Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal and business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Teresa Sabatine, Founder of TS Coaching & Consulting, located in Fernandina Beach, FL, USA.

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

I own a coaching and consulting business focused on helping female founders scale their businesses while equally prioritizing their bottom line and their mental wellness. We tend to work with mission-driven, high-achieving, empathetic women who give all of themselves to their mission, customers, community, and family. We noticed a gap in the market for a more feminine approach to business coaching, and we make sure to bring elite business strategy coupled with a sacred space and tools to support who they are as a person and what they face as women entrepreneurs.

Tell us about yourself

I would say my journey started at the kitchen table when I was a little girl. Each night I listened to my feminist psychologist, mother, and political philosopher father discussing the issues of the world. They instilled in me a deep longing to be a good citizen and member of my community and to make a difference in the lives of others. I thought that would be in storytelling because I saw the power of media to drive change, and I set out on a decade-long journey to be an executive in Hollywood. I made that dream come true and worked on some big films like Transformers, network TV shows, and also smaller independent projects from short films to million-dollar features. I was really trying to gain as much experience as I could to arm myself with the skills and experience to run a studio. What I found was an industry incapable of supporting women in the way I thought we deserved to be treated and supported. My success and my helpful nature led to a lot of mentorship of other women who were feeling the same things I was feeling on sets and in board rooms. As I climbed the ladder and really mastered business acumen, I felt a call to turn that all around and give it back to women coming up behind me. This led to the coaching business I have today.

What motivates me are the hundreds of conversations I have with women each year where they are telling me how they are treated in negotiations or at work and how far they feel from doing what they truly know they are called and capable of doing. I wake up each morning eager to help liberate these women from societal conditioning that tries to tell them there are limits to their potential. Whether a woman is my client or is someone I meet in a coffee shop, lessening her stress and anxiety and increasing her odds of succeeding and living out her full essence is what keeps me going.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment is the collective accomplishments of the women I have the honor to coach. I was involved with the sale of a family business a few years ago where my client had to advocate for her family's legacy in a very sensitive, public, and lucrative deal. Standing by her as she found her voice and the confidence and clarity to advocate for what truly mattered and get the right deal for her family was the ride of a lifetime. Now getting to see her do more of that each day in her own business motivates me to keep going. I also have helped women who are working full time and running their business on the side grow to a place where they could quit their job and make more money running their business, or helped an entrepreneur build a maternity leave plan so she can step aside and take on the role of mom and not give up her individual identity to do it, and as of late I have helped co-founders build a team and a culture that puts their people over profit and has them scaling into the tens of millions because they are doing the right thing. While these aren't necessarily my accomplishments, they are the byproduct of being in business, and it is extremely rewarding.

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

At the end of the day, it is just you. No one is going to believe in you more than you believe in yourself; no one can understand the true vision that is inside of your mind the way you see it. Staying true to yourself, your intuition, and your vision is really challenging when bills need to be paid, and sales aren't coming in as fast as you would like. I have had people for years tell me to quit while I am ahead and get a job where there is security and structure to support me, but that has never aligned even when it felt "easier" or "more likely." Before launching my business, those jobs could never keep me challenged or fulfilled, and the paycheck felt like handcuffs. At some point, you have to decide you are going to believe in yourself beyond reason. Staying in it when there is no evidence that you are on the right track or no cash flow that gives you security is really difficult. It is why I prioritize my mental health and the mental health of my clients over everything. The mind is either your best friend or your biggest enemy; making sure you are feeding it and yourself the right fuel can make all the difference.

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

  1. Get your vision clear, not just for the right now, but for now and into 3-5 years; you must know where you are going if you want to build and implement a strategy to get there. Wake up every single day and spend 3-5 minutes imagining that your vision is already in place. Think about what systems and people need to be around you to make it happen. Understand that the vision can evolve and mold, but the fundamentals of what you can do for your customers/clients must be cemented.
  2. Get clear on your proven process for delivery. Whether that is why and how you are the bakery that can deliver the best gluten-free bread in the community, the best digital agency for advertising, or why you are the exact software as service for your client, you must know WHY you are exceptional at what you do and be able to communicate that through inspirational and clear messaging. You also must have a process written down and articulated as to why you are the expert and how you get it done. This gives you a strong foundation for scale when you start to hit growth and not have a house of cards that folds when there's more to deliver. People will look to you as the leader; they will want to know what your expectations are for success, so make sure you have them documented and a system to measure how you are performing.
  3. Invest in your mind. The biggest barriers I see to people scaling are their own beliefs and mindset. Doing something you have never done before that has no roadmap for success will bring up ALL of your demons. The stress of running your own business can get to you if you don't have systems in place to manage your own mental and physical health. Spend time in the morning jotting down your worries so you don't carry them all day, go on a slow walk or choose your form of movement and do it before you answer emails to let your body move the energy. Invest in therapy or a coach who can keep you on track psychologically and give you a space to relieve those stresses and problem solve around them.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

If you tend to outsource permission or look to others to tell you whether your idea is good or if you are on the right track, you will constantly change your strategy. Understand that intuitively you know what is best because it is YOUR idea or YOUR business. Experts like me can come in and enable you to go faster or smarter, but we cannot do the business or make the decisions for you. Carve out time to get quiet and tap into your inner knowing on a daily basis, have data to inform you of how you are doing in every area of the business, and you will reduce your anxiety and gain more clarity to implement strategy more efficiently and successfully.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://teresasabatine.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresasabatine/

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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