The last three months since ending the Sat Nam babe crowdfunding campaign and transitioning into figuring out how to run a company have been super eventful, to say the least, more so from Memorial Day up through today. A few of the entertaining stories captured here, as I launch my first company and manage the naysayers who want to be helpers (which only gives me more ammunition to work with, let’s be real here!)
June events came and went – a yoga festival in Cold Spring Memorial Day weekend, two small pop up shop events during toddler yoga and at a toy store, as well as the infamous Brooklyn Artists & Fleas. What did I learn from these adventures? Customers are insanely fickle people. They only want the harem pants I still have yet to have in stock, but ah we’re close! They don’t know any kids (come on, everyone knows some kid) or they may have a baby shower coming up in the next 6 months and will without the shadow of a doubt, buy something on Sat Nam babe for that shower.
Whimsical bug party pants + headband made out of recycled plastic bottles
Yup, heard it all already, but the learning from these events is to pivot and spend more time building my Instagram and online following where I can sell direct to consumer from anywhere in the country (+ world). So besides Sat Nam Fest where I am pumped to be a vendor next month and surrounded by my kundalini peeps and potentially Wanderlust Brooklyn where we are on the vendor wait list (I will take it! This festival is SO worth it) likely slowing down the in-person events and focusing online, building a following and wooing people with the cuteness of our clothes.
Entrepreneur lesson learned: Taken right from the Lean Startup book – pivot early and often, when it makes sense!
Speaking of clothes – harem pants in particular – this experience of getting one pair of pants made properly has been the bane of my existence as a new entrepreneur. Ah yes they are so cute, BUT I should have taken the time up front to properly source suppliers in the U.S. to better manage the process. It’s nearly impossible to deal with the India factory with a 9+ hour time difference and I can only describe the situation of getting those pants out of the factory as a two month long dragged out hostage situation of sorts. It’s like a non-stop constant negotiation going nowhere. BUT this week, I decided, I’m getting those G**D*mn pants if I need to fly to India to get them directly. Yeah that’s been super fun BUT YES, so close to getting those pants done.
Entrepreneur lesson learned: Do not trust others, even when they have the best of intentions and are considered experts in their line of work, to manage any part of your business in the beginning. I took this recommendation from someone I trusted and should have gone with my gut to fully produce in the U.S.
Mindfulness from the youngest of ages leads to less stress, increased confidence, better focus + the list goes on!
Two interesting convos in the last 10 days. One with an investor who invests in consumer products. I’ll spare you the excitement of our phone call (the short of it is I need to work on a business model) BUT the one comment I found interesting is that this person almost expected me to be in a different place in my company, i.e. she called it a mom and pop shop right now. I totally agree, as we are just starting out, but how else do you start unless your last name is von Furstenberg or Armani? She essentially said I was on the right path, but I need a business model. Got it, yes!
Entrepreneur lesson learned: Be really proud of where you are right now. Launching a company is a process and a half and it takes time to scale and see bigger long term picture.
The last convo happened two days ago and I’m still scratching my head a bit. My friend told me to check out this mentor program here in NYC. I had a phone call with a guy who is a retired fashion industry executive. First off, within 2 minutes of the conversation, he deemed me not fit to launch a fashion company (“what business do you have launching a fashion company? You have no technical fashion background…”) When he wasn’t interjecting every 30 seconds with his own glory days story of working in high fashion, I managed to get in that I was a fashion design minor, worked at Saks for DvF (of course he knew her) AND come from a PR and marketing background. “Ok I feel better now, you have a marketing background. You’ll be fine…” Um, ok buddy…I’m sure things have changed a bit over the years of working in this industry.
Entrepreneur lesson learned: Take everything people say with a grain of salt and keep that thick skin to get through these interesting conversations!
I’m semi-joking throughout this entire post, but in reality, I have to make light of it and keep to the vision I have for the company. Yes, it’s going to take pivoting, time, resources and more, but I have grit and am willing to see it through within reason to see how high I can fly!
While no day is truly the same and some are more entertaining than others in the life of a startup, I wanted to share a snapshot from my day yesterday. Truly never a dull moment!
I woke up at 5:30 before the alarm went off. Gotta measure some Sat Nam babe yoga leggings. What is this about, may you ask? For the past few weeks, I’ve been liaising with our factory in India that are making our first production round of harem pants. The very short of this story (no pun intended, our toddler pants came out too short!), is trying to do business in India when I’m in NYC is simply no bueno (#lessonlearned). There’s been a lot of confusion around what the exact measurements of our pants should be (read: our 2T and 4T when they shipped them to me were the same size. Amazing). SO I took matters into my own hands yesterday morning and decided to provide my own length measurements to India based on our yoga leggings. Def adding technical fashion designer to my resume! The truth though is, these pants are adorable and I cannot wait for them to come in!
Sat Nam babe on the Sacred Sounds yoga events wall, my lovely (wet) bike that gets me all over and a product drop-off for a mom blogger
If you live on the East coast, it was probably raining all day (surprise!) I love biking everywhere in NYC, so I rationalized with myself and decided to take the train into the city, bike in tow, so I could ride it later when the rain hopefully cleared. I spent a few hours at Sacred Sounds Yoga in Greenwich Village during toddler yoga (simply adorable). Met some moms and got to intro them to Sat Nam babe. The studio owner was nice enough to intro me to someone at Washington Square Park, to see if we can tie in Sat Nam babe with some kids yoga in the park later this summer! Permits and a fee may be involved, but TBD.
From there, the rain was manageable, so biked up to the Baruch Entrepreneurship Field Center to meet with the amazing accountant, Jonathan. It’s funny, every time I show up for an appointment, he acts surprised to see me and then apologizes for not answering my emails (ha!) SO we chatted all about W-9 forms and how to best prepare for doing my taxes next year. Despite this sounding super boring, Jonathan is the bomb and always has ah-mazing and entertaining tax stories of people getting audited.
A quick dropoff a block away to see my friend Kim and her adorable little girl Isabella. I’m going to be doing a July 4th Google Adwords promotion with our blue and white products and had the revelation earlier that morning while dealing with the India fun, that perhaps Kim would want to take pics (she’s a great photographer!) of Isabella in our blue chevron leggings and headband so I could use the pics in our campaign. She agreed! Score! Cutest campaign coming your way soon!
The last stop was alllll the way downtown, near World Trade. It was raining when I left my friend, but for whatever reason, decided to bike anyway. This mom blogger with over 30K Instagram followers agreed to have her girls try our leggings. The plan is assuming the pants fit (they are on the tall end for our pants) that she will feature Sat Nam babe in an upcoming Sunday Styles post that she does. This would be huge and is the kind of publicity I will be going after more and more in the coming weeks to get the company out there. Those two years in PR where I really questioned why I was doing this career every single day are truly coming in handy now.
From there, I ventured home…over the Brooklyn bridge. Kindly telling the tourists to move aside for the bikers.
There you have it, a day in the life. Shop Sat Nam babe for ethical tees, headbands, yoga leggings and (soon) harem pants, for the little kids under five and babies in your life!
Wow it’s been a whirlwind 10 days. 50% funded for our Sat Nam babe crowdfunding initiative with almost three weeks still to go in our campaign. I’m so thankful for all of the pre-sale orders (can’t wait to see all of your kiddos in our tees and pants!!) and outright contributions that are truly so generous.
I’m going to rewind a few years ago to when I was working full time and in grad school (and yes, still dealing with the post traumatic stress of surviving that insane schedule!) I took a class called “sustainability in supply chains” and it literally blew my mind. Yup mind completely blown. A little over a month before the class started for the summer, the Rana Plaza fire happened in Bangladesh, killing more than 1100 garment workers. The complex was structurally unsound and the owners of the building knew this. Many global fashion brands that we all know very well were tied to this tragedy.
Almost four years later, as I launch Sat Nam babe, this story continues to resonate with me and inspires me to simply do better. I understand after taking this class that if an item is “a deal” more times than not, some piece of the supply chain (aka a worker in Bangladesh making $68 a month) is being squeezed. It’s those people who are still the most marginalized who are being taken advantage of, so these global brands can maximize profit margins and shareholder value. These brands may boast about how they are “giving back”, showing employees planting gardens and spending time at soup kitchens, but in reality, when you peel back the layers to a fundamental level, are these companies really doing good?
SoHarlem with our Sat Nam babe pattern and sample maker
For me, doing good means understanding my supply chain as much as I can and doing as much as I can from day one of our company’s inception to feel good about our choices. I know the areas that I would like to consciously improve upon down the road (i.e. sourcing suppliers in the US for our harem pants, but they are in very good hands in a great factory in India for the time being) but it will come with time. And we will also find a very tangible, impactful way to support kids around mindfulness, yoga and its amazing benefits from a young age. I have some ideas but it’s too early to share. We are SO proud as part of our crowdfunding campaign, to be supporting Rosie’s Kitchen in South Africa. I got to spend some time with Rosie when I was there and this woman is on the ground, doing the work and feeding many kids each day. We will be making a contribution to her selfless work once our crowdfunding campaign ends March 31.
One thing that I’m really excited about is applying for B Corp certification, which is basically a stamp of approval (and written into my company’s legal docs) that says that our main goal is to not always maximize shareholder value, that the social good piece is very important to us as well. The certification involves taking a very lengthy assessment and asks everything from how many women owned companies are we supporting to our carbon footprint. We’ll be getting the ball rolling on this certification later this year once this one-woman show (aka me!) has some time to come up for air!
One comment in particular stuck with me months ago, when I was in the early stages of forming what Sat Nam babe would look like. I was talking to a lot of parents (mainly moms) and this one mom shared with me: “I would never be your customer. My kids grow way too fast to spend a lot of money on clothes.”
I get it – I get kids grow fast and the cheaper option may be the winner 9 out of 10 times right now. But I’m trying to change that mindset. Perhaps consuming less and being a more conscious consumer can work, even for purchasing kids’ clothes. There are amazing companies out there, such as Eileen Fisher and Patagonia, who are doing their supply chain the right way. I believe it’s Patagonia that actually encourages its consumers to buy less, yet their business is booming. I love that! How inspiring.
Exciting week coming up, as I will likely be placing a big fabric order for our yoga leggings, so our printer can get started printing those cute bug party and blue chevron prints on some pants! And we are creating our hangtags. And approving our harem pants final fit, picking up patterns, meeting with another yoga studio for retail opps, locking in our cut and sew vendor here in NY and so much more that will keep me running from Brooklyn to Harlem to the Bronx and everywhere in between.
I can’t thank you enough for your support thus far. PLEASE PLEASE keep those pre-sale orders coming in. We still have a way to go to reach our goal in less than 3 weeks even though we’ve been rocking it so far. And contributing on our ifundwomen page is VERY easy. Please if you have any questions, just ask me!
The day has finally arrived. In less than 12 hours, I will launch Sat Nam babe, the company that I’ve been working on bringing to life for the past year.
When I think about what I want to share on the most important day to date for Sat Nam babe, so many angles go through my head. What haven’t I covered in past blog posts that could maybe inspire you or perhaps have you think about life a bit differently?
It’s so simple. It all goes back to living life with wide open eyes and being relentless and utterly fearless about finding happiness, whatever that looks like to you. Every move I’ve consciously made in the past year, from quitting a job to deciding to take a leap of faith and launch a company all stem back to how sweet this one life truly is. There is this constant energy that I gravitate toward, that tells me to be fearless, to keep moving toward my dreams and to not settle for anything less than happiness.
Losing a parent at a young age is the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with in my life thus far. I wonder how my life would be different or better with my mom here. But her legacy inspires me 21 years later. She passed away at 44. She never got to travel abroad. Or see retirement. Or see my brother and I graduate from business school. Or spend more time with my dad. It’s unfair, but it’s what keeps me moving every single day and she’s my number one inspiration for thinking outside the box of how society tell us to live and going after my dreams in this one life, right now.
So don’t delay planning that trip. Or launching that business. Or whatever other dreams you may have been sitting on. We all deserve to live our best lives and not let fear get in our way.
What I hope you’ll see by following our journey, is that this company has heart. And soul. Our wish for all kids from the youngest of ages, is that they stay true to their dreams in this lifetime and live out their destinies, because the world is waiting for us all to show up with our best selves. Even if you don’t choose to support this particular company (which of course I hope you do!) perhaps you’ll become a more conscious consumer. Consume less (yes, even for kids, I know they grow fast but still!) Buy local where the company can confidently tell you that the clothing you are wearing was not made in a subpar, unsafe factory. And perhaps we can inspire you to live outside your comfort zone a bit and be a little more fearless, whatever that may look like for you in your own life.
So thank you – thank you for all your support, encouragement and love so far. And thank you for coming on this journey with me, it means so much. Crowdfunding launch and pre-sale coming TONIGHT, 8:30pm EST!
Follow our journey on social media @satnambabe and receive weekly updates on what it takes to launch a company at www.satnambabe.com
Gosh, where to begin? 2016, you kicked ass big time. BIG TIME (mostly in a very good way). Taking a walk down memory lane and looking to 2017 with anticipated excitement!
That day that I took a leap of faith and quit my job…
If you need more background, consult my previous posts 🙂 Now that I’ve been out of an office setting for nearly 11 months, I can tell you, that not going to an office 5 days per week feels like the most liberating thing you can do for long term sanity and quality of life (and I’m not counting my co-working space as an office that I frequent part time because it honestly doesn’t feel like an office!)
But in all seriousness – do we really want to spend most of our lives holed up between the same four walls day in and day out? I really hope with the steep rise of freelancers and co-working spaces popping up, that frequenting an office 5 days a week will be a thing of the past.
In retrospect, quitting a job was not nearly as scary as it may seem when you’re actually going through the motion of planning to leave (which is definitely overwhelming). Contrary to what you may inherently believe, jobs will always be there. So what’s stopping you from trying something new if you’re being called to do so? Let’s live for no regrets.
Sunset in Gowanus, Brooklyn, summer 2016And then I birthed a company, which wasn’t entirely “the plan”, but…
It started in March, on International Women’s Day to be exact. I went from literally whispering my business idea to a friend, because in my mind, I was going to spend these next few months building consulting clients (which is not really what I wanted). So he put a fire under me to start on my real dream now.
And where am I at? As I type, I am sitting right next to Sat Nam babe samples of adorable kids’ harem pants (that I have yet to reveal on social media, keeping it under wraps til next month!) I’m looking at dates and vendor application deadlines for the very popular Wanderlust 108 yoga festivals throughout the US. I found a pro bono lawyer and a pro bono accountant and a pro bono videographer who have allowed me over the past few months, to confidently get the bare bones of the company up and running (actually, I believe they all found me this year, everything just aligned).
The list goes on and on as to all the stars that have seamlessly come together to bring this company to market early next year. We’ll be kicking off the fun with a crowdfunding campaign launching late Jan/early Feb where I’ll be offering a pre-sale order option of Sat Nam babe product (and yes international friends, we’ll figure out something so I can ship international!) And I’m excited to attend my first children’s trade show in early Jan and will be meeting the buyer who buys product for a well known, high end, family friendly resort company. Pinching myself. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time.
“Sat Nam” in Kundalini yoga literally translates to, “truth is my identity.” It’s how we end every Kundalini class by chanting it together. It’s such a dream to launch a company that wants kids to become the best versions of themselves, to stay true to their dreams and live out their destinies, all while being a socially conscious company (B Corp certification, we are coming for you!) I’m so incredibly excited to see where I can take this company in 2017; I know it’s going to be hard work and a lot of learning by doing, but an unbelievable adventure.
What’s your big idea/entrepreneurial dream? Is it living somewhere in your subconscious thoughts? Maybe 2017 will be the year you allow those ideas to be brought to the surface and start believing that anything is possible. The year of the 9 (2016) has been about preparing and planting the seeds for the year of 10 (2017). This coming year is all about Getting. It. Done.
And in between the work, I had plenty of spare time to play
It’s amazing how much extra time is actually available when you don’t have to spend time commuting to and from an office and primping for work each morning. Easily an extra 10-15 hours of newly found time per week!
So this year, my fun included trips (five new countries this year!) And cooking tasty vegetarian food (the first full year I’ve committed nearly 100% to being a vegetarian). And I continue to learn and hone in on my Kundalini yoga practice and teaching, which I attribute to the clarity and steadiness that I’ve experienced throughout this year.
And last but not least, dating. To date and date and date. I jokingly told a guy that I dated for approximately 2 months this past fall, as 2 months seems to be the magic number in New York City to date a person before it blows up full throttle right in your face for any number of reasons, that I must have been a royal biatch in my past life. Because my dating stories are so ridiculous that the universe is now getting back at me; it’s been by far the most challenging part of this year for me, but I’m sure the man at the end of this tunnel of insanity will be beyond my wildest imagination of an honest, stable, funny guy who compliments me and he’s without a doubt, worth the wait.
How did your year of play look? Did it fulfill your wildest dreams? Because in the end, no one ever says on their death bed that they wished they spent more time in the office. #truth
Sat Nam Fest, Berkshires, summer 2016, dancing is good for the soulAnd lastly, 2016 allowed me time to think freely and question society’s norms. A LOT.
I’m not sure if it was being out of an office setting where I really started questioning every day norms in the U.S. or spending time in countries that are so opposite from the U.S. way of life (probably a little of both).
Some of my (VERY) random thoughts:
Why don’t more Americans travel outside the US? Why are Florida and Vegas the destinations of choice year after year for the vast majority of U.S. citizens? (Groan. Sorry people). Do we all assume travel outside the U.S. is too expensive, too scary, the cultural barriers are too high, are we too caught up in what’s the easy, comfortable, most popular choice? I’d love to prove you wrong. International travel is a MUST for growth, understanding how other people live and what makes the world turn. And I would be MORE than happy to help you plan your trip abroad!
People tell me all the time – it’s so good you are traveling now, because when you have kids some day and settle down, it’s just going to be impossible. Yes, I know I don’t have kids or a husband just yet and may not yet understand what that exactly entails, but you know what? I don’t believe an inkling of this bs. I adore this Go Curry Cracker post about traveling with young kids because this family will 100% be me (YES you heard right. Traveling with young kids is possible. And their kid is seriously awesome).
This idea of titles. And climbing the corporate ladder. Why do bigger and better titles equal success? Why do people even care about titles and what’s on your resume (for the record, I’m currently labeled as an “intern” on the intranet at the global health NGO where I work remotely/part time and think it’s hysterical. Yes it’s a typo). And why do more hours in an office equate to a better, more efficient, perfect employee? It doesn’t need to be. I have never been more efficient now, working on my own schedule. No one is forcing me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day whether I have the work to keep me busy or not or even feel like working during those exact hours.
The idea of keeping up with the Joneses. Need I say more? Let’s just all live our lives and do and be and consume what makes us happy and content.
I bring up this sampling of random questions because really, what do you believe or want from life? These may be norms but they don’t need to be your reality if you don’t want them to. Not in your life or on your precious time. They certainly aren’t mine.
2017, the year of the TEN! Let’s do this!
So what are your goals for this year? Mine entails launching Sat Nam babe and continuing to learn non-stop about what it takes to launch a company and have tons of fun while doing it; traveling as often as possible (for work and fun) and perhaps even entertaining the idea of living outside the country for a bit (and yes, they have a co-working space in Ubud, Bali, I’ve already checked); getting certified this Spring to teach prenatal Kundalini yoga to mamas to be (built in Sat Nam babe customers right there!) and maybe even starting my level 2 Kundalini yoga training (an organic farm in Cape Town is calling my name); teaching more Kundalini yoga on a more regular basis (so excited to be a new addition to the sub list at Golden Bridge yoga, it will be such an honor to teach where my journey began) and finally, just being fully open to what the universe throws my way, all with a full loving heart and open mind…. 🙂
There’s no time or really no excuse to be bored or complacent – if you want something, don’t use the political climate in the U.S. or any other excuse your ego is feeding to you, to not pursue what you want. At the least, you can look back and say you tried, you took a leap of faith and you came out stronger and wiser in the end.
Varanasi, India, Oct 2016Adventures in Varanasi, India – Oct 2016 – where they perform open cremations on the Ganges river
Man on the water to me: “how are you?”
Me: “Good, and you?”
Man: “Better than you.”
At first, my ego went wild. What does he mean that he’s doing better than me? He’s sitting in a wooden boat on top of polluted water, surrounded by mud and garbage and…. but then I stopped. And started to question, yes, maybe he is better than me and all of us fellow Westerners who really have it all at our fingertips if we just wake up and acknowledge our gifts. Maybe his simplicity of living life is the real treasure here. He has everything he needs and is at peace with it.
Happy almost 2017. I wish you the most incredible, happy, sweet and healthy year that you could ever imagine. Now go chase those dreams and think big!
Yesterday was one of those days in my journey to launching Sat Nam babe that I won’t forget. I was meeting with someone at my co-working space around the company’s legal needs while in these early startup stages and all of a sudden, she said, “I want to pre-sale order some of your kids’ yoga pants. How much?” Mind you, I have no product yet, just some designs on paper (aka these adorbs harem pants I’m teasing here in tribal chevron print), but plan on making samples soon! Nor have I finalized pricing. But without even seeing the product, she wanted to pre-sale order them. So after being surprised and happy of her request this early on, I made up a price on the spot (based on some level of research I’ve done around organic/socially conscious kids pants) and she handed me a check.
Harem pants, tribal chevron printThis experience for me was a reflection point in my journey to really bringing this company to life: someone is giving me money, investing in this company, in return for expectation of product in the near future.
What I’ve found over these past 6 months of talking with many people around my idea, investing in a designer, buying a web domain, starting my website, launching my social media pages, emailing possible manufacturers: all of these actions are small commitments that I’ve invested in, that I’ve put out externally into the universe and aren’t just living in my head. For me, when I verbally tell someone I am going to do something or write it in a blog post, it’s an investment in the dream of launching this company, that idea that I need to see it through.
So where am I at? I’m continuing to push hard on social media posting regularly. Sat Nam Fest next week will be a great opportunity for me to get in front of parents with small kids (truly my target audience at a yoga festival!) and capture some great photos that I’ll be posting throughout the festival. I am also meeting in a few weeks with a fashion veteran who is really into sustainable/slow fashion and will hopefully be able to help guide me with my manufacturing and supply chain strategy. SO with that said, I’m hoping for some awesome samples that I can really start to physically share with yoga studios, influencers and the like by this fall!
It’s all so exciting. It’s happening. And I have my first order 🙂 A main way that I can continue to grow my social media presence in these early stages (and I promise to share with you every stage of my journey as I experience the good, the bad and the ugly of being a first time entrepreneur) is if you help me spread the word! This will be a GREAT brand for parents of young kids and babies who are into activities such as kids’ yoga, gymnastics, etc, as well as adults who are into yoga (this will be a solid brand for kids’ gifts!) Social media info below, Sat Nam!
Six months ago, I said goodbye to my full time job of almost nine years to go work for myself. That day was bittersweet, walking away from a great organization that I still regularly volunteer for and wholeheartedly believe in the mission. But believing in the mission wasn’t enough for me to stay; to let one more day go by where I wasn’t following my dream to be my own boss, to have the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world and make my own schedule.
Taking a little trip down memory lane
Feb:
About a week after leaving my job, I went to Europe for 6 days. It was great touring Vienna and Budapest, bonding with my dear friend Nina over her insanely good vegan cooking and basking in the beauty of Budapest with its mulled wine and bathhouses.
Shortly after returning, I got to work – one very part time consulting client already going strong with two others in the works – this should be super easy to secure work, right? Wrong. Some panic started setting in as the other two opportunities fell through, along with the other gig unable to increase my hours for the near future. I had more than enough saved, yet wasn’t fully expecting to have to dip into savings to pay the rent. But yes, that happened. I panicked, I questioned my decision, but life went on. Going back to a full time job was simply not in my cards.
Foot surgery happened three days before my employer sponsored health insurance ran out. I subbed my friend’s Kundalini yoga classes through the end of March while she was in India, wearing a mini cast the whole time. I didn’t fully realize I’d be laid up in a cast with a super attractive surgery shoe for over 3 weeks. Teaching was not easy, many times no one showed up. Sometimes one or two. Sometimes people didn’t pay. I felt defeated but quickly realized my ego needed to step the heck aside.
