Being a Mom and an Entrepreneur

Hello, my name is Danielle Jokonen, and I am a yoga teacher, creator of yoga, yoga, and a shaman and a coach, a spiritual coach, a life coach. And I am here to talk about being a mom and being a business owner. I have been an entrepreneur by myself for about eight years, over eight years now, and love it. Super scary. I remember that first, call it leap of faith. I would literally just play time for me to fly over and over and over again because I knew it was time. It was super scary. I was young.

I was 24 at the time. I opened a yoga studio, and I thought, worst case scenario, I move in with mom and dad, and I wanted to give it a go, open a yoga studio, had that for about eight years. Closed it two years ago. So, yeah, I've been doing this now for ten years. And cause of the pandemic and everything going on in Minneapolis area and why I closed it is I also had a child, my daughter, who was three at the time, and she had also health issues, so she had a higher respiratory complication. So if she did get sick, it would cause her to be more impacted by it.

So my reason to close my studio was, you know, for me and my child, just really take care of her. And that was super hard decision. And I also knew it was what was needed for that time. I was able to also pivot and put everything that I wanted to do online, teach my teacher trainings and my workshops and my yacht programs online. So I pivoted. I did what I needed to do at that time. Number one, putting my daughter first. But prior to that, when she was first born, my daughter was born, and she had respiratory issues.

She couldn't breathe. And we were in the NICU for five months, had my yoga studio that was already open for about two years, three years at that time. And I had an amazing staff. I had amazing teachers and managers to help me through. And it was still super difficult. My daughter was number one, and my studio was also like a baby to me. My teachers mattered, students mattered. I put my whole self into my business. And February 8, Evelyn was born. March 24 was the next yoga teacher training I was going to do.

And people were like, you can cancel. You can postpone. And I am like, I'm going to think about it. I'm going to think, what do I need, what's best do right to now? And, you know, we're in the NIcU. Evelyn was. Was good, though. We were just trying to figure out, because her. It's a rare genetic variation. We found out months later. But she was just a puzzle to the doctors, and we were safe in the NICU and being taken care of. And March 24, and I decided, no, I'm going to do this teacher training because, yes, my life, I was having, you know, a struggle, call it.

And I also knew people who signed up for this teacher training took a risk, and they wanted to get something out of it for themselves, too. And they're also going through something in their own life, whatever scale that is, that I wanted to also still be there for them. And them being there for me, being for them, they were there for me during that time. That was super hard, and we created a really powerful experience to build team. I had an amazing five apprentices that helped me, two managers at that time, and it really built team and belief that I can be a mom and still be a business owner and still have my purpose and passion because she is my passion and also is my business.

And she sees that now. She sees that. She sees me loving what I do, living example of what I want her to be able to have access to as well. So it was a huge choice for me to say yes to that teacher training and do that for that time period when I was going through a difficult time in my life. But me doing that also helped me through that difficult time in my life as well. So a lot of times, it's easy to want to retreat, and sometimes that's important as well, but it just shows. It showed me what is possible still.

Like, I look back at that, I'm like, wow. Yeah. I am still proud that I did that. I know I wouldn't have changed it, but making that decision in that moment, I was really confident, like, no, I can have my child in the NICU and still do this teacher training. And I'm forever grateful that I said yes to that teacher training because it continued to build on more teachers and more staff and expansion. Like, somebody from that group opened a yoga studio. So it's just continued. As a girl, you can continue to make impact even in the times where life seems the hardest.

So, yeah, obviously, I could talk a lot about this one, and I'll make some more videos about how to be a mom and also be an entrepreneur in your life. To me, it's all whole. It's not separate. It all becomes integrated. So that's the biggest thing I would say. The takeaway is, I am a mom and a business owner equally. It's all integrated. It's not separate. I'm not putting on separate hats at different times either. So it becomes this whole experience that I get to live out, whether it being a mom, mom, entrepreneur, yoga teacher, coach, it's all integrated as one.

So hope you get access to that. Other moms out there and fathers and or, you know, if you're supporting other mothers or fathers out there in the world, they're doing a lot. And it also always serves the greater good when done with integration and intention. So, questions? Please reach out again. My name is Danielle. A little, little story about being a mom and an entrepreneur. Have a blessed rest of your day.