Latham Thomas, Founder of Tender Shoots Wellness

Single Entrepreneur Spotlight

Latham Thomas

New York, NY

Founder of Tender Shoots Wellness

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1. My business and how I got started:

I founded Tender Shoots Wellness in 2006 to meet the lifestyle needs of busy women in the city that are on a path toward optimal wellness. Offering green culinary services, holistic nutrition counseling, and yoga, I am interested in helping women navigate pregnancy and offer them lifestyle solutions that would be sustainable. I have been in the wellness field for 10 years, but officially doing the work I do now for about 5 years.

2. Why my product/service is better than the competition:

My service is comprehensive, boutique, and result oriented. You can come to one place to learn what to eat, how to cook it, and how to incorporate yoga into your life.

3. A typical day for me:

My days alternate between kitchen/cooking days and yoga/counseling days. The first client of the day is usually a cooking client. I shop for groceries in the morning and prep meals for the week, store and clean up and head to the next client to do the same, until the day is over. Another typical day is a line up of group and private yoga classes that I teach at various locations throughout the city, including: vinyasa yoga, anti-gravity yoga, and prenatal yoga. Sprinkled in between I will see my nutrition clients, who come for counseling sessions.

4. What I love most about my business:

I love that I wake up every day and do work aligned with my principals and I get to help empower people to help themselves. I also love that I get to create a schedule that is conducive to my lifestyle and allows for “me” time.

5. I’m cool because:

I’m vegan

6. If my friends nominated me for an award, it would be “Most Likely to…”

Achieve her Dreams

7. A movie made about my life it would be named:

Hustle Mode or Blissed Out!

8. Strangest thing you’d find in my fridge, wallet or closet:

In my fridge…Lotus flower tea blossoms, in my wallet- a real 4 leaf clover, closet- an ’80s biker chick motorcycle vest.

9. Personal qualities I admire most in others:

Honesty, Follow through, compassion

10. Three things I hope to accomplish in the next five years:

1. Publish 2 books.
2. Expand my business to take on full-time employees
3. Get married

Want to connect with Latham? Find her on Twitter and Facebook!

Kim Overton, Creator of the Spibelt

Why is Kim Overton dancing?

Not just because her company, Overton Enterprises, has sold tens of thousands of her patent-pending SpiBelt personal carriers since their launch in 2007.  Not because she’s been featured on CNN, CNBC, The Today Show, and been asked to show off her impossibly-toned legs in the pages of Cosmopolitan.

No, the real reason Kim is dancing is because every day at 6pm, she turns off her computer and turns on her life. A true believer in work/life balance, Kim makes time to enjoy family and friends by delegating what she can and leaving the rest for tomorrow.

And, if tomorrow is a typical day for Kim, it will probably include a little dancing.

1. Carriers for personal items have been available for years.  Explain why SPIbelt is an improvement on products already on the market.

This belt is a comfortable and discreet way to carry small personal items without bulkiness or risking looking like you’re wearing a fanny bag.

2. You are one of few entrepreneurs who sets a specific work schedule and sticks to it. Was it difficult to strike that balance in the first stages of your start-up?

For sure. When you first start your business, it’s easy to work until the sun goes down, and begin again before the sun goes up. It’s almost always necessary to work a ton when you’re starting your business. But as time goes on and you’re able to delegate, it’s important for your physical and psychological health to draw the line in the sand for when to turn work off. When I lived in NYC, the rhythm of the city seems to operate on 9-10 hour work days, so it was natural to work late and go have dinner with your friends after work at 8 or 9pm. Now that I’m back home, I shut down as 6pm, regardless.

3. How has being a young, attractive female contributed to (or detracted from) your success so far?  Have you ever not been taken seriously in a business relationship?

Most of my sales are done through reps, so gender doesn’t usually have a role in our interaction with clients. The times that I do notice a shift in a people’s tone or body language is at trade shows, when someone interested in doing business asks me to speak with the owner. When I smile and say “I’m the owner”, I have noticed a raise in their eyebrows (only with men, women are elated), almost to say, “hmm, interesting, I didn’t realize the owner could be you”.

