Why Free Videos Aren’t Helping You Build Your Online Yoga Business
In this informal, on‑the‑fly video Angelica Gilbert explains why relying on free YouTube or TikTok tutorials won’t get yoga teachers to a sustainable online business. She argues that free content is primarily a marketing funnel for paid offers and that consuming it without accountability, a clear timeline, or a mentor leads to endless information overload and no transformation. Angelica stresses the importance of taking imperfect action now, choosing a single mentor or method, and paying for speed—i.e., hiring a coach to accelerate results. She outlines the components of a successful online yoga business: attraction content, low‑ticket and high‑ticket offers, landing pages, sales funnels, and optional paid advertising. Throughout she promotes a May 12 Reels Challenge and her three‑month Empowered Yoga Teachers Course, inviting viewers to book a free strategy call. The video blends practical advice, personal anecdotes about imperfect production, and persuasive marketing for her paid programs.
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Good morning, everyone. I'm just getting set up in my new space, but today we want to talk about you cannot YouTube your way into a real yoga business, and here's why you're still stuck. Okay, so as you can see, what I'm doing here is absolutely imperfect, right? So we've just moved into our new house. I'm just filming. I'm just going for it. I've had some Digital errors this morning, just trying to get everything lifted off and doing it. But that's the thing, is that I'm just doing it. Okay, so first of all, before we dive into our topic today, I want to encourage you to just get out there and do it. Like, just go out and do what it is that you want to do. I'm actually running a Reels challenge next week, uh, May 12th. The challenge starts on May 12th. Sign up now and you get 2 bonuses, uh, one about how to use UGC, user-generated content, getting that Basically what that means is getting brand deals. And the other is with my friend Lissa, who built a 200,000 follower empire on Instagram and how she did that. Uh, you'll get those bonuses when you sign up early. The challenge starts on Monday, the 12th of May. So I would love to have you in the challenge. If you're listening to this podcast or you're watching this on YouTube before the challenge starts, please go and sign up and enroll, get in the community, start following people and becoming friends with people and become a part of something bigger. Anyhow, a lot of people feel like they want to just do this on their own, building their online yoga business. But here is the reality. If free content online worked, you would have a yoga business online right now. And you wouldn't be listening to me talking about it. But if you are listening to me and you are building your yoga business, it's probably because you got help, right? You didn't just go with all the free stuff, because what the reality is about free stuff is that people do their free stuff to lead you into their paid stuff, right? So everything that you're watching on YouTube, at the end they're going to say follow for more, or check out my course on blank, blank, blank if you want to get better at blank, blank, right? So everybody's creating the free stuff to promote their paid stuff. That's called organic marketing. Organic marketing is anything that you do that you don't have to pay to push it out, and people don't— there's no paywall for people to see it. It's just that free stuff that you're doing to try to generate business, which is what you'll need to do when you create an online business, right? And like, for example, in my course I teach you how I did that, how I created an online business with organic. And my first couple of years, all I did was organic. I didn't do any paid advertising. Now I do a combination of paid advertising and organic because I have the budget to do so. But in the beginning, I didn't have budget, so I just had to do organic. And that's what a lot of this content that you see online is, is who are doing organic content that's not going to bring you the real solution. It's just like a sliver of the solution. Okay, so this is the harsh reality of doing it alone. All right, so you've probably watched 1,000 YouTube videos, right? You followed influencers on TikTok and Instagram, you're taking notes, but somehow your online business still doesn't exist. Why is that? Why do you think that is? Because information doesn't create transformation. One of the big things that we do in my course is hold you accountable, right? We have a timeline of what it is that you need to get done when in order to build your online yoga business, right? There's a timeline of what's happening. So that accountability is the difference. A lot of people come in and they don't have accountability, or they'll say they have accountability, but they have no business online. So if they were accountable to themselves, why wouldn't they have a business? Right? Um, and I hear these like excuses every day and a lot of times people are just like, well, I'll do that when I'll do that when I have my studio built out. I'll do that when everything is perfect in my life. I'll do that when my kids go to school. I'll do that when I don't have this thing at work anymore. There will never be a right time. You will always have something imperfect. I just want you to look at this room right now. Okay, I'm gonna just lift this up, this tripod. I want you to just look at this room. I don't know if you can see like what it looks like, right? Like we don't even— we haven't even finished the floor. Look at that. That is the closet. At least my dog has a place to hang out. And then here is You know, that's the internet. Everything is— woo! I just dropped the phone. Okay, see, they're imperfect, but we're still doing this, right? We're still moving through everything. We're still doing what we got to do to get it done. All right, I'm gonna put this back over here so that we have a good view of each other. There is no perfect time. I could be saying like, I'm not going to film any videos until I have my home studio like totally set up, right? I could be saying that right now and this video wouldn't be out. So there is no perfect time. You're not going to have a perfect time. It's not going to be the perfect day. Nothing is going to be perfect. It's going to be imperfect all the time. You're going to have to walk through those imperfections. One of— I just filmed like a whole video the other day for my course. It was like a really good video on how to do traffic ads or, uh, conversion ads on