Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in leadership development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Licia Rester, Founder of Creos Company, located in Torrance, CA, USA.

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

My business is Virtual Event Mastery. We support coaches and consultants (aka, transformation leaders) in designing and delivering highly engaging virtual and hybrid programs that support breakthrough results for their participants.

Tell us about yourself

I've been an eLearning instructional designer for 30+ years and have worked with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and non-profit organizations. Additionally, I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT). I served on the faculty for about 20 years in an experiential, post-graduate psychology program. My joy and specialty come from marrying these two aspects of my career in designing and facilitating transformational personal and professional programs (online, hybrid, and in-person).

Virtual Event Mastery was created to respond to the social restrictions at the beginning of the pandemic. I saw many of my colleagues struggle with being forced to pivot their in-person workshops and coaching services to virtual ones.

They did their best but often ended up "faking the translation," meaning they forced their in-person content into a virtual workshop without leveraging the medium's unique strengths. I saw the opportunity to make a difference by serving those who serve others when the world desperately needed them. It's thrilling and profoundly fulfilling to support the conscious awakening of humanity by empowering its transformational leaders.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Whether in person or virtual, there's still an excellent opportunity to train leaders on what is required to support people in "true transformation," which I define as profound, positive, permanent change.

It's a joy to teach the Virtual Event Mastery Method to transformation leaders so that they can:

  • Facilitate their transformation to be more effective.
  • Support the change of their clients.

My biggest accomplishment is receiving reports from participants that their clients have experienced more remarkable results in their virtual workshops and programs than in their previous in-person ones! I love refuting the myth that "virtual training is lame, flat, and inferior to in-person workshops." It's not the medium but the method that supports engagement, depth, connection, and growth!

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

The most challenging thing has been to turn my focus from designing and facilitating to marketing and selling my offerings. I initially resisted this (a lot!). Still, I quickly realized that it was up to me to "crack the code" on how to effectively promote my programs and services in a way that was aligned with the service consciousness that inspired the programs themselves.

This led me to a 10+ year/120K+ deep dive into digital marketing, which ultimately resulted in approaches that I call "Transformation Marketing" and "Selling Through Serving." And I'm still on this journey, experimenting, testing new processes, making mistakes, and learning a lot! We're currently designing more courses focused on these approaches because we've found that this is the biggest challenge that other transformation leaders face.

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

There isn't a better time or more leisurely time than now to fulfill your calling by reaching and serving those in need of your unique expertise and heart.

The ability to support true transformation (profound, positive, permanent change) in your participants is the key to:

  • Differentiating yourself in the marketplace.
  • Effectively addressing your client's needs and goals.
  • Enjoying long-term client retention and higher revenue.

We are in the Digital-First era, and it is critical to develop the skills needed to leverage the strengths of the virtual medium so that you can avoid defaulting to its many weaknesses.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.vemastery.com/1-vemm-book-a
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirtualEventMasteryOfficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/resterlicia/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/licia-rester/

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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