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You Can't Afford Me
Making the leap from employment to entrepreneurship can be a scary time. The biggest fear people have is the unknown. Here on the “You Can’t Afford Me Podast” we speak with hustlers and innovators on how to make the most of your journey. If you have questions we have answers.
You Can't Afford Me
The Healing Touch: Physical Therapy Meets Yoga
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The journey to wellness is rarely linear, and no one understands this better than Dr. Leah Johnson. After spending her early twenties in Costa Rica where a surprise yoga teacher training transformed her life, she embarked on a quest to understand why yoga made such a profound difference in her physical and mental wellbeing.
Dr. Johnson's path led her to pursue a doctorate in physical therapy, creating a unique healing approach that bridges scientific understanding with ancient practice. "Physical therapy isn't about me fixing you—it's helping you fix yourself," she explains, highlighting her philosophy of patient independence. This empowering perspective shapes everything about her new venture in Richmond, Virginia: The Second Arrow.
Opening in July, The Second Arrow creates an environment unlike traditional PT clinics. Drawing inspiration from Costa Rica's open-air aesthetics and Mexico's vibrant colors, the space itself becomes part of the healing process. "Just feeling warm and safe and comfortable will take your pain levels down," Dr. Johnson notes, describing how environmental factors directly impact pain perception through our nervous system. From calming music to abundant plants, every element serves a therapeutic purpose.
What makes her approach revolutionary is the seamless integration of physical therapy, yoga, and community. After completing PT (from any clinic), patients receive 30 days of free unlimited yoga—creating a bridge between medical treatment and long-term wellness practices. This solves a critical problem for patients who improve during therapy but struggle to maintain progress afterward.
For entrepreneurs, Dr. Johnson's story offers valuable insights about following your unique vision despite uncertainty. As a mother of three balancing business development with family life, she demonstrates that while perfect work-life balance remains elusive, modeling entrepreneurship for your children creates unexpected teaching moments about problem-solving, resilience, and community.
Ready to experience a different approach to healing? Visit secondarrowrva.com to learn more about services or sign up for updates about the grand opening celebration. Your body deserves more than temporary fixes—it deserves sustainable wellness that addresses both physical function and mental wellbeing.
www.themrpreneur.com
Welcome to the you Can't Afford Me podcast, where we skip the fluff and dive straight into the grind Real entrepreneurs, real struggles and the unfiltered journey behind success. Let's get into it, hey guys. Thanks for joining us on another episode of the you Can't Afford Me podcast. So big thing I like to emphasize for entrepreneurs is their health, their physical health, their mental health. So we got just a guest for you guys today. Today we have.
Speaker 3Dr Leah.
Speaker 1Johnson on the podcast Leah, how are you doing today? Good so give us a quick rundown of who you are and what you do.
Speaker 3Okay, so I am a physical therapist, right? I've been a physical therapist for about six years. I'm also a yoga teacher. I've been a yoga teacher for 15 years. Oh, wow. That makes me seem a little older.
Speaker 1You started when you were like 15. You were like 15.
Speaker 3That's right and you know, I started teaching yoga when I was living in Costa Rica in my early 20s and I'm originally from Iowa and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. So, why not go to Costa Rica?
Speaker 1and float around it's a great place to figure things out.
Speaker 3And I was offered a yoga teacher training because I didn't know what yoga was and because I'm from a rural town and I did reservations just administrative work for this resort, and so I really think you should know what this is. They gave me the teacher training and then I've been teaching ever since and it really changed my life. And so I wanted to know why it changed my life, like, why was it so helpful physically, mentally, emotionally, why did I feel so much better? And so I decided to pursue physical therapy because I wanted to understand the hard science behind it. And, um, as you can imagine, that was quite the mountain to to get in and over, right? Um, getting your doctorate degree and then.
Speaker 3And then it's practice, right, you don't, you don't don't want just the theoretical. You, you need to practice and get your hands in there, and uh, so that's what I've been doing. But the whole idea was to bring it together. Gotcha Right. And the more that I practiced physical therapy, the more I realized that this is it right To keep people. The idea of physical therapy is to help people become as independent as possible with their bodies. Right, it's not me fixing you, it's helping you fix yourself. Yep.
Speaker 3And then staying out of physical therapy, right. And then how do you do that? It's by being active regularly in a safe way in a community.
Speaker 1So let's partner right there for a second.
Speaker 4Do me a favor.
