Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nichole Myles, Founder of MylestoGo Speaking and Consulting, located in Mt. Pleasant, SC, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I am a speaker, coach, and consultant specializing in trauma-informed practices, including resilience training and post-traumatic growth. My individual clients work with me because they've had a setback and need help moving it from something limiting to something transformational. My group clients are businesses, organizations, or even community groups who want to be able to learn how to develop the tools needed to weather tough events and issues and who want to create environments and cultivate responses that are trauma-informed for those they serve. From the stage, I'm a speaker who uses my personal story as a domestic abuse survivor as well as my expertise to show others how they can go from ruin to re-invention and why we must start raising the bar for services and opportunities post-trauma moving us to Thrivorship, not Survivorship. My audiences are often domestic violence/sexual assault advocates, service providers, women's empowerment groups, and even religious and legal organizations.
Tell us about yourself
I am a Level 2 certified Trauma and Resilience coach, speaker, and consultant. I also hold certifications in DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and nonprofit management. I am a certified fundraising executive (CFRE) in addition to a MEd in Curriculum and Instruction and soon an MA in I/O Psychology with a Coaching and Consulting Concentration. I believe in lifelong learning and have spent the past 20+ years in education and nonprofit work.
Some 13 years ago, I escaped an abusive marriage while 8 months pregnant, went into hiding, and, over a period of about 16 months, lost my home, community, career, finances, and even my own name. I survived and emerged having to start over with three children, $700, and a minivan. I was able to rebuild my life, start a new career, and eventually step into a greater, more positive, and more powerful life than I ever imagined. When I started telling people my story, I was shocked at how many had been affected by trauma and how many had been so limited by it when I had found a way to grow from it. This inspired me to study trauma and develop expertise to accompany my experience. Now I get the honor of working with post-traumatic growth and trauma-informed methods helping others turn dark and difficult setbacks into catalysts for powerful transformation.
I am the (very) proud mom of 3 children, ages 25, 22, and 13. When I'm not working with MylestoGo Speaking and Consulting, I might be in the hot yoga studio, out kayaking, or creating with watercolors.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Taking the step to go out on my own, full-time, into this work was a major accomplishment for me. Like so many people, I had set this dream career of living my message and helping others with it as my 'extra' or my 'bucket list' career. I've been fortunate to have advocations and not just vocations throughout my life, but nothing like this calling. Still, I felt I had to 'be practical,' and leaving my day job to pursue this work on my own was something a lot of people told me I shouldn't be doing, especially when I still have a child at home that I'm raising on my own. So, getting quiet with myself and answering the call was a big risk but not one I'm sorry about. Every time someone reaches out to me and tells how they've made changes for themselves, or were empowered to share their own story, or notes how much better their workplace is not that they've started using my tools, I'm reminded of why I did this.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
As a solopreneur, the isolation was a big shift for me. I had previously always worked in busy, noisy, and social environments. Suddenly, I was alone, having to set my own deadlines, having to 'supervise' myself, and navigate a new world that included promoting myself and my services. I had all these skills, but I'd only ever applied them to something outside myself. It was not that easy of a transition for me to go from working on behalf of another cause to working on behalf of my own.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Don't try to go it alone. Find a mentor, a group of successful entrepreneurs, and a group of newbies like you. This triad is going to help give you advice, provide great modeling, and be a shoulder to lean on as you navigate your new venture.
- Give yourself more time than you think you need. Everyone I spoke to said, 'Oh, you'll be up and running so fast.' That just wasn't the case. Even as I filled an important and largely missing gap in the coaching and consulting space, getting the word out was a lot harder and took a lot longer than I thought. I beat myself up for a long time because I thought I 'should' be getting things done faster. It just doesn't work like that for most people.
- Make at least a little time for yourself and whatever else makes you happy. It's easy to fall into the abyss and feel like you need to be working every second - especially if you're not making money at the start (which you probably won't be!). But no one is one-dimensional, and making yourself miserable will not make your business better, so pursue life without guilt; however, you need to do that.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.mylestogo.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/speaksmyles
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myles.2go/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mylestogo/
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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