Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with David Essel, the #1 Best Selling Author and President of David Essel Enterprises, Inc., located in Fort Myers, FL, USA.

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

For the past 43 years, we have helped so many people, thousands from around the world, shatter addictions, save relationships, learn how to manage everything from anxiety to depression to PTSD, turn their financial situation around, open businesses, expand businesses… It’s everything I love to do and everything I love to help other people accomplish in life!

Tell us about yourself

Our customers range from fortune 500 executives to entrepreneurs to network marketers to moms and dads. Our customers are all over the world, every imaginable shape, religion, size, gender… We are an equal opportunity counseling and coaching organization that only has one’s purpose: to help people heal.

I actually began in the world of sports psychology. I played basketball at Syracuse University for several years and then went into the world of working with athletes, bodybuilders, and even health enthusiast professional instructors like personal trainers, helping them with their mindset, attitude, their motivation, and more.

In 1990, after a failed suicide attempt, I committed the rest of my life to work with people from all walks of life in the areas of mental health. Now mental health just isn’t depression or anxiety or bipolar disorder… Every challenge in the world is related to our mental health!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

There are so many things that I could highlight as massive accomplishments as a business owner. I have probably been on ten magazine covers over the past number of years. I did the keynote graduation at Syracuse University a couple of years ago. We have the number one best-selling book. It’s so hard to try to think about what would be my biggest accomplishment as a business owner, but the above sort of outlined some of the things that of happened over the years.

Now my father at Essel, who passed away nine months ago, would answer that differently as he told my brother the following for the past 25+ years: “I am so proud of your brother David for all of his business success, but what I am most proud of is his long-term sobriety.“ While my dad is not on the physical plane anymore, if he was here, that’s the answer he would give you.

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

I think one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner is to learn how to emotionally regulate ourselves and flow with the ups and downs of business.

Even Coca-Cola almost went bankrupt in the 90s, so all businesses, whether it’s mom and pop or major corporations, go through economic swings of incredible success and then incredible stress, and I find that’s the same with our business. It has leveled out over the years where we are consistently busy now, but in the first 10 years of business, we would have several months of just incredible success with so many clients we had to be put on a waiting list, and then we might go a couple of months where it was lean.

Learning how to stay emotionally grounded during the ups and downs of business is one of the things now we also teach In our course, “the executive and entrepreneurial school for work-life balance.“ Because I have been challenged with my workaholic attitude at times and burnout, the same as many other entrepreneurs, we created a program to help people become more grounded; it’s probably one of the best things executives or business owners could go through so that they can create more of a positive work-life balance.

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

The top three tips for anyone looking to start and grow a business today would be:

  1. Immediately get an accountability partner/mentor/counselor or coach before you even begin your business! I remember in 1980, when I started my first business, I reached out to the organization S.C. O. R. E., with the small business administration where they offer you retired executives to help you as a young business owner. I would definitely start here if I didn’t know of a mentor or business coach, or consultant that would be by my side from the beginning.
  2. Set realistic and exciting goals! Too many people who start their business have a goal of making $1 million a year, or $500,000 a year. We get people in my office all the time with big dreams and big goals, and what I try to do is help redirect them to something more manageable and something more achievable. Smaller goals that we can accomplish regularly will lead us to a deeper intrinsic motivation, allowing us to continue to be successful in the long run.
  3. Starting a new business will take a lot of time, effort, and money. Make sure to be able to sustain the energy that you’re taking care of yourself physically. Eat clean. Knock out alcohol. Get into an exercise program. Learn meditation. Get proper rest. This might be one of the most important things I can share with you!
  4. Make sure that what you’re watching, reading, listening to, and the people you hang out with are all uplifting programs and individuals. Yes, it will take a village! Be patient. Be patient. Be patient.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I wrote books for 20 years before we got any recognition whatsoever! We would sell a few bucks here and there, but nothing major ever happened. But I kept writing. And writing. And writing. In year 21 of writing books, we got our very first number one best seller…

And then, since then, we’ve had four books come out at all and hit the number one best-selling list as well. The lesson here? Patience. If David can help you in any way whatsoever, reach out to him at David Essel | Author | Counselor | Motivational speaker

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://davidessel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidesselalive/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_essel/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidEssel
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-essel-m-s-o-m-2535493/

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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