Meet Jolana Nika of Lazybitch in Beverly Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jolana Nika.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
While my family is originally from Serbia, they eventually immigrated to Sweden where I was born and raised. Since my dad was a professional athlete, this provided me with an early exposure to fitness training. At an unusual early age, I experienced the feeling of having outgrown Sweden while yearning for something bigger in life. This intense longing led me to literally leave Sweden for the United States with empty pockets and rich dreams. The first two years in America, I worked as an Au Pair in Northern California as I adjusted to life in a new country. With my interest evolving toward fashion and body fitness, I worked hard, sacrificed, and saved enough money to later put myself through college where I studied Fashion and Merchandising.

One of the early lessons I learned about myself was that I was compelled by a strong sense of leadership, which in turn also made it difficult for me to maintain a traditional nine to five job working for others. By the time I completed college, I earned my certification in Personal Training and this marked my journey of becoming a fitness professional. This passion and determination is also what helped me open key doors and put me in a position to network and meet essential people at critical moments. Little by little, this helped catapult my career culminating in the current moment. Where every year I experience more growth and success with my fitness training and my overall lifestyle brand development.

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?
Relocating at an early age to a new country with limited resources at your disposal is filled with obstacles and challenges. A major early hurdle after arriving in California was the process of gaining the opportunity to stay in America an obtain a green card. Imagine being in a position where you know deep in your gut that America is the place you’re supposed to be, yet be without anything close to a direct or path regarding how you’ll be able to stay here. Trust me when I say this was a nerve-wracking predicament to say the least. The process, in and of itself, was perhaps the biggest struggle of my life. while containing many twisty, winding roads

Another early challenge for budding fitness entrepreneur like myself was the challenge of growing my client base while also managing the cash-flow constraints that accompany the necessity of running a business on a virtual week to week basis. As a fitness professional, you are in a highly dependent position with your financial fate that in many ways rests in the hands of your clients: if they don’t feel compelled to train, you will not receive payments! Hence, as I was building my trainee-client base, it became apparent that one month the cash flow intake might be high, the next month it might be considerably lower. Yet through these trials, I learned that I despised such income fluctuations, but the professionalism, and passion for the field must remain steady. these early lessons and challenges really helped keep me on track and refine my operational approach and financial discipline. Even in the face of challenges and obstacles, consistency is always the key component.

Over time, a key method that I employed to offset the fluctuations in client fitness needs and to reduce my reliance on intake from training fees, was to diversify my brand and utilize my fashion training to create an alternative income stream. This shift in strategy is was inspired the creation of my first fashion line called LAZY – which is a line of athleisure wear for the sexy, young (at heart);self-assured woman. The LAZY apparel is marked by its high-end compositional quality, and sheer versatility. Allowing today’s modern women to move freely from the board-room to bar lounge. I was very happy to collaborate with very talented designer named Christina Dienst to bring this LAZY line to life, we are slowly growing this end of the brand. Another manor in which I was able to diversity my way past major challenges was by expanding the global reach of my fitness services to the point where I now spend several months a year in Saudi Arabia. I have an active base of female clients there whom I have cultivated working relationship with that have grown into an extension of my global family. This is a global community of fierce women that I’m proud to have played a role in fostering.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Lazybitch story. Tell us more about the business.
My company is called LAZY BITCH. While it began with a more or less focused specialty in fitness training, it has evolved to lifestyle brand. While I’m aware that, taken to the literal extreme, a name like LAZY BITCH may cause a head scratch or two! Make no mistake that there is indeed a method to my madness here; which is to say that this bold declarative brand name description is a rather intentional (and might I say clever) misdirection against it’s perceived connotation. Which becomes all the more apparent when one learns that my acronym for the passion-fueled, hard-work-ethic, and excellence when optimally applied, make the result only appear like a day at the beach! … A dynamic which, intern, makes the LAZY BITCH far from lazy and more akin to the ultimate lady striver! Just as I have redefined the word LAZY BITCH, the brand LAZY BITCH also reflects the overall lifestyle philosophy of young at heart women who are compelled to redefine and re-invigorate life on their own terms (with a lazy twist of fun, style, and substance while they’re at it!).

Contact Info:

• Website: Lazybitch.la
• Email: jolananikala@gmail.com
• Instagram: Lazybitch.la

Image Credit:
Tatiana carr

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