How about adopting a zen attitude whenever and wherever you want?
This is what Laure Bouys, founder of Yoga Connectan online yoga platform.
While studying communications at UCLA in 2011, I started practicing yoga. When I returned to France, I joined a webmarketing agency. This experience served me well when I went on to create Yoga Connect. I continued to practice yoga, but a lot of it online, as I didn't necessarily have the time or the financial means to pay for a studio class.
Thanks to her experience as a Community Manager and with the help of her partner, she created her online yoga class platform.
Drawing on my experience in the web professions, in 2014 I had the idea of creating an online platform for yoga classes in French, as at the time this type of platform was mainly in English. With the help of my partner, a filmmaker and videographer, I started working on Yoga Connect and in June 2015, the site was born.
Juggling her project and her work, Laure went through a very intense period until Yoga Connect came to fruition. She left her job for good in August 2015, to devote herself fully to her new venture.
We're aimed at anyone who doesn't have the time or means to go to a studio. Yoga Connect is an €18 monthly subscription that gives you unlimited access to classes ranging from fifteen minutes to over an hour. With Yoga Connect, there's no need to make the trip to the studio, get changed, take the class and come back home. It all takes 2-3 hours. As a result, we're targeting city dwellers, many of them active women (even if yoga is converting more and more men). The advantage of our solution is that we can also reach people living in more isolated areas who don't have a yoga studio close to home.
Laure Bouys subsequently joined Willa (formerly Paris Pionnières), an incubator for gender diversity in the tech industry, which she has fond memories of.
The Paris Pionnières program lasted 6 months. I met a lot of great people. It really gave me a boost, because it was a bit of a crazy time for me, with the competition emerging and I was a bit scared about what would happen next. I'm no longer part of the incubator, but I'm still in contact with them. It's a bit like a family you keep in touch with.
Yoga Connect now has a well-rounded team of around thirty yoga teachers, with whom Laure works regularly in addition to her marketing team. As her business is 100% digital, the health crisis served as a gas pedal, tripling her subscriber base.
With telecommuting, we're seeing an increase in the consumption of video lessons. There's a peak every lunchtime, every evening and every weekend. After the first lockdown, we noticed that course consumption by subscribers continued to rise.
The lack of diversity is often pointed out in the world of entrepreneurship, but Laure is optimistic.
To women who would like to start their own business, I say: go for it! Anything is possible.
We asked Laura what tips she'd like to keep in mind when starting out as an entrepreneur.
Surround yourself well
The most precious thing is to feel supported by family and friends.
Follow your instincts
I listened to lots and lots of advice, and to be honest, those who give advice don't pay! Some people spent three hours explaining things to me, but in the end, they knew nothing about my business or the world of yoga. You have to follow your instincts and listen to yourself.
There's a balance to be struck between listening to your instincts, knowing how to surround yourself with the right people and listening to others.
To find out more about Yoga Connect click here !
