PSA: Video Bundles are available for my beginners and intermediate yoga students! And, don't forget the YBC Mantra Boxes are now available for pre-order! Lastly, if you have the YBC App and take a min to review it, send a screenshot of your review to Lauren and we'll send you a little something in thanks.
Wow I can't believe we're here again. I distinctly remember writing last year's recap from my kitchen in Germany and now here we are, another year under our belt. So much has happened in the last year and when you're a small, yet growing business, it's so fun to look back at all you've accomplished.
YBC Travels
- In February, I went to Dubai with Sofitel to talk about future projects there. Right now we're focused on the book, but I'd still like to go and do a retreat there - it's amazing.
- In March, we went to Miami for a Spring Break retreat. Just picture The Real World and then add: Yoga Edition and that's pretty much how the week went, haha.
- In April, we went to Costa Rica for a beach and jungle adventure retreat complete with surf lessons and ziplining in the rainforest.
- Also in April, I sprained my damn ankle while in New York for the Yoga Journal conference, subsequently dropped F bombs on instagram, and got no sympathy from my husband when I couldn't handle the cold tub. (He's a former pro athlete who would voluntarily sit in a cold tub, haha.)
- In May we went to Morocco for a long weekend retreat. It was awesome - I have never laughed so much in my life around the dinner table!
- Also in May, we stopped by Rome for a few days in between retreats. It was the best weekend.
- And May was ca-razy because we also did two week-long retreats in Greece.
- In June, we headed to upstate New York for a long weekend with an awesome group. We told stories about the scariest things to happen to us and then made my husband go around the house and check all the windows and doors (and under the beds haha).
- In September, I went to Baltimore for the ExpoEast convention to meet new up and coming brands in the health industry, and later on in the month went to Detroit to visit my husband, who'd moved to Michigan in August for work.
- In November I went to Miami for the Yoga Journal conference and a photoshoot for my book, and to Costa Rica for a jungle retreat with a fab group of ladies!
- In December, I am finishing off the year in Los Angeles for another shoot for my book.
The Highs and Lows
- I pretty much had a major breakdown at the end of the summer and took a break from the blog. I was honestly stressed to the max, working way too hard, and had zero balance in my life. I took a week off and came back with some new mid-year resolutions. I'll continue these resolutions through the New Year. If there is one thing I've learned this year, it's that stress is a killer and I needed to get it under control. That effort has served me very well. I feel happier than I have in ages, and honestly wake up every day feeling so full of joy (and yes I know how cheesy that sounds!). Luckily, this was pretty much the only low point of the year.
- The highs, on the other hand, just felt like they kept coming. The first new thing we did this year was launch the YBC Mantra Box. It's funny because just the other day Lauren was like, "Hey remember when you sent me an email with this idea of a "swag bag to your doorstep" kind of thing and it evolved into our discovery box program?!" It is now a quarterly discovery box that features small businesses who create high quality products that fit within the health, wellness and fitness industries.
- Later on in the year, with Lauren's urging, we launched the YBC App and it has been a huge success. We have just under 15,000 downloads since July!
- And lastly, just a few months later, in October, we announced our biggest break yet - we got a book deal! Our book will be out in Fall 2016.
The YBC Community
The most popular posts as determined by traffic:
- YBC Strength Project
- YBC Flexibility Project
- How to use a yoga strap
- YBC Tone Up Program
- Ask an Embarrassing Yoga Question
- 3 ways to improve your forward fold
- How to balance better in yoga
- Essential books for yoga teachers
- Common mistakes in bridge pose
- Common mistakes in wheel pose
My favorite posts of the year:
- The space between: This is one of my favorites because it is the closest I've been able to come to explaining a major facet of my love affair with the yoga practice.
- Instructional Acro Yoga Video: I can't watch the bloopers and not die laughing. In fact, I am sitting in Starbucks having a laugh attack all over just re-watching it.
- Greece Retreat Recap: I just had such a lovely time in Greece. We had two fabulous groups of people, one of my best friends was able to come for a week, and my husband was able to join for the second week. We got some amazing pics, had fantastic weather, and so many laughs. What a great trip, shortly followed by a trip to Rome and Morocco.
- How my workouts have changed over the years: This post is special to me because it's what started our Workout Wednesday series and I loved hearing your response to the post.
Traffic:
- So far this year, nearly 2.2 million of you popped into YBC. You visited just over 10 million times, which is ca-razy to me! I started this blog a couple years ago with just one single reader: my mom. Started from the bottom now we here!
People are mostly coming to YBC from...
Shout out to the US, Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia for holding down the top five spots!
The least amount of people are coming from...
This might be a weird thing to keep track of but I always love to check this stat out. Shout out to the one person checking into YBC from Antarctica!
YBC YouTube Channel
Last year at this time on our YouTube channel, we were at 16.5k subscribers. Today we are right around the 70k mark! Whaaaaaat?! I love connecting with you guys over there. I always try to answer the questions and comments I get there, and I love it when I see a name I recognize from instagram or the forum or something. Makes this little community feel so great.
YBC Yoga Forum
Last year we launched the YBC Yoga Forum, a place where likeminded people can chat about all things related to healthy living. We had 261 members last year. This year, we have around 1,000 members, and I absolutely love the forum! There are great discussions over there, and really knowledgeable, kind people, happy to help out and offer support and advice.
Goals for 2016
I'm so excited for what's to come in 2016. Also kind of nervous (like what if we write this book and it doesn't actually sell?!) but we are forging ahead, keeping negative thoughts and what if's at bay and believing in all the reasons things will work in our favor. Some of the goals I have:
- Do an international book tour (tell us if you want us to cruise through your city!)
- Launch a product line
- Travel goals: Australia, Africa.
So I think that's about it. I feel so grateful to be able to do what I love and make it work. I'm so thankful for Lauren, Greg and Jan's support and hard work - and I couldn't do it without them. But mostly I couldn't do any of this without you guys, the readers and community members who are so enthusiastic and caring and kind. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all your support. It means the world to me.
Let's Talk I'd love to know the highs and lows of your past year. What goals do you have for the year ahead? Let me know down in the comments below!