3 Freebie Ideas To Grow Your Email List (Quicker!)

3 Freebie Ideas To Grow Your Email List (Quicker!)

 

You might’ve been wondering what are some great ways to not only grow your email list, but connect and show your expertise to your, to your audience, to your existing followers and new followers. And guess what? This can all be done with one simple tool called an opt-in page, or in other words, a freebie.

 

A freebie is a powerful tool that takes your audience off of social media, and onto your email list so you can engage with them regardless of what happens to social media platforms, and which can stand the test of time.

 

For example, two of my friends and clients, their Facebook got hacked the other day and they lost so many people from groups they had been building. And the first thing I asked them was, “Hey, have you been getting people onto your email list?”

 

Because the best thing about an email list is that it’s yours. It’s not owned by a third party and it’s not subject to a specific platform. Basically, all your eggs aren’t in one basket.

 

So imagine TikTok goes away and you lose a hundred thousand followers, or Instagram goes away and you can’t communicate with your 2,000 followers? How would you sell your products and services? What would happen to your business? It’s time to make business platform proof and also a place where you give your followers exclusive access to your content and offers… meaning, you’re not subject to an algorithm since they are willingly saying: “please have my email and I’ll see you in my inbox.”

And consider this… you’re giving people a valuable GIFT in exchange for their email! To me, this is a win win!

Another super important reason why having an email list is so clutch is because it actually serves as clout and is great when you’re ready to start running Facebook and Instagram Ads. 

Briefly I realized you also might have said… “Ari, who reads emails anymore? Everyone is on social media!”. I am here to tell you – I read emails, good emails that is. I buy stuff from those good emails I get sent and most of the time, I actually don’t see those people in my social media, which I spend quite a bit of time on (shame on me for not always working on my business!). 

We’ll get into email writing tactics on another blog post, but for now, let’s focus on growing your email because without at least 100 subscribers, creating lengthy and value rich email campaigns won’t be your best ROT (return on time!).

Now here are some freebie ideas to showcase your expertise and truly serve your audience the best way you know how!

 

Freebie 1: A Checklist

It could be a wellness checklist. It could be a diet checklist. It could be a lifestyle checklist. People love to know about themselves. And they love to know if they’re doing things right.

 

And remember, since you are the expert, you have all the knowledge. People want to get their sources from a trusted individual and you are that person.

 

A checklist can be easily created on Canva, or you can even start it in a word document!

 

So now, how do people get this checklist? Well, number one, you could simply ask people to DM you or leave a comment and then you DM them. 

You don’t need a whole opt-in page and a landing page, an email sequence, not in the beginning. I love to say, “how can I run my business on bare bones?“

Well, this is one of those ways you could just say, “Hey, whoever wants this checklist, DM me your email.”

Number two, if you are looking to start your digital marketing portfolio, then you’ll want a simple opt-in page where people can leave their name, email and a phone (optional), then get a very simple automated email sequence that delivers the freebie and follow up emails that help the prospective client to get to know you better and nurture the relationship. You’d use softwares like: Go High Level or Active Campaign which are my personal favorites.

 

Freebie 2: A Quiz

 

Do you guys remember when we had the Cosmo magazines or like 17 magazines? And there was always a quiz, like an astrology quiz or the love quiz, and you would take it and tallied up all your points. Then you read the results, super excited! This is the energy that we are building with our potential clients. We are creating excitement based on a quiz.

 

Like I said, people love to learn about themselves. I do too. I still take quizzes!!!

I recently created an awesome quiz with a client of mine called: “What are your love blocks?” And, so far, she’s been able to grow over 180 people onto her email list, just from organic social media from TikTok and Instagram in 2 weeks.

 

So what does it take to build a quiz? There are some softwares you can build them with like TryInteract and Typeform.

 

Now the cool part about the quizzes is that then you show up as the one who gives them the results. You create the results based on the questions that they answered. And it gives you a chance to show off again, your expertise and be able to really connect with that person and help them out and give them those initial suggestions on how to be a better lover, how to be healthier, how to sleep better, how to detox their bodies, etc.

 

Freebie 3: A How to Guide or Mistakes to Avoid

I love my really easy to follow guides that help me avoid blunders and that help me learn something. These guides can be PDF’s or even videos. To me, videos are quicker to make but this is not the case for all. Also, you have to know your audience well- will they consume a video or rather read… OMG you can maybe even do BOTH! 

We’ll talk about content repurposing later down the line.

But for real, a good guide that shows me the way to achieve a micro win and how to potentially not make some crazy mistakes is extremely valuable and honestly for you as the expert, might even be easy to make since you’ve worked with clients before and know how you’ve helped them avoid things and at the same time reach certain goals or milestones. 

