Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with David Blank, COO of Soul Connection Journeys, located in Lodi, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Soul Connection Journeys empowers individuals to re-align, re-connect to, and integrate all aspects of themselves through legal Plant Medicine Based Psychedelic Journeys. Plant medicines have been used for millennia by cultures around the world to explore and heal the subconscious, identify our purpose and connect with the divine. For sufferers of depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc., medicine journeys clear out nervous system blockages and re-develop one’s inner capacity for healing. Medicines, such as Psychedelic Cannabis, enhance healthy functioning by resolving things on the somatic (body) level and working to bring our external lives into even deeper alignment with our souls, increasing feelings of self-love, self-worth, and self-responsibility. As a result of these journeys, clients frequently report profound nervous system regulation and a sense of having more choices and more control of life situations. Feeling a clear sense of purpose, presence, and ability to live in the moment. Feeling clear, light, alive, relaxed, and connected to profound joy and gratitude. Deep self-compassion and empathy, enhanced intuition, creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills, ongoing alleviation of severe depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.
Tell us about yourself
In 1993 at age 23, I was sitting at work one day, and for no reason that I could identify, I found myself sinking into overwhelming despair. I just sat and sobbed deeply. I made an appointment with a psychiatrist, and while I’d been suffering the symptoms since I was 10, this was the first time I was diagnosed with depression. I was sent away with a prescription that took away the despair and hopelessness and left me feeling anger, worthlessness, and a variety of unpleasant physical side effects. I once heard someone say that “anti-depressants aren’t a happy pill. They’re just a ‘not miserable’ pill.”
For the next 29 years, I searched for a true cure to my struggle. I completely changed my diet, added more exercise, and went to naturopathic doctors, homeopaths, energy healers, and life coaches. I saw more psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists and tried many different pharmaceuticals. Nothing cured me or even brought me joy, and it made no sense to me because I have lived a truly amazing life. I’ve visited over 45 countries, living in 5 of them. I’ve spent time with amazing people, made close friends, and taken people on unique adventure tours that transformed their lives and mine. In November of 2007, I met the most amazing person, my wife Claudia, who I described then and still to this day as the nicest person I’ve ever met. I could not ask for a better partner and friend in life, and I’m grateful every day to be with her. And even with all that going for me, I wasn’t happy. Then in December 2019, a young family member took her life due to her own struggles with treatment-resistant depression. It was a crushing blow for everyone. Like myself, she had been searching for a cure, but without success. But she was on the right track. She had discovered the growing research regarding psychedelics and their ability to resolve issues of treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, severe PTSD, and complex PTSD, as well as to help individuals who are merely lost to re-align, re-connect to, and integrate all aspects of themselves so that they can live the life they desire. Unfortunately, none of it was legal in the US, except for the little-known psychedelic cannabis. Although psychedelics didn’t save her, they saved me. I was able to find a psychedelic guide, and my work with him transformed my life. I’ve been off of all medication since 2020. While never suicidal, I used to wake up each day disappointed to still be here. Now I wake up every day grateful to be alive. Once I experienced the benefit of working with Psychedelics, I knew I wanted to help others. I could no longer sit by and watch lives and families continue to suffer needlessly due to resolvable mental health issues.
Psychiatrists, lawyers, and family members encouraged me to be patient. “Change is coming,” they said. But I couldn’t wait. How many would more people take their own lives? How many more innocent families are devastated? I told my guide that I wanted to help others, and he encouraged me wholeheartedly. “You’ve already been responsible for people’s lives, safety, and happiness for 30 years as a transformational adventure guide. You just need to incorporate the psychedelic training.” He referred me to the Psychedelic Sitters School, and I found my path. I want to help people to heal and find their joy. Plant medicine transformed my life from one of constant emotional struggle to one of joy and gratitude. I don’t want to see anyone else suffer for another minute. Every day I see my clients’ lives transformed by this work, and I am so grateful to have found my purpose and a way to help others find their purpose and their joy.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Making a living helping others by sharing my passion for life and fulfilling my mission - to engage life to the fullest every day in every way until it infects everyone around me.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The hardest thing about being a business owner is to keep going, step after step, day after day, through all the ups and downs, successes and failures. Success can be measured in different ways. When you sell your first tour or gain your first client, you are a success. You took a risk and accomplished a goal. But there is more to success - there’s making a living, being able to care for your family, and doing the things that are important to you and that you love. Fortunately for me, who loves being a guide, whether in the jungles of Panama or the wilderness of the human mind, I get to make a living doing what I love. But it still takes time, commitment, perseverance, and a fair bit of luck to keep going and reach the point of financial independence.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Make sure you understand your motivations and are ready to be in it for the long haul. I think the quote that says it best is, “Successful people move from one failure to the next with enthusiasm.”
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.soulconnectionjourneys.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoulConnectionJourneys
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulconnectionjourneys/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blankdavid/
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