Why Your Competitors are Ruining Your Business

Welcome to the Yoga Celebrity Podcast. My name is Angelica Govert. I'm joined by my co-host Justine Kennedy. Hello, hi everyone! And we're here today to talk to you about why are your competitors killing your yoga business. And this is a topic that is near and dear to me because I struggle with this myself, and it's very different from in-person than it is online. And so we're going to talk a little bit about what it's like to teach in-person and have competitors, and what it's like to teach online and have competitors, and how it's different, um, and a few different things maybe we can do to overcome that. Okay, so the first thing is, is that, um, When I owned an in-person studio, I basically never ever looked at my competitors. I never ever looked at what they were doing. I did not care what their promotions were. I just assumed that whatever they were doing was not as smart as what I was doing, and they weren't as good at it as what I was. And I know that sounds really silly, but I, um, really just feel like a lot of people in the yoga community are way, way, way behind on technology. They're, they're way behind on using the tools that will help them grow from an internet standpoint, and they don't have sales skills. Like, they typically feel like selling is evil, and I don't see anything like that. Like, the way I see Tech is that, um, I am always creating content that helps other people. Like, this content I'm creating right now is not about me, it's about helping other people. And a lot of people create content that's about them, and to be brutally honest, no one cares about you. No one cares about you. No one cares about your puppy. No one cares about you. You are not a celebrity. You are not, you know, Jennifer Love Hewitt. You are not, um, Hannah Montana. You're nobody famous, okay? No one cares about your life, right? So you can't post things about you, and people don't realize that. And the other thing about social is that it has to be very one-sided. So your business should only be posting about your your business. Don't post about your vacation that you went on the beach. No one cares about your vacation. And in fact, it actually ruins the algorithm. You have to make sure that everything you post is about your business. And so, um, a lot of people get that wrong. A lot of people get that wrong and they think of social media as social and them socializing. Um, when in fact what we want to do is look at the algorithm and we want the algorithm to think that we are socializing with people who want to buy what we have. And so everything that we post needs to be in that thought process, right? So what do I, what am I posting that the people who I want to buy my product would like, you know? Mm-hmm. And the eye-opening thing right there is that it's not you. No one cares about you. They care about your message. So I always kind of knew that from the very beginning. And so when I would do any kind of organic marketing, I— that was always at the forefront of my mind. Same when I would do any paid marketing. And I always have the philosophy of Tony Robbins, which is world-class marketing. All of your marketing should be world-class marketing. How could you make it the very best marketing possible? So anytime you're running an in-person yoga studio, that's how you have to think about things. And a lot of people just don't think about it that way. And I knew that most of my competitors didn't. Back when I opened my studio, there weren't very many studios in Las Vegas. It was really small. There hadn't been corporate Yoga Studios had not come here yet. And to be totally honest, and I— no disrespect— I don't know the people who own Yoga6. I don't know anything about them. But, um, it's franchised. I do know that. And every one of my students who works for Yoga6 does nothing but complain about it. The Yoga6s that I've gone to, the people who work there are not very professional. They're having like chatting behind the scenes. There's not a process when you walk in the door. So I honestly don't think personally, this is my projection based on 25 years of working in retail or maybe longer. It would be longer now. I'm 50. I've been in retail. I worked in retail. I started when I was 16 years old. Um, so that's a really long time. We're not going to do that math today. But just having been a district manager for multiple companies and worked in corporate for retail companies for years and worked in the mall and did a lot of consulting, and they would send me into districts that were troubling, like districts that were really struggling. They'd send me in and I would fix it and turn it around and make money for them again. And I moved all over the country doing that. So as an expert in that, I don't see Yoga Six lasting very long.

They just don't have good processes in place. And that's how retail thrives, is that everything happens the same way every single time. And that's not what's happening.

Also, by nature, yoga people are—

they don't do well with boundaries and rules. So it's really hard to corporatize yoga.

You know, I don't like—

like, CorePower was like the corporate place for so long, and now even they're not doing as well.

Mm-hmm.

