Successful Business Woman April Chapman

 April Chapman: Successful Business Woman

 

Sylvia: Hi April.  I am so excited to interview you today. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to interview with me.  Please tell us about yourself and your business?

April: Hi Sylvia! Thank you for interviewing me. I am excited and honored. My name is April Chapman, The Business Health Coach™ where I show Female Entrepreneurs exactly what they need to do to regain, restore and transform their health. Through my various programs, I help female entrepreneurs release stubborn weight, gain energy and live incredibly victorious lives. Specializing in the area of weight loss and the reversal of chronic and degenerative disease, I provide viable and sustainable solutions to my clients’ most challenging issues moving them from sick to sensational with safe and effective detox and whole food cleansing regimens. As owner of Basic Healthy Living, LLC a private holistic health practice based in Atlanta, GA I also operate The Business Health Coach™ brand, a subsidiary of Basic Healthy Living, LLC. I provide tools and resources to help women entrepreneurs take control of their health, showing them exactly what they need to do to completely live a life of optimum health and wellness without the use of toxic drugs or other protocols that are harmful to the body.  As a published author of a cookbook entitled, “Eating for Life,” I also show women how to make better choices regarding food, never having to go on a diet again so that they become better wives, better mothers and most of all thriving and successful business women, as I believe healthy women create healthy businesses.

 

Sylvia: Wow, this is such a much needed service and a great benefit to women.  What does success mean to you?

April: For me success is when you wake up every day doing what you love and knowing that you are making a valuable contribution to the world. Success is also when you have a clear and concrete goal and having the unshakable faith and belief in yourself to no matter what, doing what it takes to reach your goal despite any obstacles you may encounter. When you can push past the fear factor-you are successful.

 

Sylvia:  I admire your interpretation of success. Success is such a powerful word and varies between people. How do you create work-life balance?

April: As a female entrepreneur, wife and mom of 4 children 4 and under (including 10 1/2 month old twins) I know a thing or two about work-life balance. I have learned that you cannot do it all without having a good support team in place. You also need to learn how to properly delegate and release those things and tasks that are not the best use of your time and pass them on to someone else. Creating boundaries and cutting the “fat” out of my life has also helped me create a better work-life balance. This means releasing people, things and activities that rob my time and do not contribute to my overall productivity.

 

Sylvia:  With the influx of health coaches out there, what makes you so different? How are you able to help female entrepreneurs do something that perhaps another health coaches cannot?

April: Honestly it has everything to do with the fact that I tell the truth through my own personal experience.  It’s one thing to go to school, become trained and certified in holistic health and then tell someone eat this eat that, but it’s another thing to have lived a health nightmare and personally overcome it. I didn’t just wake up one day and say, “I think I should be a health coach.” I have a personal journey and have dealt with excess weight, chronic fatigue, unstable blood sugar, depression, anxiety, digestive issues and a list of other health challenges that I have personally managed to overcome without the use of toxic drugs, surgery or other harmful modalities. Because of this first hand experience and knowledge I am able to help others in areas that they’ve been told that only drugs or surgery can help them manage. I believe in the human body’s amazing ability to heal itself when given what it needs to thrive. When we simply get out of the way, miraculous things happen. Why manage something when you can get rid of it? There is a better way.

 

Sylvia: What do you believe is the future of health care in America:

April: As time passes and as we make historical advances in medicine, people particularly in America are getting sicker and sicker and chronic degenerative disease is increasing not decreasing. Why is this happening? I believe this is happening because no one wants to discuss the elephant in the room. No one wants to discuss that sick people are profitable and healthy people…well…not so much. As more and more people become educated and aware as to the nature of sickness and dis-ease and how “modern medicine” really works in this county, I believe things will change. The bottom line: Drugs are not the answer. Abraham Lincoln once said: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”It will take true agents of change, individuals such as myself who are willing to not just ask the tough questions, but are willing to seek the real answers. Then, and only then will real change take place concerning the future of health in America.

 

Sylvia:  What steps are necessary for a woman entrepreneur who wants to move her business to the next level?

April: I believe that at some point woman entrepreneurs will need help in order to get to the next level. You can only take yourself and your business but so far. Getting a coach, or having a mentor who has already been where you want to be is key. You don’t know what you don’t know. Coaches and mentors are able to view blind spots in your business that you may or may not know exists.  Coaches hold you accountable and provide a road map to take you from where you are to where you can visualize yourself being. At each level in business, from the start-up phase to the 7-figure level, there is a coach out there that can meet you at your point of need. The key is finding a good match and making sure that the coach you choose truly resonates with your ideals.

 

Sylvia: Yes, I agree! Many women try to ‘do it’ alone.  There are many resources available to help.  It is important to give back.  In what way do you give back to your community?

April: My high school motto: “What we keep we lose and only what we give remains our own” has stuck with me throughout my entire adult life. In order to demonstrate this, I am constantly sharing and providing value to my community by making sure I am available as a trusted resource as it relates to all things health and wellness. I make sure that I educate those in my community on the importance of clean eating even particularly those on restricted/fixed budgets. Because I am a mother, I am passionate about organic food and teaching parents on how to make better food choices so that their children can avoid the many health pitfalls of our current generation.

