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Name: Holly Twining
Business: Maine Yoga Adventures, adventures for the body and mind
Industry: Adventure, Health & Beauty
Location: Orono, Maine, U.S.
Reason for starting: I had been working for Maine Audubon and started a quarterly Yoga & Nature workshop at the nature center that I truly loved. After 10 years, I was set free from the organization and realized that I could take that piece of my job — connecting people of all ages to nature and bring it together with my yoga practice — and build community on my own. The Yoga & Nature workshop expanded and became Maine Yoga Adventures.
Related: Read about another yoga entrepreneur here.
How do you define success? Success is an ability to inspire people and bring them into a community that moves, shares, connects and imagines together. Success is simply seeing faces light up with glee during an adventure that I’ve designed. I would like my adventures to expand beyond Maine. I’d also like people to come to me to design adventures for them for a group of people they’d like to bring together, either family members or employees or entities of schools, universities, hospitals etc.
Biggest Success: Maine Yoga Adventure’s launch event in July. We were sold out and full of excited participants ready to kayak, practice yoga and enjoy a wine tasting and yummy healthy food. It was amazing to hear people ask me when the next adventure was and what was it going to be and could they please be kept informed of upcoming adventures…
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? Getting people to take the leap and register for adventures is a huge challenge. I’m constantly addressing this challenge (the business is only 3 months old) and looking for new ways to spread the word of Maine Yoga Adventures so it is not limited to my local community. The loss of a part-time job made me a business owner — the best thing that could’ve happened to me. Via the services/adventures that the business offers, I try to make the amount that I made monthly for Maine Audubon.
Related: An Inside Guide to Angels
Who is your most important role model? My parents. From my mother I received my high energy, loud laughter, enthusiasm and love of being physical, and from my father I received the ability to be brave, to connect deeply with nature and to say exactly what you feel.
[box_light]Website www.maineyogaadventures.com
Facebook www.Facebook.com/MaineYogaAdventures[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange