Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lisa Hoke. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken to sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Wow, this question!?

WHAT WE THINK: If I own my own business I will roll into work when I want to or I won’t if I don’t want to. I will sleep late. I will let everybody else do the work and I can just reap the rewards while living the good life. I will TRAVEL and have lots of money to travel. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, and nobody can tell me what to do because I am the boss. Owning my own business would be AWESOME.

THE REALITY: Wake up before the chickens and go to work – first in, last out. Make sure that no matter how hectic and off schedule everything is that nobody notices. Pay the invoices – pray you have enough money to pay the invoices. Pray nothing breaks that requires money to fix it. Ask your husband to be your maintenance man. Ask your father to answer your phones. Pray your people can make it to work today. Love these people because they are trying whether they make it or not. NEVER take a day off. Clean the bathrooms because cleaning services are too expensive. Run on old computers and pray they don’t crash. Back up your files in case they do. Maybe the answering machine will work today, maybe not. Note to self, buy a new answering machine as soon as you have time to do that. Order your groceries to be delivered because you can never ever leave work. Wake up in the middle of the night trying to remember if you emailed that person, returned that call, paid that bill, checked the lights, sinks, and toilets before you left…try to go back to sleep because you just don’t know if you did or didn’t and you have to get up in a few hours. Owning my own business is awesome?

So many times I come to the end of a 15-hour day and think, wouldn’t it be nice to just have a regular job – My answer is NO. When things aren’t going as planned it is definitely hard, but when all is right in the world you cannot beat the feeling of owning your own business.

Lisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

FLOW stands “For the Love of Wellness.” We are a sole proprietor LLC company that’s main focus is helping people heal. Our specialty is stepping out of the box of modern medicine and pharmacy. Our facility is comprised of holistic healing opportunities through warm-water aquatic reconditioning, massage, acupuncture, functional fitness, sitting classes for those unable to stand, beginner, intermediate and more advanced fitness circuits, as well as supporting each individual in their own journey of healing. I saw the need for a more holistic approach to healing through my experience working at the hospital, through my job as a medical transcriptionist, through teaching fitness classes at the gym, and by talking to so many people who felt like they couldn’t perform their daily activities of living due to a multitude of weaknesses, injuries, illnesses and debilities. Each person had similar complaints – nobody is listening and nobody cares about our pain. Our focus here is to help people find their starting point and teach them the patience they need to reach their goals. One size NEVER fits all. We are a very hands on facility who feels each individual person matters and each situation matters and each should be addressed with love, understanding, and care. Using warm water and supportive modalities we are able to offer a unique healing experience for our clients. We are most proud of the reputation we have built within our community. We work off a referral system, word of mouth, passing on of information from our clients to their families, to their doctors and to their friends and we always have work. I think our facility focus is unique and multidiscipline driven in a world where automation seems to be becoming the accepted. We do not ZOOM, we touch, we feel, we love, we understand and we are present.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think everyone can share the story of the pandemic. Of course we were all affected by COVID. On March 23, 2020, we got the call to close our doors. I remember standing in an empty facility and wondering will these doors ever open again? How long will we be closed? Regardless of the pandemic everyone still wanted to be paid, the rent, the cable, the electric bills, the water, the gas, the internet, the phone service, but here I am with zero income and still all my bills to pay. One thing my father taught me was put away your pennies, save for the rainy day, always have a plan B and boy did that fit this situation. For 8 weeks I came here every single day even though there were no clients. I took care of my pools, I painted, I cleaned, I tried to make nonmonetary requiring improvements, I serviced, I planned, I moved furniture, anything I could do to keep my mind in the game. I reached out to clients weekly as we were not able to meet as usual. I encouraged chin up and head down. We were all scared and frustrated. They relayed over and over the pain they were in emotionally and physically not being able to come and get in the pools or exercise or see their friends. It was tough times. When the PPP came out initially I was told that I did not qualify for any help. I could apply for unemployment, but the system was full, crashing, not accepting my applications, not really set up for business owners. Everyone was in a panic. I had some money put away, but would it be enough? In the meantime I decided to switch from a big bank to a small local bank as I prefer personal interaction to big business. The small local bank said have you applied for your PPP and I said I was turned down by the big bank. They said, of course you can apply, you are an employee and you will qualify. I didn’t get much but I was approved for enough to keep my main bills paid for 4 weeks. Eventually I was able to get my unemployment and that helped me replace some of the money I lost paying my other bills. It would have been so easy to just close it down and give up but with the love of Southern Bank of Tennessee and some wonderfully caring people, I was able to hang in there. Plus, I love my clients too much to give up.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn business to own a business. I had to unlearn putting numbers first and I had to put people first. Everyone says bottom line, bottom line and they mean financial but the true bottom line is your heart. I took accounting and business in school. I learned economics, government and history. We were told in order to have a successful business you must be THAT owner. Keep business business, take no prisoners, keep the lines hard and strong, don’t cross them. Business is just business, no hard feelings, its not personal and I say BULL. I am probably the worst manager ever. I’m soft hearted, I’m personal, I’m the touchy feely, romantic comedy, squishy wishy, sob story, Southern Baptist, pushover of the world. I hate conflict, I hate confrontation. I just want the world to be happy and to be a beautiful place. In all of this though I have had to learn compromise, understanding, patience, and there is always more than one side to everything. Do not ASSUME anything, ask and listen when there is conflict or controversy. Find out the misunderstandings, the miscommunications, and keep the lines open. This is key to client retention. Be clear in your expectations of your clients and be clear in their expectations of you. Most of all JUST BE KIND. In the end, you all win.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flowaquatic.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FLOWAquaticSmyrna/