We recently connected with Corissa Saint Laurent and have shared our conversation below.

Corissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

I was laid off in 2017. I knew it was coming. My company had been acquired a year prior and two-thirds of my team had already been let go. I had wanted to leave this job for a couple of years, so I felt ready for this change. What I wish I had done was start the building of my brand and all the early stages of building a business in those years when dissatisfaction with my job had struck.

I was offered a healthy severance package which gave me almost a year to get back on my feet. I used that time to focus on what I wanted to do as an entrepreneur. What I really wanted to bring into the world and how I wanted to spend my time. It was precious time well spent, but I could have been doing that on nights and weekends, and in any spare moment, a few years prior. But, I was stuck in a comfortably numb place within my corporate job.

The lesson I learned was to always be building my career, whether within the walls of another company or in my own. Starting a business while you’re still working in a job or another business can be done in a balanced way. You can begin the ideation process. Thinking about what you want to sell or offer. You can focus on your why and the purpose of your new business. You can research what it takes to start the kind of business you’re thinking of starting, as well as the business structure most suitable for it. You can network and continue to make connections with other people that may lead to product ideas and recognizing a need in the world you could fulfill.

There are so many activities in starting a business that can be worked into your life before you need or even feel ready to start selling. In fact, there are months and even years of work that can be done beforehand, so when the time is right, you will be a thousand steps ahead.

Corissa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my professional life as an entrepreneur. I’ve always had big ideas and brands that unfold in my minds eye beckoning me to create them. My first company was a first-of-its-kind traveling spa and wellness retreat business in Los Angeles servicing corporate and Hollywood industry clients. Being my first business, and not having gone to business school, this is where I learned the ropes about running a successful company and the kind of marketing involved in getting a new business off the ground.

I enjoyed marketing and it came naturally to me. I wanted other small companies and nonprofits to be able to compete through better marketing so in 2006, I started a branding and marketing agency. We serviced clients and I created marketing workshops for micro-businesses and start-ups who didn’t have the budget to hire an agency, so they could learn how to think and act like a marketer. This caught the attention of Constant Contact. I teamed up with them to offer workshops and events and then they eventually offered me a dream job I couldn’t refuse. It was the right timing for me and I learned a tremendous amount about the software industry and the workings of a public company.

When I was let go, I had the option of continuing my path of employment or going back to entrepreneurship. It was a no-brainer, as I’d had this vision of me speaking and training more, and expanding my offerings beyond marketing. Although it was tempting to stay employed, with all the bells and whistles that come with that, I knew in my heart I was meant to create my own path.

As soon as I made that decision, I was recruited by Google as a freelance contractor to speak and train for them, which I did for four years. During this time, I also taught marketing at the university level and for other events and clients, as well as starting to speak and train on wellness topics that were much more accepted and desired than when I had my wellness company in the early 2000’s.

Everything I’ve offered through business has been a deep reflection of where I was at personally and what I was investigating in my own life. I believe we gain so much incredible knowledge approaching careers and professional life this way; by thinking about what you want to learn as much as how you want to serve.

I’m thrilled to continue to support a client in their marketing and business development, as well as to now be speaking and training in topics of well-being, conscious living, and soul activation at business conferences, retreats, and for whoever else is ready to expand their life into one of greater meaning, higher purpose, and true joy.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’m driven to educate and empower. I want my market to not need to rely on me and what I offer, but choose to because they’d rather spend their time on their zone of genius. In every iteration of my career, I’ve taught what I know and make that a central part of my marketing. Educational marketing (edu-marketing) or what many now call content marketing was a new strategy back in the day, but has now become integral to how a brand markets across the customer journey. I believe it’s what leads to the very important know-like-trust factor all companies seek in gaining market share. It’s what solidifies a reputation that is customer-focused and what I’ve done to become a trusted voice. Relying on earned media strategies; everything from traditional PR to podcast guesting and blogging are important ways to reach more audience and then you build upon that by serving them with valuable information and content that truly helps them. It’s called trading value for attention and once you’ve earned their trust, you can ask for their business.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

The cofounder I chose for the branding and marketing agency was my boyfriend of three months. No risk at all there. Haha! He had a marketing degree but when he graduated from business school he pursued finance and ended up at Fidelity Investments as a fund accounting analyst. On paper it was perfect. Finances were not my strong suit and he was creative and witty, which are requirements in marketing. When I told my very pragmatic father this news, awaiting the admonishment, he smiled and said he thought it was a great idea. This reaction solidified my knowing that not only was my boyfriend going to be a great business partner, but an amazing life partner as well. We were engaged nine months later ;)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://corissasaintlaurent.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeverydaymystic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corissasaintlaurent
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@corissasaintlaurent