LINDA: "My fitness routine varies from day to day. In the summer I do a lot of hiking and biking in the early mornings. My favorite hike is to Horse Tail Falls and I get it in about once a week. Other times I just jog along the foothills with Petey, our boxer. I like the mountain bike trails in Lambert Park and do that as often as I can when there is no snow. I also do yoga a couple of days a week. Sometimes a full 1.5 class and other times just 30 min. When I work on-site and teach yoga at noon, I often will stay for 30 minutes and lift weights after I’m done teaching. It’s a full body workout that I can complete in no time at all. You really have to make every minute count! I teach an average of 8 classes of yoga a week which keeps me busy but it’s not like doing your own practice. When you teach you don’t DO the poses, you TEACH, OBSERVE and GUIDE. It is mentally exhausting but not so much physically.
In the winter time I like to snow shoe instead of hiking. I do all the other stuff as well. Some weeks I workout as many as 6 days a week and other weeks maybe 2 or 3 days. Consistency is key. Just keep doing what you can. When I feel sluggish I know I need to crank it up a notch. I also like the endorphins that kick in when I get a good workout. Yoga keeps me sane as well as strong and flexible. I LOVE it!"
KARA: "You own Alpine Yoga, correct? Can you tell us about your business and why you chose to go into that business? What is it like to own your own business – talk about the bonuses and the challenges, and maybe give the women some advice about owning businesses."
LINDA: "I USED to own Alpine Yoga. In 2008 I partnered with Julie Branham and together we CHANGED the name of Alpine Yoga to Lifted Life Yoga Center. We leased our own space and spent a couple of months building the studio we’d always dreamed of. The Center better reflects our mission of offering more than one modality of healing. We have chiropractic care, massage, and have space for other healing arts as well. I chose the yoga business because I have a life long passion for fitness, nutrition and holistic healing. Even while working as a programmer I used to teach aerobics in my spare time, take dance class, and read all kinds of fitness, health, and wellness journals. Yoga is a personal practice and effectively treats the body, mind, and soul. For me it is a spiritual renewal, a time to meditate and I get the added benefit of strength and flexibility too! I was hooked after just one class. I love what it does to bring peace into my home. Naturally I want to share it with others.
Owning your own business is like being CEO, CFO, Marketing director, payroll, Human Resources, Accountant, and Entrepreneur all rolled up into one. Sounds like being a Mom doesn’t it? The challenge is to know your strengths and play them up. Hire out for those areas that you are weak in and take a course to beef up your skills if you can. It helps having a partner who is uniquely opposite in strengths as me. She picks up my loose ends and I pick up hers. We meet weekly to discuss the direction of the business, make changes to the schedule, figure out what marketing strategy to use, and to run the day to day operations. A bonus about owning your own business is that you can pick the hours that you work. The down side is that often those hours occur after midnight and before 6am.
Advice to other women contemplating a new business… work hard, pray a lot, and keep your family and friends close to cheer you on! Always communicate your ideas to someone so you are held accountable for what you say and then do it. Write down your goals and refer to them often. Evaluate your progress on a quarterly basis and make adjustments where necessary. Easy to say, hard to do. It takes discipline! I think women can be quite skilled at running a business because they do it on a daily basis at home!"
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