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What It's About
An eco-friendly yoga accessories business that gives back and empowers women all over the world.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Lara's start-up costs were super low. She took a loan out to purchase their first 100 yoga mats and from the sales of that, they were able to buy a larger batch of stock. She also tried her best to utilize free tools and learned how to do everything herself rather than paying for help. She mentioned that it was a pretty steep learning curve, but she learned a lot and had so much more control over the process!
One of the best things about living in the technological era is that you have so many free learning resources right at your finger tips. If there's something you'd like to implement but are short on cash, research to see what kind of options are available to you!
Fun Fact
Despite yogis relying heavily on their trusty yoga mats, the question that has been floating around since yoga came to the west is… do we even need a mat!?
According to the ancient practice, when the yogi touches the ground the energy is quickly lost into surroundings, therefore it is very important to conduct your entire yoga session on your yoga mat to conserve the spiritual energy you are creating.
Notes from Chris
Episode 196
Until two months ago, Lara Sengupta was working on the fundraising team for an Environmental Charity in London. She also had a dream—perhaps a dream much like yours, since you’re listening to Side Hustle School—and that dream was to create a different source of income for herself, perhaps even one she could rely on for her primary income. On a recent trip to her homeland in India, she had an idea. Being a yoga lover for the last 6 years, she was starting to get frustrated with the depth of her practice. She wanted to feel connected to something deeper and bigger than just the physical postures. This frustration made her look at what yoga actually meant to her; which was a devotional practice both towards her own self and to others. That’s when she came up with the inspiration of somehow connecting the east and the west through yoga and creating a giving loop. Lara wanted to find a way to combine the huge popularity of yoga in the west with her desire to create futures for vulnerable communities. She then developed a partnership with an organization in India that supports human trafficking survivors. This partnership provides jobs to the women, who make the yoga mat gift bags. CorkYogis is now turning over about £3,000 a month (or $4,000). This has happened in a brief period of time, so hopefully, it can continue to grow and become more sustainable.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- CorkYogis: Learn more about Lara and why she chose cork as the material for her yoga mats
- Detroit Women Make Jewelry for Profit and Social Good: An attorney starts a jewelry company with purpose, employing disadvantaged women in Detroit to help them transition from a life of dependence into one of self-reliance
- Brand Strategist and Dentist Team Up To Sell Coconut Oil Mouthwash: Two friends draw on their combined skills and understanding of an ancient Ayurvedic practice to launch a natural mouthwash product, building a $7,000/month side hustle
