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Maryam Sharifzadeh is a yoga teacher and the founder of Office Yoga. Maryam came to yoga from a fitness background, and after years of teaching both yoga and fitness, she switched to teaching only yoga. After landing a number of corporate clients and loving teaching in the corporate / office setting, she created Office Yoga!

Eight years later, Office Yoga has grown a substantially, offering branded classes nationwide and training teachers to offer great yoga classes in the corporate and office setting.

On this episode, Maryam shares her journey becoming a yoga teacher and a business owner, tips and best practices for getting started in a corporate and office environment, and some of the biggest business lessons she’s learned throughout her career.

Discussed in this episode:

• When you are a yoga teacher, you wear a lot of hats!
• When you’re on the right path, you’ll find ease and a sense in flow in what you do – this doesn’t mean that it’s not hard work, but it does make it feel easier
• Collaboration over competition! Support the people around you because when your community grows, you grow too!
• Having people be able to do office yoga from a conference room, without a mat, and without changing can make it very inviting to someone who has never done yoga before
• When you are working in the corporate space, it’s really important to improve the level of professionalism – this includes what you wear, how you communicate, and how fast you respond to people (responding to emails within 24 hours is a good practice)
• Meet your audience where they are at
• Understand who you are teaching to and what industry they are in so that you can prescribe different practices that will really serve their needs
• You can weave philosophy into your sequencing and give people sprinkles of philosophy so that it feels more accessible
• Build a relationship with the people that you are teaching, and after you have that rapport, you can start to weave in the dharma elements of yoga or the more philosophical aspects that resonate with you
• When you are teaching the philosophical side of yoga, make sure that you know the content yourself!
• If you are a yoga teacher and also work in an office, start by reaching out to the people in your office and start teaching in that space
• If you don’t work in an office, start with your own personal network! Companies are much more likely to work with people that they already know and have a relationship with.
• Find a price point that is being offered in your area – corporates are very much determined based on your area and the company that you’re working with
• Sell a starter series of at least 4 classes!
• The market changes quickly and we need to understand those changes and be receptive to them
• Conscious business is important – this means that it’s important to make sure that you are happy with what you’re doing and defining success on your own terms
• Bring in the principles of yoga into how you run your business and live your life
• When you start out, keep reflecting on how the things that you are saying feel to you
• Teach as much as you can, especially when you are new to teaching
• And much more… Here’s the episode!

Connect with Maryam:

Most wellness professionals struggle with creating a website and a digital presence, so OfferingTree created easy to use software that guides yoga teachers through the process in about 30 minutes. That’s right, you can have a beautiful mobile responsive website in 30 minutes!  OfferingTree’s website tools allow teachers to put their class schedule on their own branded website and allows their students to book classes and even pay online. It also supports one on one appointment booking. Your OfferingTree website will have a whole host of other tools to help you be a successful teacher like newsletter and a blog, website traffic analytics, search engine optimization, client communication tools and more.  OfferingTree really does make it simple to have a website and takes care of the tech side of teaching. So if you’ve been putting off creating a website because you think it will be a headache, you should really give them a try. To get started on your website today go to `offeringtree.com/mbom` and receive 50% of your first three months. When I created a site with OfferingTree I was pleasantly surprised at really how easy it was. I had a website that really looked professional in less than 30 minutes! Again, check out `offeringtree.com/mbom` to receive 50% off your first three months and create your new website today.

Are you a studio owner that’s working 16-18 hour days but still struggling to grow? OR Are you a well established studio with healthy monthly revenue, but membership growth has plateaued?

If either of these sound like you, I’ve got the perfect solution… Most studio owners get marketing all WRONG!!

Tell me if this sounds familiar, you’re writing blogs, posting daily on all the social media sites, sending out email newsletters, blah blah blah…

While these activities might get you a new member or two EVENTUALLY, it will take months or even years before they payoff.

You need new members today…

Starting in July, Ron Medlin owner of the Rebel of Growth, an agency that focuses specifically on helping yoga studios grow memberships, Is hosting the 30 Members In 30 Days Challenge where he’ll show you How to Add 30 New members to your studio in the next 30 Days.

You’ll leave this challenge having everything you need to drive people through your doors and turn them into long-term members starting day one.

So if you’re ready to STOP WORKING YOURSELF to death doing busy work that will not grow your studio and start bringing new students in your door starting today. Join the challenge at www.rebelofgrowth.com/challenge. 

Photos of Maryam: