Shawna Krueger - From the Corporate World to Growing a Business Based on her Passion

In this episode of "Uncopyable Women in Sales," host Kay Miller interviews her niece, Shawna Krueger, a Bilingual Certified Yoga Instructor and Business Builder, about her transition from aspiring attorney to a successful yoga instructor and entrepreneur. Shawna discusses her initial reluctance to use social media, her dedication to rocket yoga, and her journey to entrepreneurship. The episode delves into overcoming fears, the importance of passion in sales, and creating personal connections. Shawna shares her future goals, including digital products and a book, while Kay emphasizes personal value in sales experiences. The conversation provides insights into blending personal passion with sales and entrepreneurship.

Contact Shawna:

The Leadership and Yoga podcast on any major platform
shawnakru.com
@shawnakru on instagram
shawnakru@gmail.com

Read The Seattle Times Article about Shawna and her Venezuelan husband Simón:
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/from-venezuela-to-seattle-a-story-of-how-immigration-makes-us-better/

Kay Miller interviews women in sales with proven track records, as they share their experiences, success strategies and tools you can use to crush your sales goals. Kay has a history of sales success, earning the nickname “Muffler Mama” when she sold more automotive mufflers than anyone in the world. Kay and her guests deliver actionable insights and real-world tools that will help you overcome obstacles, adopt a winning mindset, and maximize your sales results.

Kay is the author of the book, Uncopyable Sales Secrets – How to Create an Unfair Advantage and Outsell the Competition. Go to Amazon.com and search “Uncopyable Sales Secrets” to order the book, or click the link below.

Contact:
kay@uncopyablesales.com
linkedin.com/in/millerkay
Order Uncopyable Sales Secrets: amzn.to/35dGlYZ

Transcript

Transcript is AI Generated and contains errors. You've been warned. ;)

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I am so excited about today's guest, Shawna Krueger. Shawna is a bilingual certified yoga instructor with some interesting specialties, which we will learn about in a moment. She's the host of the Leadership in Yoga podcast, an international retreat leader, and the author of the Ritual of Writing journal.

Shawna, welcome to the podcast.  Thank you. I'm so excited to be here and thank you for that sweet little intro.  Sweet is my middle name, right? You know that. Shawna, we go way back because full disclosure, everybody, Shawna is my very accomplished niece. So my brother, I have one brother named Kurt and he and I, and I, and our spouses, okay, I'm not going to throw the, forget them, right?

Um, we both have one daughter and you and Kelly are Almost exactly five years apart. So yes, that's interesting and of course I've known you since you were before you were born actually  and I'll never forget that first time that we met you were so so tiny  And you know just watching you grow up as a kid very driven accomplished  You know a goal setter and a goal achiever But also from my perspective, as somebody who's super chatty and extroverted, kind of quiet, right?

But now, look at you go.  I want to hear from your perspective, how this journey with yoga happened, um, because in high school, you were the valedictorian,  You gave a speech, which surprised me because, like I said, I had this perception of you, and then your life really took some interesting twists and turns.

So I'm going to stop talking and ask you to tell us about your background.  For sure. Yeah, I would say that I surprised myself as well by giving that speech because you're exactly right. I was never somebody who felt comfortable speaking publicly and now podcasting and teaching yoga, which teaching yoga, by the way, is like public speaking while performing, uh, for an hour, but also kind of doing like adult Simon says with people barefoot.

So you add those other elements and it gets a little bit more complex, even, even more than a speech sometimes, but. Yeah. So I, you know, to, to say the, the story in the shortest way I can, I really had my eyes set on becoming an attorney. That was really what I wanted to do. I think that, um, when I say that's what I wanted to do, it was more like, that's the answer that people liked to hear, because then I would get the, the encouragement like, Oh, like, that's so great.

You know, you're going to be so successful. You're so smart. That's going to be perfect. And I never really considered if that was That was what I wanted to do. And so after graduating with my, um, undergrad degree, I luckily went and worked in a couple of law firms before committing to law school. And, um, I was one of the pandemic people that just did a 180 essentially.

So, uh, a couple of years into working in the law firm. I had started teaching yoga because it's something that I've always said that I wanted to do is actually, I remember going quite frequently with my dad after the gym and he'd be the only guy in the yoga class and he'd be the one like pulling me to go and I totally got hooked on it.

