Meet Chrissie Prior

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chrissie Prior. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chrissie below.

Chrissie , thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?

I think this skillset came from being a high school teacher with little to no prep. I was hired on August 19 and school started on August 21 in 2016. I was enrolled in courses for 2016-2018 to get my critical needs teaching certification but that wasn’t going to help in the near future. As I walked into the room, I thought a few things. The first one was, they’re just kids, they’ll be even more flexible and forgiving than I am. Then I thought about how during my interview process, I made it all the way through to this point. I was it. I knew the most. I had the best presentation. I had the best communication skills. I was what they needed and wanted, this was meant for me. I walked in with confidence knowing I knew more about the subject than the students and it was my job to create the environment to teach them so one day, they could be my doctor’s, nurses, etc.
There were a few times a student or parent challenged me and this was welcomed because it made me sharpen my critical thinking and argumentative skills.
At this point, I prefer to be the only one in the room who has my skillset because this gives me an opportunity to share what I know best, but also allows me to learn new things from the others in that same room!
Someone once told me to stop learning about the things you already know and love, start learning about the things you dislike or are bad at – this way you will actually be successful – especially in business.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

As I acquired several certifications in human body movement and mindful wellness, I realized that I had a lot to offer from a whole body perspective. I also realized that working with high school students, the manual for how to have a body isn’t that obvious especially with busy parents and busy sport/student schedules.
I decided to leave public education in the formal scope to develop an online course called The Yoga Health Club that essentially teaches people how to responsibly operate their bodies. Many of the lessons are basic yet profound at the same time. A lot of my recommendations are the type people would say “Mama know’s best” or “Mama told me..” especially about eating enough greens, finish your work before you goof off, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, etc. The thing is, we know this stuff, but we are so overcommitted to life that we don’t know when to get it all in. FOMO is real and it’s REAL DANGEROUS because this fear is making people overcommit and that leads to burnout when really, we should be saying NO more to protect our valuable time and energy. We’re a little over half way through the year with The Yoga Health Club and we start over again towards the end of August! This is an online learning setting where we jump online 1-2 times a week to connect with each other live, there is a VIP enrollment with one on one time with me, there’s a workbook that’s extensive and I am combing through it again for it’s third edit – it’s the teacher in me to be book creative! There is an online space OFF of mainstream social media that we talk on, like a message board and all of the information is distributed via video and audio through my website.
As The Yoga Health Club is morphing into it’s full course, I have taken my personal training, yoga and nutritional guidance to people in their homes for a concierge style wellness. I come to your home with all of my weights and equipment for a half hour or an hour and we work on strength, balance and stretching to meet clients goals. I have met some great people and I discovered that word of mouth is integral for developing my little business. Eventually, I will incorporate a Yoga On Demand and/or a Strength on Demand option for those who travel and enjoy more of the movement part of my course so they can practice or work out with me anywhere!
My long term goals would be to lead a Yoga Teacher Training that focuses not only on teaching yoga to different level students but also, taking care of ourselves during the busy weeks where we teach 22 classes or honoring our schedules if someone wants to schedule during an already committed time. The idea of teaching internationally at festivals or teaching retreats is exciting and completely part of my plans too!
I don’t think I will ever go back to high school athletics or orthopedics again, however, I don’t have a crystal ball that can tell me one way or another. I just know that my dharma is to teach and help people and this is where I feel myself working in the most rewarding setting currently.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three most important things I can say that would help someone are:

1. Acquire great communication skills which include eye contact, an introduction/elevator speech and a confident handshake and posture. Someone with a faint voice, a limp hand, darty eyes and slouchy posture doesn’t exude confidence or experience. Showing up for yourself and others with knowing you are the expert in your field will win everyone over because they want you since YOU ARE THE EXPERT.

2. Done over perfect. If you are a perfectionist you will never move forwards because the project, the pitch or the thing (what ever that is) will never be done and you won’t launch or talk about it. I am a perfectionist and it drives me crazy that some of my materials are not perfect ie, a spelling error I discovered 2 months after a release or having great ideas that haven’t been put into play yet. It’s okay. There is always more time.

3. Underpromise & overserve. People would rather you be honest and give them a solid 30 minutes rather than paying for 60 minutes and you only giving them 45. They’re going to feel like they got shorted or that the value isn’t there. You can’t promise someone will “loose 50 pounds in 6 months!) however, you can say that their strength will improve since they’ve never worked out before. The weight loss will be seen as a bonus! Then they will think they got a great value and it was totally worth it to continue their commitments!

Bonus – 4 – Be the expert but exploit your weaknesses, but don’t be afraid to hire it out. If you are trying to be well-rounded or you’d like to work for yourself, you don’t need to take more classes or certifications in a designation that you have already mastered. What you should do is exploit what you dislike or are bad at so you can perform those actions for yourself, then, if you know what your doing and still don’t like it – HIRE IT OUT. Someone asked me how many anatomy, yoga, nutrition and all human body wellness classes I’ve taken and to ballpark a number in dollars as far as my investment goes – then they asked me how much I have spend on business/marketing/accounting/sales skills and I HADN’T SPENT A DIME. At this time, I was wondering why I wasn’t “making it yet”. I was shocked. No wonder I wasn’t “getting it” – I didn’t know what I didn’t know! So, I enrolled ina course that focused on the business side of yoga, hired an accountant to help with taxes, and eventually hired an assistant!

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

My favorite author is Ryan Holiday and he wrote The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, Stillness is Key and The Daily Stoic, to name a few. I have read all of his books on productivity and I love them all, but I think my favorite one is The Obstacle is the Way.
The book focuses on doing the hard thing – the more hard things you complete, the more sense of success we have and then we can complete even harder things! It’s a very complete way of keeping momentum in a forward motion.
The secondary focus is that it’s not so rewarding and often takes more time or thinking to take shortcuts. I can totally attest that if I tried to take a shortcut while driving, I will for sure get lost, have to back track and take double the amount of time to get there.
The last and I think biggest theme is a combination of getting over your fears, getting over yourself, moving out of your way and plodding forwards. Sometimes we don’t complete projects or reach goals because we are afraid of what happens if we actually get what we want! How silly right?? Like we are unable to relish in success or what our heart desires because we are so trained to be in the rat race? This is garbage. You are worthy of success. The secondary factor here is fear of failure and to that question, so what if you don’t make it? Everyone has failed something. No one can be an expert in everything – if you think you are, you indeed are not! Failure is often your best lesson because it teaches us more about what we should and shouldn’t focus on.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Two of the images came from Tanya Ackerman, a local photographer to Pawleys Island, SC

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where does your optimism come from?

Optimism is the invisible ingredient that powers so much of the incredible progress in society

Confidence
Stories of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Learning from one another is what BoldJourney is all about. Below, we’ve shared stories and

Resilience
The Power of Persistence: Overcoming Haters and Doubters

Having hates is an inevitable part of any bold journey – everyone who has made