IAM102 – Owners of Yoga Studio Offer an Escape from The Frantic DC Lifestyle

Co-Owner and Director of Teacher Training, Kathryn Taron was a Division I long-distance runner who found yoga while on a quest to heal an injury. After completely recovering from the injury, she continued to cultivate her practice on the North Shore of Oahu and around the world. She understands the struggle to balance competitive drive with respect for the body’s limits. She teaches yoga to empower others to engage in self-healing. During her classes, Kathryn focuses heavily on proper alignment and mindfully linking movements with breath.

Co-Owner, Lindsey Canaley discovered yoga 15 years ago via a VHS workout tape as a teenager in her native Los Angeles. After a personal practice for many years, she got the courage to step foot in a real yoga studio in DC in 2011 and fell in love all over again. She believes in a playful practice and tries not to take herself too seriously. At classes with Lindsey, you can expect high energy, creative flows with a little restorative yoga thrown in for a well-rounded sweat session on the mat. For her personal practice, she loves vinyasa, power, yin, and restorative yoga equally. Lindsey is a RYT-200 and completed her studies at Tranquil Space and her prenatal training at Mind the Mat. When not in the studio, she's probably snuggling her one-year-old daughter or one of her three kitties.

• CEO Hack: Time blocking
• CEO Nugget: Hire slowly and fire quickly / Partnerships are never easy / Create your own tribe
• CEO Defined: You own both successes and failures / CEO – visionary, looking forward or do more of the mission

Website: http://www.refreshyogacenter.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RefreshYogaCenter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refreshyogacenter/

Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresham Harkless from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have two very special guests on the show today. I have Kat and Lindsey from Refresh Yoga Center located in the heart of Alexandria. It's great to have you both on the show.

Kathryn Taron 0:39

Thanks

Lindsey Canaley 0:40

Thanks.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

No problem, no problem. And what I wanted to do was just kind of kick off the show to kind of hear a little bit more about Refresh Yoga Studio and all the awesome things that you're doing. So, I wanted to hear about your CEO story is what I call it, and kind of like what led you guys to start your business.

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Kathryn Taron 0:53

Sure. So, this is Kat I was at Refresh first as a teacher, so we aren't founders. But when the opportunity presented itself to become owners, we both jumped at it.

Lindsey Canaley 1:04

Yeah, this is Lindsey, actually, a pretty similar story I was teaching and had an opportunity to come in it was an order to the business, we both came to the studio as teachers because loved the practice, and loved sharing it with others ownership being able to cultivate a community under shared values that are important to you. So, that's what really happened to us.

Gresham Harkless 1:24

Okay, that makes sense. And I always wondered that, I was just going to ask if you always find that people that start out as yoga teachers, end up wanting to be an owner just because they enjoy yoga so much.

Kathryn Taron 1:34

It's very common, but it's not always something I would recommend for every teacher. And because we also run teacher training and some people come out with that dream. It's so it's hard to balance being a business owner and being a yoga teacher. And sometimes people think those are in conflict.

Gresham Harkless 1:48

Okay

Kathryn Taron 1:48

So, it can be a struggle for some, and it's also really rewarding. So, for us, we try to balance that.

Lindsey Canaley 1:56

And not all of the qualities that make you a good yoga teacher necessarily make you a good entrepreneur. And so we certainly see that happening occasionally, especially in communities that are underserved, don't have a lot of yoga available, that will naturally happen is that somebody who's very passionate about the practice, it was the hardest service, but if you don't have some that business background, or the thick skin and the willingness to learn how to do it, but the only little word to say no, sometimes

Kathryn Taron 2:28

Uh, yeah

Lindsey Canaley 2:28

We all just want to serve and give and help. But you have to also look after yourself.

Kathryn Taron 2:33

Yeah, fill your cup first. So, sometimes we do see yoga teachers that will kind of go down that journey and crash and burn for lots of reasons. And not all of them are necessarily their fault. It's definitely not an easy business.

