Welcome to the thriving holistic practitioner podcast.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lindsay Sutherland, business consultant who specializes
Speaker:in helping alternative wellness practitioners build, grow, and scale
Speaker:their practice sustainably and ethically.
Speaker:I'm so grateful to have you here.
Speaker:If you're an alternative wellness practitioner who is feeling burnt out
Speaker:and just blindsided by the business side of running a business, then you,
Speaker:my friend, are in the right place.
Speaker:On this podcast, I interview amazing, experienced, holistic practitioners who
Speaker:share all the beans and the glory about their business behind the scenes, the
Speaker:struggles, the way they overcame it, the cool things that worked out for them, you.
Speaker:And the really important piece, I think the mindset solutions that
Speaker:they came up with to help keep their head screwed on straight.
Speaker:I know as an entrepreneur, sometimes that alone can feel like the hardest part.
Speaker:, and if you'd like more one on one help, join the Thriving Holistic Practitioner
Speaker:community, which is linked below in the description, or you can find it
Speaker:on my website at lindsaysutherland.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:And there you will find other like minded practitioners who are all in the right
Speaker:space of mind to grow their business and
Speaker:. Be in a community where people are willing to share and there's no hidden agendas.
Speaker:I just love that about this community.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:My friends, as I said, you're in the right place.
Speaker:So let's dig in to today's episode.
Speaker:Hey, everybody.
Speaker:Joining me is Johanna Godinez, who is joining us all the way from Puerto Rico.
Speaker:So excited to have you here.
Speaker:She is the founder of BAE Lifestyle.
Speaker:Yoga classes and courses.
Speaker:And we're going to talk more about that.
Speaker:So First of all, thank you so much for joining me and thank you for contributing
Speaker:to this podcast to help holistic practitioners build a thriving practice.
Speaker:Let me just express my gratitude.
Speaker:Would you mind kicking us off by just kind of telling us a little bit about yourself?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:Um, so I've been in the health and wellness industry since 2008.
Speaker:I started through corporate wellness, so I would develop programs for
Speaker:corporations to host for their employees in order to get discounts for their
Speaker:premiums on their health insurance.
Speaker:And slowly, it has built up to this yoga school.
Speaker:Um, the yoga school was actually built for the Bay Clubs in California, and
Speaker:when COVID hit, they gifted it to me.
Speaker:So my business used to be called Life and Style Coaches, and uh, the yoga
Speaker:program was called Bay Lifestyle, so I changed the name of my company to Bay
Speaker:Lifestyle, and in meditation, I sat and I was like, okay, so what could Bay
Speaker:stand for, and within seconds, it was like beyond asana yoga, so it was the
Speaker:perfect name for the school, because we focus a lot on how to take yoga beyond
Speaker:the physical practice and into the way that we live our lives, which is really
Speaker:where the benefits of yoga truly come in.
Speaker:I've been in the yoga space teaching since 2011, practicing since 2000 and about
Speaker:seven, and really it's my passion in life to share this practice and this philosophy
Speaker:with as many people as will listen.
Speaker:That's why I do so many of these podcasts.
Speaker:It's a way to get the word out.
Speaker:Uh, I'm a firm believer that we can all become so much more aligned
Speaker:human beings if we just understand this 5, 000 year old philosophy.
Speaker:It's not, it's nothing new.
Speaker:Uh, the fact that it's become a more physical practice is actually very recent.
Speaker:The, the philosophy is all about understanding your mind and how your mind
Speaker:shapes your reality and how to have a better relationship with your thoughts.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:I bet that came in handy in business ownership.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Definitely.
Speaker:I mean, I'm an MBA by education, but I've always sort of carved my own path.
Speaker:I've owned a racing school, I've run the wellness company, I do some
Speaker:coaching, and I actually volunteer with two companies, with SCORE and
Speaker:with Defy Ventures, and I volunteered doing mentorship for New businesses
Speaker:for score and for formerly incarcerated individuals with defy helping them
Speaker:start their own businesses so that the felony in their, in their record doesn't
Speaker:affect them once they get out of prison.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Oh, I'm glad you do that.
Speaker:I was, um, I had the kind of gave me a bunny trail idea, but I had
Speaker:the pleasure of auditioning for a TEDx a couple of years ago.
Speaker:And when I did that, there was a gentleman there who is in this local area.
Speaker:Cause you know, TEDx is very local.
Speaker:And it was, he had built a business basically similar where he was
Speaker:helping rehabilitate people, um, after incarceration by giving them a job, you
Speaker:know, his whole landscape and gardening business was built on bringing these
Speaker:people in and then it turned into housing.
Speaker:I mean, it evolved into this movement.
Speaker:It was really cool, like story and listening to him.
Speaker:Um, I was just like thinking.
Speaker:You know, really that can be such a hindrance because people leave
Speaker:that situation and think I'm doomed.
Speaker:I'm labeled, but really there's so much potential when you
Speaker:go to own your own business.
Speaker:It's like a clean slate in a lot of ways.
Speaker:And so thank you for contributing.
Speaker:That's so, so powerful.
Speaker:Yeah, I think, I mean, I think it's so important, like the, like.
Speaker:You make a mistake, you pay for your mistake, and then you get out of
Speaker:prison, and you're still paying for your mistake, because so many people
Speaker:won't hire anyone with a felony conviction, and I just feel like that's,
Speaker:you know, It's completely unfair.
