300 Hour Closing: Congratulations
[Leadership] Ava Taylor – Yama Talent & the Yoga Biz [84m]
Ava Taylor
No discussion about the yoga business would be complete without a conversation with Ava Taylor. Ava is the founder and creator of Yama Talent, which has played a massive role in shaping the yoga industry. Prior to Yama Talent, there were no standards for running a yoga business. Ava helped some of the biggest names in the yoga industry establish themselves by implementing key actions, organizing and streamlining negotiations and contracts. It is an absolute honor to have her step in and share her time, knowledge, and expertise with us.
Connect with Ava
Instagram: @Avataylor @yamatalent @bodynovashop
BODY NOVA: Get 20% Off yoga props and apparel at www.bodynova.com Use the Code: THEYOGIMATT20
YAMA TALENT: Get 20% off “The Catalyst” Business Training and more at www.yamatalent.com Use the Code: THEYOGIMATT20
[Leadersip] Building Your Retreat Experience w/Joshua Canter [63m]
The Retreat Experience
After our discussion together, Joshua Canter of True Nature Travels and I continued to chat about the other elements of leading a retreat. In our first discussion, we spoke all about the lead and administrative action steps for running a retreat. We decided to have a second conversation about the other side: developing the experience. Joshua and I both share a deep love for the transformative power of retreat, and so together we dive in here to give you our favorite tips.
If you are interested in running a retreat, email Joshua and Team at: info@truenatutretravels.com -> put “Referred to by Matt Giordano” in subject line.
[Leadership] Lights, Camera, Audio [19m]
GVM LIGHTING
GVM LIGHTING OPTIONS: Note, be sure to select your appropriate electrical plug options based on your country. https://gvmled.com?aff=179
NEWER LIGHTING OPTIONS: Use the 15% OFF discount code MATTGIORDANO https://neewer.com/?ref=6vvoy9h1ir
Other products discussed:
- Capture Card: I suggest IOGear if it’s available in your country. Try Amazon.
- HDMI cables: dependent on what camera or phone you are using.
- App Store: if using your phone, you will likely need “Filmic Pro”.
- Rode Go: search for the best price, but do not buy the ones that come with the lavalier mic UNLESS it’s made by Rode. Amazon usually has packages with a knock-off brand lavalier mic that is terrible.
- Camera Switcher: ATEM Mini, ATEM Mini Pro, or any other ATEM.
- Cameras: any DSLR that has a clean HDMI output. I suggest Sony a6100 or a6400 because they do not have a 30min record limit like most other DSLRs.
[Leadership] Discussion: Jesse Giordano – Money • Mindset • Mark [90m]
DOWNLOAD HIDDEN MONEY SCRIPTS: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W8vFY0n1pL6mXTOg8hy6tYZSdF4i0-x1/view?usp=sharing
DOWNLOAD BUDGET WORKBOOK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AkkKvaB45uVW0QSVLUj8Tdun7Bj7YTpz/preview
DOWNLOAD FINANCIAL LIFE PLANNING: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gDOh6A4Cr4dFj7DHNWVPlUryS-ueaYmD/view?usp=sharing
DOWNLOAD 50/30/20 Guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FtbSa4eZejmQEuMJsrNr81SMSMsF-io-/view
[Leadership] Discussion: Jenna Short – Brand, Marketing, Social [90m]
Message From Jenna Short
SHORTBREAD – Developing a Brand – YOUR LOGO
Hey all! Just wanted to share a bit of my experience as a brand designer in hopes to help you with that aspect of developing your brand. Matt gives some great tips and advice on branding and marketing so I wanted to expand on what steps you should start to wrap your head around.
A few things to understand first and why it is so important.
Whatever you do on whichever platform you choose, the most important thing is that you remain CONSISTENT. What that means is the logo is the same on every platform, The fonts are the same on every platform and the colors are the same on every platform. This is your STORY. And you want your story to be told clearly and consistently wherever people go to look for you. Your brand story and brand language become your identity that speaks for you when you’re not in the room.
