Being self-employed (teaching yoga) means freedom, room for creativity and the possibility to consciously shape your own path as a teacher.
At the same time, questions often arise: What does “self-employed” actually mean? — Which criteria are important? — And how do I correctly assess my own situation?
Many yoga teachers are unsure whether they really count as self-employed, or whether their teaching in a studio automatically looks like an employment relationship.
In everyday life, these boundaries easily blur: you work in existing rooms, use a booking system, coordinate times – and yet you remain entrepreneurially independent.
This page is meant to give you confidence.
It explains the most important features of self-employment, translates the official criteria of the social insurance into a clearer, more accessible language and helps you see how your activity can be classified.
So that you not only know that you are self-employed, but can also understand and communicate it — to authorities, social insurance or yourself.
At Yogashala, we support many teachers who follow their own path: with their own classes, websites, retreats, workshops or online yoga.
The Shala is a hub where you can present your offerings, reach new people and further develop your personal yoga business.
You remain free, independent and self-determined at all times.
This page is meant to help you feel clear and secure in this role — and to avoid any misunderstandings that may arise when someone from the outside assumes you are “actually employed”.
Here you will find the most important criteria, examples and background information that give you a calm, confident feeling in your self-employment.
SELF-EMPLOYMENT VS. EMPLOYMENT
The fundamental differences – and what the associated questionnaire is intended to clarify.
This guide shows
- which basic characteristics distinguish self-employment vs. employment,
- what this means for your general self-employment, and specifically for the part at the YogaShala,
- and which questions can be loosely assigned to which chapter.
- and conversely which chapters are relevant for the respective questions. NO answers, but some structure and clarity.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER: FREEDOM FROM INSTRUCTIONS
Self-employed: Decides independently how, when and in what way work is carried out.
You decide yourself how you provide your service — that is, methods, processes, timing, way of working and priorities.
- You plan your working hours yourself.
- You decide how you achieve a goal.
- You develop your own methods, tools and processes.
- No one continuously controls how you work.
- You set your own quality standards.
- Communication takes place on an equal footing, not in the form of instructions.
- You alone are responsible for how you organise your work.
In short:
The result has to be right – how you get there is your business.
And that is exactly what makes you a business owner in legal terms.
Employed: Performs work according to the employer’s instructions and specifications.
- Work methods & times are prescribed.
- Procedures are explained or taught.
- Changes in process or goals are decided by the employer.
Conclusion:
Yoga in general: You do your own thing. How, with whom, when and where is decided and organised by you.
Yogashala: You do your own thing = your class, in the way you want to teach it.
When, with whom and where is, of course, bound to the reality that participants have to be present at a specific time and place for classes. That is not a requirement from the Shala.
It is still your decision and your self-employment how and what exactly you teach. None of this is prescribed, but naturally coordinated with each other.
Relevant questionnaire points / criteria:
- 10 (freely arranged working hours),
- 18 (freely designed work / no direct instructions),
- 19–20 (personal performance / substitution)
CHAPTER: ENTREPRENEURIAL RISK
Self-employed: Bears responsibility and the consequences for success or failure.
As a self-employed person, you work at your own risk. This includes:
- You are responsible for your performance / your work.
- You invest time, money and resources in your business.
- Your income depends on how successfully & well you run your business.
- You have expenses before income (e.g. investments or advertising).
- You bear the risk that projects may develop differently than planned.
Employed: Does not bear their own risk, as the employer takes responsibility.
- do not have to be liable (except in cases of gross misconduct).
- are entitled to wages, even when business is slow.
- do not have to make their own investments.
- do not bear market, customer or business risks.
- do not experience financial fluctuations from entrepreneurial activity.
- can deal with mistakes within the company’s internal rules.
Success or failure of a project affects the employer – not the person themselves.
Conclusion:
Yoga in general: You depend on your classes, courses, workshops, teacher trainings, etc. being attended (and paid for) by people.
Yogashala: Clients are attracted through the Shala system and it is made as easy as possible for them to attend classes.
This is a collaboration, not a work assignment. The clients are still the participants.
Through this collaboration, part of the self-employed work (e.g. advertising) and costs (e.g. room rental) is covered and billed accordingly through the system. The class, however, is yours.
Relevant questionnaire points / criteria:
- 1 (description of business model)
- 3 (several clients vs. dependency),
- 24–26 (remuneration / risk / liability),
- 27 (liability insurance),
CHAPTER: OWN STRUCTURE
Self-employed: Uses their own equipment, workspaces and organisation.
Equipment:
Equipment includes all means you need to carry out your activity.
Literally everything. The law does not distinguish by size or purchase price.
This means concretely:
- Every pencil you use
- Notebooks in which you collect content
- Specialist books you buy
- Clothing you use specifically for your activity
- The computer on which you write offers
- The desk and chair at which you work
- Tools or aids
- Your bike or car with which you visit clients
- Your phone to arrange appointments
- Your software, apps, calendars, tools
- Any digital infrastructure that you pay for or operate
Everything you finance, maintain and organise yourself is a clear sign of self-employment.
Rooms:
Workspaces are no longer just offices or practices.
They also include digital spaces that are necessary for your activity:
- Your office, workroom or workspace
- Your co-working space
- Your homepage
- Your Instagram or LinkedIn profile / other online presence
- Your own cloud/storage
- Your online calendar
Wherever you are personally responsible and keep control, there is a self-employed structure.
Organisation:
Organisation means:
Who ensures that your work functions?