So go back into your client rolodex and start putting together some good ideas!

Freebie 4: A Challenge

 

Now there’s paid challenges and there’s free challenges. Free challenges are a great way to indoctrinate and work with people. These could be prerecorded or these could be live.

 

When you look at a challenge because it’s a more of a time investment and it’s a longer build out of the project. And at the end of the challenge, you are selling a higher level offering or service. Whether it’s a physical product, an online course, coaching, retained services, or an experience – all of it can be sold in a challenge.

 

Think about the challenge as a very invested experience. It’s a wonderful way to generate leads and to have them experience a transformation over a series of days so that they get a result, they get quick wins and gives you the opportunity to really show up as the expert that you are and offer your services

 

Freebie 5: A Video Series

 

A video series creates education and solution-awareness. It could perhaps be three training videos, or a recording from a recent talk you gave. It’s very easy to reach out to your audience and say, “Hey, put your name and email here and get these three training videos to help you XYZ.”

 

I always tell people to give the transformation, the benefit of what’s going to happen when they watch these videos. And you could once again, let the videos come via email, or you give them access to a little online course or membership site, and they can experience the videos, maybe have a question or two that they answer and then see what the next steps are

 

Remember, it’s your responsibility and opportunity as the entrepreneur to keep the connections with your audience alive, strong, and really meaningful.

Here’s your call to action: what can you be doing to grow your email list? What are the steps you can take to create a meaningful relationship with your audience via their inbox?

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How To Make More Money As A Wellness Entrepreneur

How To Make More Money As A Wellness Entrepreneur

 

Today, we’re talking about something super important called offers and being a marketer. That’s right. Why is this so important? Because it’s the foundation of your entire business.

 

What ends up happening with a lot of us who are holistic entrepreneurs, yogis, and service providers is that we get so caught up in inconsistent one-on-one services or an occasional group, but not really having a stack of offers that work together strategically. I do want you to think about how you can get more clients with your time, but also while working smart.

 

As a business coach, I love to talk about offers, also known as offerings, because they are the foundation of you being able to show up as a credible expert, who gets paid well to do what they love to do all day every day.

 

The 2 steps to making more money as a wellness entrepreneur…

 

Step 1: Play to your strengths!

Ask yourself…

  1. Do you like to work one-on-one with people? 
  2. Do you like to be in group settings? 
  3. Do you like to speak in front of big crowds? 
  4. How do you like to show up? 

 

It’s important to determine how you like to work so that we can make sure you are comfortable, that you are going to shine, and that it is going to be fun for you. That’s it! 

 

So once we understand how you want to show up, now we can start creating your magical business layer cake!

 

Step 2: Examine all of the different revenue streams available to you

 

1. Trade Time For Money

 

Although a lot of people say that you shouldn’t trade time for money, this is still a fabulous way to generate an income. And it’s an essential part of every offer ladder.

 

Plus, guess what? As wellness entrepreneurs, I am guessing that you love to work with your clients. You love to interact with them. You love to treat them. Are you an acupuncturist, massage therapist, yoga teacher? There’s still such value in working one-on-one with clients or in a group setting. It’s okay to still trade time for money. 

 

What’s not okay is relying on that being your wealth strategy. One-on-one, small group classes, large classes, being a speaker. This is still trading time for money, and some are scalable, and some are not. 

 

So let’s go over the ones that are limited, and also the ones that you can also charge premium prices for. 

 

So, for example, if I want to get fit, or I want to get flexible quickly. Instead of going to group classes or going to the gym on my own, I might hire a private teacher that way we can address my needs, my concerns, and my body. That’s going to cost me money. If I hire a trainer, if I hire a private teacher, I’m going to pay premium because it’s 100% of their attention on me. 

 

So when you are positioning yourself as a one-on-one teacher, please make sure you charge accordingly. 

 

Now, this is going to vary on your town, your city, your state, your country. Every time I’ve gone to Peru to teach whether it was yoga or Acro Yoga, or even Thai massage. I had to lower my prices a little bit because the currency there is very different, and I wanted to be of service for the people. 

 

What I would charge here in Miami, where prices are a little bit higher, we have premium rates I wouldn’t do down there. So be smart about where you are and how you create your prices. 

Next, determine how much value you’re delivering to decide on your price. This makes sure that your one-on-one prices can become up-leveled, and make it easier to charge a premium because you’re delivering more value. 

 

Maybe your one-on-one work comes with a membership to your online yoga studio, or essential oils, a beautiful treatment, a tote bag, something that is going to allow you to raise your prices a little bit without also feeling icky because I know we’re of service and I don’t want to ever make you not feel like you’re showing up fully as a holistic entrepreneur. 

