Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Katy Sine, Executive Producer of Positive Voices, located in Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Positive Voices educates communities and individuals on the psychology of flourishing and brings the theory of positive psychology into practice, offering courses from the most respected and revered leading researchers in the field. We offer classes to learn tools, develop skills and learn how to integrate these practices into life so anyone from a CEO to a senior in high school can begin choosing the pathway toward living a life of wellness from the inside out.
Tell us about yourself
I'm a life-long learner. Open and curious, I have never been known to stay in one lane. My portfolio of experience is dynamic, as I believe we are never one thing. The foundation of my projects, businesses, and education are founded in media, psychology, eastern wisdom traditions, and innovation. We need to educate ourselves about our human experience to engage with the world in intentional and meaningful ways. I see the world as a series of connections, and by understanding what lights me up, I'm able to share that light with the world around me and help people cultivate their inner wisdom to discover what lights them up and how to engage with their own lives at that level. Even if they feel stuck in a job that sucks the light out of them. Or a successful CEO that has lost the meaning and purpose in their life. The answer to most dilemmas is never about starting over but about meeting ourselves exactly as we are and understanding how to access well-being from there.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Any accomplishment that aligns with my personal values and the values of our company is always a win. For the last two years, we have been working on something we call "The Blue Star Pledge," which encourages companies and institutions, cities and states, communities and neighborhoods to put well-being first. They accomplish this by taking a pledge to put their individual well-being, the well-being of their employees or stakeholders, and the well-being of the communities they serve or seek to represent as the priority. It's important to have leadership engaged on this level. We then offer our training, The Psychology of Flourishing -- to every single person in the company so that people are learning to value their well-being along with creating a culture and conversation around well-being on a community or corporate level as well. Research has shown that when you offer people the autonomous tools to maintain their well-being and actively create policy around that, the business, community, and culture thrive. This has begun to make resonate ripples in pockets of communities globally and continues to move the conversation of the importance of workplace well-being forward along with practical integration at the individual and community level.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Most people think getting going is the most challenging. But I love that part. I enjoy dwelling on possibility, seeing growth in leaps and bounds, and having large measures of success. For me, it's when that slows and growth is smaller but steady, or there's a backslide. I find keeping my motivation and moral up during difficulty can be a challenge. It can be difficult to be creative when things get challenging or the moments of a scarcity mindset. I give myself the space to see it and choose a different path forward.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- The art of the re-frame is essential when looking to begin, grow or run anything. Failure is never a stopping point but simply information that allows you to reassess your situation and gain pertinent insight toward your next steps.
- Patience is sometimes the most effective form of action. Choosing patience is an action in and of itself, and it affords the space to sit, observe and integrate.
- Be intentional - with your time, who you choose as your partners, your projects, and what you say "yes" and "no" to. Trust your gut and hold your knowledge loosely. It's when you learn to integrate your intuition alongside your knowledge that you discover your wisdom. Self-trust is essential - most projects rarely turn out exactly as you planned, and you have to know when to be assertive and when to be flexible. It all begins and ends with knowing what you value and your intentions.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://positivevoices.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/positivefaces
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/self_love_sine/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pos_voices
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katysine/
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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