We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Valari Westeren a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Valari, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 started my business while still in school (a college alternative I completed after traditional college), so after I graduated from my third major schooling experience, I couldn’t help evaluating the life choices I’d made and wondering how things would’ve turned out if I’d made different choices, especially entering the workforce and having a “regular job.”

Well–first of all, I would’ve had to wait a while to land a “regular job,” since I graduated university in 2020 while the whole world was shut down. But even so, maybe by 2021 or 2022 I could’ve found myself a regular full-time job if I’d been looking. It’s nice to fantasize sometimes about having paid vacation time and sick time, health insurance provided by an employer, and a crystal-clear start and end to my workday.

But every path in life has its advantages and disadvantages. For me, what the life of the business owner lacks in security, it makes up for in flexibility. I don’t get paid vacations or sick time–but I also don’t have to get my vacation/sick time approved by anyone except myself. I have to pay for my own health insurance–but I have the freedom to choose whatever healthcare program I prefer. I’m responsible for creating my own work schedule–but I can rearrange it at a moment’s notice in case of emergency. Ultimately I am satisfied with being a business owner instead of a regular employee.

Valari, 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?

As a copy editor and proofreader, I provide the last or second-to-last pair of eyes on a manuscript to make sure the formatting is up to standard, the sentence flow makes sense, and the grammar is correct. Mainly I edit nonfiction book manuscripts, especially faith-based writing, religious studies, and academic works.

But my dream job from childhood has been to become a novelist, so I’m working toward that as well! I recently graduated the Author Conservatory, which is a three-year college alternative that teaches writing, business, and marketing skills to its students. As my capstone project, I published the science fiction short story “Symbiosis” in the conservatory’s anthology Voices of the Future: Stories of Family and Fearlessness. Today I am using that short story to get in front of readers while I develop a full-length sci-fi novel to pitch to agents and editors.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

It was the ever-dreaded cold-calling! Yes, this really can work as an effective marketing strategy! But only if you’re sending your calls to the right people, and only if you make it about THEM, not you.

I’ve been on the other end of a really bad cold call before, and there are two main reasons why it didn’t work. First off, the caller offered voiceover production. I’m an editor, and at the time I had not yet published a book myself. So why would I need to hire a voiceover artist? I’m guessing this person found my contact information off a social media site and decided to send me a message without checking into what I actually do. So right away I was annoyed because I wasn’t his ideal client.

Secondly, the message itself was generic and focused on the caller, not me. Phrases like “I wanted to know if you have questions about my work” don’t garner any interest. When I send out cold calls, I make sure to explain how I can serve this potential client, not the other way around. When I do talk about myself, I explain how my skills could benefit the client and why they can trust me to solve a problem they may have. And I ALWAYS personalize the message. A quick Google search for the publisher’s website will show me what their mission statement is and what kinds of writing they produce, which I can then incorporate into the message.

And if they respond and turn me down, then I thank them, say they can keep my contact info if anything changes, and end the conversation. That’s it. Nobody likes to be harassed, and there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

My favorite book on business that I’ve read so far is “Business Boutique” by Christy Wright. It’s written especially for female entrepreneurs, but it covers the fundamentals of starting and running a business that can apply to anyone, male or female. But beyond the fundamentals, what stuck with me most was what she pointed out about the majority of female business owners.

At the time of the book’s publication (and this may still be true today), people were saying businesses owned by women just aren’t as successful as businesses owned by men. But, Wright points out, the ones who say this are basing “success” on money alone. Most multi-million-dollar businesses are run by men, so if money is the only factor that determines success, then sure, women are behind. But who says business should just be about the money?

According to Wright’s observation, most women entrepreneurs who leave their traditional jobs to start businesses do it because they want more TIME, not more money. They’ll willingly take a (small) pay cut if that means they have more time to spend with their families and communities without having their schedules driven by corporate America. This principle of valuing time over money resonates so much with me.

So as I continue to grow my business, I recognize that my personal goal isn’t to one day run a multi-million-dollar corporation. Instead, I want to foster a business model that affords me a comfortable lifestyle without taking over my life. As an entrepreneur, I have the freedom to determine what my working hours will be, so I want to be the person my friends and family can count on for emergencies that occur during the 9-5 window. In my entrepreneurial philosophy, people will always come first.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://valariwesteren.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valari-westeren-580587152/
• Other: Fiction email list sign-up link: https://valari-westeren.kit.com/5826a8a5a9?fbclid=IwAR03rMSDcHs37nNFFiLvaMVivVGQAWi4mH4zPgbWK-36HaBAKTo1lzAp6mA

Image Credits

Photography by Debbie Gilman