283 - Studio Owners Roundtable: Relationship Tending and Supporting the Freedom to Move

Steph Alston and Rachel Brooks return for another Studio Owners' Roundtable. Today we dive into benefits of mentorship and partnership, building trust for effective leadership, how to engage community during slow seasons with innovative offerings, what it means to cultivate safety and the freedom to move, and lots more.  

Connect on social media: 
Rachel, Seeking Space Yoga, and Yin Yoga Space
Steph and Santosha Yoga Collective

Check out previous Roundtable episodes with Rachel and Steph: 271, 263, 255, 236

Weekly stories by email from Bonnie’s HERE

Connect with Bonnie: Instagram, Email (hello@bonnieweeks.com), Website
Listen to Bonnie's other podcast Sexy Sunday HERE

The music for this episode is Threads by The Light Meeting.
Produced by: Grey Tanner

Transcript

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (00:02.254)
Welcome back to the podcast y'all. Today we have a yoga studio ownership conversation for you. And I freaking love these. I have with me Steph and Rachel, and we have had several conversations prior to this one. So if you are a studio owner or you're, you might become a studio owner or it's like something in the back of your head, you're like, what's it like? And what do I need to know? These are excellent conversations.

Stephanie Alston (00:14.49)
Okay.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (00:31.726)
If you have a lot of people will have a partnership within a studio. And so this could be a good resource for both of you to listen to the podcast and to come together, talk about different things where you align because we all know that partnership requires caretaking. Like what's my words caretaking. And so if you are in a studio ownership partnership, this might also be a good podcast to be like, Hey,

Like let's talk about these things because sometimes it's helpful to have a third party to help plant seeds of conversation and ideas to help the studio continue to grow. Right. This relationship grow. So use this, send it, share it. Rachel and Steph are here. I'm going to let them introduce themselves, but also check out the other podcasts that we have recorded together. I am here in Portland, Oregon, and Rachel is here in Portland as well. And Steph is in Northern California.

just outside Sacramento. And Rachel, will you share just like for people who are tuning in real quick, like what studios you own and how long you've been a studio owner?

Stephanie Alston (01:38.733)
.

Okay.

Rachel Brooks (01:42.169)
Yep. Hi, happy to be here. I am in Portland, Oregon as Wani mentioned, and I own Seeking Space Yoga, which is in Southwest Portland. I've had that studio since 2017. And I also own Yen Yoga Space, which is in Central Eastside Portland. And I've had that since October of 2022. So we're going on almost three years old.

Stephanie Alston (02:04.401)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (02:08.472)
Yeah. And you're eight years. Like that's so close to 10 years for seeking space.

Rachel Brooks (02:13.913)
Eight years. Eight years? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a wild, wild ride.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (02:15.158)
Right. But like you're like close to it is eight years, but you're so close to 10 years. I'm like, it's two years and Steph, you went like, I don't know. That's wild time. Yeah. Okay. Steph, you want to share your, your studio?

Stephanie Alston (02:30.762)
Yeah, thank you. So I own Santoshia Yoga, which is outside of Sacramento, and I've been the owner for three years since 2022. The studio's been there since 2012. So it's going on 13 years as a community that I took over ownership a few years ago and then took on a business partner this year. So it's been a really interesting transition as I now have a partner owner.

and we're navigating what that looks like.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (02:58.818)
Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, I would love to hear more about that too. It's like you've been doing that a little bit for people who might have stepped, not started or stepped into it or just began that way because, and Rachel, I know you started that way. so, yes, we have a couple of things that we have on our list, but actually let's jump there. Like that's front of the top of mind, Steph, how has that gone? You, you shared about that. I think in our last episode that you were, that you finally like shared that with your community that you were going to roll with it.

So that's been like several months now. So how's it going?

Stephanie Alston (03:30.859)
Yeah, thank you. It's fun that we can go back and listen to previous episodes of this and you can hear my progression of like I was an owner by myself, then I was thinking about taking on a partner, then it happened. So we've been co-owners now for six months actively. I think I approached her last October to ask her to partner with me. So it's been a bit of a journey to make that happen. The legal process was slow. But as far as

publicly outward facing running the studio together. It's been about six months now. And I love that you started off this conversation with talking about partnership and relationship. Like I've been reminded even this weekend that like all of yoga is about relationship, like how we are in relationship to each other, to the earth, to you name it. And it's really true even in this business partnership, like it takes tending and it takes

continent communication. So whether it's a like a lover partnership or a parent-child relationship or a business partnership, it takes like continuous commitment, I think to like re-checking in with like, what's the temperature right now or like I sense that there's a conflict like that continuous resolution of okay, are we going in the same direction? Are we on the same page? Are we unified in our approach and our decisions because we have

very different personalities and communication styles. So all that to say I think it's going really well. And we've also, I think, started bumping into those things where it's like, it's not quite so honeymoonish. Like it was really exciting at first and playful and it's still playful. But now we're looking at like, okay, I see you showing up in this way. I really need this from you.

Can we get a little more on the same page? We have a weekly co-owner meeting, so that's been non-negotiable from the beginning. We meet every single week at the same time, so that's like a hard, carved out Tuesday afternoons are our meeting, and that has felt really nice to have that ongoing time together. One thing that's really worked for us as well is we use Google Drive to kind of keep all our things organized, and we have a shared ongoing agenda.

Stephanie Alston (05:38.207)
that we keep notes on that same document every week. So it's like we go right back to the old document and just add to it so we can look back at our last six months of things we discussed, tasks we assigned, which in some ways feels a little formal. I know not everybody loves working with an agenda for meetings, but for both of us, that's been so grounding because we have our eyes on so many things and it's stressful that when we can reconnect every Tuesday, we go back to like, let's review. What did we talk about last time? Let's remind ourselves and each other.

And we really set purpose statements on there too. Like, okay, into this next quarter, what do we want the students to feel? Or what do we want the feeling of the studio to be? So we continuously look at that together. Yeah, so I think that's what we've learned is working so far. And there's always a continuous, what's working, what's not working? What can we do better together? Where do we need to be in a little more play? There's some meetings where we just meditate.