 

So that summarizes one-on-one work. Pros? You give 120% of your attention on your client. Cons? There’s only one of you, which makes it very limiting. Typically, you could only take five clients a day.

 

2. Group Classes

 

I love group classes! I love people. I’m a group person. If you could just hug me. That’d be great. Why? Because I feed off people’s energy. So for me, group classes is one of my favorite ways of working. Now, pro. Lots of people, lots and lots and lots of people can mean lots and lots and lots of money.

 

But depending on the situation, for example, when I used to own my yoga studio, yes, there was be lots and lots of people for my teachers, but their pay rate was not all the money. Why? Because the model of being an employee isn’t the most fruitful. 

 

Now, if you’re going to do group classes, always get people onto your email list and always, always, always have an upsell. 

 

Cons of group classes is that obviously, you’re not giving 100% of your attention to one person. So maybe people won’t feel that 100% focus on them. But if you’re a good instructor or you’re a good service provider, guess what? You can still have great outcome. 

 

In my yoga conferences, the Global Yoga Conference, and my Yoga Expo, sometimes the teacher teaches to a hundred people. Obviously, there’s no way to personalize that, but there’s still a great way to cue, message, give information that can serve somebody at each part of their experience, their practice, or their journey. 

 

But again, be sure to always have an upsell and always show up as inclusive as possible.

 

3. Small Group Private

 

Why do I love this one? Because it has a blend. You can still charge a high amount, and provide your clients the attention they need, but the difference is that it is scalable. 

 

For example, I run two types of consulting and coaching. I do one-on-one work, and I do group work. 

 

Now, when you’re doing group work, this means you have scalability. You are you to many. It’s going to give you a lot of potential, not only to connect but to also make great change. You can have a deep impact on people because you’re solving lots of problems, and there’s also a sense of comradery and union that gets formed for your members

 

4. Info Products

 

This is where your knowledge is shared to many people. So now this becomes a product consumed by groups of people. This is where the most scalability and leverage lies. 

 

I get this done through my online courses where people are consuming the material in a way that doesn’t take any additional time. When you create an online course, you complete it once and don’t have to add more work as more people join. There’s so much maximization potential.

 

So think about you positioning yourself out there in these four different ways so that you have a variety. You want to be able to help people in different ways so that you’re also supporting yourself, your self-care, connection to others, and your bottom line, which is your revenue.

 

Pick the one that’s going to give you the most money right away. Why? Because if you’re looking to grow your financial side of your business, then pick the one that gives you the highest revenue. That might not be your one-on-one. That might be a group. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean teaching classes for low amounts of money. It could be a program. It could be a retreat. It could be a training. Now, this is what I love to teach! The potential to have scalable business through a group setting with also a nice price point. Teacher trainings, retreats, transformative programs, or group plus one-on-one. These all can have price points of a thousand and up. And it’s the best way to change your financial outcome without needing a ton of people. 

 

If we look at the concept of pricing, we’ve got to see that if you’re like a Ferrari, or you’re a Louboutin, Louis Vuitton. You don’t need to sell a lot. You might only need five clients a month to double your income. 

 

Now, if you need a ton of people to meet your baseline. It might take longer. When you’re creating your products, have a variety and think of it like a menu. When you go to a restaurant, there are lots of things for you to choose from. And in the middle part of the menu is going to be chefs’ choices. So I want you to make your chefs’ choices for the day and see what product you want to promote. What do you want to create that makes sense for you? And you probably want to start at a higher price point.

 

So what can you put out there that’s worth $200 to $1,000? Is it a certification that’s specific?

 

For example, chair yoga or Reiki atunement. Maybe it’s a modality of massage. Again, this is where you also start showing up as an expert. So your confidence level, your credibility, your professionalism gets to shine through even more. 

 

The last thing that’s really important is that I want you to do a goal. How much money do you want to make a month? So let’s say it’s about $5,000. Maybe it’s $10,000. If you are trying to fill your calendar with 40, $50 an hour average, you’re going to need a lot of those hours. But if you can do a few that are $30, $40, $50 an hour, and a few that are $200 an hour. 

 

Now you also want to make sure that when you’re creating your menu of services, that as you figure out what your monthly revenue goal is that we create the price points accordingly.

 

And then all we have to do is fill in the amount of students that we need per thing. 

 

So let’s say you’re leading a certification. You are an amazing massage therapist, like my husband, and specialize in lower back. And you’re going to lead a certification training or give educational credits. Now, perhaps you do a one-day seminar. You charged $85 per person, and you get 10 people. That’s an $850 a day. Pretty cool, right? 

 

Or let’s say that you are a yoga teacher and you have your E-RYT 500. You can give workshops and you do a weekend that is for yoga teachers, all about adjustments, cueing, how to become a better teacher. And you charge $250 for this because it’s only a couple hours a day. 20 people, you’ve got a $4,000 weekend. 

