Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Yirser Ra Hotep, Owner of Kemeticyogaskills LLC., located in Chicago, IL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are called Kemetic YogaSkills. We provide instruction and teacher training in the art and science of Kemetic Yoga. Our primary customers belong to the global African Diaspora because we affect people across the globe. We work with people throughout the U.S., the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and Africa. We provide full 200-hour certification in Kemetic Yoga, various mini certifications in Healing Racial Trauma through Kemetic Yoga, Kemetic Yoga for Black Youth Development, Stress Management, and Alchemy of Kemetic Yoga. We also offer training in Kemetic Yoga for professionals such as school teachers, social workers, and other professionals to address issues of stress management, obesity, substance abuse, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Tell us about yourself
I became interested in yoga as part of my path to living a healthy holistic lifestyle. I was introduced to yoga about a year after adopting a raw food vegan lifestyle that included exercise and fitness. Once I experienced my first yoga class, I was convinced that it was a tremendous practice for self-development and spiritual evolution. I only began to teach others and train people to become instructors after being persuaded by those around me to share it. I taught classes for the public first, then used it in my profession as a social worker and therapist to heal youth and other clients in need.
I started to train people to be instructors about 25 years ago. I was convinced that Kemetic Yoga was a missing element of the conscious evolution of oppressed people and that the only way to spread its science was through creating a global network of teachers. I was convinced that we, as people who have been systematically stripped of our culture and history by an oppressive system in order to exploit us, needed an internal system of healing that places us back in harmony with our ancestral mind and spiritual science.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
The creation of a global movement with over eight thousand certified instructors and probably millions of practitioners. It is my belief that at any given moment, there is a number of people around the world practicing Kemetic Yoga. I am proud of the young people we have taught Kemetic Yoga to, who are now productive adults who continue the practice. I am also gratified to see so many of our teachers around the world having babies and raising families where Kemetic Yoga is a foundation of their family life.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Simply working to maintain awareness with your audience in this age of social media, distraction, and short attention spans.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be an expert in your field who does what you do out of love and the desire to serve.
- Be willing and able to adapt to change and ride the waves of ups and downs.
- Be able to build awareness by utilizing the current systems of marketing.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://kemeticyogaskills.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yogaofkemet
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kemeticyogaskillsofficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/YogaSkills
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yirser-ra-hotep-8979853/
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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