Business seems to be picking up and that is great news!  December was tough so I’m very happy that January has seen lots of improvement!

I haven’t been able to work my normal shift for the last few weeks because of various other commitments, and I miss it. I love being in the store and talking to the customers.

I did get to work for an hour or so yesterday and two really nice families came in. There was an adult family that all got soft serve and said that they come often. I asked if they were vegan and they said that they were not, just loved the taste of our yogurt. I think that is so cool! 

The second family asked me if I was going to have more locations and how we make the product. They were very encouraging and really wished the best for me and Yoga-urt. I also asked them if they were vegan, and they were not either, just like to eat healthy.

That’s the magic of Yoga-urt. Whether you’re vegan or not, it’s just good. 

It makes me so happy that Yoga-urt is embraced by so many people. I still hear stories all of the time about people driving from long distances. So grateful!

It’s hard to believe what has evolved over this 5 year journey, but at the same time, I can believe it. I always knew Yoga-urt was special. It’s so nice to have others see that too!

It was a very long busy week. Juggling so many different things, sometimes I just have to laugh because it’s just crazy!

The big unplanned additional thing this week was that I had a request to show a deck/presentation to a potential investor. I have done decks before, but that was about 3/4 years ago when I was in a pitch competition and trying to get investors so I could open the first store. That was before we started working on the product, before I had a space, before I had anything more than a business plan, a dream, and passion.

I tried to keep  the deck simple. Started with 10 slides, but then it grew to about 15. Here’s the thing, by doing this deck, it was such an awesome realization to see how far I’ve come.

When I did the older decks,  I struggled with how to fill them. I didn’t really have a team, didn’t have pictures of the product, didn’t have a location, didn’t have customers or their reviews, didn’t have a product, didn’t have much of anything. I had financial projections based on a lot of research, but they were still projections. The one thing that I did have was the same name and the same logo 🙂

I looked at my old decks for reference and it’s amazing how far we’ve come, and how I really accomplished what I set out to do with this first store and our product – without the yoga part (for now anyways). 

This deck was a lot easier to do (even though it still took up most of my evenings). I have tons of product/people pictures, can confirm our product benefits & info, have beautiful quotes from customers that they said about us on Yelp and social media, have a location, have actual revenue information and have a solid place to start on 5 yr projections, and have support from great organizations like PETA and Mercy For Animals.

Wow! We’ve come a long way!

Yes, there have been many challenges and winter is not our best season, but the essence of Yoga-urt is what I always wanted it to be. The potential of Yoga-urt and all it has to offer is there.

It was really a moment to take that all in. I think my deck is impressive.  I feel I accomplished what I set out to do back 4/5 years ago when I did my business plan. The exact market that I was targeting is showing up as well as others. 

I still have a lot of hard work ahead of me to make this a successful store, but I am appreciating this moment to acknowledge how far I’ve come. Yay for Yoga-urt!!!!   

It’s been an interesting few weeks with Hanukah, Christmas, & New Years. Since this is our first year, I have no history to base sales on during the holidays. We closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, even though I would’ve been open if I thought people would come.

I had decided to close on New Years Eve and Day as well, but changed my mind a few days before once I saw that the weather was going to be nice. One of my lovely team members offered to work, so we opened for shortened hours, and it was the right choice! We did pretty well those days! Now I know for next year.

Although the light is slowly coming back, El Niño is here as well. I know that we need the rain, but I’m a little nervous about how it might affect people coming to Yoga-urt. The bottom line is that it’s out of my control, so I will just try to do the best I can to keep people coming through these cold/rainy months as the light continues to come back.

One way of doing this is Hot Chocolate. We just announced today that we are now offering Vegan Hot Chocolate and it’s really good!!!! We are also working on something else that I can’t announce yet, but hopefully soon. It will be great for winter months. 

The best part of this whole thing continues to be seeing the reaction from our customers and sharing Yoga-urt with them. Also, reading the kind words on Instagram, Yelp, Facebook, and various emails that I receive. It means so much that you like us. 

Here’s to a good January and a great year ahead!