Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pia Silva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Pia, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
Over the years, my journey towards building confidence and self-esteem was not swift but gradual, paved with endeavors that challenged me deeply and sometimes ended in failure. But I think it’s the experience of failing and getting back up and being willing to try again that really builds the grit that leads to true confidence.
For example, my sophomore year of high school I decided to run for student council. My opponent was an older boy seemingly already destined for the position. Despite the slim odds, I felt a compelling urge to try, to stand before my peers (and the older grades, as intimidating as they were) and articulate my vision, even if it meant facing public defeat. That experience, frightening as it was, emboldened me to keep trying to do the hard thing, just because I could.
Post-college, my path was unclear for awhile. When the suggestion arose that I might excel in real estate sales– with promises of unlimited earning potential and no boss– I thought “why not?” and went for it. After a few years of fumbling around with only mild success (it was 2008!) I moved on, but with more valuable experience under my belt than I even realized. My openness to exploration led me to assist in opening a café, selling art on the street in NY, moving to a farm in the Caribbean, and buying a one-way ticket to Argentina. These ventures were not isolated incidents but part of a broader narrative where I consistently leaped into projects and adventures driven by a willingness to learn on the fly and accept potential failure.
This collection of experiences, of trials and errors, eventually culminated in the decision to start a business in the design industry alongside my partner—a field where my expertise was nonexistent. The countless times I had embraced uncertainty and tackled challenges head-on had fortified me. They had developed within me the resilience and perseverance essential for entrepreneurship. This journey taught me the value of embracing the unknown, of learning through doing, and most importantly, of being comfortable with the possibility of failure. It is this very essence, the acceptance of risks and setbacks, that is the lifeblood of an entrepreneur.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
At No BS Agencies we teach 1-2 person branding agencies how to scale up their profit, freedom and ease without employees. We do this using our No BS Agency model, which eliminates free proposals and replaces them with something we call a “Lead Product,” and then delivering entire creative branding and website projects in days instead of months. It’s about cutting away all the BS that is normally found in creative agencies and their processes, and focusing only on what really matters: getting the best outcome for the client. What’s exciting about this model is it allows individuals an very small businesses to make a great living without overworking, and have the freedom they seek, without having to hire a team of employees and manage a high overhead. While building a business with a team is a great and scalable business model, it’s not for everyone and we find a lot of creative just want to focus on doing the work they love, while having autonomy over their business. This is the only business model we’ve encountered that can deliver that for 1-2 person agencies.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My willingness to make decisions and take action quickly had allowed me to fail fast and pivot quickly, which has been critical to my business’ success. There is so much to learn when you are building a business, and if you are slow to implement it’s going to take a long time to find your stride. If you are unwilling to make decisions for fear of making the wrong decision, you will also be slow to implement and I think that’s why so many businesses fail.
The other skill that has helped me is my emotional intelligence. I have invested just as much time and money in building my own mindset and awareness about myself, and how to communicate with others, as I have in building my business skills, and that has allowed me to get better and better at making rational decisions instead of emotional ones, and communicate with clients and colleagues in a way that gets the best outcome. I watch business owners get in their own way when they are unaware of how much they let their emotions dictate how they interact with others, and it can be the difference between having amazing clients who love working with you and pay you upfront, and chasing clients around trying to finish projects.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks made me see how often we dim our own lights, or just play small, out of habit and can even sabotage ourselves from being too successful. He calls it upper limiting and being able to notice myself upper-limiting has allowed me to break through those habits in profound ways. For example, I have noticed that when I achieve something really great, my brain can sometimes looks for ways to create problems in other areas of my life because I’m not used to everything just being good. My habit is to equalize the good with something negative, but by noticing that I’ve gotten better at accepting the wins and not sabotaging (as much.)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey was probably the first book of it’s kind that I read back right after college, and it really changed the way I felt about any given situation and how much of my life was both in my control and my choice. I think that mindset shift allowed me to be more accepting on situations that I didn’t like, and more empowered to change them.
Contact Info:
- Website: nobsagencies.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pialovesyourbiz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pia.wasterval
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piapiasilva/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pialovesyourbiz
Image Credits
shots taken at our last in person retreat by https://www.instagram.com/mordecai_nuccio/
