Live Business Mentorship
This 9-month mentorship meets LIVE every other week. Together we will build your business!
Let's build your business together!
We've been trying some new strategies to make the live mentorship more accessible to more people.
With multiple shorter mentorship blocks targeting specific topics, you can sign up only for the parts that you need.
Topics for the 2024 sessions will be posted by the end of December 2023 and announced in the newsletter.
Students who are already enrolled in the Herbal Business Program - which is where all the course material is housed - will have the first access to sign up for live mentorship sessions.
Live mentorship sessions are open to all women.
You don't have to already have a business to enroll - these sessions can help you fine-tune your current business or support you as you build from the ground up!
From daunting to do-able!
The idea of starting a business sounds so huge and daunting, but this mentorship breaks everything down into bite-size pieces that make the process so much easier. Katja's personality is uplifting and encouraging, and I don't think I would have gotten the courage to finally start the business I've always wanted without her help.
Let's do this!
Are you nervous about the technology you'll have to use to run a business?
⭐️ Don't worry - before i was an herbalist, i was a software engineer. I am not afraid of technology, and i can teach you to be unafraid, too!
Do you keep trying to get started, but your schedule is a disastrous mess?
⭐️ I've got you! Together we will not only set deadlines, but we'll look at your schedule and figure out exactly when you're going to do the work so that you can actually MEET the deadlines we set!
Are people in your life telling you that you can't do it?
⭐️ HA! They told me that too. They were wrong about me, and they're wrong about you. Let's show them what you've got!
Support and Accountability
I felt supported but also held accountable, which was a huge thing for me! I was not only able to create and launch my business and website that I had been wanting to create for over a year, but they also gave my confidence the boost it needed to put myself out there and really go for what I wanted.
Your herbal skills + Mentorship = Success!
During this mentorship, we are going to ACTUALLY BUILD your business - which means, you'll need a few things settled before we get started:
If you want to launch a products business, you will need:
- enough herbal education to formulate and create great herbal products
- some products that you have already perfected and tested on your family and friends - at least 3 is a good place to start. that way, we'll have something to market and sell!
Don't worry about labels, packaging, your website, marketing, GMP - we'll do all of that and more together in the Business Mentorship!
If you want to launch a clinical practice, you will need:
- a thorough clinical education - this is typically at least 800 hours of instruction, and about 400 hours of observation and supervised practice.
Don't worry about technology, insurance, office space, your website, etc - we'll do all that and more together in the Business Mentorship!
If you want to open an herb shop, you will need:
- enough herbal education to stock your products and help your customers make good choices.
- it's extra helpful if you have enough skills to offer workshops, because this is a great way to build community around your shop and bring in customers!
Don't worry about a location, a website, accounting, online sales, inventory - we'll do all that and more together in the Business Mentorship!
Do you need more herbal education before you start your business? We can help!
You can find our educational recommendations for starting a product business or opening your own herb shop here.
You can find our educational recommendations for clinical practice here.
Do you have a different idea?
Just let us know and we will help make sure you have the herbal education you need to make it happen!
A Community of Support
I am so glad that I took this business class. Learning to manage and organize my time and being walked step-by-step through building a business was so helpful. And I especially loved having support fellow classmates - it is wonderful to share the experience with other herbalists as we follow our paths, each one unique but similar.
It's easier when we work together
This is a hands-on interactive mentorship. Together, we are going to build your business!
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YES! Let's build your business plan together!
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YES! Let's get your website built!
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YES! Let's market your business together!
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YES! Let's make sure you have all of your GMP compliance set up if you're making products!
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YES! Let's make sure you have insurance set up if you need it!
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YES! Let's take all of the steps needed to get you up and running!
Program Schedule
I'll be posting the 2024 topics and schedule before the end of December 2022.
Tuition
Tuition for the new mentorship blocks will be "a la carte" style - only pay for the sessions that you're interested in.
Topics and dates, as well as tuition for each mentorship block, will be posted before the end of December.
Students who are already enrolled in the Herbal Business Program get first access to sign up for each mentorship block.
Tuition includes live video conference sessions with Katja and a small group of herbal business women according to the schedule. Each session is 2 hours. Plus: unlimited questions, answers, encouragement, creativity, and community support! ❤️️
Your business expenses are not covered: you should plan funding to cover the cost of your materials (ie, herbs, containers, labels, etc) and other fees (ie, rent for your office space or the cost of your insurance). Keeping things simple, your starting business expenses might range from a couple hundred dollars to about a thousand dollars, depending on what you're building. You don't need to have it all at once, we'll be working on each startup task one at a time.
