Learn how to live your purpose and do what you're meant to do by listening to stories from other yoga teachers, healers, and coaches about how they first got started.

Discover what they did to first make money, how they actually got started, and how they overcame their struggles like fear and burnout along the way.

Today we hear from meditation teacher and co-founder of the public benefit corporation Offering Tree, Alex Haley, who you heard from in Ep 194: How To Bring Mindfulness Into Your Day To Day Life.

One of my favorite parts of this conversation was getting to hear the origin story of Offering Tree. How did he come up with a business idea that could help the helpers of the world? How did he know that this idea was worth pursuing? How did he actually bring an idea to life?

It was also incredible to hear how Alex runs his company with mindfulness intact rather than being derailed by the bustle and the busyness.

Listen to discover:

How a business idea can organically come to life
How to stay mindful even through the busy-ness of trying to create your vision
Do more by doing less

Bring Mindfulness Into The Office

Alex’s insights have taught us how to bring ourselves in alignment by not living in duplicity or multiplicity. By letting go of the assumptions and dichotomies we have established, we can incorporate our well-being and mindfulness practices into our everyday lives. We need to remember that we engage with the world in all contexts and therefore, we should also be mindful during our everyday lives.

A Business Idea Comes To Life Organically

Offering Tree provides independent studios and teachers with a platform to help them find new clients and connect with existing ones. Offering Tree is the result of Alex being able to bridge the gap between his business mindset and his mindfulness practice. Creating Origin Tree was an organic decision that stemmed from a need from within the wellness community. Alex’s story can inspire small business owners, teachers, coaches, and entrepreneurs alike and teach us how ideas are created and made into reality.

See below for more key nuggets and takeaways.

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Key Nuggets: Doing What You’re Meant To Do

1. How did you know that this idea was worth pursuing? [13:15]

I knew because we talked to people and listened. Initially, we conducted around 50 in-depth interviews and we kept hearing the same thing over and over again: a lot of companies are focused on bigger brands but almost none are focused on small, independent centers or teachers. We also recognized that we didn’t want to be a flashy brand, we wanted to be the company behind the scenes that helps elevate these studios, centers, and teachers.

2. What was your vision when you first had your idea for Offering Tree? [15:10]

Our vision was to create a platform and process to allow teachers and independents studios to feel like someone was there that had their back and was interested in hearing what they had to say. We wanted to create a platform that would impact countless communities and remove the heartaches and barriers of technology and business administration.

3. What was that moment like when you decided to go all in and fully committed to doing what you’re meant to? [21:40]

There was that moment of potent potentiality that I could sense. It’s a visceral sense of a window of time and realizing this window has potential. If I do nothing, that’s a choice. If I do something, that’s a different choice. With Offering Tree, it was the moment that we opened the platform to have users start paying for it. People were actually spending their hard-earned money and I felt the responsibility and need to uphold our end of the deal.

4. What did you have to let go of to create success? [25:35]

I had to let go of perfection; this idea that somehow from day one it was going to be the manifestation of the vision I had. The minute I could release that sense of perfection, there was so much more possibility. I let go of perfection by connecting to the deeper aspiration of making it continuously better over time. I started focusing on small changes and being committed to the long term.

5. What was one of your biggest challenges and how did you respond to it? [27:25]

One of the biggest challenges was continuing to practice mindfulness from within the company. We need to stay aligned to our own values even if we’re in a creating and manifesting process. It’s so easy to serve others and take yourself out of the equation. I still need to put myself at the top of my to-do list because otherwise, I’m going to drift, lose connection to my values, and burn out.

6. What was one of your earliest successes and how did you make it happen? [29:15]

The center that inspired Offering Tree, Yoga Sol closed its doors because of covid. Within the space of a week, we got their website up and running. They then started making half of what they were before but with double the attendance. I’m so happy that our platform helped them weather the storm.

7. What was one time when you really wanted to quit. What helped you keep going? [30:50]

Right now, I feel a sense of heaviness. I’m noticing so much noise in our space; a sort of frenetic energy of “accelerate, figure it out, go go go” and our company is trying to not be in this frenetic space. The positive feedback from our users helps me keep going. The other co-founders and I feel so nourished by the unsolicited feedback we receive from them. Sometimes we forget that we’re actually receiving support from the very people we’re offering support to.

8. What’s the best thing you did that helped you create this life? [34:05]

The biggest thing I did was to embrace this idea of knowing don’t know. If I don’t know something, then I’m living in a fixed state of not knowing about this topic. Knowing don’t know or in other words, if I know I don’t know something, then I’m curious to learn more about it.

9. Top tangible action/tool that you’d recommend? [35:15]

The most practical tool is a combination of the practice of doing more by doing less. There’s a whole book on this called Essentialism by Greg McKeown. When you try to do a million things at once, you do none of them well. Focus on things you care about and go deep, then we can do them in a meaningful and intentional way.

10. What do you do to check back and make sure that this is still the path for you (ie. that helps you decide that this is all worth it? [36:15]

The most important thing for me is joy. It’s not that life is always joyful but even in the midst of suffering, we are able to recognize that there is joy.

Resources:

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield

A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield

Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering by Phillip Moffitt

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Ten Percent Happier Podcast with Dan Harris

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection by Michael Singer

I summarized a complete list of the resources that he recommends into a checklist.

Download the complete list of resources here:

Connect with Alex:

If you have questions or want to learn more

Website: offeringtree.com

Quotes:

“There is that moment where we have a potent potentiality . . . If I do nothing, that’s a choice. If I do something, that’s a different choice.” - Alex Haley [22:10]
“Do more by doing less.” - Alex Haley [35:30]

Partners:

This episode is brought to you by The Offering Tree. The Offering Tree is an easy all-in-one platform to run your business so that you don't have spend extra time trying to figure out all the tech stuff. Offering Tree let’s you build you website, scheduling calendar, class offerings, online store, email marketing, membership site and online courses all in one place!

They’re a heart centered company that truly believes in the power of community and genuinely wants to support wellness entrepreneurs to do what they’re meant to do.

The best part is that because you’re a member of the Curious Monki community, you get an awesome discount! Find out more here.