Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Shechtman.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Matt. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Becky Nickerson and I started Infinity Yoga in 2014, as a way for Becky to give back to our local community in Brookhaven where we lived. As a practicing attorney at a large international law firm, I did mostly back of the house admin and legal work were needed but found a passion for the community, the instructors and staff and being an entrepreneur.
In 2015, we opened our second location in Dunwoody, Becky’s hometown, which we knew was a necessary step of growth in order for me to leave the law practice full time and run business operations.
Since 2014, we have opened four locations in Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Old Fourth Ward, and Buckhead, and have grown from a starting staff of 6 to 75 employees including desk staff, instructors, and management.
In November 2017, we sold the business to YogaWorks, an internationally acclaimed yoga studio network, and Becky and I stayed on to manage operations for YogaWorks here in the Southeast.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, of course not. In every business, there are significant challenges.
For us, growth has always been a challenge. In every new city, there are different demographics and different types of customers. Knowing how to market to them as well as serve the needs of different types of people in different areas is always difficult, so learning how to adapt has been very important.
In addition, as a yoga studio, always providing the best customer service possible, is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself in the marketplace. Prompt, fair, and customer oriented policies always set us apart. It makes the job very difficult and to be on 24/7/365 can be draining, but it is worth it when your client base realizes how invested the ownership is in the community.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Infinity Yoga story. Tell us more about the business.
My wife and partner, Becky Nickerson, is the true founder of the company. She is the truly passionate yogi, while I am more of the passionate process and entrepreneur partner – but each of us have passed along our strengths to the company and people begin to recognize us for both.
Becky, as one of the pre-eminent yoga instructors in the Southeast, has been able to draw truly one of the most talented and experienced staff of yoga instructors around. You won’t find a more experienced instructor based in Atlanta and our customers can really tell the difference. Our instructors also really pride themselves in being part of this team and being so dedicated to career-oriented yoga instructors, not hobbyists.
My contributions are more subtle and operations oriented, but from a perusal of yelp, google, facebook reviews, and some of the commentary that our customers provide, it seems that our dedication to very fast, friendly and fair customer service has made its mark on the community and hopefully rubbed off on our customers!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
There is always luck – sometimes you don’t even realize it and that’s what makes it hard to identify. I think the luckiest thing that happened to me was meeting my wife, Becky. Otherwise, I would never be in this business, and would probably still be grinding away as a practicing attorney!
Pricing:
- $99/mo unlimited membership
- $59/mo 6 classes per month
- $20 for 2 weeks unlimited for new students
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
