Confession: I feel inspired by change. I love a challenge. I feel excited thinking outside the box.
I also love to try. I consider myself a student first, in all aspects of life, and I’m always looking for tips on growing the small business I’ve created.
Recently, I did something way out of my comfort zone: I created a personal growth yoga retreat program. It became the focus of the Italy yoga retreat which is wrapping up today. I was excited to lead this retreat but also nervous because I’ve not taught the workshops I’d prepared before. I wanted to do a good job, and serve people in a way that allowed them to arrive with whatever struggle they’re dealing with in their life, and leave feeling armed with tools to help get themselves through the struggle. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, but I do think it’s important that when you try something new, you shouldn’t get too attached to what you think will happen or any expectation you have.
Because things will come up. You’ll have to adjust on the fly. You need to be over-prepared, so that you have enough topics to cover or activities to do so that you use all the allotted time. And then you’ll need to be able to cut the content down as you move through it. This inexperience and uncertainty can be scary, but if your heart and intention are in the right place, you just forge ahead, vowing to reflect after each workshop to write about what went well and you could do again, and where there was room for improvement and what you could change in the future for a better workshop.
My tip for small businesses owners is to challenge themselves to try something new. Leading yoga retreats is not something new to me, but switching up the plan for the week was definitely new. It turned what would’ve been a pretty cool retreat in a beautiful place into a gorgeous getaway with some serious substance to it. My goal with everything I create is to help people, and that’s why I kept moving ahead with this personal growth plan even though I was nervous about its first go around. Despite the nerves, I did my best to offer a varied program, with lots of different activities, and I wove different yoga practices throughout to help complement the program. The end result was a beautiful week of growth, friendship and a deepening of the yoga practice.
If you’re a wellness entrepreneur, consider joining me in January for our in person Business and Marketing Intensive at Namaslay® Studios, or in Santorini for a retreat style intensive workshop weekend in April, or check out the online Business and Marketing Course, if travel isn’t a possibility for you this winter.