 

So start looking at the possibilities of growing your offerings in a way that feels good to you, to where you’re at in your career. So when you’re doing your menu of services, see where you show up. Are you showing up as a credible professional that can give more value? Are you using your knowledge and turning it into a product? 

 

Are you creating opportunities for people to really get an immersive learning experience from you, maybe through a retreat? 

 

So this is your opportunity to shine in the way that you create your offers that match your goals, that provide the results. At the end of the day, we want everyone to look good, to feel good, and to be good. I’m so excited to see what you put out there! 

 

Drop a comment below if you have any questions, and please share if you think somebody can benefit from this blog.

 


 

How to Create A Holistic Marketing Strategy

Do you consider yourself a marketer? And if not, why? 

 

Marketing stems from confidence and HeartSpace. And I want to highlight how important marketing is in order to have a successful business. 

 

Traditional marketing is tied to sales. The both co-exist, and still do in holistic marketing. But what holistic marketers different from traditional marketers is the magic that happens when they decide to be one with their audience. Holistic marketing is about focusing on where you can give your audience value and providing an essence of support that speaks their language. 

 

One thing that I’ve been focusing on more is seeing how can I provide my audience, not just value, but not making them feel like they’re not complete already. How do we elevate the audience in a way that your service or your product will be an add on to their already existing, and thriving abundance? 

 

I always get a hot seat moments when I sit down with my coach. And he gave me the best way to create a really engaged community: to inspire them to join a movement, to be part of a mission, to be part of a greater vision. And this is the most effective form of marketing – it just so happens to also be holistic!

 

So in your own marketing, hunker down on your mission, and solidify with the movement that you want to create with your services or products. 

 

For example, if you sell yoga clothes. Do you think that you can create a movement where people are more aligned and more in line with the why behind your products? 

 

  • A percentage of profits are donated to a specific cause.
  • Sourcing your materials from a local community you support.
  • Practicing eco-friendly and sustainable business operations.

 

So every piece of your marketing has to have a bigger purpose to it – it really has to nothing to do with the right words.

 

If you think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Purpose is ranked as the #1 priority. Second to purpose is wants, and finally we have needs. The main idea is that once we work downwards from purpose into desires, then what do you think happens? We now have a purpose-driven business. 

 

So if your business has a movement that people can connect with, your marketing will be so much more effective. It emanates authenticity, and comes from a place of heart. It comes from a place of, of abundance versus from a place of needs and scarcity.

 

And then you’ll be able to serve a bigger purpose, and have a greater impact on the world. And people want to align to that.

 

Look at so many companies out there, like, let’s say Nike with Colin Kaepernick. “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” Kaepernick says in the ad campaign. People really rallied to that – especially young people. Gillette also had a whole campaign around the “me too” movement. People really rally for a good cause, or they rally against them. Now this really brings in light. You know, what team are you on? 

 

I recently heard a successful fitness coach say at a conference, “Give your tribe their cause.” Once you give your tribe their cause, they will be so much more in alignment to how you do things, and will support you through your programs and events and practices.

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Is Yoga Business Different? Integrity and Ethics

Integrity and Business

I’m jumping on here to talk and ask- what’s the deal with business and yoga? In light of recent articles in Elephant Journal (check it out here) regarding Kino, Cody, Alo and all one word named businesses I want to have a dialogue about WHY when it comes to yoga business tends to shift into irregular practices.

15 years. I’ve been in this business first of all as a student, then a teacher and now a mentor and leader. I own a HUGE yoga festival called The Yoga Expo, run an international business consulting company and well delve into all things yoga industry related. In the past weeks, I have seen the beautiful and ugly head of yoga and business rear its head.

“I think you trying to make money off a sacred science is appalling and if you truly understood the teachings the last thing you would be doing is sending out a dumb ass email commercializing a sacred science that was meant to be passed down teacher to students…you need Togo back to school”
I posted this as a copy paste to also highlight his grammar… you all know I am a stickler for spelling. Anyways, that got in my inbox a few days ago. But also this:

“I was on a journey of spirit to unearth those of authentic purpose whose actions spark the divine when I discovered your meaningful Essence. You are doing work you should be very proud of. You are having a profoundly positive effect on people.”

Yoga business is the same as all other businesses by the way, the only difference is who’s behind the business that makes the world of difference.

What’s going on?

Opinions will always create a ripple effect. The opinions in the article referenced above are really interesting because I am a businesswoman. Cody and Alo are businesses. Kino is also a savvy businesswoman. When values and integrity are so deeply ingrained in how you operate your business it’s an interesting play on how kind you are and how much of a stickler for contracts and rules as well. Why do I say this… because I have seen it first hand.