Gresham Harkless 2:45

Yeah, that makes sense. And like you said, one of the reasons I love interviewing entrepreneurs and business owners that I call healthy CEOs is because you guys have that triple bottom line where it's about your course profits and generating revenue. But it's also about having that helpful attitude that you have with all the people that come in as clients that you work with.

Kathryn Taron 3:03

Right. That passion.

Gresham Harkless 3:05

Exactly. So, I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and ask you for what I call like the way that you serve the clients that you work with your products and services. What do you have to do here at Refresh?

Kathryn Taron 3:15

Sure, absolutely. So we're primarily a Yoga Center is part of the name in it, we're what's called a Vinyasa Studio. So, most of our classes are flowing. We go to all levels, though, from beginner to quote-unquote, advanced, or very challenging physical practice. But then there's prenatal, sometimes just stretch classes are really those are some of our most popular classes. And Perry said prenatal but teacher training and then we have Reiki which is an energetic therapy and massage.

Gresham Harkless 3:42

Okay, that makes perfect sense. That's, I guess that's the full gamut of everything you can have as far as yoga.

Lindsey Canaley 3:47

Well, there's always we could have had goats or something.

Gresham Harkless 3:51

I've seen that

Lindsey Canaley 3:52

We didn't I didn't mention restorative. So, there's always something else you can combine or core-focused practice, but we try to keep it grounded in whatever just community needs. We say, embrace the journey. And that's one of our core values so we tried to help from prenatal to postnatal, from beginner to teacher, and just kind of service it staying focused but casting someone to a wide net to help everybody.

Kathryn Taron 4:23

Well, that's the perfect word to use is community. A healthy thriving studio was a mirror of the community around them. And one of the things that we found is that the practice that we provide does target a little bit more older populations, athletes, and people that have other practices than they do.

They're runners, they, their athletes, they have other movement practices, and they come to us for mobility for restorative for cross training, they end up staying and making it like a core part of their movement, which is really cool to be a part of but that helps influence how the studio looks the people who come, I believe it makes it a little bit more accessible.

Lindsey Canaley 5:06

Yes, we're not we're all-inclusive.

Kathryn Taron 5:09

Yeah. So, I know a lot of people can walk into the studio and it can feel like very, like an in-group or clique.

Lindsey Canaley 5:15

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 5:16

Stuff like that.

Kathryn Taron 5:16

Yeah. It's intimidating. And we really, really try to make everybody feel welcome. Even if it's the first class you've ever taken, you don't have a Mat. In the western practice of yoga, we tend to go after the physical part first. And then people notice later, the mental benefits some of the more spiritual benefits, we're not dogmatic, but it sort of comes organically, when you learn how to sit still, for just even a minute for some people is a challenge. At first, you start to reap the rewards in your mental stamina.

Gresham Harkless 5:49

Now, that makes sense. And I know that a lot of people, especially if they're using or trying yoga, for the very first time, they're probably a little bit intimidated. They see this stuff on Instagram, and they're like, oh, I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to make myself into a pretzel.

Kathryn Taron 6:01

I don't know how to do that. I don't really see anything practical to that.

Gresham Harkless 6:07

I feel like that was Photoshop or something like that.

Lindsey Canaley 6:12

Not to toot your own horn. But if you look at our Instagram, you're not gonna find posts like that. It's not about the physical, like, I'll joke sometimes in the classes that I teach, like, I know that this pose looks like this in Yoga Journal. But like, rather than turning your head this way, maybe think about turning it the other way. Like, why would you put undue pressure on your body if this isn't the goal? So that's something that we really try and drive home that it's less about what it looks like and more about, like how you need to feel right.

Gresham Harkless 6:39

Right. That makes sense. Okay, so now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And some people have called it their superpower or something that distinguishes them. So what do you guys feel like either your secret sauces or maybe even for the organization and company?

Lindsey Canaley 6:52

Well, one of the things that I think we use certainly bring to this particular community of Old Town is small classes, very intimate, welcoming, kind of what we were talking about before yoga T coming into a yoga studio for this person can be really intimidating.

