A yoga teacher working out figures on paper at their kitchen table in the evening, a rolled mat against the wall.
YogaPros · Business

How to Pay for Your Yoga Business Without Debt

In short
  • Most people stop at ‘I’ve got the idea, I haven’t got the resources’. The ones who get somewhere get resourceful instead.
  • A £500 website is one Saturday workshop. Ten people at £50 is £500 and it’s paid for.
  • The website brings people in, so the next workshop has fifteen. That’s £750, into being findable.
  • Then twenty, which is £1,000 for reaching people who have never heard of you.
  • Not a penny of your own money has gone in. It cost three hours on a Saturday afternoon.

Someone tells you what you need. A proper website. Decent photographs. Somebody who understands search. You agree with all of it.

Then you look at the number and that’s the end of the conversation.

I have had this exchange more times than I can count, and for me the sticking point is almost never the money. It’s the frame.

Resources, or resourcefulness?

Most people faced with a good idea and no money stop there. *I’ve got the idea. I haven’t got the resources.*

The ones who get somewhere aren’t handed more resources. In my experience the single difference is that they get resourceful instead. They find a way to fund it, borrow it, share it or earn it.

That sounds like a slogan until you do the arithmetic. So let us do the arithmetic.

What does one Saturday actually pay for?

Say the website is £500. You’ve agreed you need it. You haven’t got £500.

Could you run a workshop? Three hours on a Saturday, ten people, £50 each.

Most teachers, asked that, say yes without hesitating.

That workshop is £500. The website is paid for.

Now the website is working. People find you who could not before. The next workshop has fifteen in it.

Fifteen at £50 is £750 — into being found properly in search.

More people find you. The next has twenty.

Twenty at £50 is £1,000, which is a serious budget for reaching people who have never heard of you.

And not a penny of your own money has gone into any of it. It cost three hours on a Saturday afternoon.

Why is this different from just spending?

Two things.

Each round pays for the next. You aren’t buying a website. You’re buying the thing that fills the next workshop.

There’s no debt and almost no risk. If the first workshop draws six people, you’ve made £300 and you buy something smaller. Nothing has gone wrong. Compare that with £500 on a card in January.

Where does it stop working?

It needs something you can genuinely sell in an afternoon. If you’ve never run a workshop, that’s the first thing to build, not the website.

And the spend has to return something. A website that brings people in works. A logo doesn’t.

Where this sits

YogaPros has been the professional body for yoga teachers since 2006, with over 10,000 members across 100+ countries.


*This article is general professional guidance. It isn’t a substitute for professional legal, tax, or insurance advice specific to your situation.*

Common questions

How can a yoga teacher afford a website?

Fund it from one thing you already know how to run. A workshop of ten people at £50 for three hours on a Saturday is £500, which covers a straightforward website outright. The point is that each round funds the next: the website brings people in, so the following workshop is larger, and that pays for whatever comes after it.

Should a yoga teacher take out a loan to start a business?

There’s usually a route that avoids it. Debt in January commits you to a repayment whether or not the thing works, whereas funding a spend from a workshop you’ve already run risks nothing. If a first workshop only draws six people you’ve still made £300 and you simply buy something smaller or wait.

What should a yoga teacher spend money on first?

Whatever puts people in the room. A website that makes you findable returns something measurable. A logo doesn’t. Be honest about which category a spend falls into, and start with the one that brings students.

What if the workshop doesn’t fill?

Then you’ve made less and you buy something smaller, or you wait a term. Nothing has gone wrong and nothing is owed. That’s the main advantage of funding growth from teaching rather than from borrowing.

Go deeper · for members

The fuller version, and a worksheet

YogaPros members can read the longer version in the Learning Hub, with an interactive worksheet to work it through. Part of the Business collection.

Open in the Learning Hub