Business tips in stand up paddle fitness and SUP yoga from master trainer Nikki Johnston - 009

10/27/17 • 18 min

Nikki Johnston, owner of Sea To Sky Fitness, has taken her love of outdoor fitness and created a complete wellness offering with personal training, nutrition coaching, stand up paddle (SUP) fitness and yoga classes. She is also adding an international standup paddle adventure retreat to her business this year.

In this interview, we discuss:

Nikki's background and what drove her starting a business in outdoor fitness
How she started training on the water before she trained off the water
How paddle instructor training drove her to get Yoga certified
The entrepreneur mindset reflecting after 3 years in business
Marketing strategies for a SUP business
Water access and how a partnership simplified it
How she gives back to new SUP instructors and travels with Master Training certifications
Sea To Sky Fitness class structures and options from SUP Yoga, Sunset Paddles, Surfer Sculpt and Progressive Series
Information on a once in a lifetime SUP retreat to Tulum Mexico co-hosted by Nikki Johnston - January 20-25, 2018.

Find out more: Episode 9

In this interview, we discuss:

Nikki's background and what drove her starting a business in outdoor fitness
How she started training on the water before she trained off the water
How paddle instructor training drove her to get Yoga certified
The entrepreneur mindset reflecting after 3 years in business
Marketing strategies for a SUP business
Water access and how a partnership simplified it
How she gives back to new SUP instructors and travels with Master Training certifications
Sea To Sky Fitness class structures and options from SUP Yoga, Sunset Paddles, Surfer Sculpt and Progressive Series
Information on a once in a lifetime SUP retreat to Tulum Mexico co-hosted by Nikki Johnston - January 20-25, 2018.

Find out more: Episode 9

Previous Episode

Book or host a destination retreat and Trip Tribe handles the logistics - 008

Dave Aidekman is the CEO and co-founder of Trip Tribe, a company specializing in coordinating destination retreats for yoga, photography, wellness, hiking, fitness, cycling, mountaineering and much more! They handle the logistics and let you be the host taking care of payment, providing checklists, marketing tools and a network of interested participants.

In this interview, we discuss:

How early in advance to start planning a retreat
Where to start as an interested host or participant
What Trip Tribe provides to hosts to minimize the headache of planning, booking, accepting payments, marketing and more
How many participants is ideal
Contingency planning for weather and hurricanes
What types of excursions can be included and how its arranged
How the host makes money
Marketing tools provided by Trip Tribe
Most popular trips and destinations by season
How properties get added to the lists
Options for individual travelers finding their tribe within their age range and interests
Training, guidelines and education for hosts

Find out more on Episode 8

Next Episode

Standup paddle board racing, training, coaching, sponsorship and nutrition with elite SUP racer Seychelle - 010

Hitting the standup paddle board racing circuit by storm, Seychelle has made a name for herself in 2 short years. Only picking up paddleboarding 3 years ago, she has worked with coaches and implemented an incredibly focused training schedule and nutrition regimen to achieve elite performance. Seychelle is currently ranked in the top 10 women standup paddle board racers in the world.

In this interview, we discuss:

How Seychelle made the transition from training for a marathon to standup paddle boarding
SUP Coaching and how she has evolved with coaches from two short years ago, when she was just starting out to now that she is ranked worldwide
The importance of nutrition, diving deep into Seychelle's nutrition pre-race strategy and training strategy and how being a vegan impacts her nutrition choices
Sponsorships and how that has changed, her recommendations on how to approach a sponsor and why they are looking for athletes at all levels
The transition from flat water paddling to racing in surf, her training and lessons learned
Performance and improvement at the 2016 and 2017 Pacific Paddle Games
Advice for paddle boarders looking to get into racing
What being a professional elite stand up paddle board racer looks like on a weekly basis

Find out more at Episode 10