Three Aspects of your BRAND STORY and why it’s so important:
- What are your fonts? A font is your emotional voice. When people read different fonts your brain translates the shapes as tone of voice and conversation. How do you want people to hear you?
- What are your colors? Your colors are the personality and energy you want to give (side note, the logo should be first designed in only black and white so you can understand the logo and then incorporate color. You will always need a black and white version, and best to make sure it looks good early on in all scenarios then to figure that out in the end.
- The “graphic”, or the logo, is your identity and how you want people to see you (like an outfit). It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. At the end of the day, this is your brand Identity and it needs to reflect who you are.
I ask my clients a series of questions when starting to develop their brand story:
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:
- Like Matt suggested, ask yourself what other companies or brands you admire or love. It doesn’t have to be in the same industry that you are looking to work in (ie: doesn’t have to be a yoga brand). Try to pick out three things you like about what they do. It can be something as simple as liking how all their pictures are black and white. Whatever it is, it is something that speaks to you and can ultimately help you find your voice.
- Then think about what it is that you want to tell people. What makes you different or unique and what is your elevator pitch? You have one minute to sum up your brand to sell someone on it. What will you say? These days, you really don’t have that much time before someone moves on to the next thing, so how do you share what’s important to you and what you do in one minute?
- Your NAME may seem obvious but it needs to be something that can be spelled easily, easily remembered, easy to find. Start a Google search of names you may be considering and see what comes up for them. You want people to be able to find you and not have to remember a long name or spelling. I have had several clients who call themselves one thing and their website is something else, and it is just too confusing.
After you answer the above questions, the designer will be able to develop a story around those answers.
TO DO:
- Decide on your name.
- Buy a domain (they come with email addresses that can be linked through Google.)
- Develop your brand story.
- Apply it to a website.
- Apply it to social media. (Make sure your designer creates logo variations and sizes for all platforms you may need. You NEVER want to stretch a logo to make it fit. It looks very unprofessional. So make sure you are given a brand guide and all logo variations., ie: bw, color, jpg, png, ai, pdf)
- Stay current and relevant by posting content (doesn’t have to be all the time but should be consistent).
Quick options:
- Fiverr is a great option for quick and cheap logos.
- WIX is an amazing DIY website. You can even have a designer create your “template” and then it’s very simple for you to maintain and edit yourself. You can also start off with a basic site and then add on e-commerce as you go along. WIX also allows you to purchase a domain through them as well as set up your email.
- DAFONT is a great resource for free fonts.
- Vecteezy is a great resource for free graphic elements and if you’re feeling brave and want to try doing it yourself, try out a trial of ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.
- Square Space is a great option for easy e-commerce set-up, although I find WIX more intuitive but both offer trails so see which works best for you.
End of the day, the best option is the one you USE so make sure it’s something that you can be CONSISTENT on.
LOGO PRICING PACKAGES
Jenna has graciously put together two special packages for you and our crew here. Below are the options to choose from. Simply reach out to Jenna Jennashort@me.com directly and let her know you are in this training and are interested in discussing one of the following.