Like two weeks ago, that was part of our meeting. said, let's turn everything off and just lay on the ground. And we just like meditated parallel, like on our own. She was on another wall. But like all of that has been really helpful to just be continuously in, like we get to make our own rules of what this looks like.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (06:54.208)
Yeah. That's so powerful to like share that. And I feel like Tuesday nights are date nights. You're like, date day. this is set time.

Stephanie Alston (07:02.823)
Yes.

Rachel Brooks (07:03.734)
you

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (07:07.586)
Yeah.

That's really, I feel like this was a really important conversation because I think it's easy for us to continue to think that we're on the same page. And with business, you are holding so many people and not that you're not necessarily in partnership. and if you have a family or kids, like you're like holding like a thing you're doing, but with like more people than just the two of you. But I think especially with business and because you're in a business of people and building trust.

And this feels so important to have leadership because I'm like, we lead from the top. Like, how do you lead from the top and how do you show that you're on the same page? Cause that's going to trickle down to then the staff, which then is going to trickle down to the community members. And so you're in a way setting the example to, for both of you to be willing to step into like uncomfortable conversations as well. And to be honest with yourself and then to be honest with each other.

Stephanie Alston (07:42.405)
.

Stephanie Alston (08:09.567)
Yeah, thank you. I definitely feel that. It's like the culture starts with us.

And so as like, we're kind of the studio moms and like, you know, co-leading, it's like whatever standard of connection I think that we have and like it's felt even if it's not explicitly said, like, right, you can tell when someone's like, we're so good. And they're not like, you can feel, think, especially in the industry that we're in, like,

people are tuned into the energy of it, like they're going to feel when there's conflict. And so that trickles to our teachers and like what they feel, I think in the confidence of how we're leading, but then to the teachers, to the students. And so it's been really important to me that like that's the relationship that's worked on first always is where, where are Tara and I at?

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (08:59.084)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. When I think working for a bigger organization myself, the solid ground that the leaders are walking from, which is both solid and soft. I think everything is both this combination of form and flow, right? Like how do we hold the thing, but also how do we allow for movement? It's going to be like both things and be willing to be wrong.

and be willing to like be in conversation with anybody. like just the beauty of that. I just want to be like, yay. Yay you for like doing the things and making the change from not, because it's easier to do it yourself because you get to do whatever you want.

Stephanie Alston (09:48.828)
Yeah, thank you for saying that. it's totally not perfect. And I think one thing I really love is having studied like styles of communication. And like I know we've talked a little bit about I have this coaching background, like it absolutely comes into play. And even between the two of us, like things that I noticed about Tara, and like we're really open about this, which is why I'm sharing it publicly is like,

She tends to be more conflict diverse than me. And so that's something I can notice and say, okay, I need to invite more space for her to share the things she might not want to say that are hard to say and say, like, hey, I noticed, right, this about the conversation we had last week. I want to give you space to voice what you have to say about this. Or, you she's a lot more expressive than I am. Like I noticed when I get stressed, I tend to get more, okay, how do we get from A to B? I move faster when I get stressed. I want to like get quick results.

So I can know that about myself and then tell her like, hey, will you call me out if you see me doing X, Y, Z? Like I kind of lost my temper at a meeting a couple of weeks ago, not at anyone in general, just like, like I was stressed. And then I took ownership of that. And at the end of our meeting, I said, I noticed I did this in our meeting today and that's not how I want to show up. So I can let you all know that I'm seeing myself right now. Can you all tell me when you notice me do this in the future? Because I'm sure it will come up again. It like takes a whole level of

Like willingness and self-awareness and vulnerability, think continuously to say, like we're human and we're not perfect, but we're committed to this studio. We're committed to this relationship. And yeah, like in so many ways, if this sounds like parenting or sounds like a marriage relationship, like it kind of is. Like there are some days where we've had meetings and I'm like, let's just go for a walk. Like our meeting is just going to be walking around town. Let's get away from our screens, change it up so we can get in a different perspective.

Yeah, so it's like continuously looking at like what's really needed right now in this dynamic.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (11:42.164)
Mm. Mm. but okay, I'm going to, Rachel, I you to pop on here, but I want to tell one thing. There's a, there's an Instagram account, this woman I follow that is, talks a lot about communication for in relationships. And she uses the acronym SINE. And I think of this all the time. And so SINE stands for what are you scared of? And so when we go to it, or we have like some assumption of like what we're walking into.

and what the other person is or is not doing or thinking or whatever, then it's like, okay, wait, wait, slow down, bring it back to you. So you come to the conversation and say like, this is what I'm scared of. And like what the fear is or the worry. And then what are you embarrassed by? Like, why does that make you feel a way that like, you kind of don't want to say the thing, right? That makes you feel small. And then what is the expectation that maybe you didn't share or that wasn't agreed upon?

but that you thought was going to be there and then what do you need? And the way that that is broken down. like I use that as a framework in my communication with people without talking about the people. I'm like, okay, it's ownership of self. What am I? What's the feeling in me? What's the story? And sometimes I just ask myself, what's the story I'm telling? And I will start a conversation that way. I'm like, okay, so I need to talk because the story I'm telling myself is, and then I like.

Stephanie Alston (13:01.656)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (13:03.584)
lean into it and I start with that phrase, but it absolutely is like any partnership. And I just think that it's really beautiful the stuff, the way that you're tending to it with such intention because you do know, like you truly know that the way that you two work together will impact the entire vision and community of what you're trying to build.

Stephanie Alston (13:24.647)
Thank you. I love that scene. I'm going to use that all the time now. It's so easy to remember and like simplifies it. But yeah, that's absolutely true. Like checking in with self, noting what story you're making up and then the practice of naming it. Like all of this is a practice, right? Like I have to practice showing up and being like, okay, what is the thing that's really on my heart that I don't want to say because I'm scared or embarrassed or I had an expectation that wasn't fulfilled and now this is uncomfortable.

