Side-hustle more yoga classes or save energy for new biz?

[All That Glitters]

Hola Mustache People... would love any feedback from you more experienced Staches.

Here's the deal: I'm 35/F living in NYC and I teach yoga full time. I also lead trainings and workshops locally/internationally. I also just launched my own online yoga biz last November. The online biz is just starting to break even, but needs a LOT more attention. So I recently quit teaching 4 (out of 13) classes to free up work hours with my business partner to grow the online biz.

With some mustachian budget cuts (no more eating out/buying clothing/taking cabs, reduced cell plan, biking everywhere -seriously I biked over 100 miles this week, left therapy -don't worry shrink said I was ready...), I would have been able to squeak by and break even with my reduced income. BUT THEN my landlord raised my rent $400 to $1500/mo. I would consider moving in with roommates except I use my apartment for my video shoots and also I live right next to a park where I'm doing all my socializing now that I'm not spending $$ out, plus it's kind of imperative for my mental health to live near trees and alone. (This is actually decent rent for a NYC studio apt in a safe neighborhood/)

Anyway, I now need to sub a couple extra yoga classes a week just to break even. But I don't want to just break even! I want to knock out my 45k in student loan debt and bust my ass to be FI within 8-10 years. I will make a little extra money in coming months leading trainings, which I plan to dump straight into my debt (one of them for over 20k is at 6.5%).

My real question is: Should I dial the subbing WAY up? Sub early morning classes, all weekend, make that extra $75/pop to hurl more cash at my debt? Or should I pour my energy into my online biz? Should I try to do both? Teaching lots of classes can be tiring, but I'm so experienced at this point, it's really not so bad. Plus my meditation practice seems to keep me pretty potent throughout the day no matter what.

Other info: I'm single and don't have kids. So aside from wanting to be able to babysit my nieces regularly, I'm pretty free to do what I want.

Would love your sage advice....

[rafiki]

What is the online business exactly? Without any info, I'd probably split my time between the two to start, and if the business gained traction turn more of my time to that than extra classes.

The benefit of a good online business is the potential for passive or semi passive income. It's well worth spending some time to try to make that happen and at the end of the day a biz like that is a huge plus over trading time for money.

[Axecleaver]

Outsource the online business setup and ramp up your classes. Getting help for your site will be easy work for an experienced person. There's an active NYC mustachian group, I'm sure they have references for you.

This strategy lets you get over the setup hump, and they can train you to run it efficiently.

[All That Glitters]

What is the online business exactly? Without any info, I'd probably split my time between the two to start, and if the business gained traction turn more of my time to that than extra classes.

The benefit of a good online business is the potential for passive or semi passive income. It's well worth spending some time to try to make that happen and at the end of the day a biz like that is a huge plus over trading time for money.

Thanks for this. It's a monthly subscription-based yoga/meditation program. The members we already have are really enthusiastic so I know the product is good. It's definitely well priced for the content they get. We are covering our monthly business expenses (which add up to about $1,000/mo). And there's endless growth potential, which is exciting. I just find that for every bit of work I put into the online biz, we tend to get a new subscriber. I can really track the growth with my time/effort investment. Whereas teaching classes is limited in reach and growth potential. I like your POV on doing both for now.

[All That Glitters]

Outsource the online business setup and ramp up your classes. Getting help for your site will be easy work for an experienced person. There's an active NYC mustachian group, I'm sure they have references for you.

This strategy lets you get over the setup hump, and they can train you to run it efficiently.

Thanks for your thoughts... the business is already set up and my partner is an IT pro, so he takes care of all the online stuff and editing of content. However, I think having a look at where we are weakest and outsourcing expertise in those areas (so I don't have to fumble through learning marketing, etc in a long drawn-out way) is a good idea. Will investigate...

[All That Glitters]

Since the subbing is early morning weekends, I would do it -- the chances that you would use that time to work on marketing strategy is very slim, so you might as well use it for concrete income generation.

Can you market your on-line biz via any of your in-person classes?  Would understand if the studios wouldn't want you doing that, but even casually mentioning that you are involved in an online platform may lead some clients to look it up.  Also consider doing things like offering free classes in the park where you promote your biz.

His website name choice is really unfortunate (and he has since spun off some other names like GrowthLab, which are less gimmicky), but I have found that Ramit Sethi's free materials at iwillteachyoutoberich.com are very useful/high quality.  I haven't done any of his more expensive courses (did pay for the resume improvement materials and joined one of his groups for awhile, before I decided to FIRE), but they seem to get real results.  Anyway, if you haven't looked at his stuff already it is worth checking into -- lots of information about how to grow an email list, set up a sales funnel, etc.  If I were doing an online business I would definitely consider paying for his more intensive courses.

Thanks for these great ideas! Yes, picking times that I wouldn't be working anyway seems like a solid way to choose how to pick up these random sub options. I actually do free charity fundraiser classes around the city. Which are really fun cause they raise money for a good cause while promoting my virtual studio, but public spaces is definitely worth considering. Especially taking any cost out of it. Thanks for the website lead. I just looked up Sethi's content. I will certainly pursue it more....