Speaker 1Pull the mic a little closer to you. I want to make sure everybody can hear you clearly. There we go. I've often said to people well, I look when I go to the gym in the morning. My wife has joked with me in the past because she goes to a separate gym and I go to a different gym and she'll see the young women in there wearing skimpy clothes, working out blah, blah, blah. And she's like you better not be checking out the girls when you're at the gym.
Speaker 3And I was like real talk, you know who I'm looking at when.
Speaker 1I'm in the gym. That's 75, 80 year old dude that's just jacked and I'm looking at him and starting conversations like dude how are you still doing this? How do you look like this, like, give me the secrets.
Speaker 3And every time.
Speaker 1I ask an older gentleman that question, their answer is always the same is just don't stop moving, just make this a part of your routine, your lifestyle, and you know you've heard people say like you know, getting old is a choice, because the people that are walking around hunchback and having back problems and can't walk and all these different things is because they simply just haven't stayed active.
Speaker 3So what are some things that?
Speaker 1you've seen that people can do to avoid, you know, having those issues in their older years.
Speaker 3You know, that's the thing. Right, we're offering yoga, but it's anything.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Physical Therapy & Yoga: Finding Harmony
Speaker 3Right. I mean it could just be a walk around the block, like Right, your exercise prescription is to exercise three to five times a week, right? You need a break in there, right?
Speaker 3And you don't want to overdo it, so you don't want to. Um, you know, if you go to the gym and you do a lot of weights, you don't want to do a leg day two days in a row. Right, which seems obvious, but it's surprisingly not right. And then people even know that and I'm like but I really wanted to most people are skipping leg day.
Speaker 3Right, and so it's anything. It's getting out. There, you know, working your way up to 30 minutes of something that makes you breathe hard, whether it's walking, swimming, weightlifting, yoga, clean your house. Yeah. Anything that makes you breathe hard, Right. You do that for 30 minutes at minimum three to five times a week and you're in pretty good shape and stretch, Right. So if you're doing something that's more focused towards strengthening, if you're cycling, you just have to balance yourself out. Yep. Right and it doesn't take a lot.
Speaker 1So I go. I need you to help me out with something. I go to the gym four or five days a week, Okay.
Speaker 4I'm an avid golfer, so I need you to help me out with something. I go to the gym four or five days a week. Okay, I'm gonna have the golfer, so I need you to write me a prescription. I need you to clarify on this podcast today is golf and active physical activity.
Speaker 1Yes, all right I'll make sure my I'll clip this part for my wife let her know like, hey, I'm focused on my health, like I'm out here trying to live. Um, so let's back up a little bit because, like you, have a new facility that's opening, you said in July, here in Richmond, virginia, let's talk about, because you have a colorful background in terms of, like, growing up in a small town, moving to an exotic place like Costa.
Speaker 4Rica, you know getting your doctorate like figuring out all these things doctorate, like figuring out all these things, the path that you are currently taking.
Speaker 3most people don't necessarily go down the entrepreneurship route Like the combination of what you're doing with the physical therapy and the yoga.
Speaker 1I've never heard of this combined together before. What was it in you that said I need to go out and start something on my own? What caused you to say I need to be an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3That's a very good question. I've always been oriented this way. I think you know I lived in Spain for a year or so, studying abroad and then sticking around, so I started offering um english lessons and I just like posted it around town and so then I started giving english lessons.
Speaker 3Um, when I moved to costa rica, I posted around town to give spanish lessons, and so I gave spanish lessons to tourists. Um, and that's actually how I got the job at the resort. When I was there, I learned how to do Zumba and I did Zumba retreats.
Speaker 1So it was never like an intent of like, hey, I'm going to go out and do this.
Speaker 4It was just like hey, I know how to do this. People need it. I'm just going to offer services and see what happens.
Speaker 3I think I've always felt like an odd duck, and I don't. I feel like I tend to see the world in a slightly different perspective. Yeah, and with that sometimes it's hard to fit in in a traditional workplace, but in an entrepreneurial aspect it gives me something unique to offer people, and so it was always a better fit.
Speaker 1Yeah, I've always said entrepreneurs are born, not made.
Speaker 3I think it's just something that's innately built in people, but to that point, a lot of people on the outside think like entrepreneurs were like oh, I can't stand having a boss I don't want to control my own schedule like all these different things.
Speaker 1Normally that's not the motivating factor For mine was the same as yours. Like I always knew it was something I was very conscious of.
Speaker 3But like my first business was Richmond Bubble Soccer, you put on those huge bubble suits and play full contact soccer.
Speaker 1You put on those huge bubble suits and play full contact soccer, and it was just like this seems like something cool to do. There's nobody around doing it, so why don't we just do this ourselves?