So, we've put a lot of time and attention, and education into our programs that are really forward facing the beginner series is primarily what comes to mind. It's a four-week program that we offer every couple of months, not necessarily every month, but students are encouraged to come in, they come for four weeks, every Monday night, typically, and they're with other people who are starting their journey together.

So, it's a safe space, where they can explore learn some of the basics, and then kind of go from there. And we found that has been a really good entry point. For a lot of new people who are new to the studio, people who are new to yoga, it's less scary than just wandering into a class where they don't understand what vinyasa means. We kind of tend to breeze by within our own community because we know people who know what that means. Most consumers if they're coming up with art, we're on the second floor. For those of you who don't know, we're above an ice cream shop, which we joke is balance. To actually like come up the stairs and like I don't know what vinyasa means. I don't know what structure refresh classes are, but beginners are pretty universal. And that can feel a lot safer.

Kathryn Taron 8:11

Absolutely. So, I would just this is Kat again, I would just piggyback on that. Yeah, with we actually limit our class sizes. So, you're not going to come in and feel like I started getting packed in there. Because it's, there's merit to that. But we really, it's important for the teacher to be able to see every student. And we also offer hands-on adjustments in all of our classes with permission, of course. And that just means that you're gonna get a little bit of contact and like some of that healing touch. I don't know, I don't want to say that necessarily.

But people really benefit from that and having just a little slight variance with their posture, can make it just that energy transfer, I think is really unique. And not all students are offering it anymore. It's because it can be a delicate thing to offer. And also we do have a massage, and that is not always available, but it's a complement to the practice course.

Gresham Harkless 9:01

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate it. And what I wanted to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you guys for what I call a CEO hack. And this could be an app or book or even a habit that you guys might have that makes you more effective and efficient as business owners.

Kathryn Taron 9:12

This is my favorite question. Because I think about this all the time. I love podcasts to talk about entrepreneurship because CEO, I would say if I had to pick one thing, it would be time blocking. One of the things that I found is being an entrepreneur, the to-do list doesn't have an end. Like if you've reached the end of your to-do list like you need to go back and find something else. You're like selling your business. Always growing could always be diversifying.

You can always be doing things better. And there's like really there's beauty in that. There's a challenge in that which I think some entrepreneurs that love being entrepreneurs thrive on. But what it creates is this dual system where you have the work and then you have the mental load that works and if you don't have strategies in place for keeping those in their zones, it can be overwhelming.

So, one of the ways that I do that is by time blocking. By actually taking my calendar and blocking up the day from 9 to 10, I'm looking at our entire block or email account from 10 to 11. I'm like doing some social media posting, or I'm responding to people on social media, it doesn't always look exactly like that. But I find that if I clear all my tabs are I closed them, nobody closes tabs, and I minimize. Important things to that menu. And I just keep what's in front of me, it may not be a full hour, it may just be a 20-minute block. But if I do that, and I'm very purposeful, it feels less overwhelming.

Gresham Harkless 10:41

That makes sense. Yeah, I'm really big into time blocking as well, too. So, especially when you're trying to run a business, there are so many different things that you have to do, but to be able to like break it down into smaller bites, you can make it a lot easier to be successful.

Kathryn Taron 10:52

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 10:54

Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice that you have or always say if you jump into a time machine and go back in the past, what would you tell your younger business self?

Lindsey Canaley 11:05

I'll take that one. And I didn't come up with this. And at first, I think it doesn't sound very yogic. Everybody, I think as hurts to hire slowly, and fire quickly, I wrestle with this a lot. But I think, you know, almost instantly when the energy is not right, right? It's just not compatible, why try to foster some kind of relationship that's can be either toxic or just not beneficial to either party? And it's better just to let it go.

And in the end, you're always relieved, rather than stressing anymore, and take the time to find the right people, the way it works here, like people that we hire from within the community, usually, so some of our students have become our best teachers, and our best employees. So, people that share our values. And that makes it much easier.

