Hello everyone! I'm back with a blog that comes from, yet again, my personal journey into building my online yoga studio, from how I came to do yoga to finding my niche.
My personal yoga journey didn’t start from any pain or problem as we would define pains and problems in relation to niching down.
What I had - apart from other things, but this is the most relevant for this talk – was a dis-interest for exercise – I hate running or jogging. I hate circuit and any other gym workout. I would hop on machines and liked the rhythm of machine workouts, but ironically, I felt so odd after, precisely because of the monotonous, artificial rhythm. I do love martial arts but couldn’t sustain the strict kata or forms and while I love dance...well, I’m no dancer!
Enter yoga! I love the freedom of movement, the breathing, the mindfulness. The other aspects though, the spiritual & mystical - not so much. My classes are creative and anatomical, and the mindfulness woven into all aspects of my teaching are practical and relatable. But you will hear me say, in one form or another, that my teaching isn’t airy-fairy. I don’t do the “yoga voice”.
This is where the struggle of my niching down came from, ironically.
What helped me build that trust in my gut was to identify and honestly face 3 fears. That’s what we’ll talk about.
3 fears that hold us back from niching down
FOMO
When one of my marketing coaches was taking us through getting over impostor syndrome, I commented that it was all FOMO - the fear or missing out! Or in other words – “yoga is for everybody”.
It's a catch-all for everyone and anyone we teach to; which is fair enough because a yoga teacher's mindset is cued to studio teaching. While we can still niche-down our audience for studio classes, studio yoga mainly focuses on:
The different styles or lineages of yoga;
Yoga teacher training;
whomever lives in the vicinity;
To be fair though, some yoga styles such as yoga for pregnancy, is a niche because it identifies and addresses a particular need. But largely, the primary focus is on the what (dynamic, slow flow, Astanga, Iyangar, yin...insert your favourite here...), and secondly, the who.
However - we can serve better if we niche down.
We can’t possibly reach and be everything to absolutely everybody.
There’s something I do, in fact, when I have new students in my in-studio classes and they ask what style I teach. I say that while I’d love for them to come to my class – who doesn’t like seeing big numbers in their classes, right? – I encourage them to try out the other teachers in the gym or studio.
I know it’s counter-intuitive; so, why?
Because I may not be the teacher they need. My teaching style might not resonate with them and I stress that, for a student or practitioner, it’s important for them to find the teacher they resonate with.
And you know what, often, I’d see them back in my class and the rapport is easier to establish. They know I won’t keep them in my class just for the numbers.
Prior to Covid, and while I had already started to niche down, the sense of urgency to arrive to it wasn’t so acute as when Covid happened.
I felt the presence of FOMO for my online business more strongly, and I was spinning.
But then I reminded myself of what I did, what I told new students to my in-person classes and took this into my online space.
Of course, we (or I) can’t really tell people to try out another websites first before coming to me, that would be counter-productive on top of being counter-intuitive. Unless it’s between a cohort of like-minded teachers. But letting go of FOMO gave me the space I needed to just focus on drilling down my niche.
And while FOMO is also an ever-present fear, doing a deep dive into who my niche is and trusting my gut is what trusses me up. Mainly, it helps me be clear in my copy and content, so that it speaks to them and weeds out those who are not.
MAKING MISTAKES
Part of that deep dive is growing from my mistakes.
I had so many missteps when it came to my niche that I felt like I’ve spent my whole yoga teaching business “life” online trying to identify my niche.
I went from those who want more anatomical and modifiable classes, to those who identify themselves as modern yogis, to busy women/people. Thing is, my real niche, the one my gut was identifying for me, was in all of them anyway, it just needed to push through a "wall of uncertainty" and clarify it a little more.
I needed to stop skirting the issue, trust my instincts and dive in!
If I had listened to this fear of not wanting to change it up because it was another misstep, then I wouldn’t have had the courage to break through. I’d be stuck bouncing like a pinball between the characteristics or identifiers of my niche and losing the bigger picture of who they are.
So don’t be afraid to make mistakes and listen to your instincts. Identifying mistakes and changing course is better than resisting to acknowledge them and getting stuck in the mistake.
Listening to your gut when it tells you the niche you chose doesn’t sit comfortably, even if that’s, let’s say, a bigger peg in a smaller hole – it may be the same shape bit doesn’t fit quite well – listening to your gut will help shape that peg so it fits better.
FEAR OF BEING TOO DIFFERENT
Another thing I was contending with – and was my deepest dive and greatest growth -was the fear of being too different.
Now, predominantly when we niche, we talk about “yoga for this or that” and that’s common. Then there are the more non-conventional yoga out there {dog yoga, naked yoga, alcohol and wine yoga}.
Non-conventional yoga modalities have had to endure anything from being snubbed to ridiculed and being told they are not “true” yogis and what they do isn’t “real” yoga.
But, what if we go even further than this non-conventional yoga?
How about “yoga for those who DO NOT want this or that”. For example, yoga for those who do not like kirtan or yoga for non-spiritual people. It’s even more out there, and exactly where I was headed!
So, to validate my niche, I did a survey of my tribe members and one of the questions was why they came to my class, both in-studio and online.
What was it they liked? They came back to me with answers/feedback like:
They liked that I DID NOT do the yoga voice,
I DON’T hard-sell the philosophy,
I DO NOT push poses “just because” that’s how it’s been done,
I am NOT airy-fairy, and;
They appreciate that there is no spiritual talk.
So, I went “Huh. Ok.” I was on the right track all along! All these points were a very conscious decision on my part when I started teaching.
What really stood out was the gravitational pull to the non-spiritual, non-woo slant in my teaching.
While I’m sure there are other teachers who are the same, the decision I made to make this my main niche identifier was scary!
Spirituality, mysticism and yoga go hand-in-hand in the perception of the general public and certainly in the industry and going against the grain, against the preconceptions and deeply rooted traditions is a scary prospect.
Then again, I do have a tribe who are already this. I am this, and there must be more of my niche out there…and it is definitely a niche!
So, I shook this fear off. As Florence (and the Machine) says “How can you dance with the devil on your back? So, shake it off!”
It’s so empowering for me to embrace “Odd one IN” instead of fearing being the “odd one out”.
TRUST in your Gut and in your VALUES
Another thing that helped me was to go back to who I was – what my passions were, what my purpose was in teaching yoga and that my people, my niche were like me.
My last deep dive into my values – what do I hold valuable and would I be able to translate that into my business and find it in my niche.
And the answer was yes. I’m generous (so I attract those who’ll see value in what I give), I’m creative (so I attract open-minded, adventurous people in terms of my sequencing and mindset teaching), I’m no-nonsense (so I attract direct people as well) and I’m sincere but irreverent (so I attract the same).
I’m trusting my gut that if I’m confident I know myself, then I know my niche.
4 Keys in identifying your niche:
Let go of FOMO. You can't be EVERYTHING to EVERYBODY, and shouldn't have to be.
Don't be afraid of reviewing your niche and changing it up if it doesn't fit right.
Don't be afraid of being different, if that's where your instincts are leading you.
Ground your niche decisions on your own values.
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