Speaker 3Yes, that's exactly it.
Speaker 1Yeah, Having that thought of, just like hey.
Speaker 3I'm not sure if.
Speaker 4I fit in this mold.
Speaker 3Let me go out and try this I want to touch on the travel piece because my best friend, who's also my financial advisor, like he constantly tells me like he's got one of us like crazy, Like he's always all over the place.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Speaker 1I think he just got back from Mexico City last week as well too Beautiful. And he's like man to grow in your space as an entrepreneur and just a general human being. You got to get outside of your area, like going to different areas, seeing the different pace, Like I'm sure how people operate in Costa Rica and Spain is way different here. Like we're all workaholics, I think he said last time he was in. Spain. It was like on.
Speaker 3Sundays people get on Chick-fil-A for. Closing for Sundays.
Speaker 4Some countries.
Speaker 1The entire town shuts down on Sundays. Nobody's working. So talk to us about what you've learned from those different cultures, from living in Costa Rica, from living in Spain.
Speaker 3How is life different there and what lessons did you take from that? Well, that's a really good question, because I absolutely intend, I hope, to bring the vibe of the culture of Costa Rica to this space. And you know, it's south-facing windows, it's sunny, it's light, right, everything in Costa Rica is open air, everything and it's glorious. I mean, part of the reason that golf is a wonderful activity is because you're outside, yes, right, and you're probably with a buddy. And you're doing some walking. Right.
Speaker 3And that's enough. Mental health emotional health. Yes, right, wide open green, come on.
Speaker 4Yep.
Speaker 3You feel good. So yeah, so it's about Mexico, right, that's a great example. The colors right, they paint the walls.
Speaker 1Yeah Right, bright colors, yeah, bright colors.
Speaker 3Neon, green, pinks, yeah, light colors and yeah, so we're going to bring that into the space. The light colors, the openness, the greenery right, there's going to be a lot of plants. The music right, there's going to be a lot of plants. The music right. So no offense to PT clinics out there, right, but there is something to be said about when you're in pain and you walk into a clinic and they're playing pop music, right, versus like this smooth, meditative, yeah, something that just smooths out your feathers, right, it makes a big difference.
Speaker 1Yeah, and If my knee's killing me, I don't want to hear Britney Spears singing, I want to hear something calming.
Speaker 3Yeah, because your nervous system is jacked Right. Yeah, just smoothing feathers will take your pain levels down. Just feeling warm and safe and comfortable will take your pain levels down. Your injury is the same, but you feel better.
Speaker 1Yeah, what are those colors? Like the things you just hit on with the colors, the open window concepts, the plants. What does that do for your mental state of mind?
Speaker 3It just calms you down, right, and so it takes you. You feel safe, if you feel warm. It takes you out of that fight or flight, right. It's that it's triggering that parasympathetic nervous system. It's, it's, and that reduces your pain levels.
Speaker 1I saw I'm I'm a big Grey's Anatomy fan, like been watching. I guess there are like 24 seasons or something at this point. I remember particularly, there was one episode where in the hospital they built a plant room, so you went in there and it was like blue lighting and you were just completely surrounded by plants. What? Is it? About plants, flowers, things like that. That changes the mentality of a human.
Speaker 3I mean that's a really good question. I can't say that I know the specific science about it. I just know that aesthetics make a big difference in the way that you feel in your body and there is tons of evidence out there that the better you feel in your body and there is tons of evidence out there that the better you feel in your mental, emotional state, the lower your pain levels are.
Speaker 1Nice. Let's talk about the yoga piece. So I may have taken one yoga class in my life and there's probably a stigma to it in terms of like that's a workout for females. But we've seen over the years like NFL teams have started to incorporate, like Pilates and yoga and different things like that. What? Are the benefits to yoga, and why should people be encouraged to engage in that type of activity?
Speaker 3So yoga should help you be again active in a regular, safe way but it also assists you with stability and it assists you with flexibility. Right, it's both yeah um, especially there's. There's all sorts of yoga out there. The yoga that's going to be offered at the second arrow will be alignment based, right, um, and so it. It keeps you safe. It stacks joint over joint, it's, it's appropriate in terms of muscle length. Uh, the breathing, the breath work again. It triggers your parasympathetic nervous system.
Speaker 1It calms you down yeah, most of us aren't breathing the way we should like. Just taking a moment, uh, you know, when you're dealing with toddlers, we're just talking about our kids before we start recording. When you're dealing with toddlers, we were just talking about our kids before we started recording.
