldn’t be able to teach at their home? Though, it is a good idea to ask the visitor to contact before making the purchase.
Although the block bookings are ideally aimed for being used up every month (fortnightly / weekly / biweekly) there is no obligation to do so if this does not suit you. I am happy to work with you and your availability, so reach out via email to schedule your appointment.
I like that she recommends the “block bookings” to be used up every month. This helps the student cultivate a home-based yoga practice, and helps her yoga business remain sustainable.
And she’s got another call to action (reach out via email to schedule your appointment).
Sales Copy With Images: Instead of a boring block of text, she uses text with images. This looks visually appealing. And at the end of the sales copy she has another call to action: Get in touch to find out more.
Feature Bullet Points: Now she lists the features.
The 8 features are:
Complete focus and undivided attention
Lessons that will challenge and support you
All the resources you need in between classes
Practical breathing techniques to decrease your stress levels
Ways to increase your strength, flexibility, and confidence
Options for at-home or in-studio classes
Classes in a format that is right for you and your body
Insights to improve balance, and learn to build up trust in your body
Notice that the “benefits” came before the features. Why is that?
Ever heard the saying: “Sell the sizzle”. It’s what all good advertisers know. You sell the “benefits” first because they are sexy because they are enticing because they sizzle.
Once you’ve painted vivid pictures in the minds of your visitors with the sizzling benefits, you can give them logical reasons (features) to order a one-on-one yoga package from you.
Call To Action Button: Immediately after the feature bullet points, there’s another call to action button.
Most people will only have one call to action on a sales page. She has four. That’s the sign of a pro. She’s not scared of asking for your order.
Testimonials: At the end of the page she has six testimonials. Customer testimonials are essential for persuading visitors to purchase a one-on-one yoga package because they immediately build trust and credibility with social proof.
Include as many testimonials as possible. She doesn’t include any images of the students. I think that’s a mistake. Include an image of yourself and the student together alongside the written testimonial (ask your partner to take the photo with their smartphone).
She has the testimonials on a static slider (I have to click on the tiny 0 to slide to the next testimonial). I recommend not using a slider for testimonials. Don’t make the visitor work by having to click to slide through the next testimonial. Most visitors to a web page scroll quickly through a page. They don’t have time to click anything other than your “Call To Action” buttons.
OK. That’s it.
I hope the one-on-one yoga page analysis helps inspire you to teach one-on-one yoga (if you’re not already doing it) and helps you to have the confidence to sell the one-on-ones as packages of 2, 4, or 8 sessions.
What? You want more.
Alright then…
Optional Steps
Is It Worth It: I recommend reading this short online article from The Guardian (UK newspaper) called: Is It Worth It: One-on-one Yoga. It’s a yoga student’s perspective on getting one-on-one yoga sessions.
Questionnaire: Ask the student to fill out a questionnaire before their first one-on-one yoga session with you. Go through the questionnaire with the student during their first session. You can download a three-page one-on-one yoga questionnaire template here. And a two-page template here.
Research: Once the student has filled in the questionnaire and you’ve had a good chat with them, it’s time to put your researching hat on. For example, if your student has Palindromic Rheumatism you could:
a) Google it
b) Call up the yoga teacher who trained you for advice
c) Ask questions in a yoga forum (you’ll find several yoga teacher groups on LinkedIn)
d) Open a yoga book
e) Buy a new yoga book
f) Enrol in a yoga teacher training add-on module
Lesson Plan: Create a bespoke lesson plan for the student using the Yoga Genie Lesson Planner.
Handouts: Create a one-page handout based on your student’s needs (e.g. in-depth information about a pose you recommend they practice).
Personal Folder: Put the lesson plan and handouts in a personalized folder for your student. The folder is a valuable resource for the student, and also help you teach the one to one session. Resist overloading your student during the one to one sessions. It is, however, ok to include several handouts within the folder for them to use at home.
Cancellation Policy: Provide a clear and fair cancellation policy on your website.
No Pain: When you take the student through the lesson plan, always ask your student how they feel in the pose. Ask them to be aware of any pain or discomfort.
Water Bottle: Provide water or preferably ask them to bring their bottle with them. This gets them into the habit of drinking water daily from their bottle. Emphasize the importance of drinking water during the session (cleansing and energizing).
Charge More Than You Think: A one-on-one session can take many hours of research, especially if your student has a large list of ailments (which is usually the case). You should be charging a minimum of £35 per session. If you live in a city, you could charge £75 or more.
Home Yoga Studio: Most yoga teachers host one-on-one sessions from their living rooms (unless they are lucky enough to have a spare room they can convert into a yoga room). Make sure you de-clutter, invest in an oil burner, put a cover over the TV…and do anything else that makes the living room look and smell enticing.
Yoga Student Waiver Form: Download the Yoga Student Waiver Form here. I’ve also included the text below for you in case you don’t use MS Word.
Yoga Student Waiver Form
Please read carefully and sign the following agreements: I, ______________ (print name), understand that yoga includes physical movement, breath-work, meditation, and stretching techniques. As is the case with all physical activity, I understand that the risk of injury, even serious or disabling, is always present and cannot be entirely eliminated. If I experience any pain or discomfort I will listen to my body, adjust or change the posture, and inform and seek assistance from my teacher.
I know that yoga is not a substitute for medical attention, examination, diagnosis, or treatment. I also know that all suggestions made by (ADD YOUR NAME HERE) are just suggestions and I am responsible for doing my own research and consulting a doctor before starting a yoga practice. I understand that yoga is not safe under certain medical conditions and take full responsibility for making the decision to practice yoga. I hereby agree to irrevocably release and waive any claims that I have now or hereafter may have against (ADD YOUR NAME HERE).
Client Signature: ___________________________
Date:
Yoga Student Feedback Form: Download the Yoga Student Feedback Form here. I’ve also included the text below for you in case you don’t use MS Word.
Yoga Student Feedback Form
I would really appreciate it if you could complete this feedback form. It will take between 5-10 minutes of your time. The information will be used to hopefully improve the yoga class.
What are the top 3 things you like most about the one to one yoga sessions (Please number 1, 2, 3)?
Breathing Exercises
Postures
Mantras
Philosophy
Relaxation
Flowing Sequences
Power yoga
Other:
What did you not like about the one to one sessions?
How about the price for a one to one yoga session? (Please circle)
Just right
Too much
Are you ok with being emailed once a month to let you know about special events?
Yes
No
Can you think of anything else to help me improve our one to one sessions?
Aims & Objectives Sheet: Below is an example of aims and objectives for a one-on-one yoga session with a student who had several health issues. The aim of the first session (he came for several sessions) was to provide poses to help with his arthritis. Click here to find out how to write compelling Aims & Objectives.
