IAM2353 – International Yoga Teacher Helps Clients Destress With Yoga

Title: Transcript - Sat, 04 Jan 2025 19:48:45 GMT

Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2025 19:48:45 GMT, Duration: [00:16:53.97]

[00:00:00.16] - Sarah Highfield

You know, relationships for me are key and the type of people who I work with, they're not simply looking for just a yoga class, they're looking for a much more rounded experience. So not only do I teach yoga, which is obviously the thing that I really do best, but I'm always very present with my students and I'm on hand to offer lots of yoga advice and often I end up having coffee with my students after the class to talk more about their yoga and well being.

[00:00:26.16] - Intro

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 Harkness 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.

[00:00:51.28] - Gresham Harkless

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gretch from the I Am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Sarah Highfield of Yoga Jais. Sarah, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:01:00.42] - Sarah Highfield

Thank you, thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be on the show.

[00:01:03.61] - Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Sarah so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing and. Sarah Highfield is an international yoga teacher based in London, UK and is the founder of Yoga Jazz Yoga. Sarah is one of London's most sought after yoga teachers with a formidable private client list and has taught at some of London's best studios including form and Bodyism. Sarah is a certified nutrition coach. She works with exclusive international fitness retreats including Helios Training and has appeared on the pages of OM Yoga Magazine, the Time, the Financial Times, the Daily Magazine, BBC and Marie Claire. Sarah, are you ready to speak to the IMCO community?

[00:01:42.87] - Sarah Highfield

Yeah, I'm ready.

[00:01:44.25] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

[00:01:51.29] - Sarah Highfield

Sure. So up until four years ago I used to work in public relations here in London and I used to manage the international PR activity for clients such as British Airways, Darwood hotels, really big clients and I was working it quite well. Agencies including Edelman, Franklin, Hillard, Grayling. So this probably won't be much to you if you're not in the world of pr, but they're really reputable agencies. I had a great job, but I think I always Wanted something more. So the way I got into my business and becoming a yoga teacher is four years ago, I was literally sitting at my computer in the office. It was a beautiful Sunny Morning in May 2015, and I was actually gazing out of the window, admiring the sunshine, thinking, you know what? It's hardly ever that sunny in London. And when the sun does come out, you've got to be out in the sunshine. It's really funny because in London, when the sun comes out, like in the spring or the summer, everybody just runs out to the park and starts sunbathing. Anyway, I'm staring out the window, realizing that I wasn't going to get to see any of the sunshine or actually go into the sunshine. Sorry. Because then you had to work until like, 8pm that night. I had so much work to do. And it's not because I was being inefficient. I was simply overworked and probably underpaid, too. So it was sort of at this point, and literally, like in the space of the day, it all sort of came about. I realized, you know, at this point in May 2015, I was 32 years old. These are good years of my life. Some people might even say the best years of your life. You know, you're young, you're fit, you're healthy. And I just thought, this is not how I want to be living. I don't want to be sitting behind a computer for the rest of my life. You know, just working away until I retire and eventually die. Like, there has to be something more. And I had always been into yoga. I'd been doing yoga from my early 20s as a hobby. I've always loved it. And I'd actually thought about becoming a yoga teacher in my 20s, but I was too scared, thinking, you know, how will I make money and how will I find work? And is the work even consistent? You had a lot of questions about it. I was thinking, putting up those teachers out there, I was like, you know what? Like, just try it. Like, you've always wanted to be a yoga teacher. Just do it. Like it's better to try and fail than to not try at all. And so that was sort of the start of me quitting my job pretty much that day and changing everything in my life.

[00:04:20.69] - Gresham Harkless

Well, that's definitely courageous of you because I know there's a lot of people that might be listening to this and even sitting and looking at the sunshine and wanting to go outside and sunbathe, you know, just like, as you saw, but there's just so many, you know, opportunities. Sometimes people are afraid to take that leap of faith. But it's been awesome that you've been able to do that. And you know, by being able to tell your story and do that, you're definitely empowering others to do that as well.

[00:04:40.83] - Sarah Highfield

Good, good. And, and I almost feel like there's a lot of stories like this out which do empower people, but at the time I just wasn't hearing them. And I feel like if I had had more of that, you know, I would have made that decision sooner.

[00:04:54.82] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, exactly, exactly. But better. Well, at any time, it's always good. I would say, I was about to say better late than never, but anytime, you know, sometimes don't think that, you know, we're too young, you know, to whatever, to take that leap and to go after your dreams, to go after what you're, what you're quote, unquote put on this earth for. But it's always the right time to do that and I appreciate you for doing that as well. And I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and I know you touched on a little bit. Could you tell us what you do to kind of help support the clients that you're working with?