Several times when I operated my business from a place of generosity and kindness, whether it was offering discounts, extra flexible payment plans, I have gotten burnt. People never paid, didn’t show up or decided that it wasn’t in their best interest to continue paying.

What happens here is the ripple effect. And the same thing Cody’s co-founder speaks of. For a customer it is very easy to say I no longer wish to pay. What about the people on the other side? The employees of Cody are affected by 1 decision. My family is affected by 1 decision. Yoga business practices are truly the BEST in the world. As long as us, the leaders continue to make an effort to hold highest levels of integrity – on both sides of the coin.

The Yoga business isn’t different than other businesses. If you develop and establish your value, your non-negotiables from the beginning, guess what… you don’t get burned. I take every client that stops paying, that wants to change agreements to what works for them as a lesson. It makes me more organized, it makes my contracts tighter and payment plans also more on point.

The main point behind this post.

I want to shed light on many sides of the coin. Our society is so easy to point a finger. We take the moral high ground on issues that we really don’t even know anything about. When I read Kino’s first article I was totally like “WTF!” how dare these large companies do whatever they want! Shortly after I caught myself and said, wait, my business is growing and I would like to avoid these types of situations. And then today I read the reply and I also attest to several things he mentioned.

How do I prepare my business so from the beginning there are non-negotiable value systems in place of trust, honor, commitment, fun, exceptional quality and passion?

Is yoga business the anti-business?

Learn about foundations of your business. Set yourself up to always see things as a learning experience will help avoid massive issues in the future. It’s how you operate, how you treat others that will always leave a good mark on your side. I wrote this article on analysis paralysis a few months ago that reminded me of how it was like setting up my business – but guess what – nothing is perfect and things will always come up that make you re-work and re-do and re-word. Nothing is perfect and as long as you are open to the flow, your business will improve daily.

Leave me a note as I’m interested to hear your side and how you operate your yoga business. 

Split personality (brand) syndorme?

Do you have this too?

I don’t have a split personality really, I have (had) a split brand problem. Let me tell you the story…

It was one of those days, on a warm winter day (I’m based in Miami) where I had a massive realization. I had been living a double life, with 2 brands (really 3 but will get into that).

I noticed not a lot was moving forward and I was working my ass of. It was really frustrating and at the end of the day, counterproductive. I had this ideal of who I was and how I could serve. So of course, being the creative yogini that I am, created 2 brands, 2 websites, 2 newsletters, 2 business cards (and the list goes on). If you want to read more about me, check this page.

Now, was this serving me? NO! It was driving me crazy, but since I had a belief that why would any of my business students want to hear me talk about ROI and email marketing and why would any of my business clients and audience hear about my events and classes. Mind you, these are all perceptions, not truths.

So how can this serve you? It goes back to energy and where you are putting it. Are you living a double life in any aspects. Maybe have 2 jobs very disconnected from each other? I have friends that are bartenders at night and yoga teachers by day. Some client who take care of their bodies at the gym and yoga class, yet, have really negative feelings about themselves and their bodies.

Where is there the limiting belief that is stopping you from being successful, productive and happy? Where is the opportunity to expand your reach into what would serve you best? As you know, by serving yourself in the highest way you can serve and be the most amazing person for others.

brand union

Split Personality Syndrome IS OVER!

So here is the big question? What are you gonna do about it?

I’m re-launching my brand and I hope you keep loving what I send and the messages I share. But most of all, I want to know what you want to connect and feel whole with. What are your issues, disconnects that prevent you from your greatness.

Manifesting your inner magic is one decision away.

Namaste!

AriOm, The Bizzy Yogi.

Yoga Retreat Mania!

Yoga Retreat Mania!

Yoga retreat mania has hit the yoga scene like an avalanche! And let me tell you why I think this is a great thing… but a double-edged sword.

First of all, I love yoga retreats. I have led them for close to a decade and they never cease to impress me with the quality of amazing people who come together. Retreats are a way for you, the teacher, to affect your students in a much bigger way and in usually gorgeous locations. They also provide a bigger income but before setting anything up please take the time to assess where you are in your practice as a teacher and leader. I suggest you do some soul searching as I don’t want you to set up a retreat and it not meet your expectations.

Yoga retreats gone wrong…

Not only is taking people on an adventure a huge responsibility but the planning process, if not done correctly, can leave gaps in your retreat that could possibly make your life challenging.

I not only have heard of disasters when planning the retreat but also during. This leaves a really bad taste in your participant’s minds and can sour your reputation, to say the least.

