Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Norma Hollis, Founder of Authenticize, located in Inglewood, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is human development. I write programs that positively impact humanity and turn these programs into training processes for individuals and organizations. My platform is 'Authenticity,' and I help people exercise their authenticity through the Norma Hollis Authenticize Process. Through coaching, training programs, and services, my team and I help people and organizations become more engaged with life. Customers are organizations struggling to understand how to create more engaged teams of employees who want to be more engaged in work and life and coaches, speakers, trainers, and teachers who want to help other people and organizations increase their authenticity through enhancement with self and others.

Tell us about yourself

My journey to authenticity took form when I was 28 and realized that I had done everything my parents had advised me to do - husband, good jobs, cars, house, money in the bank - and I was miserable, But I didn't know what to do with myself because I didn't know who I was. I had become my parents' version of what they thought would make a black woman successful in America. It didn't fit who I was, so I left what I knew, moved across the country, from Detroit, Mi, to Los Angeles, Ca, and began the quest to understand 'Who am I?'.

I had no idea that I would spend 30 years on this quest, 12 years figuring out what I had created and what to do with it then another three years making the transition from the person who wrote the program to the person who is now running the organization that is sharing the program. It's an exciting time!

I stay on the path because I realize how much I am learning and how valuable it is for the people I meet. I have a lot of wisdom to pass on, and each day, I look forward to finding new ways to share with more people.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment is turning an intangible concept into a successful business. What is authenticity anyway? Why is it important? How can someone's life change if they become more authentic? These are all questions that I was searching for as I sought to find myself in my 20s. It was often a lonely and confusing path because it was being crafted as I moved forward. I jumped from being the director of federally funded Head Start child development programs to owning my own business as the first Black woman to own a speaker bureau for black speakers. What a culture shock! I thought that since I could manage a non-profit program pretty well, there was little difference from running a business. I sure didn't know how much I didn't know!

It's been a challenging journey, yet I have stuck with it all time; I was a step or two away from figuring out how to get out of the mess I had made trying to run a business, but something happened that inspired me to keep moving forward. My biggest accomplishment is being able to testify to what can happen with your business when you allow your inner voice to give you guidance. My success in business is not measured by general business standards. Because I am clear that I am in business to have the freedom to make a difference in the world as I am being led by my inner voice, my biggest accomplishment is being able to prove that this is true.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Making an effective decision is one of the hardest things I have had to do. Making decisions as a non-profit director was easier because I could make better projections of how certain decisions would play out. I had no such knowledge when I entered the business. So I made a lot of mistakes because I did not have the experience or education to calculate the results of my decisions. There's an element of 'future projecting' that comes with business management and planning, and it's hard to know what you don't know when you have no experience with business management planning. It was hard to get aligned with the mindset of being in business in contrast to the mindset of helping people. It took a while to get these two opposing perspectives to align with each other.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Stay true to your purpose even though your path may change along the way.
  2. Remember that it's a journey. Enjoy the journey, even with its changes and challenges.
  3. When you fail, and you will, from time to time, fail forward, learn from your mistakes, keep pushing celebrate your victories.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://authenticize.me/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAuthenticityMovement/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/normahollis/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/normahollis~changeleaders/

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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