Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kiana Love, Owner of Be Wild Woman, located in New York, NY, USA.

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

Be Wild Woman is a Women's Healing Center helping women and survivors of childhood complex trauma that are still struggling with overwhelming emotions and discomfort with their bodies feel at home in their bodies, safe, nurtured, and loved. We help women feel free to express and be themselves and enjoy their life.

Tell us about yourself

I am a woman survivor of childhood complex trauma. I experienced the trauma of early loss, my baby brother drowning when I was only three, and generationally through my father who was born during WWII. I started looking for answers early when as a child, I felt depressed and had night terrors that I told no one about. As a teen, I had migraines, stomach aches, and excruciating menstrual cramps and fantasized about killing myself. I felt ugly and self-conscious, and I thought something was wrong with me, so I started looking for answers. I looked in books and, later in college, started trying anything and everything to get relief and "fix" myself. I wanted to help everyone and realized that I had to start with myself.      

As I came home to my body I started to feel a sense of safety, homecoming, and belonging. I realized that there wasn't something intrinsically wrong with me. I needed to feel safe and needed support to heal after trauma. This helped me raise my son, that was also experiencing the effects of generational trauma. I knew I wanted to share this with others. It's priceless, and everyone deserves to feel at home in their body, to feel safe, seen, heard, loved, and to know they belong.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Wow, I don't have just one. Staying open on any given day and throughout the pandemic to be of support to people is an accomplishment. During the pandemic, my focus was to do my part to help keep people alive and out of the hospital, to help them alleviate anxiety, rest at night, have hope, and stay healthy, connected, and alive.

We had nightly, calm your nervous system, good night calls together for four months. Every night. I had people reach out that were having anxiety attacks and felt like they were going to fall off a cliff asking for help. And there were people that, with support, were able to use healing tools to calm themselves, stop chain smoking, stop drinking, rest, and were able to move forward.

I think the biggest accomplishment is realizing that this is a community effort, a partnership, that I am here to serve my community, and that if I listen and take care of myself, we can accomplish great things. Living, being the most precious of them. I mean really living, being alive and present with oneself and each other at this moment. That is everything.

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

As a business owner, the buck stops with you. You have to be accountable and make tough decisions that only you can decide. The hardest thing is making choices when you're uncertain. You have to make the best choice you can with what you know, follow through with it, and pivot if you need to. And get support when you need it.

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

  1. Get clear on what you want and feel, why you want this, how you can do this, and why. If you haven't done this yet, set aside time to drill down, ask yourself what you want, and write it down. Then do it again and again til you get crystal clear. Pay attention to your feelings as you do this to what you notice in your body. Pay attention to any unsettledness and anxiety as well as calm and assuredness in your body. And breathe. Your body is your inner council. All that you feel is part of the information that can help you get clear on what you want. If it isn't already clear, you can also ask yourself what you want to help the community with. What is out there, and what is your community needing and asking for in terms of what you want?
  2. Do the same thing with why. Underneath 'for the money,' there is a deeper why, an experience that you desire. If you're not clear, you'll be unsatisfied and will lose momentum. You need your why to keep you going when you're discouraged and to motivate you. It's the torch of liberty and why you'll keep going when it's tough and why you'll succeed.
  3. Ask yourself, how can I do this? How can I help the community with this? Include listening to your community here. What is out there, and what is your community needing and asking for in terms of what you want? If you don't have a plan, it's really hard to get there. I wish I had realized this sooner. Having steps to take will keep you focused and help you get it done.
  4. Get support. Don't waste time fumbling around in the dark. This includes your self-care and support team. You need a team to succeed. A business is something you do with people, not you on an island alone. Follow your dream, you are a vital part of this world. I'm excited for you to thrive and contribute your beautiful wild light to the world.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://bewildwoman.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeWildWoman/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awakenwildwoman/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kianaloveheals/

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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