Veronica Valli is the founder of Soberful, a program for people who feel like alcohol has hijacked their lives. We had the opportunity of chatting to her to learn more about her entrepreneurial journey as well as her Soberful program.
What led you to come up with such a program?
I am a qualified psychotherapist from the UK who married an American and moved to the USA. My career fell off a cliff. My qualifications didn’t translate and I was starting at the bottom of the ladder again. Not sure what to do at my husband’s urging I wrote a book. I self-published it and then needed to start a blog and social media accounts to promote it. Knowing nothing about marketing I promoted the book and began to build a global audience. Ten years later I have a large international following, successful podcast, and subscription group. I have a new book coming out in January 2022 called Soberful: Uncover a Sustainable, Fulfilling Life Free of Alcohol.
I employ 12 people around the world and are building this business into a global platform.
Can you tell us more about Sorberful and what type of program it is?
I help women change their relationship with alcohol. We have been conditioned to believe by our culture, media, and peer group that alcohol is the best way to have fun, excitement, belonging, connection, relax and reward ourselves. We believe alcohol = fun and sobriety = boring. None of this is true. The cost of drinking for women is huge yet many doggedly continue to drink believing that if they just get the balance the right they will be able to drink and receive everything alcohol promises without any consequences.
Everything we believe about sobriety is wrong. I’ve been sober since I was 27 (I’m now 48) and it is the best way to have fun, excitement, belonging, connection, etc. My life expanded because I stopped drinking. Sobriety is the ‘edge’. People with an alcohol problem do four things; drink, think about drinking, think about not drinking, and recover from drinking. These things take up energy and bandwidth. When we stop drinking we get that bandwidth back and can step into our extraordinariness. My mission is to help women do that.
What does being a female entrepreneur mean to you?
I absolutely want to be there for my kids, I want to take them to school and go to their events. I don’t want to commute and I want to choose my own hours to fit in with my family. My business has enabled me to do just that.
What challenges or obstacles have you faced as a result of being an entrepreneur?
Marketing has been huge for me. This is a profession and it’s not something you can just do. I struggled a lot with marketing and messaging. Once I had a few clients I was able to invest in a good team and it has made all the difference.
What has been your success story so far?
Seeing women get sober and live expansive lives. I’ve done this for twenty years and it never gets old seeing someone fulfill their potential. Getting sober is about a shift in perspective, we think things are one way when actually when we see things differently our life opens up in ways that we can’t imagine. I grew my podcast to 35K downloads a month which got me a book deal so I can spread my message even further.
Which other female entrepreneur or woman-owned business can you recommend?
Linda Carter fertility: Linda helps people on the process of having a baby.
What tips or advice would you give to any female considering becoming an entrepreneur?
Get business coaching. Everything changed for me when I signed up with my business coach. I was struggling to market and sell my programs. I see lots of female entrepreneurs try and do everything themselves and burning out. Invest in yourself and invest in your business. Accept you can’t do everything yourself.
Finally where can people reach you to learn more about your program?
Website: http://Soberful.com
Social media links:
Instagram: @veronicajvalli
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Soberful
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/soberful
Podcast: https://soberful.com/episodes/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/veronicavalli?lang=en