Inspiring Small Businesses: Serene Lifestyles
In our ‘Inspiring small businesses’ series, we share and celebrate great stories from small business owners who started and run their own business. By bringing you closer to these inspiring businesses we hope that you find motivation, tips, and ideas for building yours. For our next interview, we spoke to Belynder Walia Founder of Serene Lifestyles an online psychotherapy practice.
We often hear lots of talk about the importance of sustaining our emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing. There is the importance of having some tranquillity in our lives so that we consciously create our desired existence. However, we habitually tend to get stuck due to our limiting beliefs. That is what ‘Serene Lifestyles’ is about. As an Online Psychotherapy Practice, they help people to rewire their mind to overcome any hurdles when they feel unable to change their situation. Serene Lifestyles helps them recover their self-esteem so they can improve their lives and create serenity starting with the way they think.
What's the story behind your business?
Through experiencing my own life challenges, I appreciate that we are creators by nature. It is our mindset that controls our entirety. If we feel safe, secure and we are considerately kind to ourselves, we are creating ‘peace within our mindset’. If we can create that within us, this will, in turn, create our environment and the people around us, to be in line with what we desire.
What inspired you to start your own business?
The inspiration came from a combination of circumstances. I felt everything in my life was uneventful. I decided to work on the psychology of design and study Interior Design and how colours inspired us. This led me to study Feng Shui, Colour Psychology and then revisit the holistic aspects of how we viewed life. Everything kept coming back to our mindset and so I studied Mindfulness. Then unfortunately for me, I had my own adversities in life where I had miscarriages when my IVF journey was unsuccessful. This resulted in a divorce and my ex-husband left. I had no choice but to heal myself. I realised once again that life was about how we think. Our thoughts do become our reality and to change my life, I knew I had to change my mind. So, I transformed myself. I left my previous career as a teacher and went back to being a psychologist. This inspired me to study further and create my online practice as a psychotherapist.
What is the most difficult aspect of running your own business?
For an online psychotherapy business, it is so easy to fall into the trap of giving therapy pro bono. There are people with a lot of issues, and when running a ‘caregiving’ business, you feel quite compelled to assist the vulnerable. Other than that, there are no difficult aspects of running a business that is essentially online.
What is the best thing about running your own business?
I can list many benefits to running an online business, the main advantage is that you can work from anywhere. You can choose your hours and there is a lot of flexibility. Again, when running an online ‘caregiving’ business, there are no overheads. The risk assessment is minimal and the safeguarding aspects for all affiliated bodies are on point. The best part is the appreciation knowing that your business services have helped others change for the better.
How has your business been affected by the coronavirus and how have you adapted?
My business surprisingly has had a positive twist since the outbreak. There have not been any major adaptations, apart from there being more demand for me to assist other affiliated organisations. I have been supporting NHS staff with their wellbeing needs voluntarily and in addition, able to assist more people on pro bono, without feeling concerned or guilty for not running my business effectively. After all, we are all in this together.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own business?
Anyone wishing to start a business, should look at their competitors and view what it is that sets them apart from others. One should look at how their business is going to have an impact on their clients and to know who their potential clientele will be. Their niche does not necessarily have to be unique, however, their customer care certainly does.
To find out more about Serene Lifestyles visit their website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.