How can upbringing help shape your entrepreneurial passion, Founders Story with Bridget Aileen Sickso

Bridget Aileen Sicsko is the founder of Exalted Publishing House, a Kundalini Yoga Teacher, a Podcast Host, and a Visibility Coach. She helps successful entrepreneurs stand out and be featured as leaders in their industry by sharing powerful stories, writing best-selling books, and gaining global recognition. Bridget believes in the power of words, stories, and voices to shift our view of reality, our potential, and our purpose on the planet. Bridget has been featured in Authority Magazine, Women’s Business Daily, The Wellness Voice, Thrive Global, The Medium, on Ticker News, and News 12 New York. http://www.bridgetaileen.com

Tell us about your childhood and where you grew up?

I had a truly blessed and beautiful childhood growing up as the oldest of three children in New Jersey. My father was a financial planner with his own company and my mother was a former accountant turned stay-at-home mom and certified holistic health coach. We had a beautiful home and spent most days playing outside with the neighbors and spending our weekends going to soccer tournaments. Very early on, my parents instilled an important message within me that “you can do anything you want in this world”. My parents were practical dreamers, people who told you to shoot for the stars and then do the necessary practical, tangible action steps to make things happen. In addition, my parents were both highly successful in their professions, but also had many of their own passions. My dad was a child actor, sang for presidents, was mayor of our town, started a non-profit after my mom was injured in a bike accident, and loved singing. My mom was an avid athlete, cyclist, runner and loved learning everything and anything about health, nutrition, and healing. Because of this, my parents encouraged me and my siblings to find things we loved and enjoyed. For me that looked like playing every sport under the sun from soccer at a high level to tennis, track, cross country, and even golf. My upbringing helped shape my entrepreneurial passion from a young age.

How did you get started as an entrepreneur?

My entrepreneurial start really began in my childhood, probably unknowingly. As you might realize, entrepreneurship and creative thinking run in my blood, so listening to others tell me what to do or how to spend my time (in a 9-5) didn’t work well for me. A key indicator of my entrepreneurial journey came around age 15 when I was dealing with a slew of health challenges from lyme disease. I was going to doctor after doctor with no answers, just frustration. I felt like I wasn’t being seen or truly being heard by these well-meaning health professionals who kept prescribing me new medications that seemed to only mask the symptoms, not treat the root cause. Because of my frustration, I spent hours of my day online researching “how to heal”. I was led down a rabbit hole of holistic healing, Ayurveda, homeopathic medicine, yoga, and any modality that encouraged treating the root cause. My healing journey took years and after graduating college and getting a Sales job in New York City, I decided to quit to become a yoga instructor and study Ayurveda. I felt this deep passion to help others who might too be feeling frustrated with their health issues. This ultimately led me to become a certified holistic health coach where I was working with women who were feeling stuck in their lives. As I began to host women’s circles, facilitate workshops, speak at events, my work organically morphed into working with female leaders, entrepreneurs and visionaries. Just like my dad had instilled this “you can do anything mentality” within me, I too saw the endless possibilities within these leaders. Storytelling became a huge part of my work with these leaders, not only because of the healing nature but also because of the impact storytelling can make on sales. As time went on, I began to help leaders craft their stories for podcasts, feel confident to speak on stages and feel prepared to write their stories in a book. Today, my mission is to give leaders a voice and a platform to share their stories.

What is one business lesson you would tell a startup founder?

My motto is DREAM BIG, START SMALL inspired by many people, including my parents as well as the author of the Slight Edge, Jeff Olson. As a founder, you have to be a visionary. You have to be able to see what others don’t see. But sometimes those lofty visionary goals can feel like they are miles away from where you are in the moment. The key is to dream big, but start small. Work backward and identify the small steps you can take right now. Over time if and when you keep up, these “small steps” will turn into massive leaps. One day, you will look back at where you came from and say, “Oh my gosh, I did it.”