41: What Do You Do When COVID-19 Shuts Down Your Yoga Studio

What Is This Episode About…

In this episode, John and Chris talk about what to do when COVID-19 shuts down your yoga studio. We explore how you can leverage online classes and social media to keep your members engaged.

With the disruption caused by COVID-19 and closure of many businesses including yoga studios, we explore how online courses and social media can help us go through the disruption while still impacting the lives of your members and keeping them engaged. 

Initially, you may not feel a great connection while teaching virtually as you’d do with a room full of students, but remember it’s not about you. It’s about what value you ci9tybew5 5bban give to your students.   

As a yoga teacher, you need to get out of your way, identify what your students need and the next course of action to take. It’s all about serving your students during this time as they need you the most. Create those connections and help them overcome this pandemic.

Key Points Discussed:

• How to keep providing value to your members mid the disruption (8:32)
• Creating online connections as yoga practitioners to help people who feel isolated due to social distancing (9:01)
• Even if you don’t like teaching yoga virtually, it’s not about you, it’s about your student and what value you give them during this time (10:05)
• As a yoga teacher, it’s not about you but your students (11:04)
• Social media is a great place to connect with your students (11:30)
• You can only save your business by serving your people. They need you now more than ever (12:41)

Learn More About The Content Discussed…

Join The Facebook Group –> http://bit.ly/yogaentrepreneur

When Was It Released…

This episode was released April 1, 2020

Episode Transcript…

Disclaimer:‌ ‌The‌ ‌Transcript‌ ‌Is‌ ‌Auto-Generated‌ ‌And‌ ‌May‌ ‌Contain‌ ‌Spelling‌ ‌And‌ ‌Grammar‌ ‌Errors‌ ‌

 

Chris  0:00  

The question was, how can we continue to serve to make our lives better now than they were before and create a bigger impact in our lives? You see the question of why is this happening versus how can I serve more now and we create a better life now than I had it before? We’ll give you a completely different answer and will spur different actions.

 

Chris  0:28  

What’s up, everyone? You are listening to yoga entrepreneur secrets?

 

I am Chris Yax. 

 

John  0:32  

And I’m John Yax

 

Chris  0:33  

Yes, we are part of a small group of yoga entrepreneurs who are committed

 

to making a living doing what we love without feeling guilty about making money for ashamed of being successful, because we know the real value of yoga and how the world needs it now more than ever. This podcast is here to teach the strategies and tactics so we can thrive financially as yoga entrepreneurs. We are the x brothers and welcome to yoga entrepreneur secrets.

 

Okay, So the last episode we were in Costa Rica. So when this is filmed, it’s been about a week and a half. Since we got back from Costa Rica now we were in, in Nosara, Costa Rica doing a retreat. And we, and you saw, if you watch the last couple episodes, that’s where we were when we were doing that retreat. We were doing those episodes. So we were lounging. It was beautiful. We were in a retreat center, we were getting fed every day. We were teaching and just having an incredible time with all the people that went and 

 

John  1:31  

hearing reports like, hey, there’s this thing that’s just blown up in Italy, and it’s kind of shutting the place down.

 

Chris  1:40  

And obviously, before we went, we knew China was dealing with it. And then once we got there, we’re kind of detached. We weren’t listening to anything, we’re doing our thing. And then we started checking in with our wives checking in with our families and realizing there’s something blowing up in Italy like Italy is getting taken down. And so we start checking in or realizing that this thing is good. A little crazy. 

 

john  2:01  

Yeah. We real quick though while we’re there because we’re removed right? Like we like when this bubble we’re literally in a yoga bubble. And we’re like, it’s a virus. It’s not that big a deal. Well, I don’t know why Italy’s overreacting, I’m telling you right now like the wrong perception but that’s how we felt during the time and we’re like why it’s like later you’re gonna get a virus, you’re gonna be okay. It’s gonna be like the flu, it’s no big deal and then you’re gonna be immune to it for the rest of your life. That’s where we’re at. But then towards the end, we’re like, 

 

Chris  2:30  

wait, no, no, no, no people started freaking out because Italy started getting bad and things started going sideways there. And then all of a sudden people are saying, There are things. There’s a case of popping up in New York. The United States is going to go down the same tracks, we’re literally going to start feeling the same experience. This is like one or two more days left in the retreat. We’re wondering like, man, should we like should we change our plan? Should we cut the retreat off? Do we need to get home earlier are they going to like do a travel ban or The airline’s gonna stop like flying, which actually just happened. As you’re listening to this, it’ll be like a week and a half ago. But like, as we’re filming this, it just happened this past Sunday. And we were like

 

John  3:11  

we started there was,

 

Unknown Speaker  3:13  

you know, obviously, we’re like no yoga bubble. We’re still chill. We’re still teaching. We’re all like, you know, doing our thing,

 

Unknown Speaker  3:17  

but like every once in a while they’re like, Ah,

 

Unknown Speaker  3:20  

okay, we’re chill. We’re just teaching.

