E39: Niching, Launching and the Gloriousness of Not Fitting In With Dr. Tonya Olson

She's Got This

Almost 2 years ago now, the pandemic was still dragging on and I was feeling lost in many ways. I was feeling like an era of my business was coming to a close, I had been living in Florida for a couple of years but still still didn’t feel like I had really gotten to connect with anyone friends-wise.

Covid, working from home, and being still sorta new after moving nearly 1000 miles away will do that.

I remember deciding to get serious about manifesting a local support network. One day not long after, someone who’s podcast I’d guested on years ago connected me with someone she had known in NYC – who’d also moved to St. Petersburg recently.

In turn, that person introduced me to a talented physical therapist, Tonya Olson! Not only did we discover we were both single entrepreneurs with a love of sparking Rose, it turned out that the apartment building I was moving to was right across the street from the one she had just moved into.

We got together and the rest is history – I had my first real friend in St. Pete. 🙂

Tonya is not only a super interesting person, she’s funny, really smart and inspiring. I knew it would be a blast to interview her.

In This Episode With Tonya You’ll Discover:

* How she combined her training as a physical therapist and her lifelong training and passion as a horse person to create another branch of her business supporting equestrians

* Overcoming the fear of niching “too small” – and why “your niche is your weird”

* How I myself discovered my niche as a business coach (when my market was originally “anyone with a credit card” :-))

* How important it is to keep paying attention to what keeps bubbling up to the surface and won’t leave you alone

* How she talked herself out of starting her own business for years – and what finally changed

* The importance of being very selective about the people you have in your life

* The magic of getting outside of your own industry and discipline in order to find answers and inspiration

* How “weaknesses” as an employee can be your greatest strengths as an entrepreneur, and the lessons she learned having an “owner mindset” as a staff PT

* Her experience with depressive episodes from trying to fit into a world where she didn’t belong (and how it can actually be glorious to not fit in!)

* Honoring the connections you make and not overthinking them – even if they look different than you thought they would

* Why she feels “I don’t dream big enough for how my life has turned out” – and how it’s turned out pretty amazing anyway

* Her experience of recently launching her first online course and what it taught her

* Why perfectionism is overrated and why people are actually craving content and experiences that are less slick and produced

* How “lost opportunities” ended up opening the door to what she really should have been doing all along