Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Christy Mann, Owner of Metaphysical Times LLC., located in Ogden, UT, USA.

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

We are a media company with a heavy focus on digital and print newspaper and magazine formats. Our customers are metaphysical practitioners and people with pagan beliefs from all around the world.

Tell us about yourself

I'm an independently published author of dark fiction, a practitioner of universal magic, and have some prior experience with newspaper management.

As an author who has achieved most of their writing dreams (being published, selling copies at a bookstore, and my book being on a library shelf), I shifted my focus more towards helping other people do the same. The industry is rough. It's not at all the same from one book to the next, even if it's the same author, and there are no clearly written guides that always apply to every stage. So, I make myself available to help where I can with what I know based on what I have learned in my own experiences.

When the opportunity to purchase the newspaper was presented, I convinced my other half that this was something we needed. It would help us help a lot more people achieve their dreams of writing, but also in other endeavors besides writing because it would be a way for us to connect people with information and the things and people that people need to be successful on a global scale. We can't and don't do everything alone, and it doesn't take long being in any industry to realize that.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

It used to be the fact that I had written and published several books. I'm still pretty proud of that, and I still get that goal achieved buzz every time we publish a new issue, but it's not as satisfying to me as helping someone else experience it.

Now, it's that I've played, in a few cases at least, some small role in a new business being able to grow and move forward, or I've helped an individual find out that there is a shop or someone near them that they can get something they've been needing. Be it a business connection or a healing connection. That keeps me going through the toughest times.

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

Having a vision for what I want to do and make happen in the world and being able to see it so clearly that I can touch it, taste it, and smell it, then realizing that time is a limited resource and despite all of our technological advances, it takes a massive amount of work, money, teamwork, and building of other things to make that vision a reality.

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

This is a great question, and my answers might sound a bit woo woo, but I'm serious about them, so please hear me out.

  1. Become psychic. You have to know as much as you possibly can about a lot of things at the moment and anticipate what all of them will look like in the future too. Being psychic is just the ability to sense and analyze things other people can't or don't take the time to. Being the one that does gives you the advantage.
  2. Know your magic. Magic, at its basest point, is simply knowing what makes things happen and doing those things. The way a baker knows exactly what ingredients to use to bake a unique pastry that people can't get enough of, or an author knows exactly what tropes to use and which ones to avoid to make a great story that everyone wants to read, you have to know your magic.
  3. This one is a bit less woo woo than the others, but it's no less important than the other two. Build a business that will sustain itself long term, whether you are there to work it or not, with as little debt as possible. Society has been built on the back of trading time for money and debt. I recommend avoiding both by building systems and strategies that bring in revenue that gets made whether we are present or not, so you can focus on the parts of the business you enjoy more often.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Surround yourself with people who want to see what you want to do to succeed. We get it backward a lot of times, I think. We surround ourselves with people who want to see us, personally, succeed. That's great, but they are only going to support you and your part in the endeavor. When they support the 'what' instead of the 'who,' the project will get carried a lot further than you can carry it alone by the rest of the team.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://metaphysical-times.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metaphysicaltimes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metaphysicaltimes/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristyMannMT
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mttimes/

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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