Last EcoHour, DC EcoWomen learned a great deal from Kimberly Wilson, director and founder of Tranquil Space yoga studio. This successful young woman has managed to create a business plan that integrates tenacious entrepreneurship with the zen that only yoga provides. Wilson is currently working to finish a master’s degree in social work and has little business experience but shared with us how she acquired her savvy. Read below to hear her story and learn why “running a business is a lot like yoga.”
When starting up a business, Wilson first found her center. She planned, gathered resources, made lists, and mentally prepared herself for the tasks ahead. Next, she honed in on her intentions. What was it that she wanted to create and offer? Once she developed her plan, she created momentum and started with foundational marketing products such as business cards, a website, and a location. Finally, she generated customers and established a consistent flow. In her mind, she envisioned these steps as the stages of a yoga class, where participants find their own centers, warm up and build energy, and find their crescendos before winding down into relaxation.
Wilson did not always have this peaceful approach toward business and life. Before Tranquil Space, she was stretched thin with a full-time job, part-time yoga instruction from her home, and dreams of empowering young women through movement and artistic endeavors. Just as in yoga, Wilson found her center and focused her energy on growing her passion into a viable business. She reminded us of the importance of taking a stepwise approach, because “the biggest reason for failure is trying to please everyone.” Once you have one product, you can expand and connect it to other areas of expertise within yourself or in your community. In 2006, she wrote her first book and had set the foundation for her own eco-friendly clothing line.
Wilson showed us all that running your own business isn’t easy, but well worth the hard work. Her recommended reading includes The Artist’s Way, The E Myth, The Right-Brain Business Plan, Wherever you Go There you Are, Generation Earn, and Savvy Girl’s Guide to Money. She left us with a poem from Marianne Williamson, below.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Thanks Kimberly for a wonderful EcoHour discussion! Hear her EcoHour presentation first hand and follow Kimberly’s adventures on her blog.