Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ninetta Savino, Founder of Ash + Thorn Herbals, located in Saanichton, BC, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My business is accelerating better health using natural plant medicines to amplify what your body is programmed to do but also bring you back into balance when your body, mind, and spirit get off track. My business is for anyone who wants to initiate better health, no matter where you are in your health journey. There are three ways we can connect:
a. Working with me one-on-one for a tailored health plan that covers customized lifestyle adjustments, supplement reviews, mental health tools, and herbal formulas tailored for your specific health goals.
b. Start your connection to the plant world by replacing your current beauty products with natural plant-based products that have been formulated and developed sustainably and ethically by me to hone in on specific medicines that these plants have to offer you.
c. Join my herbal community by subscribing to my newsletter. This is for anyone yearning to learn more about plant medicine and how to use them in your daily life. Here you will be notified whenever there is an important addition to the free learning center, recipes, articles, podcasts, sales, and more….believe me, you want to stick around for new products coming down the pipeline and be the first to know when they launch!
Tell us about yourself
The plant world is fascinating! I was lucky enough to grow up in the Boreal Forest. I spent every summer wandering around looking at the plants, trees, and mushrooms and the lives they led in connection with one another, to us humans, and their resilience in the face of adversity. I soon realized that they were exchanging medicine with each other and that their medicine extended to us humans. That then translated into realizing that my grandparents, who lived off the land in Pietrapertosa, Italy brought their medicines with them one small seed at a time and grew their pharmacy each summer, using specific methods to preserve it into the winter. It's then I realized that there is medicine all around us, and anyone can use it.
I want people to know there is medicine in our connection to nature, our food, and how we interact with our lands and forest and each other. I want to show people that the weeds we have been taught to kill are actually medicines that are showing up for all of us in a big way when we need them the most. I want to teach people how to use these medicines and create a connection to the natural world around us. I want to empower people with the knowledge of how to use these plants to foster their own health and the people that mean the most to them.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Providing people access to reliable herbal information that is based on tradition and clinical research, guiding people to better health, helping them achieve their desired health goals, and offering easy-to-use herbal remedies in their homes that are based on science, traditional wisdom, and sustainable practices.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Wearing an incredible amount of hats all at once. There are so many things about plant medicine I want to share with people to empower them to make informed decisions about their health. I can see and deeply hear people when they tell me they are craving this information. I've dedicated and invested decades of my life to this practice, so It can be exhausting putting your soul into something and constantly giving when there is little return. It's a hard balance of spreading the word to help so many others and also taking care of myself.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Find the areas of your business that can be hired out and spend the money now. It can relieve a lot of stress, and you should be focused on what you are best at sharing with this world!
- Find your colleagues. Entrepreneurship can be very lonely, so it's wonderful if you can find others in the same business as yourself/other entrepreneurs to connect with. You'll find that many people are going through or have gone through the same struggles you are experiencing and can offer insight towards a solution.
- Make a schedule and triage. Have dedicated days to your business and choose tasks that will make the greatest difference. Sometimes this is hard to know because a lot of business is finding what works for you and what doesn't, but you won't know until you try.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.ashandthorn.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshandThornHerbals
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashandthornherbals/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninetta-savino-744143216/
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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