Watch Heather Turn Success Upside-down
When we stop assuming and start asking questions and getting curious, our whole lives can change. I'm such a believer in if you want to know something, ASK.
Meet Heather, an innovative Yoga teacher and influencer! She took her skills from the corporate world and her passion for yoga to bring us her Ebook- HIIT to Invert. A guide to doing inversions using a non-traditional way to get there. She works tirelessly to create a creative and fulfilling lifestyle for herself and those around her-and I'd say we really dig what she puts out into the universe. She has lots going on in the Charlotte area this September so make sure you follow her IG page for updates! Heather is incredibly talented and has a huge heart-don't hesitate to reach out and connect with her!
About Heather
What success means to me
Tell us about yourself!
I was born in the small town of Franklin, Virginia. When I was in 7th grade, my father's job relocated us to Louisville, KY. We lived there for 7 years before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina (where I currently reside) with my boyfriend, Paul, and two pups Max and Junior (aka Piggy).
My favorite workout is definitely yoga! It's where my fitness journey started as an adult and it's a huge part of my life. Along with a consistent yoga practice, I also do a lot of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), weight lifting, running, rock climbing and cycling. I'm all over the place when it comes to working out, ha. I love mixing it up and finding new ways to challenge my body. It keeps it fun - which I think is key to having a successful fitness routine.
One of my favorite books is "The Universe has your back" by Gabrielle Berstein. This book changed my life. I have it on audio and I've listened to it all the way through more times than I can count. I listen to a lot of podcasts, especially if they deal with female entrepreneurs, how to grow a business online or blogging. 'She Means Business' with Carrie Green is one of my favorites at the moment. I also like Lewis Howes.
What do you do? Has your past played a role in your current success?
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I made the decision to quit my corporate job (Marketing and Sales) and become an entrepreneur (or at the time I guess you could have called me a wantrepreneur lol) almost two years ago. I started as a health and fitness coach for Beachbody and worked as a full time nanny to two kids! I wanted to find a way to start sharing fitness on social media and I felt like becoming a coach was a good place to start. My nanny job gave me the flexibility that corporate America didn't. I loved coaching! I learned a lot and met one of my now best friends via coaching on Instagram. However, I knew I wanted to go more in a yoga direction and eventually write and sell an EBOOK. I felt like being a coach might be confusing to the brand I was trying to create long term, so I stopped coaching and continued to market myself on Instagram with the goal being to release and sell an Ebook. I met my friend, Kirsty, on Instagram and together we wrote 'HIIT to Invert' a yoga inspired HIIT Ebook for inversions (IG: @hiittoinvert), and launched it March 27th of this year! It's been almost 5 months since we launched the EBOOK and it's been an incredible experience. We've built a community on Instagram (we like to call them the #HIITTOINVERT TRIBE) and it's been amazing to see people all over the world achieving their goals with the help of something we created. There really is no better feeling.
I also just launched my new website and blog (www.heatherlynnfit.com) so I will be doing a lot more in that space over the next few months!
Alongside being an entrepreneur and social media influencer, I also bartend one night a week and work two days a week at a yoga studio. I'm in the early stages of my entrepreneurial journey so it requires a lot of hustle - but it is SO worth it. I think I knew early on that the desk job wasn't my thing but making the decision to follow me dreams was pretty scary. It took a lot of trial and error and figuring things out as I went. I am so lucky to have the support of my boyfriend, Paul. He's amazing and I couldn't do this without him.
What does success mean to you professionally? How has it changed from your first job to your current job?
Success used to just mean getting a good job at an office, getting promotions, making good money and making sure whoever was above me was happy with my work. Now success means helping others and making myself happy and proud of the work I’m doing. I used to be so concerned with what other people thought of me, my possessions and my career. It was also really important to me that I made my parents and my family, proud. I don't come from a family of entrepreneurs. My dad works in Sales and he's a businessman to a T, so telling him that I quit my job in sales to chase my dreams scared the crap out of me and honestly, probably held me back from taking the leap much earlier in my life. And it wasn't because my parents weren't supportive, because they are, and they love me A LOT. It was because I had convinced myself, or rather I assumed, that they were going to react a certain way. I spent years living my life this way. Creating stories about how things were when really, they weren't that way at all. I think that's why I'm such a believer in if you want to know something, ASK.
When we stop assuming, and start asking questions and getting curious, our whole lives can change.