 

Unknown Speaker  3:23  

And so conversations the last couple days at

 

Chris  3:28  

our meal tables for breakfast, lunch, and dinner starts shifting more towards that, because everyone’s checking in with their flame families and realizing, all right, this is getting serious. There’s some shit going down, and we need to understand what’s happening. So we get back Sunday night late, right? So we get back Sunday night late, and the next day is Monday. And we start having conversations with our managers to start talking to everybody in talking with our teachers and seem like what is the feeling? What are they feeling and because we hadn’t In and we’re still like kind of lingering in our yoga bubble? And we’re like, Listen, I need to download How is everyone feeling? What’s going on? Should we, in your opinion be open? So we just started gathering information from the people who had been in on the ground and like experiencing everything that was going on. At this point, New York started blowing up. We’re getting it started getting crazy. That was Epicenter, Washington was already blowing up. And that was an epicenter, there was all types of stuff happening. And we started, it started getting scary for some rotation, like, like people were like, really concerned of what does it mean to go into a yoga room and teach people

 

right? Am I going to get it? Oh, my God Is it here at that point, there were no cases where we were but we started realizing that things were going to start shifting really fast. And so we decided to make the call that the very next day that Tuesday was gonna be our last day open. Tuesday came and we’re like, Alright, now what? Because this is what we bump up against guys is like okay, the reality of the situation that we don’t have any controls. Over, is thrust upon us. What do I do? Do I act out of fear? Do I act out of love? What do I do in this moment? And so we got clear and said, what’s the next thing? So and that’s, that’s so important. I just wanted to stop right there because we didn’t ask ourselves why is this happening? Because that is not a constructive question that will lead you to an answer that will make your life better. Why is this happening is looking at the past and trying to figure out and try to resist this is like yoga one on one trying to resist the isness of the situation, which for us at the time, there wasn’t a mandate for us to close down. We chose to do it because we knew it was the right call. And we I wrote an email to all our members. I was like this, we did it because this is our sleep good at night decision. And we knew that this was the right decision now. It means we’re losing revenue every day. It means we could potentially lose all of our members. They like there were not operating then what are they paying for? But the last five years that we’ve been in business. Our focus has been direct response marketing, which we’ve done podcasts about this in the past, but different in general marketing, direct response marketing, online marketing, and how to leverage social media to be able to expand your impact in people’s lives. We’ve also been doing online courses all last year was devoted to creating all these online courses that we’ve now put in as, like, added value to our teacher trainings added value to people coming into our yoga studios. And so without even knowing it, right, and let me be really honest, like that was very successful for us. But what I feel all of that training was, was for right now, because on Tuesday, last day, Wednesday, first live streaming class was up and running. We didn’t wait we didn’t know if we’re doing it. We started a Facebook group. We said, Hey, everyone, join this Facebook group. We’re going to give you our cue online courses when you join it. And we’re going to start live-streaming classes right now today at four o’clock. That was Wednesday, we didn’t even there was no, there was no buffer between like, Oh, this is happening or closing down to like, what are we going to do? Why is this happening? Because we ask yourself the question and this is where at my point was when I started this, which is, the question was, how can we continue to serve to make our lives better now than they were before and create a bigger impact in our lives? You see the question of why is this happening? versus how can I serve more now and be create a better life now than I had it before? We’ll give you a completely different answer. And we’ll like spur different actions. One of those answers will be empowering and the US the other will be disempowering. This is every single decision that we make we can either the decision that we make the choices, the question literally the questions we ask ourselves, or either one that can disempower can take our power away from us and force us to become a victim or empower us. Allow us To take the next right step. And so this is what it comes down to guys is where am i right now? And what is the next step I can take? What is the exact next thing I can do? If we can align ourselves with that, then there’s going to be another thing that we can do. So this is the other part of it. If you have people that follow you, if you have a yoga studio, if you have a yoga Follow me, if you have people that are taking classes with love what you do, the next right action is going to be aligned with how can I provide the next level of value for those people? What can I do to help those people in this moment of their lives because guess what, guys, everybody’s experiencing the same craziness that we’re all experiencing right now. The virus, everyone’s freaked out about being too close to people, right? They want to get the distance. They feel disconnected from their friends and family, right? It’s our job as yoga practitioners or yoga teachers is as doing what we do. Even if you’re at your industry has something else to create a connection. And so the next right action is to create connection through this through social media, through the internet through our net, our only ability to actually create that connection. That’s where we are right now. And that’s what we’ve been doing.