Speaker 2When you're dealing with toddlers, like if I tell my daughter hey, take a deep breath.
Speaker 1When you physically do that it changes where your levels are and your state of mind at that moment.
Speaker 3You know, my favorite aspect of yoga is that it teaches you to find softness within tension right. Life is hard.
Speaker 1Yes, it is.
Speaker 3Okay, and it puts you in these weird positions, right, that are anatomically and physiologically correct, which is incredible.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3Right, because yoga is so old. Okay, it's over 2,000 years old and it's correct. It's incredible. Okay, but leave that aside. It puts you in these weird positions, right, and it's hard to hold that position. You tense right and you almost have to tense to stay in this position and not fall over, and it encourages you to breathe and hold this position, but also soften your shoulders right. Relax your neck, find that softness within the tension. And then in life, right, life happens and it's tense, but then you find that softness yeah the tension.
Speaker 3Life's a little bit better for it.
Speaker 4It sounds like it's also training your body to prepare, not just like the physical aspect of like you know, if you happen to trip off of a sidewalk or something like that, somebody who doesn't, somebody who isn't physically active, their body's gonna react differently versus somebody that's been working on stability and stretching and different movements and things like that.
Speaker 3Your body's instantly going to be able to react.
Speaker 1That may ultimately prevent an injury or things like that. But that mental piece of that like you got me thinking. I think I'm going to have to join a class when you open up. So what does that look like in terms of your business? Like, because you got the physical therapy and yoga, so is it a combination of both? Like 30 minutes we're doing yoga and 30 minutes we're doing physical? Therapy Are there two completely separate, different things. Are these one-on-one sessions? Are you doing group? Break that down for us.
Speaker 3Okay, so there's where, like the cultural component of Spain and Coach Street come together. There's going to be so, as physical therapists and many health care workers, right, we, our patients, are stacked together, right, and we burn out. Yeah, okay, we're giving our whole hearts, we're giving our whole souls, and then we're seeing these people and just emotionally giving back to back to back to back to back, and then you leave, and then you're huh. Yeah.
Speaker 3Right. So the model is to see a patient have a little break, see a patient have a little break, offer a yoga class. So now you're completely and totally shifting gears as a practitioner. You know, if I even teach the yoga class at all, right, that might actually just be a full break to document, which is the worst part, I think, of being a healthcare practitioner. But it is absolutely necessary, right, especially in my field, because so much of it is mental and emotional and people don't remember right where they were, you know. And so you know, leah, I'm just having a bad day and I feel about the same.
Speaker 3All right, you know, let's just, you know, let's just have you fold forward and look at where you are and we'll touch your toes, yeah, and then fold forward and they've gained 10 inches Right and they're like oh, I'm amazing, you are amazing Right, and so I'm not remember that I've seen a million people and so I have to write that down. Yep, um, but yeah, it's a. I want to incorporate that aspect of of taking breaks, of shifting the load so that I can give more and also take better care of myself, and taking better care of myself is going to allow me to take care of my patients and my students, absolutely.
Speaker 1and for the yoga piece, obviously the physical therapy is going to be a one Absolutely. And for the yoga piece, obviously the physical therapy is going to be a one-on-one piece. For the yoga piece, is this group sessions or one-on-one?
Finding Balance: Motherhood and Business
Speaker 3They are group sessions, so I'm offering um so yeah, so basically I'll see a few patients. Patients are all by appointment, but then the classes will be fixed. Uh, the, you know how students come in at 10 am mondays and wednesdays for chairball and balance yoga. Yeah, all right. So people who just need something to hold on to, um, and then I'll have noon classes daily for people who have chronic pain, which are so many people and they're just lost yeah right and just to sit and breathe, and you don't necessarily need yoga clothes, right, um?
Speaker 3and then I'll offer a class in the afternoon around three fundamental yoga, which is an all levels class that breaks things down, um.
Speaker 1And then I'll do more evening um traditional yoga classes that's gotta be really rewarding for you in terms of someone comes in with a chronic pain or they're dealing with a difficulty and injury or something like that, and I'm guessing with a reasonably short amount of time they're starting to see results and their lifestyles change.
Speaker 4I've met people that just have like chronic pain and then, when they find solution, it's like this is what life is like.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, without you know the mental weight of like always being in pain.
Speaker 3What's that like for you?
Speaker 1when you're working with a client and you just see those results and like know that you have changed this person's life.
