Why being a perfectionist won’t help you build your yoga teacher business (Let it go…)

I’ve had two major mentors in my life since I started building a business and both of them had this mantra:

Money loves speed

Because, if you’re trying to build a business, as opposed to just doing a “bit on the side” for some pin money, unless you have another stream of income, like everyone else, you need to pay the bills, and that means one way or another, you have to establish a steady stream of income.

There’s nothing quite like wondering if you’ll have enough money at the end of the month to pay the bills for sharpening the focus!

I know. I’ve been there. More than once. It’s a very uncomfortable place to be.

So you dig down, set yourself a “to do” list, and commit to taking action to get things done to bring in the new students you need………

Maybe you start a website. So many yoga teachers make this their first job. (big mistake from my perspective!)

You knuckle down but it seems to take forever. So much to decide! How will you brand? You’ve heard it said your branding is important, but how do you get a logo? Will you do it or someone else? What colours? (I’ve seen people anxst over this for weeks!)

What will you write on this website? What pictures will you use? What are you actually going to be offering? You realise you need help with the technical side – but feel you can’t afford to pay
someone, so decide you’ll learn to set it up yourself….and another few weeks go by because this is all new to you – and you’re slower than someone who does this for a living.

It seems there are so many decisions to be made, and you want it to be “right.” So you get some pages done, then tweak, and tweak again….

And weeks, maybe even months later, that website still isn’t quite ready.

Every time you look at it, you tweak. There always seems to be something you could do to make it “better.”

Or maybe you decide you’ll choose a hall and advertise some classes, just to see how it goes. What do you do to attract people? Where do you advertise? What do you write on your posters or on social media? You find the whole process seems to take for ever – and have this nagging feeling it’s not quite how you want it…………

Then you finally get round to launching your first classes, and you don’t get the numbers you hoped for. You’re disappointed and disheartened.

After all that work.

Does any of this resonate for you? If it does, then read on!

Because

This is procrastination, disguised as perfectionism and what I call “Action Illusion”.

Perfectionism and what I call “action illusion”
can, quite literally hold you back from actually filling your yoga classes; leaving you spinning your wheels for weeks or even longer.

Here’s my take on this:

1. Nothing is EVER perfect!
   As long as you have actually thought about and decided on your target market, your niche then seriously, just get something out there to attract those ideal students for you.
   (and if you’re thinking “my what?” then you need to read this article, and others on the same subject, before you do ANYTHING else!! The truth about teaching yoga – you need to stand out)
2. However good it is to have a website, (and it is useful!) it is possible to start getting students to your offerings without one – or with a really basic one.
   In fact, the quicker you do this, and the simpler it is to begin with the better – because at the early stages you’re just testing your concept, to see if it works. Spending hours, weeks or longer trying to get it perfect ,might just be a total waste of time – and you realise you’re going to need to tweak it anyhow!
   See this as an “experiment” – testing out what works and what doesn’t. You’ll have plenty of time (and more money!) as your business grows, to work on your website if you want to.
   The truth is – my website is not the prettiest thing yuo’ve ever seen – and I do look at it sometimes and think, I really must get round to improving the look of that! But you know
   what? I fill my classes! The website works!
   Why fix what ain’t broken?!
3. Get over being “perfect!” and don’t spend ages comparing yourself to others!
   I don’t care what you’re working on, get over wanting to try to get it absolutely “right.”
   There is no such thing!!
   And it’s easy to look at what your competition are doing and feel inadequate. Don’t do that either! All this does is slow down the process of actually getting students to your classes, and earning you an income! Believe me, your prospective students don’t really care that much,
   (if at all!) or even notice the things you do…..all they want is a yoga class with a teacher they look at and think – oh that sounds like a perfect class/teacher for me!
   As long as you’ve done that, and let them have time/day and the other most usual stuff that interests them, that’s all they need to make a decision!
4. My mentor has a saying (like me, she has many of them!!)
   But it’s a mantra of mine now and I’d like you to take it up too….
   Version 1 is better than version none!”
   So – as long as you’ve got your niche sorted then just get version 1 out there – in all its imperfections. See the response – and then tweak if necessary!
   (Not got your niche sorted? Go back to point 1 and the niche articles on my blog if not!!
   Seriously!! DO NOT start ANY advertising till you’ve done this!!)
5. Action illusion is a killer to a business
   What is “action illusion?” Psychologists describe this as where you are taking action – but those actions are not actually helping you get what matters most done!
   A perfect example of this is the student who has to revise for exams, and spends 3 hours drafting up a revision timetable in beautiful colours in a spreadsheet! That’s 3 hours of
   actual revision just wasted!
   For you, it might be researching ideas for a logo; finding a “better” picture of you for your website; having a meeting with another teacher with some vague idea of looking at how you might collaborate…..
   Can you think of anywhere in YOUR business where you are guilty of “Action illusion?”
   ANY business is about doing the RIGHT things, in the RIGHT order.
   Learn what those things are – then just get them done – and get them out there –imperfections and all!

And watch your business take off!

Good luck!

Namaste,

Shona

Actions you can take:

• Not sure about the things you need to have in place in order to develop your yoga teacher career? You’ll find a number of free resources and articles designed to help you on the website – as well as information about our 30 days to 30K as a yoga teacher course, which helps you understand and implement the 7 key steps, in the right order, to help fill your yoga classes and generate sustainable income as a yoga teacher.
• Join our FB group; share your thoughts on this article and your own experience of procrastinating, or action illusion. You’ll also get additional tips and answers to any questions you have on any topic around building your yoga business and developing your yoga career. So do join us!