Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jennifer Doheney, founder of WELLOGA, located in Toronto, Canada.

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

WELLLOGA offers virtual wellness programs and yoga services. Our menu of services includes stress management, cooking classes, yoga & meditation. We work with corporate groups and individual clients :) We pride ourselves on offering a wide range of program formats to suit any budget, office set up and/or time limitations. We offer “wellness for busy people.”

Tell us about yourself

My name is Jenn, and I founded WELLOGA 2 years ago. After healing myself from a true case of burnout in my late 30's (adrenal exhaustion, imbalanced hormones & celiac disease), I want to share what I've learned. I developed an 8 module program called THE THOUGHTFUL SLOWDOWN to help improve wellness and reduce stress and anxiety.

This self-discovery experience is held together with yoga, meditation, and breathing as the guiding principles. I learned the value of slowing down and enjoying life late in my life. I wanted to package my learnings in a way anyone could enjoy, even if you are not into yoga. This was the driver for me to create WELLOGA, reach my old profession (busy corporate world), and help people find calm and joy.

COVID forced me to record the whole program, so now anyone can take it :) I still deliver it live to larger groups too. It's nice to have both options. Absolutely everything I do is to help people find more TIME, ENERGY, and HAPPINESS, so tasks and to-do lists do not drive their lives. I want people to enjoy more moments. All the other services are a spin-off of this program guided by the same goals: mini cooking classes, chair yoga, mindfulness webinars.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

That I grow every month, my clients stay with me and often diversify their offerings to their employees. I think that says a lot. For individuals, I feel successful because my students now know each other from live online classes. I built a community by myself, we are still small, but I'm proud they are really great people and of all ages!

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

You have to wear a lot of hats. You have to know what you want. A lot of people want to help you, but they all have a different idea of what your success looks like; for example, a big social media following or lots of website traffic, media appearances, or lots of income. As a small business owner, you can’t do it all; you need to try a few things first then grow; it’s easy to spend a lot of money on marketing. My biggest success has been paying attention to the customers I do have and receiving positive testimonials (word of mouth). Social media is great but very time-consuming when you also work in person (virtually). There are only so many hours in the day :)

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

  1. Decide how many hours you are going to work and fit everything inside those hours (for example, posting, invoicing, emails). Take two days off a week; you can burn out fast.
  2. Understand all your expenses before you start. Do the research and look at those little hidden costs like software memberships, for example.
  3. 1/3 of your entire monthly budget will be marketing. It seems very large, but that’s the reality. No matter where you generate your leads from FB, IG, YouTube, Google, LinkedIn, or print/radio, "it takes money to make money". All the stories you hear about people making millions overnight never share what they spent to get there! My advice is to plan. If you can spend $1 and make $2, you are doing well :)

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Thank you for asking about my business. If anyone has further questions, they can reach me at jennifer@welloga.space or check out the website www.welloga.space. Make sure you make time to slow down and listen to what you need. Everyone deserves to be happy and healthy.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.welloga.space/
Email: jennifer@welloga.space
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_doheney/
https://www.instagram.com/welloga/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/welloga/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-doheney-3a341612/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.