Last year, I launched a kids brand, together with my business partner. We introduced a children's hoop dance DVD called Molly and the Hoola Monsters, along with a new website and blog. I told you how grateful I was (and still am) to see my dream turn into reality. I let you know when the project was complete. I asked you to purchase a copy and write a review on Amazon (and yep - I'm still plugging it ;). But I never told you why I went down this path... So, here's my story:
When I created Hoola Monsters, 7 years ago, I did so because hoop dance became one of my greatest passions in life. I also loved business, and starting my own company was both challenging and exciting. So, I made the tough decision to leave an 8-year marketing and public relations career to pursue this passion full-time.
I started selling my handmade hoops at the Saturday Morning Market, and I'm still a regular vendor there. It opened up so many doors and introduced hooping to my local community. (Our farmer's market is the largest one-day-a-week market in the Southeast US, with approx. 10,000 customers coming through every week). People stopped, stared, and asked questions. This led to requests for classes, performances and all sorts of interesting opportunities.
But there was one question that I dreaded, and it kept coming up. Everyone wanted to know, "Do you teach kids?"
I said no for an entire year. I couldn't understand why people thought hooping was just for kids. It was serious business! It was movement meditation, and I was a certified hoop fitness instructor. I even created a tagline to hammer this point home: "Some call it child's play. We call it a revolution."
And every week, people wanted to know: "When are your kids classes?"
So, one fateful Saturday, after a little girl in a pink dress fell in love with one of my sparkly hoops, I caved. "Fine." I'll teach a six-week kids series and see how it goes. I committed, and then the fear crept in...
I'm never around kids. I don't have kids of my own. How will I relate to them? How will they relate to me? Where do I begin? What will we do in class?
There was no guidebook. No tutorials. No plan. Just me, my hula hoops, and a bunch of little faces staring back at me.
And then something amazing happened... We figured it out together.
Six weeks turned into six years, and some of the kids who were in my very first class are still with me today... including Molly, the star of my DVD. They stole my heart. Completely. And they made me a better person. Take a look...
I've interacted with so many creative, beautiful children over the years, and no two days are the same. We learn from one another. They trust me, and I'll never shoot down their dreams. I get to show them that anything is possible. Whether it's a new trick we invent together in class or serving as an example that we can be whatever we want in life, we're in it together.
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