Facebook. Advertising, and there was no sound, and I had to refilm the whole thing. And I was like, oh my gosh, this was like a 25-minute video that was so incredible about how to do sales ads on Meta on the back end. Ah, it can be frustrating. It can be very frustrating, right? So when you are creating ads when, when you are creating content, when you are creating anything online, right? When you're doing anything online, there's never going to be a perfect situation. So I want you to keep that reality check in mind. So another thing people tell me is like, well, I should just be able to figure this out on my own. I should just be able to figure this out for free. I shouldn't have to pay somebody. You know, one of the things that was always like really To me, I've been doing online yoga teacher training, and before that I was doing in-person teacher training for like the last 25 years. That's been my primary, like, source of income is doing yoga teacher training. And one of the things I always tell people is that, um, when you do teacher training, you do not have to come into it knowing all the poses. In fact, you're never going to actually know all the poses, uh, and you're never going to actually be able to do all the poses because of bone structure, right? So like the way your bones are made, you're never going to be able to do all the poses. Right? And why would you not go to yoga teacher training? Like, you go to yoga teacher training to learn how to become a yoga teacher. Like, just like you want to be an electrical engineer, you wouldn't say like, oh, I can't be an electrical engineer until I've learned how to do everything about electrical engineering. I can't go to school for that. I can't go to college for electrical engineering until I know how to be an electrical engineer. Like, it's mind-blowing to me. I'm like, no, just come to yoga teacher training. Like that's where you learn how to become a yoga teacher, right? It's the same with building an online business. You are becoming a marketer, you are becoming an advertiser, you are becoming an online creator. This is an entirely different skill set. You would not be like, well, I don't know how to do oral surgery, I don't know how to fill a cavity. Yet, so I'm not going to become a dentist. I'm not going to go to dental school until I know how to fill a cavity. Like, what kind of thought process is that? Of course you need someone to help you, right? You need someone to help you learn how to fill that cavity. I mean, I wouldn't want somebody filling my cavity that was just trying it out, you know what I'm saying? So that's a little different, but still same concept though, right? Like, you can't possibly know everything about digital marketing and about being online just by watching other people's videos. You're not going to just naturally be good at that, especially if you're like— I'm 50, so if you're like my age, we didn't grow up with that stuff. Like, it— and, and, you know, even the people that did grow up with it, some of them don't do any of this. So a lot of people need help, like understanding the algorithms. What do you do and what you don't do? How do you create content that people actually want to watch, right? That is a skill set that I've spent a lot of time with a lot of coaches learning how to do, and I still don't always get get it right. Like, it's a constant thing of testing new things and trying different stuff, right? The goal isn't to go viral, and that's like something that a lot of people don't understand. Also, the goal is to get people to watch your content and be helped by you so that, one, like, you can help them and serve the world, and two, so that you can pay your bills. Like, those are the real goals, and it doesn't matter if you have 1,000 followers or 100,000 followers. It It doesn't matter, right? Is it easier when you have more followers? Depends. It depends on how you've cultivated that audience. So there's a lot that goes into it, right? And you'll only learn that from working with somebody who understands because they've created a ton of content, right? They've created courses, they've created sales funnels, they've created landing pages. You don't need a website. People come to me, oh, I got this website. I don't care about your website. Your website doesn't sell shit. Like, your website doesn't do anything. All your website does is it's like a page of like, here I am. It's a glorified Linktree, right? Like, you need landing pages and sales funnels. Um, I have a meeting in 30 minutes. Okay, so we gotta wrap this up. Okay, so, um, a lot of times people think that free is the way to go because they feel like, oh, they have budgetary constraints or whatever. But here's the reality is that getting caught up in a bunch of different people who are doing different things and different strategies actually costs you more. It costs you more time and costs you more self-doubt and it costs you more stuckness. And you're gonna be going in circles and be like, why? You know, maybe you feel this, maybe you understand this, like, why am I not getting anywhere? And it's because you're listening to all these different people. Pick one person. It might not be me. It might be me. I don't care who you pick. Like, I've chosen people that I follow specifically, and I follow their method very specifically. Don't be listening to a bunch of different people. Pick one person that's doing a method that you believe in, right? It doesn't have to be me. I would love if it was me. I would love to have you in my merry group of people who are changing the world and making yoga amazing. But it doesn't have to be me. It can be anybody. But just pick one person. Stop watching 50 different videos and one wondering why you're not getting the results that you want. It's because all the strategies work, right? But not all the strategies work at the same time. Does that make sense? All right. One thing that I wish that I'd understood at the beginning of this journey that I didn't understand until I was in it is that speed is money, right? Speed is getting to your dream faster. And what you're paying for when you're working with someone is speed. You're paying for someone to push you faster along so that you don't have to take as much time. So instead of it taking you 10 years, right, like my friend Lissa, she built all that on her own. She didn't hire coaches. She did it all on her own. She figured it all on her own, but she couldn't quit her job until 7 years in, right? But Lissa taught me right, things. And I took what Lisa taught me, and I was able within 6 months to stop working for other people and start working just for