Kathryn Taron 11:47

Yeah, and I will say, partnerships are never easy. They can hit groups, and they can hit, you know, rough spots. And working with cats has been incredible. But the one thing in the beginning, I was like, I really resisted this idea, because I'm used to liking, I want to make split decisions, I can go with my gut, and hey, we got a really good person here. Let's take a chance. And every time I've pushed back, she's been right. She's a really good reader of energy.

Lindsey Canaley 12:15

Okay, you were right about that

Kathryn Taron 12:21

Using my mistakes.

Lindsey Canaley 12:25

Yeah, so But it's been fun. True. I mean, we were just talking, but this comes up and end up starting to come around like, Okay, we'll go a little slower, like a week, or so gonna be I'll have to teach a couple of extra classes until we find the right fit for that particular time or that day or for the studio overall. Thankfully, we have that luxury and that we are, we both teach, and we are able to step in as needed when stuff comes up.

Gresham Harkless 12:57

When life happens, that makes perfect sense. Awesome. Well, now I wanted to ask you my favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So I wanted to ask you both, what being a CEO means to you.

Lindsey Canaley 13:08

CEO, it sounds I think you've covered this in other episodes. But yeah, we don't see ourselves as the sort of CEO of Samsung. Simply being CEO means you own both successes and failures. Bottom line

Kathryn Taron 13:22

I love that sometimes when I think about CEO, I think about all the C suite and the different roles that go with it. And one of the things that I'm finding is, it will, in my experience that typically a good organization is going to have two essential head roles. And sometimes it's the same person, but I like to, to sort of divide it into like a CEO, somebody who's very operationally focused and making sure that the cogs are on time.

And then the CEO is much more like a visionary, much more strategy, marketing, outreach growth. So, whenever I think of just CEO in that sense, I think of somebody who's looking forward and looking to take the business to the next level or do more of what their mission is, such as for us bringing yoga to this community.

Gresham Harkless 14:09

Awesome. Well, I appreciate both of you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do was faster the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know, and then how can we find out about Refresh Yoga?

Kathryn Taron 14:20

Well, I just recommend everyone go to our website, refreshyogacenter.com. And you'll see all of the amazing workshops that we're hosting in our teacher training program, which is by far something I'm most proud of, I think is one of the things I'm most proud of here. Again, it's an intimate setting. And we really challenge our students to go deeper, looking into themselves looking at their practice, and they have just blossomed and they share it with everyone. So I'm really proud of that.

And read our blog, you do all that stuff and just come visit us. We're in King Street. It's beautiful down here. We'd love to host you. I second all of that. One of the things I'm always thinking about again, because this is one thing I love reading, and there's a lot of energy towards taking your business to the next level, and sometimes that's taking a virtual or doing something that's going to impact like outside of your local community.

So, it's been a really interesting challenge to do a business that's so local, how can I do both things? How can I serve my community, but also be of that growth mindset? And one of the ways that I've done it, I feel like I kind of scratch that itch personally is by getting really connected with other entrepreneurs through business groups through and typically through Facebook-driven groups. Sometimes that's just studio owners.

So, I would encourage you, if you are in one of those categories, I'm so to do but if you own a business, and you're looking for opportunities to collaborate, like definitely reach out we love talking about how we grow our businesses, sometimes the things we learn are translatable to other industries, sometimes they're not, but honestly, it can be we found it can be a really isolating business, we're lucky in that I have a partner or partners, but we have reached out to other studios, even local studios and past to do collaborative events.

And it's like we get the sense that they have no one to talk to. So, you know, isolating being an entrepreneur can be, and like you have to kind of create a tribe and if that means that you are on the other side of the country or other side of the world. We're always open to collaborating and sharing stories. Sure, share ideas.

Lindsey Canaley 16:16

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 16:16

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I appreciate both of you for taking some time out. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Kathryn Taron 16:20

Thank you.

Lindsey Canaley 16:21

Thank you.

Outro 16:21

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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