Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Carissa Wolkiewicz, Founder of Creative Wholistics, located in Princeton, NJ, USA.

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

Creative Wholistics is a holistic nutrition & fitness company on a mission to educate and empower individuals to reach their health goals while restoring their relationship with food, exercise, and their bodies through private one-to-one coaching sessions, group programs, and digital courses. Our clients are highly motivated, open to a holistic approach, and care deeply about their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Tell us about yourself

I started my business after struggling to find my own answers. As hard as I worked on eating clean and exercising, I still dealt with extra weight, low energy, fatigue, and uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, acne, and inflammation. I also never learned how to build a positive relationship with my body. No matter how hard I worked out or how closely I tracked my food, I was never satisfied with how I looked. I knew that physical activity and balanced nutrition were good for my mental health, yet I felt myself slipping deeper into a lonely darkness. This is exactly what motivates me to show up every day doing what I do - because I want people to know that there's another way. I want people to be able to both work towards their goals and love themselves where they are right now. I want people to enjoy the process and build these habits not to fix their bodies but because they love them. I want to see a health and wellness industry where we go deeper than behavior change and integrate our habitual patterns with our internal experiences of ourselves. I want to guide people toward radical self-acceptance, self-empowerment, and self-love.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment is that I'm still here, showing up after 2 years. My business has shifted many times since I launched it in 2020. I've changed my mission, my ideal client, my message, and my marketing strategy many times, and I'm still changing things around today. It's a constant learning process full of trial and error. I have never stuck to a career path for this long, let alone a project this big. My biggest accomplishment is connecting deeper every day to who I am and what my purpose is and staying committed to myself and my audience.

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

One of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner is navigating the ups and downs and trusting yourself to keep going in the face of setbacks.

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

  1. Invest time in clarifying your mission - this will help keep you focused on the bigger picture that you're working towards.
  2. Find your intrinsic motivation - this may be related to your business mission or not. Either way, it's important to connect on a deeper level to what you're building because extrinsic rewards may be slow coming. Finding rewards from within will come in handy not just at the start but at many different points throughout the journey.
  3. Build resilience - running a business is not straightforward. It's a dynamic process, and things are always shifting. There will be great months, and there will be many setbacks. It's helpful to have the tools to be able to navigate all of it.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.creative-wholistics.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachcarissawolkiewicz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachcar_/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carissa-wolkiewicz-83099423/

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.

Turn your craft into recurring revenue with Subkit. Start your subscription offering in minutes and supercharge it with growth levers. Get early access here.