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Grow A Small Business Podcast


Jan 22, 2023

In this episode, Troy interviews Stephen Sokoler, Founder and CEO of Journey based in New York, USA. Stephen spent years in the business sector, founding and running companies, which helped organizations celebrate and inspire their employees. 

He first found meditation through Buddhism and after years of personal practice, Stephen recognized that wellbeing needed to be shared with the world in a more approachable, accessible way. In 2015, he founded Journey. They support a wide range of profit and non-profit organizations ranging from Walgreens and their 250,000 employees to Blackstone to the Harlem Children's Zone, which is a charter school in Harlem. And everything they do is around proactive mental health. Making sure employers keep their employees mentally, and emotionally well.

Stephen thinks the best tool to grow a small business is a community of other people who are doing the same thing. Not necessarily with the same field but people who can give you advice, who can be there to listen, who can relate emotionally to what you're going through.

This Cast Covers:

  • How having a really authentic story and going out and telling it in whatever way you know helps your marketing
  • His passion about mental health
  • How he first found meditation
  • How Journey is helping employers keep their employees mentally, and emotionally well
  • The Loveland Foundation which is a non-profit organization that provides therapy for black women and girls
  • Why fundraising is the most stressful point of the business journey 
  • The challenges of a start-up
  • The idea of work-life, integration, or work-life harmony, as opposed to work-life balance

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Quotes:

“Getting a good night's sleep, to me, is foundational.” — Stephen Sokoler

I think the best advice I ever got, or the thing that I keep in mind is to know yourself.” — Stephen Sokoler

“Best work gets done when it's quiet, when I can think, when there are no emails coming in.” — Stephen Sokoler

“We believe that having a healthy family, having a healthy environment leads to healthy employees.” — Stephen Sokoler

“The best marketing tool is having a really authentic story and going out and telling it in whatever way you know, podcast, some writing or even TikTok.” — Stephen Sokoler