Speaker:And so I do whatever part I can to, to do something about it.
Speaker:You know, I'm a firm believer that if you believe something, you can't
Speaker:just wait for somebody else to fix it.
Speaker:You have to take steps to do it yourself.
Speaker:So that's the, that's the reason why I got involved with Defy.
Speaker:I've been working with them since 2018.
Speaker:And I often travel to California and actually go into correctional
Speaker:facilities to help them with their EIT, which is called Entrepreneurs
Speaker:in Training, or CEO of Your New Life, which is the two programs that
Speaker:they run within the prison system.
Speaker:Oh, neato.
Speaker:I'd love to hear more about that, like, after the recording,
Speaker:like, how to get involved.
Speaker:That's pretty cool.
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:Well, let's get back on track.
Speaker:I know it's like I meet people and I could just bunny trail
Speaker:on all these different things.
Speaker:I'm like, no, stay focused.
Speaker:People listening want to know.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So tell us a little bit about, um, you were, you kind of alluded to
Speaker:what happened when COVID hit and they just kind of handed you this company.
Speaker:Was that something that you had even given any thought to prior to that?
Speaker:Well, what I did for the Bay Clubs was called Signature Programming.
Speaker:So I was designing classes that were unique to their club offering.
Speaker:They have 14 locations in California.
Speaker:So my job was to develop the program and then go throughout all their
Speaker:clubs and train the teachers so that members that would visit more than one
Speaker:club knew exactly what kind of class they were going to take regardless
Speaker:of the club that they were in.
Speaker:So first I started a program called GlideFit, which was a board on, uh,
Speaker:inside of a pool, uh, tethered to the lanes, and you would do some
Speaker:stability training on those boards.
Speaker:And my second project was building this yoga program.
Speaker:And I used to teach, um, for Lifetime Athletic Club, and I used to lead
Speaker:their teacher training program there.
Speaker:So it's definitely something that was kind of in my wheelhouse already.
Speaker:Uh, so developing this program was, was an honor because I could really incorporate.
Speaker:All of the things that I had learned, I've taken over 1200 hours of, of
Speaker:yoga teacher trainings in India, in Bali, in the US, in Puerto Rico.
Speaker:So for me to be able to kind of pull together all the resources
Speaker:that I feel made me a better teacher and be able to put them
Speaker:together in a program was amazing.
Speaker:Uh, I didn't really think that I would end up running this program for myself.
Speaker:I always thought that I was, I mean, the, the point of it was to create a manual.
Speaker:That was specific enough for anyone to take this 50 hour training that I would
Speaker:do for them and be able then to offer the teacher training within their own club.
Speaker:What I do now is I bring teachers in.
Speaker:And I have them help me teach the program.
Speaker:And then if they're interested in continuing to teach the program, I
Speaker:basically offer a licensing where they can go ahead and, and teach
Speaker:it based on what's in the manual.
Speaker:So I didn't think of it, but the way that I develop it was definitely a possibility
Speaker:for me to, to just run it myself.
Speaker:And now I have a place here in Puerto Rico.
Speaker:I have anywhere from seven to nine beds available for students to come down.
Speaker:And we do it either full retreat or hybrid.
Speaker:So the full retreat is you come down for a month and you
Speaker:take 300 hours in that month.
Speaker:And the hybrid program is you do 10 days online, you complete 40 hours online,
Speaker:and then you do the other 160 hours.
Speaker:So that's the way that the 200 program, 200 hour program is run.
Speaker:And it's, it's really worked out wonderfully.
Speaker:Cause I have this beautiful piece of land down here that was already in my family.
Speaker:So I'm able to really build it up and then share it.
Speaker:This is a really amazing space in nature.
Speaker:And, uh, we also run retreats and we do masterminds down here where
Speaker:we bring business owners that are looking to improve either their
Speaker:business or their, their own personal, um, balance and align themselves.
Speaker:And we offer also those programs down here.
Speaker:So it's, it's, it's opened the door to applying yoga in different ways.
Speaker:To really make it so that people can either immerse themselves into practice
Speaker:and incorporate the lifestyle, use it in a business world, or be able to teach others
Speaker:if that's what they are so inclined to do.
Speaker:Okay, so basically they can either go to another yoga studio and they're
Speaker:considered a certified yoga instructor so they can get hired, essentially,
Speaker:or Work under their umbrella or they could just start their own is what
Speaker:you're setting them up for doing.
Speaker:Okay, we basically
Speaker:yeah What once you take the training you can start your own if you'd like, yeah,
Speaker:okay So I'm just curious like going back through your journey when you
Speaker:Where they gifted you this thing and said, Hey, wow, we appreciate all you've
Speaker:done, but we just can't deal with it.
Speaker:Here you go.
Speaker:What was your first thought?
Speaker:I mean, were you over, did you feel overwhelmed?
Speaker:Like what was going on in your head?
Speaker:Like how did you process through that?
Speaker:That kind of, uh, I guess you could say pivot.
Speaker:Ah, so I am a firm believer that the universe guides everything that I do.
Speaker:So I, I, I saw it as a blessing.
Speaker:I mean, I put my heart and soul for a year and a half to create a program.
Speaker:I got paid to create the program, and then I was given
Speaker:it to do whatever I wanted with.
Speaker:So, for me, it was an honor, and it was a no brainer to shift my, my company.
Speaker:I have a program called ELM, which is called Evolutionary Life Mapping.
Speaker:And what I did was I just put ELM under the umbrella of Bay lifestyle.
Speaker:And now everything gets run under Bay lifestyle.
Speaker:So for me, it was easy to pivot.
Speaker:I mean, I've pivoted a lot in my life.
Speaker:Like as an MBA, I started working for.
Speaker:Uh, Corporate America, uh, Leica Microsystems was my first job.
Speaker:I was working in the histology and pathology world.
Speaker:And I knew that that was not what I wanted to do.
Speaker:So during lunch, I took my personal training certification.
Speaker:And then like three months after I started that, I was like, okay, I'm leaving.
Speaker:And they were like, but we love you.
Speaker:We want to keep you.
Speaker:And I was like, yeah, but this like, this just isn't my life.
Speaker:So they gave me a three month leave of absence.
Speaker:To see if I could actually make a career in the health and wellness space
Speaker:and uh, I did within three months.
Speaker:I had my own business I had studied what I could do to make it into corporate
Speaker:wellness just because I knew That that would be easier than just going into
Speaker:a gym and becoming a personal trainer That's definitely not what I wanted to do.
Speaker:Um, so yeah, I I've always ran businesses my my dad Ran a lot of businesses.
Speaker:So I saw how he did it.
Speaker:My mom was corporate America.
Speaker:My dad was be creative and run your own business.
Speaker:So I kind of had both of those, um, influences in my life.
Speaker:So I knew I could go either way.
Speaker:And for me, owning my own business has always been like crucial because
Speaker:I don't do well with authority.
Speaker:I don't do well with people telling me what to do, but I'm really good at
Speaker:organizing things and kind of doing it.
Speaker:Telling other people what to do.
Speaker:So I definitely knew that I needed to start a business.
Speaker:And for me, it's really important to empower others to become leaders as well.
Speaker:Which is why I've always run a business in a way where people can kind of
Speaker:take it and make it their own if, if they're in the space where they can.
Speaker:So to, to be able to do this with Bay lifestyle has, has just been amazing.
Speaker:That's cool.
Speaker:I want to go back though in time.
Speaker:I know I'm really digging into your past, but it's important
Speaker:because that's the journey.
Speaker:And I think sometimes when we're already like in your case, you're so far advanced
Speaker:to that, it's easy to lose touch with what that was like in the beginning.
Speaker:People listening are listening to you thinking, Oh, my stars.
Speaker:I wish I had that, but there is this journey.
Speaker:You mentioned getting into corporate wellness.
Speaker:I think that's a really important and could be potentially a very lucrative
Speaker:path for a lot of practitioners.
Speaker:So this is like many questions in one type of thing.
Speaker:So like, what was it like for you to navigate that?
Speaker:What, what really worked for you if you could like nail a strategy?
Speaker:And then the second part of that question would be, do you think
Speaker:that strategy still applies today?
Speaker:Or do you think corporate America has changed and maybe there's a different
Speaker:way people need to go about it?
Speaker:Well, the way that I started was I figured out what benefits the health insurance
Speaker:companies were giving corporations that had a corporate wellness program.
Speaker:So that was number one.
Speaker:I had to do my research.
Speaker:So it took about three months.
Speaker:For me to figure out which one gave the best benefits and then getting in to
Speaker:figure out what corporations are using them and here in Puerto Rico, which is
Speaker:where I started that was Plaza Provisions Company, which is a huge food distributor.
Speaker:So I went to them and basically I was like, listen, I will charge you
Speaker:80 percent of your savings, which means that you're going to have
Speaker:either way, a 20 percent savings.
Speaker:Plus you're going to have employees that are healthier, sleeping better, and are
Speaker:just, just better people overall, just because when you're healthy in your
Speaker:body and in your mind, You tend to get healthier in every aspect of your life.
Speaker:Yes,
Speaker:and so it was kind of a no brainer for companies to To use my my program.
Speaker:The most important thing is always what benefit are you
Speaker:going to bring the other person?
Speaker:Because it's easy for you to figure out what you can get out of something
Speaker:But how how are you going to build something or bring something to the table?
Speaker:That's going to impact that corporation so immensely that they can't say no Yeah,
Speaker:and for me it was the savings And better, better aligned and healthier employees.
Speaker:And the way that I could measure that was on day one, I would bring in a
Speaker:dietician who could prick their finger and test their sugar levels, their
Speaker:cholesterol levels, they would do blood pressure and do all those basic tests.
Speaker:And then I would tell them if in three months, I cannot
Speaker:make these people healthier.
Speaker:That's how long our contract will be.
Speaker:Otherwise, you sign the contract for another nine months and we
Speaker:do year contracts at a time.
Speaker:So basically, I was letting them know that they had a way out.
Speaker:If I couldn't, if I couldn't meet the expectations that I had laid out on
Speaker:the table for them, they had a way to say, well, you know, this isn't
Speaker:working for us within three months.
Speaker:But I needed at least three months because it that stuff doesn't just
Speaker:happen automatically But within the three months everyone would have better
Speaker:blood levels because I would teach them a little bit about nutrition I would
Speaker:teach them and not so much nutrition as to what to eat because I am NOT a
Speaker:dietitian So here in Puerto Rico, you're not allowed to tell someone they can I
Speaker:cannot do But I would educate them on how to read labels, how to make better
Speaker:choices when they're at restaurants, um, what it means to, to have a healthy diet.
Speaker:And I would sort of educate them on that.
Speaker:And obviously, uh, three days a week I would go and deliver the program.
Speaker:So we would do Zumba, we would do strength training, we would do
Speaker:yoga, and we would have different modalities because I also wanted to.
Speaker:On my end, see what did they like the most so that I could develop classes that
Speaker:they would want to keep coming back to.
Speaker:Cause obviously them keeping up with the program was crucial for me to be able
Speaker:to deliver what I want it to deliver.
Speaker:And that's kind of how I set it up.
Speaker:And a lot of different wellness professionals, if they're offering
Speaker:different things, if you can tie that up.
Speaker:To how to keep employees happier how to keep them healthier how to keep them
Speaker:sleeping better and being more productive is at work Corporations will always
Speaker:listen to that because it's so much Harder for you to have new people that
Speaker:you're training that are going through the learning curve Then supporting
Speaker:people that are already there that you already know that they have the
Speaker:knowledge and they have the experience.
Speaker:So if you can find a way for a corporation to to keep their employees and keep
Speaker:them happy and keep them there, that's always going to be something that
Speaker:they're gonna kind of keep in mind.
Speaker:And then the second part of that question, because The corporate
Speaker:environment has changed a lot having an option to do an online version of
Speaker:the program for those corporations.
Speaker:I mean, I know personally, a company that is saving 6, 500 a month,
Speaker:just an office space, because what they do now is they meet once a
Speaker:week and they have one of those.
Speaker:like buildings that you just rent an office for the day.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, they just meet there once a week.
Speaker:And those people are already giving you water, they're already
Speaker:giving you electricity, many of them already have coffee machines
Speaker:and snacks, they're available.
Speaker:So they're saving.
Speaker:I mean, that's over 65, 000 a year that they're saving just an office space.
Speaker:Yeah, so it's definitely something that we have to consider.
Speaker:And this would have been something I mean, this happened in 2008.
Speaker:But it would have been something that if we had moved online, It'd be an easy
Speaker:transition because I could have just the computer set up and whatever I'm
Speaker:teaching the people that are there, people on zoom can do it as well.
Speaker:So it's, it's something that we just need to get, get creative.
Speaker:I mean, for me, that's the most important thing in business is how do you stand
Speaker:out and you stand out by being creative and doing something that even if
Speaker:it's slightly different than someone else, when you position it in a way.
Speaker:That you highlight those things that make it different.
Speaker:It really makes you stand out.
Speaker:And, and it kind of makes your voice be heard a little bit louder than the crowd.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You're a very brilliant woman.
Speaker:I admire your, your train of thinking, and I can see why you've
Speaker:gotten where you have in life.
Speaker:I have a, I have a kind of a mindset question for you because you come, you're
Speaker:very, obviously you're very, you're a very confident woman, you've got a lot of.
Speaker:ways, you know, the way you carry yourself and you come across like to an outside
Speaker:person, like, Oh, she's so confident.
Speaker:I can never do what she's doing.
Speaker:You know, that kind of thing.
Speaker:But, you know, I think sometimes, and I'm, I'm, this is actually a question
Speaker:because I also experienced that where people will think it's because I'm
Speaker:confident that I do things, but I always say it's not so much confidence.
Speaker:It's just bravery.
Speaker:It's more or less having the courage to walk at that path,
Speaker:even though it feels scary.
Speaker:I mean, what was that like for you?
Speaker:Did you ever have moments of like, Are they even going to take me seriously?
Speaker:Is this something I really can do?
Speaker:Did you experience that?
Speaker:And what did you do to like, keep moving forward?
Speaker:I
Speaker:definitely experienced that because I've always looked really young.
Speaker:I'm 41.
Speaker:And even now people think I'm a lot older.
Speaker:I had a client a few days ago, who is a brand new client who got was
Speaker:a referral from another client.
Speaker:And when I was speaking to her, she's like, but how can you know this?
Speaker:You're so young.
Speaker:And I'm like, well, I'm 41.
Speaker:I've been in this industry for almost 20 years.
Speaker:So then it's like, wait, So I think if you really know your stuff, like
Speaker:be confident about what you know, just do not try to pretend to go into
Speaker:something that you don't know enough about because you're going to get asked
Speaker:questions or you're going to get put in a situation where you're not going to
Speaker:really know what to answer and that's going to take away your credibility.
Speaker:So I feel like just being really knowledgeable of what you're
Speaker:talking about, like keep, keep educating yourself, keep up with
Speaker:the changes that are happening.
Speaker:In your industry, in your market, so that you can foresee the things
Speaker:that people are going to ask you questions about or have doubts about.
Speaker:Um, for me, confidence has been something that I've built over time.
Speaker:I feel like everyone can be confident, but it's like everything
Speaker:else you need to practice.
Speaker:And for me, it's been just knowing What I'm talking about like really educating
Speaker:myself and the things that I'm gonna talk about And being honest when I
Speaker:don't know, you know, not trying to pull things out of my sleep Um fake it till
Speaker:you make it only works if you really understand What you're faking it in so
Speaker:if you're new to a market, but you really know your stuff Well, you're faking it
Speaker:because you haven't really been in the market for that long So you haven't had
Speaker:as many clients or you haven't had as many opportunities to show people what
Speaker:you can do But if you know your stuff your confidence is what's going to sell
Speaker:that and coming from a place Again of benefiting the other person like if you're
Speaker:coming from a place of lack where I need this You I don't need them to need it.
Speaker:I need it because I'm running out of money or I need more clients.
Speaker:Other people can see that that happens a lot.
Speaker:I deal a lot with real estate people because in real estate, you get so
Speaker:many fluctuations in your industry that the mindset gets affected very often.
Speaker:And if you haven't closed for 12 months.
Speaker:You're in a space of black so going out there with clients seeing that you really
Speaker:need to make that sale All of a sudden they start thinking well Is this really
Speaker:the right home for me or are they just trying to sell me this home because they
Speaker:need to make a sale So always coming from a space of I'm doing this for the other
Speaker:person and I'm benefiting you more than I need to benefit myself is, is crucial.
Speaker:So for me, when I start new projects, I always make sure that I have income
Speaker:coming in from somewhere else, even if it's something I don't really love to do.
Speaker:Because if I need the money in order to support me so that the business
Speaker:can thrive at its own pace, not at the pace that I want it to, but at
Speaker:its own pace, then I'm going to need to support myself a different way.
Speaker:So for me, having a lot of different sources of income has
Speaker:been crucial in my ability to Start businesses, give up businesses,
Speaker:move away from, from opportunities that don't align after a while.
Speaker:And, and so that's, that's always been like, like the biggest thing for me.
Speaker:So having the knowledge and then having the support that I need from any area
Speaker:of my life in order to let the business thrive on its own, not because I
Speaker:need it to, but because it's growing at the pace that it needs to grow.
Speaker:That's great advice.
Speaker:I love you're filled with wisdom for sure.
Speaker:But that is a good tidbit because I do see a lot of times people put
Speaker:a lot of pressure on themselves to hurry up and, and then it becomes like
Speaker:a like, I'm not good enough thing.
Speaker:I'm not worthy.
Speaker:This isn't working fast enough.
Speaker:It must be me.
Speaker:And I think we just put too much label and pressure on our own self,
Speaker:which then just recreates that cycle rather than just saying like,
Speaker:I like also how you worded it, the business, like it's its own entity.
Speaker:I think just taking and separating that mindset piece just a little bit, because
Speaker:especially as solopreneurs, we can sometimes like identify with our business.
Speaker:And so if the business is succeeding, that must mean we're good.
Speaker:If this business is not succeeding, that must mean we're bad.
Speaker:It's just, it's just not literally that way, but it.
Speaker:feels that way.
Speaker:So I like how you really set it up as the business is doing this.
Speaker:The business is doing that.
Speaker:And that simple little shift can really make you be a more objective business
Speaker:owner, make smarter decisions rather than like reacting in a panic situation.
Speaker:That was a really good tidbit.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then one more thing is if you've been trying something over
Speaker:and it's not working, let it go.
Speaker:Find different.
Speaker:Kind of avenues to go about it because sometimes we also get really stuck on the
Speaker:way that we want it to work And again, i'm a big believer that the universe guides
Speaker:me If i'm working on the same thing over and over and it's not working There has
Speaker:to be either something i'm missing or something that's just not meant to be done
Speaker:So I always try to find different avenues to make it work like even with this yoga
Speaker:business It's not easy for yoga teachers to make a living out of teaching yoga.
Speaker:So I have real estate.
Speaker:I have a stock market, uh, like a financial advisor that does all
Speaker:this stuff in the stock market.
Speaker:Um, I'm willing to do corporate stuff.
Speaker:I'm willing to do one on one stuff.
Speaker:I'm willing to work with clients that.
Speaker:I don't want to use the word yoga.
Speaker:So I incorporate all of the knowledge of yoga, but I don't call it yoga.
Speaker:I call it something else.
Speaker:I call it ELM.
Speaker:And then that way, it's not the woo that most people associate yoga with.
Speaker:So it's also being able to not, again, when I look at it as the
Speaker:business, Then I'm not married to anything about the business.
Speaker:I want the business to succeed.
Speaker:So my ideas may be a certain way, but if they're not working, I'm not attached
Speaker:to the way that I want things to work.
Speaker:I want the business to succeed and I'm going to do whatever it
Speaker:takes for the business to succeed.
Speaker:And, and you're right.
Speaker:I don't tie the business identity with my own identity.
Speaker:And, and that's a huge aspect because.
Speaker:When you are down, then your business suffers.
Speaker:And it's actually become something that the person affects the business more
Speaker:than the business affects the person.
Speaker:And that's a huge no no when we're business owners.
Speaker:Because otherwise, our emotions and our personal baggage Will be the dooming of
Speaker:the business and and it shouldn't be that way because what we're going through in
Speaker:our personal lives, like if we have a loss, if we have a breakup, like that
Speaker:shouldn't affect the way that we're running our business and it shouldn't
Speaker:affect the health of our business.
Speaker:So it is very important to understand that your business is just that,
Speaker:something external from you.
Speaker:It is not you, it is not who you are, it doesn't define
Speaker:you, it doesn't identify you.
Speaker:So it's important for us to see ourselves and have worth of ourselves
Speaker:as people and as individuals.
Speaker:And a lot of that is something that yoga teaches us, is to know ourselves.
Speaker:When we know ourselves, we realize that we identify ourselves with a
Speaker:bunch of things that really have nothing to do with who we actually are.
Speaker:We are not even this body.
Speaker:We are not really this person.
Speaker:We are the observer of this human thing that's happening.
Speaker:How do we know that?
Speaker:Because I can see myself thinking.
Speaker:If I see myself thinking, then I am not the thinker.
Speaker:I am the observer of the thinking.
Speaker:Well, the observer of the thinker can't be the thinker.
Speaker:So, like, yoga kind of teaches you to put yourself outside.
Speaker:Of this human experience to kind of get to know who you actually are deeper down.
Speaker:And you are not your business.
Speaker:If your business fails tomorrow, that has no, no weight on you as a person.
Speaker:So it is very important to separate ourselves.
Speaker:And again, it's why I do so many diversified things, because if
Speaker:my business doesn't succeed, I can throw it away and move on.
Speaker:Even though for me, that would be very painful because it is my passion.
Speaker:It is what I feel my purpose is, but I'm still not going to be attached to that
Speaker:idea because if it's not, what's necessary in the universe, the universe isn't
Speaker:going to allow me to keep going with it.
Speaker:So it's, it's also kind of disconnecting yourself so much from this physical
Speaker:experience and getting into a deeper, the meaning of life kind of thing.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:I am actually so grateful to hear you say that as a business
Speaker:consultant for the last.
Speaker:You know, year and a half, I've noticed that I went into it and I was
Speaker:sharing this on a different episode.
Speaker:My background was in the automotive industry and it
Speaker:was a very masculine energy.
Speaker:I was like the only female manager.
Speaker:And so oftentimes I was, I just felt out of place or I was trying
Speaker:to somehow find this balance.
Speaker:It was very challenging.
Speaker:Part of what I love, what I do is I get to bring both together, but I found
Speaker:that even as a business consultant, promoting myself just as a profit
Speaker:coach, my big focus was helping people be more profitable in their business.
Speaker:I found myself talking a lot about.
Speaker:The mindset and the spirituality and you know, whether that was God or
Speaker:universe, whatever, it didn't matter.
Speaker:It just ties so into our belief systems.
Speaker:And when we are shaping the world with our thoughts, that also
Speaker:means we're shaping our business.
Speaker:And so I think, you know, for me, it's like so cool to hear you say that because
Speaker:this Just an almost confirmation that I'm even going down the right path.
Speaker:It allows me that freedom and flexibility to just embrace that.
Speaker:Yes, that is part of this.
Speaker:And it's, it's an interesting dynamic because yes, we are not wanting to
Speaker:identify with our business, but we also need to be mindful of the fact that
Speaker:we can influence our business with our identity, like it's a two way street.
Speaker:So this is a great conversation.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:When I first started in this, um, I was.
Speaker:I had a mentor and we had a mastermind and one person kept telling me, you
Speaker:need to be the face of your business.
Speaker:You need to be.
Speaker:And like, I understand that that works for a lot of people, but when I look at the
Speaker:bigger vision of my company, if I am the face of the business and the business is
Speaker:completely tied to me, then it can't grow the way that I want it to grow because I
Speaker:want my business to be international, but I can't be offering teacher trainings in
Speaker:four different countries at the same time.
Speaker:So I need to be able to let it go.
Speaker:So I cannot tie it to my name.
Speaker:Could I be the voice of the business?
Speaker:Well, yeah, especially right now.
Speaker:But if I completely tie it to my identity, then it can't grow
Speaker:more than what I can grow it.
Speaker:And, and then I'm stifling the business.
Speaker:And I'm the one who's making it not be able to grow.
Speaker:So it is a, a balance that you need to find there for sure.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:So what's the future holding for you?
Speaker:I mean, do you have anything new and exciting on the horizon?
Speaker:And, you know, one of the things is we talked about like business
Speaker:unfolds a lot, like spirituality, you know, the deeper you go, the deeper
Speaker:you go and same with our business.
Speaker:It's almost like the higher we go or the more evolved we get.
Speaker:New heights are unveiled and it's like new and exciting things coming on the horizon.
Speaker:So what's new and upcoming for you?
Speaker:And then what are some challenges, new challenges that you're
Speaker:experiencing and kind of what you might be going through at this level?
Speaker:Well, I have a lot of programs coming up this year.
Speaker:I have a program starting in April, another one in June,
Speaker:another one in November.
Speaker:I have a retreat in April.
Speaker:So there's a lot of programs going and I'm actually bringing in a lot of people
Speaker:from other countries because my goal is.
Speaker:For the school to be international and and for other teachers to be
Speaker:able to use this program and the licensing fee that I offer like you can
Speaker:literally pay it off in one program.
Speaker:So I want to make it really accessible because I do realize that a lot of
Speaker:yoga teachers have are hindered in their ability to grow in this industry.
Speaker:And I feel like, I mean, this is a 4 billion industry.
Speaker:There is a piece of pie for everyone to get involved in.
Speaker:And 90 percent of the people that come to my programs do not become yoga teachers.
Speaker:They come just because they want to understand yoga at a deeper level.
Speaker:So being able to, to really stand in that space where, where we can offer
Speaker:these programs worldwide and help people understand that they don't
Speaker:necessarily need to become yoga teachers.
Speaker:They just need to understand it.
Speaker:The best way for you to learn something is to help teach it.
Speaker:So you first learn to teach it to yourself.
Speaker:So that's kind of why a teacher training is, is, is the way that it is.
Speaker:And then of course, growing my space right now, we have, uh, like I
Speaker:mentioned, nine beds, seven to nine.
Speaker:I kick myself out of my room sometimes and add two beds in there.
Speaker:Um, but we are planning on building a yoga studio.
Speaker:Right now we use the yoga deck.