Speaker 3I mean it's everything right, it's the whole reason you're there and I mean it helps you. I mean when people, as you know, when people come to you in health care, they are, I mean, they're in pain, they're not kind and they shouldn't be. Yeah. Right, they're hurting and they should be real with you, so you hear all what's going on.
Speaker 1Sure, you hear some colorful words every now and then.
Speaker 3Right, but Sure you hear some colorful words every now and then, right, but there is something truly, truly beautiful about seeing how a person treats you when you first meet them, and like two to three visits in and they just become this whole other person. Yeah. Right, but it's the same person. Yeah. Right, but they just feel better, and so then they just act differently. Yeah, and that's beautiful. Yeah, and that's beautiful yeah.
Speaker 1And I'm sure that changes every aspect of their life, their, professional life, their romantic relationships of their parents like how they're raising their children. It's like that's a game changer.
Speaker 3Let's talk about the development of this business, because you know, earlier we were talking off camera.
Speaker 4That you're doing a build out with this new business You're opening up in.
Speaker 1July.
Speaker 4Talk to us about the structure of this business.
Speaker 1How did you go about getting this started? Because? A build out is no small thing. So was this capital that you had saved up on your own and you're investing directly back into the business? Did you seek investors? Did you get a small business loan? What did that structure look like for you?
Speaker 3So the okay. So I I was so originally I was going to buy a building, so that was, that was the original plan, and I actually went pretty far into that plan and then it all fell apart, because what we thought that they were going to, that the value of the building was. Yeah. The appraiser came back like almost $100,000 lower. Oof. And so it fell through. Yeah.
Speaker 3Right, and so then I was looking for buildings. It's hard to find a wide open space and then a room yeah right and I wanted to do the coffee aspect, but that um, integrating that into a building that's already there, and it was just really hard to find yeah um, and so then I was actually talking to my hairdresser at red salon.
Speaker 1They're glorious nice and a small business let's bring them on the pod.
Speaker 3Yeah, she's incredible. And um, and she, I I asked them because they have this just it's almost like a cottage in the fan, right, and I was like she leases this right, um, because it's her sister who's the owner. And she's like, yeah, and I was like you guys can never move right, because I I feel like part of the charm. I mean, she's incredible. She could be doing hair in the middle of the street and she'd still be amazing, but there's something about the space right.
Speaker 3And she's like you're right. I was like she can't, she can't, she can't go and I was like, well, maybe that's not so bad to try a lease. Yeah. Right, and so then I started looking for leases, which was a whole process, and then I came across um the 2200 Carrington street and got ahold of the real estate and, um, and it was cool, I has three doors. I had three different businesses that I wanted to combine and it was just a vision and it worked. Three doors.
Speaker 1I had three different businesses that I wanted to combine, and it was just a vision and it worked. Nice, nice, um. So you, you didn't seek outside money for this. This is you from your savings. Like putting this into this practice?
Speaker 4Um yeah it's.
Speaker 1It's a stressful thing, Um, betting on yourself, like it's weird, because betting on yourself I is the safest bet, because you know yourself better than anybody else in the world.
Speaker 3But at the same time it's still a bet.
Speaker 1It's still a little bit of a gamble. Yeah, the fact that like well, I'm going to do every single thing in my power to make sure this thing works, so it's safer than putting my livelihood in somebody else's hands where they can just let me go at any time because I'll look at somebody weird in the office, or something like that.
Speaker 3So it's commendable.
Speaker 1A lot of people just don't understand the courage it takes to step out on faith and do these things on your own. What's your big vision for this Is this right now is it just you that's going to be in the business. Are you hiring different staff members? How big do you want to grow? Do you want to have multiple locations? What's the vision for you?
Speaker 3So the vision right now. So I have, like I said, my best friend's an interior designer. I have a marketing designer who is also a friend. I mean, it's friends and family, right. Yep.
Speaker 3At this stage. My son works as like a tech and he will also work kind of like a coffee shepherd. We haven't gotten much into the coffee aspect, but it's all self-serve and so people just need a little bit of guidance, but they'll be serving themselves. And then I have hired a yoga teacher who's also a physical therapist and she's amazing and I'm really thankful. Um, as she's coming on, she's going to teach the seasoned yoga class at 5 15 on tuesdays and thursdays, um, which is shamelessly advanced.
Speaker 3So it's a class that tends to be missing in Richmond. Yeah, so I have a yoga teacher. The intention is to my one-year goal is to hire another physical therapist because I can have two PTs going at the same time. I can have a PT and the yoga going at the same time. So right now I'm starting out I'll have one yoga teacher working in the evenings and then eventually I'll have one yoga teacher doing working in the evenings and then eventually I'll hire another yoga teacher. I'll hire another physical therapist and build up the business from there. I don't know at this stage if I have it in me to even think about opening up another yeah place.
