We were lucky to catch up with Katie Venechuk recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I’ve never considered myself to be a very risky person, but I think those who know my story would probably say that isn’t true. In the past three years of my life, I’ve acted on some pretty big changes. I resigned from a secure and successful career as an environmental engineer, spent time abroad volunteering in Africa, lived out of a tent in some pretty extreme conditions while backpacking for 6-weeks in Patagonia, and then returned home to Michigan to sell my house, move to the country, and start a business with a goal of helping people reconnect to nature (…through a Japanese wellness practice that very few people in Michigan had ever heard of). Just about the only things that haven’t changed in my day-to-day life since 2019 are my marriage and my cat. It’s been equal parts terrifying and some of the best years of my life. And I am pretty sure I can credit all of it to a single moment and a single risk. It’s a risk that came to me about four years before any of the risks listed above. That’s the one I’d like to share about.

To do this risk justice, I need to back up a little and share about my college years at Michigan State and then working as an engineer.  It may not come as a surprise to hear that I didn’t really choose engineering because I was super passionate about it.  If I had, I’m sure I’d still be doing it.  I had a stable job and worked with nice people.  In truth though, I chose engineering at the age of 18 because it was an unrisky career path during an economic recession, and I was decent at math and problem solving.  I have always been passionate about the environment, and the idea of working in environmental protection did appeal to me.  So with that spin on my approach, I went at my degree and the difficult coursework with everything I had.  In part, I think I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.  In another way, I think I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to do.

Reflecting on those years, there were some clear signs that I wasn’t setting myself up for a lifestyle that I’d be very happy in. I still remember my first summer internship when I sat squirming in my cubicle, hoping they’d send me out for field work so that I wouldn’t miss the whole season sitting in a fabric covered box. I brushed off my dread of office days by telling myself that I’d get used to it, because I simply had to. But I never did get used to it. A few years later when I was working as an engineer, I still squirmed in my cubicle. Eventually the squirming transformed into a kind of insatiable restlessness, and this restlessness with my office life is what led me to a love for travel.

After I discovered what it was like to go and catch a glimpse of life in a foreign country, I lit up with a new type of curiosity. I kept working as an engineer, but for our two-weeks of yearly vacation time, my husband and I traveled all over the world. We went to places like Peru and Indonesia, Morocco and tiny European villages. We prioritized meeting local people and stretching our budget by staying in small family run hostels, eating at the local “hole-in-the-wall” restaurants and at the street vendors, and by aimlessly wandering versus taking scheduled tours. I learned a LOT in those years about how many ways there are to live in this world. Though I had been raised with the idea that there was only one path worth pursuing – the American dream of the secure office job, the nice house in a good school district and the eventual kids – I began to realize that maybe that wasn’t true. At least, maybe it wasn’t true for me. Over the years, imagining other life paths became a kind of fun fantasy for me. I imagined living in other countries where there was a better work/life balance. I imagined teaching yoga full time. I imagined becoming a travel writer or a nature writer, actually spending time in the environment versus talking about it theoretically. But it was all just imagination, because none of it felt worth the gamble of leaving my secure job.

This is the mindset I carried when I finally acknowledged the risk that shifted my perspective. It came to me while I was sitting in my cubicle during a very long and somewhat depressing conference call. We were discussing some proposed environmental legislation that I knew would probably never pass, and after an hour or so I began to watch a patch of sunlight slowly move across my cubicle floor. The day wore on, and the sun patch moved from one end of my office to the other, eventually making its way up the wall as the sun began to set on the horizon. As I hung up the phone at 5pm, I felt very aware of the fact that time was passing. Another day had come and gone, and I felt like I’d missed it entirely. I suddenly felt a bubble of fear swell up in my stomach as I realized that I would one day regret all the time I spent sitting in an office. It did not feel like a question. It simply felt like a fact. And that’s the moment when I recognized my risk-free path was not risk free. The risk of regret was tangible, and I was actively on a path that set me straight for it.

When faced with risks it’s easy to forget that they really only hold meaning if we are gambling things that we value. After I realized the risk of regret, I began to consider the lifestyle I was protecting by staying where I was. I realized that living in a big house in an expensive area wasn’t that important to me. I realized that a closet full of clothes and shoes I never wore didn’t really matter that much. I realized that I’d trade a lot of what I had in order to travel and feel free and explore other ways of doing good in the world. In that moment, the fear shifted.

I mentioned that I’m not a risky person and it’s true in a lot of ways. I didn’t leave my job the next day, but I told my husband how I felt and we began to plan for the eventuality. I started researching volunteer opportunities abroad, and for several years, our primary focus was saving money, paying down debt, and changing our lifestyle. When the day finally came to for me to quit my job, with plans of Africa and travel in my future, I was VERY scared. I worried that I didn’t have a clear plan. I worried about what would happen when our savings ran low. I worried what people would think. I worried that my parents would worry. I worried that I wouldn’t succeed in whatever came next for me, and that I would one day have to return to my original path, feeling like a failure. But in all of this worry, I never once worried that I was making a mistake. The risk of regret would always be scarier, and that is what gave me the courage to finally make changes. Since that moment in my cubicle, my life has slowly changed into something unrecognizable. I’ve discovered a deep sense of purpose and I love what I do. I get to be outside all day, connecting to nature and helping others do the same. I hold memories of Africa that have infused me with a gratitude for the most basic of things. I don’t miss my giant house and closet full of clothes at all. Every risk was worth it, and I’ll never regret any of it.

Katie, 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?

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Understanding the value of good partnerships. Your audience will always be smaller if you only ever offer things on your own, and that will make it harder for you to grow your community and reach new people. If you have an idea for a program but you aren’t sure if you can sell it, think about what organizations in your area may be interested in partnering up with you. Do some research, and once you identify your ideal partner, be sure to look at their mission statement and goals before you reach out to them. Be prepared to explain how your program can directly help them meet their goals. Share how it will be mutually beneficial and why it is a good offer for the community. After you reach out, don’t be shy and be sure to follow up. If it’s in alignment, good partnerships can be a game changer.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

In short: follow through for your clients. Always follow through. I remember when I started my wellness business, I received a lot of advice about evaluating what is or isn’t worth my time. This is important to do as a new business owner, but I think it can lead us a little astray if we ever include people in that category. Every single person who expresses interest in what you are offering matters, and no amount of interest is too small. Let me offer an example. When I started offering yoga and guided forest bathing classes, it wasn’t that uncommon to have only one or two people sign up. It was disappointing and sometimes tempting to wonder whether it was worth my time to prepare a class and drive 40-minutes roundtrip to teach a class for two people. But each time, I would go and teach. Showing up for people not only felt like the right thing to do, but it gave me a chance to have great one-on-one conversations, get direct feedback that helped improve my offer, and form some really nice relationships with people who have since become long-term clients. After a lot of these smaller classes, people would help spread the world through social media, or share with their family and friends. I was also able to collect positive online reviews, which helped me secure valuable partnerships with local organizations that have since grown my audience substantially. Every opportunity to connect with someone and guide them in a class has mattered. While it may not have been “worth my time” when it came to income, it was definitely worth my time when it came to growing my clientele.

Honor the people who express interest, deliver a high-quality experience (regardless of the number of people who show up), and your community will grow!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.iyewellness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iyewellness/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iyewellness