The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Marketing ourselves – we are the product in our business! We are both very camera shy and struggled to find photos of ourselves to put on social media and our website. So we asked Sam’s dad, a photographer, to take our photos. The result was Sam’s never smiling pout and Steph’s awkward hand placements, and many photos were taken to find one to use. Being counsellors, we struggle to talk about ourselves, preferring to always listen to others, so this has been our biggest hurdle to overcome.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The learning curve has been a big pro and con. Going into the business, unless you have a large capital to begin with, there are many things you need to do yourself to be successful. We have had to learn website design, marketing, budgeting, tax and trade marking. The list is endless. Surprisingly, we have enjoyed all these new challenges, as tough as things have been at times. Doing things ourselves has empowered up to understand ourselves and our business more. We have realised just how strong we are and just how much we can depend on each other.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
We hope to develop a working week balanced between counselling and providing psychologically themed workshops, marrying our passion for psychology and counselling. The dream is that we grow to help as many people as possible: taking our business from an idea two friends spoke about over coffee to being a true therapeutic practice that supports different aspects of well-being.
Find out more about the wonderful services they offer by visiting the Kōwhai Therapeutic Services website. You can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
