Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kimberly Jannice Brewer, founder of KJB Eccentric Arts, located in Murfreesboro, AR, USA.

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

KJB Eccentric Arts began as a way to help others gain knowledge along with me. I have always used art to achieve my goals. At the moment, KJB Eccentric Arts focus on helping young adult and adult clients. I am helping them work through beneficial health behaviors and personalized step-by-step guidance to help them overcome their challenges, gain new skills, tools, and the confidence to become active participants in their own lives. Clients leave with a tool bag of mental and physical changes that will last them a lifetime. I guide my clients through the areas where they seek improvement; I provide the necessary support my clients want and encouragement side by side to help them achieve their goals. There are no limiting beliefs, and that is how we create an everlasting change!

Tell us about yourself

I have worked exclusively with helping others' well-being and mental health for the past ten years. Along the path of helping others, I enlisted in the Navy in 2008 as a Nuclear Electrician's Mate, where I took on several leadership roles throughout different section duties. From that moment, leading and helping others achieve goals became my goal. The Navy is where I met my wonderful husband, and we have two incredible boys.

After the Navy, I moved to Arkansas to focus on my family and my studies. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Summa Cum Laude in May 2016 at Southern New Hampshire University. Thereafter, I accelerated my master's degree courses and graduated with a Master of Science in Psychology Magna Cum Laude in May 2018 from California Southern University.

Between 2015 and 2017, I led and assisted in directing and teaching at a private preschool. I became involved in early childhood development coaching to help support the development of children with the help of their parents. During this time, I began to focus on young adults and adults helping a few clients (pro bono). Some of those clients were helped through moments of crisis, times of change, suicidal ideation, difficult family situations, etc. Since 2018, I have grown with several of my clients and continue to admire how much a human being can accomplish. Each day I am motivated to help others because I believe that increasing one's well-being and mental health is my duty. I am here to share the knowledge that I have so everyone can grow their inner selves.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

The biggest accomplishment that I favor as a business owner is being able to have my family life be the best part of myself. Everything that I put into each client is a new commitment saying, "Hey, I am here to support you, and I am here to motivate you. I am not going anywhere." And that love that I share through the power of knowledge and growth is incredible, so incredible that it comes back into my own family circle tenfold. How? I come back because I also grow and learn through my clients, and I learn so much that I come back home with this toolbox filled with a new tier of tools. That is why this job is so rewarding. That's an amazing accomplishment!

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

The biggest challenge that I have encountered is trying to make other people understand what type of job I do. My job may not be going to an office or belonging to a big cooperate company where I get a secure paycheck. I do not have that type of safety net that many other mental health coaches fall back on. Many individual mental health coaches who are business owners know the hardship of beginning when starting out to look for clients. I have pushed through this, and I want to make sure others know that you will too. I practiced, and I continue to practice each day; that is the only way that I can get better as a coach and as getting potential new clients interested in working with me.

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

  1. The first tip is to read and research. I understand that so many times, people want to go watch videos and learn after just an instructional YouTube video. While those do come in handy when you want to catch up on certain TED talks, books are best for acquiring information. Reading material, that is, not necessarily just books. But yeah, read.
  2. The second tip is to learn from other Mental Health coaches. And if coaching is not of your interest because this is just some other article that popped up for you, then go learn from the person who does the best in the business you want to run and grow.
  3. The third tip is to breathe. Make time for yourself because if you do not, you may forget how to continue to grow your business. A stunt in yourself results in a stunt on your business's growth, and that stunt then runs into your own growth - do not do that. Remember this, "I am Me." I am me because I do, and I will, and that is I.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I'd like to share that I write at https://kjbeccentricart.wordpress.com/ for my blog, where I share a lot of different tips and art. I am also currently working on researching and writing a book called "Bipolar Unraveled" which focuses on everything that is involved in the bipolar disorder spectrum. I want to offer hope to anyone who suffers from any mental health disorder. I leave you with what Confucius once said, and that is, "The more one meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be one's world and the world at large."

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://kjbeccentricart.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kjbeccentricarts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KJBEccentricArt


If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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