Speaker:We're planning on building a bigger studio, getting more rooms, and then
Speaker:going to more parts of the world.
Speaker:We've, we've offered this training in Bali, we've offered
Speaker:it in Costa Rica, we've offered it in Florida and California.
Speaker:So we want to just keep, keep traveling with it and making
Speaker:connections with different retreat centers that may want to offer it.
Speaker:So there is there.
Speaker:I mean, sky's the limit for this business.
Speaker:It's just how far I'm willing to take it and how much I'm willing
Speaker:to delegate for other people.
Speaker:Like right now I have someone from Costa Rica here helping me build an app.
Speaker:She's doing an internship.
Speaker:I house her, I feed her, and she helps me with the app.
Speaker:And, um, yeah, it's just continuing to, to give opportunities for other
Speaker:people to learn more about this.
Speaker:And then being able to sort of offer it as a business, if that's what's
Speaker:on the horizon for them as well.
Speaker:And then I always have my side projects.
Speaker:I'm flipping a building and I'm have apartments in somewhere else.
Speaker:So that's like, I helped my dad with that side of the business, which I'm an
Speaker:only child, so someday it'll all be mine.
Speaker:So I'm kind of getting more involved in that side as well.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Actually, that's kind of one of my philosophies too is to, you know, have
Speaker:it, it was confirmed for me recently.
Speaker:Have you ever read the book, um, Secrets of a Millionaire Mind?
Speaker:I haven't.
Speaker:Oh, it's a great book.
Speaker:I thought I had it right here on my desk, but it's by T.
Speaker:Harbecker and I'm going through and I love it because he started
Speaker:out just very, um, broke.
Speaker:I mean, he was very broke.
Speaker:His dad was pretty well off, like upper middle class, but he made his.
Speaker:made Harv work for it and Harv struggled and he started businesses
Speaker:and failed multiple times.
Speaker:And then finally, he, he met a guy that was wealthy and you
Speaker:said something actually that aligned with what he was taught.
Speaker:And the guy basically said, look, if you're broke, that's because there's
Speaker:something you haven't figured out yet.
Speaker:Like, It doesn't mean you're the failure.
Speaker:You just need, there's just some piece of information you are lacking.
Speaker:And I think you said something almost to the same extent.
Speaker:Anyway, that changed his mindset.
Speaker:He's like, what do I need to do?
Speaker:How do I need to think differently?
Speaker:And he started studying wealthy people and the way they think.
Speaker:And then he transformed his whole life, right?
Speaker:And so the book has these like wealth principles.
Speaker:And, um, One of the things he touts is having one active stream of income and
Speaker:then multiple passive income streams.
Speaker:And it sounds like you're already kind of living that lifestyle, but it is important
Speaker:because I think as entrepreneurs, and I do see this in the holistic space
Speaker:among others, we are chasing, we, we get caught back and forth like a
Speaker:ping pong ball between that chasing the dollar and chasing our passion.
Speaker:And so what can happen sometimes is we end up having multiple outputs, I guess
Speaker:you could say that are transactional, you know, maybe being a yoga instructor
Speaker:versus building a business around it, there's going to be a different
Speaker:mindset, a different energy output.
Speaker:And so we are constantly pushing, energetically speaking, to get this
Speaker:return, rather than, you know, Narrowing our energy focus, focusing on one active
Speaker:income stream, get that ball rolling, even if, like you said, you don't love it at
Speaker:that first, you know what your game plan is, and then build from there on your
Speaker:multiple streams of other passive income.
Speaker:So I think it's genius.
Speaker:You've got a good, good program going.
Speaker:Yeah, and the thing is, the more that you see the big picture, the
Speaker:easier it will be to do those things that you may not love, to get to the
Speaker:place that you know you need to be.
Speaker:Because again, if you're, if you don't have enough money, for example,
Speaker:so I had a friend that wanted to start a food truck and I told him
Speaker:cause he wanted his wife to help him.
Speaker:And I told him, no, you need your wife to stay in her job.
Speaker:You need her income to cover you guys's personal expenses so that
Speaker:you do not depend on the business.
Speaker:To cover both the business expenses and your expenses in the first six
Speaker:months to a year He didn't listen and within six months he was broke.
Speaker:He had to sell the food truck and everything all hell broke loose because
Speaker:You're putting pressure on a business.
Speaker:If you're getting, first of all, if you're getting into something
Speaker:that you don't know as much about, there will be a learning curve.
Speaker:So, so trying new things and seeing what works is going to take time.
Speaker:But if you're not giving yourself that padding and that grace, Then
Speaker:you're setting yourself up to really push that boulder uphill.
Speaker:So it's important to be realistic about how it's gonna go when you're, when
Speaker:you're expanding or starting or, or getting into something different, or even
Speaker:Getting into something in your field.
Speaker:That's a different focus, right?
Speaker:Because if you're used to doing something one way and you know, it's not working
Speaker:as well as you want it to, or it's not going to give you the growth shifting
Speaker:into something different, that alone is going to take a learning curve.
Speaker:So
Speaker:for me, it's really important.
Speaker:Like when I started a new business, I have one year's worth
Speaker:of my own expenses paid off.
Speaker:Because I know that if the business isn't profitable in a year, then it's
Speaker:not going to be a good business anyways.
Speaker:And
Speaker:I start with that mindset so that I don't get emotionally caught up on
Speaker:what's happening in the business.
