We were lucky to catch up with Lauren Fields recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, appreciate you joining us today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

It never occurred to me to have employees or contractors in the early years. I wore all the hats, like many do. The first contractors I employed were for the biggest gig I had gotten at that point, a 30 person class at the Marriott downtown. It was a big consulting firm and I felt like I needed my business to look bigger than just me. I used the entire profit to buy my first set of mats and props, hurriedly set up a wholesale account with prana, and had matching tank tops with my logo created, all a couple weeks before the day. I had two instructors, one for greeting and getting waivers signed and the other for assisting the students during the class. They did great, and we pulled it off. It was a massive amount of work because Stakt mats hadn’t been created yet, and rolling up yoga mats and trying to bunch them together was like an infomercial, as they fell off our gigantic bins and unraveled I kept visualizing “ there has to be a better way!” Thank goodness for stakt, it cut my time in half for set up and breakdown.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc

I started Yoga to You PDX because there was a need for mobile yoga offerings in Portland, Oregon, at the time only studio classes were available and this didn’t match the needs of many students. We provide customized on-site and off-site yoga classes to homes, businesses, events, and beyond throughout Portland and Washington. The teacher shows up with all the props needed, music, sound bowls, eucalyptus towels, to Trailblazers Women’s in Business on the Trail Blazers Court to Nike at a local Winery to the Facilities Team at Reed College. The client provides the space, we bring the yoga to “You.” The thing i’m the most proud of is the students who would have never done yoga ever in their life, and due to our classes learn shapes and programs that empower them through education to live pain free. At the end of the day, our classes are designed to show people how to put their socks on without hurting their back, how to stretch their wrists and hands when they have tennis elbow from using a leaf blower, or release neck tension from computer work. It’s simple movement, not crazy yoga poses that you see on magazines and online.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I waited tables alongside getting my business started and used credit cards, business lines of credit with paypal business. When I landed my first big gig at a local Marriott for Slalom Consulting for 30 people, I used 100 percent of the profit to buy all the props for the class. It’s taken almost 10 years to get be debt free and finally make profit, and i’m really proud I never took loans from investors or banks, I think they call it bootstrapping. It’s really really hard, but when you are a true entrepreuner you don’t have the option to stop until you succeed.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to pivot in my business career when I had to let go of my best friend who was the person who I paid to help me with website creation, social media marketing, program management, the jack of all trades that helped propel my business forward into a professional experience. I didn’t realize until a few years in that I was changing, I was becoming a boss, and my best friend had boss energy. She was who I needed early on when I was building confidence and then I changed and she became someone I needed to stay in her lane. It was awful and heartbreaking and we almost lost our friendship over it. I remember she said during the come to jesus conversation, ” I don’t recognize. you right now you are totally shut down.” She was seeing my separation between business and emotion, something that was natural to me, and she took personally. Then she said, ” I want to support you however you want it, even though this hurts, all that matters to me is you know I love you and want to support and help you, if that means stepping away that is what i’ll do.” I softened in that moment and broke down, and she did too, and it was the end of an era. I was able to move forward the way I wanted to, without worrying about her approval, which had become a feeling from need to resentment. I was one of the proudest and hardest moments of my life as a business owner, and beyond that, proud of my best friend who knew how to keep us together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yogatoyoupdx.com

Image Credits

Kristen Semelsberger, Josh at PDX Ploration