1,5 years ago, I launched Happy Yoga Marketing with the goal of offering marketing advice to yoga teachers and spiritual entrepreneurs.
Since then I’ve written 72 blog posts, launched five courses (free and paid) and one membership site, offered webinars and masterclasses and built a community of people from all over the world interested in growing their online business.
It’s been an amazing journey!
Not just business-wise. Starting this whole entrepreneurial journey has been such a road of self-discovery. Each time I pushed myself to do “The Scary Thing”, like hopping on Facebook live, or launching a new course, I gained a little joint of confidence.
But here’s the thing:
I’m always teaching you that you shouldn’t hide behind a brand. That you need to put yourself out there and be real and authentic. And, if I want to preach that, I have to practice it, too.
So, what was I doing, hiding behind the Happy Yoga Marketing brand?
I chose the name because I already had another website, www.happyyogatravels.com, and I thought it would fit together nicely. It’s also easy to spell and to remember. But to tell you the truth, I always thought it sounded kind of silly. Not really me. I’ve never been in love with the name.
And when I really started thinking about it, it became clear to me that I had fears about using my name for my business. I’m not talking about the possible effects on my Google ranking or if people would be able to spell my German name. There definitely where some deeper fears about being good enough, about putting myself front and center. Like who am I, to offer my services as an expert?
Realizing this, I knew it was time to stop hiding if I really wanted to grow a connected community of people online and rebrand to use my own name for my business.
So, here we are! Happy Yoga Marketing is now Susanne Rieker.
Whenever you interact with my brand, I want you to see a real human with flaws and talents – someone that you can genuinely connect with. Because real connection is where community is born from.
My sincere hope is that in deciding to stop hiding behind a brand, a small part of you will feel encouraged enough to stop hiding, too. And to put yourself out there. To share your gifts and talents with the world, even if it sometimes scares the crap out of you!
The best part of rebranding is that I used the opportunity to relaunch my website! I love designing websites and spent some happy days on my new layout, I’d love to hear what you think of it.