"Don’t wait for the perfect time to do it" with Emilie Perz
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Emilie Perz is an international yoga educator and movement therapist. Her vast knowledge of yoga and anatomy, infectious positivity, and her creative and fun sequences have gained her a dedicated following making her classes highly sought-after and earning her a nod as one of LA’s Top Yoga Instructors. As an advanced practitioner herself, Emilie was initially introduced to yoga a way to ease the anxiety and depression she suffered following her father’s death when she was 17. Also, she recently launched a new wellness platform called Sequential Body.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I grew up as an only child to a pot-smoking hippy dad and a very conservative Catholic mother. However, they both shared in the value of letting me discern what I wanted to learn and participate in. As a teenager, I was incredibly active and found both yoga and Catholicism which paved my curiosity for spiritual life. What I really valued in terms of religion + fitness with the shared value of community and connection. This became the pillar to which I have lived my life as an adult. Creating sacred spaces for people to the commune is very important to me.
What inspired you to start your business?
I think other people can only take you so far. A job, a partner, your parents, children. The truth is people can only take your momentum and goals to a certain extent. Then it’s up to your own innovation, hard work, and determination to take things a step further. I found myself on that cusp during the beginning of COVID and decided this was the perfect opportunity for me to jump off that scary ledge into new waters. Navigation is always tricky in water, but eventually, you sync with the rhythm of the waves.
Where is your business based?
Globally. I am working out of my house in La Quinta, California but my audience is worldwide.
How did you start your business?
What were the first steps you took? As the pandemic began to sweep across the nation my initial thoughts were “How do I merge my clients online?” and “How do I continue to motivate them to keep them coming back?” I immediately started hosting daily Livestream classes on Zoom while I built up an OTT platform behind the scenes. Prior to COVID, I knew that the productized practice of streaming content to customers directly over the web was the future of entertainment and fitness. Quarantine gave me plenty of buffer time to systematically configure my backend while collecting an audience to direct it to. It’s been a great marriage during this wild and unsteady storm.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Word of mouth through my member base. In the beginning stages of my launch, I wanted to home grow my subscribers to give the platform a very “homey” feel. I’m the only teacher on the platform and I wanted to immediately give subscribers an opportunity to connect with me virtually (as well as through a free consultation) so that I could offer real-time advice and help with their fitness goals. Yes, yoga is exercise, but it is so much more! I want this platform to feel like a real “chicken noodle soup for the soul” kinda place where you log in and have your entire heart feed with love.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Oh my, so many challenges. Well, for starters, it’s incredibly hard to finance a new operation when you’ve literally lost your entire income. I had to take out loans to start this project but I felt the risk was worth it. Second, I had to learn to use and navigate technology like never before. Most would never guess that Steve Jobs was my first adult employer. I helped launch Apple Europe back in 2005 in London and was in charge and responsible for North American policies and procedures. I knew I wanted to use all Apple technology to record, edit, and create my brand. However, I am not tech-savvy and had to spend hours, and I mean hours, researching, learning, and experimenting with operations.
The beginning stages of this site were trial and error and I have HUNDREDS of hours of unusable content. Each time I screwed up I said this is your moment to do one of two things; give up or keep going. By the end, my mindset had changed so much that even if I did an entire class that was unusable I saw the practice, the energy, and the time I put into it as a valuable experience in my learning. I simply stopped getting upset with the technical difficulties and embraced them as my teachers.
How do you stay focused?
This one has been hard. Juggling many hats in terms of my brand has been exhausting, especially amidst a time when we have no idea what is actually next. To combat this real sense of COVID fatigue, I decided to give up all other existing jobs - private clients, classes for other studios, etc, to focus all my energy on my online portfolio. I would say taking at least one FULL day a week to plan is essential in hitting entrepreneurial goals. There are so many tedious tasks that are super time consuming that nobody warns you about when you launch. I have become way more aligned with my expectations and the realistic time and energy I’ll need to carry out these things and then I plan and structure my time accordingly. You cannot procrastinate when you own something. You either steer the ship or sink every single day.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Hahaha luckily for me there is no real competition. While there are many other studios online doing yoga classes, there aren’t many stand-alone yoga teachers with a monetize business platform that are offering daily live classes. I think that in itself is what is driving the brand’s exponential growth. But what I think carries the brand is my unique, innovative, and outrageous classes.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
100 percent - Word of mouth from loyal clients.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Don’t wait for the perfect time to do it. Take it from me, I did procrastinate on my launch. I was asked to start this back in January, prior to shutting down, and told myself I was “too busy” to start it. I really regret not starting previously. I have always struggled with wanting things to appear “perfect” but that has completely flown out the window now that I am living. There will always be errors, and it’s ok, we are human. Our work doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, our flaws within the work make us relatable, vulnerable, and real. What I’ve learned, and probably my greatest lesson thus far is that imperfections make people admire you more. Show up and be human and let people see YOU. They will appreciate your courage that much more!
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
App - the pattern. Spot on astrology that isn’t cheesy. The “your timing” part of the app has been a helpful tool in mapping out career ideals while giving me hope on things to come.
Blog - the goop wellness and health section because they have some great and interesting articles tailored to women’s health.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Email marketing. Because you get to monitor who’s reading what and get direct and valuable feedback on what your audience is most interested in. It’s a phenomenal resource for sending out surveys and getting immediate information on who’s reading your stuff and why.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Michelle Obama. As a yoga teacher, I’m engaging with people’s spirits every day. Understanding someone’s biography, and having an interest in it, takes compassion, empathy, and whole lotta patience. To change someone you gotta sit your darkness long enough to understand how you can relate, inspire, and improve someone’s outlook on life. Michelle does that from years of research and participation with the projects she’s invested in. I want to do the same work and send the same message, together is better.
How do you balance work and life?
Deep breaths and lots of to-do lists.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Long walks by myself, valuable time talking with my friends, cooking, reading, being alone.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Turning my website into a complete channel with exciting exercise challenges, health and wellness videos with leading doctors, dharma talks on how to maximize your thinking, and tons of yummy yoga practices for people of all ages, sex, fitness level, race, etc.
How can our readers connect with you?
On IG @EmiliePerzYoga or at SequentialBody.com