CHICAGO (CBS) – It’s Small Business Saturday 2023, a big day to highlight the success of entrepreneurs who started small and are working hard to make it big.
CBS 2’s Jackie Kostek visited a yoga studio in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood where the vibe was calm, cool, and inclusive.
“I wanted individuals who walked in to feel ‘I belong here. I really like this,'” said Julia Perkins, the owner and founder of Studio Yogi.
Coming into Studio Yogi in South Shore, visitors really feel like it’s “your place.”
“It’s friendly, and it feels warm, and the instruction is very calming and soothing,” said student Daniel Z. Levi.
That’s the very vibe that Perkins was going for when she opened the small yoga studio last February. She’s not just an entrepreneur. She’s a pioneer.
“I didn’t understand why we didn’t have a yoga studio within our community,” said Perkins. “So I decided that we should.”
But going from that decision to today’s reality turned out to be a stretch.
“I had never done this before. This was a novice thing for me,” Perkins said. “I had to get a great financial development person.”
She also received grants from the City of Chicago’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which finances commercial and cultural projects in underserved neighborhoods.
“They have really been supportive of small businesses, really trying to get them the collateral to pursue whatever their dream or their business plan is,” said Perkins.
But then, some hurdles.
“It was a little challenging,” she said. “We started construction during COVID and so the supply and demand chain, that’s a real thing. We had to make some strategic trade-offs.”
But Perkins didn’t just buy the studio space. She dreamed big.
She bought the entire building near 71st and Bennett to design a “wellness hub.” After years as a consultant, the timing fit Perkins just fine.
“I said it’s a time in my life that I can do the pivot, that I had enough equity saved up, this building came available,” she said. “So, I just jumped in.”
And her students said Studio Yogi is helping South Shore move forward.
“I’ve been doing yoga since I was 5,” said student Kiela Smith. “I’m just so grateful to have something less than five minutes from my house that I can come to an invite friends to and that uplifts some of what we need and what people want.”
Fellow student Jha’ceri Elmore added, “I love how inclusive it is. It feels like family here.”
And it is like family.
“I want it to be a community place,” Perkins said. “I want people to feel they are welcome.”
Perkins had some key advice for those thinking about starting a small business: if they’ve never done it before, talk to people who have to get feedback and suggestions. Have a great business development person by their side to guide them. And have a great team beside them, people who are invested in their dream and vision.
