Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nate Jones, Owner of Be Together Yoga, located in Boulder, CO, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I offer Therapeutic Thai Massage and Spiritual Development guidance through online courses with groups and one-on-one work in-person or remote. People who come to me are seeking healing and transformation.

There's really not a certain age group or gender or any other demographic category to describe them. They're interested in doing something different that will help them grow and overcome life challenges, whether it's a physical ailment, relationship issue, or difficulty in their career.

Tell us about yourself

My service has evolved significantly since I first began. I started just by teaching public yoga classes part-time alongside my full-time job as a Sports Performance trainer. As I got more interested in yoga, my lifestyle began to shift considerably, and as I grew, I was able to expand what I offered to others. I always wanted to learn how to give massage but didn't know what form or where to study.

Thai Massage found me during my yoga teacher training, and I knew immediately it was the technique I wanted to learn. After my initial Thai Massage training, I was able to go into teaching yoga and giving massage full-time. This marked a turning point for me. I was now completely in the healing arts profession, and I really dove in.

In 2018, I invited to co-teach a 200hr Yoga Teacher Training. This allowed me to see my passion for guiding people through challenges in life. The more I practiced and the more I taught, the more I learned, and my services became more powerful as a result.

I am inspired to do what I do because it brings me so much joy and energy to see the potential in people and help them see it as well. I think acknowledging where someone is at while at the same time seeing their immense creativity and talents is one of the most loving things we can do.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

The pandemic acted as a catalyst for my services. I had been avoiding a lot of things out of fear, such as teaching online and recording myself, for years. My services were dramatically affected by the shelter-in-place order. I didn't give massage outside of my household for over three months and didn't teach yoga in the studio until summer 2021. I was faced with a choice: sit back, wait it out and collect unemployment or do something different. I chose to do something different!

I got online without holding back at all. I began teaching several yoga classes each week and creating online Self-Discovery courses. I began sharing everything on social media, which I avoided for years because I was afraid to share my new lifestyle and the new me with the people I grew up with. This exploration helped me let go of so many limiting beliefs I had about myself, reach people all over the world, develop wonderful relationships, reconnect with old friends and teachers, and discover talents within myself that I hadn't seen before.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Not overthinking!! This really applies to most things in life, but I've seen this get in the way time and time again with running a business. It's so easy to put the apple cart in front of the horse and over-analyze a situation or idea. This ends up paralyzing us in a state of indecision.

Planning is great, and I do recommend it, but in moderation. The plan helps to organize our thoughts and give us some direction so we can set forth, but if it becomes too important, it's like we're trying to sail a ship on dry land. We're not going anywhere!

So, I think trusting in our inherent creativity is one of the most challenging things as a business owner. It's easy to second-guess our gut feeling because it's not what "they" are saying or what "they" are doing. We're constantly looking to others to validate our way. But if we look at the most successful businesses and entrepreneurs, they did it differently.

They trusted themselves, definitely made mistakes, and adapted. We don't need to try and be creative. It's already inside. All we need is the courage to embrace our uniqueness, play with it, and let it out!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Take some time and answer these three questions: What do I want to do? Why do I want to do it? How would I be if it were already happening? I call these the three layers of living.

The "what" is the most superficial layer and the one we often get stuck on. It's the least important, but also very necessary. What is it that you want to do? Don't hold back in answering this. Be specific. Be idealistic, not realistic. Let your heart's desire answer this one.

Now that you know what you're going for, why do you want to do it? Why is it important to you? This is like the fuel in your tank. If we don't know why we're doing something, then we're much more likely to fizzle out and give up when the inevitable challenge arises. Don't just answer this question once. Keep asking, "and why is that important to me?" Keep going deeper into your why.

You will likely reach a point where your reason is so extraordinary and universal that you feel inspired by a purpose greater than you. This will be the wind beneath your wings.

Lastly, the how points to the qualities that underly our thoughts, words, and actions. How we do things is really the most powerful aspect of anything we do. We can serve soup at a homeless shelter and not want to be there, or we can look each person in the eye, smile, and truly enjoy serving our brothers and sisters.

The action is the same, but how it's being done is completely different. When we do things out of love, we will not get exhausted. We will actually gain energy. So, if you were already living your dream, how would you be going about your day? What qualities would you be embodying? How would you treat other people? How would you greet successes and challenges? How would you feel about yourself and what you're doing?

I recommend treating this as a writing exercise. There is great power in putting pen to paper. It's usually the first stage of bringing something into the physical, and it offers a lot of clarity to the mind as well.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

If you must doubt anything, doubt your doubts! Nothing holds us back, truly, except what we believe about ourselves. If I think I can't do this, then I can't. But if I think I can, then it's officially possible! We don't have to believe we can fly, but what if we just stopped believing we can't?

What if we just stopped making the limit more solid? What if we took our focus off the limit and opened up to possibilities? What might happen? That's up to each one of us to explore and find out.

All I know is that you have something absolutely unique and wonderful within you right now. All it wants is your attention and care. Just like a beautiful flower, it knows exactly how to blossom. But if you inhibit it, then it will stay closed. I hope you can accept your unique greatness. And I hope you share it with the world. Nothing would make me happier.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://betogetheryoga.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tharollingjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therollingjones/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertnathanjones/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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