When Mindbody Online founder Rick Stollmeyer last spoke to the Tribune a year ago, he had developed a successful business niche that combines the power of the Web with the personal service industry. Founded in 2001, the company was selling an estimated $1.2 million in accounting and online-scheduling software packages each year to 1,600 yoga, wellness, fitness and healing arts practitioners in 27 countries. "The most interesting development of our age is that everything we want can be shopped and purchased online," the software entrepreneur said. "Personal services are no exception.
The Internet's impact goes well beyond the obvious benefits of music downloads, amateur video distribution and personal commentary in the form of blogs. In the business world, companies have been seeing their customer bases change because of the Internet, so creative entrepreneurs began using the Net's capabilities to modify or replace long-standing business methods. One such entrepreneur is Rick Stollmeyer, chief executive and founder of Mindbody Online in San Luis Obispo.
Rick Stollmeyer is banking on his belief that the Internet can make everyone's life easier. His San Luis Obispo-based company, Mindbody Online, provides Web-based business software for yoga, wellness, fitness and healing arts practitioners to organize and manage their payroll, employees and customers. It also allows customers to schedule spa treatments, children's programs and fitness classes on the Web – much in the same way people book vacations online...
An ancient practice in balance and flexibility will be put to use to help eliminate a not-so-ancient health issue: childhood obesity. Mindbody Online, a California software developer, and Core Power Yoga, a group of yoga studios located in Colorado, Oregon, and Minnesota, are joining the fight against childhood obesity by hosting a day of yoga marathons to benefit Louie's Kids, an organization that provides scholarships to overweight children to attend weight loss camps and programs.