Speaker 3But we'll see with the model.
Speaker 1Yeah Right, just keeping your mind open to that.
Speaker 4What does the personal life look like in terms of building this new? Business, you know we've talked often on this podcast about. There's no such thing as work-life balance when you're an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1Like certain parts, of your life are going to need more attention than others. Obviously right now, if you're about to open up this shop this needs more attention than probably what you're maybe used to giving to your kids and your partner.
Speaker 3So how does it?
Speaker 1work.
Speaker 4Are you married?
Speaker 3I am married.
Speaker 4So how does that look with you and your partner? What are the discussions?
Speaker 2that you guys had as a team when you decided that you were going to take this leap.
The Second Arrow: Vision and Services
Speaker 3My husband works from home and he he does a lot of help with the children and so he is really good at he does all the cooking, he does some of the cleaning.
Speaker 4Oh, you got you a winner. He does a lot of the pickups and drop-offs with the kids.
Speaker 3He is a winner, so I couldn't do it without him. No, how does that look in?
Speaker 1terms of what are you? Because how old did you say your oldest is?
Speaker 311.
Speaker 1Okay, so for me and this is a selfish- question because I want to make sure that I'm raising my children correctly.
Speaker 4What have you seen in terms of?
Speaker 1what your children have picked up in terms of. This is what mom does now Like especially the 11-year-old?
Speaker 3Are they fully grasping like?
Speaker 1this is mom's thing. She's the CEO. Like she stepped out on faith and did this and like how are you? Have you seen their behavior change or things that they picked up on as you become an entrepreneur?
Speaker 3Yes, I mean, I feel like it's so advantageous for them. I mean, what would I give to have learned at 11? Like the, I mean cause I'm very, I'm very open with them about the budgeting, about the systems, about hiring and working with the lawyer and and and learning and and asking for help from people who have skills that are just outside of my skill set. And he's so grateful, uh, it's, and he's really into it so, and it's, it's neat and he has wonderful ideas nice.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's like, especially when you talk to a child, I'll I'll never forget one time I was shooting a good friend of mine. He's a real estate agent and we were shooting a video for him to promote one of his new listings, um and his.
Speaker 1Now, I guess I don't know this is wife's nephew, so I'm not sure how that relates to him, but, uh, he was there when we were doing the shoot and we were talking through the idea and he couldn't have been more than eight, nine, ten at this moment, and we're verbally talking through the idea and he speaks up and we both look at each other like holy crap, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1Man like yeah, we're verbally talking through the idea. And he speaks up and we both look at each other like holy crap, that's a great idea. Man Like yeah, we're doing that. And I think, like the mind of a child is so unfiltered at this point in their life, like as adults we get jaded. Life speeds us up a little bit and like sometimes we hold back on things, but like kids.
Speaker 3Whatever's on their mind, they're going to speak it.
Speaker 1And it's surprising that sometimes you can get the greatest ideas from a child, but I'm sure it's fun for you to see like, because you're exposing them to something different that a lot of his friends, or a lot of our friends may not, you know, be aware of. Like their parents may be bankers and they're getting lessons on that end.
Speaker 3Yes, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. So my parents were not small business owners. I mean, they didn't even go to college. Yeah. Right. So I'm from a rural small town, so all of this, like I'm picking up as I'm going as an adult, right, it's just incredible. I was like, ah, this is the difference, right, when you're just overhearing these conversations or having a direct conversation, it's just already in your life.
Speaker 1Yeah. It sounds like to your personality and how you roll, which I fully believe all entrepreneurs should move in this fashion, is that it doesn't seem like you're afraid to get advice or opinions from other people.
Speaker 3A lot of times we feel like, since this is our thing.
Speaker 1we need to feel like we're the absolute expert and we have all the answers, and a lot of people have a hard time, like humbling themselves, like to say well, hey, what do you think of this? And then, not only receiving, getting the advice from someone, but actually receiving it and saying you know what?
Speaker 3I think you got a point.
Speaker 4This has legs to it, like I'm going you know what? I think you got a point. This has legs to it, like I'm gonna move forward with that. Like was that just a personality that you've always had your entire life, or was this?
Speaker 3something that you had to develop in terms of like seeking advice from others and actually receiving their advice I will say that's a personality trait, like I think, that I think that people are so complex and incredible and, like I said, like my son has incredible ideas. He's 11 years old, um, but you know, and if, if you're not open to hear people's perspectives, how do you grow?
