A London Yoga Studio, Run from Southern Spain

Denyse Whillier is the founder of The Purpose Company, working with purpose-led founders and leaders at every stage of growth. Her approach - hope-centred strategy - combines the strategic capabilities she developed over eight years as a CEO with a commitment to building businesses that are aligned with their founder's purpose and values.

‍ Noemi started her yoga studio in London in 2012 and built it into a popular, boutique, neighbourhood studio with a loyal community. Her purpose was clear: using the ancient practice of yoga to help people navigate the complexities of contemporary life mindfully. Then she and her husband decided they wanted to move to Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain. It was an exciting decision - but it created a genuine dilemma about how she could fulfil a deeply held purpose from a two-hour EasyJet flight away.

"I came to Denyse with what felt like an impossible question - how do I move to Spain without losing the business I'd spent twelve years building? She helped me see that I didn't have to choose. We tested one thing over the summer, and that single experiment unlocked a complete redesign of my business. I now run it from Jerez de la Frontera with a team that has a genuine stake in its future." - Noemi

I worked with Noemi through Purpose-Led Strategic Counsel. The questions she was navigating were complex and deeply personal: could she run the studio from Spain? Should she sell? Was there a way to keep what she'd created while building a new life somewhere else? The people around her were supportive but too close to the situation to help her think through the options with the clarity and objectivity she needed.

My approach was to find the one decision that would tell us the most and start there. For Noemi, that was testing the practicality of running the business remotely during the school summer holidays. She went to Jerez de la Frontera with her family, managed the studio from there, and discovered it was feasible. That single experiment changed everything - because it moved the question from "is this even possible?" to "how do we make this work well?"

With the evidence that remote management could work, Noemi made a series of strategic decisions, each one building on the last. She set up an employee share scheme through an Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme, giving her long-serving teachers a genuine stake in the company and aligning their interests with the studio's long-term success. She launched online yoga classes that she taught herself, giving students direct access to her regardless of where she was living. She developed a retreat programme - something her students had been asking for but she'd never had time to create while managing the studio day to day. And she built a 200-hour yoga teacher training programme, creating a new revenue stream that drew on her deepest expertise.

Each decision opened a new pathway. Together, they transformed a single-location yoga studio into a business that could operate across borders, with a team that had ownership and autonomy, and a founder who had created the freedom to live the life she wanted without giving up the business she'd built.

Noemi's business continues to evolve and grow - and I look forward to sharing more of her journey in due course.

Noemi's journey is told in detail on my blog:

• Part 1

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If Noeni’s story resonates with you - whether you're building something from scratch, navigating a transition, or looking for the strategic support to take your business to its next stage - I'd welcome a conversation about what working together could look like for you. There's no pressure and no obligation. Just a conversation about where you are and where you want to be.