Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Leilah Simone, an Embodiment Master Coach, Somatic Dance Facilitator & Spiritual Mentor based in Berlin, Germany.

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

I work mainly with women who struggle with anxiety, indecision, firm yet loving boundaries, trusting their intuition & honouring their full expression. I hold safe spaces for them to unravel so they can release old patterns, heal their past and cultivate deep safety in the body so they can feel, hear and know the desires that are in their heart. There is so much knowledge to ingest in the personal development space - and people often wonder why this or that model never seems to stick or why their relationships haven’t actually shifted, or why they seem to unendingly chase their goals and burn out.

It’s because we are more than just our brain and our mouth. What we learn on the rational, conceptual, and conscious level has yet to actually reach the body, the nervous system & our unconscious (accounting for 96-98% of our thoughts, feelings & behaviour!) Through trauma-informed coaching & embodied movement, my work centres around making the unconscious, conscious. By facilitating safe spaces for people to realise the trauma remaining in their body and heal it, I help people ground back into embodiment (into the body) and a truer sense of self. To live from the heart, for themselves and others, and as a result, live fully expressed, free lives on their own terms.

Tell us about yourself

Dance is my first and longest love. I started training at 2 years young until I painfully stepped away from a professional career at 18. I struggled with a lack of confidence, sense of belonging, purpose, and fierce inner criticism, which meant that I ignored my inner voice and followed a life as a producer & cultural strategist, living for the weekend.

At 22, I experienced a spontaneous altered state of consciousness and spiralled into anxiety and disembodiment as I entered what some might call a nervous breakdown, but I would call a spiritual breakthrough. Soon after this, something inside me stirred as an urgent and desperate desire to contribute to the world in some positive way. And try, I did, to fix the world outside of me as a result of that call to service. Suggestions turned to opinion, to criticism, to anger. Until I recognised that whilst my intentions were pure, they were obstructed and influenced by the pain that I had experienced in my life. And so all I could offer to the world was more of what it already had - pain.

I realised that if I truly wanted to see a change in the world, then I had to start with myself. And so I turned inwards. No longer looking for answers outside myself, this was a catalyst in my healing journey of choosing love over fear, coming back to my body, accepting the medicine of dance, and surrendering the lead of my life to the joys of my heart.

So I would say entrepreneurial life has been a natural consequence of following my heart - Service is now at the heart of what I do. And through my journey of tribulations, I found something for myself to be true - which is that the world we desire to see is indeed possible if we first go within. This is my truth; it needn’t be yours. But this is what motivates me each day to share what has brought me a deep sense of peace and joy with anyone ready to listen because if we can create a pandemic of peace, then that is a world worth living in.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner has to be the shifts that I’ve witnessed in my clients. To know that the work I do and the space I hold, guides people into a deeper knowing of who they truly are so that they can transform their lives from an empowered place, is deeply fulfilling and encourages me to keep going.

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

The initial shift when moving from employee to business owner (and trading 1 job for 21!)

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

  1. Build your business from the inside out. This means getting really clear on what you stand for, what your values are, and how you want the business to feel for you. Your business, as your creation, is an extension of you - and this will be your culture. When you know your values, these become a guiding compass for every single aspect of your business.
  2. Be the boss you never had. Pay yourself well, celebrate your wins, and give yourself breaks!
  3. Get ready for the long game. Building something that is sustainable and long-lasting is where true fulfilment in your business can flourish.

Where can people find you and your business?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAmLeilahSimone/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamleilahsimone/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leilah-simone/

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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