Back in 2015, I'd been a yoga teacher for 5 years. I taught 1000's of students both in public classes, privates, workshops and yoga teacher trainings. I also owned a wellness business, that blended yoga, coaching and mentoring. I did ALL of this on the side as I worked my full-time high school teaching career. In NYC. Oh and as a mom of 3.
Sounds glamorous? <insert sarcasm>
I loved it, but I was in hustle hard mode. And exhausted.
I had checked all the boxes I thought I was supposed to. College, career, marriage, kids. I knew I was a good teacher and even ran a program for at-risk teens. My heart was in that program. And on my maternity leave, they dismantled my program. I didn't care about me, I cared about my students. The ones I currently had and the ones I would never get to serve.
I was done. I was angry that once again a woman had to lose something, because she decided to have a baby. That I had to follow some arbitrary rules that never had real human beings interest at heart. When I went back, I felt like something was missing. The "9-5 grind" wasn't for me. The "play by someone else's rules," was definitely not my style either. I didn't want to work for a system that just cared about data points and percentages instead of real human beings.
In hindsight, it was a blessing, because it was the push I needed to take my work out of the antiquated and patriarchal school system and out into the world.
I knew in my bones I wanted the freedom of having my own business, but I didn't have a clue where to start. And I wasn't sure I could replace my salary. Remember that family of 5?
As all good researchers do, I went to podcasts and google. I learned about a coach who was on track to make 7 figures! And she was helping thousands of women at the same time. She was so full of passion that she got to help other people through coaching.
This was THE wake-up call. I thought, Why not me?
It was time for me to rethink the way I thought about my mission and my business. For the first time I really listened to my intuition. I wanted to do work that I was passionate about. Work that would never be taken away from me or expect me to take a pay cut because I was woman. So I made a commitment to treat my business like it was my only job rather than a part-time side-hustle.
Guess. What. Happened? This little experiment helped me replace my teacher salary. People started asking me how I was doing it. And because I knew the yoga teacher and coach hustle well, I knew I could help them too. I've since evolved into helping new entrepreneurs get fully booked so they never have to work a 9-5 again. I help them create wildly profitable businesses that fulfill that longing they have to be an entrepreneur while aligning with their bigger purpose.