‘I EVEN HAVE CELEBRITY CLIENTS’
Cheryl Macdonald, 41, is Director of Yogabellies. She lives in Glasgow with her husband, Mike, 44, and their son, Caelen, 10.
When I was made redundant from my job as a business analyst in December 2009, just six weeks after giving birth, I had to think about what I wanted to do next.
Truth be told, I had never loved my old job – to me it was just something that had helped pay the bills. But yoga was something I’d always enjoyed and, since I’d already qualified as a teacher, I was starting to wonder if I could make a career out of it.
My husband, Mike, then 33, agreed to help me convert our spare bedroom into a yoga studio and I started running free classes for my friends and mothers-to-be, around Caelen’s nap times. Soon I was running out of space to fit all my clients in, and business boomed when I gained a further qualification in 2014 which meant I could write my own course to train new yoga teachers, too. Then in early 2017 Mike and I took the business on Dragons’ Den in a bid to expand further. Soon after,
I was inundated with requests to post my yoga videos online, and was invited to appear on This Morning. I realised that this was the perfect opportunity to expand my fan base, and began uploading more and more yoga clips to my Youtube channel. All the content was a free taster for anyone to try, with the hopes that they’d become interested enough to commit to classes.
Since then, our Youtube following and business has only gone from strength to strength. We make money from the adverts on our channel and by people paying for our classes. I even have celebrity clients like Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud and Coronation Street actress Catherine Tyldesley.
If you’d have told me that, at 41, I’d have an award-winning business with more than 15,000 followers and more than 3,000 subscribers, I’d have thought it impossible. I truly believe that yoga is for everyone – and, as far as I’m concerned, Youtube can be for everyone, too.
Though it was never part of the plan, I now can’t imagine my business without it. It’s enhanced it in ways I never thought possible and I’d encourage anyone to give it a try. Who knows what it could do for you?
‘WE WENT ON DRAGONS’ DEN’
and built-in mic may well do the trick.