Teaching for the Money or the Service? Two Sides of the Same Coin

  • Do you know what the “market rate” for teaching a Yoga class is in your area?
  • How do you determine how much to charge?
  • Should you get paid a flat rate for an hour class, or should you get paid by the student count?

As Yoga Teachers, how do we know what to charge for our services? You’ve heard of the term “what the market will bear” when it comes to customer pricing philosophies. But, what about if we are teaching in lots of different venues like Yoga studios, gyms, assisted living, corporations, churches, privates, etc? What the market will bear is different for each of these venues.

As a Studio owner and a Yoga Teacher, I’ve found a great formula for setting prices. It’s referred to as “pricing segmentation”. Which means, you set prices based on smaller segments of your teaching business. What you charge for a Corporate Yoga class is more than you would charge at a Senior Center. And the flat rate you get at a gym is different than the Yoga studio per student pay. And why is that?… Because each of those markets will bear different prices. If you always want to get $75/hour for teaching Yoga, then you will be shutting out some of these important student venues.

Teaching for the Money or the Service? Two sides of the same coin
If you wanted to make the most money for your Yoga teaching time, then you would go for the highest paying segment, obviously. But, this is not reality because we are in the “energy” business. What we really need is a mix of teaching venues to keep you and your energy balanced. Teaching for the money can get shallow and drain your energy, teaching for the service can be uplifting but will put less pennies in your pocket. But truly, we need them both!

In this video excerpt from the “Business and Marketing of Yoga Workshop”, I address the various teaching venues and some of the pricing philosophies of teaching Yoga in your community.