268 - Owning Your Voice as a Studio Owner

This episode serves as a call to action for aspiring and current studio owners to step up, lead with authenticity, and create spaces for freedom and movement.

Leadership is a journey of self-discovery, vulnerability, and trust and community building, and so much more.  It's common to feel self doubt, and navigating it also helps us to find our own unique voice--what's essential in leadership.

You don't have to be perfect to lead but you do need to own your voice.

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The music for this episode is Threads by The Light Meeting.
Produced by: Grey Tanner

Transcript

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (00:01.343)
Welcome to the podcast, my loves.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (00:05.942)
You're sitting here or riding your bike or taking a walk or car listening to my voice. And today I'm to talk about voice, especially as it relates to being a studio owner. And you do not have to be a studio owner for this because some of you might be aspiring studio owners. It might be something that you want to do. Maybe it's something you're in process of stepping into. Maybe it's something that you've been holding for a minute.

Maybe it's something you've been holding for a minute and you're feeling like super strong in it and like stoked on it. And maybe you're feeling burnt out on it. Maybe you're like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing and I'm feeling apologetic in my leadership. Okay, so this, we're gonna talk about this.

I am here using my voice.

and I don't know everything. And there has been times in my life where I have stayed very quiet.

and apologized for my voice. And so I really understand.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (01:11.662)
the fear that can come from using your voice and the questioning of whether or not it even matters and if I matter and what I say matters and if I know enough to even have an opinion I get it and it's a vulnerable thing and

It really matters.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (01:39.35)
I have worked with somebody who I have been privileged to witness their transition from an apologetic place as a studio owner to owning the hell out of the experience and changing the studio culture because of it.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (02:02.146)
hand, it's making me feel emotional because it is not just about the studio. It is about this person's individual journey and lit up. to watch other people step into their voice and into their own power and a power in a place where it serves others, where it's not just for them, but it's about what they can build together.

and where they have this fire in them that what they do makes a difference and that they get to be part of life, that life is for them as much as they are for it. And it's when you're turned on by your life and when your passion is melting out of you and can't not be felt by others. It is so much work to get there.

It is a vulnerable experience. It is looking at the parts of yourself that are hard to look at. It's seeing yourself. It's knowing where you're lacking. It's knowing that you're gonna lead while you learn, right? You're gonna learn as you lead. You don't have to be perfect. Perfect is boring. But you have to step in. You have to step up. And if you're gonna choose to be a leader in your community,

You have to do the work where you hold your own hand to your own heart and you believe, like you believe inside that what you have and who you are and the gifts that you have arrived in this world with are needed and necessary. It is vital work. It is the work, truly. Like I feel deeply called in that.

And everything I do is exactly this. It is helping people do this and giving yourself permission to step into your own life and not apologize for it. I know this is the work that I do for myself and it is not easy. It is so not easy and you will break your own heart by doing it.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (04:22.744)
because you're going to be honest with yourself and you're going to be willing to grow and be curious and be brave. And it is a great privilege to me that I get to work with teachers and studio owners, people who are leaders in their communities, who work on the ground with people, changing people's lives. My life has been changed because of yoga. Other teachers, your teacher, you are teaching because your life was changed by yoga. If you're a studio owner, you didn't step into that like just because.

There was a reason you did that and it wasn't money.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (05:01.614)
We are here and we are needed and you are needed.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (05:09.058)
This person that I have worked with told me how from that's been since the time that I started working with them, they told me about this journey that they've been on as a studio owner and how the studio was operating before they stepped in and how before they would come into the studio and they would whisper and they would whisper about what they were doing at the studio and then they would leave.

and how that is not the case today. And how the case today is being willing to step into uncomfortable conversations and to be clear and kind and to be honest and transparent.

to not hide, to not quiet fire, right? But to have the conversations and foster, truly give a fuck, like truly show up for the people and show up for the team. Studio owners, it matters. You matter. You do not have to know everything. You do not have to know how to do all the things.

You can ask for help and it's going to be a labor of love to have a studio. But you do have to show up. And it doesn't mean you have to do it well, but you got to be honest in the spaces that you don't know how to do it well. That doesn't make you a bad leader. It doesn't make you a bad leader. You have to be willing to learn and to grow with your team. And it's tricky as a studio owner because people aren't going to give you the same feedback because you're their boss.

And it is a privilege to me to be able to work with a lot of studio owners and teachers and be in this role of mentor for them where we can talk about the people side and we can talk about the personal tending to self side that is so important. And we can talk about leadership and we can talk about at the same time doing all that and then dive into sequencing because these people also love to teach. And then we're talking about a flow prompt, we're talking about pigeon stepping up to half moon, right?