[00:05:21.93] - Sarah Highfield

So, yeah. I am a yoga teacher. First and foremost, I teach group classes. So in a studio, for example, those are group classes. I also do a lot of private classes, a lot of one on one classes. In fact, that's probably my main source of income. And in London, you know, there's just such a big pool of people who want private yoga classes and you know, I was scared of being able to get those classes, but there are plenty of people who need classes. I also do yoga events, so I run my own event, yoga jazz event. And I also collaborate with different brands on their events because brands are all getting into wellness now. So they can do like a yoga event and pair it up with their brand or find some kind of link, you know, it's always going to be popular. I've worked on pop ups like pop up classes at events. For example, I did a London Fashion Week pop up yoga class with models which was quite fun. I work on yoga retreats, so you mentioned in the intro, I've been working with Helios retreats and they do stuff in Mykonos in Greece. I work on a yoga teacher training. So I'm actually helping students to become teachers now with a company called Inspiring Yoga. And I'm not the main teacher. I mean, I don't have even half as much experience as I need for that. But I work alongside two other teachers who are sort of the lead teacher from the training. And I write yoga articles. Like I've contributed to magazines and yoga websites and so on. I'm also getting into giving motivational talks, which is quite fun. And I did a big talk in Barcelona in September last year. So like five months ago, and I was talking at an international shell conference. So they were having a big marketing conference and they were getting people in from lots of different countries all into one meeting. And I did a talk on wellness and how to de stress. So that was quite a lot of fun. That was pretty scary actually. But that's what I do. And while I am London based, I do teach yoga in other places as well. So I've taught in Hong Kong, I've taught in Antigua, I've taught in Greece, in Spain. I really love to travel with my work if I can.

[00:07:23.62] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, it sounds like you touch all parts of the globe, which is definitely awesome. So everybody can appreciate, you know that and benefit from, you know, all the awesome things that you're doing. And you might have touched on this a little bit. But I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or your organization and sets you guys apart.

[00:07:39.72] - Sarah Highfield

Okay. So I would say, and I feel like a lot of people, companies, CEOs will say this, but I'm big on investing time in and cultivating relationships. So relationships for me are key. And the type of people who I work with, they're not simply looking for just a yoga class. They're looking for a much more rounded experience. So not only do I teach yoga, which is obviously the thing that I really do best, but I'm always very present with my students and I'm on hand, offer lots of yoga advice and often I end up having coffee with my students after the class to talk more about their yoga and well being. So, you know, because of this I have really loyal students and who I've been teaching for, for years, I think, you know, since 2015. And I feel like there's a really good amount of mutual respect between us.

[00:08:29.11] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And definitely, you know, because sometimes, you know people, when people realize that you actually care and that you're taking asking that extra step or taking it to another level where you're having coffee with them after class definitely shows that you're caring and then it definitely shows that, you know, you're looking out for not just, you know, they're able to do X and Y pose the perfect way, but Also that they're, they' reaching their health and wellness goals as well.

[00:08:50.47] - Sarah Highfield

Absolutely.

[00:08:51.38] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that you feel like makes you more effective and efficient.

[00:09:03.17] - Sarah Highfield

Okay, so this one is, this one is quite specific to me as a yoga teacher. I don't know if it's one that other CEO can gain from, but if there are people listening who like me four or five years ago, we sort of have these thoughts. I think this one will help. So it's about treating my business seriously from day one. And, and that's why I'm saying this doesn't apply to everyone because people should do this anyway in any business. But when it comes to yoga, I really wasn't sure where to begin or how to start. And when I did my yoga teacher training, like, and on most yoga teacher training and kind of tell you, like, there'll be like a lecture on the business of yoga and how to sort of start, but they don't really give you that much practical advice or information. So I was a little bit lost and I was wondering, like, what do I do? How do I start? Do I just throw around to yoga studios, like put an advert out, like, what do I do and how. So I was coming out of when the training finished, I was thinking, like, how can I, like, first of all, should I go back into pr? Because I was quite confused, but part of me was like, if I don't try now, I'm never going to know. And then I was thinking sort of financially. So this was, this was all sort of end of summer when I finished my yoga teacher training in 2015, financially, I was thinking, okay, I have enough savings to sort of last, you know, quite comfortably. So why don't I try now? Because obviously, you know, it's a real waste of time. Doing what this yoga, kids training. I'm not going to use it at all. I'm not going to try. I would much rather try and fail than not try at all.

[00:10:29.90] - Gresham Harkless

Right?

