Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with April Unterberger, founder of April Jay Healing + Mentorship, located in Portland, OR, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My business April Jay Healing + Mentorship, is a blend of ancient wisdom and modern techniques to help anyone feeling the deep inner calling to heal and transform their lives. I guide people back to their inner truth and wisdom so they can make decisions that are coming from a place of liberation and not of trauma response or fear!
I believe we are our own most potent healers and have the wisdom within to live super joyous lives. Sometimes we need a guide to help us explore this infinite potential. I'm honored to be a healing guide to empower people back home to their intuition through energy healing, shamanic techniques, and psychic support.
In addition to offering one-on-one sessions/mentorships, I created a free community called Ceremony Space, a playground for mystics, creatives, and curious people to explore spirituality in a safe yet playful way. This community has provided a space for people to receive much-needed support in their healing journey, meet new friends, and feel empowered to welcome more presence through ritual in their lives.
My professional experience has extended to several positions in mental health, including working in child protection services as an investigator and case manager, working with high need patients in inpatient psychiatric hospital settings, and working as a trauma therapist. I've personally guided hundreds of individuals through self-transformation and awakening to their gifts. I offer retreats, business consultations, and individual mentorships.
Tell us about yourself
As a kid, I always felt intuitive, but I shut my inner knowing down because of societal pressure and trauma. This led to me feeling very lonely and out of alignment in many areas of my life. As an empathetic person, I felt called to help people, so I went down the path of becoming a mental health therapist.
Once I started working in western therapy techniques, I realized there is so much pain and trauma stored in the body in the form of energy that talk therapy couldn't quite reach those areas. Through this realization, I started exploring how energy healing can assist my clients in releasing blocks that keep them stuck in harmful patterns. I learned Reiki, which opened up my psychic gifts again. From there, I knew I had to start a business combining the ancient wisdom of energy healing with the powerful evidence-based techniques I learned as a trauma therapist.
I'm motivated each day by the fact that energy healing and following my intuition saved my life many times and brought me from a life of pain to pleasure. I want everyone to experience this transformation. We do not need to live in the pain passed onto us from the generations before us. We get to witness the blocks, pain, and patterns, then release them in order to live a more free and fulfilled life!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
There is not one big accomplishment but the hundreds of stories I hear from clients after our sessions together. About the new healthy relationships they are in, the aligned jobs they landed, the creative expression that is flowing through them, the healing of their relationship with their parents, the way they can walk and dance without shame in their bodies now due to releasing blocks together. These stories light me up and remind me just how powerful choosing to heal our lives can be. Seeing the tangible results of such a spiritual healing experience is incredibly rewarding.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Time management! There isn't anyone telling me what to do and when to do it, which is a blessing but also creates this need to find my own rhythm with work and personal life balance. I am still exploring my rhythm and giving myself grace daily as having a business is a new and unique adventure. It takes time and dedication to find a flow that works for each of us!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Find community. Ask for support when you need it. Don't allow yourself to isolate because it can get really lonely taking such a big leap without the love and guidance of others!
- Permit yourself to change your mind. Your business will not look the same year to year, and that's ok. You can have consistency, yes, but give yourself space to try things out, change them and move in different directions as you evolve.
- Have fun! If you're not incorporating fun into business processes, you will likely experience burnout. Even if it's as simple as listening to music you love when writing down your goals or working on your taxes, it can go a long way. Take your business on a date, a retreat, or make your planning days some kind of a party. Have fun, pause, and breathe.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.iamapriljay.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamapriljay
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsapriljay/
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/39KIgX7
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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