We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cleve Willis . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cleve below.

Cleve , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

The Negative (besides the obvious of covid) is having to either ask (or kick someone out) for “misbehaving” or being disrespectful to the studio, teachers or other students.

Here are a couple fun examples:

A lady would sit up front in ever single class and be behind by 20 seconds of every single posture (for years). After way too many chats, a teacher asked her politely to please stay together with the class. This student lost it and was cussing at the teacher saying f-you I can do what I want I pay to be here etc etc… this is a grown person. It was time to go somewhere else.

Another student, in a certain posture (spin twist) would burp on purpose, and it was long and loud. Once is funny, 10 classes later – not so much. Good bye.

Also, years ago, we had a student who was doing his own, completely different type of yoga in the back while everyone else was doing the actual class. It was incredibly disrespectful and interrupts the entire class. He should have worked a deal to simply rent the room instead.
Make no mistake, like any environment that deals with public, we have to tell someone we are not the place for them sometimes.
Another negative that is not student related: We had our new rubber floor put in pre-covid and the next day we had a million bubbles in the floor. I walked in and was shocked but we had class anyway.
As owners, you want to make everyone happy. However, reality is you never will. The push and pull can be tough.

POSITIVE
We are so lucky that we have a high standard of teacher and integrity behind our studio 20 years later. We do not do a subpar Bikram yoga class you get what our brand is.
The community is undeniable , they are wonderful and supporting to the studio, the practice , teachers , and being more than incredible during covid. so much so it gives us chill bumps.
To watch a new or old school. student progress or have a”breakthrough” with themselves be it physical or otherwise the excitement you see them have , it’s incredible.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I found Bikram yoga when I was going through a dark time. I was about to fall out of recovery. After taking many classes, I discovered that once I was once I was the room, my brain shut up for 90 min and I felt something amazing: being in the moment and at peace and it literally saved my ass.

What sets our studio apart from others: we know our brand, we keep the integrity of the practice, as that is what the community deserves and expects. Our goal is to continue to have a safe and accessible studio for students. We are not trying to solve anything. We are just trying to provide a space for people to come practice without the nonsense of social media’s version of yoga. And that is what sets us apart.

I am incredibly proud to have an amazing business parter, Ahoo Sarab, and that we have been given the opportunity to continuing to keep this studio going and to be of service to the community.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The simple answer is to be authentic.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I was lucky enough to have some presence as a musician, so there was already a built in curiosity about me from that scale, which included local people. Also, we bought into a studio from our former teacher and owner, Eric Jennings. He had already established the local community as well as our social media being the official lost and found of the studio. We were able to expand to a broader use of social media. I joke about being famous within a 5 mile radius of the studio-we never have been and continue not to be social media gurus. If you look at our social media, you will see the authentic practitioner. We are not fancy. What you see on social media is what you will see in the studio.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://stillhotyoga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stillhotyoga/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stillhotyoga
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgu8PtkugvOHaooktLmoMcA
• Other: more info with Cleve’s current and past music/ acting stuff https://solo.to/clevewillis?fbclid=IwAR0RBtk0mM52ukKcxi4cob5d74soi8jHjnBDOHrxCgJFRWtikpr0tmDps-M