Bekah Whitney

The best career advice I've received is to count your wins as they come along. It's so easy to compare yourself to others and see where other people have been, and maybe you don't know what they have done before. So I've learned not to compare myself to others, and also to celebrate my little wins each and every day. I used to get very overwhelmed when I would complete some things on my to-do list but not all of them. Now I really sit down and just be okay with where I am that day, celebrating what I did accomplish, because otherwise it's just so overwhelming.

I would definitely say find other people to rally around you, like finding people to work with and talking to other entrepreneurs who are also having the same struggles. It's so easy to feel like you're the only one, and you're behind, and things aren't happening to other people and it's just you. But a lot of people out there are having a similar struggle, even though it's not like the person you meet today or tomorrow. There are a lot of struggles in running your own business, and I think having some sort of community that understands those struggles is really helpful.

The biggest challenge is being my own boss and holding myself accountable. Especially when you wake up feeling a little sick or you're just not super motivated, it's so easy to say I think I just need to take a day off and rest. Sometimes that's great when it is an option, but sometimes you just need to push through, so really figuring out when to take a step back and take a break and when to push through is definitely a big challenge. Also, just working by myself has been pretty isolating, especially with moving to somewhere new where I didn't already have a friend community. As far as opportunities, I've gotten to meet a lot of other people who created businesses they're so passionate about, and I'm so excited to work with them. I also work with people where I get really excited about their products and their message too. Sometimes it's hard to find the people who are really, really excited about their product, because sometimes they're just in one of those holes where they're like nothing's working, but one of my favorite parts is the clients that I get to work with.

The reason I created my business was because I wanted to help other companies, like outdoor companies, just get more people outside, because the more people you get outside on the trails, the more they care about nature and protecting it. I really wanted to work with brands that were eco-conscious and doing the hard work. But when I took a step back, I realized that just getting people to care is half the battle. The way you get people to care is you just get them outside and enjoying nature. So I was able to switch my focus just to getting people out there and educating them about Leave No Trace, and conservation, and just treating nature well.