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (07:25.166)
It will run from a deeply personal sort of story all the way to pigeon bows, right? And then it gets to be all the things because you are more than one thing and your teachers are more than one thing and the students in your class are more than one thing. And I have watched the studio owner step into the studio life and

decide to take up space and decide to build the team. And the studio is growing. The classes are growing.

And even more important to that, well, I don't know if it's more important,

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (08:16.67)
She is growing. And when we build that trust in ourselves,

It changes everything.

And then we'll have to loop back around because we're human and we're going to go through different cycles and be like, my gosh, what am I doing with my life? And then we'll dive back in again and we're like, yeah, that's right. This is I'm doing. This is who I am. And because we're going to grow and we're going to change. Right.

I think about so many studio owners that are my friends and the love that they pour into their communities and the way they show up on the way they care and the way that they do laundry for so long and how maybe you have stepped into studio ownership and it was a very fast journey for you even knowing about yoga and taking a teacher training and then whoo, there you are as a studio owner.

And you're still learning about yoga. So who are you to own a studio when maybe there's teachers who've been teaching there for 20 years and you've been teaching for two and now you own the studio and who are you to say the things and be the leader of the space? It stop, full stop. They could have stepped into that studio. They could have bought a studio. They didn't. They didn't. You get to be the leader. Even if they have 20 years teaching experience, if you bought the studio, you get to be the leader.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (09:46.4)
you need to be the leader and they do have more experience. So it's also going to be this journey of self-reflection of saying, I might not know everything. I might need to be aware of where I put up my defenses and I take offense easily. And how do we set that down?

because we don't have to be right. We have to be right about everything.

And also we don't have to be walked on. So I've heard a lot of stories in my time, y'all. And teachers, our studio owners are working really hard. It's hard work.

And we have to do this together. The system that is studio owning and getting paid as a teacher, it doesn't pay very well. It just doesn't. Like for being able to provide for life and really to teach long-term, if you're just teaching public classes at a studio, that's not how you make it as a teacher.

because studios don't run where you're the primary teacher and you can't teach 20 classes a week for like indefinite years. And that just doesn't, it doesn't work. And so there has to be a diversity in how you teach, who you teach, where you teach, all of those things. This is not a podcast for that. That is like a bigger thing online, in person, right? Like all of that, but.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (11:35.07)
showing up in studios, studios are so valuable because they are a place where people can meet. It's a place where as teachers we get community. It's a place where we get to practice as teachers and we get to put on our classes and try out our voices there. And I am lucky enough to lead Flow School where teachers will come to Flow School and dive into creative sequencing who have been teachers for 20 plus years. And then there will be teachers in the room.

who have finished teacher training and haven't even stepped up in front of a class yet. And it's a playground for all of them. It's a playground for all of us, always. And it's a gift to have people in the studio at different teaching levels. Same as for flow school. It's a gift that we give each other because there's gonna be something that somebody who's totally a noob like comes with and their energy and their excitement.

that's gonna be different because they have their own voice and experience. This is why we need each other. I don't wanna do this alone. I don't wanna be the only teacher. This is gonna be something that other people so, so need from you and not me. We do this together.

And if you are going to step into a leadership position and remembering that being a yoga teacher is a public speaking job will be important. So yoga teaching is a public speaking job. You're going to be up in the front of the room and you're going to be the one talking and people are going to be watching you and they're going to see the faces that you make when you say things. They're going to hear their voice inflection, the way your mouth moves.

They're gonna see if you put your shirt on inside out. That's happened. They're gonna maybe laugh at your jokes and maybe not laugh at your jokes. They're gonna be watching you and following your moves. And it can be a really vulnerable thing to step in front of the room and be so seen. This is why, as I bring my own hand to my heart, this is why it's so important for us individually.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (13:54.188)
to do the work of seeing ourselves because we are putting ourselves in places where we are being seen. And it's so important to have our own eyes on ourselves too. This is not just on ourselves, right? This isn't like a be self-centered, I'm the only thing that's important. No, that's not what I'm saying. I am saying that there is not a need for you to diminish yourself to lead the room.

that you can arrive in all of who you are, all of it. And it can invite and give permission to the people in the room to own all that they are. And that is the gift that we give each other. And as studio owners, you get to be there. And you're gonna learn shit, you're really gonna learn it, you're gonna look at yourself. This is...