Let’s go through a laundry list of things you will need before you even get there:

  1. Where & When
  2. Retreat title & theme (purpose)
  3. Style of retreat (training or fun)
  4. Who do you want to have on the retreat?
  5. How many participants do you want?
  6. Solo or co-taught?
  7. Why would people come (benefits & outcomes)
  8. Landing page
  9. Pricing
  10. Sales strategy
  11. Location (securing the venue)
  12. Marketing

I go into it much deeper in THIS ARTICLE

The Bright Side

Don’t worry! I know that seems like a LOT but the payoff is so sweet. This is why having a plan and a guide is so important as it will allow you to get to your destination happy. Here is one super important tip you want to always be conscious of- don’t book out an entire center without having some for sure YES clients first. This means you had conversations with people, you did your legwork, you even took deposits. YES you took deposits even before sending deposits to the center. I have done this in my last 2 retreats and worked amazingly. Have the right conversations with possible locations and ask them to hold the dates for you at no charge or maybe a small fee while you get your people.

Apart from this, your mental capacity for planning should be in for the big vision. Let’s say you project a $3500 profit from having 7 people attend the retreat for 5 days. Is this what you would make normally in 5 days doing your classes and possible side gig? If it isn’t, then, create time to plan and get all your ducks in a row. Having this foresight to larger income will put things into perspective nicely.

Is leading a yoga retreat right for me?

Here is where I can’t tell you yes or no, but I can definitely give you more insight into qualities of a leader. If you connect to some of these, then most likely you are on your way. Another thing is having enough material to offer during your retreat (and remember it’s not enough to just teach a couple classes a day… this is mediocre). Lead people to an experience. Help them uncover or re-discover something (your specialty). Have the boldness of stepping into your leadership and guiding from the heart with the full knowledge that you are there to serve on many levels.

Qualities of a leader:

  1. Honest
  2. Vulnerable
  3. Authentic
  4. Flexible
  5. Resourceful
  6. Deep listening
  7. Creative
  8. Supportive
  9. Intelligent
  10. Ability to delegate
  11. Big vision
  12. Caring
  13. Kind
  14. Fun
  15. Speaks the unspoken

End result

Not only will you feel happy you planned correctly and took the right steps, but your retreat will be smooth sailing. I really can’t stress enough people who are leading retreats want to offer the best experience with quality teaching, special attention to details, good communication and extreme awareness to your students needs (the spoken and unspoken). The more retreats there are, the bigger reason why you should be the BEST and most special one. Doing that will help you rise above, cut through the clutter and feel authentic that you are giving the best of you.

 

Wisdom vs Advice

Wisdom vs advice?

I had never thought about this before honestly. I always thought to offer good suggestions was good enough until my mentor offered me the distinction. Good advice is telling people what they should do or need to do, and what you think is best. This usually means projecting your opinions and ways of doing things onto them. This works sometimes, and other times, well not so much.

As a coach, mentor, guide, for soul-centered entrepreneurs, I love this distinction. In yoga, wisdom, knowledge or understanding is buddhi.

“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” Charles Dickens

Advice sometimes falls into the place of not listening enough and thinking you know what is correct for that person. Wisdom, on the other hand, comes from a place of kindness and deep listening to what the person really needs and reflecting back on them. Wisdom appeals to the heart and comes from a quiet mind thus appeals to a more emotional connection.

Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a guide. I’m one who can easily tell people what to do and how to do it. Efficiency is my middle name. Improvement and remodeling to make better are what I love to do. This so easily falls into advice and WOW I can tell the difference so much in the results my clients get. Not only that, I feel it too!

advice or wisdom

Wise advice

Wait, wait, wait. Didn’t you just say to step more into wisdom? LOL.

Did you read at my strengths up there? Of course, I had to find a middle ground- wise advice! This is the hybrid and honestly, sits so close to home.

Sometimes that deep listening and being a mirror needs a little bit of a mental shake. This is where wise advice comes from and can hit the target. Wisdom is introspective and really comes from a place of wanting the most good for your friend or client. Advice sometimes comes from a place of ego where you know best. Wise advice blends this and says “Hey, I know something about this and after listening to you I invite you to consider this option instead”.

The minute I began to work that into my life there was a sense of feeling light and abundant! It was magic to see the transformations vs seeing walls of defense when the advice didn’t sit well. In this blog post I wrote I mention being allowed to shine… so stand up and shine with your knowledge in a generous way, a kind way, and a smart way!

Now it’s your turn!

Take a look at where in your life you can shift this in. Is it in your classes? Your coaching practice? Or maybe personal relationships with friends, partners or family.

It’s never too late to shift ourselves and create some better vibes that lift everyone up together!

Namaste!

PS: Remember if you want some wise advice on something you are going through, join my FREE Facebook Group where you can share and be part of a community where we all grow!