Speaker 3yeah, no, absolutely, I always I always tell people that you know, I love to hear opinion, I love your advice. I might not take it, yeah, but I will.
Speaker 1I will listen to it anytime love, love that, since you're so well-traveled, what was it about Richmond that made you say this is a great place to build a business?
Speaker 3That's a great question.
Speaker 1There must be a good story behind this. Yeah, you're great at these questions.
Speaker 3So I, yes, there is. So, like I said. So I lived in Iowa, I was pretty naive and limited in my experiences and I didn't know where to go, and I ended up in Costa Rica because my best friend studied abroad there.
Finding Softness Within Tension
Speaker 3And so I went to visit her, found an internship, stayed and then again I stayed for so long because I didn't know what to do. But there's a lot of people there from the West Coast, so I moved to the West Coast. I moved to the west coast, I moved to portland oregon and I liked it there, hated the weather, um.
Speaker 3But I loved the walkability. I loved the nature right, the access to the mountains, the ocean, and so I was like, um, this is what I want. I want access to the mountains ocean, I want a good walkability score yep. And so I was going to go to grad school, and so I started my doing the research on those three things. And then I wanted diversity. I wanted to be in a place that not everybody looked like me. Yeah.
Speaker 3And that was important to me for raising my children. It was important to me because I mean again, that's how you grow. Yeah. Right, and so VCU Richmond. They fit all the pieces and it was the only school I applied to, which is not usual. Yeah. And I got in.
Speaker 1Nice, I moved here. So after VCU, what caused you to stay here? Was it just those factors that you talked about, the walkability, like the different environment, things like that?
Speaker 3I chose grad school based on the location where I was going to live Gotcha, gotcha. I had already made that decision before I moved here.
Speaker 1And how do you feel in terms of like the business community?
Speaker 3here.
Speaker 1I've always felt that I'm originally from Lynchburg. I've always felt that the ability you have here in Richmond like it was a big city compared to where I moved from, but it wasn't so big like a New York or Chicago or something like that where I couldn't make meaningful connections with people.
Speaker 4So I just feel this is a great size town in terms of like, hey, you can end up having coffee with a major CEO.
Speaker 1here I mean Capital One, like family, their headquarters here in Richmond Virginia. We got Yunos who handles all the organ transplants for the entire country is literally downtown here Like we have some massive companies and I've just always felt that like it's been easier to network in a town like this and people are open to the idea of like, hey man, you're just getting started. Let me help you out. I've learned some things.
Speaker 3What's been?
Speaker 1your experience with the business community here.
Speaker 3So I will say that that has been the case, and especially with the coffee aspect. So, because that's a whole world outside of the world that I'm living in with PT and yoga, and so I've had to like talk to different people who are offering pastries and different people who are offering, you know, the coffee, and it's been so wonderful. They've given me so much like tips, you know, on how to go about things, and other people that I should talk to and consider getting coffee from, or pastries.
Speaker 3You're amazing Yep Thank you amazing, yep, thank you, you know, and like having having real discussions, like it doesn't feel like they're just trying to sell me something, they're trying to work with me and they're like I want to see it, like, please.
Speaker 1This is a networking town and I think there's so many different circles that you can get involved with and like just some massive doors can be opened up.
Speaker 3Let me ask you this as we wrap up this is a new question I started asking a couple episodes to everyone on the show.
Speaker 1Describe to us what has been your lowest point in your entrepreneurial journey? Oh my.
Speaker 3That is a tough question. I would say the work-life balance. So that is. I think you hit on that one pretty well. I think that.
Speaker 1Is it like the gift Cause? I know as a father my role is much different in a marriage and a parentship than a mother's is like there are certain things a child needs that only a mother can provide.
Speaker 3Is it a sense of guilt in terms of like I?
Speaker 1feel I should be here with a one year old now, but I got to go do this Like what's what's the trouble that you're having with the work life balance?
Speaker 3What's the trouble that you're having with the work-life balance? I think that I'm just doing it all and I have to be very careful of burnout. Yeah. So I mean because I'm nursing- yeah. My baby, right, I think they all probably need a little bit more attention. But I am driven right. I think about all probably need a little bit more attention, but I am, I'm driven right. I think about this all the time. Yeah, I mean, you probably know you wake up in the middle of the night and you're like ha ha.
Speaker 1It's impossible to turn this off. Even if I wanted to, I can't.