 

Unknown Speaker  9:17  

And so what’s required and this isn’t like, we’re so great self Grant has been like it’s been a grind. From that Wednesday, we have taught every single day two times a day while trying to realize like, oh, man, there’s this whole new thing that’s coming into our lives that we have to build towards and like the work that has to happen behind the scenes, we’re literally like teaching and jumping down, like literally ever there and like getting on our computers and connecting and building funnels and like email sequences and like, so here’s my point is that no one cares if you’d like it or not. Like there’s so much I’m part of this group, and like it’s full of all yoga studio owners and there’s so much like, Oh, I just don’t feel the connection with my students when I’m like doing it virtually no one gives a shit. I mean, it’s not this is my, it’s not about you, it’s not about you, I would, I would much rather have people fill this room and walking around and feeling their physical energy of them moving and having the heat and people sweating and like having that experience and then connecting with them afterward when they’re just in this blissful state. But guess what, that’s not the reality of what we’re living in right now. And for you to care too much about like, how you don’t like it, you’re missing the point. You’re not doing it for you, and you’re doing it for them. Like show up for your people who need you now more than ever, get online, stop waiting, turn your phone on, get a Facebook group, have everyone join it, go live every single day, do whatever you have to do, and then learn and iterate and iterate and iterate until you make it better. That’s like, it drives me crazy because I’m seeing all these people that are just so caught up in their own melodrama, people that have chosen this path to teach yoga to people to help them live better lives. Like it’s not about you. If you’re a yoga teacher, it’s not about you do whatever you have to do and whatever, medium, whatever form to connect with the people who need you most now, that sort of number one, like how do you survive? Get out of your own way, and just do what’s necessary. Like, I don’t care what medium have to do if that if like, I don’t know how it’s gonna turn out, we have zero idea. They say a month, like we’re mandatorily shut down for a month, like two days ago,

 

Unknown Speaker  11:28  

and most likely, it’s gonna be longer than that. Right? The

 

Unknown Speaker  11:30  

reality is like, it’s not gonna go away anytime soon. If you just look at the history of what’s going on in China, what went on in China, they’re recovering Now, what’s going on in Italy right now what’s happening in Spain and France and what’s happening in New York and these pockets of the country? It’s, I don’t know what’s going to happen to our studio. But what I know is that I’m not like, I’m not focused on what was I’m focused on how can I serve now? And that’s what I if you’re a yoga teacher, how can you serve your people now who are the people that need you most get to work doing it and whatever form and whatever means idiom that’s required and get over yourself about how much you like it or don’t like it because it’s not about you. So, number one, get out of your own way. Number two, what’s the next right action you can take? Number three, jump into social media because that is the best place to connect. People are sitting at home, they have nothing to do. They are on social media, they are watching TV, they’re doing whatever they’re doing but they are online right now. anyone noticed that your Wi-Fi slow. Guess what? All of America is online right now. serve your people where they are and that right now they are on their computers, they’re on their tablets or on their phones. If you want to save your business, jump into that space and start connecting with your people. Right, That’s gonna be the next thing and like Chris said, It’s not easy. If you haven’t studied never done it before you’re you’re afraid of videoing yourself. Get over yourself. Get on video, jump on your phone. Make a Simple and just do everything from your phone. So many people that we know do that and have thriving businesses because

 

Unknown Speaker  13:05  

of that, I just doing that being

 

Unknown Speaker  13:07  

that using it that simply right? Get on your phone and start. People are gonna appreciate it people need it now more than ever, whether it’s yoga that you offer, whether it’s it’s you, you’re into fitness, whatever your niche is, connect with people, because that’s what’s what this is really about is how do you connect with your people, they need it now more than ever. So get on your phone, do not hesitate, do it right now, do a post and then continue to do a post every single day. I get people into a Facebook group and provide crazy value for them right now, and it will come back around later on. Yeah, because it’s time to step up in this yoga world as an entrepreneur of yoga as someone who’s dedicated themselves to teaching and helping people to step up as a leader to be that for whoever it is, and what maybe it’s just your family and you’re helping them maybe it’s like Do you have like three private students and you’re like connecting with them every day and helping them in a way that, like, you’re just absolutely being selfless in the service, because now is the time because people need it. And for you to step up and be that leader for your community is so important and to stop caring about the medium that’s required to connect with people who knows how this is going to end. Like, who knows the fracture that may happen that lasts in our society with a social distancing, there may be this level of like uncertainty that may that maintains this lack of intimacy that we can’t embrace each other anymore. I don’t know how it’s going to be. So that may mean that our work now is totally online. It’s totally via social media. It’s totally getting people on zoom and connecting with them that way. And if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. So get out of your own way. Do what needs to happen, use whatever form whatever medium you need to connect with those people. And just step

 

Unknown Speaker  14:54  

up a step, I believe. Thank you all for jumping in. Thank you so much. Rise up, be free.

 

Unknown Speaker  15:02  

Take care of you.

 

Chris  15:05  

Yes, thanks so much for listening to yoga entrepreneur secrets. Do you have a question that you’d like us to answer raw and uncut on the podcast?

 

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and that’s it. Then listen in to hear your question answered, live raw and uncut. Join us next time on yoga entrepreneur secrets podcast. Thanks