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What do haircuts and change in our business have in common?

They can both be difficult decisions to make.

We can know that a change is necessary but not know exactly what we want (hello Pinterest board!)

They can make a world of difference when we’ve made the right decision!

I have an odd relationship with change- and hair-cuts! The ADHD part of my brain thrives on novelty and change and challenge, but I am also autistic which contributes to me finding change really tricky sometimes (and the environment of a hair dressers!).

One thing I really struggle with is- what if it is a bad idea?

I thought I wanted a fringe, but what if it is a terrible idea, my hair is naturally wavy and at the front I get curls springing up everywhere- would I look like I did when I gave myself a spontaneous fringe when I was 13 the night before school photos?
It didn’t go well.

It’s the same in my business, what if I make the change and it was the wrong thing to do?
I can sometimes think that there is such a thing as a right idea and a wrong idea, but the truth is that this isn’t the case. It’s all learning. You may learn that something really works for you, or you may learn that it doesn’t, either way, you’ve learnt something.

In the 7 years that I’ve had my own business, I’ve shifted name and focus a few times. I started off as ‘Little Earthlings Yoga’, but as the services that I offered changed, I changed this to ‘Julia Hankins Well-Being’ and the kids yoga classes within this then became ‘Kids yoga with Julia’. For a time I was also a Mini Me Yoga Ambassador and in this role I was also ‘Mini Me Yoga Coventry and Warwickshire’.

Each time I made a change, I had that awkward feeling. Growth can be uncomfortable.
The time is right for me to be evolving again and I am launching a new website called ‘Well-Being Adventurers’ which will be part of ‘Julia Hankins Well-Being’ but will be the place where I host resources, trainings and workshops to support adults to enhance the well-being of the children they care for.

I’ll be putting my self-paced trainings on there as e-courses and also resources like my well-being cards will be available to buy alongside trainings. It is exciting but at the same time scary – it’s a lot of work to put it all together and fear and doubt raise their little heads questioning whether I’m doing the right thing.

Why am I sharing all of this?

I just wanted to put words to how scary it can feel to make changes in your business, especially if you feel unsupported. If you feel like you need to change but aren’t sure what exactly, here are some things that I do to help me get clear on what needs to change.

Journalling
You may be someone who has a journalling practice for your own personal well-being, but have you ever considered journaling for your business?

This is something that I’ve recently been doing and enjoying. I have a separate journal, aside from my practical and organisational note books, where I focus on the heart and soul of my business. It’s where I write from my heart rather than my brain, and it helps me to stay true to my bigger ‘why’ and get clear on the goals of my business.

I really enjoy making this feel special, with music (my business playlist- yes I was a mixtape girl!), candles and a soothing warm drink. This is a great thing to do, if you feel like you have lots of paths to take and you don’t know where to turn. It helps you to connect with yourself.

Some simple questions to explore might be:

• What feels great in my business at the moment?
• What is challenging in my business at the moment?
• Are there any changes I could make?
• If it was guaranteed to work, what would I do now?

 
Reflect logically
In April I shared a resource called ‘Really Useful Reflections’ here’s the video here’s the freebie  document to support you here too, it gives you a practical way to looks at what’s working in your business and what’s not.

It can be a simple way to get out of your head and look at the facts of the situation.
 
Talk it through
Maybe you have a business bestie or someone in your life who gets what it is like to run a business. I’d avoid talking to people who don’t ‘get’ what you do here. Sometimes talking to someone who doesn’t get it can be worse than not talking to anyone!

Share everything that you are thinking, this could be in person, on the phone or in a podcast style Whatsapp message! Verbalising your thoughts can really help to get things clear.
 
If you are feeling stuck in your business and feel like changes need to be made but aren’t sure what changes to make or how to make them, perhaps you would benefit from a mentoring call with me. I offer one off mentoring sessions as well as mentoring packages.

On June 22nd I’ll be having a price increase of these services, so if you feel like working with me might be of benefit to you, make sure that you get in touch to secure a spot before the prices rise.
 
You can email me, at [email protected] or simply book a quick chat to find out if working with me might help you, you can book a spot here.

Is there something that you would like me to talk more about in these videos?

Get in touch.
 
 
 
 
 

📽️Watch the video here    💌 email me to ask me a question or work with me here

If you would like to work in schools or nurseries, now is a great time to be reaching out to them with your offerings, as they are now preparing for next academic year.
 
I really love working in schools, there is a wonderful sense of satisfaction from impacting the lives of so many children and even teachers.
 