You know, so I kind of just felt like I knew more than most people. And so I would just block all my competitors. I never saw them on social media because I blocked them, every single last one of them. I was like, I don't wanna see what they're doing down at TruFusion. I don't give a shit about them.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, and I feel like with blocking them too, it eliminates the ability to compare yourself to them, which like you have a lot of confidence, you had that sales background, so you weren't— I mean, I'm assuming you weren't like being like, oh, what if they're better than me? But for people who are just starting out and who are really new to the industry, they're like— we've talked about this on the imposter syndrome episode— like, it's super easy to let those little voices get in your head and compare yourself to people who have been around a lot longer and be like, oh, am I not doing good enough? Because they have this many people in their class. And I think just turning off the ability to compare by not letting yourself see that eliminates the ability to let the imposter syndrome take over. And then you can spend your time looking at people who inspire you, learning from people, because that's how we all get better, right? We're always learning and growing, but you're not looking at the studio down the street going, why did their workshop do better than mine? Am I failing?

Right. And the thing is, as a former studio owner, I know that a lot of that has to do with time. What time was it? Like, is it at 6 PM on Monday, or is it at 3 PM on Thursday? You know, because 3 PM on Thursday is not going to do well no matter what, no matter who you got in there, you know. Um, what— what— how well was it marketed? You know, that a lot of times that's not— things are not marketed well by people. But I would say that, you know, back then I had a lot of, I wouldn't call it imposter syndromes, but self-confidence issues. Mm-hmm. Um, and jealousy. I'm, I'm, I don't know if it has, must be because my Mars is in Scorpio, but I, I, I can be very envious of people. It's not a character trait of mine that I like. But it's definitely one that I have. Um, and I know I just like messaged you and Francesca about something this morning that I felt really jealous about. And, um, but, um, and I, I actually just— I don't even use the word envy because I really felt like dirty jealous about it. Like I was angry and upset, and I did not feel like that person— um, I was not happy for that person in the way I should have been. You know, like, I— and the thing is, like, I think at my core I know that when you are happy for other people, when you're truly happy for other people, you actually grow more, you actually do better, and the universe rewards you, you know. And, um, like, what I should have done was commented on his post and been like, I am so happy for you, what a great honor, you worked so hard for that award. Me next, you know, right? But that's not what I did. Instead, I immediately like sent messages to people and was like, this person, they did it! They just started at the same time as me with the same kind of program, and they got this award, and I didn't, and I'm never gonna get it. And, you know, and it's like, that takes us out of the process of learning, like you're talking about, where you see other people and you learn from other people. It takes us out of that process, which, coming back to online, is really hard. So you can take yourself out— oh my gosh, it just hit me like a ton of bricks what's going on right now. Universe teaching a lesson. Um, so When I was in person, I could just take myself out of those situations where I was triggered. I could just take myself out. I don't have to see those people. I don't have to open up Instagram. I don't have to open up Facebook. It doesn't matter. I could just take myself out. But now that I teach online and I have to look at trends and I get most of my traffic from organic things like this podcast and Instagram and TikTok, for God knows how long we're gonna have it, fingers crossed. Um, I have to see those things. And not only do I have to see those things, but the universe— like, the universe— the algorithm— the algorithm is not the universe. The algorithm makes it— it's to your benefit to have the algorithm show you people who would be like you or, or want to purchase what you have to offer. So you're constantly going to see people that trigger you, and maybe that's the lesson that the universe is saying is that, hey, now you have to actually look at these people and you have to look at yourself and you have to be like, okay, I'm seeing other people being successful at what it is that I want to do, and I don't have any negative emotion around that. I truly am releasing that and being the best that I can be as an individual. And I think that's really, really hard to do, and maybe that's the lesson Yeah, that—

I mean, I'm just listening to that, I'm like, I don't want to do that. I don't want to be the bigger person, you know? Like, it really does bring so much up, and it's just such a— you know, like, the online world is so interesting because there's so much good in it and there's so much that I do not like, and it, it forces you to see all of the light and all of the dark in yourself. And in the people that are on the internet and the mean things that people say, and in the moments where you get messages of like, oh my God, this is changing my life. Um, so it's so interesting and I'm curious like what you've been doing to deal with this competition being so in your face.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, um, as you know, I recently, had a Sagittarius moment and I was like on Google Flights and I was like, where can I go in the world? Where can I go right now?

