The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast
280: Get Paid as a Yoga Teacher with Shannon Simmons
Description:
As yoga business owners, we may feel conflicted around making money and getting paid for sharing yoga and helping others. However, being able to get paid for the work that you do ensures that you will be able to continue serving others with your yoga. So how do you make sure that you can pay yourself a consistent salary? Shannon Simmons shares how to organize your finances and get paid consistently as a yoga teacher.
Shannon is the founder and CEO of Fit For Profit. Her goal is to remove the stress that wellness business owners often feel around finances, by helping them implement simple systems around money management. By helping them create financial systems in their business that allow them to pay themselves a consistent salary, Shannon enables them to worry less about paying bills and focus on building a sustainable business.
In this episode, Shannon S. addresses some of the concerns yoga entrepreneurs have around making money and getting paid, and encourages us to shift our mindset and thinking about our businesses. She explains how the Profit First system helps yoga teachers make a profit in their business and build a more sustainable business that is able to deal with emergency expenses and taxes while paying yourself a consistent salary. If you are ready to start making profits in your yoga business, this episode is for you.
Key Takeaways:
[0:00] Shannon addresses the recent US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
[3:54] Shannon shares some of the resources she has been learning from.
[6:09] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Shannon Simmons.
[12:12] What does Shannon S. do and who does she do it for?
[13:19] What is the Profit First system of accounting?
[15:15] Setting up multiple bank accounts can be a challenge! What are Shannon S's thoughts around that?
[16:07] Shannon S. has a list of banks she recommends for people wanting to implement Profit First.
[16:31] How does Profit First differ from the typical way of managing finances in a business?
[20:04] Apart from the account for profit, what are the other accounts we should have in this system?
[22:04] Paying yourself as the owner is separate from your profit! Shannon S. explains further.
[24:09] How does Shannon S. respond to wellness professionals or yoga teachers who think that they shouldn't be making their business about profit?
[25:48] What are some of Shannon S.'s tips to implement the Profit First system?
[27:29] Shannon S. recommends raising your rates annually.
[31:15] Get your bank statement and start looking at all your expenses. Which ones can you reduce?
[33:09] Shannon C. and Shannon S. discuss how useful it can be to have someone on your team to have eyes on your finances.
[33:59] If you only have one account for income and expenses, Shannon S. recommends making the transfers every time you get a deposit. How often should you pay yourself profits?
[36:20] What happens to the other half of the profits that you don't pay to yourself?
[37:29] Shannon C. pops in with tip about using OfferingTree for memberships.
[40:27] Many yoga teachers and entrepreneurs don't have a separate business bank account and they aren't paying attention to their finances! Shannon S. shares some tips on that.
[43:45] Don't wait till it's time to do your taxes to figure out if you made a profit or not!
[44:52] What are some of the roadblocks that come up for entrepreneurs?
[47:10] Shannon S. shares some percentages that people can start off at to implement Profit First in their business.
[50:42] What are some tips to get to being able to pay ourselves a salary of 50% of revenue?
[53:45] Get support from Shannon S. in setting up Profit First for your business. Connect with her via her website.
[58:17] What is your biggest takeaway? What action step will you be taking from this interview? Shannon C. shares how she's applying insights from this interview to her business.
Links:
Gratitude to our Sponsor, OfferingTree and Pelvic Health Professionals.
Quotes from this episode:
"You are your own best employees. So you need to be paying yourself as if you were an employee." - Shannon S.
"The only way to help people is to be profitable and the only way that you can truly be profitable is if you're really helping people." - Shannon S.
"If you have any resistance to five [bank accounts], you don't have to do five. Just start with one. That's the very basic process to get started." - Shannon S.
"Most people aren't profitable before they implement Profit First. That's the dirty little secret." - Shannon S.