PACKAGE PRICING
Base Logo Package/ 350USD
Includes: Four Hrs total design time
- One logo
- Three design concepts
- Up to two revisions
- Downloads of eps (vector) and JPG file formats supplied
- Color & BW version of logo included
- 125 ph Additional Design time
Dynamic Brand Consulting Package / 1800USD
- Sixteen hrs total design time
- One Finished logo + Secondary Icons (two finished variations; reconfigurable variation for multi use)
- Five design concepts (for logo)
- Favicon Logo
- Social Media Logo files
- Four color and BW versions of your logo included
- Dropbox Access to all working files (downloads of eps (vector) and JPG file formats supplied)
Brand Guide + Development
- Included Fonts + Font Files for your Computer (+web safe fonts)
- Colors + Color Palate (Pantone, CMYK + Web safe font codes)
- Guide and consultation for brand usage across all platforms
Stationery Package design
Includes:
- Business card design
- Letterhead/e-signature
- (Print ready and editable files included – printing not included)
Social Media Brand Development
- Instagram brand guide design development
- Three Templates for social media consistency or Canva assistance + fonts to assure brand assimilation across all platforms
- Includes two hours of additional consult/design time of your choosing
- 125 ph Additional Design time
CONTACT JENNA
- Instagram: @SHORTBREADNYC
- Website: Shortbreadnyc.com
- Email: Jennashort@me.com
[Leadership] WordPress Website Builder [15m]
THIS IS FOR WORDPRESS USERS OR FUTURE WORDPRESS USERS. EVERYONE ELSE YOU MAY SKIP THIS LESSON, IT IS NOT MANDATORY, BUT IT MAY STILL BE USEFUL
CLICK HERE TO TAKE A FREE WALKTHROUGH WITH ME ON DIVI
[Leadership] Streamline Your Product Offering [21m]
Lesson
[Leadership] EOL Space [17m]
[Leadership] Discussion: Joshua Canter – True Nature Travels [102m]
RETREATS: BENEFITS, CHALLENGES, LOGISTICS & MORE
Having worked personally with Joshua Canter for a few years now, I was delighted that he was willing to share some insights with us on the topic of retreats. Joshua established one of the leading retreat companies to help yoga teachers minimize the back-end administrative tasks so we can focus on the experience we are building for our students. There are so many moving parts to running retreats, Joshua helps clarify what these elements are so that if you are running a retreat on your own, you know what to expect and can prepare accordingly.
Should you want to chat with Joshua and his team about running a retreat with True Nature Travels, you can do so by contacting them directly at info@truenatutretravels.com -> put “Referred to by Matt Giordano” in the subject and they will prioritize your inquiry and help you decide if running a retreat is the right move for you at this time. They have a non-biased approach because they only make money if you make money, so you can rest assured that they will ask you the appropriate questions in order to assess if this is the best move for you.
If it is, then you will be very satisfied with True Nature Travels as a company. They have been the best of the best, the most personal, and so skillful at guiding me through the process, keeping me on track and ultimately taking a tremendous amount of weight off my shoulders by doing so much of the intense admin, organizational work, functionality of website, logistics, and customer service before, during, and after the retreat.
This allows you will to focus on what’s most important- the retreat experience.
You can also check out truenaturetravels.com to see potential locations and what they are all about.
Email Josh and Team at: info@truenatutretravels.com -> put “Referred to by Matt Giordano” in the subject line.
[Leadership] Video Editing [41m]
Video Editing
Sign up here for free and lets do this together
One of the most valuable skills to have as an online entrepreneur is video editing. It typically costs a tremendous amount of money to have basic video editing done for you and you wind up having to do the majority of the work by pre selecting the content you want edited. Most of the time all you really need to do for video editing is cut out the content you don’t want, add transitions, and titles and upload it to your respective channels. This is something everyone is totally capable of.
This was a request from many students coming into the training. I personally use multiple video editing services and software based on my particular needs, however they are all unique to apple computers and cell phones. So I did 2 days of research and tried out multiple platforms and software that were useable on all devices, and I narrowed it down to one service that is a low cost, high value, feature rich experience. Here I will walk you through how to use the platform for free, so you can learn how to do the most important actions with video editing. You may choose to use this forever for free or upgrade if it suits you. Of course once you learn how to use one video editor they are all very similar. I think this particular platform will likely be the “canva” of video editing, and it seems from my correspondence with their team that they might actually be the same company or in some sort of partnership.
Try this out with me, Sign up here for free and lets do this together
[Leadership] Freedom & Joy of Saving [28m]
Lesson
[Leadership] Secret Weapon: Simulcasting [15m]
Secret Weapon: Simulcasting
SIGN UP FOR MELON APP HERE FOR FREE
In March 2020, I began using livestream services like IG Live, Youtube Live, Facebook Live, Twitter Live, etc. I gathered all my old smartphones and set them up on multiple camera stands. It took forever to set up each time and it was a mess because my internet couldn’t handle multiple livestreams. So I began researching solutions and found the terms simulcast and multicast. Turns out there were multiple services that made simulcasting and multicasting possible and much neater.