And my partner that I do the yoga teacher training with, because that's a different person that I run 200 hour YTT with, we also continuously have these same, we made agreements around debriefing after every weekend. We will always talk about, what came up for you? What do you notice? And in real time this past weekend, she even came to me and was like, hey, I'm in breakdown. It wasn't about me, but there was something else going on. So we sat in the office on our lunch break and I just held space for her to share. And it was...

a beautiful reconnection for us of like, okay, it builds trust, it builds rapport, and now we can together go back to the students and hold the space we need to hold. But if you don't have someone that can be a compassionate witness and that you know you can go to and really share the shit that's going on, it makes it a lot harder to show up for your job and a business relationship if you don't have each other's backs first.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (14:47.192)
Totally. Well, shout out to, I believe that Instagram has Good Morgan, Good Morgan therapy? Good Morgan, Good Morgan something, I think. Anyway, that's gonna be helpful. Rachel, do you wanna share anything about partnership right now? Is this working, anything from your history?

Stephanie Alston (14:59.11)
Look it up, yeah.

Rachel Brooks (15:05.197)
I

No, it's okay. Yeah, so yeah, I started Seeking Space, so the more established studio that I have. In 2017, I started with a partner. And I think I've said a little bit of the backstory, but we were both students at the, so the studio that I, that Seeking Space is currently in was a studio prior. We both took our teacher training there together. And then when we heard news that the studio was going to close down, then we got together. We had had a new friendship.

and got together and figured out how to start seeking space there. And I think that like, well, we were both working. Like I was, I think she was a full-time mom at the time.

Stephanie Alston (15:40.474)
you

Rachel Brooks (15:51.113)
I was in, I had a full-time job. was transitioning from service industry. was still working in the bar scene on the weekends, but then I was also trying to transition myself into like a daytime schedule. So I was also working in mortgage. so, yeah, so it was just like, was full-time working. And so at that time, like there would, I don't think that there really would have been any other way to have, have started the business. I mean, I could have, I guess, but like, I feel like it was so necessary.

for the two of us together to be starting the business. There's just so many things to do in the beginning and also coming and the way that we did it, we didn't have any seed money or budget for really anything. So it was the two of us as brand new teachers who also, so like the schedule was us and maybe like one or two other teachers too. So.

I'm looking back on it like I'm so grateful that I had a partnership at that time and I don't know how it would have happened without it.

And then, you know, I took over as sole proprietor in 2020 in July, so a few months into the pandemic. And so, I mean, I have a lot, I learned a lot about myself. And yes, it is like a marriage. It's like any other, you know, like series partnership that you might have. And it also felt really cool to, you know, to transition into just being a sole proprietor. And things do get done quite a bit faster as a sole proprietor.

because you can just, you know, make the decision and do the things that you want to do. I miss having a sounding board a lot of the times, which is, it's been helpful to, you know, get into community with other business owners, fellow business owners that I can bounce ideas off of or just have somebody to share the experience with. Because sometimes, especially as a sole proprietor, it can be really isolating to just, you're just, you feel alone sometimes. And so...

Rachel Brooks (17:51.545)
I've had to actively like create relationships with other business owners that I feel like I can talk to and rely on. So, but yeah, think that there's, you know, there's, um, there's value to both, to both sole proprietor and partnership. think, you know, both need a lot of, you need to put a lot of thought into it. Um,

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (17:59.63)
Mm.

Rachel Brooks (18:11.897)
I would say I've even now, you so now I've been since what? 2020 on my own. So almost five years or almost six years or yeah, almost five, five or six years, whatever on my own now. And now I actually recently and only in regards to thinking of like, if I wanted to expand, you know, then I have thought again about like, okay, what would that look like if I were to take on a partner?

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (18:32.888)
Yeah.

Rachel Brooks (18:39.447)
and coming at it from this totally different perspective has been something cool to think about. I don't know if that will come to fruition if I'll do that, but that's just been, it's been cool to like, okay, I had this experience with Partner. Now looking forward to what the experience could look like, how I can use the information that I have from the former one to a newer one if I wanted to do that. So yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (18:41.772)
Yeah.

Stephanie Alston (18:45.985)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (19:01.506)
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. also I like that you're talking about connecting with other businesses and because there's plenty of people who just start their own business as well. Will you, you shared with us before you started recording about, consulting and both of you have done that. You've talked to different people who are starting studios or questioning like where they're at or what they should do. And Rachel, you just had to experience recently. So what was the experience and what did you love sharing?

Would you feel like it was really helpful?

Rachel Brooks (19:33.785)
well, I mean, I think this is something that we had talked about too. because I think it's, you know, sometimes there can be like this imposter syndrome of like, okay, how much do I actually, how much information do I actually have to pass on to somebody? or just even I've struggled with like putting on paper and like making it tangible, like the information that I have to share.

And then, know, but we've teased some of that out in our conversations and stuff too. And just like realizing like just from just straight experience, like you're already, you already have so much value to pass on to somebody and information. So it definitely is part of it is like getting it organized. But I think also every situation is going to be a little bit different, but I had the opportunity to go down and this was, you know, family member that I

Stephanie Alston (20:05.404)
.

Rachel Brooks (20:28.955)
haven't met yet and so I hadn't met before and so I had an opportunity to meet some family that I hadn't met before and they just so happened to have just started a wellness studio a few months prior and that was another like I wasn't sure I was like I don't have experience with as like a wellness space or wellness studio so I've never had you know I've never had a space where there's you know acupuncture or cryo practice services massage those things so it's a little different than what I'm used to but

When I got there and it came down to it, was like, wow, I really do like just from, you know, and it was like little things about, you know, looking at, you know, helping streamline the schedule, streamlining pricing, looking at pricing for the other studios that were in the area.

even as simple as here's a software program that I suggest you move out of my body. Here's what I think you should do. And those things all provided a lot of value for that individual. And this is just a cool start of an ongoing relationship where I'm gonna, this is my first.

real like dip into like consulting somebody and I'm excited. It also like kind of stirred like creativity within me and for my own business and also just like inspired me a little bit. It felt really cool to like I'm actually super excited to see how this pans out for their business. Like I'm just excited to see their business grow and they're in an expand and

Stephanie Alston (21:35.488)
you

Rachel Brooks (21:56.469)
Excited to see what works and hopefully I'm hoping everything works But you know, I'm sure there's gonna be some things that need some tweaking but yeah, it just it felt really good Just felt really nourishing and it was its service in a different way, you know rather, you know I'm a teacher and I like to be able to you know, be a part of community and lead community But this was just a different way of providing value and service to others. So that was really cool

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (22:20.856)
Yeah.