And um, so it's something that I've always kind of had in the back of my mind, but it wasn't until I allowed myself to Like be even open to the idea of it, you know, cause of course everything hits you like, well, how are you going to be stable? How are you going to support yourself? You know, this is an uncommon path and this is a difficult path.

And all of these sort of narratives we have around untraditional careers, which, you know, I know that both you and my uncle Steve know, cause I feel like you both are examples to me of people who I see You know, in the entrepreneurship world and making a way for for yourself and all around me, really the examples that I had in college were were folks who wanted to go like the corporate route.

You know, they didn't necessarily want to work for themselves. So, um, but yeah, once I decided to. To really commit to teaching yoga, I quit at the, the law firm, also shocked myself there. It was a really great kind of executive assistant sort of role and, um, moved to Puerto Rico to do more training and give it a shot.

And that evolved eventually into the creation of the Leadership in Yoga podcast and all the retreats and, you know, things that I'm doing today.  Well, that's a great answer, and you forgot one element of the story, and I know we only have 30 minutes, but when you said it's like playing Simon Says, interesting way to describe teaching and speaking, but Simon, It's close to the name of your husband, Simone.

Yes. Who you met when you went to Ecuador. And that is a whole story and adventure that we don't have time for, but it's fascinating. And there was just a big article, a huge article in the Seattle Times about you guys meeting and all his accomplishments and the hardships he faced as an immigrant. So I'm going to put the link to that, uh, Seattle Times article.

because that's all the time we have for you, Simone. Sorry,  I got to get to work here. so as I said beforehand, you had in your bio that you, uh, have a couple specialties and I don't, can't find out where I wrote them, but I'm like, what the heck are these? So, uh, one of them is rocket, which I did look up.

And so I want you to explain your specialties. Sure. Yeah. So rocket yoga is a specific school of yoga, essentially. And it's actually a very like tight knit community in order to teach  the class. You have to have the, the certification and there's various levels of them. And, so I've gone through that and that was something that again, came about in my life kind of randomly because of, uh,  originally because I took a trip, like a vacation to Puerto Rico.

And then I ended up coming across the school of Rocket and Ashtanga, which again, gave me a 180 with inside, like inside of yoga. And that's, I, you know, this about niching, right? You just, some ways it's like, you think you've already like, Oh yeah, I'm going to be, I'm going to do yoga. And then it's like, Oh, I'm not just going to do yoga.

I'm going to do Rocket yoga. And it just keeps getting narrower, um, within Rocket. There's a big focus on inversions and handstands. And so, uh, literally the slogan of rockets is it gets you there faster. And so it literally is a Ruby intense practice. It's a super energetic. requires a lot of time to master, but it always kind of keeps you humble, which is really what I love about it.

So that is, that is my specialty. If you see my name ever on a, you know, around the various studios in Seattle, where I'm at, like, you'll know that I'm teaching some form of Rocket or Ashtanga. So one of those two schools. Every listener has to go check you out on Instagram, follow you because you are amazing.

I mean,  you've, you've really shared your journey about how you even started to learn to do a handstand, which now you're amazing at and that took a long time, but I mean, I thought at first it was quite, what you did was called like Acra Yoga because it's so, I mean, it's not anything that my yoga group ever does, that's for sure.

But, um, obviously, like you said, talk about the power of the inversions. Um, from what I read, it's, there's cardio involved in all of these things too. So yeah, it's more complicated than the average lay person who does yoga, I should say, um, knows about. So very interesting. So, so this, Your passion turned into a business.

Like you said, you, you thought you wanted to go into law, but I'm totally remember being, in college and thinking, you know, you like the sound of being a lawyer, but you don't really know what it even is. And I remember some of the stories you told very eye opening, uh, that you learned that you didn't know.

Yeah. And meanwhile, you had fallen in love with yoga, so that really turned out to be,  a labor of love for you, right? Yeah. Uh, so now you, you do, you lead retreats, international retreats, uh, you do group coaching. Um, I have to throw in that you were somehow chosen, I don't know exactly how, to lead a huge yoga practice at Gasworks Park in Seattle, one of the largest parks here.

