Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Amanda Crowell, Speaker, Author, Coach & Host, located in Glen Ridge, NJ, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I am a business coach who helps accidental entrepreneurs (experts who were just trying to help and woke up one day running a business) grow their businesses, get more clients, and have an even bigger impact. My clients are experts who are keenly interested in making the world better and leaving a legacy behind them, but they are overwhelmed and confused about where to start when it comes to building a business.
Tell us about yourself
I began my own business a decade ago as an accidental entrepreneur. I am a cognitive psychologist, and about ten years ago, I started providing workshops on procrastination, designing life changes, and career design. At the end of these workshops, people asked me to coach them. I didn't really know what that meant, but I wanted to help them if I could, so I said, "yes!"
As I learned what it means to be a coach and began to build my coaching business, I discovered that there's much more to being an entrepreneur than I had realized! This set me on my journey over the last ten years, figuring out "all the things" required to build a business: sharing my perspective through blogs, social media, podcasting and website building, marketing, sales, and process improvement.
When I added all of this newfound expertise to my existing expertise as a cognitive psychologist: mindsets, time management, productivity, overcoming procrastination, and preventing burnout, I had a powerful coaching elixir to help, other experts to build their own businesses with less drama that I faced.
These days I help accidental entrepreneurs like coaches, consultants, authors, and therapists to have the courage and discipline to build their businesses and do their Great Work.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I have a TEDx talk with almost two million views focused on overcoming defensive failure. I love reading the comments as people talk about finding hope and feeling seen in my talk. I am also very proud of my book: Great Work, my journals: The Great Work Journals, my podcast: Unleashing Your Great Work, and the community I support through my membership: The Great Work Community.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
I find that managing our own minds is the foundational solution to most of our circumstantial worries as business owners and experts. For example, while we are worried about things like "can I get more clients" or "will I make enough money this year" the solution isn't to convince ourselves that "we can" or that "we will." Instead, the best way to soothe ourselves and to keep chipping away at our business is to develop trust and understanding with ourselves. Specifically, we need to feel grounded in the belief that we can do anything we set out to do as long as we put in the effort over time while seeking help. This trust will help us to overcome the worries of today and the new worries that will continue to emerge as your business grows.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be experimental in the beginning so that you are certain to build a business you love. There's nothing worse than working hard for a business you don't feel passionate about. Trust me. I was a career coach in the beginning! But it wasn't until I started helping other experts to grow their businesses that I found my passion, and all the hard work became worth it.
- Get a business coach early to avoid the kind of drama I suffered by building a business when I had no idea what I was doing. If I had gotten help earlier, I would have made money sooner and made a bigger impact in those early years. I also wouldn't have felt so alone, so confused, and so overwhelmed all the time.
- When you find what you love, be mindful of efficiency. It's ok for everything to feel very rote and drawn out in the beginning, but we want to move towards systems, structures, habits, and routines as soon as possible to avoid running out of time to expand your business! Getting help, like hiring a virtual assistant, using programs to automate some less personal tasks, and saying "no" to a lot of things that don't actually matter, can make your business much more sustainable. And since you are trying to make the world better, we need you in a sustainable business!
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://amandacrowell.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/changemakersunite
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aj_crowell/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amanda-crowell-51188130/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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