Rachel Brooks (22:20.921)
Um, favorite part, like I didn't have like a favorite part really. It was just, it just felt really good. And even just getting the real time feedback from that person of like, I was just like rattling stuff off and you got everything into like a shared document that we can, um, you know, kind of go back and forth on. um, so it was just felt good to, to realize the amount of information that I have to offer and the value. so yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (22:49.196)
Yeah. Well, I love this though, because you're not trying to gatekeep anything. And there can be a stronghold of people thinking that, yeah, that they're like trying to be in protective mode because they think that somebody that does something will get stolen and that can happen. Sure. Like that, that can happen for different things and it's always going to come out different from different people as well.

Rachel Brooks (22:54.424)
Right.

Rachel Brooks (23:10.295)
Yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (23:19.342)
And so your willingness to be like, here are, here's the things and the generosity of that for people who are so like brand new to the space and the imitation that exists as we learn, like all of us imitate things as we learn. Then we innovate, right? Or then we integrate, then we innovate, then we're like iterate, iterate, like change it, change it, change it, change it.

so automatically it's all of those things, but the generosity of just like stepping in. And then I love that you're like, it's sparking me in all these ways. And then you're equally like excited for this person to like do amazing. And I have found so much of the same, like we all know as teachers, right? Like you teach something, you learn it more. Like that's like truly a hack. If you want to learn something, teach it.

Stephanie Alston (23:46.49)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (24:08.184)
So you don't have to know all the things in order to begin. You just have to have a willingness to like put yourself out there while you're still learning things and you can learn how to lead even better and you start to integrate it even more. So like there's part of that and like knowing what you've built, Rachel, for myself, like just, it makes me excited for you to be also experiencing that to be like, I know my shit.

And to be excited about them, like be inspired by those conversations. Cause that's what happens to me all the time when I'm like, we're going to do the yoga teachers or we're going people who want to build business in different ways. And when I talk to them about it, I'm like, just like, I turned the fingers around and like pointing them right back at myself. So I feel that.

Rachel Brooks (24:54.393)
Yeah, I had a thought and I'm totally, totally floated out of my mind. I was just thinking,

about... fuck, okay. Somebody say something else.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (25:04.662)
Well, we can move back because I have one. just I also think it's cool that like the success that you're excited for this person and watching other people win. Like I love like if I get to be in the seat that supports their winning, like I win too.

Stephanie Alston (25:07.438)
.

Rachel Brooks (25:11.907)
Yeah.

Rachel Brooks (25:23.299)
Yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (25:23.402)
And like, that's so exciting. Like, I love that place. however big I can get in the world, if you can get big right next to me at the same time, like, this is good. And because of the impact that we know is the ripple effect of like truly living from your heart and leading and creating and being the type of person who's like, go make the thing that lights you on fire. And like, that's going to affect like our whole, like everything, like all of our communities.

Rachel Brooks (25:52.279)
Yeah. Yeah. So it came back to me and I had to write it down. My brain. think to like, being able to one of the most satisfying things is also like, so as I mentioned, it's been a wild ride. I don't know if we're ever gonna have another pandemic again, but like anybody who had a business in the pandemic is just like, we have been through some things we were in the trenches, right? And so

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (25:56.056)
Perfect.

Rachel Brooks (26:19.529)
being able to save someone some trouble and some heartache and some and some anxiety and some panic and whatever like based off of what I've experienced and being able to like what I can foresee potentially happening or whatever and be able to like hopefully you know save some time for people save some energy and be able to like make it so that their right is a lot smoother than what mine might have been but then also

Like where's the line of, know, I mean, I think regardless, people are going to still have to fumble through and learn things on their own, you know, so like you can consult somebody and try to save them as much trouble as possible, but they still have to learn and take the steps forward. there's going to be bumps in their road to, and just knowing that.

And then the other part too is like, I'm curious to see to like, this will be a good learning experience for me to like learn a little bit more about myself, my personality and like, okay, so, you know, I provided you this information, are you actually gonna use it? And like, see what that looks like. Like I know that there's just, you know, when I've been coached before too, that's one thing I've been terrible at is doing my homework. You know, like I'm doing the thing that I know I'm supposed to do, whether it's feeling overwhelmed.

Stephanie Alston (27:18.853)
.

Rachel Brooks (27:32.545)
And so I've tried to really, you know, chunk things down and make things very straightforward and again, kind of like doing phases to where it doesn't feel so overwhelming because Nick just being a studio owner as it is, is overwhelming. so I'm trying to make it in pieces that feel sustainable. And also like, and yeah, just wondering how that, if that person feels like implementing everything that I provided and see where that goes. So, yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (28:02.264)
Yeah. Steph, do you want to share anything?

Stephanie Alston (28:07.204)
Just that I really see you operating out of that place of those principles of abundance and generosity and it's exciting to like see you on this side of it.

I remember having a business coach when I started that was a mentor who had run a studio for 20 years and how invaluable that was for me. And I didn't do all my homework either. But I think like that trust that I felt they had in me that I was capable. then, yes, sharing some of their wisdom, their tricks, the things they learned, it was almost like this fast track. Like, well, don't make these mistakes, right? Because we learned that

Rachel Brooks (28:28.601)
you

Stephanie Alston (28:43.707)
this worked really well and this didn't. So right off the bat, I could skip over some bad ideas. But I feel in you that excitement. And I see that too in like people I work with and coaching clients that I have or whatever it is. Like I really genuinely want their success. And Bonnie, I see that when you work with people too. to have someone that believes in you and really is sincerely like, I have nothing to keep to myself here. I want you to have all the success in your vision because it's also like

we can't do all the things for everybody by ourselves. Like I have a yoga studio. I love it. I want it to be successful. And I can't serve every person in Sacramento. That would be nuts. Like we need other yoga studio owners even locally. And so it's like, I want them to thrive too. And I want them to get really good at their niche. And I want everybody to like find their people. And I think that's kind of what I hear you saying too, and seeing your family members starting this wellness center. Like it looks different from what you have.

And there's still some universal things that you can pass on and like things you've learned that will help them so much in finding success.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (29:50.862)
Yeah. Well, and also I think the power of you helping them right now. And so if we jump to kind of this conversation of this current season that we're operating in, and this year, summer 2025, where it's a little bit of a slower season, we're all kind of closer. mean, Northern California is not quite Pacific Northwest, but we're like, it's summer.

