Charging their clients a sales tax is the dilemma that yoga studios and teachers in the state of Washington are currently facing. Recently, the Department of Revenue in that state notified the owners of yoga studios that they would have to start charging a sales tax. Why? Because it was decided that yoga is considered a form of exercise and therefore, under the law, it is subject to sales tax.

Just think how you’d feel if that happened in your state!

Owners and teachers of yoga studios in Washington have not taken this unpopular decision lightly and the policy is currently under fierce debate. Some teachers have tried to enlighten officials by explaining that although physical fitness is taught, the focus of yoga is on meditation and the calming of mind and spirit. There is also a discrepancy between yoga classes being taught in fitness centers that tend to concentrate on yoga as a fitness regime and independent yoga studios that focus on meditation and spiritual awareness.

Some yoga studios have already reluctantly begun to implement this new 9% sales tax. However, this has opened another can of worms because the owners and teachers of the studios are concerned that they may be subject to paying back taxes, which could end up being thousands of dollars. To add to the frustration, some studios have already been required to pay back taxes, while other studios have received a tax refund. In order to come to find a common ground resolution to this debate, Washington’s Department of Revenue is planning to meet with local yoga representatives on November 19th.

Let’s hope they find a solution before the idea catches on in other states!

So what would you do if you were suddenly told that you had to charge a sales tax under the law?

You can read the full article here to find out more about this ongoing debate: www.king5.com.

Tags: yoga exercise, yoga studio and tax, sales tax on yoga, yoga in Washington state

That is exactly what the Township Committee of the Cranford, New Jersey community has been debating over the past few weeks.

Recently, a local yoga teacher expressed interest in opening a studio within an area of local businesses. However, it was discovered that the area was not zoned for this type of business and a change in the township code would be required in order to allow a yoga studio to be set up on a retail site.

In an article published in the Cranford Chronicle, Leslie Murray interviewed Township Attorney Carl Woodward, who elaborated on the situation. “The reality is that stand alone yoga studios would not be permitted, but if they were part of a gymnasium then it would be allowed.” Woodward went on to say, however, that the Township Committee does have the authority to pass an ordinance to amend the code.

Commissioner Michael Plick is in favor of allowing the yoga studio to open its doors, and has suggested that a complete revision of the specific section of the township code would be beneficial to the community in the long term. Mayor Bob Puhak has also pointed out that there have been certain discrepancies between what types of services the code permits and what the township actually allows.

The Township Committee has scheduled a process for the discussion to continue. A first reading of the ordinance has been approved and it will be followed by a public hearing of the proposed amendment, with the final reading of the amendment to take place on November 25th.

To access the full article in the Cranford Chronicle, click on the following website: www.nj.com/cranford.

Tags: local yoga studio, township’s code, Cranford Chronicle, business of yoga

Without the need to take action, can we just notice what is?

I love that you have taken action towards your goal. Let’s take this last day of the 21-day Challenge to reflect on the process…

Pick a quiet spot, take a few deep cleansing breaths and center yourself.

Read these questions out loud and write your answers in your journal.

1. What did you notice about yourself during the challenge?

2. What do you notice about yourself now?

3. What did you do differently these past 21 days?

4. What resistance did you encounter?

5. How did you work with that resistance?

6. How would you like to work with resistance in the future?

7. What are you satisfied with?

8. What are you dissatisfied with?

9. Did you accomplish your goal?

10. What were you hoping to accomplish that you didn’t?

11. How did you care for yourself during the challenge?

12. If there was one thing you learned from the challenge to bring into your everyday business life, what would it be?

13. What do you need now that the challenge is complete?

I hope you have found these past 21 days as challenging and exciting as I have. Thank you for the opportunity to serve in this way. It has been an honor.

In yoga,

Megan
MindfulMarketing.net

Take the Challenge:

• 21-Day Yoga Marketing Challenge (overview)
• Day 20: Actions Add to the Bottom Line
• Day 21: Reflection Time

Tags: Megan McDonough, training the trainer program, yoga business, business marketing consultant, 21-day yoga marketing challenge

The magical appearance of additional tasks and divergent paths is not at all unusual as you move towards a goal. I see it in my own work and also with the students in the Training the Trainer course. When yoga teachers are getting ready to expand into the corporate market, a multitude of steps arise, and it’s easy to get confused on what step to take first.Here’s how to filter out the unnecessary and focus on the priority action. It begins with a rather capitalistic outlook: what action will give you the best return on investment (ROI)?

For example, my advice to the Training the Trainer participants is to start working on getting training jobs right away – whether or not the website needs updating, or a new name is needed, or even if confidence is lacking. The sooner they jump in, the faster the payback of the course will be, and the more confidence they will build to accomplish other actions. Momentum builds momentum. To get training jobs, you need to submit proposals. Submitting proposals, therefore, is your number one goal.

Whether it’s a proposal for a community lecture at a public library or a presentation at a local business, you need to focus on it for the largest and fastest return on investment.

Yes, you’ll need an updated website at some point, or new business cards, or even a new name. All those things come with expanding your business. Take first things first, question the obstacles, and remember to pick actions that best serve you, your clients, and your bottom line.

When you have a big project that has a multitude of steps – like expanding a yoga business into the corporate market – keep an ongoing outline on your computer. As items pop up in your mind, add them to the outline in the appropriate place. When you look at the tasks like this, it’s easy to come back to the action you are working on now, as well as see the next action step to take.

As we head towards the finish line on this 21-day Challenge, remember that you can repeat the process again and again!

