We recently connected with Yasuyo Takeo and have shared our conversation below.

Yasuyo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

Our journey to find our very first skateboarding-friendly commercial space in NYC was nothing short of a wild ride. Renting a commercial space in the Big Apple is one thing, but the one that allows skateboarding in their space?

A little over 3 years into running SKATEYOGI without its own physical space, it was time to look for our own brick and mortar location. With no manual in hand, whenever we spotted a For Lease sign, we would dial the number, fueled by a mix of hope and curiosity. But the moment we uttered that infamous S word – Skateboarding – the calls would often end pretty quickly. Lesson learned: next time, we would lead with the S word to save everyone some time and our sanity.

After months of searching high and low, we were beginning to think that finding a skate-able space in NYC was just a dream. We even toyed with the idea of moving out of NYC. But then, Kevin went for a casual skate in our neighborhood one day and made an incredible discovery—a “For Lease” sign just a block away from our apartment. Excitement surged as we immediately reached out, being very upfront about the usage, that it was for skateboarding. To our astonishment, they arranged for someone to show us the space that very same day.

Upon arrival, we found ourselves captivated by an end unit of a one-story strip mall building. It felt right, and we knew we could make the rent work. When we expressed our eagerness to move forward with the lease, the facility manager whisked us away in his car to meet the landlord. The owner looked at Kevin and said, “People talk about the American dream all the time, but can you pay the rent?”

With determination, Kevin confidently replied, “Yes!” And just like that, everything started to move at lightning speed—we had the keys to our new space in just a few short weeks. In 2 months, we had our own indoor skatepark and storefront in NYC open to the public after some sweat equity and hiring friends and contractors.

Those two months were a whirlwind of activity, filled with long days and even longer nights. Everyday, we had to make decisions, big and small – What A/C units are we going to install? What bathroom sink and faucet should we get? What color should we use for the bathroom wall? Lighting? Phone system? What materials should we use for XYZ? What furniture do we need?

Decision overload, yet Kevin and I were fully immersed in the hustle. We were fortunate that our work was just around the corner from home, which allowed us to balance our family life with the demanding nature of our project.

Navigating the unpredictable world of contractors and deliveries tested our patience. But through it all, we discovered that our preparedness made all the difference. We had taken the time to secure a small loan beforehand, which gave us the financial cushion we needed for our lease and buildout. With our backgrounds in project management and brand experience design, we were able to create a roadmap with a clear vision, laying out plans and processes that enabled us to open SKATEYOGI in record time.

It was exhausting to work like that, but the end result was incredible. We made it happen!

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 run SKATEYOGI with my husband/business partner Kevin Banahan in Brooklyn NY. SKATEYOGI offers skateboarding programs for all ages in a fun, creative environment. The youngest students are 2 year-olds, and so far, the oldest student we’ve had is 70. Kevin mainly works on teaching/HR/logistics aspects while I work on customer service and operations. Kevin and I have been married since 2004 – we never expected to start a business together, ever! And no, I am not a skateboarder, Kevin is – But as his partner, I’ve seen how skateboarding helps him to get connected to others. We trust each other and understand one another’s vision. It was a natural development that we started to build SKATEYOGI as a team. At the time, the skateboarding scene was still pretty male dominant with less diversity. Also, as NYC transplants with no connections in the NYC skate scene, we felt intimidated by all the existing companies that seemed to know what they were doing. So, we felt strongly that our program should be inclusive and welcoming to anyone, regardless of their experience levels. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all, and it takes so much courage to try something new.

SKATEYOGI started in 2013, but it was my side gig until 2020, as I had my own design consultancy business.

My career began as a designer after studying communication design in college. I followed a traditional path, doing internships at creative agencies and eventually got a full-time job at a design studio, where I worked on branding, website design and corporate identities. Exposed to clients in various industries like nonprofits, finances and insurance, I learned how they communicate their values and plans to their stakeholders. In the same year my daughter was born, when she was 6 months old, my husband Kevin fell ill and had to be hospitalized. Because of this, he was unable to work for a while. I decided to go independent and became the breadwinner of our household.

Looking back, this was the toughest moment of my life – having a little baby and a husband to care for, with no family support. This too was the moment when I was determined to rise up. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but it didn’t matter. I needed to make a living and support my family. Back then, I would work on several assignments at the same time, starting work at 4am, hit the gym at 6am, sometimes going into a client’s site from 9am-5pm. I’m grateful for all the friends that helped me then. This experience also taught me struggles you go through mentally and physically, when their loved ones get sick. I gained so much empathy and insight for being a carer.