Rachel Brooks (30:07.168)
Yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (30:16.558)
It's oftentimes in this area of the world, studios slow down a little bit because people won't be outside and be camping and playing in the water and doing all the things. So sometimes studios already operate a little bit slower. But I think there's also a different economic and political climate and fear climate too, where people are feeling a little bit of different hesitations right now.

And so to also be mentoring somebody who's stepping in in this space where you're like, welcome to summer. When you're starting a wellness community, like there's going to be seasons and, and knowing that when you do business and you do it for a long time, like I, like it's wowed to me. Like I've been doing teaching flow school for five years in August and been doing my own thing for be six years this fall.

Rachel Brooks (30:52.089)
you

Rachel Brooks (30:55.609)
Thank

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (31:15.572)
And so it was like pretty soon after that, jumped right into flow school and to hear how businesses often like fail within the first couple of years. And I'm like, I am here and just, just getting started. So it feels exciting. And also whether you're doing something like I'm doing, or you're doing a studio, doesn't really matter. All of it has different seasons and you adapt and you grow and you're like,

Okay, what's the problem I get to solve now? And it's the get to, because we are choosing it and we could choose something different, but we're choosing this and that there is different seasonality things that we're gonna have to pay attention to. And this happens to be, there's certainly one right now. So I'd love to talk about that. I think for people who are especially leading studios right now, what, like to hear from both of you about

Stephanie Alston (31:47.359)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (32:10.783)
the climate of the studio and how people have been participating or not and how that's feeling and kind of your take on it right now.

Stephanie Alston (32:21.083)
Yeah, yeah, thank you for speaking to that Bonnie because even before we started recording today, you talked about this concept of as if like I'm going to show up like as if this is I'm going forever into this project and how does that change the way we show up and we've had just local to me so I know within like within a 20-30 minute drive there have been three studios that have opened up in this month like in June of 2025.

And I'm always keeping an eye on what's happening in this industry, in our area. And so guess what I want to say to anybody who's listening to this, if you have a spark of inspiration and an idea or a passion for this, go for it. And this is, even in the past three years that I've been the owner of this studio that I've watched for 13 years. So I've seen a lot from the previous owner before I even took over ownership.

I would say aside from COVID, this has been one of the hardest seasons I've been through as a studio owner. I think there was kind of this, like when we were able to reopen after the pandemic and we saw this influx of people ready to be back in person again, like heading from 2021 into 2022. And Rachel, I'd love to hear your experience. Like there was a bubble. was like, whoa, okay, everyone's excited to be back in person. Like I saw a big influx in like numbers. We had a big grand reopening for our studio.

And now we're kind of like way slowing down, even from last fall. It's been kind of interesting to watch. So yeah, the last like six to eight months, and I know this is a long game. So that's the whole, you were talking about. Like I'm going to stay here as if this is just a small blip because I believe it is, but also like we're going to ride this out. And right now it's like a little tricky and challenging. The climate at our studio is slow.

And there's also still new excitement. It's like both and at the same time. There's been a slowing of memberships and yet this reinvigoration in like quality of offerings and like we still have things selling out. We still have people showing up big time for the community of it. Like our community groups are really, we have some free community groups that meet monthly for different topics and like those have been really beautiful. So it's like I see people still wanting and desiring.

Stephanie Alston (34:35.992)
this sense of belonging and like what yoga has to offer on a lot of levels. And it's also from the business side and like this is a different game. Like we're playing, we're playing a different game this year than we have the last three years.

Rachel Brooks (34:51.767)
Yeah, I mean, I definitely over the years have had the the privilege of kind of shifting what I how I, you know, approach the slower season. So, I mean, for us here in Oregon, it's it's like and I think I think it's pretty I think it's kind of across the board. It might vary a little bit depending on the region you're in, but.

summertime being the time when kids are out of school and parents have activities with the kids and whatever and people take vacations. I think it's just pretty standard to have it feel slower in these months. I noticed, I think we've mentioned this too, like February of this year was abnormally slow. Like there was a, like a $12,000 decrease in sales from January to February. February should be the second.

busiest month of the year, according to what it has been. know, that was different. And I think that had a lot to do with what's going on politically and in the social climate. And, but yeah, like I think being, feeling more established as a business, yes, we got that, like, you we went through the, like the majority of like, the first portion of the pandemic.

Stephanie Alston (36:02.524)
.

Rachel Brooks (36:04.921)
Um, and then there was one year and I don't know if it was 22 or 21. must have been, it was probably 22 September where we just got hit and I had, I didn't even know what to expect. I think at that point, because of all of the ups and downs of COVID, I was like, I can't attach to anything. I have no idea what to expect, what's going to go on. So, and then we just got slammed and that was really, it was, that was what we finally were kind of almost back to where we had been before.

pandemic started. that's been like that for the last couple years, but then this last fall we expanded into the new space. that numbers-wise were consistent there, but it's different because the classes are smaller because now we have a whole second.

Stephanie Alston (36:35.075)
.

Rachel Brooks (36:57.877)
space that we're trying to fill too. So still it feels different. But yeah, I think like we've been blessed to, you know, we're an established studio. We have an established community. And I think, and as going back to what I mentioned, like I've had the privilege by being feeling like we're in that more.

Solid foundation that like now when summertime comes I I know it's happening I know what to expect and I actually kind of I'm like, okay this feels nice because it actually gives me a little bit of space like because it's not So busy and so slammed that I don't feel like I have to be so on and even just influx of emails or Needs from students or needs for teacher whatever it is Like it's just a little bit slower in general so that I feel like I can actually breathe a

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (37:30.072)
Mm.

Rachel Brooks (37:49.173)
little bit. can work on some, you know, projects that I've been wanting to work on. I can actually take some time off and not feel like the whole world is going to burn down without me there, you know, like, so that's been really nice to be able to feel it still is like, you know, it feels tight financially, but, but not so tight that I can't feel like I can have that mind shift around it to where it feels like, okay, I'm just going to take this time to

have some space and allow for like the slowness of it, you know. Also like accommodating by moving to like, I don't know if you do this stuff already, but like a summer and a winter schedule. like give yourself some alleviation with pay by canceling some classes for July and August and just toning down your schedule a little bit too. It could be helpful because if there's going to be classes that are not filling up anyway and you can, yeah.

