We recently connected with Kassandra Reinhardt and have shared our conversation below.
Kassandra , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I believe confidence is buildable. While some people may inherently be very confident and have naturally high self-esteem, I don’t think that’s the case for everyone and it certainly wasn’t the case for me. When I first started Yoga with Kassandra I found the idea of putting myself online and doing something different from what my peers were doing very daunting. I had no experience with video creation, online marketing or e-commerce and felt like I wasn’t smart enough or competent enough to figure it out and achieve my goals. The bigger the goal was, the more impossible it felt like and the more discouraged I became. What I discovered was that confidence was built slowly and gradually over time by accomplishing small tasks rather than focusing on huge outcomes. I chose to focus on one skill and one task at a time, putting one foot in front of the other, and before I knew it I had accomplished so much more than I thought was possible. Then, when an even bigger challenge came along, rather than feeling discouraged and unworthy, I could look back at previous challenges I had overcome and feel confident that I could tackle this one as well. Even when things didn’t go as planned, by narrowing my focus and choosing smaller, more manageable goals for myself and my business I was able to take the pressure off and enjoy the wins when they happened. Every time I did something difficult and put myself out there I became a bit more confident and felt my self-esteem grow.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a yoga teacher based out of Ottawa, Canada, but I primarily teach online through my Yoga with Kassandra YouTube channel. I started my channel in April 2014 with absolutely no clue what I was doing, which is evident when you watch my early videos! I had a great desire to teach and share the empowerment of yoga with the world so even though I had no idea how to produce videos or start a business, I gave it my best shot and committed to the journey. Today I have more than 800 free yoga classes available on my channel and have created dozens of online programs as well as being a twice published author. I love the fact that people can practice with me from all over the world and that it is completely free for them. All they need is an internet connection and they reap the benefits of a mindfulness practice. Yoga studios are inaccessible for a lot of people due to a variety of reasons, so being able to offer students an alternative is a wonderful thing. It’s incredibly special to work in a field where your customers never actually have to pay for your services and yet you can still earn a living. This is certainly one of the bright sides of social media and having an online presence. I’m passionate about teaching vinyasa and yin yoga and believe that a little bit of mindful movement every day is more powerful than occasional long yoga sessions. This is why a lot of the classes on my channel are 10 minute morning yoga classes. I’ve found these types of practices to be ones that people can commit to and easily fit into their busy schedules while still reaping the benefits of yoga. I never would’ve imagined that I’d be an online yoga teacher with a YouTube channel of over 2 million subscribers, but it’s been an incredibly rewarding journey and I’m grateful for it every day. Outside of work, I’m a big animal lover and an avid equestrian. I own two horses, two cats and a dog and also foster cats and support local animal rescues whenever I can.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
When it comes to any type of entrepreneurial career or work that’s a bit outside the box, I think the most important qualities to have are resiliency, dedication and a “done is better than perfect” attitude. Resiliency was especially important for me in the online space because social media is constantly changing and evolving so there are always new skills to learn. When things didn’t work out or I felt overwhelmed and insecure about my capabilities, resiliency is what kept me going and helped me look at things in a new light. Resiliency is what helps you get back up after you’ve been knocked out and fuels your creativity to look at a situation in a new light. Dedication is especially important when trying to build a social media following. You can have the best content but unless you are showing up consistently it will be very hard to grow your platform. When I started in 2014 I had no subscribers and no one knew who I was, but I decided to release one yoga class a week and I’ve kept that pace for nearly a decade. It’s a promise I made to myself and to my subscribers. Consistency is key. Finally, the attitude that has helped me the most in my business is focusing on “done” instead of “perfect”. What I mean by that is to release the expectation that what you put out into the world has to be perfect before it is good enough. I learn so much more by doing than by researching and planning. My older videos are very poor quality and they’re a bit embarrassing to look at, but I had to release them in order to gain the knowledge and skills needed to make them better and improve. I’m a huge advocate of putting things out there even if you think they’re not good enough yet because you will always have the opportunity to improve on them in the future. If you wait for perfection you will wait forever. Start now and trust that your work is good enough, even if it isn’t perfect.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I’m a big fan of learning how to do things yourself as much as possible, especially in the early stages of your business when funds tend to be tight. While it’s daunting to learn an array of skills and outsourcing can seem like a more logical solution, I really believe that what you learn from figuring it out yourself is completely invaluable. I also think it’s important to have at least a basic understanding of a skill before you try to outsource it and hire someone else for the role because then you’re in a better position to evaluate whether or not they’re doing a good job. I certainly don’t do everything myself anymore but I’ve always made myself wait until I have a good grasp of a skill or concept before hiring someone else for the job. At a certain point in your business evolution it makes more sense to focus on your strengths and let other people do what they’re best at, but in the beginning I always choose to do as much myself as possible and learn something new. When I was new to online marketing and e-commerce I hired someone to run google and facebook advertising for me because it felt too daunting to try and learn it myself, so I hired someone who called themselves an expert in the field. Unfortunately because I didn’t understand the subject at hand I was taken advantage of because I didn’t know what to look for and how to judge whether or not the person I hired was doing a good job. This was an important lesson for me to learn. It means that I have to invest more time and effort into my business but it’s also incredibly empowering to know that I can pretty much do everything myself. When I hire someone it’s out of choice, not necessity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yogawithkassandra.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yoga_with_kassandra/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KRYoga/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kassandra-reinhardt-8a6a4bb4/?originalSubdomain=ca
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX32D3gKXENrhOXdZjWWtMA
Image Credits
Phirak Visuals, Jessica Hodgson Photography.
