3 Costly Yoga Business Mistakes: Mistake Number 2

Mistake number 2:
You have no proper accounting system
 (which you check monthly at a minimum if you're running your own classes).

One yoga studio I helped hadn't done their accounts for the whole of their first year! Seriously – I was shocked.

They had not set up even a basic paper set of books – no one had been checking their receipts and their bills were all over the place - and I can only imagine their accountant would charge a fairly hefty amount to try to sort all that out into the basic figures they'd need to submit for their end-of -year accounts.

Perhaps even more importantly, they were also missing out on understanding exactly what was happening in their business. They had no real handle on how many students they had enrolling for their full memberships? How long did those members stay? Which classes were more popular? Who took up offers?

This lack of analysis of what was actually going on in their business meant they couldn't even plan effectively - what to keep doing - what to stop. There were 3 directors - two of whom were becoming a little disillusioned because they weren’t even paying themselves for all the work they were putting into the business. They had no idea if they even had enough money in the business to be able to pay themselves – not even for their own expenses.

If you kept your own personal finances with no idea of how much was coming in and going out might you be heading for trouble?

Now, this studio I hope is not the norm. However, there are lots of yoga teachers out there who demonstrate that same lack of grip on what money is coming in, and what money is going out. Whether it’s in your personal life or your business life, this sort of ostrich behaviour can only lead to problems down the line.

I've been there - ignoring money until it turned around to bite me on the bum because I was in debt I needed to fix! It's not pleasant.

And whether you're teaching yoga to be charitable or not - if your teaching takes away from your ability to be able to respect and support your own living needs, then you're not going to be able to give for much longer.

Just because we care; just because we want to help others, does NOT mean at the expense of our own health and well-being. If we deplete that, how much have we left to give then?

Nothing.

We are in a better position to help others when we are strong and stable ourselves. I call it self-care - not self-ish.

I call it "respecting" our own needs - as well as those of others.

I've learned if I don't master money - it masters me - and that’s why getting this right is SO important.

So, get a proper accounting system!

Paper-based if you're not aspiring to anything other than "pocket money." A proper system such as QuickBooks or Sage if you would like to make this more of a career.

If you're teaching solely for other studios, etc., then at the VERY least, keep track of everything you spend which is yoga-related. Everything!

And, at the end of a month - or 3 months at a stretch - take an hour or so to work out what you've earned, minus your costs, and work out your hourly rate of pay - because that's what it boils down to.

I've had some teachers tell me they could earn more at McDonalds per hour than as a yoga teacher.

Again - you might be happy with that - you just love teaching yoga. And that's fine.

But isn't it better to know - and then choose if that's what you want or not?

Namaste,

Shona

Actions you can take:

I’m a great believer life happens by design – and action takers are the ones who really shape their world according to their vision.

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