Scoring the contest entries was a very difficult process, and I ended up with a group of strong entries all clustered together at the top…

So I have added a joint fourth prize of an hour of Career Coaching with me for Sarah Thomas and Daniel Gould.

Sarah’s photo is whimsical and warm. We still need to work on conveying relaxed open-ness (but believe me, I know how much work that takes!) yet it conveys a sense of her personality, a memorable impression of who she is. Nice decisions! I can easily see an image like this on a website banner, a business card. Her demographic needs some work to get more specific, but the story-telling, vulnerability and authenticity are palpable. If I resonated personally in any way with Sarah’s story, I would want to book a session with her. This is why I think she deserves the bonus prize.

Daniel’s photo is playful, warm, embodied and open. It really gives me the feeling I would have fun and feel supported and accepted if I were to book a session with him. Conveying grounded masculinity and a kind of approachable friendliness can be tricky for us guys. Daniel nails it, because it’s just who he is. The story-telling, open-ness about his life and why he teaches yoga is deeply moving, real, and walks the line perfectly between telling us something really formative and indeed tragic about his life, while owning it in a matter of fact, grounded way. As a potential client I would feel he could handle holding space for whatever my challenges are. Likewise his insight into the process of working with his fears is direct, clear and humbling.  The demographic piece is good, but doesn’t necessarily integrate that well with the rest of what he shared. Honestly, with a couple of small tweaks and more boldness in tagging some folks to spread the YTGS word, Daniel would have gained the extra couple points needed to place him in the top 3 —which is why I wanted to add this bonus prize!

So, congratulations to Daniel and Sarah —your prize will be an hour together with me to fine tune your messaging and support you to take your next steps toward each building a successful private yoga business.