Thinking Bigger Allowed One Small Business Owner to Achieve Her Dream
By: Meredith Flory
Part of healthy leadership is being healthy in other areas of your life. Setting boundaries and reasonable expectations, creating a healthy work environment, and fostering other important aspects of leadership are easier to model when you are taking care of your own well-being outside of work.
Christy Miu is the owner of Healing Hippies at Creekside in McMinn County, Tennessee, where she not only practices healthy leadership as the head of a small business but also helps her customers find their best wellness practices. Miu is a licensed massage therapist, Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) 500 and meditation teacher, Reiki master and teacher, Warrior Goddess Facilitator, and personal wellness coach. She is also a mother, grandmother, and member of the community where her business is based. After she had started her own yoga journey to help herself, she shares, “I saw the need in the community for what I had to offer.”
She explains that while there are many places to do yoga as an exercise, “There is more than stretching our muscles. We need to learn to breathe correctly and how to come out of our toxic headspace.” As she looked to start her business, she was not sure a yoga studio would survive on its own in her location, so she started brainstorming what other services she could offer that paired well with yoga. She says, “I had wanted to be a massage therapist when I was younger, and I thought they would work well together.”
There was not a local model of the kind of business she wanted to have—something other entrepreneurs wanting to bring unique services to smaller cities and more rural areas might face—so she researched other businesses online and listened to business podcasts like Massage Business Blueprint.
Miu’s advice for others chasing their dream of opening a new business is to “go slow and easy. Do not rush decisions, and when others give you advice, listen, sit with it, and go with your heart and mind. In the end it’s your win or loss.”
For those struggling to find balance in their hectic lives, Miu’s staff offers a variety of services for customers near and far. At their location in Athens, Tennessee, they offer massage, yoga, and a variety of classes. Miu also connects with the larger wellness community online through a YouTube channel; a Facebook group where she posts opportunities for retreats in various places, Wise Wild & Sacred Women (@wisewildsacred); and a virtual membership platform with meditations and yoga practices available.
Massage can be healing, and Miu points out that it is even more so for all of us as we come out of the pandemic or for those who are healing from trauma. She explains, “Our bodies love regular massages, and when everyone stopped hugging, shaking hands, and such, we began missing the human touch. Massage is a safe, healthy touch; this goes for people who have been traumatized by physical or sexual assault.” The staff at Healing Hippies at Creekside offer both private and group yoga and meditation sessions where they teach calming breathing techniques participants can utilize in the real world. Miu also leads women’s book clubs and reading circles to encourage creating healthy community.
When asked what advice she might give to those struggling with their leadership style or perhaps not setting healthy boundaries, she recommends starting “a yoga or meditation practice so they learn techniques to cope with stressful situations.” In addition, she recommends reading books on leadership, a few of her favorites being Dare to Lead by Brené Brown and The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.
While running a business that helps others focus on their health and wellness, she acknowledges she must lead by example. For her “me time,” Miu gets a weekly massage and schedules bath time, but she also uses additional practices during difficult times: “When I feel rundown, I allow myself time to recharge and then maybe I rest, go to the mountains, or simply sit and breathe. I ask my body what she needs and then I listen; and give it to her.” Furthermore, to watch out for her own health, she explains, “I am cautious about what I put in or on my body, even the environment I allow myself to be in. I learned how to say no.”
Learning to say no is such an important part of developing healthy boundaries and relationships in the workplace, but it can be intimidating when you are concerned about your career. However, longevity in the workplace includes taking care of your body—both your mental and your physical health.
