The Yoga of Money with Kristen Sweeney

Last week I had a slew of toxic FB messages (literally 25 in 20 minutes) about being a sell out and 'a-spiritual' because I make money from Yoga. It was REALLY intense.

Personal, poisonous and it really took me out of the game...

...for about five minutes.

I get it. A bunch of folks in the Yoga industry have some pretty snarky baggage when it comes to having money and teaching Yoga. I used to be one of them - REALLY.

These days I've done  fair amount of soul searching, reading, studying, coaching and meditating and I feel that money - as a source of energy (prana) - isn't a bad thing in and of itself.

Crappy people do crappy things with money.

Awesome people do awesome things with money.

The money itself doesn't have an energetic charge.

Because I've done the work, when I get a string of toxic messages, hate email or a heckler in a workshop a quick handstand or a nadi shodhana break will snap me out of it.

But what about you?

How do you feel about Yoga and money?

On the Weekly Call I've invited my gorgeous colleague, Kristen Sweeney, to join me to talk on this topic. Kristen had a bunch of great tips (and a freebie) that she shared. We definitely had a cracker of a conversation.

PS: have you heard? If you register for the Abundant Yoga Teacher Retreat by SUNDAY you'll receive a 90-minute 1:1 coaching intensive with me while we are away!

It is the sacred space you've been craving to really take a heart-felt dive into your passion-based business.

It is the yoga and meditation holiday you're longing for deep in your bones.

It is the coming together of friends with open hearts ready and excited to share and nourish, rekindle and rejuvenate.

Are you coming?

Here is the link to the info: http://www.amymcdonald.com.au/retreats

Remember, the bonus coaching ($425 value) ends SUNDAY.

100th Episode Celebration

Thank you SOOO MUCH!

I am so delighted to celebrate the Abundant Yoga Teacher Podcast reaching the 100th episode!

AHmazing!

Your support for the podcast, showing up on the calls, asking your questions: seriously, I just couldn't have done it without YOU!

So this week's call is going to be a MASSIVE celebration. Think blooper reels, highlights and very cool giveaways.

PS: Speaking of celebration, guess what?

The Abundant Yoga Teacher Retreat is now open for registrations!

Yup, Tier 1 pricing went on sale on Monday and there are 5 places left at this level. 

I've also created a payment plan option for you, too! WAHOO!

If you like the idea of a week in Thailand with me and a bunch of super high-vibe Yogis, with incredible food, daily Yoga and meditation AND Yoga Biz coaching and training... click on the button below!

March Open Mic Q&A

Is there something you're working on in your Yoga biz that isn't quite turning out as you'd like?

Are you avoiding sharing a new offer because you've got a question or two that needs clarifying?

Perhaps you're considering altering your pricing and you'd like a second opinion before you take the plunge?

Good news!!! It's Open Mic time!

PS: Registrations for Writing from the Heart for your Yoga Biz close soon!

BECOME A CONFIDENT YOGA WRITER IN YOUR BIZ AND:

• Stop wasting time and second guessing and start sharing!

• Stop repelling and start attracting!

• Stop waffling and being boring and start engaging!

WRITING FROM THE HEART FOR YOUR YOGA BIZ is an 8-week virtual training where you will learn the professional tips and tricks to convey your powerful message to magnetise your ideal clients and students.

IT starts soon... and I want YOU in it!

Feel confident to convey your message & what you have to offer without feeling like you need to use icky, salesy spin and fear-based marketing manipulation.

Over four powerful live trainings I'll teach you the professional writing and marketing techniques I use in my own 6-figure Yoga business...

...while NEVER feeling icky or freaked that i'm 'too much' (or 'not enough'!!)

Share your authentic LOVE of Yoga & inspire your students through story and allegory to bring more of these important teachings into their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.

What I learnt from being with OSHO

It's true: I have a Guru addiction.

I love reading about them. I love watching movies about them. I go talks, listen to recordings. I'm totally addicted.

Last month I spent a week in Pune, India, around the Osho Meditation Resort (hint: upscale ashram) and I learnt A LOT...

If you're not familiar with OSHO, he was a Guru who left the body in 1990. He built an incredible ashram in the States, when he was known as Bhagwan Rajneesh.

After 'some stuff' (guns, poising, vote stacking...) he left the States and returned to Pune where he continued to guide people in meditation and Tantric teachings.

One of the things I ADORE about OSHO's teachings is his belief about abundance.

In fact, the Pune ashram is intentionally called a 'meditation resort' because " it emphasizes Osho’s insistence on abundance, both inner and outer. The complete opposite of the traditional glorification of poverty and renunciation associated with “ashrams.”"

Interesting, no?

So this week I'm going to be unpacking more of my experience at the 'resort', what learnings I had personally and how I think some of these teachings can help you in your Yoga biz.

