Inspiration Sunday with April Bowles-Olin

 Today I have another lovely creative lass lined up for you. I discovered April via Mayi (they are a cute set of partners in crime), I am sure you will agree she is another fun creative entrepreneur...

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.... 

I’d love to. I’m April Bowles-Olin and I grew up in Richmond, Virginia. I currently live with my husband and our three rescue dogs in Blacksburg, Virginia. I work with creative entrepreneurs to build the businesses of their dreams around the lives they crave.

I love homemade vegan, gluten-free pizza, walking my dogs, young-adult fiction, college football, photography and Gilmore Girls. I have a low tolerance for laziness and excuses.

Image Credit: April Bowles

2. Where do you get your inspiration from? 

Oh gosh...I get inspiration from so many different things. My favorite blogs including heartmade, A Beautiful Mess, decor8, and Creature Comforts give me lots of inspiration. I’m also inspired by magazines {especially Where Women Create and Artful Blogging}, nature, friends, crafting supplies, fabric designs and books.

Image Credit: April Bowles

3. Tell us about your business...

My business if focused on helping creatives build their dream businesses around the lives they want to live. I’ve seen too many creative entrepreneurs get burned out from working around the clock on their businesses instead of focusing on what they want their lives to look like and building a business that supports that way of living.

I blog daily at blacksburgbelle.com and every week on Wednesdays, I publish a video that’s directly related to helping women build their online businesses. Each year, I also offer courses that dive deeper into specific subjects like my last course, Blogging for Your Creative Business.

Image Credit: April Bowles

4. What led you to start your business.... 

Before making the leap of starting my own business, I was a licensed therapist working with at-risk teens and their families. That job was emotionally draining, so I started looking for creative outlets to relieve some of that stress. I began scrapbooking, making jewelry, and knitting. Then, I decided to sell some of my creations on Etsy. Once I set up my shop, I read anything I could find on building a business and learned about marketing, blogging, and social media. 

After a couple months of having an Etsy shop, I started getting questions from others who wanted to do something similar. I started spending more time helping other creative entrepreneurs set up their own shops than I did on my own. That’s when I realized that my business should focus on helping creatives build successful online businesses.

5. What does an average day look like for you?

One day is never the same as the next. But, here’s an example of one: Wake up at 8am. Drink a glass of lemon water while I brew a cup of herbal tea. Drink tea while I read, journal or browse the web. Drink my daily glass of green juice. Get a load of laundry started. Work on a blog post. Walk my dogs. Take photos for a few blog posts. Have lunch with my husband. Put the laundry in the dryer. Finish the blog post from earlier. Edit the photos from earlier. Knit and listen to a podcast. Spend an hour on the next course I’m going to offer. Fold the laundry and put it away. Chat with my joint venture partner, Mayi Carles, on Skype for an hour. Walk the dogs with my husband when he gets home from work. Make dinner together. Watch an episode of Burn Notice. Get in bed and read for an hour or so and go to sleep. 

6. What is the one thing about your job that makes your heart sing? 

I love getting thank you emails from blog readers or women who have taken one of my courses. I love hearing about their successes and the joy they’re getting out of their creative businesses. Those emails inspire me to keep doing what I’m doing.

7. Share a secret with us that has never been shared online before 

In my childhood home, the stairs to the attic were in my room. I was so terrified that there were ghosts in the attic that my parents had to put a lock on the door, so I could lock it from my room.

About April:

April Bowles-Olin is a licensed therapist turned business maven. She’s the founder of Blacksburg Belle and co-founder of Connecting the Gaps. Her mission is to help creative entrepreneurs construct the businesses of their dreams around the lifestyles they crave. She’s been featured and mentioned on hundreds of sites and publications including U.S. News and World Report, Where Women Create, BlogcastFM, Etsy, and Design*Sponge.

Find April....

Website : www.blacksburgbelle.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BlacksburgBelle

Twitter: http://twitter.com/blacksburgbelle

Pinterest : http://pinterest.com/blacksburgbelle