I’ve never jumped and not landed safely.

I’ve never jumped and not landed safely. That’s what I told my friends and family last April when I announced that I would not be returning to Beijing to teach dance and yoga for the 2014-2015 school year.

People would say, “Why would you leave a comfy steady income and great job?!?! I thought you liked it there.”

I would say, “Well, for lots of reasons but the two main ones were that my body is really not well from the pollution and I really really miss my dog, Ava.

The next question was, “So what are you going to do?”

My answer, “Open a yoga studio, bike shop, bar (coffee, tea, and beer) in a shipping container structure!”

Awkward silence… followed by an even more awkward, “That’s great!”

That’s when the, “I’ve never jumped and not landed safely.” always came in.

Thankfully, I’ve never really been afraid of hard work and have been blessed with an incredible stubborness/persistence streak. And also thankfully, that I have a life partner/husband/Russ with a similar commitment to “doing things”.

We both worked really hard with a ton of love and to created a thriving dance program (me/Brittany) and Russ created a photography program at a college prep boarding school in central Utah. We also teamed up and put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into successfully building a straw bale house with our very own hands.  After about eight years we began to get ansty, we needed a new challenge. That challenge came to us in the form of teaching our respective subjects at an international school in Beijing, China.

Before we left for China, we were dreaming about all of the possibilities of the future. While we were in China for the 2013-2014 school year, we began narrowing our focus on the possibility we were going to focus on next. At this point we were 33 and 34 and knew that we were competent and capable and that we should use our talents and skills to create something big and beautiful that reflects us as individuals and could also support our lifestyle independent of having a boss.

I have fallen in love with yoga over the course of the last 10 years and always make my friends and community do it with me. Russ loves bikes: fixing them, building them, teaching kids about them. I love tea. He loves beer. Other people like coffee. And we love hosting community gatherings! So why not start a business that incorporates all of those things?!

With all of that being said, it is a fact that I tend to be more impulsive and Russ is way more practical. So I packed my stuff and moved to Colorado to get the yoga portion of the business going and Russ stayed in China to save up some cash.

I am truly astonished in this moment as I reflect on the last six months as an entrepreneur.

Here’s the summary:

• August 11th, 2014 Our first meeting with the Small Business Association of Denver!
• August 13th, 2014 Offered my first free yoga class in Denver City Park (had a sign, a wagon, and one wonderful friend/student)!
• August 15th, 2014 We were officially LLC’d !
• August 25th, 2014 Began partnering with The K Zone and charging money to offer early morning and evening inside classes and still offered free lunchtime yoga in various parks!
• October 26th, 2014 Began partnering with the Lakewood Dance Academy and all classes moved inside to one location!
• November 8th, 2014 Hosted first workshop: Yoga for Cyclists and started offering free post yoga class meditations!
• December 13th, 2014 Hosted Arm Balancing Workshop!
• January 4th, 2015 Hosted Yoga Basics Workshop for Newbies!
• January 4th, 2015 Began 40 Days with CC YOGA challenge with 12 committed CC Yoga students and 14 virtual participants from around the world!
• January 4th, 2015 Glow and Flow Yoga class with 13 incredible yogis and the first moment that I realized that CC YOGA was officially a community!
• January 7th, 2015 Registered client #174 Holy moly, I’ve shared yoga with 173 people in the last 6 months!!!!!!
• January 10th, 2015 Hosting a Celebration Yoga Class- Free to all of my clients that I have been honored to share my love of yoga with over the last 6 months!

Every time that I take a seemingly crazy leap, there is that moment or month or 6 months of suspense until I land that are a little scary and a lot of fun!

We are still in search of a property to put our shipping containers on and Russ is building a master plan for the bike shop with kids bike building workshops for this summer.

Man oh man am I STOKED!!!!! I’ve had my head down the last six months maintaining a website, designing and marketing, accounting, going to teacher trainings, and business workshops, networking. So when I looked around the room last night at the community of yogis, I thought my heart was going to explode!

I’m beyond grateful for my parents support throughout every “wild” idea I’ve ever had.

I’m grateful for the support of friends around the country and world, I’ve felt your loving energy all along the way. Thank you for your, “If if any one can do it it’s you and Russ.” comments.

I’m grateful for the really long list of new friends that have offered so much fun and wisdom on this new adventure.

And in this moment, most importantly the CC YOGI’s. Without students in the classroom, who would I share yoga with? and how would I pay my bills? 

​Seriously, if this is what it looks like after 6 months I can only imagine how wonderful it will be in a year or two and beyond?!?! I am truly blessed and open to all of the wonderful possibilities that life has to unfold!