Take the Challenge:

• 21-Day Yoga Marketing Challenge (overview)
• Day 19: Question Obstacles
• Day 20: Actions Add to the Bottom Line
• Day 21: Reflection Time

Tags: Megan McDonough, training the trainer program, yoga business, business marketing consultant, 21-day yoga marketing challenge

Here’s what she was up against. The association she belongs to offers a discount through a website company. But she did not like any of the free templates available. Before she could set up a website, she needed to find a company that produced layouts she liked, or try and find a website designer to create it from scratch.
Then there was the problem of a logo. She didn’t have one. So before she could set up a website, she needed a logo and a tagline. Well, now she needed to find a graphic designer who would work within her budget to design a logo. Or could she design it herself? Or find a template logo design?

She looked at my Mindful Marketing website and wanted to know what decisions I had made, which of course wasn’t a fair comparison. I’ve been developing that site for years while she’s just starting.

All those decisions and comparisons stopped her dead in her tracks. What seemed like an achievable goal of starting up a small website suddenly seemed complicated, expensive and way too much like hard work.

There is a simple way to address the viral growth of projects to keep them manageable, however. It’s called inquiry. Question each obstacle that prevents clear-cut action.

Let’s take a closer look at the website example. Is it true that you need to first pick a design when developing a website? Absolutely not. In fact, that’s the backward way of doing it. One of the first steps is developing the content – the components of the site and what you are going to convey to your audience. This is the longest step, and only you can do it. Well, I suppose you could hire a writer to do that step, but you’d miss out on all the fun of agonizing over expressing your work through the written word!

Sit down and put pen to paper. Write your content first. Design of the site follows content. Or, as they say in architecture, form follows function.

So, the first problem of a layout can be discarded. It’s premature. At this point, there’s no reason to tackle it or allow mental space for the debate. Later, yes, it will need to be addressed. And by then you’ll find it easier because you’ll know what the message is – and your content flow will help you when making design decisions.

How about the second obstacle – the logo? Do you need a logo to put up a website? Is it the first step? Is it a necessity? Nope. You can do a very thorough job of a top-quality website without a logo. Maybe in the future you may decide you want a logo, but right now, if it is in the way of getting your website up and running, don’t have one.

Here are some questions to ask those pesky obstacles that are getting in your way:

Is it essential?
Can I accomplish the goal without it?
Is that the first step?

Remember, you are never done with your marketing (see Day 2: Done (For Now) for more on that subject), so make progress on your goal and all the other steps will come when the time is right.

Take the Challenge:

• 21-Day Yoga Marketing Challenge (overview)
• Day 18: Do Not Force It
• Day 19: Question Obstacles
• Day 20: Actions Add to the Bottom Line

Tags: Megan McDonough, training the trainer program, yoga business, business marketing consultant, 21-day yoga marketing challenge

If you’ve been part of an online discussion group, you know that those people who consistently give good content over time create a much better rapport than someone who pops in once and while just to promote.

Instead of force-fitting content into a discussion group or blog, write what you want to say. If the hyperlink fits with the content, add it in. If not, don’t add it into the body of the post. Instead, consider adding it as part of your signature. You could, for example, sign your comment like this:

Be well,Megan
www.mindfulmarketing.net

That’s a very acceptable way of giving your business card to someone without forcing it upon them.

So don’t give in to the urge to force-fit your hyperlink into the content of your writing. There are so many alternatives you can consider to get your marketing message across.

Take the Challenge:

• 21-Day Yoga Marketing Challenge (overview)
• Day 17: Right Under My Nose
• Day 18: Do Not Force It
• Day 19: Question Obstacles

Tags: Megan McDonough, training the trainer program, yoga business, business marketing consultant, 21-day yoga marketing challenge

Jezz, talk about overlooking the obvious.

I wonder if you have made the same mistake. Are you merely a reader of these posts rather than an active participant? If so, you are missing out on a marketing opportunity.

Posting on the YogaHub blog is more than just participating in a great community. It’s a way to gain visibility. If you post, and you have a hyperlink to your site, you can build traffic in two ways.

The first way is to provide a thoughtful and helpful comment that will encourage people to click through on your link to check out your work. The second way this YogaHub community helps build visibility for you is by appealing to those other-worldly, cyberspace creatures called spiders that crawl through the web. These spiders rank your site for relevancy in search engines.

The mysterious spiders find your little old link here on YogaHub when you include it in your posts. That link, which connects back to your website, gives you a better search engine grade. That’s a layperson’s description. I am sure Segovia (the technical guru behind this YogaHub site) is groaning right about now.

As Segovia says, “Megan, you know just enough to be dangerous.”

He’s right. I’m outside my league on search engine optimization mumbo-jumbo. I’m not about to get sucked into the black hole discussion of SEO. I’d never re-appear.

Here’s the only thing I think is important – be aware of the spiders but write your posts for the audience. Connect with one another in this wonderful yoga community the same way you would connect in a physical yoga gathering. Connect with a person, not an invisible group of cyber contacts or computer programs called spiders.

I encourage you to post a message for either of these reasons:

1. To connect with yourself, using it as a platform to publicly make a stand (i.e. my goal is this, or I believe that, or I am taking this step).
 
2. To connect with others, giving them the gift of your thoughts in the written word or asking for help when you need it.

Then remember both your readers and the spiders by including a hyperlink to your site.

Have you noticed, for example, that I have included a link to my Training the Trainer course in almost all of my messages?

Take the Challenge:

• 21-Day Yoga Marketing Challenge (overview)
  
• Day 16: Let the Pressure Build
• Day 17: Right Under My Nose
• Day 18: Do Not Force It

Tags: Megan McDonough, training the trainer program, yoga business, business marketing consultant, 21-day yoga marketing challenge