March:
International Women’s Day (March 8th) was a great day – this was a pivotal point in my journey when I met up with a friend from growing up whose advice I took to heart. He told me that I had to sprint to the finish with my business idea. I was fired up – let’s do this! So I got on that bandwagon of going after my REAL dream of starting my own sustainable kids’ yoga fashion company much earlier than I anticipated. I spent 15 days racing to the finish to apply for Y Combinator, a very competitive startup competition. Even though this did not come to fruition, it made me put pen to paper and start to flesh out my idea.
I also started volunteering one evening a week at Golden Bridge Yoga, helping out around the studio and taking a class with my favorite teacher while there. There’s something really therapeutic about scrubbing yoga mats!
April:
Early April, I camped in a real tent for the first time in the middle of stunning Joshua Tree national park, attended my first (of now to be many!) Kundalini yoga and music festivals and returned to New York with a revived spirit and clear mind, recommitting even more to my yoga and meditation practice and my biz idea. I observed kids a lot at the festival, inspiration for my business idea and decided that parents who bring their kids to these festivals are simply the coolest (and ironically, these kids were incredibly well behaved)!
May:
I started a six-week gig teaching yoga at my good friend Laura’s job (thank you, Laura!), a supportive housing complex in Brownsville, Brooklyn that keep people who were formerly homeless, HIV positive and/or drug alcohol dependent in a supportive environment. It was a wonderful and humbling experience.
Sometime around this time, I also started more closely following Dreamers and Doers jobs and gigs on Facebook, a great group of women who have cool careers and want to support each other. Through this page, I applied for a blog gig with Yoga Today and got it! I still write for them and really enjoy mixing my love of writing and yoga/meditation, doing my part to bring Kundalini yoga more to the forefront as we enter the Aquarian Age.
I also made my first investment/real commitment in my business idea by hiring a fashion designer to bring my concept to life (thank you Allison for the lead and Casey for doing a fantastic job!)
And I also bought a bike – this may seem like a pretty normal part of life to own a bike, but biking in New York City is an animal. I’ve somehow managed to see the city in a whole new light, stay safe yet still feel adventurous and have only gotten one bike part stolen so far. The nice person who stole my bike seat decided to leave me their old one for me to use! #winning #OnlyInBrooklyn
Sunset overlooking the Gowanus Canal with a view of the World Trade Center in the distance, July 25, 2016
June:
Things came full circle for me at Golden Bridge Yoga when I tried out for a substitute teaching gig. Shortly after, I found out I got it! It felt like just yesterday that I walked into my first Kundalini class in Jan 2012 and even though I didn’t quite realize it that day, my life would never be the same. Getting the opportunity to teach at Golden Bridge, hopefully starting early this fall, is truly a dream.
I also discovered the Center For Social Innovation co-working space pretty much by accident and instantly felt a supportive and vibrant community of social entrepreneurs. I started volunteering there one day a week to be able to work in the space for free the rest of the week. I’ve met some wonderful new friends/fellow entrepreneurs and am constantly inspired by startup companies with a strong social mission such as Thinx, who are working out of this space and growing so quickly. I also secured my second client from this space; they are a wonderful organization that does work with girls’ education in Pakistan.
July:
With two clients, I was feeling pretty good. Weeks were busy, adjusting to 20% of my work week being gone due to my Wednesday co-working volunteer duties, but to this day, am making it work!
Around mid month, I applied via Dreamers and Doers yet again to another blog gig with a startup and got it! I still can’t believe that I can get paid to write, this is wonderful. July officially marks the first month where I am covering my monthly expenses without having to dip into savings; a big accomplishment!
Meet Sat Nam Babe – a socially conscious line of leisure wear for kids under age five
The idea for Sat Nam Babe came to me when I was holed up in the Baruch Library earlier this year, doing general research around the yoga industry and clothing. I came across an article that mentioned kids’ yoga and instantly, the idea surfaced: to create a line of clothing with a strong social footing for our littlest citizens with a heavy yoga and meditation influence. Lululemon and Athleta have the tween market covered, but with the yoga industry and kids’ yoga in schools starting to boom and studios popping up that cater specifically to kids’ yoga classes, I felt a connection to this idea. It’s more than a trend to me, it’s a way of living to model for our kids from a young age; it’s mindful parenting.
In the Kundalini yoga practice, the words “Sat Nam” mean that you’re being true to your identity, that we should always be true to ourselves and live out the destiny that we were meant to live during this lifetime. I can’t think of a better message to send to our littlest citizens from a young age; as they go through life and are faced with many choices, may they always be true to themselves and their wildest dreams.
What have these last six months taught me?
These past six months have been a mix of busy, scary and exhilarating, wow, do I love adventures! But it’s also been a solid reminder to not be attached to any outcome because there’s always a bigger plan and that everything works out exactly how it’s supposed to. It’s amazing how timing is truly everything and how special life can be when you can give up worry and control and let the divine energy of the universe do its job. In other words, get out of your own way and just let it happen! Also, 24 hours in a day is a lot of time to get sh%$ done. I still manage to sleep eight hours a night and make ample time for downtime and socializing; it all comes down to priorities and what is important to you.
I’ll never forget 2016; the year that I took a leap of faith. The year I started following my dreams because life is simply too short to do anything different, to be complacent and comfortable and let another day go by without acting. There are way too many people to thank who have been incredible supporters, cheerleaders and advisors to me. I love you all and feel so thankful to be on this journey. I’m certain the rest of the year will be equally as great; I’m headed to the Berskshires in exactly two weeks to serve on work exchange and get my Kundalini yoga on at Sat Nam Fest East, am in the early stages of planning a trip to Asia for early fall, am committed to continuing with my consulting/blogging work and garnering a healthy following around Sat Nam Babe. It’s been a wild ride and I wouldn’t change one moment. Sat Nam, my friends!
This past week, I met up with a friend from growing up, who got my butt into gear back in the Spring to take my business idea around kids, fashion and yoga and run with it. Since then, I’ve been pretty happy with my progress; in the past 8-10 weeks, I hired a designer to bring my design ideas to life and create a company logo; I sent a survey to a small group of close friends and influencers to weigh in on prints, silhouettes and the overall direction of the company; I’ve even landed in a pilot program through my co-working space with a lawyer for pro bono legal advice. I feel that I’ve made great progress, but need to run to the finish line faster to start testing my idea more broadly.
So this week, when my friend and I met up, I started telling him the “issues” I was currently having in terms of figuring out next steps. I was wrapped up in having to pinpoint the most accurate price point for my products, which would entail finalizing sourcing about six different steps across the entire supply chain. While telling him this, he portrayed the simple and direct message to me that I needed to hear: to get out of my own way and not create problems that don’t yet exist.
Random photo that I recently took in Williamsburg, Brooklyn of a girl and her pet raccoon.
I took his advice to heart, have put the supply chain fun off to the side for now and am doing what makes the most sense right now (and is more my sweet spot) which is to finalize my website cover page and start driving people to this page to collect email addresses. I’m also going to start reaching out to various yoga studios in NYC this week to start building relationships and gauge initial interest in carrying my product. I feel much lighter and re-energized after this conversation to keep moving forward and to ensure that I build in time each week in between my paid clients and fun Brooklyn socializing to focus on my business.
My mind wandered earlier this week to a beautiful vision that I had during a meditation in my Kundalini teacher training last fall in Cape Town. The vision included me working from an outdoor space in my home on a cliff overlooking some beautiful ocean water in a different country. Whenever I feel like I’m teetering off my path just a bit, that beautiful image comes back to me often and reminds me that I am meant to be my own boss, fulfill my own destiny and stay true to those wild (and attainable) dreams.
I’m excited to share the landing page of my site with you very soon! Sat nam!
“Your gifts were given to you so you can live your destiny.” – One of the many great quotes I captured during Kundalini yoga teaching training from my teachers, Cape Town South Africa, Sept/Oct 2015
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Deemed as the unofficial start of summer, an extended, long weekend we all cherish, wanting it to last forever until next Tuesday morning, which will mean the end of the barbeques, beach and socializing and back to work.
Since I left my full time job almost four months ago, there have been a few mornings where I’ve had to take the subway into Manhattan during rush hour. I look around and everyone literally looks miserable. Why is this? Is your job/life/situation truly that horrible? Are people really this unhappy?
Sunset last evening, rooftop in Greenpoint Brooklyn
Apparently they are, according to a Forbes.com article I recently came across, titled “The Top 8 Things People Desperately Desire But Can’t Seem to Attain.” The survey results talk about topics such as happiness, money and fulfillment. We’ve likely all read similar lists like this before, but seriously, why are people so unhappy? Why do people live for the weekend when the average person (assuming you live to 75) will only experience 3,900 weekends in an entire lifetime? Sheryl Sandberg’s Berkeley graduation speech summed up life and living so beautifully in reference to her late husband’s unexpected death: if you knew you only had 11 days left to live, how would you spend those days?
Perhaps society is so unfulfilled because success (at least in the U.S.) is more so measured by our titles, how many hours we spend in the office, how attached we are to our work email and how much money we make, instead of how many stamps are in our passport, how many lives we’ve personally helped to shape and what we are doing to serve humanity. How about we stop allowing society to shape how we define success and define our own success, chart our own path?
In the past four months, even though I’m still figuring it out, living on a shoestring budget and giving my faith over to the universe to guide my next move, I’ve truly never been happier. Doors naturally open, each and every day is different and inspiring, I set my own schedule, I’m working on a dream of starting my own business (by the way, I have my first round of designs back from the fashion designer, I’m in love with them!) It’s quite incredible. I only hope that anyone who can relate to the Forbes article can perhaps think about redefining what happiness and success means to them and not society’s definition and if you’re unfulfilled, make it your top priority to get to a better place.
