Running your own business is always a time-consuming endeavor. Now, try to imagine running your own business while also being a professional soccer player in the NWSL. For Rylee Baisden, that’s normality. As well as playing for North Carolina Courage, she also runs her business, Sweat Happy. But for those who don’t know what Sweat Happy is, let Rylee explain how the business started and what it’s all about. “I played in Australia last year, and I came back [to the US] a few weeks before everything shut down. I wasn’t coming back to the States with a contract, so working out on my own and starting my own business was the majority of my off-season,” the 26-year-old said. “I was visiting in my dad in Nashville, TN where he had just gotten a job relocation from California. I thought I was there visiting temporarily, but it ended being around a six-month stay.” “During that time, I was stuck in the apartment, working out, running outside occasionally but it was quite cold there, so I was doing a lot of indoor workouts.” “I started doing some live workouts via Zoom with some of my friends who obviously didn’t have access to gyms, and it was really enjoyable for all of us. I was just trying to keep everybody moving, and keep active as much as we could during quarantine.” The live workouts certainly worked wonders for Rylee and her friends, as the feedback she received gave her an idea of where she could take this idea and make it into a business opportunity. “I was thinking what I wanted to eventually segway into post-soccer, I did some research, and ended up getting my personal training certification during quarantine,” she says. “I studied, all while continuing the live Zooms, and got the certification so I could start doing something more legit, and have a backing, and just be a bit more credible.” “I ended up coming up with Sweat Happy, because I feel I’m happiest when I sweating and moving, and with people who are collectively heading towards one goal. It brought me a lot of happiness during lockdown.” “The idea behind Sweat Happy was for it to be a library where everybody could access workout videos, with minimal equipment and in the comfort of their own home, in their own time, and wherever they are in the world.” As her new business starting coming together, Baisden’s soccer career took priority. A contract with the North Carolina Courage for the Fall Series meant Sweat Happy was put on the backburner, but Baisden still managed to push the business forward. “I was involved in soccer again, the video production had to stop, so I wrote an e-book where it’s a three-week program of written workouts, and includes photos of proper form, and how to do each exercise properly,” she said. “I also created a private Facebook group for all the people who bought the book and also printed out a few physical copies. “It’s still morphing into more than just a business for me. I get a lot of enjoyment out of having something to share with people even if we’re not in the same place. Eventually, when the world opens up, I hope to do more live in-person stuff but for now, it’s a community where we can all sweat together and stay motivated virtually.” “I think people have realized you can still workout without all the equipment or gym memberships, but Sweat Happy still has that human connection, which is a huge element of what I want to do. I think, even when the world starts to open back up, people still need accountability, they still need people to push them, and Sweat Happy can definitely help.” With the NC Courage set to return to training soon, does Rylee think her teammates, or even coach Paul Riley, could use Sweat Happy in order to prepare for the new season? “I don’t think many of them knew that I even had Sweat Happy when I came to the club,” Baisden says. “I haven’t tapped into connecting Sweat Happy with my teammates just yet. I’d love to do a soccer skills version, a section of Sweat Happy being about soccer. In the grand plan, that might be in one of my next phases. But I can’t give away too many details!” “And I don’t know what Paul would think of it, to be quite honest! I think he’d be quite interested to know what it is about, but in terms of incorporating it into any team stuff, I’m not sure.” “I definitely think he’d be open to hearing about it. Paul’s a supportive guy, so you never know. I feel like he’d definitely be all ears, but getting him on board to incorporate Sweat Happy with the team wasn’t really on my radar, we’ll have to see.” Off the field, Rylee extended her stay in North Carolina by signing a one-year-contract not too long ago, and with the 2021 season not too far away, she says she’s looking forward to getting back within the team. “It was humbling to sign a new contract, I came in on a short-term contract, and I didn’t know if anything long-term was even on the table,” she says. “When my agent came to me with the offer, it was very exciting. I’m ready to come back into a really competitive environment, I love the team, the chemistry, the standard of training — cohesively a great club.” “I’m excited to play regularly for them. There’s something about the off-season, it’s obviously less demanding than when you’re in season. You can go off and do your own thing, but when you go back, get into the routine and have a group of like-minded people all striving toward winning some games and getting better, that’s special.” “There’s nothing better than team unity, and I’m really excited to start playing again.” Running her own business, Sweat Happy, as well as signing a new contract with the North Carolina Courage, Rylee Baisden continues to make strides both on and off the field. If you’re interested in Sweat Happy, please go to Rylee Baisden’s website: https://ryleebaisden.com/.