My newsletter and open rates… why do I need to know?

Newsletter hell.

Have you asked yourself this question before? Are you stuck trying to see what cool stuff you send in your newsletter? I know. I have been there. I have been naughty and not sent my newsletter because I had no idea what to send! You know I had a studio for a long time and we had to send weekly newsletters with all the cool stuff going on – arm balance class, workshop, teacher training. BUY! BUY! BUY!

All we wanted to do was sell events and get people interested. Guess what, at some point the newsletter consisted of the same shit every week because we either didn’t have that many events or they were in advance so we needed to send something right?

So annoying.

Yes, this is exactly what it turned into. An annoying task with absolutely no excitement other than maybe making a cool little artwork for the newsletter event. Woohoo. What started happening is that our open rates were low. People weren’t clicking or signing up. People would come to the events, yes of course, but because of the of the interaction at the studio or at the front desk. So few would pre-register making it even more stressful and honestly annoying.

What changed???

I had a vague idea of email marketing a few years back. I knew we needed to collect emails and then send newsletters. That was about it. NOT what I know now. Have you ever said to yourself “If I knew then what I know now…” Well let’s focus on what I know now, vs, what I knew then since it wasn’t that useful.

After taking many courses on marketing and rubbing elbows with some pretty intelligent and successful people, I realized everything I was doing was moving people away from clicking open. Because they were constantly getting yelled at with sign up, events, retreat and nothing else, they had no motivation. No bait as some say.

They were bored of not getting value.

I use this word value like the elephant in the room. It’s huge, it’s sitting there, but we ignore it. Poor elephant. I was scared of giving people FREE information in my newsletters! I just wanted to them sign up for the arm balance workshop, so why would giving them a video about arm balance be beneficial.

The hook.

That arm balance video was my free teaser. Was my lure to get them hooked. VALUE. I offered a video tip on how to get into crow but I didn’t give them a 2 hour long workshop in the email. What it did was spark the interest of the reader to want to learn more, easier and more efficient ways to do arm balances. Do you get it? Yup. This was the magic touch. Tease them with valuable info that they can take with them on their journey. Maybe you are really excited about offering a tantra workshop- well write a really cool article with awesome information about tantra. You aren’t giving away the whole pie. You are only giving them valuable tips to show you are a credible source to make them say, “WOW, that was amazing and I learned so much I want more!!!”

You get it?

Well, this is your time to turn around these email campaigns and get some interaction! Instead of little opens, I get replies from people saying thanks so much, that was exactly what I needed and more! It feels so good to know I can help via one video, audio or blog post.

Try it out!

On your next newsletter try it out and see what happens. Get some catchy titles, get creative, add your voice in the writing so it feels authentic and powerful. And guess what? You don’t always need to sell something!!! So cool right? Give and you might receive, but give anyways. As a yogi hearted business minded human you know it feels right to give from the heart… and even better your clients will feel it too.

Namaste!

 

Growing your business. Let’s play a disappearing act said no one but me.

Growing your business. What does it mean?

This is where we all what to be… in the growing your business mode. I feel like I am there constantly and this is a great thing but sometimes it doesn’t go the way we envision it. Remember one of my last posts Analysis Paralysis?  You would think I am a freaking activating, mind moving, business savvy business mentor and I don’t fall prey to that kind of stuff. Well, HELLO to my disappearing act because that exact thing I wrote about happened to me. I’m in growing my business mode, so why did I disappear?

For the last few weeks, all that I have been doing is discerning what I want to tackle and not. Looking at the bigger picture, listening to what I want and do not want. I’ve been meditating, connecting with my desires, listening to webinars… and… and… wait where are my clients? Where are my webinars I had scheduled? Where are the Facebook ads I had started?

What really happened…

Ok so here is the truth. I took on more than I could handle. My business actually grew by a MASSIVE leap when I said YES to becoming the new owner of The Yoga Expo. The Bizzy Yogi just got bizzier. First of all, let me be super grateful about this new venture and to the opportunity, I am now presented with. I am so incredibly freaking proud of myself for taking on such a huge venture that totally has changed my life. So this is me reconnecting to my initial intention to create a tribe of amazing yogi hearted, business savvy entrepreneurs who want to change the world one OM at a time. The disconnection actually allowed my business to not just grow, but to bloom.

Because of the time I took to stop, breathe, manifest, I allowed this massive opportunity to enter my life, and yours also. What’s so cool is that now I will share what it’s like to put on a 3000 person event. This is also an opportunity for you to grow your business also by stepping up into areas unknown and having the support to just do it.

