Meet Jane Young from House of Yoga.
After years working in corporate roles at both a national and international level, Jane decided to switch up the pace and put her skills to use running a business – one that combined her small business smarts with her love of yoga.
We asked Jane a quick-fire Q&A to get to know our Chamber Member better.
Tell us a bit about your background:
After growing up in Southland, and obtaining my degree in commerce from the University of Otago, I started my career as a Chartered Accountant for KPMG in 1996. As the youngest of six children, I’m a people person, so I gravitated towards the audit and technology teams.
In London I spent four years on a complex, global Oracle implementation. On my return to New Zealand, I spent another five years working in Auckland as a project manager for an Oracle Consulting business.
I love improving business processes and being the conduit between steering committee, clients users and teams.
While I was in London I fell in love with yoga and when on parental leave I took a part-time job managing two yoga studios in Auckland. I relished the challenge of applying my skills in the real world of small business.
When did you start your business? How long have you been operating?
After our third child was born in 2014, we moved to Mount Maunganui to be closer to my husband’s family. In 2018, I bought House of Yoga from founder Melanie Taylor.
I love combining my passion for yoga with my business, technology and service experience.
Why did you start your own business?
After achieving various successes in my corporate career, I felt ready for a new challenge.
On a personal level, yoga has been hugely beneficial to me, so it felt like a great opportunity to serve and support my community.
House of Yoga is open every day of the week and, thanks to a wonderful team, it allows me flexibility to also support my busy family life.
Tell us about your business: What services do you offer? How can you help our business community?
Join a class: We support whole health and wellness; not just physical fitness. Our experienced teachers offer more than 20 classes per week in studio and live on Zoom.
We offer strong classes to build strength and mobility, and gentle classes to release and let go.
We focus on breath-led movement. The breath is an incredible tool – it is our body’s messenger when we are overexerting ourselves. It helps us create space and let go of the day.
The modern world is full of distractions, and breath work helps us remain present and focused.
After an hour at House of Yoga, clients leave with a calmer nervous system, which can help them manage stress more effectively.
Workplace Wellness: We tailor classes and courses to your needs:
- Manage workplace stress with yoga and breath work classes at your location or ours.
- Prevent injuries and keep your workforce productive by planning a block of private classes. We love seeing the carpark full of tradies’ vans!
- We’re developing a Workplace Mindfulness Course designed to improve communication and relationships, and create a culture of authenticity and kindness.
Studio hire: House of Yoga is a warm, calm, clean studio and is available to hire for events and workshops.
Learn about yoga: We have courses in July for Teens, Beginners and Men. In August we are hosting a six-day international standard Yin Teacher Training course. It is open to anyone wanting to learn and deepen their practice, or those with a desire to teach yoga.
Community events and charities: We host fun, affordable events in the studio and for the community. We donate a percentage of our yearly profits to local charities. We also offer classes to charities such as Awhina House.
What makes your business unique?
Offering quality classes is our top priority. We have eight outstanding teachers, who are constantly learning and refining their teaching to stay attuned to the needs of our clients. We often have members experiencing illness or stress, and we feel honoured to help and support them.
When you first got into business, what is the one thing you wish people told you?
You will learn from the tough days.
In your first year of business, what challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
In our second year of business, a business alliance with a friend ended due to a breakdown in communication.
Ironically, with encouragement and support from our families and teams, we worked through the issue by communicating. This led to a deeper appreciation of each other’s point of view, and the friendship stayed intact.
This experience emphasised the importance of regular, documented communication within all professional relationships. My team were extremely supportive during this time and, as a result, my relationships with them have strengthened.
And now, looking back, what have been your biggest learnings?
Be clear, speak up and stand up for yourself. Business tools such as a memorandum of understanding enhance transparency and clarity and are a great basis for a new business relationship.
What’s the one misconception people might have about your industry?
That you have to be flexible to do yoga! Regular yoga practice helps increase flexibility over time, but many of us will never look like the crazy pretzel shapes on social media. Start where you’re at today – roll out your mat and through the tools of yoga the strength, mobility and focus will come.
What’s the one thing you want people to know about your business?
At House of Yoga, we are purposefully inclusive and free of judgment. Our community is diverse.
One of our core values is to hold things lightly. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and there is often laughter in class.
What are your goals (personal and professional) for the next six to 12 months?
Reintroduce events, trainings and workshops that were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We adapted quickly to COVID, looked after our clients and have maintained our online offering, so I want to maintain that strong position.
I have two children in their early teens, so it is also a priority for me to remain present for them and keep those boundaries in place!
When you’re not at work, how do you like to spend your time?
Supporting our children with their sport and other activities, spending time with friends and family, mountain biking, skiing, and training for adventure races such as Spirited Women.
If you could impart one piece of advice to fellow business owners, what would it be?
My parents were business owners in a rural community, and they modelled the values of goodwill, community service and hard work. My first priority has been generating goodwill. I believe if you give time, services and money to your community, it comes back to you.
Time solves some problems or makes priorities clear. If you don’t get it done, perhaps it’s not so important.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I’ve been lucky to work with many wonderful people. My greatest strengths have been learning how to be a great manager of people, and keeping calm during change and deadlines. Accounting as a career has been a fantastic foundation for small business.
New members can find it hard meeting people at events, so we want to take some of the pressure off that awkward small talk by shining a light on your business through our member profiles.
Our member profiles are a great way to give the business community a taste of who you are and what you do, so when they see your face at one of our events they won’t hesitate to make that all-important introduction.
If you’re a new member and would like a profile, get in touch with our marketing team today.
