How Ashley Hagen Built a Thriving Wellness Business

Overview

Ashley Hagen is the founder of Ashes Yoga, a multi-faceted wellness business that spans online coaching, digital courses, and community building. What started as a passionate yoga teacher’s side hustle has evolved into a comprehensive platform helping hundreds of wellness professionals build their own online businesses.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Ashley was teaching 15-20 yoga classes per week while trying to build a sustainable online presence. “As a young 20-something yoga teacher, I knew I couldn’t just keep teaching yoga classes if I ever wanted to have a family, if I ever wanted to take vacation, if I ever wanted to do anything that involved stepping away from teaching,” she explains.

Today, Ashley coaches other up-and-coming yoga teachers through Ashes Academy, with digital courses like “Wellness Website in a Week” and “YouTube for Yoga Teachers.” She’s also taken an active role in the OfferingTree Facebook Group, answering questions and helping people get un-stuck in their own journeys. 

By cultivating a thriving community of wellness entrepreneurs, Ashley has become a trusted voice in the industry, guiding other yoga teachers through the complexities of online business.

Challenges

Expensive platforms and piecemeal solutions holding back growth

Ashley’s journey to finding the right business platform was anything but smooth. Like many wellness professionals, she started with what seemed like the industry standard: Mindbody.

“I was watching a studio owner as she was building the business, and I was sort of just a fly on the wall watching and seeing what she was doing and learning from her,” Ashley recalls about her early exposure to Mindbody as an instructor.

When she took over her own studio in 2019, she inherited the Mindbody system but knew it wasn’t right for her business.

The problems were immediate and expensive.

“The price of it at the time for me was over $200 a month. I think it was $250,” she says. “I just didn’t need all the features. I didn’t need all the things that it had to offer, and there was no lower tier.”

Beyond the cost, Ashley faced persistent sales tactics that left her feeling uncomfortable.

“People kept calling me or wanting me on webinars or things… to sell me stuff. They kept trying to sell me more, and then if you try to cancel, they sell you more.”

 After leaving Mindbody, Ashley tried Acuity Scheduling. Initially attracted to its simplicity and price point, Acuity created new problems for Ashley and her clients.

“It was kind of clunky because people had to use these codes to use their packages, and it wasn’t as easy from the user perspective,” she explains. 

The real breaking point came when Ashley wanted to offer her signature free morning yoga classes with optional donations.

“People were sending me gift cards in the mail. They were sending me checks with money… I thought, ‘If there was just a way they could just have the option to pay,’ but in my system, it was free or it was paid and there was nothing in between.”

Ashley found herself constantly piecing together different solutions – one platform for scheduling, another for courses, yet another for email marketing.

“I was helping people build their online businesses by piecemealing things together and saying, ‘Here’s a couple options for courses. Here’s a couple options for your email system,'” she recalls.

It was exhausting for both Ashley and the people she was trying to help.

Solution

An all-in-one platform designed for wellness professionals

In 2021, OfferingTree reached out to Ashley through mutual connections in the yoga community.

“I was open, so I said, ‘Sure, let’s hop on a call.'”

The feature that immediately caught Ashley’s attention was OfferingTree’s tiered pricing capability.

“The biggest factor that got me to switch to OfferingTree was the fact that they offered tiered pricing and sliding scale for events. As time went on, I realized just the depth of what OfferingTree can offer.” 

What truly won Ashley over was OfferingTree’s approach to customer relationships.

“They really expressed that and clarified that this was made for wellness professionals and for people in my industry. And the fact that they wanted to talk to me personally, that made me feel special.”

 Ashley appreciated being treated as a partner rather than just another account number.

“I get to talk with people personally and then also collaborate on different projects, and I’ve been invited to do webinars and test a lot of the features, and they keep making updates.”

 The transition was remarkably smooth – for Ashley and her clients:

“When I switched to OfferingTree, I just remember a lot of my online clients being like, ‘Oh, this is so easy, so much easier. Thank you so much. It’s so easy to register. No problems whatsoever.’ And I loved that for them, and it was also easy for me too.”

She was able to integrate OfferingTree with her existing WordPress website while also maintaining a standalone OfferingTree site, giving her clients multiple ways to access her services.

The Results

From zero revenue to successful business with simplified operations

The impact of switching to OfferingTree was immediate and measurable. Ashley’s free yoga classes went from generating $0 to earning several hundred dollars monthly through optional donations.

 “What I did was offer tiered pricing. So every time someone registers for a class, they have to click Join For Free, Buy Me a Coffee, or Pay It Forward, and it’s either $0, $5 or $10 or they can input whatever price they want,” Ashley explains. “I ended up earning $200-$300 a month just by offering the ability to pay, which was great.”

She also launched a replay membership for $25 monthly, adding another revenue stream.

“Nobody that joins for free gets them. So now I’m earning $300 a month just from a few members on the Replay Membership.”

Beyond direct revenue, OfferingTree enabled Ashley to scale her impact through education. She developed Ashes Academy, a membership helping yoga teachers build online businesses, with her “Wellness Website in a Week” course as the cornerstone offering.

 “So many people have shifted to OfferingTree because of how simple it is and all of the features that OfferingTree has,” Ashley says. “I’ve kind of really been enjoying helping other people to create their own businesses, to create their own online platforms and not overwhelm them.”

The platform’s versatility surprised Ashley in unexpected ways.

“Right now I’m trying to use it as an all-in-one [solution]. I’ve hosted webinars through OfferingTree. I have built courses. I host my video library on it. There’s all sorts of things that I’m just playing with and finding really helpful.”

Perhaps most importantly, OfferingTree simplified Ashley’s ability to mentor other yoga teachers in the community.

“Before, I was helping people build their online businesses by piecemealing things together… And now I can confidently say, ‘Join OfferingTree. It’s not because I work for them or they’re telling me to say this. It’s because I really, really think this one is going to work for you.'”

Students in her programs frequently tell her they’re overwhelmed in the beginning, and not sure where to start.

“And I say, ‘Here is your roadmap. And the first step is, well, gathering information, but we’re going to use OfferingTree because it’s way simpler than any other system.’”

Today, Ashley’s recommendation carries significant weight in the wellness community.

“My confidence in being able to share this platform, or my excitement for the OfferingTree software for other yoga teachers, I think, is my favorite thing,” she reflects.

When asked what she’d tell someone considering OfferingTree, Ashley’s response is emphatic:

“Just 100% do it. Get into it… Just get [a website] up. Have some kind of small win.”

For Ashley, OfferingTree isn’t just software – it’s a community.

“You’re not getting lost in a sea of every single entrepreneur in the world. If you go to a bigger software company that does not have a niched down group of people, you may not find similar like-minded people, which you will in this community.”