Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in education, but not sure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mike Masek, director at The Foragers Path School of Botanical Studies, based out of Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
Tell us all about your business...
The Foragers Path empowers students with the knowledge and skills to use healing plants and wild foods to create a healthier, more balanced lifestyle. To make the field of Community Herbalism affordable to a broad range of the population by teaching people how to create their herbal products, grow their herbs, and wildcraft when appropriate sustainably. To help people achieve better physical and emotional health by re-connecting to the rhythms, cycles, and flows of nature, primarily through the use of plants. A combination of traditional service, current research, and personal clinical experience is used to present accurate and reliable views on healing, herbal uses, and wild food foraging. My customers are anyone who desires to achieve the above skills. Students come from all walks of life and have been from ages 8 to 72.
What's your background and motivation to grow as a solopreneur?
I have always been drawn to natural methods of healing. This requires people to be proactive in their healthcare and use diet and lifestyle strategies to support health rather than the reactive approach of waiting until one is ill before seeking healthcare.
The beauty of this work is seeing people in my classes and workshops -get it. The light bulb goes off, and they understand a new concept that was previously confusing.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
By far, my most treasured accomplishment is knowing that I have introduced, taught, inspired, and guided a few hundred people in the field of herbal medicine.
Some have been in one-day classes; others have attended long-term, ongoing courses.
Some have gone to acupuncture and naturopathic schools, but most have become community herbalists and foragers, working within their families and close-knit communities.
This is the core of what I do; this is what nourishes me on a deep level.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a solopreneur?
Being a one-person show. Being responsible for all the marketing, curriculum development, paying bills, collecting fees, web maintenance… the list goes on.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run or grow a small business today?
- Do what you love. You will be sending a large amount of your time developing the business. It helps if you like what you are doing.
- Educate people about what you have to offer and why it benefits them. Do free talks. Give free samples. If your product/service is quality, people will see the need.
- Deliver more than you promise. Strive to make each customer walk away feeling they received tremendous value by using your business.
Where can people find you online?
Website: https://www.theforagerspath.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheForagersPath
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theforagerspath.herbschool/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share then email community@subkit.com, we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.