Yoga Devotee Turns Idea into Wholesale Business

Choyia Doll Fraley was simply looking for a way to clean the yoga mats in the studio she managed when she stumbled upon an idea that would turn her into an entrepreneur overnight.

In July 2006, Fraley was searching for a less labor-intensive way to sanitize the rented yoga mats at her studio in Seattle.

Hoping to find an alternative to shampooing the mats and hanging them to dry, she started making an all-natural, scented cleaning solution in her kitchen.

When her retail-minded husband saw, and smelled, what she was doing, he suggested they bottle the cleaner and try to market it.

The couple started making about 20 bottles a week at their home and getting their friends to use it.

“The first year, we gave away more than we sold,” Fraley said.

In 2006, 442 bottles of Yoga-Myst were sold, for a total volume of $4,119.44

But the Fraleys knew they had a marketable product on their hands when bottles started mysteriously disappearing from their home.

The generosity began to pay off.

“We started seeing a response,” she said. “People were liking it and wanting more.”

Fraley began carrying bottles of the product to her yoga classes and selling it to clients. It was an easy sell, she said, because there wasn’t really anything like it on the market.

While there have been some competitors emerge in the last few years, she said, nothing is quite as versatile.

The product, called Choyia Doll’s Yoga-Myst, is an all-natural hygienic refresher. It sanitizes hands and daily used surfaces, such as kitchen counters and bathroom sinks.

It’s also anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. It can be used in the car, on pets, in shoes, on door handles or anything else that needs sanitizing or refreshing.

It’s basically an all-natural version of the hand sanitizers on the market and also completely eliminates odor, Fraley said.

Yoga-Myst has steadily been gaining devoted users across the country. It is currently distributed in 23 states.

In 2008, 3,088 bottles were sold for a total of $17,448.

From January to March of 2009, 2,815 bottles have been sold, for a total volume of $16,101, so sales are increasing.

Fraley takes the product to yoga conferences and competitions, where the product gains new distributors and loyal fans.

Yoga-Myst was endorsed by Hip Hop mogul and yoga enthusiast Russell Simmons at the 2008 Being Yoga Conference in New York.

“People really light up when they hear the idea,” Fraley said.  “They pick up on it really quickly.”

Fraley and her husband recently decided to relocate their headquarters from Seattle to Fayetteville in an effort to centralize their production and distribution.

They chose Fayetteville for its “progressive, green-friendly” atmosphere. The city has been extremely welcoming, Fraley said.

During their first week in town, they were able to get their product on the shelves at the Arkansas Yoga Center in Fayetteville.

They also found a space on Center Street on the Frisco Trail that will serve as the company headquarters as well as a retail space.

The boutique will sell women’s apparel, locally-designed jewelry and art as well as Yoga-Myst.

The company will keep a presence in Seattle, shipping the product to five retail outlets and retaining a sales representative that handles the Northwest region.

Each bottle of Yoga-Myst, which comes in peppermint and lavender scents, is hand-made by the Fraleys in the basement of their home.

They make 300 to 500 bottles a week, using eucalyptus oil from China and tea tree oil from Australia.

Each two-ounce bottle retails for $10. Fraley is hoping to capitalize on the rising popularity of all-natural products and the billion-dollar yoga industry and she thinks Fayetteville is the place to do it.

“We’re very excited to be here,” she said. “We’re excited about what this area will allow us to do with Yoga-Myst.”