And that was really something too. So you've really accomplished a lot, but now you are building this business. A lot of it is on social media. And, uh, I I'd like you to talk about what it's like to take your passion and turn that into being in sales, because I'm sure you've never planned, or you never even thought of yourself as a salesperson, but you are the salesperson.

So yeah. Tell me about that. Absolutely. And that's a great point. I think it's especially, you know, apparent in the wellness industry and within yoga that people have a huge discomfort around selling. And there's lots of ways that you can read about kind of reframing it and understanding that, you know, when you do create something that you're very excited about, in which that was my case, you know, and is my case with the retreats and also the guided journal that I've created.

Is that I am very excited about it. And so it is easier to kind of see the value and like want to share that with people and really look at it and say, like, if I'm afraid of selling, and if I'm afraid of putting myself out there with this, this product and this experience that I've created, then I'm really doing people kind of a disservice because I'm not giving them even the chance to decide, you know, if they   if they want to buy or if they want to participate.

So yeah, in terms of my journey around starting to sell, um, it happened because once I left law and I was like, I'm going to be an entrepreneur, I'm off on my own, you know, then you start going around teaching at studios as a yoga instructor. And what you find is that inevitably you're still dependent on somebody because then you're in, you're, you're, uh, subcontracted essentially.

So you are, I guess a freelancer, but you're still, you know, I, I had, um, cases where a studio didn't pay me for two months. Right. Why? I don't know. Um, and so you have lots of things like that going on. And so I was like, okay, here we are again, except for it's actually worse.  Like it's kind of like you trade the devil that you do know for the devil that you don't know.

Right. And so then I was like, okay, I need to, I need to be independent and then I started, you know, sitting down and consuming, you know, different information on business and understanding what kind of offer I wanted to bring. And it was very helpful, of course, to look across different industries because within yoga, what I saw was a lot of the way that people make money as, you know, a full time yogi is teaching yoga teacher trainings and traveling the world doing that.

And so I thought of that, but, um, I actually had a really Really intense knee injury that happened, and I'm glad that that happened to me because it made me realize, okay, you know, my body is my business, and I love that, but I also, there's something more, you know, it's not just that, and I don't want to be dependent on having to, you know, travel around and always,  be demoing these really advanced postures.

And, you know, I want something that's sustainable for me that won't burn me out. And so that's how I sort of landed on starting to work with one on one clients. So working with people off the mat, I'm a huge fan of the coaching industry in general. I mean, Tony Robbins since day one, you know, we're, we're chatting about that earlier, but all of that kind of information, I'm like, give me more.

And so I've found,  yeah,  I've kind of found my niche, um, as, I mean, that's why it is called leadership and yoga, right? My podcast and business is because it is where like the coaching world meets the yoga world, kind of bridging the gap between the professional uh, office environment and the ideas and principles of yoga without saying like, okay, I'm just going to be a, a yogi that travels the world with my backpack.

And I'm, you know, I'm never going to step foot again in an environment where I'll need a suit because that, you know, that just doesn't fly for me either. So, yeah. So I hope that that kind of answers your question, but I'll, I'll leave it there and see if you have any other questions on it.  Well, one thing that comes to mind as you're talking is about  how yoga is so physical, but it's also so spiritual and about your thinking.

You were talking about what you're working on manifesting, and of course you share, you share a ton on social media. We talked about that. you. are very genuine and you're also very vulnerable. It's, it's, you know, I feel like even if you weren't my niece, I mean, I know you more through social media, right, than, than when we talk.

Um, you are a voracious reader and learner. And so there's such a mental aspect to this. And like you said, if you believe in what you're doing and you want to influence lives, and this is selling in general, if you feel like you're,  Moose, I mentioned, or your ideal target market has a problem or would benefit from this and you have the solution.

It's like, yeah, why would I not share this? Why would I not give, as you said, give people at least the chance to make their own decision? So that's a great, great way to put it. So let's talk, I'm just going to jump back into that social media and fear. As I mentioned, that's a huge issue, not for just women in sales, but everybody in sales because, you know, you're putting yourself out there.

You're, you're dealing with rejection because not everybody's going to say yes. And as I said, you've really shared a very personal side of yourself that makes me feel like I know you as well as the rest of your moose in your audience. So how have you gotten past that? I know you said you don't exactly know, but we're going to have to dig in there for some type of nugget that we can take away and be inspired by.

