Update: October 13th, 2023
We have worked so incredibly hard to keep Honest Soul Yoga going, but sadly we are still not there.
Our expenses are the same as they were pre-pandemic but we continue to operate with reduced revenue and reduced membership along with pandemic debt we acquired to stay afloat since 2020.
After consulting with our attorneys, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily pause operations and classes until we can find buyers for our locations. Our goal is to sell our locations asap so that our yoga communities can re-open and continue to thrive, whether they are Honest Soul's or another brand.
This is not the outcome we wanted, but we cannot continue operations in good faith when we cannot pay all our monthly expenses and, most importantly, our staff on time.
Please understand that we are a small business with limited resources and have done everything possible to stay open for this community throughout the pandemic until now. We are angry and frustrated and understand that you are, too.
Starting Saturday, October 14th, we will not offer classes until further notice. All future memberships will be paused and not charged. At this time, we cannot issue any refunds. Our financial resources are depleted and any money we raise will go to paying teachers, which is our highest priorty.
We will continue to send updates as we have them. If you or someone you know is interested in buying any of our locations, please email [email redacted].
Any donations made to this gofundme will go directly to paying our teachers for classes taught / hours worked from September - October.
With love and gratitude,
Suzie
UPDATE: August 30th
We are so happy to announce our West Springfield studio will be staying open!!
Thanks to all of your support, we raised enough money to make a proposal to our landlord, and they accepted it.
We would also like to thank our management team who has been working diligently behind the scenes to navigate this, and our teaching team for all the patience and love they’ve shown, and continuing to show up and teach amazing classes!
Together, we saved our studio. We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you.
If you committed to a paid in full membership, we will process the pay with the credit card on file tomorrow. If you are on a monthly membership, we will cancel it and begin your paid in full start date the last day of your membership.
Moving forward, we still need to make sure we can operate. Please continue to support us in any way! We will keep the gofundme open until August 31st if you are able to donate or consider buying a membership or pass at HSY!
We can’t express our gratitude enough. We love you.
UPDATE: August 28th
Dear HSY community,
Thank you for all the generous donations to our GoFundMe and for the commitments to Paid In Full memberships. With your support, we are on track to save our West Springfield studio.
We are working with our attorneys and are in negotiations with our landlord, and things are looking positive.
We will provide more updates at the end of the week and are hopeful we are able to confirm West Springfield studio will stay open! We will not process paid in full memberships until then.
We couldn't have done this without you. This community is everything. We can't express our gratitude enough.
Thank you,
Suzie and the HSY team
___________________
Dear HSY community,
Honest Soul Yoga, like many other small businesses, was significantly impacted by the pandemic and continues to navigate operating with limited financial resources.
HSY has survived on one third of its operating revenue for over two years. This financial reality resulted in us taking on predatory lending to continue to operate all of our locations after the limited covid funding was exhausted. We are currently paying $25,000/mo just in loan payments, reducing our ability to fully cover our rent and payroll expenses. These loans will be paid off by early next year, allowing us to get back on track.
In addition to navigating significantly reduced cash flow, Honest Soul Yoga has fought many behind the scene battles.
In September 2020, one month after we were able to reopen our Kingstowne location, we were evicted and sued by the landlord. In August 2022, we settled out of court. HSY continues to pay that settlement every month.
In 2020, we also negotiated a rent reduction deal with our original Falls Church landlord in exchange for the landlord’s ability to terminate our lease at any time. That negotiation resulted in HSY having to unexpectedly take on relocation fees in April 2023 and find our Falls Church community a new space. Due to the limited availability of spaces near the location of the original Falls Church studio, we decided to reopen in two affordable locations to serve both sides of 495/66. Instead of deciding to close Falls Church completely, we decided to continue to serve our community and take on these additional relocation fees. In 2023, we were also given the opportunity to acquire an already operable yoga studio in Washington, D.C. We dreamed of expanding to Washington, D.C., so we went for it with the intention to further our mission of creating safe, inclusive spaces and building community. This studio has been sustaining itself since its transition to an Honest Soul Yoga in May of 2023.
Having to relocate our spaces at the beginning of our slow season was detrimental to us. Every year during the months of May - August, we see a significant dip in membership and sales. This drop lead directly to our struggles to keep up with rent this summer. All of our financial issues continue to be compounded by our necessary yet predatory lending we had to take on.
Our founder, Suzie Mills, has worked relentlessly to raise capital through traditional bank lending and applied for many grants, only to be consistently turned down. Additionally, Suzie has exhausted all personal finances and has not taken a salary for the majority of the past three years. Our leadership team has also deferred pay to prioritize paying our teaching team.
Suzie recently had an opportunity to meet with the Small Business Association (SBA) and White House leadership to express concern for the lack of options for small businesses. While sympathetic, there are currently no SBA resources available to us.
Our only goal now is to focus on moving Honest Soul Yoga to the future and continuing to be a safe space of community, connection, and inclusion. We are working with our attorneys and the landlord and if we are able to raise $40,000 by next week, we will be able to stay in our West Springfield location. This will cover the expense of partial rent for June and rent for July, August, and September.
Ways to Help:
- Donate to our GoFundMe. Any amount helps!
- Help us sell 40 Prepaid Memberships. Prepay your membership for 3, 6, or 12 months. We will only process the charge if we can get a commitment of 40 prepaid memberships. Please fill out this form if you would like to prepay your membership.
- Purchase a Yoga Teacher Training for our Winter session Jan - May 2024. Our trainings are held virtually from anywhere.
We know we are not the only small business out there that has been struggling to survive behind the scenes, and hope that shedding the light on our story will encourage you to check on your favorite local small businesses. Thank you for your time in reading our story. We love you!