Growing your business painsSometimes in order to grow your business, you have to disappear

What are the bigger lessons here? There are several:

  1. Taking on a new responsibility doesn’t mean letting go of everything else
  2. Having a mentor to grow your business helps (will talk about this more)
  3. It’s OK to disappear as long as you do it for a bigger reason and not because of fear
  4. Seeing opportunities in life as your teachers and making you step out of your comfort zone only come once in a while
  5. Be proud of yourself no matter what!!!

The result

Now that I am fully in the flow and see my business in momentum, I am here for you once again! I know everything happens for a reason and I want to tell you how growing a business can be some strange happenings that sometimes we think are not good for us, then low and behold, they are!

How does this impact you? Let’s find out!! Schedule a call with me and see how you can see your business grow. I love hearing about why you do what you do, where you are in the process, where you are in your vision and what the plan is to get there. It’s about being in flow and listening and processing. All part of this beautiful journey.

Get Your FREE Discovery Session Here >>> http://bit.ly/BizzyYogi

Namaste!

Arianne

The Real Reason I Quit Being A Yoga Teacher

What a decade being a yoga teacher taught me:


“I am a yoga teacher. I am just a yoga teacher.”

 

My identity was all around being a yoga teacher, and you know what was happening? I wasn’t enjoying teaching yoga!

Imagine the identity crisis when all I did was teach classes and teach people how to be yoga teachers. It didn’t feel good.

There was a total misalignment to who I was because if you asked me my answer was understated: “I’m a yoga teacher”. What happened is that because of my misalignment my yoga teaching started to become almost boring and robotic.

WHAT CHANGED?

First of all, let’s get something clear. Teaching yoga was not the problem. Realizing my purpose was the inside issue which caused the external symptoms. Sounds like science huh?

Well, it totally IS a science, just like yoga. I realized I was not in alignment to my inner strengths which are creative, action oriented, and all about motivation, so teaching asana-based classes 5 times a week, was not fulfilling my purpose cup anymore.

By harnessing my strengths I allowed my inner motivation and excitement to return! It was such an exhilarating moment because I was eager to be and create and eventually inspire.

The power of feeling aligned with what you’re doing is so crucial to staying motivated and a bored or sad yoga teacher is no fun for anyone.

So, now I bring this to you. Not that you are going through the same identity crisis of should I teach or not, it’s more about using your strengths to fulfill your passions. Being in alignment with your values and desires.

Being a yoga teacher is the greatest gift I ever had and knowing things change is the beauty of the practice.

SHIT HIT THE FAN

Yup, and boy did it! I went into a slight depression and it sucked because I had never gone through that. I am one bubbly, energetic, and happy person, yet it was hard for me to do anything. Did you read above my main strengths are activator and motivator??

So, this yoga teacher, muddled in “I don’t know what to do with myself” (I did have Bizzy Yogi already, but still!), having the cojones to let go of something so ingrained in me was so hard!!! What’s even crazier is that all this abundant energy was going to sulking and feeling bad about myself. Pity party for Ari in my own house, with no one else but me… at it

WOW. That was even hard for me to write. So in my depression, everything else started to get affected. My new business which I Love, my relationships with my friends, and my relationship with myself.

SNAP OUT OF IT!

This is the happy dance. I had 2 conversations that made so much sense in my logically efficient brain. 1. With my friend Jen. 2. With my coach Michelle.

What happened is that they mirrored me and my soul. They asked me the questions that I wanted to ask myself but didn’t have the strength for. They showed me how life is a transition and sometimes we let go of things to activate and accentuate others.

All I needed was also some validation that making this decision was probably the smartest thing for me. Once I saw that and allowed myself to release, that resistance to let go vanished.

So there it is, from one decision… A roller coaster of emotions. I felt like I broke up with my boyfriend and became the cat lady. What’s super cool is that now when I do teach, it’s with an air of freshness stemming from desire vs. having to. I LOVE TEACHING YOGA, just… once in a while.

I’m really looking forward to being more present and awake to my new adventures with the Yoga Expo, with Bizzy Yogi and YOU!

Talk To Us!

I would love to hear from you… Where you are in your journey, where do you feel stuck?! If you need help with anything at ALL, just reach out for help. You can book a FREE discovery session with me at http://bit.ly/BizzyYogi. I would be glad to give you the best advice possible.

 

Namaste!!!

Love,
Arianne

 

P.S. Like this post? Share it with other like-minded Yogis! Whether you’re a Yoga Teacher, Studio Owner, or interested in getting your certifcation, read this first >>>  This ONE THING Holds More Yogis Back From Greatness Than Any Other

 

Have specific questions and want to get them answered, but remain anonymous? Let Ari, the Bizzy Yogi answer them! Ask your question below and I will answer it in my weekly email OR in a FB Live webshow. Make sure you type *anonymous* at the end of your question so we don’t give you a shoutout!

 

 

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