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

Alright, Ashton thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success is multi-faceted and also a definition that’s widely subjective. HOWEVER, regardless of how you define success, as an entrepreneur, I recommend these steps for being successful in life:

1. Have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish / create
2. Organize and outline the steps you need to take to get there
3. Possess the determination and drive to keep going
4. Expect road blocks, detours, rejection, and failure
5. Maintain a positive and empowered mindset to keep moving forward
6. Realize that road blocks, detours, rejection and failure are all teachers and lessons that help you evolve
7. Celebrate your small successes along the way
8. ENJOY the process

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

Before becoming an entrepreneur, before my time as an English Professor, before diving into yoga, my first passion was and still is writing. Before I started YogiApproved.com, I was teaching 12+ yoga classes a week, waitressing at Snooze (a delicious breakfast restaurant) AND working as an English Professor. I wanted to find a way to bridge my passion for writing and my love of yoga with my purpose of helping people. This is when the idea for YogiApproved.com was born. Soon after, I decided to step off the ledge and go full time in pursuing this vision and making it a reality!

YogiApproved.com is a female founded and led online yoga and wellness magazine and resource to help people truly thrive through mind-body-soul wellness. YogiApproved is home to thousands of articles and hundreds of on-demand yoga, fitness and wellness videos serving a global community.

We are recognized for creating some of the highest quality content in the industry. YogiApproved Classes’ online class selections include:

Vinyasa and Power Yoga
Hatha
Yin and Restorative
Guided Meditation and Yoga Nidra
Guided Breathwork
Fitness
Barre and Pilates
Mindset and Wellness
Dance and Movement
Weekly Live Virtual Classes
Specialty Programs

Every class you take helps plant a food-producing tree for farming communities in Africa. So far, we’ve planted nearly 300,000 trees and counting with our partner Trees for the Future!! Altruism is a key pillar in my business, and we are so proud of our tree planting initiative!

As a wellness platform with a broad reach, we understand the impact we have and we lead with integrity. We create accessible content that is educational, inclusive, accurate and empowering and we collaborate with teachers and contributors who share our mission and dedication.

Finally, what I love about our brand is that it is a reflection of my love for community. I LOVE connecting directly with our readers and students, and am always looking for ways to deepen that connection and sense of community. Which means, if you love what we’re up to, we would love to hear from you and connect! Please do :)

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

As I mentioned in my first answer, on the road to success, it’s important to have realistic expectations and also maintain a healthy mindset. The early years of starting YogiApproved were filled with constant challenges. We built it from the ground up – no funding, and frankly not a lot of support. Friends and family were skeptical (raise your hand if, as an entrepreneur you had a similar experience?) which made it tough to press on amidst those challenges, road blocks, rejections, and set backs. I had family tell me to quit while I was ahead, to cut my losses and get a ‘real job.’

Ouch! That did hurt. BUT I believed in myself and in my vision, so I kept going. It can be hard to not feel as supported as you’d like to be, especially by the people you expect to be in your corner … but entrepreneurship is not for everyone and for those who it’s not for, it can be a journey that’s hard to understand or relate to. And that’s ok! I knew that my loved ones had the best intentions but simply did not share my same path or mindset. So I lovingly asked for their support but didn’t allow their opinions to impact my decisions or forward movement.

Now, all these years later, these same people are cheering for me! They see now how far YogiApproved has come and I have more support from them. I wouldn’t have any of this to share had I not been resilient and persevered when times were tough and it would’ve felt easier to quit. Do not give up on yourself!

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

We form root beliefs about ourselves when we are younger, and unfortunately these root beliefs are often negative and self-defeating. For me, one of my debilitating root beliefs that formed was that I was not worthy – not worthy of having many friends (I moved around a lot growing up and was bullied), not worthy of standing up for myself or having healthy relationships.

Fast forward to starting my company – I struggled with asking for help, with putting myself out there and asking for support. This has been a long process of unlearning and reprogramming my mind to fully accept that I AM worthy of all these things. We all are!

And while I’m not saying that “I’ve got it all figured out” what I am saying is that I finally decided that I am actually doing a disservice to not just myself but also the collective good by NOT celebrating my successes (which in turn gives others permission to do the same) and not sharing my gifts that the world can benefit from. When we remove ourselves from the focus and instead operate from a place of humility and being of service, it completely shifts our mindset and boosts our motivation!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yogiapproved.com www.yaclasses.com www.ashtonaugust.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/yogiapproved/ www.instagram.com/yaclasses/ www.instagram.com/iamashtonaugust/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/YogiApproved www.facebook.com/yaclasses www.facebook.com/iamashtonaugust
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashton-august-yogiapproved/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyEEqjhf3NeujoC73yUZbKw

Image Credits
For my two headshots, photo credit: Tabor Aragon, With Love Photo