Let’s face it, selling your services – be it a workshop, a yoga retreat or something else – can be awkward, especially for a yoga teacher or spiritual entrepreneur.

Maybe you feel shy or uneasy about discussing your classes, services, and products. Maybe you associate any selling with grasping or greediness. Or maybe you’re worried your students will think you’re a sell out, and that you’ve become part of the big yoga money machine.

But if you have created something that you are proud of, if you believe that it will change people’s lives, you OWE it to yourself, to the thing you created and to the people you could help to properly sell it.

You have to be honest about the fact that you believe in the things you do and you have to make it easier for people to find them.

Because your audience doesn’t just want you to start selling your services, they need it.

You’re not going to spam your followers with things they don’t need. Every service you sell is going to help your audience improve. All of it helps them with their goals. You are making some money of it too, but it’s really an exchange of energy.

So if a little self-promotion is necessary to get the word out, to get people on the mat, where the magic happens, maybe it’s time to learn a little bit about online marketing 🙂

Get clear about your target audience – who is your ideal customer?

You probably have a wide range of clients, but for this exercise I want you to imagine your ideal customer in as much detail as possible. Can you describe him or her as a person?

These questions can help you (for simplicity I’m going to assume it’s a women):

How old is she?

Where is she living?

Is she married, single or in a relationship?

Does she have children?

What is her job?

What are her favorite brands?

What are her interests?

What TV shows does she watch?

Make it into as real a person as possible. I want you to be able to imagine your having drinks with her, you know where you would meet and what you would be talking about.

What are her pain points and struggles?

Now that you know your ideal customer, think about her problems. What is she struggling with? Maybe she doesn’t have enough time for herself because of her family or she feels her yoga practice is stagnating and she doesn’t see any improvements. Again, be as detailed as possible.

How can you help her with her struggles?

This is the key. How can your services help her with her struggles? How will they make her life easier? Or even transform it? The point is, it’s not about you or your product. It’s about her, and how you can help her. It’s a totally different mindset and it will transform the way you’re thinking about selling.

How would you talk to her?

Next imagine addressing your special person. How would you talk to her? What would you share? Come up with some examples, for example how you would tell her about your new workshop, how it would help her and why it’s perfect for the one problem she is having and what a great time you will have.

It’s about being real. So be a showoff if your character is something like a street-savvy hip hop yogi, but be true to your character – authenticity is everything.

You want to make your customers feel comfortable. Stand out by being friendly and available, not faking it or trying to be someone you are not.

After you’ve done these exercises, you’ll be able to promote your retreats or workshops easily without being “salesy”. You’ll communicate your services from a place close to your heart, with the best intention of helping and serving your potential customers. And you’ll talk to them like to a friend, someone they know and trust.

Don’t forget to promote your free offerings as well. This emphasis on seva is both yogic and good business, and it’s a great way to get comfortable describing your services or products.

You can post free yoga videos on YouTube and on your blog, create class sequences and tutorials or write articles about yoga. It’s free both for you and for your students, it shares your work with others, and it drives students to you.