myself, right? So, and I have clients that within just 90 days were making $20,000 a month, right? So it, it, when you hire someone, it goes faster, right? It goes faster, right? So when people work with me, I'm not just like, Lisa taught me how to do Instagram. But I'm not just teaching people how to do Instagram. I'm teaching yoga teachers how to do Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. I'm teaching them how to make a podcast if they want. I'm teaching them how to create sales funnels, how to build a low-ticket offer, how to build a high-ticket offer, and how to do paid advertising if they want to do that, right? Like, we have a very specific plan to get you there faster because your message is important. There's somebody out there that wants to work with you, but you're sitting there waiting, worried about what what microphone should I use, right? Like, who cares? Like, who cares? This morning I couldn't get my software to work, so I'm just filming this on the phone, and then I'm gonna upload it to the software later, right? Like, who cares? It doesn't matter, right? It does not matter, like, the method. It just matters that you pick one and go there faster, right? And if you pick the right guru to help you for lack of a better word, you're going to get there faster. You're going to get to your dream life faster. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have jumped in 10 times faster. I would have gotten rid of all the self-doubt. That's another thing really quick, because I do have to go, but you're going to go through like the dark night of the soul, right? I went to this period of time where I was like, my videos don't look great. I don't look good. I'm not doing what I want to do. Right? This is— I'm not reaching anybody. Nobody's commenting. Oh God, nobody's commenting. That was a long time. I remember being like, no one's even watching these videos. But what's happening is you're getting better at creating the videos, right? It's not, it's not 10 videos. Like, people will do 10 videos, like, I'm not getting the result I want. Girl, it's thousands of videos. It's not 100 videos. It's thousands of videos. Like, how many times did you have to try to walk before you could walk, right? Like, a lot. You know, it was like 8 months. I don't know, I didn't have any kids, but I think it's a long time before kids start walking. They don't just come out, bam, and start walking, right? I actually don't know anybody that does that. It takes time. Everything takes time. It takes a lot of practice to get where you want to go. You can't learn to speak French in a day. Right? But you can learn to speak French in a year if you spent a lot of time focused on it. It is the same with building your online business. It is the same with building content. So listen, I got a couple different options for you. Again, you do not have to work with me, just pick somebody to work with. But if you do work with me, I have a Reels challenge coming up, and I think that would be very helpful to you, right? A Reels challenge coming up where you are going to learn how to do 5 different styles of Instagram Reels. You can use these videos on TikTok, you can use these videos on YouTube shorts. It doesn't matter, it's the same style. But I'm going to tell you the 5 basic styles of reels that I do that have built me 30,000 followers on Instagram and $400,000 in revenue, right? So if you want to join that challenge, the link is going to be below. The other thing that's on May 12th— so if you're listening to this after May 12th, maybe we run it again. I don't know what happens. I'm always like, I'm gonna do this one time, and then everybody's like, do it again. So we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Second thing is the Empowered Yoga Teachers Course. In the Empowered Yoga Teachers Course, this is a premium course where you're going to work with me for 3 months. We're going to build out your attraction content. I'm going to teach you how to create content that people actually want to watch in your niche. Then we're going to build you a low-ticket offer so that you have something where you text me the next day and be like, Angelica, I made a sale in my sleep. Then the third thing we're gonna do is build you a high ticket offer. You're gonna build out that high ticket, you're gonna build out that high ticket offer with us. We're gonna build landing pages for both of those offers that actually convert. I will share with you my actual sales funnels. You can copy and paste them into your software. And number 4, we are going to build you the paid marketing if that is the route that you wanna go. Not everybody does paid marketing, but once you have your offer proven, you got your automations in place, we'll give you email automations for all of your offers. Once you get those done and proven, then you are going to be unstoppable. Absolutely unstoppable, right? And that's what you want. So I will see you in the next podcast. I'm gonna try to be doing more of these podcasts. Um, again, if this is hitting home and you're done trying to figure it out all by yourself, I invite you to book a call with me. I'll leave the link below. It's angelicagilbert.com/training. Um, I'm gonna leave the link link below in the description, but book a call with me. It doesn't cost anything to find out if my course is the right course for you, right? Come into the call, tell me all your goals, your dreams, what it is that you want to create. I'll tell you what we do. If it's a good fit, we will move forward on that call. If it's not a good fit, then cool, at least you know, right? There's no pressure. It's just finding out whether this is the right step for you. You've got to stop thinking about these things as like, oh my God, it's a sales call, they're gonna pressure me, it's a high price. You're an adult. You are an adult human being, okay? Like, you deserve to check out your options, and that is what we are doing on that call, okay? So get on that call, book a call with me. Let's talk about what it is that you want to create. If you want to join the Reels Challenge, the link for that is going to be below. If you're watching this before May 12th, or anytime between the week of May 12th and the 16th, you can still join. Um, and hit the follow button, subscribe. I would love to see you in the next video, definitely. Um, It's great to see you, and I'm gonna try to make more of these now that we've moved to a new location, and, um, really excited. I also got a full-time, uh, person working with me, you know, Francesca. So I'm pretty excited about that. And, uh, we will see you in the next video. Have a great day, y'all.
