Have you ever struggled with how to figure out the right price for your retreat?

We have.

Planning retreats can be so much fun!

It's really a dreamy process: figuring out the right location, deciding on your menu, mapping out your class plans and themes, and getting clear on how you want to orchestrate the entire retreat experience.

Getting those creative juices flowing in your retreat planning is almost as much fun as actually being on the retreat. (Almost!)

But in addition to all the fun stuff, it’s super important to pay attention to the business side of your retreat.

Otherwise, leading retreats can be a pretty expensive hobby!

One of the most important business decisions you’ll need to make for your retreat is figuring out the right price.

This can be a tricky one for many of us.

Some of the questions that can come up when pricing your retreat are:

How much will my students be willing to pay?
How much do I need to charge to make it worthwhile?
What if I don’t get enough students and I lose money?
Is my retreat worth that much? Am I worth that much?
Will I be excluding people if I charge that price?

Figuring out the right price for your retreat requires 2 EQUALLY important things:

mindset + financial clarity

Why mindset?

Money can be a loaded topic for many of us because it’s often tied to old emotional stories and limiting beliefs we carry from experiences. So it’s super important to do your inner workaround money, and that inner work is really an ongoing process.

Financial Clarity

Financial clarity is about having saucha + sthira in your yoga business. If your finances are clean and clear, you’ll be able to create a stable foundation to budget and price your retreat for success.

We created a simple 3-step guide that will help you budget and price your retreat for success. You can download it for free below. 👇🏼

1) Clarify your expenses

When I first started to plan retreats, I made the big mistake of not creating a clear retreat budget from the get-go. I just added up all the expenses at the end to figure out how much we made (or lost). But we quickly learned this was NOT the way to go. It’s too stressful to be confused and uncertain about your retreat numbers. It’s just not worth it. So we embraced this learning lesson and figured out a better way.

Getting clear on your expenses is critical to creating a profitable retreat.

You want to map out all your expected retreat expenses and any potential expenses that may arise. You can create a spreadsheet of everything you’ll need to pay for your retreat to happen. Some of the usual suspects are accommodation, food, travel, extra activities, and gifts for your students.

But some of the sneakier expenses might be luggage and visa fees, gas, travel insurance, marketing costs, and gratuities.

It’s important to try and think of every expense you can imagine and be generous in how much you estimate for each cost.

It’s better to err on the side of caution than be out of luck later when you realize things cost more than expected.

Another tip:

It’s also good to account for miscellaneous expenses that may arise because, as you know, life is full of surprises. So have some wiggle room in your budget to cover any unexpected retreat expenses that may surface along the way.

Once you figure out your expenses, you can determine the cost per student.

Knowing your cost per student is vital to figuring out how much you need to charge to make a profit.

2) Remember The value you Bring To the table

Once you clearly understand your retreat expenses & cost per student, you can focus on how much you need to earn to make the retreat worthwhile. Our biggest advice here is to consider all the time, energy, training, and life experience you bring to the table.

Here’s another area where you can work on your money mindset and get clear on your value!

So many yoga teachers price their retreats too low. Whether it’s because they’re afraid of charging too much and turning people away or lacking the confidence to charge what they’re worth, pricing retreats too low can impact the overall success of your retreat.

When doing your inner work on pricing your retreat and how much you want/ need to make, it can be helpful to journal, talk with a friend or mentor, and take some time to process what comes up for you.

Do you have any old stories about money? Do you feel stuck in fear or insecurity? Are you worried about what others will think?

Take some time to open up to the inner dialogue about money matters, get curious, and get clear on what’s true and what’s actually a limiting belief.

Then as you do your inner work, you can also start to clarify the value of all you offer.

Think about all the time, energy, and money you’ll put into the retreat planning process. Consider how much time you’ll need to take off from your other work and responsibilities. And besides being a yoga teacher, what other gifts do you have to share (additional trainings, life experience, etc.

Also, you aren’t just teaching a few yoga classes while on a retreat. As a retreat leader, you’re stepping into guiding your students through the entire retreat journey, and you're going to be “on” the entire time.

You want to consider all of this when clarifying your value and deciding on the right price for your retreat.

3) Figure out the minimum number of students You need to make a profit

This is key to the success of your retreat. In the past, we made a mistake in pricing our retreats based on the hope that we’d get the maximum number of students.

Not a smart move!

This creates so much stress to fill your retreat to make a profit. So instead, figure out the minimum number of students you’ll need to cover your expenses and make a profit.

For example, if you have 20 open spots for your retreat, you don’t want to price your retreat so low that you’ll only make a profit if you fill all 20 spots.

Talk about pressure! Instead, choose a lower minimum number, maybe 10 or 12 students, that you’ll need to cover your expenses and make a profit.

This means you’ll have to price your retreat a little higher (and if that feels uncomfortable, revisit your money mindset inner work!).

This more cautious approach to your retreat price will help you move through the planning process more confidently and easily.

And you know what? If you’re worried and stressed about your retreat budget & price, your students will pick up on that energy. If you’re feeling more relaxed and confident about what your retreat has to offer, your students will sense that too, and they’ll feel more confident that what you’re offering is valuable.

Alright. There you have it. Your three key things to remember to price your success are 1) Have a clear budget, 2) Know your value, and 3) Know the minimum number of students you’ll need.