 

Sylvia: What challenges and opportunities do you see in the present economic environment?

April: Despite the downturn in the current economy, I believe that it is the perfect time to explore entrepreneurship opportunities. There are always going to be ebbs and flows in the economy. These cannot be controlled. When corporations downsize and outsource jobs overseas and decide that you are no longer valuable enough to keep around that just means it is time for you to make a paradigm shift. Let’s be honest, outsourced jobs are never coming back. Because this is the reality, you must reposition, redefine and repackage yourself and figure out how you can take your talents, gifts and abilities and become more valuable to the marketplace. This economy has forced many of us out of our comfort zone, which in my opinion is a great thing. When things are comfortable, there is no growth so I believe there is much to be learned in this present economic environment and many can and should use it to their advantage. If one is strategic enough to fashion the kind of life they know they deserve as opposed to allowing life to simply happen around them, then there are no challenges-only opportunities.

 

Sylvia: Great prospective!  How do you promote / market your business?

April: I believe in creating relationships not transactions. As entrepreneurs we all know that when people know, like and trust you they are more willing to do business with you. I am able to build trust and credibility using social media particularly Twitter followed by Facebook. I acquired my very first client using Facebook and I rely heavily on referrals. In the upcoming year, I plan to create and build more community and develop relationships on LinkedIn and Pinterest as well as doing more offline networking, seminars and live workshops.

 

Sylvia: What books and resources would you recommend to other women in business?

April: Often times I find that women in business deal with a lot of self-doubt and a high fear factor. What helped me in this area are two books that I strongly recommend. The first is “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and the second is “The Power of Infinite Riches” by Joseph Murphy. Both of these classics helped me move past self limiting beliefs and “stinkin’ thinkin” that cripples and paralyzes so many of us. Once you move past the obstacles that you create in your mind, you are truly unstoppable. The best resource I would recommend is listening to motivational speakers. I know it sounds corny, but listening to Les Brown’s “It’s Possible” always gets me going. I actually recommend listening to anything by Les Brown as he truly inspires and forces you to believe in yourself and your innate ability to do more, be more.

 

Sylvia: What advice do you have for women who are just starting out?

April: For women who are just starting out, I would strongly suggest that they read, read and read some more.

Ronald Ellis once said, “The best way to hide knowledge is to write it in a book, then put the book in a library, and then open the library up to the public.”

You don’t need money to read a book and I do not I believe you need a lot of money to start a business. Reading is such a lost art in today’s society and there is so much knowledge out there on how to do practically anything that you want, but you have to take the first step and acquire the knowledge through books first. Reading can be in audio or print. Now a days, after we graduate from school, the acquisition of knowledge tends to cease. It doesn’t matter the format, as long as your reading in order to expand your current knowledge base. If you see with me headphones on, I’m not listening to music. I’m reading (listening) to a book. Lastly for those just starting out I would definitely recommend they become fully acquainted with technology including social media. Technology allows you to increase your productivity and gives you direct access to information and resources that used to be otherwise out of reach to the everyday person. The power to own, grow and leverage a business in today’s society is so much easier due to the use of technology. Don’t fight this. Technology is your friend and without it you will become like a dinosaur-non-existent.

 

Sylvia: How do you stay connected in mind body and spirit?

April: Healthy women create healthy businesses. This includes mental health, physical health and spiritual health. Developing personal discipline regarding what I eat, what I expose my mind to and what I nourish my soul with help keep me connected. I am diligent, not perfect, but diligent at putting things in my body that I know will nourish me and provide my body with what it needs to thrive and I keep out as much as possible what doesn’t belong. I am on a constant pursuit of knowledge, making sure that I exercise and challenge my brain in order to experience the magnitude that the human mind is capable of conceiving. And spiritually, I stay connected to my creator through prayer and meditation recognizing that a power greater than myself placed me on this earth to impact and change the world in a mighty way. And…I laugh…a lot!

 

Sylvia: What is your favorite quote to live by?

April: “If you will change everything will change for you. Don’t wait for things to change. Change doesn’t start out there, change starts within…All change starts with you.” –Jim Rohn

 

Sylvia:  Share with us two industry or general business related tips that could help other women business owners.

April: My goal is to help female entrepreneurs understand that healthy women create healthy businesses. Focus on getting your health in order needs to be a top priority especially for female business owners. Yes, you can be successful with marginal health, but having a drive to succeed and make it to the top in business is not enough to keep you there. Without good health, you really don’t have much and until I got my health in order, it was difficult for me to achieve my goals in life, particularly as it relates to business. If you are always tired, dealing with excess weight, popping pills for every conceivable health ailment imaginable, this will eventually impact your business. The second tip I would share for women entrepreneurs is to ask for help if you need it. Reaching out and asking for help when needed doesn’t make you appear weak, it actually demonstrates that you are humble enough to know that you cannot do everything on your own. Running a business takes work and can be stressful if you allow it to be, but asking for help takes the pressure off of you to be perfect and puts you in position to receive more than you ever imagined.

 

Sylvia:  Great tips April. Thank you for sharing your time and expertise with our members and subscribers.  Please share your contact information.

April: Thank you Sylvia. To contact me:

• Website:  www.bizhealthcoach.com
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bizhealthcoach
• Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/bizhealthcoach
• LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/