We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Courtney Loughney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Courtney, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In 2012 I was working as a behavioral specialist, mostly with children on the autism spectrum. I loved working with the kids, but didn’t love all of the paperwork. Simultaneously, more and more children were using iPads, and social media was on the rise. As screen time was on the rise, childhood anxiety was rising, and time spent playing outside was declining.

In 2013 I decided to quit my job to blend my backgrounds in psychology, special education, and yoga to create children’s yoga programs.. I knew that I wanted to keep the business low risk so I immediately eliminated having a brick and mortar. I thought about where children spend most of their time, and it’s at school. I pivoted to school yoga programs, and with just $600 had a website and logo created along with a few marketing materials.

In 2025 our school yoga programs are offered in Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania with the mission to get children to unplug and reconnect with their minds and bodies.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ballerina turned yogi, I found yoga my freshman year of college when I decided not to pursue ballet after high school. The way I moved my body reminded me of ballet, and helped calm my anxiety. I loved it so much that I went on to get certified to teach, and taught yoga as my college job. After finishing my master’s degree in special education and working as a behavioral specialist, I found myself coming full circle. Passionate about moving my body, not just for the physical part, but the mental part, I wanted to bring this gift to the next generation.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I really had to hustle to land those first few contracts! It was no easy feat. However, the most effective strategy for growing my clientele IS my clientele. Word of mouth remains the best form of marketing. Our parents and schools are the best and we work hard to let them know that we appreciate them!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When we got news in March 2020 that we were going to have to shut down for two weeks to stop the spread of Covid-19 my team and I started to email parents and schools to let them know their make up dates. Then the unthinkable happened, children never returned to school. Thousands of dollars in refunds had to be sent, my team and I had no income, and everything had moved to online which did not align with our mission to get kids to unplug.

Even when students were allowed back in school, most vendors were not in an effort limit the amount of people in the buildings. I lost most of my team and school contracts. I spent weeks trying to be awarded PPP from the government that had been gobbled up quickly by big corporations, and applying for grants. Completely hopeless I decided to put Petite Yogi up for sale. I knew that one day kids would be back in school, and that someone would have the energy to get the contracts back and rebuild the team.

I met a few times with a potential buyer, but in the end it fell through. In that moment I realized that I had to just pause and stop spinning my wheels. 5 years later we have rebuilt and expanded into our neighboring states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://petiteyogi.com
• Instagram: @petite_yogi
• Facebook: @petiteyogidelaware

Image Credits

Heartbeat Branding Co.