Julia Wojnar coaches successful business owners to craft & deliver speeches with confidence and authority
BASED IN: NEW YORK
What do you do?
At Unleash Your Presence, I help established business owners craft and deliver speeches with confidence and authority. From my combined experience in communications and theater, I fuse the skills that I've developed from both of these worlds to help my clients structure and deliver powerful messages. Whether online or offline, speaking well is a critical skill that applies in any field and can make or break the effectiveness of reaching your ideal audience.
What is the best part about being an entrepreneur?
The best part about being an entrepreneur is the freedom. I started on my own entrepreneurial journey, largely because one of my core values is freedom and I craved a way to allow my work to fit into my life flexibly. The hardest part is the uncertainty that comes along with the journey. Being an entrepreneur forces you to step outside of your comfort zone every day. That can be terrifying at times but the more that we practice getting comfortable with uncertainty, the more we can harness our full potential.
Did you always know you want to be an entrepreneur?
No, I did not always know I wanted to be an entrepreneur and didn't actually embrace it until just a few years ago. I did not come from a family of entrepreneurs so it was not the path that my family might have wished for me. In fact, in the beginning, I did experience some pushback from close family members. But that drove me to keep going, to prove that I could do it. Now, I can see that my family's initial reaction was not personal. It was their fear talking, because they viewed entrepreneurship as a riskier, more unsafe path. However, I turned that idea on its head and felt now was a better time than ever to start a business because I didn't really have anything to lose.
How do you keep yourself motivated when you can't keep going?
When I believe that I can't keep going anymore, I turn to my most trusted friends. Those who are fellow entrepreneurs, who have been where I've been and pushed through it, offer me the best support and guidance to get me back on track. But ultimately, I believe that you have to have a fire inside of you that pushes you through the hard times. A fellow friend and entrepreneur highlighted this for me just the other day, after I was having a particularly rough time. He expressed his belief in me because he saw the fire that burned within me, and reminded me that if it weren't for this fire, I would have already given up to pursue a more comfortable path.
Do you think you want to start other businesses in the future or do you want to keep growing this one as long as possible? What is the dream?
To become financially free is part of my definition of true freedom that I am still striving for. I see myself building Unleash Your Presence for many years because it was born out of a passion and the satisfaction I feel from helping my clients is immense. So to achieve my long-term goal of becoming financially free, I see myself investing in other vehicles with the profits produced from my primary business.
What advice could you give our readers?
I would advise your readers and other entrepreneurs reading this interview to stay humble and stay hungry. No person is an island and the journey of entrepreneurship certainly has its challenges but if we continue to push the boundaries of what we think we're capable of, with the support of a strong community around us, then we can accomplish success beyond even our wildest dreams. My own journey in entrepreneurship has taught me immense lessons about myself and led to not only professional, but also personal growth.