We are almost half way through 2016 already, it’s amazing how quickly time passes. Are you spending your time the way that you want to? On Dec. 31, when that ball drops at midnight welcoming in 2017, will you be content with how 2016 shaped up? I hope so. There’s still time this year to make a change and own your destiny. In the meantime, enjoy each and every moment of your long holiday weekend. If you’re not in NYC, our sunsets are epic – see the one last night that I got to witness on a dear friend’s roof top. Life is truly good.
This afternoon, I’ve decided to celebrate some successes from the week and go do something that has been sitting on my mental to do list for a while, which is to head over to the Red Hook Winery and do some wine tasting. Solo. A friend and I tried organizing this last year, but as life and busy schedules have it, she canceled on me and I never went. Being the scrappy “working for myself” gal that I am, the plan is to ride my bike over and then take the free Ikea bus back to my apartment, with bike and all! #NoShame
There is a beauty, a strength, an unwavering power, that you have when you can go do things solo. I learned this pretty quickly just around the time when I turned 30 and thought my world was ending when my boyfriend at the time broke up with me. I didn’t see it coming and thought he was “the one.” I called my dad balling, with the exact words, “I just want to be married!!” Wow. I couldn’t have been more off at that time in my life. So incredibly off.
I can tell you, if I had been married five years ago, my life would have turned out so different. Who knows if I would have ever pursued my dream to go to business school, traveled solo to Asia (that’s me in Bali, Aug 2014), enrolled on a whim in a month long kundalini yoga teacher training in South Africa that’s changed my world, moved to Brooklyn and the list goes on. Not that marriage would have stopped me from doing any of this, but there’s a good chance my life would have simply turned out different.
I used to have all of these requirements, such as, he needed to live in Manhattan (who wants to commute to gasp, a borough, let alone New Jersey?!), be above 5’11” (I know, cray) and who knows what other ridiculous requirements I used to have. Much of that has of course changed over the years. In my yoga teacher training, we talked about marriage being a spiritual union, that couples need to be able to support their partner in their spiritual journey in life. That certainly rings a bell much louder and clearer to me now verse how tall the dude is.
My dating life nonetheless never ceases to amaze me and provides an endless source of laughter, entertainment and yes, sometimes frustration, to my girlfriends and me. My friends tell me that I have enough stories to write a book (maybe some day). A relatively new beau who I likeeeee was a national Sanskrit champion in India three years in a row when growing up (I like my men smart, really really smart). And then there was the rapper, the bi-polar CEO and the guy who told me he washed ducks for a living while pursuing his PhD, which to this day, I have no idea if he was telling me the truth. The date with duck man happened to be on the same night and in the same bar where I met the rapper while on the date with duck man. Can’t make this sh*t up.
There are no regrets, the dating stories and experiences are funny and regardless of whether I like the dude or not, I always learn something new. But perhaps soon, I will finally be able to meet the right guy. I finally feel ready. But fate will tell. In the meantime, please do send all eligible men my way, they MUST love frequent international travel, be funny, keep me on my toes and be able to keep up with my spontaneous look at life!
For my friends who are perhaps staying in relationships because you feel like you’ve already invested too many months, years, you’re too old, you want kids, you’ll never find someone else at this stage in life, you’re too scared to leave a relationship, to be alone, the societal pressure, the family pressure, all I can say is that I’m so sorry for this. I’ve felt all of these feelings at one point in my life as well. However, there’s something incredibly powerful about walking away if the situation is not serving you. You deserve to be happy, to get what you want, to not feel trapped or unfulfilled, to not be pressured by utterly ridiculous norms. You can successfully move on and live the life you’ve always dreamed of without said guy (or gal). And maybe you’ll even want to go on the adventure of a lifetime and book that solo trip to somewhere in this vast and beautiful world that you’ve only imagined in your dreams.
SO onto the news…the most exciting news of the week outside of the fact that I took a yoga class with the infamous Rodney Yee (you may own one of his yoga videos!) is that I was asked to start blogging for Yoga Today. They have a big following and offer some amazing videos where you can do yoga from anywhere, all filmed in breathtaking Jackson Hole. I’m really excited to write my first post for them and as of now, have no idea what I will write! Given that I will be including this personal blog in my bio, I will likely give it a new name as it’s evolved since when I started it over a year ago right out of grad school and perhaps give it its own Facebook page in the next week or so (moving on up!)
Lastly, a shameless plug to sign up to get email alerts when a new blog post is up! If you like my posts (and many times, I am posting Sunday evenings at 9pm because this is when I have time to write, so you may be missing them), please do sign up. For you early adopters who have already signed up, thank you so much! I will start becoming better at using the email function very soon so you actually do get these posts in your inbox 🙂
Thank you all for your continued love and support on this exciting journey. Have a magical weekend whether you’re rolling solo or with your clan. Sat nam!
Jennifer Coulombe 