Alex stretches herself to succeed

You can have all the skills and training in the world, but if you’re a procrastinator, you’re going to struggle to get your career plans off the ground. That was the position Alex found herself in when she joined Triage for help to turn her yoga business dream into a reality. 

“When I was referred to Triage initially, my goal was just to get through the experience as quickly as possible,” says Alex, from Hartlepool. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do and it was a little bit scary. Although I’m quite a motivated person, I’m a really big procrastinator. I know what I need to do to get things done but sometimes I just need a bit of a kick. My adviser was just the best in terms of setting targets for me to work towards.”

Alex was given help and support from Triage adviser Amy Crone to move forward with her business, Yin Samurai Yoga & Acupressure. Knowing she had someone in her corner gave Alex the drive she needed to keep stretching herself and not sit back on her laurels.

“Every appointment seemed to be good news, I just had something new to tell,” Alex recalls. “I was supported fully for the entire time, whether it was just pep talks or being told that I was doing well and to just keep pushing forwards… From start to finish, it actually did end up being a really positive experience.”

The business is now well and truly off the ground, with Alex teaching a class in Hartlepool, incorporating Vinyasa yoga and Qigong. As a freelancer, she also covers yoga classes for the local council. Her ambition is to open her own studio in the future. 

As well as the motivational chats with her adviser, Alex also received practical support with applying for grants to help fund certain aspects of the business. 

“I ended up getting some funding for my website, my yoga teacher registration, that kind of thing, so that was very, very useful,” says Alex. She’s now looking forward to developing her business in the future and has a newfound sense of confidence, making her ambitious plans seem much more achievable.

“The future looks a lot more positive, and I think I’ve really grown as a person in the past year,” says Alex. “It’s given me a lot more confidence to maybe open my own studio… it would actually be a yoga and martial arts studio, because that’s my dream, to have everything under one roof. I also do reiki, so that’s another thing that I would probably do. So, it’s given me a lot of really big goals that I hope I will achieve at some point.”