Now I only upload one stream and the service delivers it to multiple sources. This is amazing. Now I can go live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter all at once. It is illegal to go live on Instagram this way, but you can do it using a free service called Yellow Duck. But you do that at your own risk; your IG account could get locked or banned by doing so. Going live on YouTube is great because the video stays there forever, if you wish ,and will gain traction over time with a good title and description. Going live on Facebook and Twitter will kick up the algorithms for you, making your regular posts more visible. MOST importantly, going live is a personal experience between you and your followers. This is huge for making connections, establishing trust, and potentially getting your offerings in the hands of students. Going Live ALSO provides a level of professionalism that only a few people are willing to step into.
SIGN UP FOR MELON APP HERE FOR FREE
[Leadership] Running Retreats [36m]
[Leadership] Fear & Eagerness Of Selling [27m]
[Leadership] EOL Wind: Community & Celebration [36m]
[Leadership] Discussion: Rebecca Rasmussen [83m]
Rebecca Rasmussen is the founder of InstituteofMovement.com, which is where she hosts her signature courses, namely Mindfully Move. After a lifelong career in professional dance and twelve years with the internationally renowned company, Momix, Rebecca was ready to transition away from dance, but her identity was wrapped up in being a dancer.
“Who am I if I am not a dancer?” This was a big struggle for Rebecca, but with time and persistence she not only was able to shift her identity and career, she has turned herself into a thriving entrepreneur. Her path has been very different from mine, and so is the way she approaches business, so I wanted to bring her on here to provide you with another viewpoint on running a yoga business.
Connect with Rebecca
Instagram: @dancinbecka
Websites:
- www.dancinbecka.com
- www.instituteofmovement.com
Lesson
Lesson
[Leadership] Launch [26m]
Leadership] Pricing Your Product Offerings [29m]
[Leadership] Build Your Business Checklist [28m]
[Leadership] Sales/Landing Page [35m]
[Leadership] Ways of Selling [14m]
[Leadership] Chromatic Approach to Productivity [17m]
[Leadership] Learn: Online Course Creation [23m]
Learndash Course Creation
This course that you are currently taking is created in the LMS (Learning Management System) called Learndash. In this video, I will walk you through the course creation process. For those of you that have a WordPress site, this makes the most sense for you to implement. It is the best LMS on WordPress. If not using WordPress, some of you may want to get a WordPress site JUST for online courses. This is common practice. Let’s say your website is one built in Square Space and it’s called, www.theyogimatt.com”. Your course website could be held on WordPress under what is called a subdomain “courses.theyogimatt.com”. This is a very beneficial way to host courses. Separate websites allow you to keep your home page running fast and smooth without you having to purchase very expensive web hosting.
My website will eventually switch over to this format; everything will be purchased on “courses.theyogimatt.com”, which currently does not exist. My blogs and home page will stay the same. This is something you could hire someone to easily implement should you decide to do, but it’s as simple as making one of the menu items on your main website be something like “courses”.
To purchase Learndash or learn more about it please click here.
Some of you will choose to integrate a second website using an LMS like Kajabi. If so, please use that link. (Rebecca, my wife, will receive a referral if you decide to sign up with them.) Kajabi and other LMS dedicated websites often have the option to host your website directly with them, but I wouldn’t recommend it as it can be difficult to migrate away from these sites should you ever want to have a custom-built site with more functionality and freedom. That said, Kajabi and other LMS sites are EXPENSIVE so it may only be worth it if you are using their full features.
IF you are on WordPress AND you want to create courses, then Learndash is the best option! However, you may want to wait until the next section where I show you another option. Please use THIS LINK should you decide to purchase Learndash.
Hire Someone to Create Your Learndash Course:
CLICK HERE to hire someone to build your learndash course.
