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Hey, hey. Welcome. Today on the podcast we are discussing getting over the fear of upleveling your business.
I want to be honest with you, for many, many years, I was just like everyone else in the yoga industry. I taught in studios. I was a cash on delivery yoga teacher and I loved my work. Also, in many ways, it was awful. People canceled left and right. It was hard to predict my income from month to month, and it wore me out. I felt like a traveling salesman. I was all over creation trying to make ends meet because life was so unpredictable.
In 2016 I decided it was time to change.
I only worked with students who committed to a package of classes with me. I raised my prices. I required payment in advance to book into my calendar. I let people know what my cancellation policy was upfront and I held them to it.
So even though I had been teaching yoga since 2003, I finally felt official. I felt like I was a real businesswoman now. And I thrived. I got more sleep. I enjoyed my work much more, which I didn’t think was possible because I was always so passionate about it. I spent less time in the car. I stopped seeing clients who weren’t committed or weren’t excited to work with me, and I only saw clients who valued my level of expertise.
As these changes happened, many yoga teachers who I know and clients of mine who I mentor came to me with some really big questions about it. They wanted to know, were people put off? When I changed my business this way were previous clients finding this icky and not wanting to resign? After all, all my old clients were used to the dollar per hour, hippy-dippy way of conducting a business. They’re always surprised when I tell them nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s why:
Making these changes in my business allowed me to show up for my work in an even more committed way.
Whether I told people about it or not, there was a period of many years where I thought, “I can’t keep going like this. If something doesn’t change, I’m going to quit.” So, of course, I brought that energy into my work. I was committed most of the time, but deep down I was always questioning myself, questioning if I could really do this long-term. And of course, clients would feel that energy. So it wasn’t uncommon for people to be committed for a while and then back away from the work.
However, when I changed my commitment level, and I redesigned my business in a way that worked for me, I showed up full power, fully committed for my students, and they felt that change. They were more committed too. The students who weren’t simply fell away, there was no drama and my calendar became full with clients who were ready to do the work, ready to dive in, didn’t cancel, and happy to pay for someone with my level of knowledge because I showed up with commitment and they did too.
And it felt really spacious. I was no longer showing up late, running from one appointment to the next because I was being paid hourly or cash on delivery, so I wasn’t overbooking myself. I knew where my money was coming from. I had more financial security and predictability. I was showing up rested and ready to serve my clients. Everybody wins this way.
That’s what my one-on-one students value. They value that when I’m with them I can take my time, I’m not rushed. They value that. They never have to ask me how my practice is going. They know my practice is committed and it’s part of my process.It sets the example for them and when I changed my business practices to be firmer in my boundaries, which I know sounds scary if you’re not used to doing that as a business person, it allowed them to get better results. They didn’t have the outs to cancel for stupid reasons, so as a result, they got better results from their practice because they were doing their practice more diligently. They were showing up more powerfully. They were thrilled by the results because that’s what they hired me for. They’re not hiring me to be friendly. They’re not hiring me to just, you know, check one more thing off their to-do list. They’re hiring me for change. And by me holding them accountable, they got that change faster and with much more gusto.
So when a client of mine, who is a teacher trying to shift her business into a more powerful place, and she asks “were your students put off when you made these changes and had strong boundaries?” the answer is no, not at all.
In fact, many of them loved it, not just because of the results they were now getting and held accountable to get, which is the point of hiring me. they appreciated my business acumen. Many of my students have their own businesses. They appreciate how professional I showed up for the work and it brought our whole interaction into a much higher level. Everything we did was more intentional and more profound as a result.
So my question to you is if the idea of having stronger boundaries in your business and upleveling how you onboard your clients and how you hold them accountable for their work feels scary to you, I want you to do some clearing around this energy.
Get your journal out and make a list. I want you to dive into your fears and write down 20 things-at least, you might have more- which you think will go up in smoke as a result of you showing up more powerful in your business.
Maybe you’re afraid people won’t like you because you uphold your cancellation policies. Maybe you’re afraid you’ll lose clients because you’re only willing to see people who commit for a number of sessions or a period of time, as opposed to people who want to go from one session to the next in a very airy fairy way. Maybe you’re afraid other yoga teachers will think you’re bitchy. Maybe you’re afraid you’ll be called a sellout for acting too corporate.
Whatever it is, I want you to write it down so that you can see it all on paper and the simple act of doing that is going to help loosen the grip of these fears over your subconscious. Just write them all down. What are all the things you think could go wrong by you upleveling your business in this way?
Maybe you’re afraid if you get an accountant, people will think you’re a rich bitch. I know in many episodes we talk about money mindset and how often helping industries poopoo on earning a good living, which is so silly. Unless you’re a monk, you need money.
So dive into this list and really see what’s there and as you write some of the things might actually make you laugh because they’re so ridiculous and they’re just figments of your imagination. Other things might require you to have some conversations. They might require you to seek out a mentor so that you can get help in doing these things that you need to do with the support that you need to face any obstacles along the way. But dive in. If you’re somebody who practices EFT or tapping, you could certainly tap out this list. If you’re somebody who already works with a coach or a mentor, show them this list so that you can work through it together.
If this work touches a nerve with you, it means we’ve hit the right thing in this podcast today and it’s worth exploring in a deeper way. I’m here to help you with this, so here are some action steps for you:
Do that list. Really dive into it. I would love for you to come over to Instagram and tell me what your fears are and how you’re working through them. Tell me if you need help. I’m all about having real relationships through social media, so don’t be shy.
I would love it if you would share this podcast with anyone you think would benefit from this episode. And please take the time to leave a review. It’s a great way to support podcasters in the work they do so generously in this world.
Thank you for joining me and remember helping others and being successful are not mutually exclusive. You can have both.