Today we’d like to introduce you to Kamila Gornia.
Kamila, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started out when I was 12, living in a small town in Poland, just got dial-up internet and I stumbled upon some chatrooms where kids would talk about manga – a topic I was obsessed with. As one of only two people in my town who loved it, I decided to take a leadership role. I saw there were websites dedicated to translating manga from English and Japanese to polish and providing them for free online. So I decided to do it too. I learned HTML, set up a website, got some volunteer team members and got the site to 40,000 views in 4 months without advertising or social media.
Then, when I was 13, my mom and I moved to America (Chicago) to join my dad who has already been living there for about 6 years. At 17 I took up photography and at 19 (2009) decided to do it freelance at different nightclubs, parties, and doing photo shoots for aspiring models. I got some great opportunities and while I was in college, I was also working at nightclubs 4 nights a week, taking photos as a business. It was great for me at the time, since I loved to party and have a good time, plus getting paid for doing that? Perfect combination! I did it for about 5 years or so.
This was also where I began to do more marketing things – many people would find me through Google or social media and wanted me to take their photos. By the time I was 21 however, I realized the party lifestyle was not for me. I got tired of it, I had some big realizations that made me see why this was not the path I wanted to keep going down, so I started to decrease the amount of nights I worked and stopped going out so much. I also decided to expand my photography skills and moved into food. At the same time, I began to look more at my health and wellness. In 2002, I decided to start a wellness/food blog for fun. This is where I started to intentionally research marketing online – things like how to grow my website, get more subscribers, and so on.
I was already double majoring in school – Psychology and Integrated Marketing Communications, but still had no idea I was doing “business” and didn’t really want to be an “entrepreneur.” I wanted to work in ad agencies on big clients and commercials. I did that once I graduated but quickly realized it was not for me. I was still doing photography and health blogging as my two side hustles but in 2014, I realized I wanted to talk more about this topic I was so interested in – online marketing. And I started a coaching business.
4 years later, now in 2018, I have shifted my focus from operating as a personal brand and into Heart Behind Hustle, where we support entrepreneurs in growing their business online in integrity-driven and personality-based ways.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not a smooth road, there were so many challenges along the way. A lot of confusion, doubt, fear. I constantly felt like I was not good enough especially when I started my coaching business, after all, I was only 24! This made me feel inadequate like I wasn’t experienced enough, and sometimes people would doubt me too, which didn’t help. I had to do a lot of inner work to overcome my fears and negative beliefs that were stopping me.
Heart Behind Hustle® – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Heart Behind Hustle movement is where motivated entrepreneurs like you strategically build businesses around what we love. We spend our valuable time on our passions. And when we do grow – we take massive action that’s aligned with our values.
We don’t just spin our wheels or throw darts at every new strategy. Our hustle is authentic and focused on our unique skills, talents, and strengths. When we work hard, it yields massive results. We grow our businesses by lifting each other up, not by pushing sales down people’s throats. Heart Behind Hustle is the community that helps you achieve your boldest dreams. We’re all committed to increasing our visibility, impact, and income, while we lead from the heart. Sounds good, right? It feels even better.
Let’s be clear, Heart Behind Hustle® is made for women like you who are embracing their big ass scary-powerful dreams. When you join the Heart Behind Hustle® movement, we promise to hold you accountable to the biggest vision for your life. We’ll empower you to take massive aligned action to reach that vision. Plus, we’ll teach you the skills to confidently achieve your dreams. We are a movement of rule-breakers, risk-takers, and change-makers who are impacting the world. So if you’re ready to listen to your intuition, work hard to achieve your big dreams, and do the work you’re meant to be doing, let’s get started.
Tangibly:
We help service-based entrepreneurs to scale and grow their businesses online (and beyond) so they can show up as leaders in their space, get known and seen, and make a big impact in the world. We do this by offering business coaching and consulting services, mastermind retreats and workshops, and self-study e-courses.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being able to quit my 9-5 and focus on my business full-time. This happened in July 2015. Second proudest has been able to up and move to NYC, which was my dream city at the time, all alone, knowing I’m being taken care of by my business.
Pricing:
- Facebook Ads Management services for businesses – Our packages start at $1500 per month
- Business and Marketing Coaching & Consulting – Packages start at $3500
- E-Courses and Programs – Programs start at $497
Contact Info:
- Website: www.heartbehindhustle.com
- Phone: (619) 413-4236
- Email: hello@heartbehindhustleteam.com
- Instagram: heartbehindhustle
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
