My Experience Working For Lululemon And Why I Quit

photo taken in partnership with Lululemon Honolulu

I started working at lululemon when Kyle and I first moved to O’ahu. I wanted to take a break from teaching yoga full-time, but I also wanted to stay active in the yoga community. Honestly, I didn’t know much about Lululemon as a company before I worked there.

While I knew customer service was a high priority, working at Lulu seemed like any other retail job. I wasn’t sure I’d last there very long. It had been a few years since I worked in a group setting and I wasn’t really excited to be working in retail. Still, I knew that if I wanted to make ends meet I had to make it work.

When I got hired on I was a seasonal hire. I was only contracted to help out during the holidays. I ended up loving the job so much though, that I worked my butt off to secure a permanent full-time position on the team!

It’s Not Just a Retail Job

Being a part of the Lululemon team is not like any other retail job. The perks of working there are amazing! I’m sure you can imagine the deals we got as employees – the company truly does value its workers. Each individual store also has a budget for team-building activities such as private yoga sessions, group classes, and team outings. Co-workers became more like family, and the community of the team made moving to O’ahu a lot easier.

On top of the community within the store, Lululemon is also very active in its local sweat community. Each store puts on events both on their own, and in partnership with local gyms and studios. As a member of the team, there are lots of opportunities to get involved. Some of my favorite memories were built from working community events. I’ll never forget cheering on marathoners and volunteering at local farms and studios. Being active in the sweat community is something Lululemon and its team pride themselves on.

Goals and Growth

apart from the amazing community aspects, the company and leadership within the stores facilitate a goal-oriented environment. The personal growth of its employees is a high priority for Lululemon. This made working there feel like so much more than just a job. Not only are your co-workers your second fam, but they are your built-in cheerleaders!

Our store held a yearly goals session, followed by quarterly check-ins. This made making goals and sticking to them so easy! Your whole team has your back and helps hold you accountable as you move forward. In fact, it’s because of these goals sessions that I ultimately decided to leave the company and carve my own path.

Why I Left Lululemon

After working in the store for two and a half years it became evident that if I wanted to become a successful, full-time blogger and creative entrepreneur, I needed to create more time for myself. As much as I loved the community aspects of the company, I felt I exhausted my time there. Eventually, I became drained. I was teaching often and trying to fit Lululemon into my schedule without sacrificing personal time to work on my goals.

When I first started working with the company I had hefty dreams. I wanted to start my 500hr teacher training, become a certified Ayurvedic practitioner, and work remotely online. When I wrote these goals down, I had just started working for the company. Next thing I knew, two and a half years passed by and I had barely scratched the surface on achieving my dreams.

I Got Too Comfortable

There is such a thing as being too comfortable with where you are. For me, working at Lululemon became a security blanket I needed to shed if I was serious about building my dream life on O’ahu. I was really scared to leave a job I loved so much. The community and growth I gained from working there was second to none and leaving the safety of a good job with decent pay terrified me.

Still, I knew that the comfort I could create for myself by working online and reconnecting with my yoga practice was far better than the comfort of keeping my job at Lulu. Ultimately it was because of these hefty goals that I left Lululemon. If it wasn’t for the company or the people I met while I was there, I would never have set these goals or chased achieving them.

No, I Didn’t Hate My Job

So no, I didn’t leave because I hated working for the lululemon. There were ups and downs to the job, as there are with any job. Still, the down moments were not enough to make me quit. It was because I saw a greater vision for my future and I knew I could achieve that vision if I put in the work. It is because of Lululemon that I have decided to become a full-time blogger and online entrepreneur, and that’s pretty amazing!

The people I met along the way, and the goal-oriented model that Lululemon provided, made me see how capable I was. At the moment it was a great job for me to have. However, in the end, it was holding me back from moving forward. It’s bittersweet to leave my first job on this island, but it’s also very exciting! Thank you, Lululemon for all that you’ve provided me. I will take the connections and lessons with me as I continue on with this next chapter.