Meet Karen Kirkness, founder of Meadowlark Yoga
I’m Karen Kirkness, founder of Meadowlark Yoga. I was a freelance artist and self-employed yoga teacher on the move! My interest in anatomy and healing led me from Florida to Scotland to pursue two master’s degrees: one in fine art and the other in human anatomy from the biomedical sciences department. I guess you could say my experience prior to launching my business was all part of gaining the expertise I needed to feel confident offering health and wellness services.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
My business grew organically out of my work as a freelancer, which means it has been launching continuously since I started out. I don.’t know if you ever really stop launching when you’re in the health industry, because you have to constantly level up your own expertise as a teacher. You end up “launching” the new knowledge by living it in your own life and finding authentic ways to share it. The end goal? A genuine practice based on serving others through lifelong personal growth!
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?
I have learned a lot - everything, really - through trial and error. If I could go back and advise my younger self, I would focus more on self-care and be less critical about the failures. Failure is part of the process. The greatest lesson I’ve learned is not to beat myself up too much when things don’t work out, yet in the same breath we all need time to mourn our losses and learn. Finding the balance of pushing through a bad decision without over dramatising, while also reflecting upon it objectively to find the learning… that’s the greatest of all lessons for me.
Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?
Being a mother of two kids (ages 2 and 4), my mornings have involved nursing at least one of them and gradually finding routines that would then change as the babies grow. I tandem nursed for about a year, and that year I was lucky if I got my teeth brushed. Before kids, I would wake up before dawn, drink hot water with lemon and lots of coffee before getting on my mat to practice yoga for two hours. At the end of the day, what is a ritual if it doesn’t adapt with the individual?
How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?
Hunger conquers self-doubt! Think about that in terms of rock, paper, scissors… lol. Let’s say you’ve got self-doubt, hunger, and success. Self-doubt can crush success. The drive for success can satiate hunger, and if you’re hungry enough, you’ll overcome your self-doubt and push for success!
I think there is a sweet spot between having enough privilege to enable your drive to succeed, but not enough privilege to spoil your hunger for it. What pushes me is the satisfaction of building something that serves others, creates abundance, and provides me with opportunities to continue learning and levelling up.
What are your responsibilities as a business owner?
I never had much parental support, which meant I learned the value of money very early in my life. I have been born white into an established economy and have therefore inherited enough privilege to build something out of nothing. Living as a business owner in these times means recognising privilege even when we feel we’ve earned everything we have the hard way. My responsibility as a business owner is recognising that so many people do not have the opportunities that I have had. If I don’t make the most of what I am fortunate enough to have inherited, and to find ways to empower others, what a waste!
What is your day-to-day role with the company?
I currently work mostly from home, which was also the case before the COVID era. I oversee everything, and make sure all the parts are operating as a coordinated whole.
What are your thoughts on failure?
Failure is something I mentioned previously because I think it is the key to learning, and to learn is to evolve. Evolution of the species happens because mistakes are made; serendipitous mistakes that end up serving the organism (or simply aren’t sufficiently bad enough mistakes to be lethal). To grow is to change - to perfect is to change often, to thrive is to embrace failure.
As a business owner, do you know when to walk away from a sale?
Oh yes. There is another saying I love, “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.” In health and wellness, you get two kinds of business ownership. There are those who are in it for purely financial reasons, which is absolutely legit. And then you have businesses like mine, small social enterprises with owners who are in it for their own growth as well as the financial necessities that go along with owning anything in a capitalist system. Occasionally, we get offers to take over other studios or to set up another branch of the studio. After having tried and failed at having a second location, I have learned that simplicity is key. I’ll happily walk away from anything that threatens to overcomplicate my life.
Any moments where you thought you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?
I mentioned previously that I had taken on a second location for my business. The implications of having two locations are impossible to quantify - the work was endless! I probably have much more on my plate now, being a mom, carrying my bricks and mortar business through a pandemic, finishing a book and a PhD… but nothing compares to the overwhelm I felt when I had two separate buildings to keep clean and staffed. I was lucky enough to get that business wound up and the lease sold before it ruined me energetically and financially!
How well versed were you in the planning and strategic growth of your business?
My process of business development has been very organic and heterarchical, meaning that it is an ongoing work in progress! I didn’t go from having a grand plan one year to having a finished business product five years later. In a sense, my “actual business” is a complex adaptive system, continuously changing simultaneously with my own evolution as a person.
What movie do you find inspiring?
This is going to sound so cheesy, but I recently watched Erin Brockovich after my mentor, Joanne Avison, said my life reminded her of that film in some way. I had to laugh when I actually watched the movie, with Julia Roberts’ busty portrayal of the cliche hard-workin’ mom. But I have to admit that it was inspiring to see the good guy as a woman triumph against all odds. I’m a sop!
