Kassandra Reinhardt is on a mission to help people of all ages feel great with yoga
Meet Ottawa-based Yin & Vinyasa yoga Instructor, YouTuber, author, and the face behind Yoga with Kassandra, Kassandra Reinhardt. Kassandra is on a mission to help people of all ages feel great with yoga.
As one of the first yoga instructors to embrace online teaching, she now has an online community of over 2 million and has created a space in the yoga community with her specialized bitesize approach of 10-minute morning classes. From her own experiences and by utilizing her growing platform to increase the accessibility of yoga, she’s on a mission to help people of all ages feel great with yoga. She aims to assist yoga teachers and entrepreneurs with her expertise
Kassandra and her channel have been featured in CBC, Bustle, PopSugar, Well+Good and Elle Australia.
In addition to her popular YouTube channel, Kassandra has released I Radiate Joy: Daily Affirmation Cards as well as My Yoga Journey: A Guided Journal. She also has two books, Year of Yoga and Yin Yoga.
Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us in your words, about your inspiring story? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
In 2013 I graduated from my first 200-hour yoga teacher training and was extremely eager to teach. However, I quickly found out that it’s very hard to get any teaching positions when you’re newly certified and have no prior teaching experience, so I decided to take matters into my own hands by starting a YouTube channel. I figured having some online videos could help showcase my teaching style and it would give me something to put on my resume. I started my Yoga with Kassandra YouTube channel in 2014 and realized early on that this platform could be big on its own and that perhaps I didn’t need to rely on studios for work. I started publishing weekly yoga classes on my channel as well as launching online programs and products to meet the needs of my audience and create different streams of income. I was a full-time employee for the City of Ottawa at the time so this was something I worked on during my evenings and weekends. I was working 80-hour weeks just to get Yoga with Kassandra off the ground. I had to learn filming, editing, digital marketing, website building, accounting and so many other skills I had no previous experience in. After four years of juggling full-time work and my online business, I was able to easily quit my day job and pursue this career full-time. Since then, my channel has grown to over 2 million subscribers and I’ve had two books published, launched a mobile app, created a dozen online programs as well as released my very own guided yoga journal and affirmation card deck. It’s been an incredible labor of love that has branched into opportunities I never could’ve imagined when I uploaded my very first video back in April 2014. I’ve definitely come a long way since then.
When did you know it was time to become a full-time entrepreneur?
I didn’t rush this decision and made sure to set myself up for success. I worked extremely hard for four years so that by the time I left my full-time day job, I was already outearning that salary with Yoga with Kassandra. I wanted to make sure the business was self-sustaining before leaving my regular employment. The upside of juggling a day job with entrepreneurship is that it tests your commitment to your vision and forces you to be serious about time management. I’m very grateful for those early years.
What are your top 3 mobile apps that help you stay organized and on top of your game?
I would be completely lost without my Google Calendar app, I use it to track all tasks, deadlines, and events. I use Canva to create all promotional material for my work including my YouTube thumbnails and I use the Later app to prep and plan Instagram content.
Can you share some of the most important lessons you’ve learned from your successes and failures in business?
When it comes to succeeding in the online space, I know that the ones who make it are the ones who stick with it consistently over time. The idea of going viral or experiencing overnight success is an exception to the rule. Most people, including myself, have to pay their dues and put the work in for slow and steady progress, with no guarantee that you will ever “make it”. You have to be willing to do your best work even when no one is there to witness it, trusting that with time your reach will grow. I’ve also learned that if you don’t enjoy the work from Day 1 when you have no audience, no income, and no brand, you probably won’t enjoy the work even if you do find success. The joy of the journey has to be what fuels you and it has to come from an authentic place of wanting to be of service.
What are the three most important habits to be a successful entrepreneur?
You need to be a self-starter, meaning that you are willing to take action and try something without knowing exactly what you’re doing or if it will work out. You have to figure it out as you go.
You have to get in the habit of managing your time and creating boundaries between your work life and your personal life. This can be challenging when you work from home and don’t have a boss setting your hours and managing your projects, so you need to be disciplined enough to hold yourself accountable with your time and energy.
I believe you also need to figure out at what time of the day you do your best work and get in the habit of blocking off that time for nothing else. For me it’s early morning, for others, it’s late at night. I can get a lot more work done in 2 hours early AM than I can in 5 hours later on in the day. Leverage your strengths.
What routines do you follow each day?
I always start my day with a cup of coffee and I go for a walk with my dog mid-morning for a boost of energy. I need a daily 30-minute walk to stay sane and I also tend to get my best ideas on those walks. Before going to bed I always write a few lines in my journal, this is something I’ve been doing consistently for five years now.
Which female leader do you admire, and why?
I’ve always been inspired by Louise Hay, author and founder of Hay House. She didn’t start writing until her 50s and started her publishing company in her 60s. She went on to write many more books, go on tour, have a radio show, and do so much more well into her 80s. I’m most inspired by women who live a creative life in every decade. Our culture has such a strong narrative around being “too old” to accomplish our goals, but it simply isn’t true. I’m 32 and I feel like life has only just begun, I’m excited to see what I’ll do as I get older.
How do you set your business apart from others in your industry?
By not worrying about what others are doing at all! The more I focus on what other people are doing, the more I dilute my own vision, teachings, and ideas. I teach yoga online, which a million other people do. I like to keep distance between myself and them not because I don’t support their work, but because I don’t want to be influenced or swayed by what they’re putting out in the world. This means I don’t actively follow other accounts like mine. If I stay focused on what I want to create and what my audience specifically wants from me, I know I’m on the right path and what other people choose to do is none of my business.
Do you have a favorite quote or motto that inspires you?
My guiding principles in business have always been: “A rising tide lifts all boats” and “Done is better than perfect”.
Want more inspiring interviews? Find out how Gila Kurtz of Dog is Good is Spreading Dogvergnügen, read Dr. Sonia Chopra’s Toothaches to Triumph Story of Struggles and Success, and Sara Sutton Fell Founder and CEO of FlexJobs Who’s Making Meaningful Work From Home Happen, part of our interview series spotlighting successful women in business.
Melissa Stewart is the founder of SheOwnsIt.com. She is a Purveyor of Possibility, Entrepreneur Advocate and Coffee Addict. She believes that behind every successful woman is her story. What’s your story?