We're gonna go right now.

And I'm flipping through TikTok and I see this thing that I got. I mean, I guess I like had known about it, but not really. Um, there's this like walk called the Camino de Santiago and there's like 8 different routes you can take. Um, and of course the, the route through the French mountains is closed in the winter. This is December or January. This is January now. Yeah. Um, and, um, but the route through Portugal is open. There's a couple of routes through Portugal. And so I decided to do the Portugal coastal route because I got a round trip ticket to Lisbon for $600. And so that's amazing. I know, right? It was on Google Flights last minute. It leave— I bought it on Sunday. I leave on Sunday. So it was one week from— I bought it the morning that I would like, literally 7 days from when I would have to leave. So I have been like crazy watching every movie, every YouTube, reading blogs that I could about this walk. And, um, luckily there's like so many resources now because of YouTube. And trying to decide, you know, like, what do I want to put in my pack and which pack do I want to take and all these different things. And so I'm leaving for the Camino on Sunday morning and, um, I'm just gonna walk and figure it out along the walk. So I think that, you know, the online has really gotten to me and I'm, I'm, I'm in fear that that actually doesn't really go away because I have a really good friend, um, well, I wouldn't say he's a really good friend, but I have a friend who I know, and he does YouTubes about— he has two different YouTube channels. He does one about gardening in Las Vegas and one about juicing, and he makes his full-time living doing that on YouTube, and he's very successful. And we were talking the other day about social media because we were all at like the same like Christmas dinner. My friend Lisa's house, and he was— we were talking about overuse of social media, and he was like, oh yeah, you can really get dragged into that. And I think like it doesn't matter like what level of influencer you are, you always kind of end up in this like overutilization of social media. It is designed to pull you in, so it's really hard. You, you're like they have done such a good job of getting your like base emotions to pull you in. Somehow though, I really don't get pulled into Instagram. I'm just not really that interested in it at all. Um, and Facebook holds no allure for me whatsoever. Um, TikTok though, I don't want to know how many years of my life I've been wasting on that. I'm almost like, I hope the TikTok ban goes through so that I don't have to watch any more TikToks and I can have my life back.

It just goes away.

But at the same time, I do think it's a massive violation of free speech. So, um, and I know it's not about the data. Like, if I'm going to be really like transparent, China owns more land in the United States than any other country. And so it's not about the data. If it was about the data, they'd shut down Google because Google gets more data than anybody else. I remember when I first learned about Facebook ads, when I first learned about ads, and I would tell everybody, listen, they— the phones The phones are listening to you. The phones are listening to you and they're showing you ads based on what they hear you say.

Never say the word mattress, or else that's all you're going to see for the next 6 months because those people have a ton of money. Yeah.

The— they must have like a really high markup. But, um, and people thought I was crazy. People thought I was nuts. And so I'm gonna throw out another thing that I know everybody's gonna say I'm nuts for, but I'm telling— because now we all know that was the truth. The phones are listening. We know that they are. That's why they want to put Alexas in every house and Google Plays and all of that. You know, we got a free Alexa. We like— we were like, nope. No, thank you. Yeah, Siri is enough, thank you. Um, oh, she's like— look at her!

Oh, she's waking up.

She was like, hey, did you call me?

How can I help you? What can I Google for you today?

What can I tell you about— um, anyhow, um The— I know this is going to sound really crazy, but the devices are reading our minds. They literally are. The devices are reading our minds. People probably don't know this, but the— your Wi-Fi scans your house constantly. It's constantly scanning your house to see where all of your belongings are. To see where you are, to see where your dog is, to see where you've set your mug down. It knows a map of your entire house. Your Wi-Fi does. If you don't believe me, just Google it. It's, it's, this is like common knowledge. And back in the like '50s, the FBI, CIA, whoever, I don't know, the three-letter organizations were doing a lot of testing on mind control. And that's when they invented Bluetooth, which we didn't get until very recently. So my thoughts are whatever technology we have now, the government had like 50 years ago. Mm. And we know that they're working on Neuralink and they're working on different kinds of mind things. And honestly, like how far-fetched is it really? As an ex-professional poker player, Um, I did not know that about your life.

