Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with James Woeber, owner of James Woeber, Inc., located in Encinitas, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Executive consultant and leadership trainer. I help coaches, trainers, authors, speakers, entrepreneurs and other inspired leaders to find greater clarity, ease, and abundance for themselves and their clients so they can bring their full brilliance out in service to the world and live their highest vision of their personal and professional lives. We use an innovative, whole systems approach that includes family & systemic constellation work, energy healing work, coaching strategies, and various mind/body/spirit modalities to help people create their greatest life expression.
Tell us about yourself
I’ve always been inspired to explore personal development and healing. I was exposed to it at a young age through my mother’s being an international business consultant and, later, a healer. I found my life’s work of helping other leaders find more balance, happiness, and success in their lives by going through my own dark night-of-the-soul experience. Early in my career, I worked in the technology field, producing large-scale multimedia and web projects. I even launched a successful startup tech company with several others. And then, I hit a wall: with my health, a failed relationship, and the company going under, all at around the same time. I was exhausted and depleted, and I realized that the inspired, on fire, happy person that I once was, somehow had gotten buried through all of my driving to succeed and some how “be someone”. I turned to the personal development and healing world out of necessity: yoga, energy work, meditation, and deep inner work. It was a slow healing process at first, but eventually, I started to feel better and find my fire again. Much of what I offer my clients today comes from that transformative process that I went through, realizing that driving for external success was not bringing me happiness, that it was much more important to do the deep inner work that was foundational to my health and well-being. I always thought I would go back to the tech industry, but instead, I started doing 1:1 energy healing sessions and teaching healing and personal development work - and I never went back. Helping others step into their own true expression in life so they can be happy and help others is deeply inspiring to me. I know what that journey feels like, because I’ve experienced it myself.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner is that I have had a lot of success supporting my clients in accomplishing their dreams in their personal and professional lives. It is so rewarding to get feedback from clients, sometimes years later, thanking me for helping them to get on a life path that is much more happy, rewarding and successful - beyond what they thought was possible. I also love working with leaders who pay it forward by positively influencing their circle of influence: their clients, teams, families, and friends.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things in running a business is also one of the most joyful things! My business depends on me for its direction, energy, and inspiration. The buck stops with me. It’s my responsibility. My business is succeeding and is a reflection of my vision in large part because of the heart, soul, ingenuity, and resources that I’ve poured into it. When I’ve struggled with my business and/or life, it has also been a direct reflection of me: my being out of balance, overworking, not fully stepping into my vision, etc. It can be sobering and motivating to know that I am the pilot of my own dreams, co-creating what I and others experience.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
1. Teach your own transformation - Help people solve the problem you’ve solved in your life (or are in the process of solving). Guide people through the transformation that you have experienced/accomplished yourself. In this way, your own challenge and struggles can become your gift that you bring out to others. How you’ve responded to challenges and transformed yourself is your strength and how you can best help others.
2. Focus on being of service to others - I have always had my greatest success, when I put my energy into how I can best help others. People can feel when you really are there for them. It also helps me relax my fears, insecurities, and sense of not being enough, when I get out of my way, and focus on the person in front of me that I’m helping.
3. Be innovative - be willing to create what feels good and makes sense to you, even if it doesn’t look like what everyone else is doing. You’ll be better at what you do, be happier, and you’ll stand out from the crowd. It took me a bit to figure out that the aspects of me that were different and outside of the box, were exactly what my clients were drawn to and needed the most. When I’ve tried to fit in, or do things the way I saw others do things, my work in the world felt more flat. Finding my own particular way of doing things (and supporting my clients in finding their own way) has been key for me in growing my own happiness and success.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.jameswoeber.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.woeber.9
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameswoeber/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesWoeber
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-woeber-3512a0133/
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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