Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Megan Morris, Co-Owner of ChildLight Education Company, located in Hellertown, PA, USA.

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

I've been running my own business for the last 14 years, primarily teaching yoga. I've also been working pretty consistently as a Birth Doula for the last seven years. And in 2019, my business partner (Sally Delisle) and I purchased one of the companies we had been independent contractors for a while. The company is called ChildLight. We offer 15 different trainings for anyone who wants to learn how to share yoga and mindfulness with people in their community. The trainings cover prenatal yoga, Baby Yoga, yoga for children, and all the way up through yoga for seniors. We offer trauma-informed trainings, yoga for diverse abilities, and yoga in schools; you name it. We even have a Doula training program now. People can take our trainings self-paced online, live online, or in-person professional development.

Tell us about yourself

After my first yoga class, I knew I needed to become a yoga teacher. I never thought I would be a teacher of anything (I was an impatient 21-year-old!), but I knew the practice needed to be shared with as many people as possible. Eighteen years later, I still teach a few yoga classes a week, but much of my work involves marketing, customer service, website updates, and SEO for our yoga & mindfulness company. My greatest hope is that we have a future where all people are equipped with the tools they need to cope with life's challenges in healthy ways. So for myself, my partner, my children, and all of the people's lives we touch because of our business, I am motivated to do this work.

Do you have daily rituals for work / wellness / fitness / mindfulness?

With young children at home and co-owning my own business, daily rituals are hard to come by! No day is the same, but I have done my best to build healthy habits around my children's consistent schedules. For example, I always dress for a walk in the morning since that will greatly increase my chances of actually going for a walk after I drop my son off at school.

I have a non-negotiable commitment to practicing physical yoga asana or meditation for a minimum of three minutes a day. I know if I can't make time for this habit, I will be fooling myself! And three minutes usually turns into five or even 30 minutes. I always finish up feeling grateful I took that time for myself.

Being self-employed means I have to be disciplined about my work hours since no one monitors the time I spend at my computer. So, every Thursday afternoon, I have a ritual of inputting my work schedule for the following week into my calendar, and I do my very best to stick to the schedule I created for myself and complete the tasks I've assigned to myself for each day.

It is common to hear, "I'm too busy; I don't have time for this or that." The truth is that we make time for the things that are important to us. Success for me lies in how I schedule my time. Every night before bed, I look at my calendar for the next day and clean it up the best I can to ensure that self-care, family time, and work are all prioritized. I hardly ever lay my head on my pillow, feeling like I did my day perfectly, but I can always say I did my best, and my best is good enough.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

A decade ago, when I was dreaming up a vision for my career, this is actually pretty close to what I always wanted, so I'd say it's been a fulfilling journey.

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

I'm now trying to figure out what to manifest next. It's harder to dream with a three and seven-year-old constantly needing me for things, but I know this stage of parenthood will pass in a blink, so I'm trying to enjoy my time with them while they still want to hang out with me. It's all a balancing act. Also, the unpredictability of how the business will do each month can be stressful at times.

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

  1. Being in business alone is super stressful and isolating. If you can have a business partner, do it!
  2. Keep immaculate books. Get yourself a good accounting manager. It's the only way to know for sure how things are going.
  3. Learn about SEO, keywords, Google rankings, etc., if you are a business that will operate online in any way.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://childlighteducationcompany.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/childlighteducationcompany
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childlighteducationcompany/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/childlightedco
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/childlighteducationcompany/

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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