We caught up with the brilliant and insightful April Starks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi April, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
As a young girl I saw my mother work consistently to maintain our needs and successfully provide for me and my brother. I do not recall ever lacking of anything of necessity. That inspired me to be a person of solid work ethic. Also, my grandparents played an important role in my life and modeled high levels of self discipline and strong work ethic. I recall my grandfather waking me up at 5:30am in the summer to prepare to cut the grass before the heat of the day truly began. He would tell me, “you have to rise early and get more done before noon than most people get done all day.” These valuable lessons and examples have helped shape my work ethic.
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?
I was born to embrace, empower and elevate leaders through counseling, training and mediation services. I carry out this assignment as the CSO (Chief Steward Officer) of a nonprofit, Olive Tree Resources and Founder of ALS, LLC – an SBA Certified Woman Owned Small Business. What is most exciting for me is the fact that I have the privilege of serving families in my community through modest means to no cost services through a Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited Charity, as well as serve corporations, organizations and government entities through a Certified WOSB. This allows me to offer a lasting solution to a wide range of client partners while remaining true to my purpose and area of expertise.
Counseling has transformed my life and I love to promote the preventive therapy approaches to give individuals an understanding of how powerful our brains are in the healing process of mental wellness. Training is a perpetual part of life and I get the privilege of providing continuing education resources to families and professionals. Lastly, mediation is a great way to tie counseling and training together by giving people the tools needed for conflict resolution. Conflict is inevitable but there is a solution within us. I get to highlight the power within and give application to counseling, training and mediation through this triangular relationship of my professional experience.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities or skills most impactful in my journey are: commitment, consistency, and communication. I have learned that once you commit to something it will require consistency to evolve into something long lasting. Communication plays a key part along the way, because commitment is an uncomfortable companion. It will cause many growing pains and if you do not communicate those moments it could lead to premature termination of the vision first committed to. Therefore, I would advise anyone serious about their life work to develop a plan for consistency and communication whenever a commitment is involved.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy is a book I was encouraged to read by my business mentor about 6 years ago. It was a good concept to put in perspective that small actions cause big results over time. This spoke to my desire to be consistent but helped me to expect the end results. Not to continually give out with no real end goal or manifestation. Every little step does add up. This brings back the point of consistency which pays off overtime.
Contact Info:
- Website: olivetreepartner.com
- Instagram: Olivetreepartner
- Facebook: Olive Tree Resources
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-l-starks-1a889896?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Image Credits
Chanelle Nicole Photography (headshot)
