Yoga Teacher Training Forum

I think the recession had something to do with it, but I don't know to what degree. I think the real problem was that there's not much of a market for yoga here in this notch of the Bible Belt. I couldn't compete with the gyms for budget-minded yogis. We had a more severe winter than people are accustomed to, which kept people at home, and spring was gorgeous, which kept people outside. I also had a divorce last year, and though drama was minimal, I'm sure some of that energy leaked out. I made some bad staffing choices. It could be any number of things, but supply v. demand in my mind is the root cause. We had a great location and our marketing was solid. People just weren't interested in what we offered.

The funny thing is, after I closed the studio, I offered a class series at a much higher price than I ever dared charge back when I was trying to keep it cheap (and shooting myself in the foot in the process). The class sold out. Lesson learned. The people who value what you do are willing to pay for it, but you have to value it, too. The others, well, I did my best for them, but even offering scholarships or by donation -- pride gets in the way and they still won't come.

David