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This week on the podcast I am joined by Kristine Divall who is a yoga teacher, a mother, and the co-founder of Vinyasa Yoga for Youth. On this episode, Kristine shares what it was like to start Vinyasa Yoga for Youth, a yoga non-profit that brings yoga to schools with troubled yoga in cities across Canada.

She shares the challenges of starting a yoga business in the non-profit sector, as well as the challenges of working with youth in schools, including getting connected with schools, getting the necessary certifications and checks to work with youth, and then finding teachers to teach classes. She also shares what she’s learned about the power of word of mouth marketing, the importance of sharing our passions, and having a clear mission with your business. Finally, she shares tips for other yoga teachers interested in starting a yoga non-profit, as well as some of the biggest business lessons she’s learned through her career as a yoga teachers and business owner.

Enjoy!   

Business Lessons in this Episode:

• Registering as a non-profit can give you a structure that people can fund and support the work that you’re doing
• A lot of the time, getting involved with teaching at schools means that you need to find someone who is on board with offering yoga – you need an ally on your side!
• When you are booking in schools, you need to consider getting police checks, finding a timing that works with the school’s schedule, if the school requires child trauma training, etc.
• People need to know that you exist – people don’t ask for something that they don’t know exists!
• Word of mouth is often the best marketing, especially for a non-profit like Vinyasa Yoga for Youth
• When running a non-profit, you need to be a master in a whole bunch of different areas because you need to wear a lot of different hats
• The Yoga Service Counsel brings together people doing yoga service work and can be really helpful if you want to start a yoga non-profit
• Defining what you’re doing and letting know people who they can get involved is an important part of the process – sometimes this can be the hardest thing to do!
• Private donors, grants, or working with a big organization that believes in what you do can be really helpful for getting your non-profit off the ground – most of the time, people are funding the yoga teacher’s wage
• When you’re passionate about something, you’ll carve out time to work on it!
• Being trauma informed is really important when you’re working with youth and kids
• You need to be cautious of touching children when you’re teaching schools
• Always be a student and recognize how much there is to learn ALWAYS!
• Marketing doesn’t need to be salesy! Remember that we can’t reach people if they don’t know we exist and we have to do a good job sharing what we do
• Working as a team can be challenging, but it’s totally worth it
• Celebrating what you do have an expertise in
• And much more… Here’s the episode!

Connect with Kristine:

Vinyasa Yoga for Youth

Want to join me on a tropical adventure in Costa Rica this fall? Meghan Pherrill and I are co-leading a retreat for yoga teachers at the beautiful Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort November 2-9, 2019 and we’d love for you to join us.

Learn more here!

I am super excited to announce a new partnership with Schedulicity! Schedulicity is an online booking software that allows you to do everything from booking clients, to taking payments, to communicating with your clients. I personally love Schedulicity because I can do all of my booking through one easy platform. This week’s Schedulicity hot tip of the week is with Scotty!

If you’ve been wondering how an online schedule can help you with your business, email Schedulicity at support@schedulicity.com or visit schedulicity.com for a chat with one of their support rockstars!

Photos of Krstine & VYFY: