You ever wake up one day and think, “hmm, I should start a business.”

I am sure many of us have. The difference is, many of us don't actually move forward with it. To no fault of anyone who hasn't, starting a business is hard! It takes extra time, extra mental space, and a shift in mindset of what work really looks like. Once you pile on the non - tangibles of starting a new business, with the tangibles of it all, such as:

• LLC establishment with the Secretary of State

• EIN for payment purposes

• Bank Accounts

• Finances

• And MORE...

It is reasonable to put the idea on the back burner.

Fortunately for you all reading this, I actually took the plunge. My niche is Yoga and I started the business AIMwell Yoga and Non-Profit AIMwell Kids at the beginning of 2023. It has been 5 months trudging along and I feel I am at a stage to actually reflect on this journey so far.

I have decided to start The Yoga Collective Blog, with the hills I must overcome on the daily. The top 3 challenges of starting my own yoga business.

1. Pricing. When I initially starting planning, there was one thing I knew for sure. I did not want to start a yoga studio that charges next to a car note to "offer wellness." Why? How can I advocate for mental health, empowerment, self control, if my services are unattainable or only accessible by a small population. This made it difficult to make market research pricing applicable to my pricing structure. Let me be clear, I want to make money, but I want to reach people more. This has made it difficult as well to lean all into my yoga studio, as I have had to maintain another job to support the daily lifestyle. I might provide another blog on that once I navigate myself through that. For now, I landed on drop in rates of $15 dollars and donation classes. Which leads me to my next challenge...

2. The Number of Offerings to Provide. The ambition I had week one! 5 Classes on the schedule 2 double headers, 2 morning classes, a weekend class. 3 out of those 5 offerings were empty. WHOMP. I found myself killing myself waking up at 5 am to get to the studio in time to offer a 6am class 2 times a week. I found myself sitting idle in my studio to provide sound baths to a neighborhood that hasn't largely been exposed to this offering. But my Sunday morning flow and Wednesday evening flows were an immediate hit. My advice, start small or you might end up stressing yourself out with running around and prep. Not to mention the complete imposture syndrome you get when have 3 out of the 5 classes you're offering empty. Ouch to the self-esteem. Shout out to supportive networks and meditation. We're stable with our 2 classes a week and would LOVE to expand, but are hesitant until we can get a grasp on our final hurdle;

3. Small Fish-Big Pond. Kansas City is not a Los Angelos market with yoga or wellness studios within the same block. But the size of Kansas City and the knowledge around yoga being largely segregated to a certain demographic for many reasons, including economic, makes AIMwell Yoga a pretty small fish in this Kansas City Yoga Pond. Navigating through social media, investing in the right marketing tools, and learning what works for me and is also content others want to see, it's not intuitive all the time, nor is it easy. What we're striving for now are a few metrics:

1. Building a consistent number of yogis within our current classes - target is 10 friends per class

2. Growing our social media consistency on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn

3. Growing following on YouTube through 2 weekly postings - fingers crossed time is not my friend

4. Conducting a summer full of AIMwell! We have many events coming up and we must get the word out

Our approach to advancing to a slightly bigger fish? Consistency and drive. Late nights and reframing what work looks like. We're 5 months in and no time to let off the gas.

Check out our latest YouTube Yoga on Demand Power Vinyasa!

The Yoga Collective is a rebranding of AIMwell KIDS blog. The Yoga Collective is your stop for yoga, business, and the real life. Brought to you by the founder of AIMwell Yoga a black owned yoga studio in the SE of the Kansas City and AIMwell KIDS a non-profit that brings yoga to students while in school, Black Boni the Yogi. Follow her navigation through applied yoga, business, and aiming to make sense of it all.

AIMwell Yoga operates out of The Borough KC, local food hall and community space. Our classes are every Sunday at 10am (live on YouTube, as well) and Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm.