We were lucky to catch up with Shay Koloff recently and have shared our conversation below.
Shay, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
I have learned that to be effective in business and to be successful it’s important to be an approachable business personality and having courage to believe in yourself and your brand. To be the only person of color that looks like me in the room usually means that I already standout from my peers. Most of the time being different can bring the spotlight to someone who isn’t like everyone else but I think that’s one of the biggest reasons for my success.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Hello! My name is Shay Koloff, I’m a Oklahoma native who moved to Colorado Springs in 2020 with my husband and our daughter! Our family moved here for many reasons, and my business was one of them and another being my health. I struggled for a long time with medical issues and my love for herbal remedies led me to the path of herbalism and gardening help me learn about caring for the earth.
I started my business in 2019. My biggest passion is herbalism because it saved my life, as someone with health issues I wanted to feel in control and herbalism gave me that. Now I have been studying herbalism for past 3 years and soon I will be certified as an herbalist which is when I hope to start training others to learn herbalism for themselves.
I opened my store The Broom Circle Holistic Healing & Tea Room (@thebroomcircle ) with my husband in April 2022 and have been so thankful for the support and community we have built here in Colorado Springs.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The skills and knowledge that has helped my business journey the most was customer service and having a the learned knowledge of effective marketing. Learning how to target and engage with your customers is a game changer. The online world is the biggest presence for business and being able to connect the branding and social media platforms to build a customer base is what takes the most time but builds the biggest base. My advice for those who are in your entrepreneurial journey is to stay consistent and use your competitors as guides for what to do and what not to do and ideas on how to target your audience.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of growth in the last 12 months was the expansion and development of my store front. When we opened The Broom Circle Holistic Healing and Tea Room in 2022 were in a 3 room suite with limited space and challenges with growing on local presence. To date as of March 2023, our store has expanded into a 4 room suite , 5 star Google reviews, local reach has since tripled, and we were featured in the health & wellness segment of The Gazette, making our business more successful than ever!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zenithmoonco.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/thebroomcircle
- Facebook: Facebook.com/thebroomcircle
- Other: https://linktr.ee/TheBroomCircle
Image Credits
Kelsey Ray Imagery Lens N See by Lindsay
