We were lucky to catch up with Laura Monk recently and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The more risk you take, the less you see anything that can stop you, but getting the confidence to leave fear at the door is the key to gain experience and see any sort of growth in your path. Fear was, and if I am being honest, still is, my biggest mental block to getting me to take the risk to shift my life and my career.
I proudly can say that I have had several career changes in the past 15 years of my professional life. I have been a commercial architectural designer, graphic designer and event producer, yoga instructor and manager, yoga entrepreneur, and, most recently, I am embarking on a new journey to help streamline the booking systems within fitness and wellness spaces. All of these shifts required a risk, and all of them also came with a sense of hesitation and fear that I needed to overcome.
I am in the business of being uncomfortable. Yoga and the lessons I have learned in that industry, will always be a part of my professional path. One of the first things you learn during a teacher training, is that you must learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s not that fear of the unknown ever truly goes away, it’s that you get use to the feeling, and can even use it to drive you.
Nothing is guaranteed, especially in the entrepreneur world, and you eventually learn that is part of the excitement.
In 2019, I went to a yoga retreat in Costa Rica, and I had been teaching full-time for almost 8 months at that point, but knew I wanted to start my own pop-up experience company. It was about the third day before I finally spoke up about my plan (which I didn’t have one, I simply let the ideas escape my mouth in the moment). Speaking something into existence can be a real thing. And that’s what I started doing. It felt like a huge risk at the moment, just the mere words spilling out. You are surrounded by amazing people doing even more amazing things, and you have to believe that your ideas will land on interested ears. Or be absolutely okay if it doesn’t – you have to believe in yourself that much. It was soon after that retreat that I began hosting small events in the park, with hotels, at breweries and event spaces. Despite the Covid pause, my Soulfish Yoga & Experiential events company is still thriving, as I offer classes on a catamaran, and 2-3 retreats per year.
I have found that I have networked and made connections that have been the building blocks to career shifts and growth. Beyond speaking something into existence, it’s about showing up to the networking events even if you know no one, sending the emails that might be met with silence, getting told “no” frequently. All of these things can feel like risks.
It’s easy to equate risk with failure, but the only way you fail, is if you learn nothing from an experience. The sheer fact you’re willing to take one at all, speaks volumes about your desire to make a statement.
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?
I have practiced yoga since I was 18 years old. I had an MTV (I’m about to date myself), yoga DVD that was put to house music, and I was obsessed. Having played sports competitively my whole life, I had some lingering pain and injuries, so yoga quickly became my jam. As I went to college, moved to Chicago, started my career(s), yoga was always there. While I was studying abroad, I was on a trip in Turkey where we lived on a boat for a week, and I started teaching all the guests yoga each day. It was magical, and something I knew I wanted to do in some capacity.
It wasn’t until I was working at an event production company in Chicago that I found yoga sculpt at CorePower Yoga, and realized that doing a teacher training could really benefit my current role as a manager, and give me confidence to present my ideas and lead meetings without turning bright red and being insanely nervous.
Once I completed training, I started teaching on the side, and eventually decided to leave Chicago, my steady job, and head to California (talk about a risk). I worked freelance design jobs, as well as teaching, and teaching eventually took over completely. I managed a couple studios, as well as taught at several boutique studios, until just before 2020. It was then that I started Soulfish Experiential Events, and put together several pop-up classes that partnered with DJs, vendors, artists and other community members within the wellness space.
Soulfish was born from the idea that we can’t be completely selfless, but this does not make one selfish, instead we feed our flowstate and become SOULFISH.
Post-Covid shutdowns, it was time to get back on a boat teaching yoga, and that’s when I started SoulStoked, which is a yoga experience on the Triton Catamaran located on San Diego Bay. I grew up around water, love boats, and obviously yoga, so the success of this event is something that makes me the most proud (and pretty much how it all started on that boat in Turkey so long ago). On June 3, I will be hosting the 9th version of SoulStoked, and I hope to sell it out, as each one before has been. There is nothing like doing yoga on the water, and the community that attends this event is always so grateful and happy to be there.
Last year I ran my first international retreat with Room To Roam Experiences in Playa Gigante, Nicaragua. Central America has always had my heart, I have visited several times, and it was truly the first environment where you can just feel the healing energy in the air. The food, the ecosystems, the water, the people- it’s all magic. I had dreams to host an international retreat after hosting a few more locally in Joshua Tree, so to see it all happen was truly a proud moment. I will be hosting Find Your Flowstate once again in Playa Gigante coming up November 12-16 of this year. This retreat is designed to connect you to yourself and the environment that surrounds you, along with a little adventure. If you’ve ever wanted to check out this part of the world, this is the retreat for you. Hikes, volcano excursions, surf lessons, daily movement and meditation, gorgeous and delicious local meals while staying at a boutique hotel on the water, along with the fun Soulfish vibe every experience has, makes this week perfect for the solo traveler, couples, all-levels yogis, and especially any of my peers that have ever wanted to host a retreat, all are welcome.
My goal is to host three retreat experiences per year – one in the mountains, desert and exotic locations. Each of these three environments are what make me find my flowstate.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Communication, connection and networking is what takes you to the stars in this field. If you say you will connect (call, email, DM, text), with a student or someone from the community – do it. You never know where that connection could lead. My most current endeavor only became reality due to a student visiting and taking class, and then coming up to me afterwards to tell me how much she enjoyed it. In that 5 minutes of time, I relayed my thoughts on where I was in my teaching career, and how I was looking to expand into the more business side of wellness, and within 3 hours she had a badge for me to attend IHRSA, a fitness convention happening that week in San Diego. I had an interview for a new role within a week, simply because of a follow up text.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Authenticity and transparency. Communication means nothing if it is not authentic. I genuinely care about the humans that come to my classes and experiences. I want to know what they are going through and who they are, and it’s oftentimes the same from their side. Beyond an email list, or social media, smaller events and community partnerships have enabled me to grow my clientele more than anything else. There have been a couple occasions where I have had to postpone events, and being clear as to why that happens is important for me to have a committed brand and business, as well as humanize myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.soulfishevents.com
- Instagram: soulfishevents
- Facebook: 21246063
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/soulfishmonk
- Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/soulfish-yoga-amp-experiential-events-33373872153
Image Credits
Image Credit (all black outfit and yellow outfit) Lia Cappello (CaliJames Productions) SoulStoked photos (on boat) Blue Wesley (Polarized Studios)