Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mike Skrypnek, founder of The UNLimited WORTH Project (a business under Fit Family Enterprises Inc.), located in Squamish, BC, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
A media, speaking, coaching, and training business focusing on developing elevated male leaders of industry in business, sports, and entertainment through work on the underlying psychological limits caused by childhood trauma and improving mental wellness, so they can operate masterfully and realize their UNLimited WORTH. I reach these men who feel comfortable in the boardroom, locker room, and green room, with my recently published book, our podcast, one-on-one coaching and group workshops, our monthly in-person and online MenWORTHMeeting groups, through media, tv, and radio, with blogs, messaging and advocacy to address men and the families who love them, give them space, encourage sharing and healing. We are also about to add our non-profit UNLimited WORTH Society to have our corporate customers pay it forward to those who cannot afford the work we do, to support men at their point of disclosure of struggle so they can access needed therapy, and offer financial support to those men so they can step away from their work and invest in healing.
Tell us about yourself
It was March 2020, following a successful 20+ years as a wealth manager and another six as a business coach, speaker, author, and trainer. My life was about to endure insurmountable pressure. During the first month of the pandemic, my speaking and workshop-driven business were driven to zero with unknown prospects for recovery. After 18 months of business fits and starts during the pandemic, by Sept 2021, a small business opportunity had evaporated, and for some reason, it tipped the scales for me. I rapidly descended into a deep and dark depression, considering suicide daily for ten days. I reached out for help from a friend and began my journey to healing. The descent scared me so much that I was determined never to go there again. I suspected there was childhood trauma behind all the repeated patterns in my life that led me to that moment, culminating in my suicidal contemplation. I decided to tackle one major thing in my life I had kept a secret for forty years. The sexual abuse I suffered as an eleven-year-old boy. I broke my silence, sought professional help, and began healing. Through intense, immersive EMDR therapy, I shifted my defining emotions of guilt, shame, hopelessness, and lack of worth to confidence, trust, worth, happiness, and love… while re-wiring the subconscious patterns that limited me my entire life. Thus I found my way to healing and the amazing energy that started me on this mission to help millions of men realize their Unlimited WORTH. It is this revelation, journey, and understanding of the impact of negative experiences in our brains during our formative years that create a trauma response and hard-wire neurological patterns for self-preservation that stay with us and affect us forever until we resolve them. The effect of not healing is the primary cause of male violence toward others, especially women, suicide, and major health problems. Effectively, mental health issues caused by childhood trauma are killing men and hurting society. This is what we are out to change. When we accomplish this, the next generation of boys will become better men. This is my cosmic ripple.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Learning that no matter how much IQ or EQ we bring to the table as leaders, what we do consciously will be limited or undone by our subconscious patterns if we keep silent, hold back from sharing, and don't resolve the traumas that we experienced in our developing lives (from the womb to our early 20's). Once resolved and healed, we move forward in life, unlimited and connected. Success, health, happiness, and love are the real keys to life and business.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
You are on your own. Your stakeholders, employers, funders, and vendors do not care HOW you are doing. They only care how WHAT you are doing will affect them. There are very few places that you can go to as leaders to share your real personal struggles, challenges, or concerns. That is what the UNLimited WORTH Project understands and is committed to changing.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Start with the strongest foundation you can by seeking professional guidance for your personal physical and mental health.
- Next, focus on the core of who you are and why you drive forward every day - purpose will get you through ALL the rough stuff.
- Always be learning - adopt a mindset of constant improvement and learning. When you reach the point that you realize you know very little, that is when you just might have the wisdom to share with others.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.mikeskrypnek.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.skrypnek/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeskrypnek/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/growgetgive/
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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