Yoga Pod - Nicole and Gerry Wienholt, Interview with Meredith Sasseen

Transcript

hi my name is Meredith sassine reporting for La yoga magazine I'm here in Boulder Colorado at the hanaman Festival 2012 here are highlights from this amazing Festival filled with local and National teachers and an extraordinary community of people committed to help free you ain't got to ask how say yes say yes in the nail living for the most high you ain't got to ask say yes say yes in the now living life so free you ain't got to ask how say yes say yes in the now you can try some new hi I'm Meredith sassine reporting with LA yoga magazine and we're here at the Yoga Pod with the owners of The Yoga Pod this is Jerry and Nicole you offer an amazing opportunity for people who are passionate and excited about yoga can you tell us a little bit about that yeah we think we do we think we do six years ago Nicole and I had uh defined the mission to create a sanctuary of peace where students could uh rejuvenate the Mind refresh the spirit and replenish the body and um so our vision was that we would acquire a yoga studio and that we would expand that studio and then eventually scale it into a franchise opportunity which we just announced in March and we're really excited about that um the opportunity is for you know people that are passionate about yoga and want to be in the yoga business um we feel like that we have uh systems and tools that would really enable them and Empower them to be successful and ensure their success and uh so we're really excited about that it's a it's a franchise opportunity we're looking at every Major Market in the country so Coast to Coast um it's a $35,000 investment for the franchise and um and a 5% royalty on top of that uh monthly royalty and um we feel like uh it's a it's a tremendous opportunity where the return on the investment if you follow the business model that that we have U that we've created that return comes in in just a little over three years so I think that's really strong more than one out of 10 Americans right now are doing yoga so there's a lot of people getting involved and engaged Nicole you do a great job at sourcing extraordinary teachers at the studio and also bringing lots of people into the yoga practice and I know that you look for the entrepreneurial Spirit and the passion and and really help people walk into their passion no matter what it is when you think about the ideal owner for one of your franchises what would that uh that profile look like well um really Meredith we're looking for passionate people who are passionate about yoga um but also passionate about business because if you don't have the business sense and you don't have you don't love business uh you're just going to want to practice and teach yoga and then your business isn't going to do so well so so we're looking for very strong business people um and also community people people who live and love their community and love people in their community that they can be out in the community and um meet people and promote their business and that is really key and that's been really key for us and growing our business so we're really looking for very outgoing um like-minded people who know how to how to really connect and connect with others and then and then have this wonderful Kola this community within their studio and and truly if you're passionate about it it's a really easy business because you love it so much and your teachers love it your students are getting a great experience when they come in so it's a it's um it's a really easy business to run so you're no strangers to supporting people and achieving their dreams in the business world can you talk a little bit about the company that you have together and your lives outside of the Yoga Pod yeah so pep you know is is a business I started 19 years ago pep is an acronym for purpose excellence and passion and so we do organizational development motivational programs sales and negotiation training these type of things for major corporations all over the country all over the world Nicole joined me seven years ago and is my business partner in pep and um so we we really enjoy and find great fulfillment in working together uh in this business how do you feel about h i I agree a lot of people say how can you work together and be married and spend all that time together but we love it and we actually thrive on it so so um being business partners and partners in life is um is tremendously rewarding for us we're looking to create a family uh and a and a partnership and um we have experienced doing that we've consulted with a lot of different franchise organizations over the years and um we understand the franchise or franchise relationship and the Dynamics around that kind of unique relationship and so we're really excited to create this wonderful um network of uh Yoga Pod owners and partners so we're all in it together it's not like you know you sign your franchise application you get your first location and you're on your own you know we're there to support and help and we all grow and learn from each other so it's exciting well you've done an incredible job at building both a wonderful community of students as well as really well-trained teachers here in Boulder when you think of the story of hanaman and how that affects your lives what do you feel you can really connect to that inspires you to be even more greater in your lives today I would say I mean especially relating it to the story of hanimon um taking a leap for Success like just and I think of the word leap just because of the story of hanon so um go for it you know take risks to take chances and keep going and persevere until you reach your goal and you um you achieve your your desired outcome but mitigate your risks by investing in a proven system that works yes with with great people who want and are committed to you your success lovely well that reminds me that hanaman of course is all about devotion and you know when he opened up his chest to reveal Rah and Sitta is inscribed on his heart it was all about his devotion and clearly you're devoted to yoga and to passion and to creating strong entrepreneurs in our world so more love in the world is coming out to you to connect with Nicole and Jerry go ahead and visit the yoga pod.com my name is Meredith sassine reporting here at the hanaman festival for La yoga magazine now say yes say yes in the now living life so free you ain't got to ask say yes say yes in the now you can try something new let me show you how say yes in the nail living life so free you ain't got to ask how say yes say yes in the now living for the most high you ain't got to ask out say yes say yes in the now living life so free you ain't got to ask out say yes say yes in the now you can try something new let me show you how yes yes yeah