4. What was it that drew you to personal training after 9/11?

As with most entrepreneurs, I am not a good employee, and I do not enjoy office politics and I always felt way too creative to be in a cubicle. So when I was laid off after 9/11, I embraced the new beginning and tried something totally different from what I had been doing, but something that gave me freedom and was rewarding on a personal level. I resisted training, but when I gave it a try and met so many wonderful people, I fell in love with it.

5. From CNN to the Today Show, you have received an incredible amount of media exposure. What are your secrets to gaining attention, and how much did major media contribute to your initial growth?

My first passion was dancing and singing, and being on stage. Reaching out to the media, to me, was a part of who I am. I had a product, I wanted them to feature it, I researched how to get their attention. Mix that with a bit of a prayer and go.

6. Do you feel being single has been important in allowing you freedom to focus on your business?

I hesitate to say that being single is how I’ve reached our current status, only because I don’t want to come across to say that being married or a parent or involved will hinder anyone’s pursuit to success, but I will say that if I did have kids at this time, I doubt I’d have as much time, money and energy to focus on the launch of my company as I have.

7. Describe the ideal person who would complement both your life and your business.

The ideal person would be a man who is fiercely successful in his field of choice, and as equally passionate about living a healthy and balanced family life (at the same time, this person is okay with hearing my random business ideas at any given time – my inspiration knows no off-hours!). Having lived around the world, and running my third business, I greatly appreciate being able to chat with someone who knows and can appreciate the challenges that come with running a business while maintaining a healthy family life.

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Adventure and educational traveling with my family in a foreign country, checking email every now and then to see how my companies (I plan to have a few) are doing back home.

Kim’s Bio:

Kim Overton founded SPIbelt in 2007. She previously co-founded a tech company in NYC providing back end development for database driven websites. She worked as a personal trainer and nutrition consultant for 5 years in NYC and Austin, Texas before founding SPIbelt.

Want to connect with Kim? Follow her on Twitter and Facebook!

Steve Owens, Founder and CEO of Colorado Premier Training

I’m laughing as I write this introduction because, what can I say?  Steve’s first interview answer made me laugh.  On the phone, and even on Twitter, Steve Owens, Founder and CEO of Colorado Premier Training, comes across as having a gentle, joking manner.  I get the feeling, though, that there is a lot more to Steve than meets the Tweet.

To me, Steve is an enigma of sorts.  How do you describe a man who, by trade, must be part hard-ass (he trains elite level endurance athletes), part brainiac (he designed a new technology wind tunnel testing system), and…drumroll, please…part recreational club DJ?  I’m thinking if I ever meet Steve in person some day, he will either whip me into shape, throw me in a wind tunnel, or at least teach me how to throw down a few beats.  Luckily I can already hold my own in the beats department.  (yes that’s me circa 1992-OK, now we’re all laughing).

Back to business…

1. What types of programs do you offer through Colorado Premium Training, and is it only for performance athletes?

*First, it’s Colorado Premier Training, not Premium. But now that I’ve clarified that… We’re already a global organization that coaches endurance athletes. Our main focus is on cycling and triathlon, but also work with Xterra athletes (another multisport like triathlon), duathletes and runners. The programs that we offer are fully comprehensive coaching packages. We consult with each one of our clients to create goals and help them in achieving their goals. We design training programs, and help the athlete to monitor their stressors and recoveries.

2. What kind of competition exists for training endurance athletes, and how do you market yourself to potential clients?

As a business owner, I look up to what Chris Carmichael has been doing. After my business partner coached Lance Armstrong, he eventually met Chris. The two of them are marketing machines, and it doesn’t hurt that you’ve coached 7x Tour de France Champion. We work with a ton of athletes that are nearly at the same level as Lance and from there it’s just fact. Success breeds success. We write for all the major magazines within the sport, and I’m very thankful to have great B2B relationships that help market us and our company. I basically try to spend no money for advertising, and rely on the magazines and other publications writing about the things we’ve accomplished.

