Friday, December 14, 2007

Seeding for 2008

Practicing with Marc Holzman and the Guerilla Yoga in LA. Photo by Martin Herrera

I hope this email finds you fully enjoying the Holiday season. I have decided to make year-end resolutions for a change. Here they are: I am celebrating life and love with food that is good for me, I am enjoying parties and gatherings or I am not attending them at all, I am planting trees on people's behalf rather than buying gifts, I am turning off my computer after 8pm and I am staying healthy throughtout the season. Amen!

Aren't those great seeds for 2008?

And talking about 2008, I am very excited to share that in February I will be teaching The Business of Yoga at the Loyola Marymount University Yoga extension program.

Last but not least, get ready for the new year with our last free teleclass on creating a vision for 2008.

With heartfelt gratitude for the many opportunities you give me to share and serve you. I look forward to another year of growth, joy and light in your company.


Warmly,
Clara

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Marketing for Yoga Teachers - as featured on Yogi Times Business


We are on the press again!

YOGI TIMES BUSINESS | OCT 2007

THE TEACHER’S EDGE
Marketing for Yoga Teachers
By Clara Hori

Empowering Steps That Will Launch You to the Next Level

Eighteen million Americans do yoga and spend $2.95 billion on classes and yoga-related products and services. With stress reaching epidemic levels and an aging baby boomer population, these numbers will inevitably grow. There’s no question that all teachers have an opportunity to thrive and have a fulfilling life. Empowering yourself with marketing and business skills is allowing the tide to take you to sea.
In this article, I’ll share three fundamental steps, some more practical than others, to infuse you with the clarity and determination this journey requires.

1. Embracing Growth as Part of Your Spiritual Path
If you want to grow as a teacher and get to the next level, the very first step takes place right where you are—it’s a reflection on your mindset. Are you aspiring to grow or are you overemphasizing contentment? True or false: Yoga says that happiness happens when we renounce the material universe, as our desires and impulses to “be in the world” are the cause of our suffering. The answer is both true and false. In one path of yoga, called nirvritti, or contemplation, this is true. That’s the path of the ascetics. But if you are a householder, your path is pravritti, the path of action. In this path, you don’t renounce your obligations and relationships—you embrace and honor them. You find happiness when you live and act in accordance with your purpose in life. Most modern yogis are householders. We may have very dedicated practices, but we also have families, credit cards and a preference for organic food, among other things. The understanding that expansion is the nature of the path we are threading allows us to embrace growth and overcome our own resistances, fears and limiting behaviors.

2. Redefine Marketing
Is teaching yoga today easier than it was 15 years ago? It’s certainly different.
Yoga’s increasing popularity is fact, but unless you are able to be at the right place and at the right time, conveying a unique message that resonates with people, you will not be benefited by the tide. The set of processes that allow you to leverage, or sometimes create, such a tide is marketing. Here’s a simple yet powerful exercise: Quickly write down what you usually experience when you engage in marketing activities as a yoga teacher. If things such as “I feel exposed,” “I feel like I am selling myself,” or “I sound
desperate” come up, take a step back and reflect. Is my perception tinted or clear? Is this helping me? If marketing is not your comfort zone, it’s very likely that it will trigger fears and insecurities. On top of that, we cannot deny there is bad marketing that is empty of meaning and encourages people to buy what they don’t really need. But if we can isolate what we experience as consumers for a second, and process our self-confidence issues, marketing is naturally released from its negative charge. It evolves from a necessary evil to an authentic expression of who you are and how you serve the world, in which we take price and rejoice.

3. Taking Action—Baby Steps
Let’s get practical. The right action confirms and completes the inner work. There are four things that are beneficial for every teacher. Although they are practical and relatively simple steps, they can be indefinitely procrastinated if we are unaware of our resistances. I encourage you to keep it simple and approach it as your version 1.0, one that you will have plenty of opportunity to refine and improve on as you moving forward. It’s a better way of managing your energy, as only after completion we can start reaping the benefits and free up energy to apply elsewhere. Leave long and complex projects for later in the journey, when such a commitment of energy will not be overwhelming. How you do things is as important as what you do. Establishing a deep connection with the task at hand and infusing it with meaning is a key part of the process. Let your marketing embody the qualities you cultivate in your practice and teaching. Let it be graceful, whole and established in awareness. And before you know it, it will empower you to grow and expand, for the highest good.

