Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Chiara Shannon, Founder of Mindful Wine, located in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Mindful Wine is a multi-faceted business offering a range of services, including wine consulting, education, and my signature Taste with Intention experiences. My customers cover a diverse range, from high-powered CEOs and busy professionals to healers, poets, and artists.
Some may have a lot of wine experience, while others are just beginning to get interested in wine. My offerings incorporate wellness themes, but I attract seasoned practitioners and newbies alike. On the consulting side, I often collaborate with other individuals and businesses with like-minded values and shared desires to learn, grow, and be happy while having a positive impact.
Tell us about yourself
I am a wine professional with two decades of experience that coincide with many years of studying yoga and mindfulness. I have held many roles in my wine career, including sommelier, wine buyer, store manager, writer, wine club director, and educator. While I was preparing for my advanced sommelier certification exams, I discovered that the mindfulness techniques I had learned through yoga were instrumental in helping me develop the awareness skills to excel. Fascinated, I began to explore the deeper connections between yoga, mindfulness, and wine and completed an equally rigorous advanced yoga certification training, followed by further mindfulness training.
My desire to share this knowledge with and inspire others led to the creation of my business. That is the part that motivates me the most: each new project is an opportunity to educate and inspire people through wine and wellness. I believe and have witnessed how this work can have a positive impact on people's lives, and the effects ripple outward to the betterment of society and the world. This is the intention that motivates me every day.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Recently, I was invited to co-host a panel on sustainability, mindfulness, and wine at a prestigious wine industry conference. While I have been sharing my message celebrating wine and wellness for almost a decade, it has only been recently that the greater industry has started to pay attention. I am humbled and honored to have been given a platform in this space, and I intend to be of service in the best way I can.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
I am a solo entrepreneur in an emerging space--I have even been referred to as a "pioneer" in integrating wine and wellness--and it has not been the easiest path. I have faced disappointment, frustration, betrayal, and a lot of periods of self-doubt. It can be hard to keep going at times, but my commitment to my purpose, and the core values behind it, has helped me persevere.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
There are many professional and personal development tools (Gallop Clifton's Strengths is one I really like, but there are many other good ones) available that can help you gain a deeper understanding of your own strengths, weaknesses, conflict wiring, and other qualities that can really be a game changer in how you do business. I wish I had discovered these sooner! To anyone looking to start a business today, I would say:
- Invest in personal development - know your strengths.
- Get clear on the core values that drive you - these will be the foundation of your business.
- Integrate self-care into your daily routine - optimal health leads to optimized success.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.mindfulwine.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindfulwineco/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyogisommelier/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiara-rose-shannon/
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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