Sharing yoga in schools feels very special to me, as I know that the strategies that I’m sharing are techniques that I personally have turned to time and time again to support my mental, physical and emotional health.  You and I know that these are life skills and they should be shared widely.
 
One thing that I’m aware of, is that offering our services to schools and nurseries can be tricky and it is often a barrier to yoga teachers wanting to work in these settings.
 
I’m all about removing barriers and making life easier for kids yoga teachers and supporting them to reach more children, so this week I wanted to talk about packaging your kids yoga and mindfulness offering to schools.
 
How do YOU want to work?
It can be very tempting to just agree with whatever is asked of you, bending yourself to ‘fit’ into the timetables of everyone else. Experience of this (and the accompanying burn out) told me that this is not a sustainable way to live your life and run a business.
 
Think carefully about how you want your life to look like. How would you like to work? What offers do you want to make?
 
Personally, moving around to lots of schools within one day is stressful for me. I worked like this for a number of years but I found that I’m drained by this. Now I limit myself to two settings in one day, apart from the occasional one- off. 
 
I also don’t like bitty days of an hour here and an hour there- I have ADHD and so, this kind of time switching and piecemeal kind of work doesn’t work for me.
 
I’m not saying that these are things that you should never do, just that I’ve found they don’t work for me.
 
Only offer what you want to deliver
I have previously run before school lunch clubs and after school clubs but right now, that doesn’t work for my family. So currently, I only offer half days or full days as right now, this is the only way that I want to work in a school.
 
We can feel pressured to do things that don’t really work for us because it has been offered, but when we do this we may end up feeling resentful and also it means that we aren’t open to accept what we really do want.
So, have a think about how you would like to work and creating your package will be a lot easier from this point.
 
Bundle things together
Grouping things together can be a great way to offer value for schools and also more financially rewarding for you. For example, if I was working at a school for curriculum time. I may teach lessons in the morning and then at lunch time I’d do lunch classes. This works really well for before schools and after schools too.
The reverse can work too- if you’ve been asked to deliver an after school club- offering a discount for the curriculum lessons can be a great way to get in to teach within school time.
 
If you are also an adult teacher, you may be able to add on an adult class for the staff.
 
Don’t overwhelm
Having options for the school or nursery to choose from can be helpful for them to see what might be possible.
It can be tempting to include lots of options -“look at all the amazing things I can do!!”. A confused brain says no, so try and limit the options to 3 and make it clear that these are suggestions and you can be flexible to suit their individual needs.
 
Sliding scale
I prefer to work with schools on longer contracts, I really like annual contracts because I know my base income for the year. I structure this so that the schools that book me on an annual contract get my cheapest rates. My prices are on a sliding scale, meaning that the more work that I do – the less the school pays per day:
 
One off bookings: Most expensive
Half term bookings: ⬇️
Term bookings: ⬇️
Annual bookings: Least expensive (about half the price of my one-off price)
 
Last week I talked about pricing your services, so if you’d like more information on that, check out the blog here or the video here.

Bundling your services together and pricing them can be overwhelming sometimes. If you’d like some support with this, why not work with me and we can do it together?

Email me at [email protected] to arrange this or find out if it is for you.

My prices are going up really soon, so now is a great time to reach out and lock in my cheapest ever price!

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Something that I struggled at lot with, and sometimes still do is pricing.

A question I get asked a lot, and I also see as a recurrent question in yoga groups is:
 
                                          “How much should I charge for….”

This is such a tricky one to answer, because there are so many aspects involved.  I wanted to talk to a few of the issues that you may want to consider to help you price the services that you have in your own kids yoga business.
 
Money mindset.
 
This is something that I didn’t even know was a thing until I began working with a business mentor to build my business to make it more profitable. I discovered that I had all kinds of limiting beliefs about money. Some were linked to family stories, some from my career as a teacher, others were ones that I had assimilated from the circles that I move in. Quite a few of these ‘money stories’ are particularly pertinent for kids yoga teachers, like “It’s not ‘yogic’ to want to earn money” “What I want to share is important for everyone so I shouldn’t charge for it, and if I do, I shouldn’t charge much” also there is the story that if you work with families, community groups or schools, you should make it as affordable as possible for them. Taking some time to consider your view of money, what rules you believe you ‘should’ adhere to when it comes to pricing and what stories you subscribe to can be a very powerful exercise.
 
Don’t do this!
 
When setting your pricing for a workshop, event or class it can be really hard to know where to start. It can be tempting to look at what other people are charging and charge the same. This isn’t really a good idea, it might give you a starting point, but it doesn’t allow for you or your situation. Someone else’s price is based on their situation and needs and also on their own money stories!
 