I learned so much about you on these podcasts.

That's how I paid for my first studio.

That's a whole different story.

Um, I'll tell you that story anyhow. Um, I can read people, right? Like, I can read what people are saying, like what they're doing. Like, I can look at people and I can be like, all right, they got a big hand or they don't, or they're bluffers or whatever. Like, you can tell based on their patterns of behavior what they're going to do next. And it's kind of like pretty easy to tell like how people are going to, um, react, right? And so I just think that the technology must exist. It just must. Like, I'm not trying to be funny, but I just think that it That it probably does. Like, it's probably more likely that it does than it doesn't. I mean, the TikTok algorithm knows me so well.

Yeah. Well, I mean, like, even if they're not reading our minds through scans, they at least have algorithms that are made to anticipate our minds, right? Like, mm-hmm. It's, it's scaffolded, you know, there is so much that I'll open my phone and be like, oh. I was just thinking about that. And it's because these algorithms are so good at understanding us, what we watch, what we say, everything that it can, like, feel like it's reading your mind. Like, oh, it knew what I was thinking, and I'm so glad that article's right there.

It does though. It is reading your mind. I know you don't believe me.

I mean, I just like, I haven't done any research on it. All I know is that Wi-Fi and radio waves are the same type of waves, and microwaves are slightly bigger waves, and X-rays are slightly smaller waves. And that's what I learned in my high school science classes.

Sometimes I'm— I feel like the sounds of the city are really getting to me. Like, I can hear the electric wires in my backyard. Yeah. Like sitting here right now, I can hear the hum of the highway that's literally like a mile away from my house.

I—

we are constantly inundated with sound and vibration.

Yeah.

And it's overwhelming and it's overstimulating. And the only reason I really notice it is because we lived in the RV for so long and we lived on the boat for a year. You know, we were like 6 years in the RV and a year in the boat, and then we stupidly came back to town And, um, no, I'm glad we did. We wouldn't be sitting here today if I hadn't. But, um, still though, you need to get into nature and get away. And when you do, that's why you feel more calm and peaceful, because you don't— it's the vibrations and the sound vibrations and the sound waves that are constantly inundating you. So I don't know, I really think that they can read our minds. That's just my— and you, y'all, like, mark my words. Just like I said about the phones. I run a lot of ads, so, and I know what's available now. It's like, it's all just like algorithms too, you know, like you can still do some targeted advertising, but for the most part I just put in like the word yoga and then I say like, you know, um, say target women in this age group that speak English in the United States and Canada and bam. That's— and then it does everything else for me. It used to be like I had to do a lot more work than that. So, um, it's fascinating.

The whole thing is really quite fascinating.

But, um, yeah, yeah, the whole online thing can be quite overwhelming. Earlier you said something about, oh, like you have so much confidence, and you know, like, I think that we all struggle with it though. Like, I think it's a daily battle to, to be like Well, that's not going to bother me, or I'm not going to let that bother me. Or, you know, because I think the default, our society's default, is to be like more jealous and to be negative. And we have to consciously like truly want good for others, because when you want good for others and you want others to be successful, it really does come back to its vibrations, energy vibrations that you're putting out into the world, which is why I'm going to walk the the Camino.

Yeah, and I'm so, I'm so excited for that and for your hopefully daily vlogs so we can all come along with you and vicariously through what you're doing.

Yeah, yeah.

And I guess I'm just curious, what, what motivates you to stay online? Like, you are dealing with this competitor right now, you're getting ready to go on this big amazing trip. And what keeps you motivated to stick through it with the online world?

