Mother Trucker Yoga Founder Hope Zvara Has An Interesting Story For Creative Entrepreneurs
What inspired you to create Mother Trucker? What does it stand for?
After fifteen years in the yoga and fitness industry serving people on the yoga mat, I knew there was more for me but didn’t know what or where. One November evening in 2017, I found myself at a local business mixer in my small hometown in Wisconsin. I started chatting with my former business partner, and I tried to pitch him yoga for his trucking company. He looked at me and said, “do you have anything for truck drivers, like in the cab of the truck”? I looked at him and said “Mother Trucker Yoga”. That night I had started a business with a perfect stranger. And the next day, he called me, and in four months, we built a complete brand and company from scratch. This was the shift I was looking for, and best of all, I knew with my knowledge and experience, I could help these men and women.
We were two perfect strangers who saw an opportunity to help a group of people in need, not for another exercise program. But real education, teaching, and understanding of how to live a healthier life while living life over the road. My companies name may have arisen out of a random conversation, but I believe it is the perfect blend of what we do with a fun pun on words, perfect for the trucking industry. If you, your company, your brand is not memorable, you are then forgotten. I assure you, Mother Trucker Yoga is anything but forgotten.
Every creative entrepreneur has their share of highs and lows in their journey. What obstacles did you face while building your brand?
Like any entrepreneur, there are challenges and obstacles, and there were many. One unique challenge was I just met my business partner a day ago. Now we were putting money, time, and resources into something together while figuring out who the other person was while building a business. I felt like we did a pretty good job allowing others to use their talents and let others use theirs.
Another challenge was funding. We both had to contribute a substantial amount of money to do this right. I had owned and operated a brick and mortar business for about 15 years and did a lot of DIY, and had a ton of make it work moments that ended up reasonably successful. But this time, I wanted it to be different, bigger, better, and more successful. I was figuring out what to spend money on and why the list of wants and priorities was a challenge to decide what to do and how much to spend. But like anything, in the end, you do learn as you go. To me, this was not a hobby business. I was not approaching this as a “quick moneymaker,” I want to help drivers, which was always my goal. Whatever we put time and funds into had to reach more drivers and create a product and service the trucking industry could use and needed.
The other challenge was we felt we were a bit ahead of the industry. Many trucking companies are short-sighted when it comes to the health of their company. The drivers are the company, and during a time of increased regulations, the need to focus more on driver health is higher than ever. Today, many companies are only incentivized by the dollar, driver health = dollars, more money, a more viable company, and safer and more secure loads.
Yet, without a healthy driver, they do not have a healthy company or bottom line. But it’s not just trucking companies; insurance companies need to acknowledge driver health and wellness and, like many other industries, start to create incentives for trucking companies who have healthy employees. Sadly, after speaking with several insurance companies in the trucking space, none wanted to focus on driver health in the way we were suggesting.
I hope this is something insurance companies in the industry change sooner than later. But in the meantime, I am beginning to see more and more trucking companies acknowledge and support their driver’s health and see it as just as important as the health of the rig they drive.
We are sure many of your clients must have received incredible results after taking your services. Would you like to share more about what you offer?
While everyone else focuses on specific diets and the need to “workout,” Mother Trucker Yoga is all about the small, simple changes that lead to significant, long-lasting results. Very few, truck drivers or not, benefit long-term from merely adding in a workout to their lifestyle or only drinking a shake without ever-changing how they think and move about in their everyday life. Helping truck drivers “feel better wherever they will small simple changes ™” is our approach to everything. We offer a membership platform for truck drivers and companies to join. All our content is packed in easy 3–5 minute videos; movements drivers can do right from their truck’s cab. Bringing movement to them in their environment and showing improving their health isn’t about who can do the most push-ups or sprint around your truck; it’s about the little things that should be happening throughout the day but aren’t.
We also offer seminars and webinars for companies to help educate the drivers that work for them on how to live, move and think healthier while out on the road. There are safety training, training on the laws, and regulations, but what about the tools to help those drivers be successful in their health?
Finally, I just rolled out a 90-day wellness program for drivers called: Your Wellness Pitstop. This program breaks everything health, fitness, and wellness down into bite-size pieces, and instead of telling them what they need to do, I show them how to set goals themselves and create a toolbox to get and stay there. This program is a total accumulation of everything I have learned for the last 20 years, and the results are excellent. Drivers losing inches and pounds, drivers off medications, and best of all is getting to stand alongside these men and women who many for the first time, are setting realistic goals and achieving them. Healthy isn’t a dream; it’s a reality where they prove it can be done while living life as a trucker.
Your products have gained massive popularity amongst your clients. Please tell us a bit about the products you are currently offering.
Last March, I rolled out STIFF Mother Trucker pain relief cream. All my time in the yoga and fitness industry, I spent using everyone else’s pain relief cream. Still, every time there was something I wanted to change: too greasy, too many chemicals, the smell was terrible, it didn’t do anything, there weren’t enough active ingredients, and many are not made in the USA.
I saw an opportunity to create my pain relief cream and do it the right way and decided to make the investment and go for it.
Our pain relieving cream STIFF Mother Trucker cream is made of 12 all-natural, easy to pronounce ingredients to relieve pain quickly with our deeply penetrating formula you feel the instant it is applied. Still, it lasts for hours because of our unique combination of natural herbs and ingredients that go deep into the tissues and increase blood flow.
Plus, our pain relief cream is non-staining, non-greasy, fast-absorbing, and travel friendly. We are cruelty-free, never test on animals, contain no animal “by-products,” 100% vegan, and are free of parabens, gluten, synthetics, and artificial dyes.
It’s an easy-to-use 2oz travel-friendly size and is lovely to have on hand in the glove box, bedside table, or your go bag! STIFF Mother Trucker has been featured in Forbes, Healthy & Fit Magazine, and has found its way into the hands of several celebrities too.
Where can we find your work? How can our audience connect with you?
You can check out more about Mother Trucker Yoga and STIFF Mother Trucker over on our site: www.MotherTruckerYoga.com and connect with me and MTY on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MotherTruckerYoga and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mothertruckeryoga/ as well as https://www.instagram.com/hopezvara/
