We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ami Davis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ami below.
Alright, Ami thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
I am incredibly happy as a business owner and I constantly think about going back to the workforce. I think about how stable that would be for me and my family. I think about how “nice” it would be to not have to worry about the back end of things, to just go and do a job and go home. It is very tempting. A lot of people think that being an entrepreneur means you make your schedule and get to work less, but really, I work every single day. I have to. I may take a vacation but I am always answering e-mails or updating my website or doing something Acadami related. There is a lot of fear and uncertainty with running your own business, especially doing what I do. All of my work is year to year and contractual, so I never truly know for sure that I will have work from year to year. On top of that, I am responsible for my taxes and insurances, retirement, health insurance, etc… It is a big jump, like going from renting a place to home ownership, except it dictates your income as well.
In my second year of business, I was so excited to get out on my own and I had some great contracts already. It was a very exciting time and I felt so validated being able to get to work on my own and figuring out how to get the licensing and everything needed. That is, until I didn’t get paid for a year! There was some hiccup in the payment system of who I contracted with and I did everything I could, but I didn’t see a check for a year. It was one of the scariest times in my life. I had to run up credit cards and take on personal loans just to get through. I actually did end up taking a part time job during that time, just to get by, but I was determined not to give up on my work. I believe in what I do with every part of me and when I am doing my work, there is an energy that flows through me. It really does fuel me and I just couldn’t let that go. When COVID hit, again, my work took a big hit. I was doing only in person trainings at that time for one contract and working in a school for another, so everything came to a halt. Luckily, I was able to move online and continue some work that way. Through all of that, I have learned how to prepare for times like those that might happen, to save differently than I ever did before, and how to be more intentional and proactive with securing multiple contracts to alleviate some of that stress.
Ultimately, what I have learned is that I have to follow what I feel and believe in. I am not happy working for someone else’s mission or without one at all. It just doesn’t fit who I am and it drains me. What I do is part of who I am and even when it gets super scary, I dig into that faith and keep pushing. Every time I have, it has paid off and been well worth it on the other end. I certainly know it is not for everyone and I am not shy about sharing the struggles, but for me, it is where I feel like I am supposed to be.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am the founder of The Acadami. I have been in business for about 6 years on my own, but I have been in my field for about 15 years. I provide professional development training for different sectors such as schools, non profits, and law enforcement. I specialize in LGBTTQIA+ education and Trauma Responsive Care training. I also provide a socio-emotional mentoring program for Queer youth in high school. I got into this field when I was pretty young. I was offered a job at a non-profit in my tiny home town and I grew and expanded from there.
In terms of my training experiences, what sets me apart is that I work very hard to create a human experience. I am not a lecturer. I don’t want my participants to be bored, so I design all of my trainings to incorporate some fun and tangible tools. I try to hold space and include all different learning styles so I also include an immersive experience component. Meaning that my participants get an opportunity to feel and experience what I am teaching. I also design every training in trauma responsive ways so, we take lots of breaks and I never read off of a slide. I provide treats and fidget toys and I work regulation techniques into the training. My goal is that it all feels very natural, engaging, and relaxing as opposed to stressful. I am a true believer that training should be fun. Learning and growing and expanding as a human in any field should not be this stressful, boring, soul sucking experience, but instead, something to look forward to, enjoy, and really be able to put to use personally and professionally.
I am very proud of how my trainings and mentoring program have impacted people. I am so lucky to get to hear from my participants (of both) about how it changed the way they think, or relate to others; how it improved their lives in some way. That’s why I am in it and stay in it. By that, I mean that I fully committed to this work and staying in it, true to my style, no matter what. My work, especially the topics I teach, can be so emotional and “heavy” and scary. I am proud to say that I am well known for creating a safe learning environment, for all participants, that is rooted in humanness and growing together. And that is how I think we get to a space of sustainable change as a whole. I want people to know that there are options out there, that there are resources for this kind of work, support and education, and that it doesn’t have to be terrible.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
The market for what I do is pretty vast and there are a lot of ways that agencies can go about it. What helped me build my reputation is authenticity. I have always given my all, my whole self to my work and my audience feels that. I truly believe in what I do and how I do it and I think that is what makes the experience so unique and valuable. I feel like being an entrepreneur, knowing that I have chosen this, and continuously work so hard to grow it, gives me a passion and excitement to what I do that is infectious. An experience with me as a speaker, trainer, or mentor is going to be one that is real, relatable, incredibly mind opening, educational, and applicable. Keeping true and reliable with those values for so many years has created this reputation that people know exactly what they are going to get from me any time we work together and that it is going to be impactful and sustainably valuable.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn many things, actually. I came from working in systems that were very structured and that regulated a lot about how I performed my work. In many different positions I was told to “tone down” who I am, the way I express myself, etc. I was told not to worry about processes or impact, but to just kind of “do your job and go home.” As an entrepreneur, that is the opposite of what I have found to be necessary and effective. I have to be in every detail, every step, every process and where I have found the most success are the times that I lean into my unique style the most. I seek feedback and am driven by impact in everything that I do now, so to not think about that seems so odd to me now but was something to unlearn and re-learn. I have always carried a professional and respectful way, so holding onto that while unlearning the restrictions that I used to work within was a big one for me. I am still learning every day how to infuse more of myself, my spirit, and my spark into everything I do while maintaining the necessary knowledge sharing and development value. I suppose the biggest overall lesson I had to unlearn was letting go of confining narratives about myself and my positive impact through this work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theacadami.com
- Instagram: @theacadami
Image Credits
Nick Ransom
Aisha Salinas