"It takes grit, determination, willingness to fail, and support to be successful."
Martha Lewis, founder of the Complete Sleep Solution, is a sleep consultant to people who have tried everything and still can’t sleep. As a certified sleep expert and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner, she addresses both body and mind with stress resilience techniques and testing for hidden health issues to get to the root cause of her clients’ insomnia. She goes beyond the basic sleep advice you read about everywhere else and addresses what’s happening in the body that causes insomnia.
She has been featured in numerous publications, such as Thrive Global and the Jackson Hole News & Guide, and various podcasts around the world and is also a passionate speaker on the topic of sleep.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us today. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They want to know you, some of the background story to bring some context to your interview.
Martha Lewis: My name is Martha Lewis, and I’m a sleep consultant and functional health coach. I started my journey as an entrepreneur as a pediatric sleep consultant after my son didn’t sleep well as a baby. Once my son was sleeping, I realized that I couldn’t sleep and so I began figuring out my sleep issues. After 2 years of having a hard time falling asleep and waking up in the night for hours, I finally did lab testing that showed what was causing my insomnia. I had a parasite, hormone imbalance, and copper toxicity that were keeping me awake.
Since then I’ve become certified to run functional lab tests so I can find the root cause of my clients’ sleep issues.
You are a successful entrepreneur, so we’d like your viewpoint, do you believe entrepreneurs are born or made? Explain.
Martha Lewis: I believe that entrepreneurs are made. Everyone has the potential to become an entrepreneur and be successful if they want to. It takes grit, determination, willingness to fail and support to be successful.
If you were asked to describe yourself as an entrepreneur in a few words, what would you say?
Martha Lewis: I’m committed, willing to fail and learn, and passionate about my mission.
Tell us about what your company does and how did it change over the years?
Martha Lewis: I help people sleep better by finding the root cause of their sleep issues. I started as a pediatric sleep consultant charging $350 for a package and making $10,000 a year. Once I started helping adults, I now charge $4000 a package and make over $100,000 a year.
Thank you for all that. Now for the main focus of this interview. With close to 11.000 new businesses registered daily in the US, what must an entrepreneur assume when starting a business?
Martha Lewis: An entrepreneur must assume that you have to invest in yourself and your business to succeed. I thought as an online business that I didn’t have to invest and that I could have very few expenses. So I resisted hiring a business coach and spending money on advertising and wanted to spend as little as possible. This created extremely slow growth and I didn’t make the money I wanted to make for a few years.
Did you make any wrong assumptions before starting a business that you ended up paying dearly for?
Martha Lewis: I assumed that I should boostrap it and spend as little money as possible. I also assumed that I could figure it out on my own and so I resisted paying for help. I spent money on training and so I didn’t want to spend extra money on a coach. I wasn’t thinking like a CEO; I was thinking of hiring a coach as spending money instead of investing money to make more money.
This kept me from becoming successful and making money quickly. I think the most damaging effect was that I ended up doubting myself and questioning if I was cut out to be an entrepreneur. It eroded my self-confidence over the first few years that has been hard to overcome.
If you could go back in time to when you first started your business, what advice would you give yourself and why? Explain.
Martha Lewis: I would tell myself to hire a business coach immediately. Doing this would help me be successful more quickly which would have given me confidence from the beginning.
What is the worst advice you received regarding running a business and what lesson would you like others to learn from your experience?
Martha Lewis: The worst advice I received was to build a website first and assume that clients will come. I spent countless hours making my website that no one was seeing. Now I’ve learned to go out and network and get clients first and that you don’t need a website to make money.
In your opinion, how has COVID-19 changed what entrepreneurs should assume before starting a business? What hasn’t changed?
Martha Lewis: In my opinion, Covid-19 has made it easier to start an online business. Zoom and remote meetings are the norms so you can easily start a business from your own home. What hasn’t changed is that the way you find clients is the same-you meet people (online or in-person), you give them valuable information and you tell them how you can help them.
What is a common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in? What advice would you give them?
Martha Lewis: A common myth is that you have to work all the time and hustle to start a business a be successful. I made over six figures last year working 25-30 hours a week. I’m more productive during my work time because I’m rested and calm instead of burned out and stressed.
What traits, qualities, and assumptions do you believe are most important to have before starting a business?
Martha Lewis: It’s important to be committed and to have grit. It’s good to assume that it won’t be easy mentally but that everyone, including you, is capable of being successful. You want to invest in your business and yourself from the start. You also want to know that failure is normal and it’s how we learn. It’s better to take action and fail than to not do anything at all.
How can aspiring leaders prepare themselves for the future challenges of entrepreneurship? Are there any books, websites, or even movies to learn from?
Martha Lewis: I read many personal development books which I find helpful. My favorites are The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs by Hal Elrod and You Are A Badass by Jin Sencero. I also like reading memoirs or biographies of successful women entrepreneurs. Some of my favorites are Shark Tales by Barbara Corcoran and Believe It by Jamie Kern Lima.
You have shared quite a bit of your wisdom and our readers thank you for your generosity but would also love to know: If you could choose any job other than being an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Martha Lewis: I would choose to be a health coach and work for someone else.
Thank you so much for your time, I believe I speak for all of our readers when I say that this has been incredibly insightful. We do have one more question: If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, but not a politician, who would it be; why?
Martha Lewis: I would add Oprah because she has made such a big impact on the world and become extremely famous and wealthy by being kind and in service to others.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Martha Lewis for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Martha Lewis or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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