PS: Have you registered for Writing from the Heart for your Yoga Biz yet?

This 8-week training program will have you confident, clear and engaging in all of your Yoga biz writing: emails, proposals, web, social, articles, teacher training manuals...

Feel confident to convey your message & what you have to offer without feeling like you need to use icky, salesy spin and fear-based marketing manipulation.
 

Share your authentic LOVE of Yoga & inspire your students through story and compelling, confident copy to bring more of these important teachings into their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.

Overcoming Fear and Self Doubt in Your Yoga Biz

Over the past week I've been catching up with the gorgeous Yoginis in the Growing Your Yoga Biz program and the Keep Growing Mastermind.

All of these Yoga teachers are passionate, stretching out of the familiar and committed to serving their students and communities through the power of Yoga.

And over the week many of them have been sharing with me limiting beliefs, self-doubt, societal conditioning, and plain ol' fear... keeping them stuck and playing small in their Yoga biz.

Sooooo....

I thought that it was about time I did a podcast on this topic. What do you say?

PS: Have you registered for Writing from the Heart for your Yoga Biz yet?

This 8-week training program will have you confident, clear and engaging in all of your Yoga biz writing: emails, proposals, web, social, articles, teacher training manuals...

Feel confident to convey your message & what you have to offer without feeling like you need to use icky, salesy spin and fear-based marketing manipulation.

Share your authentic LOVE of Yoga & inspire your students through story and compelling, confident copy to bring more of these important teachings into their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.

Save your place here: http://www.amymcdonald.com.au/writingfromtheheart

Anahata Chakra and the Written Word: how to write from the heart, not the head.

Being confident, compelling and authentic with your writing is the second most important thing in being an abundant Yoga teacher.

(The first is being an awesome teacher!)

But for SO MANY Yoga teachers, writing can be terrifying.

What about you?

Does writing for your Yoga biz terrify you?

Are you afraid of the blank page?

Have you got great ideas but you struggle to articulate them?

Do you worry that your emails are salesy despite your intention to be in service?

Does your website feel a bit beige when you know your Yoga is anything but!??

If you want to feel authentic about writing for your Yoga biz, you need to rely on your HEART more and your HEAD less.

How?

I'll teach you in the podcast!

PS: I am SO excited about Writing from the Heart!!

Why?

Feel confident to convey your message & what you have to offer without feeling like you need to use icky, salesy spin and fear-based marketing manipulation.

Share your authentic LOVE of Yoga & inspire your students through story and allegory to bring more of these important teachings into their own lives and the lives of their families and communities.

It's going to be AWESOME! (Really.)

Writing from the Heart is an 8-week virtual training where you will learn the professional tips and tricks to convey your powerful message to magnetise your ideal students.

Over our 8-week journey together I'll support you to:

• Stop wasting time and second guessing and start sharing!

• Stop repelling and start attracting!

• Stop waffling and being boring and start engaging!

Your writing can be powerful for your students, you AND your business. You just need a little know-how!

And that's what you'll receive when you register for this training program.

In this 4-module live training I'll share with you the difference between fear-based marketing and love-based writing, crafting emails, web copy, fliers, postcards, blog posts and articles that feel good to write AND entice your students to work with you.

Writing from the Heart is 4 live video trainings with me plus 4 workbooks exploring the essential system I've created for writing confident, compelling and authentic copy for Yoga.

Yogis can do SEO, too!

I LOVE raving about Yoga teacher websites. LOVE IT!

I do regular freebie website makeovers. I've got a home study program about it. 

I freakin' love it.

And there is a part of all this Yoga Teacher Website chitta vrtti that I have ever been totally sure about: SEO.

SE-What?

Exactly!
 
If you think Search Engine Optimisation isn't something Yogis do, I've got a special guest lined up for you this week...

...An Ashtangi and the COOLEST guy in SEO!

Also on the call I'm going to be sharing a homeopathic dose of info about my brand new training program, 'Writing from the Heart for Your Yoga Biz'.

Stop Qualifying Yourself Confident

Do you keep telling yourself that "after one more training, I'll be ready to teach"?

Or one more speciality will mean your classes will fill.

Or just a few hundred hours more of YTT will give you the boost you need for a weekend workshop.

I gotta tell ya, it just doesn't work like that. Confidence is an INSIDE JOB.

So how do you STOP trying to qualify yourself confident?

Have a listen.

Growing Your Yoga Biz: Your Questions Answered!

Over the past week I've celebrated my amazing clients and the way they are growing their businesses and sharing their gifts.

Laura has FILLED her first ever teacher training (WAHOO!)

Beth has FILLED her brand new beginners' course (WOOT!)