Speaker 3No, yes, and so, and I know it'll get, it'll get better when things settle, and so I feel like I don't know. Shonda Rhimes she did a speech, I think, at a college graduation. It was on Instagram and she's a mother and she was talking about balancing motherhood and work and she said you can't, and that was really hopeful. Actually, she said that you know your work, your work, you know, and then your home, your mother, your mother, and you're always giving up, yeah, something right, um, but when you give up that time with your kids, like know that you are modeling, like an independent, strong, successful woman and I have two daughters yeah right and um, you know, and my son right to to see this and um, and I hope for the best.
Speaker 1I can't wait to talk to you in a couple years when because to me it's like because you have an 11 year old and a one year old at the, at the highest and low end in ages, and it's going to be interesting to talk to you a few years from now to see, because the older children right now are seeing the development the
Speaker 1one year old by the time they're conscious enough, it's like oh, this is the way it's always been, life's good type thing, and it'll be interesting to discuss with you the dynamic between the children, like once the 11 year olds, 15, 16 years old, their perspective versus like you know your one year old, being five or six and getting their perspective on this um but I'll say just that to add on to that um for me, because I think a lot of people don't understand like the pressure and guilt
Speaker 1that fathers feel as well too Like the focus is generally on the mom, like if she's a career woman or a CEO or something like that it's like that pressure of that.
Speaker 4But, as a father. It's like you know, my wife's a stay-at-home mom. Like it's all on me, like I got to bring bacon home.
Speaker 1I got to make sure that my family is being provided for and you know we've made certain conscious decisions in terms of typically like for work.
Speaker 3I'm home by 6 o'clock at the latest it used to be. I would run around weekends and things like that. We've since shut that down.
Work-Life Balance Challenges
Speaker 1We're like you know every now and then, like maybe once every three or four months, something possible on the weekend.
Speaker 4I need to be at work wise, but for the most part it's once Friday night hits the whole weekend is family time.
Speaker 1Um and I've seen my kids that they, as they've grown and developed like it's nothing like oh hey dad's been gone this whole time and mom's been here.
Speaker 1It's like oh, mom's been here, it's like, oh, dad's home, like, hey, we got a couple hours before bed, let's play, let's do this. Can we watch this together? Can we do that? And it's just like, even though that's a two-hour window before they go to bed, the time they're getting from me and the attention I don't know if they constantly recognize, that's all I can give right now, monday through friday but that time of them is special. They're not remembering the fact that dad was going eight hours a day. They just remember the fact that, oh, we read this book with dad and we played this game or we did this.
Speaker 1So it's, it's a, it's a hard thing for parents when you're building a brand, to keep wondering, constantly wondering like am I doing enough?
Speaker 4And I feel like, based on what you're saying and from my own personal experience, I, based on what you're saying and from my own personal experience, I feel like we are doing enough.
Speaker 1It's not what we saw in the Brady Bunch back in the 80s or something like that, where it's like this perfect little family and all this lines up like this and you're doing X, y and Z Families. The world is much different right now. Each parent is bringing something different to the table.
Speaker 2I'm sure they're learning things from your husband that you're not able to teach them.
Speaker 3But I think kids get that Like at least that's my hope, and theory right now, Like I think we're doing it right.
Speaker 1Awesome. So people want to get information like shout out the business, tell us your potential open data. I know that might change, as you're in the middle of a build out where, um, where they can go, website wise, all that good stuff.
Speaker 3Okay, so the second arrow right so you can Google. The second arrow RVA right. The website is second arrow RVA. Um that I have a sign up right now so people can get email updates in regards to like the build out and when the exact opening is. I'm actually gonna have a really big party, nice Beforehand, because I love yeah, so so bringing it all together just to celebrate, and then they'll obviously be like prizes and like gift cards and things like that, so people can get into that. One piece that I'm offering is that with the yoga, with the idea that people stay active regularly after discharging from physical therapy.
Speaker 3I offer 30 days of free, unlimited yoga after you discharge from physical therapy, but from any clinic. So it doesn't matter what clinic you're going to Wow If you have a note from your physical therapist that says she discharged on January 15th and spent the last year, you can come do yoga for a month.
Speaker 1That's awesome.
Speaker 3Because I was always looking for that when I was working full-time in the clinic. I was like where do I now send this patient who's like so motivated and they're coming here three times a week? How do I get them to go just somewhere else three times a week and like stick to it, they know what to do?
Speaker 1Love that.
Speaker 3You know, and so that's what I wanted to offer other clinics right, that's amazing, love that.
Speaker 1Love that Well, good stuff. Well, I appreciate you being here today.