You have to work to pay your bills. And I could tell you like, oh, I do this for the love of my heart. But having taken significant time off of working after I sold the studio, uh, if I didn't have to work again ever in my life, I wouldn't. If I could close down all of my social medias tomorrow and never open another app again and get a dumb phone, I would immediately do that. Um, this is so much more profitable than preferable than working for someone. Mm-hmm. I don't wanna work for anybody. I only wanna work for me. And if you have to work and you have to make money in order to be in this society, then I want it to be meaningful. I want it to help people. I want it to make the world a better place if I have to do it. It might as well make other people's lives better. But if I didn't have to work, girl, I would not work.

That is so fair and a good, honest answer.

Not another day.

Mhm.

How about you? Why do you work?

Well, I feel pretty similarly. We live in a capitalist society and I don't particularly see that changing anytime soon, and I would like to be able to stay in my apartment and pay for— I got, I got a cat, he's sleeping right here. I want to be able to buy him food and toys, and I like you know, I like the lifestyle that I have, and so I'm gonna work for that lifestyle. And, um, I think what I like about the online world is that you can have so much more flexibility, so much more freedom. Like, you're still going to be working when you're doing the Camino, and it's, it's trade-offs, right? Like, I know you work probably more than most people and you work really hard, but you do great things and now you get to go to this amazing trip. And that's not something a lot of people can say. And that's the sort of thing that I want, you know?

I think though, Justine, what's really important is that you realize that it's just choices, right? So anybody can go and do it. It's just choices. Mm-hmm. So if you set up your life, you put up the intention, you're like, I am going to have a job that has flexibility. I am going to make my online business worth— I'm going to make my on— online business work come hell or high water. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get this online business going so that I have the freedom to travel anywhere. But then actually travel, then actually book the trip, then actually put your money where your mouth is. And do it. Because even when I was younger and I didn't have any money, when I was in college and when I, you know, when I went through my bankruptcy, was actually some of the best times of my life. Um, I traveled a ton. I traveled a whole bunch. I traveled differently than I travel now, but honestly, this trip isn't insane. So it was $600 round trip for the flight, and then every night you can stay at these things called like auberges. I think it's, you say it auberge is how I think how you say it. I don't know. I'm gonna tell you when I get back. And, um, it's like €15 a night.

Yeah.

The euro and the dollar are about the same right now. So it's like €15 a night. And so the whole trip's gonna cost me less than $1,000. I had a lot of the gear I needed. I did buy new shoes and I did buy a new pack. And the reason why I bought new shoes and a new pack are because Those are the, like, the most crucial things. Because if you have an ill-fitting pack, as a backpacker, I'm sure that you know, it's very uncomfortable and it feels awful and your whole trip is ruined.

Yeah.

Shoes, I don't think I even need to explain why that's important. You— well, I got waterproof shoes. I got waterproof shoes because I, from what I understand, it can rain a lot on the Camino. And I'm not a rain person because I live in Las Vegas. Also, that kind of is a bummer now that I think about it because I wear glasses. Ew.

Get a little umbrella hat.

Yeah, I gotta buy a hat. I'm gonna buy a hat. I've still been trying to decide like what kind of hat I want. Do I go stylish or functional?

Or both? They have a lot of stylish functional stuff.

Yeah, send me a link because I haven't found that yet. One thing I'm really frustrated with about is that I like to look like, um, a woman and I like to be pretty. It's something that I like, um, and hiking clothing in general, it's so awful looking. I'm like, what is this? Why, why does it have to be so ugly? Can't we have color? You know, it doesn't really take— it's not really that hard to make it pretty on a woman. You know, like Empress cuts. Empress cuts are nice because it like makes you look thinner, right? Lululemon, the reason why it looks so good is they use the Empress cut, so it looks— everything looks great. Because they're using the Empress cut, you know. Um, it— we could do that for cheap, you know. It doesn't have to look like a man shirt. So, um, I don't like how everything's like a high neckline. As you can see, I'm a real— I'm making my own shirts. I don't care. I cut this up, I make it cute. I don't care. Um, and I just like, that was really frustrating, you know, because the women just like, it doesn't accentuate our shape, it doesn't make us look attractive, and that irritates me and I don't like that. And some people don't care about that, but I do care.

And yeah, um, I'm from Vegas, which is like, you should be here soon.

You're gonna be so excited.

