We recently connected with Rebecca Gade Sawicki and have shared our conversation below.
Rebecca, 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?
I grew up as a pretty shy kid — I had bad acne and hand-me-downs (I was even teased for it relentlessly), so I was always looking for opportunities to hide in the background. I think as I got older, I realized this fear was causing me to miss out on life, and slowly but surely I started to step out of my comfort zone. When I first started my career, I had so much anxiety about messing things up but getting a few wins under my belt and finding people to mentor and support my development was a huge help. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, all of those little wins helped build my self-esteem and confidence — I started to find my voice and was less worried about speaking up in a meeting or asking a question that might be silly. Bu to be fair, I feel like this is a constant work in progress and somedays I feel like I can take on the world and on others I want to hide.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m the creator of the vegan travel company (which includes a blog, travel planning services, and tours), Veggies Abroad. After leaving my 15-year career behind in 2021, I developed and grew the popular blog into a one-stop vegan travel planning hub. The blog showcases mouthwatering lineups of vegan food, action-packed travel guides, and everything else a vegan or veg-curious traveler needs to plan a trip! For travelers who don’t want to plan their own adventure, I can help craft vegan-friendly and sustainable itineraries or recommend checking out one of our Veggies Abroad tours!
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?
For me, some of the most important skills have been learning SEO, networking, and being persistent. Originally I started the company with just the blog, and I had no background in building a website! I was of the thinking that if I built it, they would come — that is far from the truth. Learning the fundamentals of SEO was key to the blog’s, and later the company’s growth.
Like with so many things, many of the opportunities that I have had wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t invest in events and networking opportunities. Sometimes making the investment was hard financially, and sometimes it didn’t pay off exactly as I hoped, but I always got something out of it. Networking is so important when building any type of business; you have to put yourself out there.
I feel like persistence is probably pretty self-explanatory, but when you’ve been told no 12 times, and everything seems like it’s falling apart, you’ve got to keep reminding yourself to keep going. Just keep knocking on those doors; sometimes when people tell you no right now, it doesn’t mean no forever.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Currently, my biggest challenge is getting myself out of the weeds to be able to see the bigger picture and plan for the future. As a soloprenuer, it’s really easy just to get stuck in all of the day-to-day minutiae. I’ve also never built a business before, so sometimes it feels easier to stick with the small tasks instead of trying to figure out the big ones. To try and combat this, I am investing in coaching. I need someone who isn’t in the business 10 hours every day to help me see what I can’t see.
Contact Info:
- Website: veggiesabroad.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veggiesabroad/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-gade-sawicki-9a62314/
Image Credits
Rebecca Gade Sawicki
