Shownotes
In this episode of the Thriving Holistic Practitioner Podcast, we sit down with the inspiring Johanna Godinez, the visionary founder of B.A.Y Lifestyle Yoga and Beyond Asana Yoga School. Johanna shares the remarkable story of how she was "gifted" her business after building it for the corporate world—a journey filled with unexpected twists and profound lessons.
Tune in to hear how Johanna transformed her business into a retreat-focused model based in the serene landscapes of Puerto Rico. She provides invaluable insights for holistic practitioners looking to thrive in their ventures:
1. Treat Your Business as a Separate Entity: Johanna emphasizes the importance of nurturing your business like a child, ensuring it receives the capital, energy, and attention it needs to thrive. She advises practitioners to secure their financial stability before committing fully to their business, highlighting the benefits of having multiple streams of income to reduce pressure.
2. Serve Without Neediness: Johanna teaches the importance of approaching client relationships from a place of genuine service. Ensuring your financial needs are met allows you to work with clients authentically, fostering trust and connection.
3. Seek Guidance Early: Johanna advocates for seeking counsel, especially in the early stages of your business, to set a strong foundation and avoid common pitfalls.
4. Mindset Matters: Maintaining alignment and a positive mindset is crucial in business. Johanna shares practical tips on staying focused and motivated.
Join Lindsay and Johanna as they share fun anecdotes about their entrepreneurial journeys, discuss overcoming challenges, and offer wisdom to help you thrive as a holistic practitioner. Don't miss this episode filled with actionable insights and inspiring stories!
About Johanna Godinez: Considered by many to be their personal assistant for life, Johanna Godinez is a businesswoman with an MBA who has spent the last 15 years as human success development coach. Through yoga, meditation and an extensive study on patterns, mindset and the way the mind operates, she was able to completely alter the direction of her life.
As the Founder of B.A.Y. Lifestyle and Beyond Asana Yoga School, Johanna offers an innovative approach to habit development, personal or professional coaching, and lifestyle transformation; to help you get clear and attract your definition of success to your life. She has developed and systemized ELM- an evolutionary life mapping method which facilitates your self-discovery through inquiry and self-reflection.
She was crowned Mrs. Puerto Rico Woman of Achievement 2022 and proceeded to win Mrs. US Woman of Achievement 2023 and uses this platform to share her passion for the freedom that the philosophy and lifestyle of yoga have afforded her life.
Connect with Lindsay: https://lindsaysutherland.com
Connect with Johanna Godinez: https://bay-lifestyle.com/
Meet Lindsay Sutherland, a passionate business consultant with a deep love for holistic modalities. Though her career path diverged from holistic practice, her innate talents and extensive experience have uniquely positioned her to guide others in the field. Lindsay's journey is fueled by a profound desire to combine her expertise in business and marketing with her fascination for holistic modalities. As a consultant, she empowers holistic practitioners to thrive by merging strategic business acumen with holistic principles.
Step into the world of Thriving Holistic Practitioner! Our podcast is tailored for holistic practitioners like you, striving for sustainable business growth, ethical marketing, and a fulfilling, balanced practice. Say goodbye to burnout and confusion as we guide you on a journey to success.
Are you a holistic practitioner ready to take your practice to the next level? Introducing the Thriving Holistic Practitioner Community, your go-to destination for expert guidance and support.
Join us for weekly live business trainings led by experienced consultant Lindsay Sutherland. Get your burning questions answered and connect with like-minded practitioners who are also on the path to success.
But wait, there's more! In celebration of our podcast launch, we're gifting the first 25 members a free Profit Acceleration Audit valued at $500! Discover how you can increase your profit by $40K a year without increasing marketing spend. Plus, receive a detailed PDF blueprint outlining actionable strategies.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity. Text HOLISTIC to 55444 now to join the Thriving Holistic Practitioner Community and claim your free profit acceleration audit. Let's thrive together!
Transcripts
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.