Stephanie Alston (38:31.771)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (38:38.562)
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Alston (38:47.171)
Yeah, thank you. We did do that this year and interestingly, it's been the first summer that I felt like we've needed to. The last couple years, our summers have still been consistently pretty busy. So was interesting because we thought, other studios I've managed actually, we did that same.

Rachel Brooks (38:53.337)
Thank

Stephanie Alston (39:02.562)
rhythm of like, okay, we're going to pare down in the summertime, re-ramp up in September when it's like second January. But then I took over this studio and thought, okay, maybe summer is actually our busier time. It's so funny. It's like every, every year gives us an opportunity to kind of reinvent and re-revaluate, okay, what's needed this year. Maybe it's not going to look the same as last summer. So we've shifted to like some kids and family offerings and some community offerings. It's always community, but I mean, like we have a

a guest DJ friend of mine coming to lead an ecstatic dance this summer. We don't usually host ecstatic dance at the studio, so that's going to be really fun. And a lot of our community members have mentioned that they're excited to have something so close because usually you have to go at least a half hour away for ecstatic dance. that kind of stuff is like we're saying, what can we do that's more like a one-off fun thing where we pulled probably four classes from our weekly schedule for the summer to like keep things simplified. Yeah, so it's always a

juggle there and I appreciate hearing what you're saying like this is normal. You'll be fine.

Rachel Brooks (40:05.367)
Yeah, it is. Yeah, you will. And I think also too, like, we didn't do it this year, but in summer pasts, we have done like summer special, you know, special on unlimited membership for the last two months of summer, because that's when things do lag for people in their practice, giving people an opportunity to get a good deal on some unlimited classes. Also doing a challenge kind of helps, you know,

get the rapport up a little bit. And if you have any kind of outdoor park or something that you can do some events at in the evening when it's not like the evening or morning when it's not the heat of day, we're lucky enough to have a park that's like two minutes away from us that we've been able to use. So like I've been telling all the teachers, know, like we've been doing so many events each month and I'm like, you know, keep an eye July and August. So maybe switch your events to outdoor if you can at the park.

to it a little bit, keep it more interesting just for the summertime months. So those are some things that we do in the summer.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (41:05.571)
Yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (41:10.862)
I'm excited for you to do aesthetic dance too.

Stephanie Alston (41:16.296)
Yeah, I wish you could come down here for it. It'd so fun to have people. Yeah, I've gone to Ecstatic Dance. There's a community that's pretty consistent with it up in Nevada City, which is about 40 minutes from me. And then I think there's some also like a little closer around Sacramento, Auburn. And Bonnie, think there's a group you said you've gone to up in Portland. I would imagine up there you can find it pretty easily.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (41:41.592)
There's like dance, I think you could probably find a stag dance every day here.

Stephanie Alston (41:45.066)
Yeah. And otherwise it's been like festivals and retreats. Like that's where usually there's ecstatic dance sessions, right? Like if you're going to a designated place where this is like facilitated, then that's great. But yeah, I'm really excited to have it at the studio. And like quite a few of our students knew what it was already and were like, I'm so stoked that you're bringing it here. And then we've also had quite a few that are like, what is this? I'm so intrigued. Like, cool, it's gonna blow your mind. We're gonna have a good time.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (42:13.036)
Yeah, people actually are quite nervous. I try to go like even weekly and I've been trying to go weekly since like February. Sometimes I'm not, but like that's for the most part. And now that summer they do, there's a weekly outdoor as well. Well, there's several outdoor. There's some that are headphones and there's some that are not. Like there's different outdoor events. There's so much. Portland keeps it weird appropriately.

Stephanie Alston (42:29.504)
Is it like, he was like.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (42:42.306)
But people get turned off by the word aesthetic. They're like, a static dance, I can't do this. Or they want something little more lead. Because it truly is, the word aesthetic is joy. But also, I love it because you truly get to show up in the space and have permission to just move your body however you want to move your body, which can feel really scary for some people.

Stephanie Alston (43:07.845)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (43:09.768)
And I think this is where yoga is a really powerful practice. And for me personally, that's, I didn't feel comfortable dancing. I felt awkward in my tall body and yoga. It was, is the thing that helped me actually figure out how to dance because it puts you in awkward enough positions that you don't do normally that you get comfortable with your body in weird different positions and truly.

then learning how to flow and finding vinyasa and like using that as like this flow element with breath. And it was this, it's this dance in your body. Um, so where now I, I freaking love dancing, like move the body in all the ways. It's so beneficial in, in a tremendous amount of ways, but that a static dance is literally, you just get to show up and do whatever you want and nobody cares. And people like, I think we can all be, um, worried about what other people think.

but it's really the space that like the weirder the better. and I sometimes I sit back and look and I'm just like, wow, we're weird. We're weird. Like humans are weird and like, but amazing because of it.

Stephanie Alston (44:12.067)
Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Stephanie Alston (44:21.687)
I know it is one of those in combination like there are no rules which can almost feel like like too much it's like where do I even start but I've told people like you don't have to know the steps nobody's gonna be watching you right like the point is for you to like dance with yourself and if you choose to dance with someone else fine but like you move with the energy of the music and so I like to think of it as sort of this blend of like yoga and tai chi without math

Like you get to move slow, you can move fast, but like you're feeling the energy of the flow of the live DJ that's going to be there playing to the room and then we end with a sound bath. So it's kind of fun the way it follows that trajectory of start slow, builds, builds, builds, comes down. And yeah, to be able to bring something like this to the community and part of why we did it this summer is like, there's so much tension that I think is being felt culturally right now and

like to be able to have a space where there is exploration and freedom and community. And I'm leading a somatic movement class before that. So it's like, if you need a soft lead in, see how to move intuitively, like that's what we're going to work on. So we have an on the mat class first, but those are the kinds of offerings that we really wanted to bring with what we're noticing happening in our community right now is like more joy, more opportunities to just feel alive in your body, express what you need to express, move that charge of energy through you because

If it's stagnant you're feeling stuck or you're at home and you're like in your phone and just doom scrolling like this is an opportunity to like get out and let yourself breathe and move and be free. Yeah, so I hope you that.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (45:57.954)
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. Well, and I, this, this loops right into the next conversation we want to have because to me, I really think I'm like the yoga to me and what I want people to experience is the freedom to move and where an advanced practice is where you know what you like, you have, you have the ability to choose, you know what you can choose, and then you choose the thing that meets you right here, right now.

