Hi K

Great idea!

You could also consider going into companies and offering yoga/meditation classes during the lunch hour. You could use a meeting room. Getting people away from their desks, even for 20 minutes, at lunchtime makes them more productive in the afternoon. This would be your main selling point and you could sell this to the more intelligent businesses out there whose management recognise the benefits of looking after the well-being of their staff.

There are lots of freelance yoga/meditation teachers out there. If you searched out the best ones and built a small team of excellent talent then you could manage the business, finding the locations then supplying a teacher. If lunchtime is when demand is greatest, you will need other reliable teachers you can call upon.

Also, you don't have to restrict yourself to workplaces. There are many sections of the population who can suffer from the conditions you have mentioned. What about old folks homes or day centres? Or young mothers groups?

Good luck!

Gordon

Hi there Gordon,

Thank you for your email and taking the time to reply.

I did actually think about approaching companies, but got stuck on how I would charge?! Would I charge per person or per session? Also, I was thinking the company may charge me for the room hire?

I look forward to hearing from you.

K Hawes

Hi K

You would probably charge per person, at least initially.

I would like to think that a company would see the benefits you are bringing to their employees and the business as a whole and be happy for you to use a room and not charge you. You would have to 'sell' these benefits in your leaflets/presentations. You are offering convenience in return for the use of an unused meeting room. The employees wouldn't normally have the time to go to a class outside work during their lunch hour so the business loses out on the benefits such a class would provide.

Also I'd like to think that once a management sees that the classes are having a beneficial effect for everyone, a forward thinking business would pay you direct and offer your classes to their employees for free.

Hope you're having good day!

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

THANK you so much for your reply :-) I think your right in your way of thinking to approach companies.

For the last 4 hours (stiff neck as well!) I decided to approach yoga/meditation teachers, briefly introducing myself and my ideas, and letting them know how they could play a part in the structure of the business.

So far, I have had 5 replies back saying that the idea is interesting and they would either like to meet/talk to discuss...do you have any suggestions!?

It's quite early days and meeting to discuss a plan seems rather pointless from there point of view. Should I be contacting the businesses first instead of the teachers? I just wanted to make sure that I could provide a service before actually selling it to them!!

Many thanks!

PS: days not too bad but not very well and am in bed! But on the other hand it's good as I have had time to push forward a little with the idea!

Hi K

Finding the companies will be the difficult part!

Which companies to approach? Find the smart ones who recognise the benefits. The Sunday Times does supplements during the year; the best companies to work for and the best small companies to work for, maybe you could find back issues from this year at your local library? At least some of these companies should be switched on to the idea of what you are offering.

Who in the company to approach? HR? The boss? Most companies have their own website, a useful source of people to contact.

How to approach? In person and leave some of your flyers or send in your leaflet then follow up with phone call to arrange a personal meeting if they sound interested? Or both?

How to convince them it's a good idea to give it a try? If you were the boss of where you work, what things would you like to hear to convince you that it would be worth giving it a try? Can you find any evidence that taking a break at lunchtime aswell as yoga/meditation can provide benefits to the individual and the company?

You should check out the teachers, go to one of their classes, are they any good? Would you be happy to let them loose on your clients? If you were a client, would you be happy to go to a class taken by them? It would be useful to meet them a few times too. You are going to have to rely on them to turn up where and when you need them.

Don't give up the day job! There are probably a good number of excellent yoga/meditation teachers already out there doing exactly what you are proposing. No matter how much research you do, you will get a lot of 'no thank you's. Have you given anymore thought to the non-workplace options? You could take these classes outwith office hours and arrange for the other teachers to cover the lunchtime venues.

Get well soon!

Yes I am aware that the easy bit is getting hold of yoga/meditation teachers, I actually feel like I am recruiting.

Yes I am aware of that, is it called the top 100 companies to work for? I will definitely get to work with researching those companies and hope and pray that they do not have a service like this already!

I just feel me working full time will not allow me to be able to take time to visit at the moment, so I was thinking more along the lines of an introductory email with as much detail and facts as possible and arranging a meeting based on their interests, I could always follow this up on my lunch with telephone calls?

I just have one question Gordon sorry!! --- I'm a bit stuck as to how to offer both the employees and the yoga/meditation teacher a good deal- How would I get paid for this if the teachers are the ones carrying out the service? I don't want them feeling short changed, even though I will be doing all of the sales and marketing. They also don't have the burden of paying for room hire!

Thanks

k

Yes, top 100 to work for.

An introductory email sounds like a good idea.

I guess what to charge and pay will become part of your research. You will look at what people normally pay for a class and also what teachers earn per hour. A reasonable teacher will realise that you are doing all the sales and marketing and not feel short-changed. Many teachers just want to teach and will be glad that someone else is doing the other stuff, eg teachers who work in gyms and leisure centres, etc will be paid by the hour but they don't get paid the same as the gyms charge people for a yoga session. It shouldn't be too difficult to agree a rate both you and the teachers are happy with.

Remember you are providing benefits to everyone involved. The employees are getting the convenience of a yoga/meditation class that comes to them, maybe many would like to go to a class but their lives are too busy after work if they are bringing up a young family, etc. The teachers are getting a good rate of pay they are happy with without the extra work of finding the classes themselves. The companies are getting happier, more productive workers too.

Have a good weekend.

G

Hello G,

Sorry for the late reply, went back to work and have been inundated!

Yes, I have been doing some research into the salaries, both self employed and payroll staff - I feel like I am back at Uni again!!!

Now I am back at work I feel I cannot spend as much time on this and am dedicating my weekends to it - I have brought the company name and also the domain, I need to really now design a company logo!

Hi K

That's ok. Take your time, time spent preparing is never wasted.

Pull all your research together in a simple business plan. 'Entrepreneurship & Small Business' by Paul Burns published by Palgrave has good examples to use as a template. It's been in print since 2001 so you should be able to pick up a secondhand copy.

You can always test your market too; find one business and one teacher and give it a try. You will probably have to develop your class. A typical group is likely to contain a mix of abilities and you will probably have less time than a normal class as it is during lunchtime. A class will have to appeal to range of people who find it fun and who feel they are getting something out of it and most importantly want to keep coming.

I keep thinking about www.innocentdrinks.co.uk , maybe because Richard Reid is on BBC3 just now. That's the sort of company that is likely to be open to what you are offering.

Have a good week.

G

Most of the big corporates I have worked for in London have an in-house gym and with those a schedule of classes and most have had yoga on that schedule.

So I guess I am saying, there is certainly the demand and opportunity.

Most of the inhouse gyms are outsourced management by a small group of specialist gym firms, (names I cant recall right now, they will come to me, once I have a think ;-)

So, I am thinking, find out who those corporate gym management companies out and approach them. From my conversations with the 'local' managers getting reliable instructors for classes of all types is a major part of their remit.
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