Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dr. Amy Novotny, Founder of PABR® Institute, located in Mesa, AZ, USA.

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

Pain, stress, and anxiety are common health issues that affect nearly everyone in the world. There are many resources out there to address these conditions, but most use an external method to attempt to alleviate these issues, often providing only temporary relief. With the PABR® Institute and this method, I help people worldwide learn how to make internal changes to their nervous system so they can lessen or eliminate pain, stress, and anxiety. Some even seek help with insomnia or avoid orthopedic surgeries like back surgeries and joint replacements. Most don't realize that most of what they’ve been taught about how to hold themselves and behave contributes to the symptoms they currently have. It's a process to unwind this, but it's vital to both physical, emotional, and mental health. When someone feels better, that creates a cascade effect on all the people interacting with this person. The energy we used to just survive can now be used to serve others, be creative and have a greater impact on the world.

My customers are typically those who don’t want medications, injections, or surgeries or who have exhausted all current medical options and are seeking a holistic method where they learn to use their own nervous system to heal themselves. They are typically ready to feel free, safe, and calm in their bodies so they can perform at a higher level, whether that’s in their business, relationships, daily life, or athletics. Some are business owners, founders, and high net-worth individuals, but others are working through anxiety or trauma in their past. Everyone needs to know how to calm down the nervous system to free up the body, and some need this guidance because they feel stuck.

Tell us about yourself

I started out my journey in healthcare with a doctorate in physical therapy. After 5 years in that field, I felt that it wasn’t enough to help people transform and learn how to stay injury-free. I started studying asymmetries in the body and the autonomic nervous system. At the time, I was running 8 miles on the treadmill in 55 min, 3 times per week, to train to qualify for the Boston Marathon. When I changed my body position and breathing mechanics, all my typical runner’s aches, pains, and tightness went away. I could get off the treadmill and not stretch, foam roll or scrape, all the techniques I told patients they had to do to stay injury- and pain-free.

I dropped 7 minutes off my next marathon and blew through the qualifying time for Boston, with no other changes to my training except learning to relax my nervous system. The following marathon, a few months later, I dropped another 7 minutes off my time. I became motivated to develop a technique out of this result, and I did over the next several years. I saw people with chronic pain and nerve injuries get better in faster time frames than what was considered normal. I was eventually hired to coach a world-famous photographer in this approach to help him avoid a knee replacement and rotator cuff surgery. I traveled around the world for 6 months with him and his partner, and he avoided both surgeries.

When I returned, I realized I needed to teach this method to a greater audience, so I started the PABR® Institute and began helping people nationally and internationally. I’m motivated by seeing the relief in my clients daily and witnessing their excitement when they return back to daily life activities without someone having done something to them. They followed my guidance, and they were able to achieve the results on their own without anyone touching them or doing a procedure on them.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment has been growing a successful business within a year that pivoted to online coaching and now reaches a worldwide audience where thousands are getting relief from their pain, anxiety, stress, and insomnia.

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

Because my business is service-oriented, the hardest part is seeing a person struggling with pain, stress, and anxiety and wanting to change but not wanting to put in the work to do so because they place other priorities higher in their lives. It’s difficult to watch, and although I do my best to communicate this in an appropriate way, sometimes the pain hasn’t become enough for that person to change. Closely related to that is the lack of hope I see in people with chronic physical or emotional health conditions. Because they have tried many traditional options that haven’t worked, they lose hope to see themselves as having the capability to change their existence.

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

  1. Start going to events (free and paid) where you hang out with and meet other entrepreneurs. This helps your mind change to allow you to become the person you need to be to start a business.
  2. Start listening to personal development podcasts to help with the emotional and mental strength that’s needed to handle the ups and downs of being a business owner.
  3. Be authentic and not try to win people over and sell to them when you meet them. The more curious you can be to learn about others, the more friends and relationships you will develop. If it comes to a time when someone needs your services, they will know that you are there for them, not just for the sale, but as a friend, and are more likely to use your business.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.pabrinstitute.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dramynovotny/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anovotn/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amynovotnyaz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amy-novotny/

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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