Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Brittany Collins, Founder of Grief-Responsive Teaching, located in Westhampton, MA, USA.

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

Grief-Responsive Teaching is a professional learning community and resource hub for teachers, school staff, mental health professionals, social workers, and other youth workers interested in best practices for supporting young people during times of loss. We provide trauma-informed professional development workshops, speaking engagements, and readings/resources that inspire reflection and empathic action.

Tell us about yourself

I started Grief-Responsive Teaching because I experienced firsthand the healing power of caring educators. I lost my father to male breast cancer when I was 14, a time when my mom was also undergoing chemotherapy, and experiencing grief and adolescent development in tandem inspired me, later in life, to consider how adults can better support young people in times of loss -- and how systems can better support caring adults by creating wraparound systems of support that buoy wellbeing for young people and service professionals alike.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Connecting with professionals beyond my field through professional learning workshops and speaking opportunities has pushed my thinking, deepened my learning, and inspired me to keep doing what I do. Learning with and from diverse perspectives-- engaging together in authentic conversations about the challenging topics of grief, loss, and trauma-- always leaves me humbled, motivated, and in awe of the powers of compassion and inquiry.

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

Time management is continually a challenge because there are so many facets of a business -- from product development to implementation, marketing and outreach, and more. It's an ongoing learning process, and finding others in similar positions and building camaraderie is so important.

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

  1. Start with your "why." In order to launch and maintain a business, you have to be genuinely, deeply, and steadfastly passionate about the cause underlying your mission. The "why" keeps you going amid setbacks.
  2. Build community -- with consumers, with colleagues, with local, national, and global networks. There is power in human connection.
  3. Keep going. Launches, full audiences, social media success -- all of these are exciting entities but inevitably transient in the ups and downs of business. In the lulls, return to your "why" to keep you motivated and to dream.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.griefresponsiveteaching.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077970903146
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griefresponsiveteaching/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brcollins27
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-collins-ba2016142/

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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