We were lucky to catch up with Pia Beck recently and have shared our conversation below.

Pia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

One of the things I don’t think many people realize is how lonely it can be to be a business owner, especially if you employ people.

Your spouse, friends, and even team often don’t know what it feels like to maintain the level of optimism and resilience needed to succeed as a small business, to know that at the end of every day you’re ultimately the one responsible for solving the problem, or how passionate you are about solving the problem your business addresses.

I am happy as a business owner. I see it as a privilege — not only to be able to have autonomy over what my work looks like in all aspects, but also to be in a position where I can earn the attention and loyalty of consumers, and to able to be a force in my local community too.

And, I’m also very familiar with craving the days when I could log off from my job and not have to think about work. When I could take vacations without feeling like I need to check in. When I could get paid what all my experiences an entrepreneur are worth! When I didn’t have to wear all. the. hats. every single day.

Being an entrepreneur means not always feeling seen and acknowledged for what you do, especially the things that go beyond the product or service you deliver. Entrepreneurs do a lot of emotional labor, in my opinion, continuing to hold the vision for a better industry, world, or community (and working hard towards creating it every day). It’s in the moments where I feel like I’ve done the most, but I’m the only one that knows it, that I feel the tug back towards a “normal job.”

I entertain the idea, sometimes. But the conclusion I always come to is that I’m a better person because I own and operate businesses. The experiences they’ve provided me have made me more resourceful, creative, patient, empathetic, and independent. I’ve learned skills I never would have learned in a traditional workplace (everything from creating a pro-forma, to how to change the brake fluid on a 55+ year old vehicle). At the end of the day, I’m able to show up in the world as the person I want to be, because I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to become that person.

Pia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I own two businesses: Curate, which is a full stack marketing and business consulting agency, and Considered, which is a mobile coffee shop serving out of a vintage VW Bus.

Prior to starting Curate in 2019, I worked in HR, recruiting, and people operations in tech and at startups. In every position I filled, I was the first person to do that job, and found myself creating departments from scratch. I was lucky enough to report to and learn from C-suite leaders.

What both brands have in common is the insatiable desire to create memorable consumer experiences. I believe that we all love to stumble across unexpected and exceptional things, and that’s what both my businesses provide — just in different ways.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The sunk cost fallacy! I’ve always had a hard time letting go. I was raised in a home and culture where “hard work pays off” and so time and time again, I found myself working hard for a solution that was never going to solve the problem at hand. As an entrepreneur, I had to learn how to fail fast.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I went through this process for my second business, Considered. There are a few things I learned:

Start with why. The thing that brings people together, on a human level, isn’t products or commodities. It’s feelings and beliefs and world views. The problem you’re solving, the way you gain buy-in, and what you’ll name as makes you different all come from a core ‘why’

Know your numbers. Once you’ve earned the interest of stakeholders, you have to show that you’ve thought through potential challenges, have a realistic outlook on growth, have a plan you’ll see through (and a backup plan if that doesn’t work out).

Earn trust. When it comes to getting someone to believe in you (when they might not have any reason to), trust goes a long way. Building relationships, showing you live your life from your spoken values, and demonstrating that you can be trusted — long before you’re seeking funding — has proven to be critical for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.curatewell.co / www.consideredsb.co
• Instagram: @curatewellco / @consideredsb.co
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pia-beck/

Image Credits
KaSandra Mitchell, The Humble Lion EB Combs, The Whistler + The Well