Our philosophy is that if you don't need a business loan and you grow at a pace you can afford, you're always ahead of the game: so we teach strategies to keep your costs down!
This course does not guarantee that your business will succeed, and it's important to point out that being self-employed is a lot of work. But you won't ever know what you can do until you try - and you don't have to try alone!
You can be more successful if you have the right support!
Required Materials
In order to start your business, there are some things you will need. Some of these things we'll find together - like a business space or a commercial kitchen, or the best scheduling software for your needs, etc. You don't need to worry about those things right now.
Here are the things you'll need before we start:
An up to date computer.
You'll need a computer that is reasonably new, reasonably fast, and reliable. You don't have to own this computer - it's ok if you borrow it, as long as you have access to it whenever you need it.
If you are not comfortable with technology, you might prefer a Mac.
Why is this important? Because we'll be relying on your computer to get your website going, to do all your administrative work, to build your ad campaigns, etc. Plus, we'll be meeting every other week by video conference - so you'll need it then too!
An up to date smartphone.
You'll need a smartphone that has a good camera and reasonable available storage. If your smartphone is already maxed out on storage, either clear up storage before we get started or upgrade. You should have a phone that doesn't have a cracked screen and that is reliable.
Why is this important? Because a lot of our marketing and online work will require photos - like, photos every day! Plus we'll be using the phone to edit photos and short videos too - if the screen is cracked or if you don't have enough storage, this is a really difficult task!
The Herbal Business Program.
The Herbal Business Program is the companion to this mentorship - all of the course materials are housed there. This course will give you access to all of our live work together, and that course will give you access to all of the learning materials that we'll be working with to get all the work done. All of the step-by-step instructions, documents, videos, and more are there for you!
You can think of the Herbal Business Program like the "textbook" that we'll be using for this Live Mentorship!
If you haven't already, enroll in the Herbal Business Program here so that you have access to the course materials for this mentorship.
Achieving my Goals
This program challenged my previous belief that setting goals and sticking to them would limit my ideas and creativity. For the first time in my adult life I’ve been able to list out realistic goals and break them down into do-able tasks, and as a result I have achieved way more than I thought possible. It also allowed me to focus, and let go of the items that did not match my vision, and didn’t let me jump into something without fully thinking it through.
A Note about CBD
This mentorship is not intended as a thorough guide through the legal issues surrounding Cannabis/CBD products.
Many of our students have incorporated Cannabis products into their businesses, and we are happy to help you plan your way through navigating the specific legal requirements in your state/for online sales, but we want to be clear that CBD legalities are not the primary focus of this mentorship.
Pushing past my fear
Katja offered so much needed advice, support and love while pushing me through my own fears, to make structure out of 30 plus years of dreaming and study. With her help I was able to organize and plan out exactly what I wanted to create.
For example...
Here are businesses that some of our students have built
Steph studied for two years with us and then created Herbstalk, Boston's own local herb conference. It's grown to a twice-a-year event that provides high-quality herbal education as well as a popular herbal marketplace!
Kinsey studied with us in 2015 and then opened CroseNest Apothecary with a brick & mortar store here in MA and a beautiful online shop too!
Emma O'Brien of Lavandoula is a very talented Doula and Herbalist. She trained with us from her very first herb courses and now is offering her own training to the Birth-worker community.
Cara had just started selling herbal products at her local farmer's market when she took the Herbal Business Program, and now Bear Wallow Herbs supports her and her young son - and she is home to pick him up from school every day!
Brooke was already an herbalist and needed help navigating the starting-a-business part of the process. During the Herbal Business Program, she and her partner transformed Sovereignty Herbs from an idea with occasional workshops to a full clinical practice and herbal learning program.
Brighid took the Herbal Business Program in 2019 to transition from helping her friends and doing some local workshops to launching an Solidago Herb School, an herbal educational center with everything from online programs to herbal escapes.
Ray at Sovereign Birch Herbal took the Family, Community, and Clinical Herbalist programs with us, and completed the Clinical Mentorship and Herbal Business Program in 2019. They are a talented clinical herbalist with a practice here in Boston!