John & Chris Yax on Being a Successful Yoga Entrepreneur

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This week on the podcast I am joined by John & Chris Yax from Yax Yoga Concepts. John & Chris are brothers, business partners, and yoga teachers from Virginia Beach, VA. They came to yoga from a mixed martial arts background, but quickly fell in love with the practice and decided to become teachers. They soon opened up a yoga studio in their house, and have watched their studio grow and flourish into two locations, teacher training programs, and thousands of students coming through the door.

On this episode, John & Chris share what it has taken for them to be successful yoga teachers, successful studio owners, and to be able to create their own teacher training programs. They share the business tips they’ve learned through their careers, and much more.

Enjoy!

Discussed in this episode:
  • How John & Chris got into yoga after having a mixed martial arts background
  • What it was like to open a yoga studio in their house
  • Make sure what you are offering is really consistent – make sure names of classes and the experiences are consistent
  • How to create a cohesive teaching brand – you have to train and teach your teachers the way that you want them to be taught
  • Chris & John started their own teacher training programs 3 years after they started their studio so that they could teach their teachers their methodology and styles for teaching
  • The benefits of training with a studio that you can teach at after – you get constant feedback, you get help with a job after, etc.
  • A lot of studios are struggling because they offer too many types of classes – you really want to be clear about what you offer and what people can expect when they take that class
  • If you want to open a yoga studio, study systems created by other people who have opened successful yoga studios
  • Just because you are good at yoga doesn’t mean you’re going to be good at running at yoga studio – the business of yoga is a separate skill
  • Russell Brunson is a great resource for getting started with your yoga business
  • What it was like to open up a second location of a studio
  • Figure out your zone of genius and hire people to do the other stuff!
  • If you want to start a teacher training, put it together and just start. It doesn’t need to be perfect right off the get-go, and without starting, you’ll never be able to see it grow.
  • Always ask for feedback for how you can make something better, especially if it’s your first time
  • Understand your why – why do you do what you do? You need to understand this because this is your methodology for teacher training.
  • Teach spirituality in a way that it feels grounded
  • We need certainty and uncertainty, significance, connection and love
  • Use people’s names and make them feel valued when they come to class
  • People don’t value cheap or free things – charge what you are worth and trust that you offering good quality
  • Understand the relationship between price and value
  • If you’ve been teaching for 1 day or 5 years, you have something to offer – make sure you value that!
  • Figure out who you want to serve and how you want to serve them. What can you do for them that will create real results in their lives?
  • Honor the struggle! It’s real, but it’s worth the effort.
  • And much more… Here’s the episode!

Connect with John & Chris: 

Yax Yoga Concepts

Yoga Entrepreneurship Secrets


This episode is brought to you in part by OfferingTree. When you’re a yoga teacher and you’re trying to build your digital presence it can be daunting.  First, you might need a website. There are a lot of great tools for building websites like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace.  Then you need a way to email your students.  Again there are tools for that like mail chimp and constant contact.  But that’s another account to pay for and a password to remember.  Then you need a way to schedule and register your students.  Again there are tools for that, but it’s another account to create and pay for and another password to remember.  Oh wait, how do I integrate my scheduling tool with my website… Arghhhh! Instead of putting all of this stuff off for another day because it’s too daunting, let me tell you about a better way.  OfferingTree set out to make creating your digital presence fun, easy and affordable. With one account you can create a website in minutes that has your schedule built right in.  They also have email marketing tools to collect email addresses, send newsletters and automated emails to your subscribers. It all works seamlessly together with one account and one subscription.  To learn more about what OfferingTree can do for your digital presence visit offeringtree.com/mbom.  OfferingTree has been supporting MBOM for close to a year now and I not only love the product, but I also love the people! OfferingTree is providing special pricing for MBOM listeners so be sure to visit offeringtree.com/mbom to receive the discount.


The FavYogis app is back with new features for teachers that let you create and manage your own private classes while making payment and registration a breeze.

Do you have regular private clients? Make life easier with AUTO-PAY. Forget about remembering to Venmo. Use auto-pay to enable repeat payments and keep calendars in sync with classes. Google Calendar integration automatically updates teacher and student classes when you make changes

It’s STILL just your yoga; teachers add classes, students add teachers, and teachers and students stay connected.

Find FavYogis on your app store and use code MBOM.


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Photos of John & Chris:

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Weekly interviews for yoga teachers packed with information to help you create, grow or expand your yoga business! Whether you are brand new to business or looking to take your business to the next level, there’s something for you.

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