As my husband Kevin recovered, he shared his dream with me that he would like to do two things he’s passionate about: teaching and skateboarding. Having no idea how he could start teaching skateboarding, we were brainstorming this idea out loud after a yoga class at Urban Asanas and the owner Jyll’s ear perked. She said “Kevin, I wanna learn how to skateboard. I will put together a class so you can teach us.” So that’s how the very first class came about – a 4-week series of adult skateboarding classes taught by Kevin. There were about 8 students, mostly women and all coming from the yoga community. They were thrilled to be on skateboards, as many of the positions reminded them of certain yoga poses and they were able to connect yoga and skateboarding. Even after the 4-week series ended, Kevin continued to show up to the skatepark every Sunday. Some weeks, he would see 2-3 students and others no one. Jyll would tell him “Just keep showing up. Don’t stop.” We decided to keep the name SKATEYOGI to keep the connection to this humble beginning in collaboration with a yoga studio.

Then one day, when he was coming home from his lesson, a 5th grader who lived a few doors down asked him on the sidewalk, “Do you teach skateboarding to kids?” She asked around kids on our block to gather a group for skateboarding lessons. She was 10 years old! Literally, they would meet in front of our apartment building and go skate. While growing the SKATEYOGI classes, Kevin also worked at a private school in Manhattan, where he was introduced to Robin, an afterschool program director at the school he worked at. She showed him the ins and outs of running enrichment programs in NYC – and she was the very first client, who sent her afterschool groups from Manhattan to our Brooklyn location – site unseen – when we first opened our own space in the fall of 2016. She was a champion for us – and we miss her dearly as she passed several years ago after a long battle with cancer.

It had taken about 3 years since we taught the first class before we finally felt confident enough to get our own space. And now we have 2 locations along with some partner offsite programs.

Our vision is to help create a world where differences are celebrated with peace and respect. As parents of children with learning disabilities, we are very conscious of challenges some people face in a traditional setting. Our small class size helps anyone. Sometimes, there are people who are unable to learn in a group setting, so for those people, we recommend private lessons so they are 1-on-1 with our instructors.

Our offerings include group classes, private lessons, day camp programs, adult classes, birthday parties and partner programs. Now that we’ve been in business for over 10 years, some of the students we’ve had are in college or entered a new chapter of their lives as parents. Some of our adult students have brought their children to our classes and we are proud to see that SKATEYOGI is becoming part of their rite of passage.

Our instructors truly make our program different and outstanding – we only hire those who are passionate about not only sharing their love of skateboarding, but also helping others. Many of them are creative professionals, who balance their other work with SKATEYOGI. We hope you can come meet them – they are amazing people and we are lucky to have such a talented group of staff.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Ever since I read a book about how 80% of the stuff you own is junk, I’ve been pretty fascinated by the 80/20 rule. You can find lots of books and articles about this concept. It just appears in so many places! 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of what we do, 20% of my efforts lead to 80% of the results and so on. My birthday is February 8, so I liked how the numbers matched there too.

This principle has been applied to not only what I do on a day-to-day basis, but big picture thinking and planning. When you are dealing with so many things that are equally important, prioritizing tasks is a big challenge. Over time, I think I’ve gotten better at identifying opportunities that I would accept. Sometimes, I might overthink something or set a high standard – and I can remind myself of the 80/20 rule and be ok with “This is good enough.”

Recently, we made the decision to be closed for the entire holiday break from December 21 until New Year’s Day. This means our skate shop will be closed for the last minute holiday shoppers, but we did the 80/20. We can still sell gift cards online, so it’s not a complete loss. The positive feedback we received from our staff was priceless – everyone was delighted to have time off during the holiday season, and this was much more important than being open until Christmas Eve.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up in Japan, where my family taught me the importance of being frugal and never going into debt. Debt was a sign of failure – To them, it was a sign of living above your means and being broke. If you want to buy something, save up first and wait until you can afford it.

Coming from a place where patience is a virtue, I found myself grappling with concepts that initially seemed foreign and overwhelming as a minted business owner – “Borrow money when you don’t need it,” “Don’t worry about paying interest.” Delving into the world of running a small business, I realized it was all about embracing calculated risks and knowing opportunity costs.

Taking out a loan when SKATEYOGI was in a financially stable position has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made in our business. Seven months before the lockdown, we had just secured a substantial SBA loan. At the time, who could have predicted that the entire world would be forced to shut down because of COVID?

Having this financial cushion allowed us to stay calm and optimistic even during the darkest days of a pandemic. We brainstormed ways we could pivot. And coming out of the pandemic, we were actually able to secure a lease to a second location in a desirable area.

As we embarked on our journey, we discovered the transformative power of leveraging borrowed money — it is not a sign of misery but a strategic foresight to secure the health of your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://skateyogi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skateyogi
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skateyogi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skateyogi
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/skateyogi

Image Credits

Los Estrada, SKATEYOGI, Anneliese Horowitz, Chris May