3. Has the advancement of technology significantly changed the way athletes train?

Definitely! I think that’s something that has differentiated us from others. We have a core business and coaching philosophy that is actually extremely basic (manage the athlete as a person and maximize the work they do while balancing stress), but the other part of our business is extremely sophisticated. Wind tunnel testing in sports helps us to develop new, more aerodynamic products in the industry and helps us to educate athletes on what the fastest positions are. Our test balance is the most accurate in the world, so we are the only people that can measure differences in clothing and materials, etc. etc. So quite literally, we can find that an athlete can be faster from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’ producing less power with a good aerodynamic position versus an athlete that produces more power (stronger) but has a less aerodynamically efficient position. It’s amazing what technology can do.

4. Who is your favorite for the Tour de France this year?

This is a tough year to guess, with Christian VandeVelde (4^th last year) having crashed a little while ago and he may or may not be in top form. Then there’s Lance. He’s not one of our clients, but I personally have him picked as my favorite because of the way he rode the Tour of Italy last month. I think he’s been sandbagging it and downplaying his chances. His teammate, Levi Liephiemer, would be another favorite, as would be Carlos Sastre (last year’s winner). Cadel Evans (Australia) has been knocking on the door every year and I believe is riding his best ever. It’s a tough one!

5. You attended college under a vocal performance scholarship and currently work part-time as a DJ.  Do you think your love of music would ever lead you to start another business?

Well I’d hardly call DJ’ing ‘work’, but I love music. It’s therapeutic for me, as has been cycling. I think it could lead to another business some day, but we’ll see how that unfolds. I’m going to record a regular podcast for some of the music that I make as a DJ and have it available on our website coloradopremiertraining.com to download. I love listening to it while I ride a bike, so I think some of our clients will too. Maybe it’ll push them harder in training…Then I can sell it as an ergogenic aide!

6. What do you enjoy most about owning your own business?

I create my own destiny. Like my father told me once, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” I enjoy what I do. Each day is different and entertaining. I get to work with some of the best athletes in the world and contribute to their successes. It’s quite a blast at times.

7. Describe the ideal person who would complement both your life and your business.

Someone who understands business, entrepreneurship and passion for what they love. Someone who also has had the opportunity to have a similar type of passion in their life as well.

8. Has being a single entrepreneur helped you or hurt you in business and why?

My work requires quite a bit of travel at times. Sometimes I just enjoy it because it allows me to be there in ‘the trenches’ where the actual work happens. I try hard to get out on my bike and ride with clients / network, etc as well. All of this takes time. Some days are long, but at the end of the day, right now in my life I’m only responsible for myself and the hard work I put into the business and the athletes.

Steve’s Bio:

Steve Owens is CEO and Founder of Colorado Premier Training, and is among the cycling world’s elite professional coaches. He holds a degree in Exercise and Sport Physiology with a concentration in Sports Medicine from Colorado State University (CSU). He has worked for the United States Olympic Committee and the Guatemalan Olympic Committee, both in a role as exercise physiologist. Steve served as director for the CPT-Colnago Pro Cycling Team in 2006 and was head coach for the Colorado State University Cycling Team for three years, during which time the CSU team was considered one of the nation’s best collegiate cycling teams in the United States.

More recently, Steve brought together one of the brightest arrangements in technological performance to CPT, wind tunnel testing in sport. In putting this together, Steve has had numerous opportunities to work with the worlds most talented athletes and coaches. His philosophy is to bring great minds together to achieve the best possible results for athletic performance. Steve has also been a contributor to Bicycling Magazine, Cyclingnews.com, ProCycling Magazine, VeloNews, Velonews.com, as well as other newspapers and publications. He enjoys mountainbiking and road cycling, skiing, snowshoeing, traveling, foreign languages, and music.

Want to Connect with Steve?  Follow him on Twitter and Facebook!