Hire Someone to Create Your Kajabi Course:
[Leadership] Discussion: Jason Nemer [83m]
Jason Nemer: Co-Founder of AcroYoga International
Jason Nemer was one of my first teachers, and in more ways than one he played a huge part in bringing me to where I am today.
I had been practicing yoga for some time on Long Island when I came across what looked like some strange yoga practice in a Manhattan park. At the time I was an apprentice to a sand sculptor and asked my boss if I could take a quick break to see what these people were doing.
I walked over and asked, “Hey, is this yoga?”.
Andy and Billie paused their practice. “This is called Acroyoga. Want to try?”
Billie “flew” me for the first time and I fell in love with the practice. The next day I went back to the city for my first class. Instantly, I felt at home! I found my people: loving, kind, weird, playful, supportive, etc. I kept returning to Manhattan to practice and spend time my new friends. It wasn’t long before the momentum of my life shifted. Because I was an Acroyoga teacher, Mary Aranas invited me to assist her restorative class at Pure Yoga, and it was this studio where I found my first mentor, Marco Rojas, a story for another day. Marco gave me the space to learn and grow as a fledgling teacher. Shortly after that I became a full-time yoga teacher at Pure Yoga, the youngest and the least experienced in a sea of veteran teachers. I had to step up my game fast.
Eventually Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein came to Manhattan to teach a workshop, and shortly after I was traveling internationally to study with them. In 2010, I became a certified AcroYoga teacher, one of 50 in the whole world.
Three defining moments were pivotal in my expansion.
- In 2011, I was invited to Wanderlust Festival and the Anusara Grand Gathering. I was asked to show people how to do AcroYoga and literally “play” around with my fellow acro yogis to create a fun environment. In exchange, we would get passes to all Anusara classes and the Wanderlust Festival. While playing, MC Yogi walked by and asked my acro partner Chelsey Korus and I to perform with him on stage that night. This grabbed the attention of the founders of Wanderlust. They asked Chelsey and I if we would teach classes the following year. This was A HUGE honor to be teaching among some of the world’s best teachers. We did the absolute best we could and were asked to return for the full tour the next four years in a row. While AcroYoga performances and classes remained part of my duties, I begged and pleaded, and successfully was granted more and more regular classes, until I eventually became one of the headliners of the festival.
- In 2012, I attended an Acroyoga training where I met a friend named Daniel Scott. In 2013, Daniel was double-booked for a Wanderlust Festival in NZ and a yoga conference in Austria. He really wanted to go to NZ and asked if I would cover his classes in Austria. I reluctantly agreed, as I didn’t want to leave my classes in NYC that were bringing me steady income. Daniel needed someone that could teach Acroyoga, Thai Massage, and yoga and since I was close friends with him I wanted to support. This trip is where I met my now best friend, Young Ho Kim, founder of Inside Flow, TINT Yoga, and Inside Yoga Studio. Young Ho Helped me establish a career in Europe and that became my second home for the next six years.
- In 2012, at the same training, my teacher Jason Nemer suggested we teach handstand workshops. Prior to that time I hadn’t really offered workshops, because the one time I did it was a flop; only a few people showed. I made less money than if I had been teaching a class. I decided to give it one more shot, given his encouragement. In the spring season of 2012, I taught my first handstand workshop to 30 people, a big success. The next month I taught a second workshop to 55 people, the following month 65 people (sold out). I continued monthly workshops, eventually expanding on handstand to offer arm balances, hip openers, shoulders, etc.
I have studied from, assisted, and co-taught with Jason Nemer for the last 12+ years (depending on when you read this). It is an absolute honor to have him here with us, sharing the highs and lows of his journey, many of which I had not previously been aware of. Jason has a new book coming out this year, which I am thrilled and excited to read! Check out: Move, Connect, Play: The Art and Science of AcroYoga
Connect with Jason Nemer
- Instagram: @jasonnemer
- Instagram: @acroyoga
- Website: www.Jasonnemer.com
- Website: www.AcroYoga.org
- THE BOOK: https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/move-connect-play/