- you plan your appointments
- you do your bookkeeping or have it done
- you organise your calendar
- you ensure contact with clients
- you write offers and invoices
- you set deadlines, workflows and priorities
- you decide how long, how often and how intensively you work
In short: you keep your professional engine running yourself.
Employed: Works within the employer’s infrastructure and processes.
- Equipment is provided.
- Workplaces and systems are specified.
- Organisation is handled by the employer.
Conclusion:
Yoga in general: You offer yoga and carry out all the work necessary for it yourself and in your environment. Including your virtual environment!! Your homepage, your Instagram account. Your office, your space and notes to prepare and organise yourself.
Yogashala: Of course, the Shala has rooms. Through this collaboration, part of your yoga presence in Innsbruck takes place there. And it is also a hub to strengthen your business. The Shala is, among other things, a platform to promote you and your specific offers (trainings, workshops, retreats).
So the Shala is part of your work, but it is not simply a place where you “go to work”.
Relevant questionnaire points / criteria:
- 7 (own equipment / structure / bookkeeping),
- 13–16 (own workplace / own infrastructure),
- 22 (employees / subcontractors)
CHAPTER: ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE
Self-employed: Has several clients or a free market position.
- Self-employed people acquire their own clients.
- They are not permanently dependent on a single client.
- They decide independently about prices and contracts.
Employed: Is financially dependent on a single employer.
- Fixed time-based pay.
- No own client acquisition.
- Economic dependence on a single position.
Conclusion:
YogaShala: Teaching at the Shala is part of your overall self-employed (or other) activity. This is where, among others, the clients are who will ultimately want to use your further offers. Through your collaboration, you support yourself, the system and maintain contact with clients at the same time.
Relevant questionnaire points / criteria:
- 1 (business model / own client acquisition),
- 3 (several clients),
- 6 (non-compete clause)
- 24 (flexible remuneration model — not a fixed monthly salary)
CHAPTER: POSSIBILITY OF SUBSTITUTION
Self-employed: You decide about your work.
- Can have someone stand in or delegate / cancel tasks.
- No obligation to perform the work personally.
- Possibility to use subcontractors.
Employed: The work assigned to you is to be carried out by you personally.
- Must perform work personally.
- Not delegable.
- Attendance and work are tied to the individual person.
- Substitution only by agreement and within company rules.
Conclusion:
YogaShala: Within the collaboration, it is natural that substitutions are decided together, or that classes are cancelled. Of course, there are quality criteria (suitable substitute) and the practical requirement that the substitute knows the conditions / rooms. Therefore, it is advantageous and mutually agreed, but not prescribed, that substitutions or cancellations are organised together.
Relevant questionnaire points / criteria:
- 11 (working with subcontractors / assistants),
- 12 (ability to refuse or delegate assignments),
- 19–20 (substitution possible / no obligation to perform personally)
CHAPTER: INTEGRATION INTO A THIRD-PARTY ORGANISATION
Self-employed: Is organisationally independent and designs processes themselves.
- No duty rosters.
- Not part of someone else’s team.
- Processes and priorities are set independently.
Employed:
In an employment relationship, the employer provides:
- the equipment
- the rooms
- the digital infrastructure
- the organisation
- the communication systems
- the work tools
- the logistics
- the personnel planning
- the IT and software
- the working hours and processes
Specifications determine everyday work.
You are integrated into a structure created and controlled by someone else.
Conclusion:
In general: How you organise your overall self-employment and what you offer in terms of yoga is structured by you.
YogaShala: In cooperation with the Shala, the place and the system already exist. You participate in this structure and you can also contribute if there is something to change!
The extent of all this can be a small or larger part of your self-employment.
Of course, yoga classes always take place at one time, in one place, with the people who show up there. Naturally, there is already a system. You do not subordinate yourself to it, but integrate your offer in a suitable way.
Relevant questionnaire points / criteria:
- 4 (existence of a contract),
- 5 (duration of the contract),
- 6 (non-compete clause)
- 7–16 (own workplace vs. rooms of the client),
- 18 (free design vs. control by the client)
Assignment of SVS questions to the relevant chapters
- Description of the activity / work
- Own Structure
- Economic Independence
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Start of the activity (date)
- (No direct assignment – administrative information)
- Number of clients
- Economic Independence
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Written contract in place?
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Own Structure
- Duration of the contract
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Non-compete clause?
- Economic Independence
- Own business structure?
- Own Structure
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Training / onboarding?
- Freedom from Instructions
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Organisational integration
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Own Structure
- Free choice of working hours?
- Freedom from Instructions
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Use of subcontractors / employees?
- Possibility of Substitution
- Own Structure
- Can you refuse or delegate assignments?
- Freedom from Instructions
- Possibility of Substitution
- Place of work (own rooms / client’s rooms)?
- Own Structure
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Who provides infrastructure / rooms?
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Own Structure
- Who provides equipment?
- Own Structure
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Use of third-party systems / organisational integration?
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Participation in meetings?
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Freedom from Instructions
- Instructions / control?
- Freedom from Instructions
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Obligation to perform personally?
- Possibility of Substitution
- Freedom from Instructions
- Substitution / delegation possible?
- Possibility of Substitution
- Personal dependence / organisational integration?
- Integration into a Third-party Organisation
- Freedom from Instructions
- Do you employ staff?
- Own Structure
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Additional income from other employment?
- Economic Independence
- Type of remuneration
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Expense allowances / reimbursements?
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Own Structure
- Liability for poor performance?
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Business liability insurance?
- Entrepreneurial Risk
- Own Structure
