Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lois Weinblatt, Founder of True North Visionaries, located in Norfolk, VA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

True North Visionaries is a program for driven leaders who are struggling with what to do next. They usually feel stuck or at a crossroads and are unsure how to make the right decision for them. They're in a phase of their life where they have so many options and so many ideas, and they aren't sure which ones to focus on, so they aren't giving enough attention to any of them. My job is to take away all the noise and peel back the layers to help them reveal what they truly want, not just in their business but in their whole life. Not what their partner wants for them, their parents, or society, but what they truly view as success. For one client, success meant selling her business and starting a new one for another; it was never missing bathtime with his young son. Once they have a Vision that describes what success looks like to them at a specific point in the future, it becomes easier to make everyday, tough decisions with a trusted internal compass. People leave my programs feeling like they finally have clarity on their core values as human beings, their driving purpose in life, and the roadmap to confidently head toward their new destination.

Tell us about yourself

When I was 25, I found myself at the same exact crossroads. I asked myself the exciting and scary question, "What do I want my life to look like when I'm 30?" I knew that if I didn't think about my future, it would just happen to me. And it probably would have turned out fine! But I didn't want just "fine." From working at Zingerman's, I witnessed how powerful Visioning can be for an organization. I used those same principles, locked myself in a room for an entire weekend, and created my first Vision. It was a full description of how I wanted my life to look in 5 years, all the way down to the specific details of how I organize my business, the relationship I've cultivated with my partner, and even how I spend my Sunday afternoons on my cozy reading couch. I lived every bit of that Vision into existence, and I am now writing my third 5-year Vision. For leaders who are ready to carve out the time for themselves to do this same work, how would they know where to start? I didn't want people to go through it alone.

The Vision for True North really was to take this nebulous idea of Visioning and turn it into a step-by-step process where there is a start and end point to the program. In the end, you have your 5 year Vision and the Roadmap to get there. There is nothing else that can get you to where you want to go faster than getting clarity on your Vision.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

As schmaltzy as it might sound, the transformations in my clients' lives. Watching them become better parents and business owners, fulfill their dreams, and live more successful and meaningful lives is incredible. There is no question that I am on this Earth to do this to help people create their future, to propel themselves and generations forward. I'll always remember the client who was the CEO of a thriving healthcare company. In his Vision, he described how his definition of success would be having bath time every night with his son. He missed a lot of those bath times with his first son working late, and he vowed not to miss it with his second. And he didn't. That's what success looks like!

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Before I had a team, being a one-woman show could be tough sometimes. Without people to bounce things off of, it's easy to second-guess yourself, and it's hard to know what you don't know. There were times in the beginning when I had $100 in my bank account. It takes resilience to truly believe in your business and not let sunk costs or missteps derail the success you're building upon. Believing in my Vision has helped me build a lasting business that has worked on a mostly referral basis for 9 years. For the first time, I'm bringing the energy I share in real life into a really vibrant online community, and I realize how many moving parts my team and I are keeping track of. Kudos to all the business owners out there who believe in what they do and going for it!

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. CLARIFY YOUR VISION. Having clarity on my own Vision kept me working on my business when logic, debt, and full-time job offers would have made it easy to give up. But knowing I had done the work on my Vision to trust that True North Visionaries was what I truly wanted to do with my career, there was absolutely no way I was going to give up my business.
  2. LET GO OF SUNK COSTS. Once you know it's not working, stop paying and move on. Do not continue to pour money into a black hole. We've all built products, content, and courses that have never seen the light of day. Accept it as a sunk cost and a valuable lesson.
  3. HONE YOUR FILTER. Be really clear about your decision-making filter and how to use it to evaluate if something is going to be an opportunity or a distraction disguised as an opportunity. Get really good at saying no! Remember your Vision is for you and no one else, and clarifying it for yourself means you'll always have an internal compass helping you feel confident in every decision you make without agonizing over it.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.truenorthvisionaries.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lois-weinblatt/

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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