We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Venetia Lyons. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Venetia below.

Venetia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses

Family business is my sweet spot. The reason this is for me is because I know that family business is the backbone of society. The ability for families to come together and create products or services to sustain their family and others is important. Working with members of your family can rewarding as you work together to build a company that will be in your family for generations to come. When working with family it can help build relationships within the family that can result in better relationships and stronger bonds.

Working with your family in business can also be challenging also , because you already have a prior relationship with each other, that may not be on solid ground. When working with family members you must have the skill to be able to understand the roles play and respect each other in their position and not take things personally on the job. we have always had family businesses and my children have always worked in the family business when they were younger, this has allowed them to acquire certain skills at a young age. This has helped them as they move into their path of entrepreneurship know what are some of the things they will have to face. As a young girl, I witnessed my mother create her own business. This example encouraged me and demonstrated that as a woman you can chart your course.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I Venetia am what is called a Creative. For me, I identify as someone who can bring ideas into the physical world that help others. I do this by being a Writer, Author, Mentor, and Business consultant.

I have been a business creator and owner for over 45 years, after I married me and my husband invested in Ice cream trucks, at the time I believed exciting, because of personal ownership. but the business was very challenging long hours and physical requirements, after 5yrs we sold the business and ventured into real estate, buying residential homes and four-unit apartment buildings. Now, in my latter years, I use my experience in the business world to help other inspiring entrepreneurs to chart their course in business development. I provide business plans and one-on-one consulting. I have now returned to my first love and that is writing, so I can supply workbooks and books to assist with everyday management to companies. The working documents help to save time and money as you build your business.

I believe what sets me apart from others who are also in this industry is my ability to put myself in my client’s shoes when it comes to building their business from scratch. I am most proud of my ability at my age of 64yrs to continue to reinvent myself as things continually change in the area of creativity, I am very proud of the way I courageously stepped up and taught myself how to use Canva in my business as a powerful tool, saving myself and my clients tons of money in branding and getting our message out.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being creative is the freedom to be creative, I am not limited to what others have designed, but I am creative out of my imagination. I have the ability to cross-create, I write a story or a poem and I can transfer the concept to a tee shirt, banner, mug of whatever else I choose.

This is a freedom that I would not be able to experience without this gift,

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2015-2020 i was in a partnership with a group of individuals we launched an organic coffee business that was also an MLM company, after working years of development and building this company the partnership came to a halt and the company was dissolved, leaving me without much of options. After months of trying to reinvent myself, I have created the b business that I now own.

Contact Info:

• Website: vssftj.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strengthforthejourney2/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/venetia.lyons.90/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vsuesftj/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPpklUnPGWvX3JNZ2ELWpjg