Today we’d like to introduce you to Janelle Holter.
Janelle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I think it’s always been in the making you know? Creating something I could call my own, I just needed experience, and that takes time. The thing is… living paycheck to paycheck isn’t glamorous and I didn’t really have a choice. The way I saw it, I had two choices – keep building someone else’s dream or start building my own. That’s where the idea of TVLA YOGA started.
I had just recently ended things with a pretty serious boyfriend and re-located to the Boulder area for work. To this day, I still remember moving into the empty one-bedroom apartment, sitting on the floor with my golden retriever Tula, and panicking a little about how I was going to make rent.
Fast-forward several years, I learned those necessary life skills. I learned that the yoga business can be more “dog eat dog” than downward-facing dog at times and I learned a few lessons on how I could make a positive change on that. Every yoga teacher training I helped facilitate (which is now 30+), I grew more in my own teaching and I learned what people were missing consistently in the classroom: body awareness, proper alignment, and personalized instruction. I was seeing injury + frustration as a consequence. Not everyone can afford the time or the finances to complete a 200-hour teacher training. So, the question started turning in my head – How could I help? (That’s how our “AlignMAT” was born).
My initial feeling was I needed to step back from the administrative tasks of running the yoga studio and get back into the classroom more. I wanted to inspire people, teach more classes, and “be the change.” Change takes woman-power and at the time… I was unstoppable. I stepped down from my management position, enrolled in an accelerated nursing program and refreshed everything I had learned from exercise physiology to basic body mechanics.
However, when you’re burning the candle from both ends – something has to give, and so it happened.
I can distinctly remember coming home exhausted. I was teaching upwards of 18 classes a week – both public and private sessions on top of helping with various pieces of teacher trainings. I was working a retail gig between Denver and Boulder. Lastly, I was still doing veterinary technician work in Fort Collins a couple of days a week (I like people, but I love animals). In between the constant hustle, I found time to go on hikes with Tula and snowboard in the mountains (I’m pretty sure those two things, plus yoga, are the only things that kept me sane.)
Between the hours of 8 am and 10 pm, Monday through Sunday, I was hustling – but during the hours of 10 pm – 1 am I started creating my own website and brainstorming ways I could enhance the products I used on a daily basis in the yoga classroom.
Amongst the snores of Tula at the foot of my bed, TVLA YOGA was about to be more than just a dream.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The short answer is no, it’s not been easy – if it was easy then everyone would be doing it, no problem.
The hours of 10 pm – 1 am aren’t the most conducive to getting great customer service when you’re trying to build your own business. A lot of the time, I had to resort to books, youtube or google searches to get my answers. Trial and error had become my good friends, and I wasn’t shy about asking others for advice over coffee or calling in favors to people who could help me along the way.
Thank goodness Boulder, Colorado was not only full of tech-savvy individuals, but it was also full of forward-thinking college students who were smart, eager, and genuinely excited to see a local start-up survive.
When I texted Gregory Sackett about helping me with my website, I didn’t realize he would turn into a key player to shape its future. Originally, I was looking for someone to help bring my brand to life with a logo. He had an artistic background, sharp eye to detail, and understood that I wanted to help people find symmetry – mentally, physically, and emotionally. I wanted the logo look to be clean, simple, and intuitive.
The TVLA YOGA logo you see today went through several transformations. It started out colorful and had a significant amount of lines built into it. The more we worked on it – the more we removed. We knew we never wanted to be a “trend”, we wanted to remain a classic.
A mentor told me to name the business after something I really cared about. Originally, the company name was going to be “TULA”, after my Golden Retriever (named after Tuladandasana, one of my favorite yoga poses in the Hot Series). However, after some criticism from mentors, friends, peers — we decided with TVLA, because it was more esoteric and gender neutral. It was really important to me for our brand to feel inclusive – and this end product just made sense.
As you can tell, these are just a couple of the pieces to the puzzle – each piece has a unique story.
Think about when you first layout a 5000 piece puzzle on the table – and you think “Ok, now where do I start?” Well starting a business is like dumping all the puzzle pieces out, but…. you have no picture to go off of, some of the pieces are flipped over, and some might have fallen off the table and you didn’t realize until you needed it…. I had no idea how many steps it took to get a business off the ground. Trademarks, lawyers, money, material sampling, development phases, mission statements, marketing, field testing, feedback, you name it – I’ve explored it.
Nonetheless, I was willing to take my time with the process because I didn’t want to sacrifice the details and I’m thankful that Anthem Branding in Boulder was patient enough to get it right with us.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with TVLA YOGA – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Something we are most proud of? I mean just getting to this spot, with the quality products we have, and the support we’ve received along the way is something I’m really proud of.
It’s a surreal feeling to walk into a yoga class and see a room filled with all kinds of individuals and watch them practice on a mat you’ve created and see it impact their alignment and overall experience. I’ve had brand new students come up to me after class and thank me – saying my product has made them fall in love with the practice of yoga or advanced students say it has helped them refocus on alignment even after 15 years, because they were missing symmetrical pieces from right to left sides.
I think yoga is such a beautiful and personal journey. When I became a yoga teacher, it changed my whole life and it’s a passion I want to keep sharing for the years to come. I’m just really grateful I followed my heart to this opportunity to create something that can work as a vehicle for others to explore it as well.
What sets us apart? Most companies donate 1-5% back to a “cause”. In 2018, Gregory and I donated 20% of our total TVLA profit back into Colorado veterinary clinics, rescues, and humane societies to help more animals find their “furever” home or get the critical care they needed. That’s huge. We do this in honor of the 3 animals (Tula, Doctor Doom, and Doppelganger) we’ve rescued over the years, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. They are our family members.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Future plans? The sky is the limit – honestly.
I love that our brand specializes in working with boutique style + local yoga studios. That partnership is something I value sincerely – currently, you can find us in a handful of studios in a few different states. I would love to expand that more in 2019/2020.
We’ve had some inquiries about collaborating for future music + yoga festivals which I think could be awesome. I would love to bring our mats to Yoga on the Rocks or with me to another international yoga retreat.
As for products, I would rather offer a few REALLY OM-azing pieces than a bunch of so-so options. For now, we will stick with what we know and do it well. I will say – Gregory and I have been working on a special yoga product for the last year, but we haven’t found the right material yet. If you enjoy practicing yoga in the heat – stay tuned, this might be the next accessory for you!
Contact Info:
- Address: 1925 30th St.
Boulder, CO 80301 - Website: www.tvlayoga.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tvlayoga/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tvlayoga/
Image Credit:
John Gregory Sackett
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