Basic Tools for Marketing

Auto signature. This turns every email you send out into a way of presenting
yourself. Why not tell everyone you’re a certified yoga teacher and teach groups and privates? Make your contact information easy to find. You can keep it subtle or make it bold, depending on where you are in your teaching career. You can include a quote to add
personality and elegance. It’s easy to do and costs nothing.

Business cards. If you already have them, make sure you carry them everywhere—and most importantly— give them to everyone you meet. Every touch counts and helps you build your image and your network. If you are on class building mode, consistently
pinning cards in bulletin boards of places you like is a great habit that costs you almost nothing. Web sites such as overnightprints.com offer quality cards ranging from $15 to several hundred dollars.

Mailing list. To build it you need a subscription scheme that is permission based and complies with a strong privacy policy. The simplest way to start a mailing list is to take a clipboard to every class and invite your students to join. Give people a reason to join it, because if you don’t, your list will not grow. Beyond the standard of sharing news, class schedule, workshops and retreats and, what else can you offer? You can start with your own email account and then upgrade to a newsletter. Some good newsletter engines are constantcontact.com and namasteinteractive.com (costs start at $15/month).

Web site. This should include: bio, photo, class/events schedule, contact info, and a way for interested people to subscribe or unsubscribe from your mailing list. You can start with a free basic blog site at blogger.com and move on to a more professional (and expensive) site when your business is ready. Web site templates are affordable and easy to implement on your own. The downside is that your look and feel won’t be unique and customization will be very limited. Webflexor-yoga.com has an interesting package for yoga teachers, including a logo, Web site, business card design, domain, email addresses,and a newsletter service for a one-time fee of $479 + $24.99/month. You’ll have to invest more for a professional web designer—about $500 to $1000.



Is it time to upgrade to a newsletter system?

If you are sending emails to your students, congratulations. This is one of the most powerful tools to establish, grow and keep a strong connection with your community.

How are you sending those emails? If you are using your email program (i.e. Outlook, Entourage and web based .Mac, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc...), I always say that it's a great way to start, but probably not be the best way to stay.

Here's how you know if you have outgrown improvised newsletters and should consider upgrading the way you currently communicate with your students to a newsletter service such as Constant Contact:

1 - Your list of contacts has grown. You now have to break it down into multiple emails, which is not fun. Also, you want to make it easier for people to subscribe and unsubscribe, so that you don't have to spend time doing. Did you know that if you don't offer a simple way for people to unsubscribe your email can be considered spam? Did you know that if you ever forget to put names in the bcc line you are violating people's privacy rights?

2 - You want your newsletter to look nice! In the beginning it was the word, and the word was out. Ok, now you want the word to look as beautiful as you are. You want pictures of you, you want inspiring images, you want formatting, you want links. Right?

3 - You have lots of things going on and you want to promote them - new classes, new schedule, workshops, retreats, downloadable classes. If you are not there yet but want to get there, then this class is for you as well. A newsletter is the most affordable and most effective tool available to yoga teachers. Period!
If you are interested in trying out Constant Contact, we hold regular teleclasses to help you get started. If you are ready to try it on your own, there short tutorials on the basic functions as well as a 1800 technical support that is fairly decent.

You can sign up for a 60 day trial with Constant Contact for up to 100 contacts/names. If you would like to get a $30 credit, email us before signing up to the trial and we'll send you a special link.

Full disclosure: we are not affiliated with Constant Contact but we do get a referral fee of $30 for every person that signs up to the program after the trial period.

New Offering: The Business of Yoga Module for 200 hr Yoga Alliance Teachers Trainings

At the request of yoga studios offering Yoga Alliance Teachers Trainings we have developed a 5 hour workshop on the business aspects of teaching yoga.
It fits right into the Teaching Methodology category of the Yoga Alliance standards. Our goal is to encourage teachers to embrace the business side of their teaching and offer superlative tools and strategies to help them thrive, from day 1.
The program explores different ways to get started and gain experience. It emphasizes the importance of aligning action and purpose and it supports students in getting clarity on their unique talents and aspirations.

Here's the program outline.

1) Setting up the context: Purpose and Vision

  • Teaching as dharma, teaching as business.
  • Creating your own definition of success.
  • Spontaneous specialization: What’s unique about you?
  • Teaching Continuum – start where you are: Getting started -> Part-time teaching -> Full-time teaching -> Beyond full-time teaching.

2) Getting Started and Navigating choices
  • Phase 1: the whatever, whenever and wherever period.
  • Phase 2: becoming the teacher you are meant to be.
3) Practical Aspects: Getting the word out
  • “True to self-promotion”. New ways of looking at marketing.
  • Great beginnings: first business card, website and newsletter.
  • Networking and “guerilla” marketing.
4) Practical Aspects: Finances
  • Safety net: Liability insurance, health insurance, emergency fund.
  • Taxes and Bookkeeping basics.
  • The Yoga of Wealth.
  • Support Network: Who needs a CPA and attorney?
5) Preventing burn-out
  • Self-care: practicing, recharging, community.
  • Mentorship and continuous education.
  • Prioritizing and creating boundaries.

Yogi Incubator Teaches at the Loyola Marymount University Yoga extension program

I could not be more excited to share that in February I will be teaching The Business of Yoga at the Loyola Marymount University Yoga extension program. It will be a 5 hour workshop, offered as part of Srivatsa Ramaswami's 200 hr Vinyasa Krama teachers training. Ramaswami was the longest standing student of the legendary T. Krishnamacharya outside the Master’s family. It's a great priviledge to co-teach with such a luminary, in one of the best schools in the country.

The program is open to anyone, so if you are a beginner teacher or have students that just completed their teachers training, this can be a great way to start the year cultivating the business aspect of your teaching.

The Business of Yoga – 5 hour workshop

When: Feb 9th, Saturday, 10am – 3:30pm

Where: Loyola Marymount University*

Costs: $370 for the entire weekend (includes Sunday 5 hour module on Teaching Methodology, taught by Ramaswami). Registration for the Business of Yoga only is available upon request.

To register: email yoga@lmu.edu or call Stephanie at (310) 338-2358

*Module within Srivatsa Ramaswami’s 200 Hour Vinyasa Krama Yoga Teacher Training Program

Click here for Program Outline

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Free Tele-Classes - topics and schedule

Want to experience us? Then join one of our free tele-classes. Open to all past, current and future participants, these calls cover a different topic every month. Whether you want a refreshment or a sample, be sure to check it out.

Here's the schedule for the remainder of 2007:

October: Can I learn to love Marketing?
Wed, Oct 24th
12:00 Noon Pacific Time (1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central time, and 3:00 PM Eastern time)

November: Creating a vibrant referral system
Thu, Nov 15th
12:00 Noon Pacific Time (1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central time, and 3:00 PM Eastern time)

December: Creating a Treasure Map for 2008
Thu, Dec 27th
12:00 Noon Pacific Time (1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central time, and 3:00 PM Eastern time)

To register to any one of the calls click here. You will receive the conference calling number and code and a courtesy reminder 24 hours before the call date.

Aligning business calendar with nature: time to replenish!

Fall Leaves from http://www.northshorefallcolors.com/


I am guessing you have already received a handful of newsletters welcoming fall, the crispiness of the air, the winds of change and the many things we should fall back to. So I am not going to talk about that. Or am I? I can't help but share what I think is the season's greatest wisdom: it's time to replenish. Just look at nature around you. With the end of Summer, the season of growth and extroversion, the trees are getting ready to hibernate, letting go of their leaves to conserve energy so that they can endure the hardships of winter. What about us? Are we finding ways to do the same for ourselves? Or do we keep inviting more?

While many businesses boom during fall and throughout the winter, our body and mind have evolved to be in tune with the seasons. As I write this post, I find myself half way through Fall's Yogi Incubator program here in L.A., taking four profound and provoking trainings and riding (or creating?) big waves of change in my personal life. Much thought and dedication is going into taking good care of myself so that I can be as grounded and present as I can, while gracefully embracing all that is unfolding.

I hope you can too, take care of yourself while growing your business in harmony and getting ready to wrap up the year.

Warmly,
Clara

Monday, October 1, 2007

Is marketing bad versus bad marketing

an example of bad marketing from the past, from http://blogs.citypages.com/amadzine/2008/01/

In the Yogi Incubator program we spend a good time reflecting upon our resistance to the idea of marketing, "unloading" the word (removing negative energy that we have attached to it) and filling it up with new, inspiring meaning.
When I ask people I work with what has been keeping them from embracing marketing, here's what comes up:
  • Marketing myself sounds desperate
  • I feel like I am selling myself, it's degrading
  • Marketing is too expensive
  • Fear of rejection comes up, I feel vulnerable
  • Why should I do it in the first place? A good product should sell itself
Clearly, any marketing done from this space will not feel good and will carry out negative energy, which compromises its effectivity, reinforcing the negative pattern. Everyone nods when I say that. But how do we shift?

Like any other change, acknowledging we are stuck in a paradigm that is limiting, and wanting to transcend it, is an indicator that we are already half-way there.