And this is why I think strength makes flow more fun because you're stronger. You have more options in your body. when teachers demonstrate not just the thing and then say to modify, but they teach different levels. I'm like, now you get choice. And so like, you have this freedom to move and freedom to choose again and choose again and choose again. And all of that though, and like the play that underlies that right. And to be able to choose and be feel safe enough to drop into play.

And to drop into feeling freedom because the whole ton of people don't feel free and there's like different ways we can talk about freedom. But like really if I like steer rate to freedom to move and movement in your body, because there's a lot of other ways that we might actually cage ourselves just in ourselves. We can be really good at that. I'm outside of anybody else, like holding us hostage in any sort of ways, which also exists.

in a lot of different ways. But if we just go right into like the heart of like, this is a self-practice of how do I free myself and like pay attention to the stories in my own head and that the body is such a part of that and the ways that we allow ourselves to move or not, but that we do have to have a level of safety in order to feel confident enough that we can land in this place of play.

and land in this place of like, do it, can I actually choose? Am I actually free enough to feel safe here in this moment with these people in this building with myself? Like, can I trust myself? It's all a trust game. So I love the, you know, like the archivist-like dance, think done well too is, you you can have this interactivity if you want it, then you have dance, then you're setting it down. It's a held experience. So I love that.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (48:19.296)
And then also to loop to Rachel, you want to talk about safety and bringing safety conversation to studios. And I think this can, this might swing to like more like nuts and bolts order of operations. But that all, it all like holds the same, like it holds us the same intent of like holding our community and doing it well so that people actually can feel freedom to move. So I'd love to hear more. Like let's, let's drop into talking about safety.

Stephanie Alston (48:34.678)
.

Rachel Brooks (48:48.297)
my gosh, this is such a, to me it's like there's so many pieces to it. But yeah, I think for me, it's been on my mind a lot lately. Just thinking about, mean, some of it is like the nuts and bolts. Some of it is like, okay, having a safety meeting and figuring out ways that the staff and teachers.

and community members can feel empowered. So we've got the things that we think of as staff, which is like making sure the building is secure and the door is locked and whatnot and making sure we even know where the AED is located and all those things. And then there's also on the student end, even so one of the things that we've run into as far as

at the studio for like the students awareness is when since we've opened up the upstairs. So we've got you know classes going on sometimes upstairs sometimes downstairs sometimes same time. And what has been happening sometimes we've been good about communicated in the beginning but then it kind of trickled off and.

But would be that somebody would take a class upstairs and then they would come downstairs and exit out the downstairs door and leave it unlocked. And then whether it's the, you know, there's no class going on or there is a class going on, then all those students are then compromised, you know, or whatever. like, luckily I have a whole, like I have electronic locks or whatever. So I have control over them from my phone. So if something, you know, I go through and check periodically to make sure that the doors are locked when they're supposed to be.

Rachel Brooks (50:33.277)
But yeah, so that's something that like now there's like this what I haven't really had to have like haven't had students think about that before. It's always been something that staff and management thinks about, but like really bringing the students into the conversation of like this is you know you're part of the safety for the whole community in the whole space. Not that I want people to feel like it's their like I do want some responsibility, but I don't want them to come into it feeling like they need to like have all this weight on their shoulders, but it really is like this is how we

stay safe in community together. This is how you're looking out for the person next to you or even just the building itself being compromised or whatever. So been thinking of different ways to really get the students more invested in the safety of the community and the space.

I'm one of the things that one of the reasons to safety has been on my mind lately is we just like at Yen yoga space we got broken into and they took the iPad from the studio which you know, it's unfortunate but we've been really really lucky in the neighborhood that we're in like we have we've been really really lucky we haven't had that many incidents there which is really nice

Stephanie Alston (51:23.476)
Rachel Brooks (51:45.323)
So I am grateful. But yeah, they took the iPad and they knew what they were doing too because they basically this all happened at like seven something in the morning. And it was right before I woke up and I woke up to not being able to get into my iPhone because Apple products all connect.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (52:09.08)
Mmm.

Rachel Brooks (52:09.737)
So I had had like I didn't have my The iPad like synced with any of my cloud stuff But I had my Apple ID is what I used to set the iPad up So by then stealing the iPad and then they then they completely erased my iPhone So I woke up couldn't get into my phone. I'm like

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (52:18.19)
Yeah.

Rachel Brooks (52:33.625)
What's going on? just looked like maybe it had updated overnight. So it was at the hello screen where you had to like go through all the steps to set your iPhone up and like maybe it updated or something. Then I go to like enter my Apple ID, not recognizing anything. And then, you know, like Apple will give you the option to try to use a different device to sign in. And I was like, okay, well, I guess I'll just go down to Yen yoga space and use the iPad and see if that will let me sign in. Well, that's when I go to the space and the teacher's there. She's like, Hey, I can't find the iPad. And then this window's gone. I'm like, okay, cool. So that's what's going on.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (52:39.16)
you

Rachel Brooks (53:03.579)
But for the first like six hours of that day I'm like running around with no connection to like the only thing I had my laptop which was not a Mac thankfully so I could actually like log in I was communicating with teachers through moments because that like they have a text system through our software

But yeah, back and forth between Apple Store and Verizon only to like, there was nothing they could do. So they basically took over my Apple account. They changed the recovery information. They changed it to their phone number, their email address. So I couldn't never recover it.

Stephanie Alston (53:32.404)
.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (53:33.038)
Wow.

Rachel Brooks (53:36.171)
Anyway, so that's also been on my mind too about just keeping things, I don't know, just in general safety, but then there's also the thought of that goes into being trauma informed in your classes and how are you holding a safe container as a teacher and making people feel emotionally safe. It's such a big topic and conversation, but it's just something that has been on my mind lately, more so the logistical part of it of what do I need to put in place.

for the staff that's an ever ever evolving and ever growing you know procedure list of like which sucks too who wants to just like memorize a bunch of procedure especially when you work at multiple studios so thinking of like how to make things feel sustainable for staff and myself to carry and hold and then again also just like getting the community involved in the safety

and thinking of it more, that's kind of getting out of that individualistic mindset that we just naturally are in because we've all got a million things going on and also capitalism and all those things. like really just like focusing on community care as a whole. So yeah, there's that.

