Why it isn’t the end of the world if someone doesn’t like your class

I was teaching a class for Sweaty Betty and was chatting to the store manager after. All the feedback was great… but then - the dreaded bad review.

The manager said “oh one lady said it was too slow & gentle for her, not advanced enough - she thought it was flow”.
I said “who was it?”
The manager said “the lady in the lilac top on the front row”.

I smiled to myself and was 100% fine with this lady hating the class.

In fact, she’d been a total distracting pain in the ass to the rest of the class the whole way through… handstands in quiet spots and a completely different sequence everyone else, you name the faux pas... she made it. Now, I’m all for a bit of self exploration, but this wasn’t a Mysore practice. It was an all-levels mobility yoga flow in Sweaty Betty on a Sunday morning.

If it was my class - I’d have probably said “this isn’t the class for you if that’s what you want to do - here’s XYZ class I’d recommend instead” and got her out of my space. Fast.

None of us are for everyone. I mean, I’m sure you can think of people you actively don’t like - I can. So, how on earth can you expect everyone to like you? It’s just not realistic to be liked by everyone. Which is really hard to let go of, especially if you’re a chronic people pleaser.

When you stand up in front of a bunch of people as a teacher - especially in a session as a guest teacher - you need to get comfortable with the inevitability that someone isn’t gonna like your style, and they’ll probably tell you. Savage, I know.

That’s totally okay they don’t like it though.

In the real world, those people are highly unlikely to pay to come to one of your sessions. Why?

Because of your marketing.

The role of marketing is as much about repelling the wrong people, and attracting the right ones to you.

When you’re really clear with communicating what you do, for who and how, have on-point branding, a really cool thing happens.

The number of wrong people in your spaces dwindles to nothing because they self select, decide to go somewhere else.

That’s great news for you as a teacher because it protects your energy, your self confidence (particularly important as a new yoga teacher, or in the early days of your wellness journey) and therefore, your ability to show up.

It also leaves you space for more of the right people, the ones who you dream of helping.

That person who didn’t like your class isn’t the end of the world. It’s the start of it.