For sure. Well, the first thing I would say is that a lot of people are afraid of sharing, I think, and hearing silence, you know, kind of just falling into the abyss, and I am of the school of thought that If you don't have a big audience when you start, great, because if you ask me why it was that on the podcast, I,  number one, I mean, it turned into my favorite project because I didn't feel the pressure of social media.

Um, it didn't feel like a social media to me. It felt like a space, a creative space for me. for sharing, you know, and I would just, um, get this kind of urge and this whisper to want to create. And so that's the one thing I would say is that if you don't have like the urge or the whisper to create on social media per se, maybe there's another way to do it.

Or maybe there's another medium on the social media that makes sense because some of it is pushing past that, that fear. And you just have to, you know, Make the decision. It's really a choice. You know, there's you're never going to be comfortable. Um, if it is something that it is a whisper in my case, you know, I had the feeling that I needed to start talking on stories and I needed to start having a podcast where people could hear me speak because. 

seeing a pretty photo of a yoga pose with like a caption underneath it that I hadn't even written, you know, and that's everywhere in the, in the industry. So I looked at that and I was like, this gives people zero insight into what it is that I'm actually doing, you know, and this is before I thought about selling, you know, I was like, I need to have, if I want to establish myself as some form of a thought leader in this industry, I need to give people  content that they can binge, you know?

And so I, um, I just started small. I started with speaking on stories and I, uh, At first I would just record it and try to get it perfect and then I would put it up there and I would cringe so hard I could not bring myself to look at it. Like I would never watch it again. It was up and I was like,  Oh, okay, it's out in the world.

Like, don't look at it. Um, and then as I slowly kind of got a little bit more confident, I would go back and rewatch it because I started learning a lot in how I was speaking, how things that,  I intended to kind of land one way, might not have landed that way because of  The tone of voice I was using or the fact that it felt like too formal, you know, I did them I started them a lot of them like a speech on a story, you know, and then I  I I didn't want to do the like Hey girl What's up?

You know, I didn't want I didn't want too much of a girl boss vibes You have to you have to do your own fine tuning so it's really kind of a two step process with any sort of getting over a fear and in whether that's a podcast or whether that's social media is number one, make the decision, right? And hopefully that decision is grounded in, okay, this is something that really feels like it's for me.

It might be difficult. It might be scary, but at the end of the day, like nobody's forcing me to do it. I want to do it. Um, I want to get better at this skill. And then after you get that baseline kind of entry and you get yourself there, Then it's the fine tuning, which I think it's easy to like skip either of those two steps, you know, sometimes we go straight to fine tuning and then the content never gets out.

And then other times we just go content crazy, right? And we're just posting, posting, posting, like as much as we can. And we're not really like looking at it, seeing how it's doing or getting feedback from people on it. So that's how I would say two step process.   And, you know, it's such a great way to connect with your audience.

And, you know, to salespeople listening, I'm, I've even found salespeople who don't want to do Zoom. They'd rather talk on the phone and I'm like, girl. Are you crazy?  Zoom is  you know, it's so much better for connecting. And obviously the more senses, if you can have audio and video, um, you have done a great job at connecting, but yes, it had to be so scary at first.

And There's no way to say, okay, this is going to be comfortable. and make it happen in anything, right? In sales, you, if you are comfortable, you're not working hard enough. You're not stretching yourself enough.

So you, like you said, you made that decision and I encourage listeners, you know, think about what you can make a decision about that will stretch you. I mean, like I said, this podcast I'm doing has stretched me for sure. And, um, yeah, it, it is your, such a, such a, Opportunity.

That isn't a strong enough word for connecting with your audience that didn't exist. you know, 20 years ago, 30, 40, whatever. This is really huge. And, and again, it's, it's the old comfort zone is so, it's such an old phrase, but it's still what it takes to get comfortable with something is doing something uncomfortable.

So,  I mean, you said it well, and, and yes, I'm sure it's been challenging along the way, but you're also getting so much better at it. And, you know, that's what happens the more you practice the more that you,  you know, It builds your expertise, your ability to do it well. So,  as far as what you are selling and, and, you know, you have this passion, a personal passion project.