 
Things to think about…
 
Here are some things that I find useful to consider when I am setting a price -I’m not perfect but this is my learning so far!

• Do I actually WANT to do it? This is now my first question, although it’s taken me a while (7 years 🤣) to get to the point where I am doing things that I actually WANT to do rather than fit into what other people have asked me to do.
• How much work is involved in planning?
• How many hours will I be teaching / delivering for?
• What are my travel costs?
• What other costs are there? Refreshments / resources / additional training learning
• What are the personal costs? Childcare etc.

              
When I have these I then think about:

• What would I feel comfortable earning from this
• What would I feel overjoyed to earn from this

 
Then I create my price based on all of this.
 
 
Set rates
 
Spending some time setting rates that you feel comfortable charging can be a great way of managing your stress in this area. You can refer to these rates to base your future quotes on.
You might want to have a base rate that you would charge per hour, per half day, per day for example. This might be a different rate for the different services that you offer.
 
Create packages
 
Packages can be a really helpful resource – enabling clients to make simple choices or as a starting point for discussion about individual needs.
I'll be sharing more on this next week.
 
Unfortunately, the uncomfortable truth about pricing is that…
 
There is no real answer!
 
I love what Money Mindset Coach Denise Duffield -Thomas says about this she says that you can pull a number out of your arse and see how it feels! The idea that there isn’t a perfect price is both liberating and scary. You can set a price and see how it feels and if it doesn’t work for you, you can change it.
 
Don’t let pricing be something that stops you from moving forwards with something that you want to do.
We can get so wrapped up in our own heads and want the perfect answer- but the fact is that there isn’t one.
 
The perfect price isn’t what everyone else is charging. There isn’t a magic formula.
The perfect price is the one that works for you, in your situation.
 
If you would like some help with this, or anything else in your kids yoga teaching journey why not work with me? It is possible to book a one – off mentoring call or work with me for a series of sessions to work through any areas that are causing you stress.

I'll be increasing my mentor prices soon, so if you would like to work with me, get in touch now to secure the current prices.
 
Email me at [email protected]
 
Next week I’m talking all about creating packages for schools, so stay tuned for that!

Next week, in England, it is SATs week!
It is also Mental Health Awareness Week… the irony is not lost on me!
 
For children and educators in England, this is an important time and it can be stressful for children, those who work in schools and parents.
 
‘SATs week’ is a defined week when (the majority of ) year 6 children in England take SATs (Standard Assessment Tests).  Although it is only year 6 who have to sit the tests in this particular week, year two children also take SATs at a time decided by the school.
 
Many schools also choose to do assessments for all year groups at this time – usually around the same time. So most children in primary schools in England will be experiencing some form of assessment at this time.
 
As someone who has experienced anxiety many times in life, one of my goals, is to equip people with strategies that can reduce anxiety and stress. This is one of my biggest motivators and I strongly believe in the power of sharing simple techniques that can ripple out to the people around us and the impact can be huge!
 
Here are my top three ways to support children (and adults too) during test time:

1. Acknowledge, validate and normalise all emotions! We are complex humans and I know from many years of teaching children and supporting my own, that the emotions that surface at test time are not always straightforward! A child may be experiencing waves of fear, worry, excitement, boredom, nervousness, pride, relief, anger, humiliation …. The list could go on. Helping children to name their emotions- and letting them know that these are natural, human responses to the situation- is so affirming and important. Reminding the child that they are not alone and that others feel this way too, is helpful. Perhaps sharing your own experiences and feelings of similar experiences that you have had- Kristin Neff calls this ‘common humanity’ and recognises it as an important aspect of self-compassion. Research shows that self-compassion  is an integral to our well-being.
   
2. Be curious about where the feelings are felt in the body and offer strategies for support. This promotes body awareness, which is so important as increased body awareness can lead to greater self-regulation (which again, is linked to well-being). Questions such as ‘Where do you feel that in your body?’ and ‘Can you describe what that feels like for you?’ can help you to support the child further. Lots of strategies are shared in this plan here.
   
3. Reassure the children that this is just a snapshot in time- I really love the affirmation ‘This will pass’. Reminding children that they are WAY more than a test score.
   

Unfortunately, we all experience times of stress. I believe that being with children during these times, validating their feelings, sharing useful tips and tools and also reminding them of what makes them special can be transformative.

If you would like the lesson plan that I have been using in schools to support children with this, you can get that here.

Is there something to do with children’s well-being that you would like me to talk about? Get in touch here [email protected]