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The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

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Now displaying: March, 2019
Mar 25, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

109: Attracting Clients with Your Message with Eman Zabi

 

Description:

 

Your business is about you, but does your branding and website copy reflect who you are as a yoga teacher, and showcase your unique personality and voice? Eman helps business owners “put the personality back in your business” and she has some tips for you to get started doing the same.

 

Eman is the founder of The Scribesmith, and she puts her background in Political Science, Econometrics and Neuromarketing to good use in her business. She works with clients from the outdoor, fitness and wellness industry to help them create copy that makes their businesses sound human, capture the essence of the person behind the business, and stand out from the hundreds of other similar offerings.

 

Particularly in the yoga industry, the human aspect is so important, because a lot of times, our students work with us because they like us, and our style and our personality.

That’s why personality-driven copy on our websites is so important. Eman shares why it’s so important to share your story, what your brand is as a yoga teacher, and some tips for how to capture your unique voice and convert it into copy.

 

If you're feeling like your website reads like a robot wrote it, or if your branding and copy just don't stand out among hundreds of other yoga business owners out there, you are going to love this episode.

 

Key Takeaways:

[3:22] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Eman Zabi.

[5:03] Where did Eman get started with her journey of copywriting, particularly for wellness businesses?

[7:27] Has Eman ever encountered a situation where she thought that she should pivot away from working with businesses in this space?

[9:20] What benefits has Eman seen in businesses when they niche down and speak to a specific audience? Eman explains more about the Return on Investment (ROI) of branding and differentiation.

[12:38] What does "brand" actually mean for yoga teachers or yoga studios?

[13:24] Eman shares some tips on how to connect with your brand.

[16:00] How can you start to dig in and showcase more of who you are?

[17:34] How much is too much when it comes to sharing?

[19:17] What are Eman's thoughts on how to choose a name for your business?

[20:53] Listener question from Pili Bailey: How can I share my story while weaving together yoga and aromatherapy?

[22:25] What helped Eman along the way to develop her homepage? How can yoga teachers and yoga studio owners apply that to their own homepages?

[25:52] Shannon and Eman discuss the call-to-action on your website, and how this ties in with a sales funnel.

[28:10] What is Eman's advice to yoga teachers who haven't found their niche?

[30:57] How can you own your story and share who you are without feeling embarrassed?

[34:21] Eman shares more about an email marketing campaign that really made an impact.

[36:56] How does Eman create amazing subject lines? She also dives into what makes a great email with some examples.

[44:19] How can you deal with people who unsubscribe from your email list?

[45:12] Eman leaves us with some final tips on how to dig into your own voice in your copy.

[46:44] Shannon shares her biggest takeaways from her interview with Eman, and leaves you with some homework!

 

Links:

 

Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity

 

Quotes from this episode:

 

"It just made sense to be writing about a space that was such a big part of my life."

 

"The yoga studios here, particularly, I found that they really have to find really unique ways of telling their stories - they need to stand out."

 

"As a yoga studio owner, if you invest in your branding and in your story, you're using that to differentiate yourself."

 

"Just bringing a part of yourself to the table and using that to connect with others - it's one of the easiest and most effective ways of standing out."

 

"We like to work with people we like, and you cannot like people don't know."

 

"How much you share comes down to who your audience is, and it comes down to knowing your audience."

 

"As a business owner, you have the luxury of being able to pivot your business when you feel like it isn't working."

 

"If I put myself out there, I'm able to reach more people. And if I'm able to reach more people, I'm able to help more people."

 

"Email marketing, I think, is the most underutilized tool in the fitness industry."

Mar 18, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

108: Inclusive Language for Prenatal Yoga with Shannon Crow

 

Description:

How can we use inclusive language in a fertility, prenatal or postnatal yoga class so that our students feel heard, seen, accepted and welcome? This episode is a mini-training on how we as yoga teachers can make our classes more accessible and inviting through the words that we use.

 

Inclusive language is not something a lot of us think about or consider when we are teaching yoga. However, it is an important part of creating welcoming spaces where our students feel accepted and safe. This can be particularly complicated in a prenatal, postnatal, fertility, or baby & me yoga class.

 

On this episode, Shannon shares more about the different aspects to consider when it comes to inclusive language. Starting with your core values and beliefs, to your promotion and marketing materials (yes, even the images!), to the language you use during the class - Shannon dives headfirst into the kinds of inclusive language you can use in your classes, with tips, examples and templates for you to tap into.

