Welcome to Friday! I wonder if I'm the only one who feels utterly brain dead from the week? Things always ramp up to an insane pace as the school year ends. I can't wait for summer to hurry up and get here.
Amid the insanity of getting ready for proms, graduations and trying to get in a few extra hours at work before I stop for the summer, I'm trying to keep the house running smoothly. Honestly, I don't think I'm doing so well. Oh well, everyday is a new opportunity to get it right.
One thing I think I am getting right are my yoga classes. I've been able to keep my prices low, making it more available to a wider range of participants and I've been able to cover my costs. At least I was until yesterday when I got a bill from a school district I'd been teaching in for almost 2 years.
After two years of no rental fee because I was servicing only their staff and their special needs students, I was hit with a $78-$130 rental fee PER CLASS!! (The $78 is if I commit to more than 11 weeks of teaching, the $130 is for less than an 11 week commitment.) I don't take in even half of that per class because the groups I teach are small (3-5 participants). Talking to the person in charge did nothing which surprised me. Surely some rental fee is better than no rental fee at all? (I had offered to pay a percentage of my per person class fee). Apparently in this school district it is not, so unless a miracle occurs, I will no longer teach yoga there.
Will I lose the students? Probably not, since they've already asked if we could continue in an alternate location. Still the inflexibility and greed of the situation bothers me. My goal is to make yoga accessible to everybody not to make a killing at it. To pay room rental fees that high I have to either have more students per class than I am capable of giving adequate attention to or dramatically increase my fees. I don't feel willing to do either.
BTW, just to give perspective on room rental rates in my area, I pay about half of the lower room rental fee at a community center in my area and the gym where I work charges room rentals a percentage of their per person fee (usually 20-30%).
I need to take a few deep breaths and let the whole thing go...
3 comments:
Um, with no kids, I feel no end-of-school year stress, other than wondering how loud the college kids' parties in the neighborhood are going to be. ;-)
Sorry to hear about the yoga class situation. Hope you find a more reasonable location soon.
Regarding keeping the house running smoothly, I'm working on a new system. If it continues to work as well as it has so far, I'll post about it in a week or so. Might not work as well for bigger households, but it's working for me.
HI FVM
I've been reading your blog for ages now and have enjoyed your presence in my google reader.
This post made me pipe up in support of your efforts to tread the earth lightly - the cruddy petty administration responsible for hiking up your room fees - whether it was an individual accountant or a panel of people - they really have lost touch with their community (and that includes you!) that they are paid to service.
I hope (and I am sure that you will) have no trouble finding a more warm and welcoming place to hold your yoga classes.
xxS
haha i sound really grumpy! I'm not like that at all! railing against injustice supergrump makes her voice heard...:)
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