Stephanie Alston (54:44.146)
Now, thanks for sharing. It's like, it goes back to, think our whole job is holding space and that responsibility, like for our students, for our community. know, Bonnie, I know you don't have like a brick and mortar space that's yours at the moment, but like, like our role and what we've stepped into as yoga business owners in any aspect is to create containers for people to have experiences. Like that sounds really oversimplified, but it's like we're setting.

kind of the tone and standard for like, what is this experience gonna be like? And to that point, Rachel, I thought so much about what happens if we have a break-in and all of our electronics are stolen? Like not only the asset of them having to replace those, I mean, yes, we have insurance, but it's also like, we've had times when the door has been unlocked and left open all night. And like, we actually just had our door replaced at the building a few months ago, in part for this reason, it was a very old door, but long story short, there was a night when one of this...

Teachers thought they locked it and I love that you have electronic locks you can monitor from your phone. I need to figure out how to do that. But they thought they locked it. I went back and looked at the camera and they did the thing to lock the door, but it didn't latch properly. And so the door was literally swinging open like all night. And I had a student who goes for a walk in our town at like 5.30 in the morning. She noticed our door was open, called her friend who called one of my teachers. Like, thank goodness it's a small town.

and they called me so like 630 in the morning I get this call like, hey, the studio door swinging open. So I did drive over there and like, thank goodness nothing was stolen. But that's like one of my biggest nightmares because I'm like, they can have access to so much information and like, yeah, and then to replace all of that and like, I'm so sorry that like your phone got wiped. That just sucks. Like there's so much that's then attached to you as a person. You know, I am the business in a lot of ways.

Rachel Brooks (56:34.221)
Yeah.

Stephanie Alston (56:37.541)
So I think about that often, the safety of personal information or the security of how we run the business and like proprietary information in the background. But then also, yeah, are the people walking in the door feeling like their personal things are okay if they leave their stuff in the lobby or like they can have a good experience with their mind and body when they step in the room. Like are my teachers holding a space that feels comforting and that they can.

have that freedom to move and be in vulnerable positions because like going back to the ecstatic dance conversation, like there is a level of safety in self that I think needs to be felt before it can be expressed outward. Like, can I move my bodies in this way? like, are there eyes on me right now? You know, or how do I feel if there are other bodies in the room that I might bump into? So yeah, it's a whole big conversation that I think is worth.

acknowledging like between studio owners but also if you're considering becoming a studio owner stepping into this role like that's what you're signing up for is to be the eyes and the ears of your community.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (57:46.08)
Yeah. Well, and even Steph, this makes me think about your prior experience to where you're at right now and where somebody could also be stepping into a studio ownership role, but buying into a corporate space where they have, where it feels different than

Perhaps what you're building and Rachel, what you've built where it's different when it's a boutique experience, when you're like, we have one studio or we have two studios and like that's different than like you can buy into this chain and here's how it is run. And this is the aesthetic of it. And this is how we're, this is how you're going to do things. and that, that sense of safety or like the feeling of a place, a feeling of a place feels safe to different people. guess that's what I want to say.

Stephanie Alston (58:38.276)
Yeah.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (58:38.432)
And so you definitely have had experience with that where you're like, this isn't the feeling that I want to give people from some of your prior corporate experiences. And where now like you're able to offer something too that might feel more held for different people.

Stephanie Alston (58:55.214)
Yeah, thanks for naming that too. It's having, yeah, also help manage and lead at other studios that it wasn't necessarily my vision and it wasn't necessarily my, like my protocols and like.

There, it was an interesting, yeah, different dynamic of also like how do we create a sense here, felt sense or a community sense and cultivate those things that we value even within like a different standard of how it's executed. Yeah, there's and cons there too, because I would, I will say there was some really nice things about someone else besides the promotion, someone else besides the pricing. I just get to kind of sit back and like navigate it all.

But yeah, it's always a co-creation, like, you know, everything in relationship. And Rachel, I heard you saying too, with like, enrolling your students in like, this is part of your role too, as practicing here, as a student in the community, to be looking out for like, are you leaving the door unlocked behind you when you just took a class upstairs? Yeah, it's, we all do it together.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (01:00:00.236)
Yeah. this was perfect. I love these little nuggets of conversation. Thank you for your insight. Thank you for the play, for the honesty, for the community, for the safety, for all of these things. I, you know, we really, like I, all three of us, think here can sit here and be like, we would like to safe places for people to land. We also acknowledge that safety looks different for everybody.

and that not every space is safe for everybody and they won't feel that way. And that there's been a lot of harm done within movement communities outside of just yoga and assumptions that really injure people, assumptions and that we, one of the things I really try to remind teachers when I work with them is that there is an internal and external environment.

And we can only see one of those. And we really only have control often over one of those, a little bit, not always a lot of control, but we all are coming with our own things and we cannot see those. We cannot see the things that we all are carrying or the experience we have or the experience we don't or the stories that we're telling ourselves and what has happened in order for us to land here together. And so just the grace to have with each other.

as we navigate this truly as community. So thank you, Rachel. Thank you, Steph. Any last things you wanna share?

Rachel Brooks (01:01:33.067)
No, I feel like that feels, that feels good. It feels complete for today.

Stephanie Alston (01:01:37.173)
Yeah, thank you for being in this yoga business community with me. Like I love these conversations where we can come together and feel like less alone in it.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (01:01:47.406)
Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Thank you. if you're listening to this, share with your business partner, have the conversations and, we wish you the best of luck. Your win is truly our win as other people do in the damn thing and trying to make ripples in our community to help people like stand up and live their best lives.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us and all of our social links will be in the show notes. You can reach out to Rachel and Steph, especially if you are looking to open a studio or want some mentorship and, and steps along the way. Like I think there's some good content from today that you're like, this would be interesting. I don't have to this by myself. So they're great resources for that. So please connect. We're here. You don't have to do it alone. So until next time, y'all. Thank you.

Rachel Brooks (01:02:40.451)
Thank you.