Speaker:And, and I think that that's, again, it's a mindset thing.
Speaker:And, and it's hard when you're attempting to follow your passion
Speaker:and create a business based on your passion, because you get really
Speaker:attached to whether it works or not, the way that you think it should work.
Speaker:And unfortunately, If it's not meant to work that way.
Speaker:And if you don't have, like you mentioned the knowledge, like if you're missing a
Speaker:little piece, it's just not going to work the way that you think it's going to work.
Speaker:So it's important to at least have your expenses and, and, and things covered up
Speaker:and your ability to shift gears when you see that things aren't working, having
Speaker:again, that grace to, man, I tried this.
Speaker:It's not working.
Speaker:Why is it not working?
Speaker:What could I do differently?
Speaker:And, and use resources, get mentors, get other people in the industry.
Speaker:I mean, this thing that I volunteer for, SCORE, I think everyone in
Speaker:the world should know about SCORE.
Speaker:SCORE is completely free for people to use.
Speaker:And you have amazing mentors willing to give you their time
Speaker:and their knowledge for free.
Speaker:So that you can start your business or shoot off ideas and mastermind with them.
Speaker:Because many times we have blinders when it comes to our business.
Speaker:And allowing somebody else into your world will broaden those blinders because
Speaker:they have different inputs and different experiences and different points of
Speaker:view that you may just not have the ability to consider based on who you
Speaker:are and where you are in your life.
Speaker:But the second that that person lays that grain of sand and that seed within
Speaker:you, it can flourish into things that you never could have imagined on your own.
Speaker:So for me, it's also really important to just Allow other people in I know many
Speaker:people who have again the lack mentality means I don't want to share my idea
Speaker:because what if somebody else steals my idea and that kind of thing But I'm a
Speaker:firm believer that You find someone that you trust and you share that idea with
Speaker:them and the more you talk about it The more that you can bring it into life.
Speaker:Like I've been talking about building this yoga studio for 20 years And right
Speaker:now, the way that it's happening, I could have never, ever, 20 years ago, seen this.
Speaker:That's incredible.
Speaker:So, you know, and, and, and it's, again, it's the ability for you to
Speaker:just let things flow, and take the opportunities when they come, and they
Speaker:may not come the way that you think.
Speaker:So it's being open to opportunities coming even when it's not exactly the way
Speaker:that you see them happening and taking advantage of the things that come your way
Speaker:when they come your way that that's really going to help us kind of grow our business
Speaker:and in a way that it's sustainable for the business and that it's sustainable for our
Speaker:own energy and our own finances as well.
Speaker:Yeah, so it's so important.
Speaker:I don't think more.
Speaker:I don't think people put enough emphasis on the energy.
Speaker:Management side of things.
Speaker:They are so focused on well, and I think to just imagining that we think
Speaker:we can do more than we can sometimes.
Speaker:And we just don't realize, like you said, there's going to be things that come up
Speaker:and how to handle and prepare for that.
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:That's been a real focus of mine lately is like my energy output and
Speaker:really organizing my life in a way that, um, is sustainable and also
Speaker:intentional because highly intentional.
Speaker:It's just really, it's so much more powerful that way.
Speaker:This is really a great conversation.
Speaker:Wait, tell us, um, Tell us a little bit more about where
Speaker:people can connect with you.
Speaker:And like your retreats, are those open?
Speaker:Is that a space that anybody can book for whatever they have going on?
Speaker:Or is it just for what you're doing?
Speaker:No, the retreat, this is a space, like if you have a mastermind, for example, and
Speaker:it's a small mastermind and you want to kind of take it to it, to another place.
Speaker:This is.
Speaker:Definitely something that we offer here.
Speaker:Um, a lot of the retreats I offer myself.
Speaker:I also go to other places So for example this summer i'll be working
Speaker:with realtors in california Offering a retreat for them in one of their offices.
Speaker:It'll be a weekend retreat and we'll do yoga meditation Sound healing we will do
Speaker:uh vision board exercises My vision board exercises are a little different than what
Speaker:most people have in mind about it but um We'll do chakras understanding our chakras
Speaker:that that to me is really important because a lot of this spirituality
Speaker:stuff What do I work on myself?
Speaker:Seems to be very intangible and when you understand the chakras It makes
Speaker:it very tangible in terms of what am I supposed to do energetically physically?
Speaker:Uh meditations breathing exercises.
Speaker:What am I supposed to be eating?
Speaker:all of that is something that through the chakras you can you can kind of You
Speaker:Get a better understanding of yourself through so my website is bay lifestyle.
Speaker:com You can pretty much contact me anytime through there Um, all of our
Speaker:events are always posted on there And if you'd like to follow me on social media,
Speaker:it's at bay underscore lifestyle pr
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:And of course, I'll be linking all of that in the description, but I
Speaker:always like to include it in the audio too, just for people who are
Speaker:listening and want to get there.
Speaker:Thank you so much, Johanna, for joining us.
Speaker:This has been probably one of the best, I've been saying that with almost
Speaker:everybody, they're like, this has been the best episode, but it's like, Amazing.
Speaker:The better it gets, the better it gets.
Speaker:This is so fun.
Speaker:I'm just grateful.
Speaker:You are part of this kickoff on this, this new podcast.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:I'm excited.
Speaker:If anyone wants any more information, you can also call me 8 1 5 5 0 1 5 0 7 0.
Speaker:I'm always up for a chat.
Speaker:Awesome.