Meet Nicole Aranci | Studio Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicole Aranci and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Opportunity, mostly! I started practicing yoga at an in-person studio after I graduated college and started working a corporate desk job. While I was SO grateful to have a job, I never felt like I fit in or was meant to do what I was doing.

When a built-out yoga studio space became available for lease, I just thought, “Why not me?”

I took a trip to Iceland to think through my career in June 2021. On the day I hiked Skogafoss, a famous waterfall in Iceland’s Golden Circle, I asked the universe if I should quit my job to open a yoga studio and two things happened:

1. I saw maybe 10 little rainbows on my hike along the river and…
2. I recognized the power of the waterfall turning into a wide, peaceful river as the SAME feeling yoga gave me. Power, then peace.

After that trip, I came back and with the support of my now-husband, then-boyfriend, signed a letter of intent for the space, quit my job, found a contractor to do a few little modifications, hired painters, contacted all the teachers I knew, took some professional photos, signed on for a website, studio software, and SO many other things and…

BOOM. We opened January 1st, 2022. It was 3 months from the time I quit my job to the day we opened.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I think what sets Foss Yoga apart from other yoga studios is our focus on student experience. I worked in customer experience for a large technology company which taught me how to think creatively about product/service differentiation, and we’ve brought that to Foss Yoga.

The business of yoga is really, really hard. You’re competing with not only other yoga studios, but other boutique fitness brands, YouTube workouts, Instagram content, Peloton, and in Colorado, walking/running/biking/hiking outside!

You can either let that difficulty make you bitter or better.

We’ve tried many things at our studio that haven’t worked and some that have changed people’s lives, so to anyone trying to build a competitive business in a saturated market– keep trying new things. In the midst of however many failures, you WILL figure out what works, and then LEAN IN!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Fort Collins has great breweries, great coffee, great boutiques, and so many fun things to do outside!

I would recommend staying at The Edwards House for a dreamy retreat from the hustle.

Lima Coffee and Bowerbird Coffee are my favorite places to grab a latte and go for a coffee walk downtown. There’s so many unique old houses worth appreciating and City Park or the Oval at CSU are both within walking distance from downtown. After your walk, sign up for class with us at 10:30am to stretch out before an afternoon nap!

After your nap, Fort Collins’ downtown is filled with cute boutiques to grab your new fave pair of jeans or the perfect locally-made pair of earrings to remember your trip by! Sunday Supply and Blue Harvest Apparel are a great starting point, but there’s more cute shops popping up every few months it seems.

For a day outside, drive to the north entrance to Lory State Park. The drive is shady and sweet, plus you’ll find yourself with lots of hiking options (like Arthur’s Rock) OR a fun lake day. You can’t rent paddleboards back here, so stop and rent them at Satanka cove if you have a roof rack on your car.

Pack a picnic with bread from The Bread Chic downtown and cheese from The Welsh Rabbit. Oh, and don’t forget a chocolate bar from Nuance Chocolate. It just may be the best chocolate you’ve ever had!

If you love to fish, check out some sweet fishing spots on the Poudre River on Highway 14. There’s lot of great dispersed and reservation camping. If you need gear, JAX is the place to go.

Every day in Fort Collins is packed with fun stuff to do, which is why you should add yoga in to start or finish your day feeling content and peaceful. Having fun is hard work! Rest is important, too.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I was not a yoga teacher when we decided to open Foss Yoga.

The fact that 15 teachers signed on to the project when we didn’t have a space to show them, a track record, or any kind of guru-ness to bank on is absolutely mind-boggling to me to this day.

Foss Yoga’s teachers are what make Foss Yoga special. I’m sure every studio owner says that, but it’s true. They are so invested and passionate about student experience. From bringing their own lighting or incense to adjusting 22 students with LOVE in a class– Foss Yoga is Foss Yoga because of the teachers and the community they have fostered.

I always like to say our vibe is our tribe!

Website: www.fossyoga.com

Instagram: @fossyoga

Facebook: Foss Yoga Studio & Wellness

Image Credits
Bohowest Photos