This One Question Helped Me Negotiate to Make as Much as My Male Counterpart by Nina Semczuk I almost signed the contract and returned it without a second thought. My yoga teaching gig was up for renewal, and the quoted hourly rate was the same as the previous year’s. The number still seemed pretty high to me compared to my experience teaching in Texas, where the standard rate was half as much as in New York. But I didn’t send the contract back right away.