The other half entails creating a new, expansive and freeing definition of marketing that works for you. Let's say that marketing is still to be invented, and you are the person inventing it. Can you define it in a way that feels valuable, meaningful, authentic? Recently, in Asheville, a participant defined marketing as "an extension of who I am and how I share my story." I am thinking of inviting her to work with me!

Once you have that definition, you will also be able to understand how to stay in integrity when you are marketing. Whenever you are marketing yourself and you feel a contraction, chances are you are violating your own law. It stopped being an extension of who you are and became "please love me and validate me by signing up to my workshop". It's no longer a way to share your story but an attempt to fit into what you think the client/student wants.

Sounds too simple? It is. Truth is simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple. And practice makes perfect.

More on the topic: join our monthly free tele-class!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Are you open for Business?


Are you? Do you t think of yourself as a business? Could that be a good thing?

Some people find businesses a "necessary evil". Others find it an "unnecessary evil". But businesses are really just as good or necessary as the purpose they serve.

Businesses are structures organized around a vision and a mission. If your mission has anything to do with serving others, teaching out of love and overflowing joy, I say it's one of the businesses that the world needs most so don't you dare hide yourself! If you don't step up and thrive who will?

Here are some examples of soulful business and business related initiatives that are enriching our lives with their success:

Patagonia
is a leading Triple Bottom Line company that measures its success in terms of Profit, People and Planet. I am always happy to give them my money knowing that they've already donated $29 million dollars to environmental causes.

Ladies who Launch are unstopable women who rebelled against the traditional and heavily rational model of doing business. Leveraging intuition, non linear thinking and relationships, they celebrate launching and growing business as a life-style and way to express creativity. Sounds good? Visit their website and check out their new book.

Balance Integration
offers yoga based corporate programs for a less stressed workforce and workplace. It's a lot to aspire but isn't yoga the most powerful system for personal transformation? Visit them on-line or in real life. They will have a booth at the Global Mala LA event at the Convention Center. Full disclosure: I am proud to be part of this company, representing them on the West Coast.

What are your examples? Could your own business be your example?
Food for tought!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Yogi Times Business Reviews the Yogi Incubator


Out of the Incubator, Into the World

Yogi Times Business, August 2007

by liz hage

a breeding ground for success

Meet Clara Hori, an inspiring individual who is working diligently to bridge the gap between the corporate sector and yoga. After spending 10 years as an executive at the Microsoft Corporation, she left her career to study yoga and contemplate her direction in life. During this break from her corporate career she immersed herself in the Los Angeles yoga community. As she studied and developed her own practice she also became aware of a real need and demand for business and marketing knowledge and guidance from the yoga teachers and studios she encountered. Through this recognition, the idea of the Yogi Incubator, her seminar workshop for yoga entrepreneurs, came to her during meditation and was partly inspired by the influence of her yoga teacher, Rod Stryker.

Picture a group of yogi's comfortably sitting in a circle on meditation cushions, three ring binders in front of them on the floor. A paper flip chart and markers set up next to Clara, dressed in yoga clothes, smiling sincerely. This is the setting in which Clara helps lead her students onto the path of success and prosperity, melding corporate and yogic structure in the course.

To begin, Clara grounds the group with her clear presence, a mantra and some om's and prepares everyone for what would be covered over six, 3 hour sessions. Instead of diving directly in to marketing 101, she begins working with the students' mindsets. Everyone is invited to reflect on questions such as, why am I here (meaning the planet, not the Yogi Incubator )? And what are my goals? After several unique exercises focused on goal setting, the class becomes more clear on their life purpose and path. This proves to be a very effective way of leading the group into the marketing section of the program.

Clara is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the variety of ways one can market them self and has a fantastic network of connections she offers to each participant. She also encourages all participants to share their skills and offerings with one another, a unique idea and again a tie in to the idea of seva (selfless service) in yogic tradition.

By the end of the program it becomes apparent that one's path and business savvy are inextricably linked. Not only do Clara's students become more clear on the direction they are headed, the Yogi Incubator shifts perspectives around self, money, and business in one way or another for the better.

Students who leave Clara's program take with them creative tools to market themselves, a deeper understanding of their path and purposes here on the planet thanks to her well thought out curriculum and vast business and yogic wisdom.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Yogi Incubator Hits the Road: Asheville and Miami

Due to popular demand, we are hitting the road with an intensive weekend version.

With a 15 hour program and the same raved content that made us famous in Los Angeles, we are landing in Asheville and Miami.