What  advice would you give to other women who are in sales and probably specifically to your area of expertise, which is this is your business. It's your passion. You didn't set out to be a salesperson, but there's no one else who will sell it. So how, what would you tell other women and men, like I said, not that men aren't boys are allowed, but, uh, what would you talk to them that would help from your experience?

Yeah, with just getting used to essentially selling and if it's something that is deeply personal to you.  and that is, that's a really good point, right? Because it's different. I remember one of my like first experiences with sales was having to sell chocolate bars to go to summer camp. I think I bought some of those.

I think you did. Bless your heart, honestly, because that was so bad. I, I absolutely hated that because I had to go up to totally cold, cold contact, just knock on a door, probably rely on like the cuteness of my little kid self and be like, Hey, would you like to play? Which was pretty darn cute actually, yeah.

Yeah, so I guess that was a pretty good strategy, but that strategy obviously doesn't work now anymore, right? In that same way, at least. Yeah, really not quite the same way. You're still cute, but we can't run our business.  Yeah, but I just remember, um, reflecting back when, whenever it gets difficult to sell whatever it is that I'm selling, you know, whether that's reaching out to people, like I, I ran a giveaway for, for example, and I gave away a free spot to my retreat.

And then I had a bunch of essentially contacts of people who I knew were interested because they had entered into the contest. You know, I'd like check that they were interested and then I had to actually follow up with, you know, hundreds of people and again, it felt like, okay, these are not all of them are cold contacts.

Some of them could have been followers, but a lot of them were new. And I was just like, you know what,  thank God it's not the plain random chocolate bar that like, it's such a low value thing. That's. found everywhere else in the market. And like, at least now, you know, I have my, my little retreat info packet.

I'm very proud of it. It is done to the best of my ability. I'm excited about this experience. And, um, I think it just comes down to that is getting yourself excited about, you know, the, the product that you're selling. And it doesn't mean that you're always going to be.  super pleased, at least for me. It's really hard, right?

This is the, that's part of the journey. Like you have in one, in your mind, one idea of how your product or your experience, or even the, the marketing and the labeling of it and the packaging of it is going to look. And there are many iterations of it because it usually doesn't hit the mark. It's very similar to an artist.

You ask them, you know, um, if they like their, their work and they, they usually tell, you know, like it's, it's actually before completion. And I just had to put it down because I kept, I kept fixing little pieces of it. So I think, um, let yourself do that. Like let yourself fix and add, until it gets to a point where you can get some eyes on it and get some genuine feedback.

Uh, especially starting small like myself with really  no, um, no other business partners, you know, no network really at first. you do have to kind of rely on those one on one sort of contacts. And one other thing I'll say on this that just came to my mind is that the virtual is wonderful and the social media is wonderful, but so are in person meetings.

I just want to stress this so much because I find that, especially selling my retreats, if people are able to meet me, if they're able to take a class in person or attend one of my in person events, they are just so much more open to the idea of continuing to work together. And, um, I think it just allows them to know, like, and trust you.

that much quicker. And it's wonderful, right? If you have content for them to then come on and binge, if you have a podcast, they can listen to you speak, they can watch videos of you on Instagram, but, I really love any sort of conferences or places, you know, where you can meet people in person and just give them that, that face,  to, to what it is that you have to offer.

and and also to understand them to let them know you want to understand them because yeah I mean, you're right that face to face is ideal and it's getting harder to come by that time with people But yeah, it's obviously the gold standard So I would like to speak about something that that you You're in one situation that's very different from situations that other people are in.

For example, You know, my claim to fame is selling automotive exhaust systems. Yeah, mufflers. So I got that name muffler mama years ago muffler mama because I was selling mufflers and It was not a product that I loved. I don't care about automotive exhaust systems. I mean, yes, it was, you know, it was really the top of the line.

And, of course, if you're selling something that isn't top of the line, I mean, if it's cheaper and, you know, if, if you get to the point where it's cheaper, it's better, everyone needs it, then they don't need salespeople. So when I was selling, I was selling automotive exhaust systems, but you have to find what you're in love with about that process. 

Yeah, about the process, because for me it became about the customers, and of course it was very interesting because I was one of very few women in the industry, uh, but I could separate myself from my competition, and I could approach sales in a different way, and really, uh, help my customers build their businesses, which affects their lives.

It has so many,  ripple effects to, commerce and to, uh, families and all the things that you, you know,  that sprout off of what you're doing, what you're selling. It's not, you know, it's not isolated. So just want to encourage the listener because it, when I listened to you, I think, well, that must be nice to  sell your very most.

important and favorite thing in the world that you are so good at. And of course that's entrepreneurship is choosing what you want to do. I'm an entrepreneur now, so I do love what I'm selling, but I just encourage the listener you as a listener to think about that, not just the product, because being uncopyable, of course, that's our whole umbrella and products and services are Often very copyable, but what you bring to the table, what you add to the experience of buying and doing business with a company that is not copyable at all.

So, so you've got, like I said, you've got an ideal situation. I think that's awesome. And, uh, not everybody is so lucky.  Well, there are times, you know, where, um,  You have to, to push, you know, even in, in the yoga world to make, you know, to make a living. Right. And that's why I've expanded to different offerings and things.

And I remember having a thought, it's like, wow, I've quit my nine to five so that I can not work eight hour days and instead work 24 hour days thinking about what I'm going to do. So, yeah, no, I think, um, I think it's related. And at the end of the day. Even the experience that people, people get immense amount of pleasure out of buying things and thinking about buying things.

And if you can make that experience unique and enjoyable for them, then you've got your, your gold right there as well, for sure. Right.  Um, so one thing about yoga, of course, and a lot of people who are teaching yoga is that you're basically selling time, right? Yes. You can only charge for. When you're with the client or when you're with the group or the retreat, and even if it's a lot of money, you're still selling time.

And of course, that's something that, I'm, I'm building digital products now. Um, Steve has a ton of digital products. We have,  another book coming out,  in August that's on personal branding, which you'll get a complimentary copy.  So, um,   you're building something that will be ideal for this.

So you've already created a journal that is a product that you can sell. People can be buying that when you're sleeping. So, um, we only have a couple more minutes, but I'm just curious. How do you see that journey ahead for you? I, I, I completely agree. Um,  and again, that's something that is super top of mind for me.

And that's why I do love, I love live things. You know, I love even having the, the coaching group live. I totally recognize that I could turn it into a digital course, which it might get there. You have a couple more evolution, you know, evolutions of doing it live and kind of landing on what I really, really want to share.

So that is definitely a possibility. And then I also really want to write a book. So, you know, if those of you who aren't familiar, the guided journal, it's more than just lined pages, of course, um, there are 12 monthly sections. And so it is a piece of really already a piece of me that people can kind of spend time with and get an inside view into my mind and, and different things that, um, I reflect on and encourage, uh, writers or readers, I guess, in that case, and journalers.

to reflect on. But I just, I think I envision it being more things like that, you know, different ways that, like you said, people can essentially spend time with me and around my ideas and my learnings that isn't necessarily having a coffee chat with people. I actually, for a long time, if you go, if you listen to my earlier episodes of my podcast, I encourage people to literally, because I didn't, I didn't know if anybody was really listening.

I encourage them, like,  Here's my booking link. Like, let's just have a coffee chat. You know, if you're interested in these things, let's meet, let's connect. And, um, I had to take down the booking link because it was just getting a little bit like, you know, using up a lot of my time and now I'm, I have other projects I'm working on, but I think that, um, even creating sort of mastermind groups and  it's kind of what I'm, I'm dabbling in right now, just where other people can connect, you know, and I can still be there as sort of a facilitator.

I love all of those kind of spaces. Yeah, so, um, I don't envision, right, like needing to lead retreats necessarily for the rest of my life, but I do really enjoy them as well, so I'm sure I'll continue to, to do them live though. Yeah, well, and that connection, yes. It's not only good for your, your customers, it's good for you, of course.

But, you know, I don't know if you remember the SNL skit, we need more cowbell. Have you ever heard of that? Will Ferrell, you got to look that up. We need more cowbell. Well, I'm saying we need more Shawna. So, you can, you know, you can.  impact more lives now with all the technology we have. So I see big things ahead, of course. 

