184: The Myth of the Ideal Client UPDATED

Today I'm revisiting one of the ideas I talked about when I first started the podcast nine years ago: the idea that yoga teachers need to find their "ideal student" or a very specific niche in order to build a successful teaching career.

I still believe there is some value in getting specific about who we're speaking to when we communicate about our work. Specific language can make our marketing more compelling and help potential students understand how our teaching might support them.

But I've become increasingly convinced that the idea of finding your perfect student doesn't translate well to the actual work of teaching yoga.

Teaching people is relational, creative, vulnerable, and challenging. There is no teaching practice where every student is effortless to work with. A student being difficult to teach doesn't automatically mean they are the wrong student for you, and it certainly doesn't mean you're a bad teacher.

In this episode, I explore why the "ideal client" and "find your niche" advice can become problematic for yoga teachers—and what I think we should focus on instead.

In this episode, you'll hear:

Where the idea of the "ideal student," "ideal client," and "dream customer" comes from

The difference between communicating specifically about your work and pigeonholing yourself into a narrow niche

Why difficulty in a teacher-student relationship doesn't automatically mean it is a bad fit

The normal challenges that come with teaching private clients, including boundaries, unclear goals, and difficulty reading a new student

How surface-level demographics can unnecessarily limit your teaching practice

Why helping students discover what they need, build trust, stay engaged, and maintain a consistent practice is part of our job