Miami Intensive:

When: September 14-16 (Fri – 6:30 to 8:30 pm, Sat and Sun – 10:00 to 6pm)

Where: at Synergy South Beach (435 Espanola Way)

Costs: $250 by 8/31, $275 after 8/31

To register: call Synergy at (305) 538-7073

Asheville Intensive:

When: September 7-9 (Fri – 6:30 to 8:30 pm, Sat and Sun – 10:00 to 6pm)

Where: at the Ananta Yoga Ranch (14 miles from downtown Asheville)

Costs: $250 by 8/15, $275 after 8/15

To register: call Juan Carlos Daza at (828) 683-4916. Juan Carlos is our local host.

If you have questions about these programs and about these programs, join our free, bi-monthly informative calls. Click here for a schedule and instructions.

And at the end of this journey will be back in LA for another extensive program, this time in the east side, at the Silver Lake Yoga studio. Click here for details.

Free, Live Orientation Session in Los Angeles

What is the Yogi Incubator? Are these guys serious? Is this really for me? Is it worth the investment? If these questions are dancing in your mind as you scroll over our beautiful website, there’s a very simple way to get the answers. Join our free, live orientation session on 8/18, from 4 to 6pm.

RSVP and you will be given the address.

Orientation covers program overview, sample exercises and participants questions (time permitting).

Scheduled challenge? Ok, you can also get a taste of the Incubator by attending our bi-monthly informative calls. Click here for details

Note that our next Los Angeles Yogi Incubator starts September 22nd at the Silver Lake Yoga

What: Extensive program (6 Saturdays)

When: from 9/22 to 11/3 (skips 10/27), from 1-4pm

Where: Silver Lake Yoga Studio - 2810 Glendale Blvd, 90039, Los Angeles, CA

Costs: sliding scale of $275 - $375, includes one individual 1 hour checkpoint.

We look forward to meeting you,

Be great, Clara

Join our free bi-monthly informative calls

What is the Yogi Incubator? Are these guys serious? Is this really for me? Is it worth the investment? If these questions are dancing in your mind as you scroll over our beautiful website, there’s a very simple way to get the answers. Join our bi-monthly informative calls.

They are free of cost and free of hassle. No need to register. Just choose a data and time that is convenient for you and dial in using the number below.

Topics we cover include program overview, sample exercises and participants questions (time permitting).

Hear you there!

Schedule:

  • August 3rd , 10am PST (1pm EST)
  • August 15th, 8am PST (11am EST)
  • August 28th, 5pm PST (8pm EST)
  • September 12th, 12pm PST (3pm EST)

~ Calls last 1 hour.

~ Join by calling (712) 945 1601, PIN: 785 681

Calls are open and free, but long distance charges may apply.

Monday, June 4, 2007

A non-linear, intuitive approach to business? I like that!

Oh God, wouldn't it be great if someone came to you and told you that your non-linear, intuitive, all over the place way of launching your ideas is actually a new, emerging and highly successful new approach to business? Wouldn't that be a relief?

The Ladies Who Launch is a movement that is doing just that. It brings evidence that there's a feminine way of launching and managing a business that is different from the masculine model, traditionally at business schools. So if you are a woman and lost count of how many times the well intended comments of your boyfriend/husband/brother, dad/ etc stopped you in your tracks and discouraged you from pursuing what sounded like crazy ideas, you have now been redeemed and crowned a pioneer in this new approach to business.

LWL started as a on-line resource for entrepreneurial women who launch business as a celebration of their creativity and as a life-style (i.e. you start a business because you are way too in love with an idea to go work for someone else, in someone else's idea AND because you want flexibility and freedom). It then evolved into a workshop called The Incubator and is now a book.

This is one resource I highly recommend for all Yogi Incubator participants, including the men. Just because it's a feminine approach, it does not mean it's for women only. As you read it, you will find that you ALREADY HAVE many qualities of successful business people and may be closer than you think from whatever it is you aspire. And you may not even have to do a business plan!

Check it out and get ready to launch!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Yogi Incubator Blog.
This is where we will post news, updates and information that changes too fast for any web designer to keep track of.
And this is also where we interact with you. We welcome and appreciate your comments, suggestions and questions.
The more I work with the Yogi Incubator, the more I realize that the important thing is to get started, to find uncomplicated ways to get my creativity and enthusiasm out. Refinement happens naturally, through countless opportunities that greet me as action unfolds. I am grinning to my perfectionist self.
So with no further ado, let's get started!