Interview: Bri Seeley, Growth Strategist + Entrepreneur Coach

By Angela Tai

Can you describe your coaching practice and the kinds of clients you typically work with? 

My coaching practice helps entrepreneurs succeed through all stages of their business development. My team and I support wantrepreneurs, solopreneurs and entrepreneurs in the personal and business development they need to start, grow and scale their business. The clients who invest in their businesses are ones who want to avoid the common pitfalls of entrepreneurship, evolve into the powerful leader of their business, build a team around them and bring to life a long-term, profitable business.

You transitioned from a fashion designer to a business designer. What initially got you interested in becoming a coach? 

While starting my fashion business, I worked as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. So by the time I was called to become a coach, I had already clocked seven years of experience helping people create new pathways towards their futures. The difference was, as a VRC I was helping people who had been injured on the job and hadn’t made the conscious choice to change their life. I worked with a lot of people who felt victimized by their injury and it hindered my ability to help them. In 2015 I was called in meditation to step away from my fashion business and in the void created by that closure it became clear to me that I needed to combine my seven years of counseling experience with my eight years of entrepreneur experience to step into Entrepreneurship Coaching.

What is the most challenging aspect of the work you do? 

When you’re stepping forward to create something which doesn’t yet exist, it takes a high level of trust in yourself and in the uncertainty of the path ahead. The most challenging aspect of what I do is helping people surrender into their vision, leap into the unknown and trust in their ability to create what’s in their heart…. Even though they can’t yet touch it. It’s why I wrote an entire book about taking leaps of faith!

There are several other entrepreneur/business coaches—especially in today’s digital world—you’re a very accomplished coach. What would you say sets you apart from other coaches that are in the same space as you? 

I’d say there are three major things which set me apart:

1. I had a very successful entrepreneurial career well before I became a coach. I’ve owned and operated businesses ranging from retail, to wholesale, to events, to online. Because of this, I approach business development from a perspective which 99% of business coaches do not possess.

2. I approach entrepreneurial coaching from a holistic perspective which includes both the business and the personal. The two must be coupled and any coaching that focuses on one or the other is missing a major piece of the puzzle. One’s business can never surpass oneself. Personal development is essential to ensure the client is not holding their business back.

3. While the coaching industry is fraught with “proven strategies,” I abhor this approach and every bit of guidance and teaching I provide is based on helping my clients using a tailor made approach. “Proven strategies” are problematic because they don’t take into account the client’s values, vision and zone of genius. They are 100% based on the coach when the coaching relationship isn’t about the coach - it’s about the client. My job isn’t to project my expectations or rules on the client, it’s to witness their vision and support them in identifying their unique path forward.

Define failure.

My definition of failure changed radically as a result of closing my fashion business. A huge part of me wanted to spin into fail mode after walking away from that business. How could it not? I voluntarily closed a business I had poured my heart (and a ton of money!) into for eight years.

With the help of an incredible coach plus copious hours of soul searching I stopped believing in failure. I realized that I could have kept going with that business, but it was no longer aligned with my vision for my future.

Now, I see situations that others would define as failures as experiences which are “out of alignment.” Whether it’s that I’m not accepted for something or I walk away from something, I trust that if it were meant to happen… it would happen. And since it didn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to happen. It doesn’t mean anything about my personal success or failure, it’s simply a conversation of alignment. 

Define success.

My definition of success is living as my most unapologetic and free self, while helping others do the same in their lives. 

What do you love most about being an entrepreneur? Is there anything (if at all) that you miss about working for a company? 

I love almost everything about being an entrepreneur! Running my own schedule (I’m taking off at 2pm today to go to the pool!), making big decisions, the tax write offs, traveling and moving around the world, leading a team of seven women in three countries, developing strategies, connecting with other entrepreneurs, helping other people create freedom in their lives, inspiring others to follow their heart, taking inspired actions, financial freedom…. I mean, I could keep going….

I don’t miss anything about working for a company. Several years ago I would have said, “the guaranteed paycheck.” But I’ve come to realize that even when working for someone else, your future is not guaranteed. Look over the last four months at how many people have been let go, laid off and furloughed. Now, my perspective is that I would rather have the control of being able to create my own paycheck than letting someone else control my ability to have financial stability in my life.

During these difficult times, people seem to struggle with motivating themselves when the future seems bleak. What does every entrepreneur need to know and what are your personal tips for success? 

Your future is only as bleak as you decide for it to be. If your circumstances right now aren’t ideal, stop looking at your present circumstances and start focusing on the circumstances you want instead. If you keep looking at what’s not working or what you don’t want, you end up creating more of those very same things (yes, even if you say you don’t want them).

My circumstances throughout my 14 years of entrepreneurship have been bleak more often than they’ve been ideal. I could tell stories for hours of the time I was short on rent, or when I tried to go get a job and was overqualified to be a waitress, or the time I had $0.25 in my bank account the day I was on The TODAY Show, or when I had to close a business to sever a relationship with my best friend, or clients who broke their contracts, or “colleagues” who plagiarized my words… And, while I had to do the inner healing work for all of those circumstances, I didn’t let them dictate my future.

You have the power within you to create the life you want to be living. If you want a different future, commit to transforming yourself and your circumstances by taking one step forward every single day by choosing to focus on what you’re creating moving forward, rather than what you’ve created to get where you are presently.