Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Emil Harker, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Farmington, UT, USA.

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

There are three branches to my business.

  1. RTCparents.com is an online program that trains parents who have teens in a Residential Treatment Center.
  2. The Damascus Effect: Corporate Training programs to create a culture of unity from diversity and differences by empowering employees to work through conflict effectively.
  3. Individual and Relational Therapy: I specialize in helping couples who are on the brink of divorce save their marriage and create greater closeness.

Tell us about yourself

I've always been curious about why people do what they do and what the magic is to make relationships work. So when I started taking classes in psychology, I fell in love. Then discovering that there was very little information about how to manage conflict well, it has become my personal and professional mission to help people with the tools and strategies to become more comfortable and confident in conflict.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Running my life and schedule the way I want. As a business owner, I wanted to spend time with family, travel, and focus on the things that I believed were best. So, my biggest accomplishment is creating a thriving business as part of a balanced life.

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

As a business owner, there is working on your business and working in your business. I have not had the skills to do the marketing and promotion of my business, and so I've had to learn the hard way how to delegate and hire out what isn't my area of expertise.

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

  1. Focus on the parts you love about the business and hire out what you don't like or aren't that good at.
  2. Invest in the business. You will lose a lot of money and time because you won't have all the answers before you pull the trigger. Do your best to make decisions to grow and when it isn't a good decision, change your mind and make another decision.
  3. More important than the others... Make sure that your life and work are in balance. Invest in what you need to do to make your marriage and physical health top-notch. If your marriage suffers and you end up getting divorced in the process of becoming "Successful," the quality of your life will suffer, and so will the fruits of your labor.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.emilharker.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangesYou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilharker/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilharker
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilharker/


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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