[00:10:30.38] - Sarah Highfield

And then I was telling my boyfriend, I said to him, you know, these are my thoughts and what do you think? He's like, okay, that's fine. Like, if you want to be a yoga teacher, do it properly. Treat your business seriously, you know, like, cute. Back to when you were working in pr, what did you do? I was like, well, a lot of admin, I made spreadsheets for everything. So I thought, you know what, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do the same for my yoga teaching. So I had to create a spreadsheet and start plotting out timelines and deadlines, you know, thinking sort of quite practically like what do I need to do and when do I need to do it by? Especially if I want to be up and running and making enough money by Easter to sort of sustain myself and continue. I don't want to have to pack it all in by Easter. But that's sort of my deadline. So I had to list out all these sort of potential revenue streams which were open to me as a teacher and then work out how I was going to make it happen together. Like a big email database, look at budgeting, create business cards and flyers, pull together a yoga cv, which is quite fun. At that point I was like, what do I put on this yoga cv? I have no experience and here's a picture of me doing ecosystem. But you know, like some studios do ask for that, they just ask sort of like what styles you teach. They do pictures and so on. So I also had to look at yoga teacher insurance and like there was this whole list of things that I sort of created and I also googled like setting up as a yoga teacher and local things came up and I had to put all of those into my spreadsheet. So that was basically my hack. I said it in a very long winded way. But taking my business seriously is what sort of made it happen. I know a lot of people come out of the yoga teacher training and they do try to become teachers. They sort of, you know, sitting around not really sure what to do and then it doesn't work out. So that's how I think I made it happen.

[00:12:13.00] - Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. Because you know, you have a goal and sometimes when you have a passion for something that you're doing, I mean, whether you're trying to make it a side hustle to a full time hustle, or like you are, you know, going through training and wanting to figure out how to grow the business, sometimes you have to break it down to those specific steps that you have to do to achieve that goal. So it's great to see that you were able to do that and the way you did it was going back to look at, you know, things that you did, you know, in your job and those principles sounds like and habits that you had, you translated that over to your business and were able to reach your goal. So I definitely appreciate you for sharing that and I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

[00:12:53.99] - Sarah Highfield

I think that, and I've said this already, strong relationships are key. I really do. And I know that there are plenty of yoga teachers in London and trust me, there is no shortage. I mean I say between you and I, but between everyone. You know, becoming a yoga teacher is not rocket science. You don't need to be like super, super smart and it's not hard. The minimum, sort of the minimum requirement that most students will ask for is 200 hour yoga teacher training certificate, usually accredited by either Yoga alliance or Yoga or one of those governing bodies that are very well known. So there are plenty of yoga teachers in London and competition is really fierce. But not all the yoga teachers are creating the relationships with their audience that generates into consistent sales. And I really feel like, you know, because of something that I've worked on, it's something that sort of come back to me in the long term. And you know, I would tell my younger business staff, you know, invest time in people, invest time into networking, going to yoga events, going to different yoga studios, talking to the people there and so on because this is how your network will grow and offer you many different opportunities. That's my CEO nugget.

[00:14:01.63] - Gresham Harkless

I love that. Because relationships are key and it helps you to build a long term business as well too because you're not just doing transactional things. You're not just having somebody sign up for your class. You're creating long term relationships. And that's how you create the following that you've been able to create, which I think is admirable and very important for everybody to remember and understand. So appreciate you for that. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. But Sarah, I want to ask you, what does being a CEO means?

[00:14:28.90] - Sarah Highfield

Okay, so to me it means owning your business. I really owning it. And no matter how big or small it is, you know, my business at the moment is just me. But I listen to what people want and I own what I do. And I provide yoga classes which my students enjoy and because of that they feel less stressed, more confident, more balanced and more content in themselves. That makes me feel good. So, you know, offering my students a service they really want and owning What I do, I think that's for me, my CEO definition.

[00:15:02.23] - Gresham Harkless

I love that definition and I feel like that's something that resonates with someone no matter how big or small the business is. Because a lot of times you have to put your clients first and you have to build those relationships, as you mentioned as well too. And if you have that mentality, you will always be able to be in business and be developing relationships and create something awesome, which I think you're doing as well. So I truly appreciate you, Sarah, for taking some time out. What I want to do is pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and then of course, how best they can find you and get a hold of you.

[00:15:30.30] - Sarah Highfield

People can contact me via my website, which is www.yogajides.com which is spelled Y O G A G I S E. Or you can find me on Facebook. I think it's facebook.com yogajais or on Instagram and Twitter. I'm Arahifeld S A R A H H I G H F I E L D or I'm Ogajais. So I'm across all the different social media platforms.

[00:16:00.84] - Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I truly appreciate you Sarah and what we'll do is we'll have all those links in the show notes just so that they can follow you and hear and see all the awesome things that you're doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:16:12.21] - Sarah Highfield

Thank you so much.

[00:16:13.57] - Intro

Thank you for listening to The I Am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue16 Media. To tune in next time and visit us at imceo Co. Imceo is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and everywhere you listen to podcasts, subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This has been the IM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless jr. Thank you for listening.