ObamaCare + Yoga – Part II: Corporate Yoga Proposals

Last week I talked about the Affordable Healthcare Act and Yoga. For those of you that missed it and need a quick recap, here’s the Cliffs Notes:

ObamaCare creates new incentives for employers to promote wellness programs and encourage employers to take more opportunities to support healthier workplaces.

The Workplace Wellness Program is literally dropping opportunity (and abundance) into the laps of yoga studios and teachers. As well all know, the laws of abundance and the laws of attraction work best when we get off our ass and actually do something instead of wishing it into being. This means, no sitting on our meditation pillows dreaming up the perfect corporate offering. It means creating a simple business plan for obtaining corporate accounts, developing corporate programming and writing a corporate proposal template that can be submitted to businesses in your area.

Before you do a quick Google search for ‘ObamaCare + Workplace Wellness Programs’ (WWP), and find tons of editorials discussing flaws and the problems of WWP, you need to know one thing – ObamaCare passed in June 2013. That means WWPs are a about to come into being very soon.  You can debate the merits of ObamaCare programming until you’re blue in the face, but as of right now WWP is happening.  Don’t waste your precious time debating, analyzing or worrying over its implementation.  If you work on your mini-business plan, programming and proposal, you will be ready for January 2014, hopefully with a few clients already signed on. In the highly unlikely event something changes with the implementation of Obamacare WWP, you will still have a kick ass plan for obtaining corporate clients!

Here are 5 things you want to include in your corporate proposal:

•  Introduction & Summary. This first section of the proposal seems obvious, but it is often overlooked.   The introduction and summary needs to include not only information about your studio and your credentialing but an introduction to yoga as well.  It’s a natural reaction for humans to fear or be skeptical of the unknown.  Outside of our little Namaste bubble, not everyone knows wtf yoga is – is it a religion? stretching? What? School them with a little Yoga 101 K.I.S.S. (keep it short & sweet – you don’t have to get into history, philosophy & 8 limbs).
• Goals and Objectives. The second portion of the the proposal should include the goals and objectives of your offering or program.  This is where you articulate the goal of the yoga program – is it for weight loss, to de-stress, relaxation?  How do you plan on meeting those goals?
• Research. This is one of the most important sections of your proposal and it is essential. Businesses are all about the numbers and the bottom line. What is the ROI? how will their investment in you help their employees and benefit their bottom line? And most important how will the employer benefit? Research should be evidence based, clearly articulated, substantiated and cited! This means using footnotes and/or a resource page. Make sure you spend a bit of time on this. As stated above, businesses are results oriented. Include information that helps to substantiate the goals and objectives you previously discussed.
• Coordination, Costs + Conclusion.  How is this corporate yoga stuff going to work? What classes are available? Are there any additional workshops available?  Will you be sending teachers on site, will you provide membership discounts at your studio for corporate employees?  Anticipate all the questions an HR Director will ask and add this to your proposal.

Make sure Corporate Cat thinks your Yoga Proposal ROCKS!

I know yoginis hate the idea of sales, but that’s exactly what your yoga proposal is, a sales pitch. It’s You selling your awesome-sauce yoga services  to a business that will benefit. Keep this in mind when you write your proposal. [Unlike my blog posts]- Grammar and punctuation matter. Professionalism matters.  You’re the yoga expert – show it.

The yoga proposals I write usually end up being anywhere between 5 and 10 pages long. The length is dependent upon on the offerings my client is pitching.  It’s not just 2 paragraphs about why “yoga is awesome, dude.”  Content is key!  Some proposals require more explanation (text), and therefore, they’re longer. Other don’t require as much, so they’re short.

Even thought they are content and research heavy, the pages aren’t solid text. If fact, if you get rid of all of the formatting, they’d probably be no more than 4-5 pages.

Read-ability matters!

My client proposals  rock the 3 P’s: Pretty, Profession & Polished. (And yes, I said pretty). A proposal that is branded and formatted throughout will create a positive impression on the person reading it.  More importantly, they wont fall asleep reading page after page of plain text!  I break up, long sections of text into smaller paragraphs using by bold headings, branded colors and graphics.

Now, brush off your writing + pitch skillz, get behind the computer, do a little research and draft those proposals! If you have questions or need help, tweet me @adkjerseygirl, email me or drop a comment below. Chances are, if you’re wondering, other yoginis are too!