 

Whether you’re trying to be more mindful of the language that you use to create a safe space for your students, or you’re wondering how to keep up with the times and include different students in their birth journey, this episode will give you plenty to think about.

 

Key Takeaways:

[3:57] Shannon almost backed away from doing this episode - she shares why it was so difficult for her.

[5:15] This episode is all about inclusive language.

[5:47] Inclusive language begins with your core beliefs and values. Shannon has an exercise - the "I Believe List" - for you to try out.

[9:29] Your core values and beliefs get communicated through all your promotional and marketing materials, not just through language but through your images as well.

[11:08] Getting to know your students helps you use appropriate and inclusive language. Shannon recommends a waiver form and suggests some of the topics to ask about to better understand your students.

[14:51] The next part of using inclusive language for prenatal yoga ties in with the "Welcome and What to Expect" portion of the class. Shannon shares an example that she might use to welcome students in a prenatal yoga class.

[22:15] In class with your students, what is the inclusive language that you can use?

[22:47] The first two categories of inclusive language have to do with acknowledging and including baby, and on the flip side, acknowledging self and space for the pregnant student. Shannon has some examples of how you might cue this in your class.

[25:39] In your prenatal yoga class, choose empowering and encouraging language.

[26:55] It's important for us as yoga teachers to learn the medical language, and then to choose what you don't want to use.

[28:14] Get comfortable talking about pelvic anatomy and different conditions that the prenatal yoga student may have.

[28:48] Part of inclusive language in a prenatal yoga class is using gender-neutral language.

[34:20] Another important part of inclusive prenatal yoga classes is being inclusive of all family dynamics, beliefs and choices.

[35:35] Shannon touches on the topic of postnatal and parenthood inclusive language.

[38:38] Birth circles are a time for new parents to share their birth story, with no judgment.

[39:53] Shannon leaves us with some final thoughts about this topic.

 

Links:

 

Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity

 

Quotes from this episode:

 

"Inclusive language starts before you are standing in front of a room full of yoga students. I believe it begins with your core beliefs or values."

 

"Be gentle with yourself as we go through this inclusive language and just know that we're all learning."

 

"We get to make a choice around what language we use."

 

"As I'm talking about this with you today, if you feel some resistance come up, figure out where is that coming from."

 

"I want to keep up with the times on this one, so that my yoga students don’t feel excluded or discriminated against."

 

"The more we actually know someone's story, the less we're just reacting to what we're used to, to our "normal" in society."

 

"We don't have to have the same choices, we just need to stay neutral on this, as the person who's holding space."

 

"What is the intention of the inclusive language?"

 

"If I can make someone feel welcome, heard, seen, accepted in my yoga class, it is totally worth it."

Mar 11, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

107: Launch & Promote Your Yoga Offering with Abby Herman

 

Description:

 

Do you struggle with putting out content that connects you to your yoga students? Have you gotten overwhelmed about promoting your yoga offering - not knowing where to start, which platform to choose, or even what to say? Abby Herman is just the expert you need to hear from about all things content-related.

 

Abby is the founder of Write Solutions and is a content strategist who helps her clients to get their message out to their audience, in their own voice, and on their own terms. She specializes in working with service-based businesses and helps small business owners generate ideas and strategies to move their businesses forward with content that attracts the right clients.

 

You have something unique to share with the world, but if people don’t know about you, they can’t work with you. That’s why content is so important - it helps you connect to your ideal yoga student, and attracts them to you. Abby talks about finding your zone of genius, brainstorming, how to use content across different platforms, and what it really takes to make a successful launch.

 

If you’ve been wanting to start promoting your yoga offering more consistently, or if you find yourself getting stuck in creating meaningful and relevant content for your audience - this is the episode for you. Listen to the end of the episode to find out how you can stand a chance to win a live 1:1 content planning session with Abby!

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:43] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Abby Herman.

[5:28] What has Abby's experience with yoga been?

[6:27] What does Abby do and who does she do it for?

[6:50] What does 'launching' mean?

[7:54] How much time do you need to lead up to a launch?

[10:33] It is possible to launch a program or course with a tight turnaround, as long as you are nurturing your audience on a regular basis before that.

[12:07] What should you be saying in emails that nurture your audience? How can you brainstorm content ideas to engage with and remain connected to your audience?

[15:46] How does Abby generate content in her own business?

[20:30] How many umbrella topics should you have in your Excel spreadsheet?

[23:11] How long does it take to brainstorm ideas? Abby shares some tips about things to do, and things to avoid.

[26:55] Abby shares her thoughts about repurposing and reusing content across different platforms.