As far as money is concerned, I would be a lot richer at the moment if I worked in corporate America, ha. But as far as love, happiness and fulfilment (aka all the good stuff) I would be a lot poorer. My Dad told me a few months back that "a lot of people will live their whole lives and never be able to say they have done something like I've done." I'll never forget those words. They meant the world to me.
Photo: Charlotte Lately
How have you brought innovation to your industry/current profession?
It was super important to me that whatever product I put out was different and unique. I wanted to create something that was an extension of me and my journey. Handstands are big in the yoga community, especially on Instagram, and they were something that I worked on for years. When I got serious about learning how to handstand, I did tons of research, watched YouTube videos and practiced A LOT. Along my journey, I found some tips and techniques more valuable than others and one of the things I felt helped me build strength the most was HIIT workouts. I knew I had to share it with as many people as possible so long story short, the idea for HIIT to INVERT was born. HIIT to Invert combines yoga and high intensity interval training (HIIT) to build strength for headstands, handstands, fore arm stands and handstand presses. The circuits we created in our EBOOK are made up of exercises that we used along our personal journeys and there's nothing else like it on the market. Inversions (especially ones in which you stand on your hands) can be so empowering and we wanted to help as many people as possible experience this amazing feeling.
I definitely think my personal skills as well as the skills I developed from working in Marketing, contributed to the design of the book. I learned how to do graphics when I worked in Marketing and how to speak to an audience when I worked in Sales. I've always considered myself a pretty creative person. I love writing and designing graphics so the design and text portion of the EBOOK came pretty easy to me. The only annoyance was that I'm a perfectionist and change my mind a lot (especially when designing and writing) that's where it was helpful to have a partner to keep me in check!
I'm currently working on my next EBOOK and I'm so excited to share it with everyone soon! It's going to be amazing.
Did you have any obstacles along the way?
Absolutely. I think I have an obstacle every single day, ha. Working for yourself isn't easy. It requires getting uncomfortable on a daily basis. It also requires a lot of discipline ( something I had to learn early on). Most importantly though, it requires believing in yourself and trusting the universe. You can't waste time questioning yourself and your abilities. Sometimes I have days or even weeks where my creativity just isn't there and I wonder if I can do it. I think planning ahead, maximizing on the weeks I'm feeling extra creative and using the not so creative ones for other things that need to get done, ha-knowing when to push through and when to take rest. Sometimes we think we need rest, but we really need to just suck it up! There's a difference.
Health and fitness is what I do! It's everything to me. It helps me express my creativity; it brought me back to life when I felt like I lost myself completely.
Does validation and recognition give you motivation?
Absolutely. MY goal is to inspire and help others through yoga, fitness, my videos and posts on Instagram and my EBOOK. When I receive messages, comments and emails from my followers saying how I have helped them or inspired them it means the world to me. It's why I love what I do. It makes it all worth it.
How do you make time for it all? What does Balance mean for you?
Time is probably my biggest struggle and something I'm constantly working on. I am a 'Yes' girl. I want to do it all. But that just can't happen. I was watching a Preston Smiles video and he said something like: "just because you aren't busy doesn't mean you're available" and "just because someone emails texts or calls you does not mean you are required to respond when they think you should". I love that because it is so easy to get distracted and then before you know it the day is over and you're mad at yourself for not getting enough done.
"just because you aren't busy doesn't mean you're available" There's a lot of power in saying no.
One thing I have figured out over the past five months is there will ALWAYS be more you can do. The to-do list is never ending. For me, it's important that when I lay my head on my pillow at night I feel like I did my personal best on that particular day. And sometimes it takes getting honest with myself, which isn't always fun, but it's essential for growth.
Why is it so important for women to have professional goals?
I am a firm believer that we can't be of service to others if we aren't happy with ourselves first.
If we don't feel fulfilled or accomplished in our lives then our whole vibration is thrown off. Personally, I need to feel like I'm always working towards something, so having professional and even personal goals is an absolute must. I've been in a place before where I felt like I wasn't working towards anything and it was the lowest point in my life. I learned early on to crave that feeling of crossing something off of the to do list. I think we can all agree that accomplishing something, crossing something off of the to-do list, is a great feeling. It translates into all aspects of your life. It helps us be confident and feel empowered. And who doesn’t want to feel like that?
Connect with Heather!
heatherlynn.fit@gmail.com