And you're poised for this. You're perfect for it. And the world is getting to the place we're already there, especially with the pandemic. where this is so, uh, reachable. So, um, you know, go keep changing the world. That's what you're doing. And, and I really respect what you're doing and admire and, and I'm proud of you.

So thank you.  We're gonna close out. I'd like to just tell the listener, you know, give them the ways to find you and, uh, connect with you and. Unfortunately, not have a coffee chat.  I don't know. I mean, email me if it's a special case. If it's a special case, I'm always like, if people put in the extra effort, you know, I'm, my DMs are open.

Like I, I love to hear from people regardless, even if we're not going to spend the, you know, hour, I guess 40 minutes or so that you and I have spent chatting today. Cause I, I love diving into all these subjects, but yeah, um, people can find me, uh, most. I'm most active on Instagram at Shawna Kru. That's S-H-A-W-N-A-K-R-U, and uh, my website is also shawna kru.com and my podcast is Leadership and Yoga.

And if you do want to, if you're not in the Seattle area and you do wanna try out a little bit of yoga, I have a YouTube channel as well that's all linked, you know, through my social media and website. And they have a couple, a couple free classes on there. So if you wanna check that out as well, you can. 

Perfect. And I will put all those links in the show notes. And last but not least, where can people get your journal? How can they get your journal? Yes. So that is also linked from my website, but you can go to the journal's website directly. It's, uh, the ritualofwritingjournal.  com.  Perfect. Link in show notes,  Shawna.

This has been fascinating and I've gotten to know a lot more about you and what you're doing. And, and it's just been fascinating. And I know this is going to be a very popular episode. So thank you, Shawna. Thank you so much once again for being on the podcast. You're very welcome. Thanks for the invite and for the lovely conversation.

Okay. 



Did

  okay.  Hey there. I am back with Shawna Kruger who is my niece and She's very impressive. Even if she wasn't my niece. I would say she's very impressive a Bilingual certified yoga instructor. You've got to listen to the full episode if you haven't yet.

So Shawna, welcome back. Thank you for being open to answering some personal questions for us.  Of course, I'm excited. So, question number one is, can't wait to hear your answer because I thought I knew. What did you want to be when you grew up?  I wanted to be an optometrist. I was very, very logical even as a kid and I remember going to the eye doctor and thinking it was fascinating, but also seeing it as a way that I could work in medicine and, uh, basically something that people would always need and that would be super helpful for them.

So that's why I wanted to be an optometrist. okay. So let's ask you, you've got done a lot of things. Especially traveling. You have traveled a ton. So I'm interested to hear what is something that you want to do that you haven't done yet.  So when you asked me this question, actually travel was not the first thing that came to my mind.

So I'm going to just say what came to my mind initially. What I really want to do that I have not done yet is to interview J Balvin on my podcast. And so if you don't know who J Balvin is, he is, um, very famous Latin star. He's a singer, a reggaeton singer, but he's also one of the few folks who is, uh,  Making wellness mainstream and talking about meditation and I super admire that.

So put your good energies into me being able to interview J Balvin. Well, I like that. I like that. So you have a plan for at least reaching out and giving it a try? Um, I've tried a couple of times to slide into, he has a program called Oye, which is a bilingual Spanish and English wellness sort of program.

And they have teachers and stuff on the platform. I've sent a couple of emails. I've done my follow ups, uh, connected with some folks on LinkedIn. Hasn't happened yet, but, um, I trust that it'll work. probably happen a more natural way at some point, but I feel like I'm, I'm creating a base that, um, will, will set me up for it.

Well, I like the fact that you got that goal. I can't, I believe that you will eventually interview him, so I can't wait to hear it. Um, but again, like sales, that reminds me of something that I did recently.  we're golfers. Of course, our family is a big golfing family and we're watching the show called Full Swing and one of the golfers is named Wyndham Clark and he was having kind of a cold streak and he ended up working with a sports psychologist.

A woman, a more mature woman,   who's a sports psychologist and the sports psychologist has, you know, just changed everything. He went on to win a huge tournament, the U. S. Open, and so I reached out on LinkedIn  and I did not hear back but I thought, you know what, If you never ask, you'll never know, right?

You never know, and sometimes you get, and it has happened in other, you know, other circumstances to me as well, where, um, I get a lot of ghosting, you know, people don't ever respond, and then I get one yes from some sort of, like, big fish sort of person, and it's very exciting, so I agree, you gotta ask, you gotta try.

You gotta ask, so that's very good point. Good advice and you're following it. That's how that's awesome. So out of the many wonderful things about you. What is something that you like about yourself?  I absolutely love that. I feel like I'm a catalyst for making things happen. I love and,  really feed off of  the energy of hearing about things that people want to do and then telling them, like, let's do it.

You know, what's holding you back? Let's, let's take a step. Let's, you know, why are you, why aren't you acting on that? How can we make it work? Um, I love that, uh, that, that part of myself that, you know, genuinely gets so excited by sort of being a catalyst for action.  yeah, thoughts and actions, two totally different things.

You know, like we were talking about manifesting earlier, and I think a lot of people have negative,  feelings about that word manifesting. Well, it's not that you just think about what you want and it appears, you think about it and then you work your little tail off, right? Yes. Yes. Absolutely.  Um, what is something about you that you would like to change?  I think that I'm impatient, you know, uh, that's the flip side of being the catalyst and really having my strength be turning thoughts into action.  you know, I luckily am very dedicated to, you know, what it is that, you know, I choose to, to focus on.

So I, I do stick with it, but it is sort of, it can turn into a painful process, right? When you don't see the results on paper that you're looking to see. And I think that something that I really lean into on in that area is the manifesting, is the trust, is the putting on. music that inspires me and makes me feel like I'm on top of the world, you know, having a power stance and, um, and just picturing, you know, myself getting there and letting that feeling be part of the process that I enjoy.

It's not, you know, we all know we don't go to a concert just to hear the last note,  we go to enjoy the music. So, um, that, but I need, you know, I need reminders constantly to enjoy the music along the way. Well, I've never heard about that one that we don't go to a concert to hear the last note. No, we don't.

And it is, you know, How many different sayings are there that it's the journey and not the destination? That's probably why we need all those sayings because we want to get there. And it's hard sometimes to wait. It's hard a lot of times to wait.  So let's hear this one because like I said, you've traveled so many places.

What is your favorite vacation spot?  I'd have to go with  Rio Chiripo in Costa Rica, which is where I'm hosting again a retreat because that's what I really do is I make sure to host a retreat in a place that I've been and I actually originally went to Rio Chiripo after getting married. Simone and I went there as a little mini moon and I did a ton of research to find a place that was sort of like you were in a retreat atmosphere, but at the same time, um,  not like overly luxurious, but like homey and jungly and all of the, you know, I had this like perfect image in mind and I worked really hard to find it.

And, um, I have to say that Rio did not disappoint and we've been back, oh man, uh, I think three or four times now. So that, that for me is,  There's nothing better. It's, um, I really value peace, you know, and getting out of the city and here and, you know, I live in an apartment. I have like the energy of all the people around me and the noise.

And, um, I love to go to a space where you can really feel sort of seen by nature only, you know? Um, so that's what I would say, Rio Chico and Costa Rica. I liked you to say that more slowly for people. Rio. Yeah. So we can look it up. Yeah, I'm going to say it with the gringo accent. It's Rio Chiripo.  Rio Chiripo.

I've got that one. Why didn't you say so? Okay, so that reminds me. I would like you to talk to us a little bit in Spanish because you have the most beautiful way of speaking in Spanish. I've heard perfect accent. So   you can tell us, why should we go to  Where, Rio?  Rio Chiripo. Why should we go to Rio Chiripo? Okay. Talk us in Spanish.  In my opinion, the Chiripo River is one of the most magical places in the world. It has a high, a super high vibration. And it's almost like the moment you get to the Chiripo River, you're going to feel the peace immediately. 

Well, it was beautiful. It sounded better in Spanish.  It does, often does. It must be fun to be that, uh, fluent, so. Well, Shawna, thanks again for being on the podcast. It's just been, uh, so much fun. Yes, thank you for having me, and, um, this has been really fun for me as well. I love, I love, uh, digging into these sort of questions. 

Last but not least, shout out to your awesome parents, Kurt and Charlene. Yes, okay. Number one support since day one. 

Okay, we'll just let it fade out. 

Well, you, 

um,  podcast.