[35:20] Is it important to focus on platforms that you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with?

[36:35] What is the best way to map all your content ideas out onto a calendar?

[42:25] It's important to link to other content in emails, but can you ever be adding in too many links to different content?

[46:21] What's the best time to send emails? How often?

[48:08] To find out more about Abby and the work that she does, get in touch via her website.

[48:42] Shannon highlights her biggest takeaways from this interview with Abby.

 

Links:

 

Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity

 

Quotes from this episode:

 

"Launching means you are putting something out there ... to your audience and it's a way to really narrowly focus your audience's attention on one thing that you want them to buy."

 

"People have to hear things like 7, 8, 9 times in order for it to really register."

 

"Whether it's a free event or not, you still want to get a commitment because once they say 'yes, I'll be there', they're much more likely to actually show up."

 

"The more you can expand that experience for your clients, the better, and the more willing they will be to buy the thing."

 

"Think about content in themes, and then it's a lot easier to then take those themes and plug in different ideas for a blog, for an email you send out to your audience, for social media posts."

 

"When you have too many, your message gets watered down, and so people don't really know what to come to you for. They don't really know what you're an expert in."

 

"Sometimes we're so close to our own content and our own ideas that we don't really know what other people need to know."

 

"What I recommend doing is creating content that is complementary but not the same."

 

"Think about where you can show up the best for your audience, and how you can promote that."

 

"Think about that any time you're creating any content at all - what do you want them to do, or what do you want them to know, or what's the call to action at the end."

Mar 4, 2019

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast

106: Defining My Yoga Business Niche with Shannon Crow

 

Description:

 

What’s your yoga business niche? Do you share your yoga with everyone, or are you focusing in on your zone of genius? Even though she has been in the yoga industry for 13 years, Shannon still struggles with defining her yoga business niche. On this episode, she shares her own process that helped her figure out where to take her yoga business.

 

As Shannon started planning her content for 2019, and looking forward into how she wanted to grow her yoga business in the new year, she kept feeling stuck with some content planning. She shares the strategies that she uses in her content creation process - what worked, and what didn’t work. (Hint: If you’re having trouble with content, some of these methods will help!)

 

The result of all her planning and reflection was the realization that she needed to niche down in her yoga business once again. Shannon talks about her struggle with accepting and admitting that her focus in her yoga business had shifted from where she started out, and why niching down is a process that never ends.

 

If you’ve been feeling burned out from teaching too many different yoga classes or are feeling stuck in the work that you’re doing - it may be time for you to look into defining your yoga business niche, and this episode has just the insights you need to get you started.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:28] This episode is about a challenge Shannon has been facing in her yoga business

[3:17] Next week's episode with Abby Herman is all about content, and there's an amazing prize giveaway too!

[5:37] Please leave a review if you're enjoying this content!

[8:54] It's so much easier for Shannon to share the work she does with yoga and yoga business owners when she is connected to herself, her yoga practice and her community.

[10:23] Shannon shares more about how she hit a point of struggle in her yoga business just before 2019.

[14:55] Taking away the guilt from the process can help you move away from what's keeping you stuck, and into areas that you thrive

[17:00] Reflecting back on your work can help you see clearly where you are struggling in your business.

[18:47] Shannon shares how she does her content brainstorming - Start with the main content topic, then map out subtopics.

[20:56] Shannon loves to map out three things when it comes to content - the channel she's releasing the content, the release date, and when she's creating that content. Why is this so important?

[23:07] How is all of this related to defining your yoga niche?

[25:58] Shannon talks through her struggles around Mama Nurture, and how she resolved them.

[31:56] Niching down is work that never ends.

[32:55] Shannon shares a personal anecdote about her journey with niching down.

[35:22] Check out the ways you can work with Shannon at The Connected Yoga Teacher website.

 

Links:

 

Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity

 

Quotes from this episode:

 

"What's the secret to podcasting? It's simply 'Just keep going'."

 

"There have been times in my yoga career where it really does feel like very difficult work. And that's when I know I'm kind of fighting against where I'm actually supposed to be going."

 

"You pick the channel where you really like to connect to your audience."

 

"You do not have to make a content plan that would make sense to someone else."

 

"Stick to one piece of content that you really love to do, that's your one main channel. And then add on as you want to, or as it works in. Don't try to do it all at once."

 

"My content struggle is that I do not feel rooted in the 'now' with prenatal yoga."

 

"I believe that each and every yoga teacher has a unique and amazing gift to offer to the world that no one else can."

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