Again and again I appreciate how lucky I am to live the life I lead. Recently a student asked me to help with her college business studies by answering questions about my little business. These included the obvious enquiries into time management, skills required, why I decided to start the business and potential problems. These along with such questions as whether I socialize with clients, & whether it’s beneficial to business, has luck affected my business and how do I stay motivated all allowed me the opportunity of asking these questions to myself as well as answering then for her!
Many times we fall into a path, make a decision that results in something like my little business almost without thought or expectation, maybe it’s without expectation rather than without thought that resulted in my situation. Could I have expected to be doing this a decade ago? Teaching yoga in Cheshire. No. Definitely not!! I loved my yoga practice. In fact I was on a yoga retreat in France exactly a decade ago with a teacher who’d followed his dreams to India and given up his career & become a yoga teacher; but I’d have never considered I could do the same. He taught me one of my most important lessons ….that to learn I had to get onto my yoga mat 🙂 That here was where I could find the space & opportunity to listen to my inner wisdom, to allow myself to learn from myself…for we are often our own best teachers.
Svadyhaha is one of the principles of yoga practice…. Self study. To study everything from the individual breath to the scriptures, to understand our physicality & the philosophy behind our practice. I did my teacher training out of interest not intent. The more I learnt the more I loved, especially watching people discover their own yoga practice through my teaching. We had to teach as part of the assessment procedure of the training & in setting up my first classes to do so I discovered a new love. Teaching yoga. However I would have still neither hoped or dreamed I could have what I have now.
The more I studied the more I was inspired to learn.
So luck did play a part in my business, the luck of finding a great yoga teacher, the opportunity to take the training at a time in my life where I could place my heart & soul into a new venture. The motivation to succeed is a part of who I am, my regrets are those opportunities I failed to take so I am motivated to try. Once I have decided to do something I am driven to succeed, to focus & use my enthusiasm & effective time management to see what I can achieve. That is partly how I got where I am today with such a varied & interesting work life as I’ve played with ideas and they’ve succeeded, each adding another layer to my skills, my opportunities and myself. I didn’t listen to those who queried my chance of success, as I knew I would only regret not trying.
Asked whether I am social with clients allowed me to realise that I often don’t differentiate between clients & friends. These are people I want to spend time with…. interesting people who share my love of yoga & with whom I enjoy varied & inspiring conversations that are limited merely by time. I organize charity events & enjoy celebrating our success in raising funds for good causes with like-minded people. I enjoy organizing Christmas meals or to allow people to meet the people on the other yoga mats in their classes. I enjoy learning from students in careers complimentary to mine. So I answered the question, that yes it is beneficial to my business to be social with clients. Maybe not in the expected client hospitality way but in that it improves my life. I am my business so anything that broadens my enjoyment of living can only benefit my business by benefitting me.
Plus I feel the community aspect is so important in society, I love to know I like the people with whom I work, that there’s a support network, plus opportunity for learning, laughing & living by spending time being social with a students!
So by answering these questions for my student I got to recognize afresh that I am living a wonderful life. That my work continues to inspire me, challenge me & bring me pleasure in many different ways. However I realise that in my business being me, I allow myself the opportunity to be me in my business. To bring my eccentricity, my passion, my humour & my Svadyhaha to my workplace as well as my workplace into my life. Work life balance for me is often about not restricting myself to the expected separation of the two and accepting that I am me, I am lucky enough to live my passion & call it a career. That my seizing of opportunity and zest for life allows me to live a fuller experience than I could’ve planned for by following a prescribed path.
The question
Have you learnt anything really important since you started running your business?
Yes. To believe in the impossible, to dream & to follow those dreams and to appreciate & be grateful for everything you learn.
These were the questions I was asked…
- How long has your business been running for?
- Why did you decide to start your business?
- What types of skills did you need to start your business?
- How has luck affected your business?
- Are you social with customers? If so is it beneficial to your business?
- Have you come across any major issues or problems when starting your business?
- Do you manage your time well?
- How do you stay motivated?
- How do you set a good reputation for yourself and your business?
- Have you learnt anything really important since you started running your business?