Others have quit their jobs, launched new websites, had photoshoots, planned retreats...

SUPER EXCITING!

If you'd like some coaching from me for you and your Yoga biz, this week the Weekly Call is all about getting YOUR questions answered... 

PS: Growing Your Yoga Business has only 12 places left!

The clients I'm celebrating this month have all had stonking-exciting results after completing the GYYB program.

If having my personal support to Grow Your Yoga Biz interests you, make sure you're in the call happening in an hour so we can figure out if this is the best Yoga training investment you'll make in 2018!

How to feel confident writing for your Yoga Biz!

I often hear from Yoga teachers that they feel uncomfortable emailing their students TOO MUCH.

What if they sound pushy...

...or desperate?

What if they just don't know what to write?

The trouble is that most of us have learnt how to write emails from people who aren't great at it. We are constantly exposed to inauthentic, cheesy or 'fear based' email marketing...

...and its just not nice (It's also aYogic... but more of that later!)

So this week on the Abundant Yoga Teacher Weekly Call I'm sharing some Yogi writing wisdom with you!

On the call you'll discover the difference between fear-based emails and Anahata-based emails, how to ditch the former and LURVE writing the latter.

Up for it?

PS: Growing Your Yoga Business has just 24 places left!

And the bonuses that are available when you register are AH-mazing (yes, even if I do say so myself!)

Check them out:

If you're looking to be confident writing your newsletters, social media, website, fliers, postcards and handouts, then my Writing with Confidence Telecourse is going to rock your world.

And if FB ads to bring more new students into your classes kind of terrifies you (but you suspect it is easier than you think!) then this Masterclass will be a Yoga biz game changer.

The best bit? 

Both of these additional training courses are yours as my gift when you register for Growing Your Yoga BIZ by SUNDAY 14th January.

New Year, New Yoga Biz!

Happy New Year!

I hope you've had the perfect blend of fun, celebrations, contemplation and dreaming over the past few days.

This week our discussion is all about the new year and YOUR new Yoga biz! Plus there was some great Yoga Biz coaching, too.

Enjoy!

PS: The Growing Your Yoga Business program is in the final month of enrolment!

And to celebrate I announced a new round of bonuses on the call today. Trust me: you won't want to miss it!

December Open Mic Q&A

Are you looking for my coaching support to finish out 2017 and launch into 2018, 'abundance-ready'? The Abundant Yoga Teacher Weekly Call this week is our monthly QnA call

PS: Want to know one great answer to a lot of your questions?

 Yup, it's the Growing Your Yoga Business program.

4 months of in-depth (but not time sucky) Yoga biz training with me and a group of new Yoga teacher friends from around the world.

Early bird pricing ends THIS MONTH.

If you're ready abundance, ease, support and flow in 2018, GYYB is a VERY good adjustment to make to your Yoga biz practice!

The Yoga of Struggle and Progress

One of my favourite themes to teach in class is complementary forces. Yoga is full of them, right?

Darkness and light. Masculine and feminine. Good and evil. Up and down. In and out.

Some people even refer to the Hatha in Hatha Yoga as representing the complimentary forces 'sun' and 'moon' (I don't, but that is a topic for a future weekly call ;)

In this week's call I spoke specifically about the complimentary forces 'struggle' and 'progress'. As with all of these pairs, we can be at either end of this spectrum or somewhere in the middle. We are moving between the two all of the time.

So how can we choose to stay more in the progress end in our businesses, relationships and wellbeing?

And why might we be actually choosing to stay in the struggle end unnecessarily?

All this and more in this week's call!

PS: Want to know a GREAT way to stay in progress and out of struggle in your Yoga biz?

 Yup, it's the Growing Your Yoga Business program.

Growing Your Yoga Business is an in-depth, 4-month Yoga business training program where you'll learn the mindset AND the nuts and bolts pieces to become an abundant Yoga business owner.
 

Inspiration Session

I jokingly call LA my 'spiritual home'. Honestly, I feel like a kid in the candy store every time I'm here. So much YOGA!

Also for me right now I'm speaking with bunches of Yoga teachers in this community in complementary coaching calls. So far I've coached about 50 folks and I'm absolutely loving it.

But I realised that I've been a bit selfish.

I've been holding back on you. I've been keeping all the good news, success stories and inspiration to myself!

Outrageous!

So today I made up for it with our Abundant Yoga Teacher Weekly Call.

PS: One of the things that these four Yoga teachers have in common is taking themselves seriously as business owners. This shows up in their income, student attendance, confidence and visibility online.

Another thing they all have in common is they are graduates of the Growing Your Yoga Business program.

Growing Your Yoga Business is an in-depth, 4-month Yoga business training program where you'll learn the mindset AND the nuts and bolts pieces to become an abundant Yoga business owner.

People Pleasing and the Seat of the Teacher

Yup: it's time we talked about 'the disease to please'!

If saying YES when you desire to say NO is something that is coming up for you with your students, you'll love this call.

Make sure you download the worksheet to go along with this week's call.

In this call we also spoke about Growing Your Yoga Business, my 4-month signature Group Program where you’ll learn all you need, and get all the support you need, to take your Yoga business to the next level.
 
Over 8 juicy modules, we’ll work through visibility and pricing blocks and barriers, create branding and communication clarity, establish great boundaries as well as business systems and structures and a bunch more.
 
You’ll also be part of a truly high vibrational group of colleagues who are also really going for it in their Yoga businesses, whether they are moving from hobbyist to business owner, or part-time teacher to full-time Yoga-prenuer, or from the studio and to the world!
 
Here is what one of my gorgeous Yogini teachers and Growing Your Yoga Business participants had to say about her involvement in the program:

Get all the details and secure your place at www.amymcdonald.com.au/growingyouryogabiz

Abundant Yoga Teacher Bookclub: November

This month's books are Adam Grant's 'Give and Take' and David Frawley's 'Yoga and Ayurveda: self-healing and self-realization'.

And don't worry if you haven't read the books. There was Yoga Biz QnA and general nerdy Yoga chat as well!

PS: In case you missed it on the call last week, Growing Your Yoga Business is now open for super early bird registrations!

Growing Your Yoga Business is an in depth, Yoga-specific business development training program that provides targeted, clear AND fun training on exactly how to grow an abundant Yoga business while making the alchemising shift to take their existing Yoga business to its fullest potential.

GROWING YOUR YOGA BUSINESS includes 8 video-based trainings + 8 modules, 9 live coaching calls, plus some VERY juicy bonuses that show you step-by-step how to make your abundant transition from Yoga teacher to Yoga Business Owner.

(Including figuring out who you love to teach and why, developing a brand you love plus making the money you deserve).

You can learn more about it here: http://www.amymcdonald.com.au/growingyouryogabiz/

THIS MONTH ONLY I'm offering an early bird registration, where you can save $800.

Nice!

AND (yup, it gets better!) there is also the opportunity to receive a complimentary place on my Abundant Yoga Teacher Retreat (valued at $1950) when you sign up.

Wahooot!

How fun, right?
 

November Open Mic Q&A

It's that time again - Open Mic Q&A when I answer all your questions. Catch up now to learn from other people's questions, or perhaps listen to your pre-submitted question

Also today I have a VERY exciting special announcement that I shared in the weekly call!

After you hear the special announcement, head over to the Growing Your Yoga Biz page for more information:

Planning Half-Day Workshops in 7 Simple Steps

Half-day workshops are a powerful AND enjoyable way to make money in your Yoga biz as well as welcome in new students who can then sign up to your weekly classes.

If the idea of teaching for a half day scares you, or if you are interested in making your half-day workshops more joyful from the biz perspective appeals, you'll LOVE the Abundant Yoga Teacher Weekly Call this week!

I've also put together a checklist for you so you've got a potent resource to get your half-day workshops happening:

PS: AMAZING NEWS!

I've just opened up a payment plan option for the Abundant Yoga Teacher Retreat! 

Woot!

This means you can seperate the payments into 3 parts, and secure your spot for an initial instalment of $650.

There are 5 places left. Come and join us!

5 Yoga Tips to Writing Confidently

Do you ever sit in front of a blank screen, knowing you have to send out a newsletter but just totally stuck on what to put in it?

Or does your website need updating (or creating!) but you're stalling because you don't want to sound corporate AND you're also not looking to come across as salesy either?

Before becoming a coach I worked as a writer. Fiction and nonfiction. I also taught folks how write for both the online and offline worlds. 

This means I know a thing or sixty about writing well, and how to convey your important message to your people while sounding just like you and never feeling icky about being pushy. 

And I'm shared it all (or as much as we could possibly get through) on this week's call.

PS: The Abundant Yoga Teacher Retreat is now HALF FULL.

So if you're planning on coming along, seriously now is the time to register.

A week of great company, dreamy walks in nature, incredible Thai food, meditation, chanting, Yoga and upping your Yoga biz skills with me.

#ananda, right?

Read all about it, and secure you place before it sells out!

It's not too late: reach your 2017 goals!

Have you been reflecting on the goals you set at the start of the year and thinking you're out of time to hit them?

I'm here to tell you that is simply not the case. Want to know how I know? Then check out today's call where we got into it!

PS: If one of your goals was to join me on retreat then you might have missed out for 2017 but guess what?

You can totally still make this happen, because the 2018 Abundant Yoga Teacher Retreat is on sale now!