This is a journey y'all and, and for me, I can see it in myself too. And I think so much of this is about a restorying of ourselves. We have to tell new stories. We have to see the stories that we've been telling. And we say, is that the story I want to tell about myself? Because there's other people there because there's other people that we're going to be and working next to and with. So we're going to see ourselves and to be willing to see ourselves, be willing to see and

feel like where do we automatically be like, that's a no or that's a yes or how did I like that or what do I want here? Where's my judgment? Where do I need to set down my judgment? Where do I need to be open and curious and learn? Where do I need to set the boundary for where I will show up? We're going to get the opportunity to see ourselves in those ways. And sometimes we will tell stories about ourselves of who we are and the limits of ourselves.

and what we believe and what our worth is. And if what we are doing even matters and we're going to have to see those stories as we step into leadership and figure out how to restore ourselves. You're going to have to make space because you can't put something else in when it's too full. You got to figure out how to release, how to open palm these ideas and how to slowly start to release the grip.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (16:17.715)
on them so you can tell a different story.

so you can use your voice in a different way where you don't show up whispering. But instead you got to show up as you and you get a lead from the fire inside you. And friends, it is a different thing when there is somebody in the room who is leading from the fire in their belly where they are turned on by their life and by the thing that they're ready to give you. It is a different experience.

and it is one that changes the world.

Truly.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (17:02.7)
Now these are all cool ideas and big ideas, but they're all done in little pieces at a time and ways at a time and sometimes big ways.

in his big ways. And I know this journey. I can speak to it because I know this. Because I have walked myself into being seen and in leadership and in ways that I could not have guessed that I would be. And it has given me the opportunity to see myself.

And I truly say opportunity because I like who I am. I like who I am. I like where I'm going. I love where I am. And I love where I'm going. And it is.

And it is a whole journey to be here and to lead from the front because

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (18:03.694)
If there's community that I want to make strong, I have to lead from the front. have to, I have it from the inside out.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (18:18.015)
And sometimes...

It is lessons that are painful.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (18:28.576)
And sometimes it is really surprising and sometimes it's really beautiful.

And I so trust the unfolding of things. And I feel really grateful for all the people that are part of my story and have been part of my story that I could be here, that I could learn like I get to learn how to lead. Because I will continue to lead as I learn. So I understand it. I really understand it.

and the fear and the vulnerability and the who the fuck am I to be here? Do I have anything?

Doesn't matter.

and to stand in that and be willing to see myself. I mean, there could be a, there's a whole podcast out there. could be much longer about how do we tend to ourself? How do we see ourselves? How do we see ourselves? How do we do that? What are those practices? And it's kind of everything. And this year I've declared as my year of play and I'm continuing to unfold what that means. But I think it's so much of being willing to see yourself.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (19:49.162)
over over over again, and all the different emotional states, and being willing to sit with yourself and ask yourself questions, and really to ask yourself what you want, and really answer it.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (20:07.726)
Because we have to be awake.

and our communities need us awake and our families need us awake and our friends need us awake. We to be awake. And this does not mean that I want us to all be in like this work grind mode of whether it's business or O'Neill Studio or saying I'm doing self work right now. No, it means we actually have to find play. It means we actually have to find that balance of setting everything down.

and finding freedom and freedom to move. And as a studio owner, we're really like, as you step into the studio ownership, then you're really building a home for people to find freedom to move. So that's what I think of as practice, for yoga practice. And some people might counter that. It might be something different for other people, but that is what I believe. And it's specifically because I really love teaching flow and breath to movement.

That is freedom. There are other practices that are rather strict and rigid and that is a way. And sometimes those practices are going to land perfectly for people at a certain time in their lives and they might then set those down and they might come back to them. That's great. I love that there's so many ways to be right in yoga. But I truly believe that we're here to help free each other.

to free ourselves from the stories that keep us small, to help us free our bodies, to move with grace and strength, to free us to build communities in ways that are powerful and impactful, to free ourselves, to move in the world, to build and to dream and to rest and to play and to work so hard because we are passionate about the thing that we're building. All of these things.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (22:09.294)
If you are a teacher or a studio owner and this podcast stirs you and you're like, okay, I need to step up. I need to step in. I need to own who I am and where I am and what I'm leading.

so I can lead from the front too. If that is you, message me. I take a very limited number of mentorship spaces and we can talk about that. If that's something that's interesting to you, then message me.

You can set up a 30 minute call where we just connect and see if this is a right fit. See if you and I working together is a thing. And it doesn't have to be. You might have received exactly the on this podcast and I love that for you. And if you want more.

that might be available too.

What you're doing matters. Who you are matters.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (23:27.724)
And I believe in you.

Bonnie Weeks (she/her) (23:32.024)
Keep on.