We're gonna have to bring your microphone because we're gonna have to do a podcast here together.

Yes! Oh my gosh, yeah, the essentials, the essentials are matching microphones. I know, they're synced on color. They've been synced this whole time. I don't know if you noticed that.

Oh my gosh, no, that is so—

oh, I'm like one second behind yours.

That is so cool.

I love it. I love this microphone, and if you want to get it, it's in my Amazon storefront. The link is below in the description. Every piece of gear that I use is in that Amazon storefront. Please feel free to go and get this microphone. If you— this is a great microphone for podcasting. It is amazing. You just plug it into your Mac or your USB-C. You don't have to use a Mac, but why wouldn't you? Because Macs are better. And, um, we got some people out there like, the impact on the planet. Listen, they all impact the planet negatively.

Um, anyhow, it's very easy. It's plug and play. It's very inexpensive. It's cute. It looks great on the screen. Who wouldn't want to use this microphone? Definitely use my link. I get 3%, right? I even bought Justine one. Look at how good— look at that, look at that, look at that microphone. That's amazing. Look at how pretty that is. Get you one. Um, If you want a podcast, I— we're on like episode like 110 or something. We're way far in there.

Yeah, yeah, awesome. I think even further. Yeah, by the time this comes out, we've been doing this a while.

Um, I've been doing it longer by myself and then Justine came along. So I do have some pretty exciting podcasts coming up, so I'm really excited about that. But, um, for now, that's the end for this week. Um, we gotta get ready for the Camino, so, um We are, um, just— we're not doing the whole hour because we have other things we have to do, but we wanted to get a podcast out to you. And so that is why we're doing this. And, um, we'll see you in the next episode, which are going to give you some solutions for your, um, issues for the competitors crushing your soul, right? Forget about them. Forget about them. You can only be you. Like, at the end of the day, like, we have to serve ourselves. Like, we have to be the best version of us that we can be. And like, I know a lot of people say that, but it's actually true. Like, I can't be that person that got the Two Comma Club Award, which means you've made $1 million. I'm not that person, and I wanna be, I wanna get that award, but I'm not that individual, the person who got that. I am not him. I'm me. No matter what, I'm never him. So I can't get that award that he got. I have to get that same award myself, and I have to figure it out on my own. Somehow that's his karma. This is my karma. We're going to figure it out along the way. Your karma is your karma. You're going to figure it out along the way, whatever it is. And if you want it bad enough, the universe will reveal for you. And it's just like— I just had this— where did it— it's right here. If you've ever read this book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho— I don't know if I'm saying his name right, but It doesn't matter. The sentiment is there. People say my name wrong all the time. This book, he says, whenever you put it out into the universe, the universe ex—

conspires for you to succeed.

Whatever you put out into the universe, the universe conspires for you to succeed.

Read this book. Be careful what you manifest because you are a manifesting mofo. You create your reality. All right everyone, if you would like to create your own online business and you want some help doing that, I would love for you to join the Empowered Yoga Teachers Course. If you're ready to level up and get your 300-hour certification, or you're new to teaching and you want to become a 200-hour yoga teacher, um, I have all of those programs. The links are below. You can go to angelicagover.com and find out more. Um, my 200-hour is designed so that if you know absolutely nothing about yoga, you can step in and step out feeling confident to stand in front of a room and teach yoga.

A lot of people feel like, I can't take teacher training until I'm ready. Like, how many people are like, I can't become an electrical engineer until I know everything about electrical engineering and I'm ready? Like, that sounds silly, doesn't it? Mm-hmm. I can't start an online business until I'm ready, right? Like, I can't become a plumber until I know everything about plumbing. I'm not going to go to a plumber school. Why would I go to plumber school? I can learn it on my own. It has to be the right time for me to learn about welding. It has to be the right time. Like, doesn't that sound ridiculous? And if people say that every day, it has to be the right time for me to start my online business. It's just not the right time. I'm too busy. I'm too busy right now. I can't learn how to fix mufflers. That's silly, y'all. Stop being silly. Click the link below, live your dream, and we'll see you in the next podcast.