Embracing Risk and Resilience as an Entrepreneur
with Sufian Chowdhury
This is an incredible story of resilience, ambition, and the power of mentorship.
Growing up in a tough neighborhood with the loving support of seven siblings, our guest, Sufian Chowdhury, turned the obstacles of his upbringing into the fuel for his entrepreneurial journey.
From steering clear of danger in his youth by focusing on sports, to selling t-shirts and sneakers, Sufian's path to success is anything but ordinary. His bold choice to forgo traditional education set him on a trailblazing path of creativity and free-thinking, essential for any thriving entrepreneur.
In today's conversation, Sufian will share how he converted the challenges of starting a tech company and the faceoff with fierce competition into a seven-figure success story. We’ll delve into the universal financial struggles, the resilience needed to keep pushing forward, and the unwavering importance of accountability in the entrepreneurial world.
Sufian reminds us it's not about the short game, but rather, planning for longevity in this tumultuous environment. With his healthcare technology venture, he's not just inventing solutions; he's solving systemic problems and changing lives.
And of course, we’ll talk about those who’ve guided Sufian along the way - influential authors, real-life mentors, and the unconditional love from family, especially his mother who raised seven children, which, as a mother myself, I find absolutely awe-inspiring.
About Sufian Chowdhury
Sufian Chowdhury is a serial entrepreneur whose passion lies in improving the healthcare industry through innovative technology.
Sufian is the Founder and CEO of Kinetik, a venture backed startup based out of New York City. Kinetik is developing innovative API & Platform solutions that connect key stakeholders in the NEMT industry. Kinetik’s proprietary billing platform is connected to over 3100 payers nationwide, allowing NEMT providers to bill transportation claims seamlessly, while significantly reducing manual labor costs.
Connect with Sufian Chowdhury
Website: http://kinetik.care
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sufian-chowdhury/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Sufian-Chowdhury/100088128891450/
About Aleya Harris
Aleya Harris is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a former marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is a StoryBrand Certified Guide, international award-winning speaker, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, she guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success.
Sign Up for a Free Workshop
Each month, Aleya hosts a free 90-minute, hands-on workshop to help you use the power of radically authentic strategic storytelling to improve your personal growth, career, and company.
Register at https://www.aleyaharris.com/workshop
Book Aleya to Speak
To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event as a keynote speaker, please visit www.aleyaharris.com/speaking to check out her speaking topics, reels, and why. Click "Schedule a Call" to secure the speaker with "that something new" you've been looking for.
If you are a Corporate Event Planner, Employee Experience Professional, Head of Marketing, Learning & Development Professional, Executive Assistant, Speakers Bureau Destination Management Company, or Destination Management Organization who is looking for a top-quality, energetic speaker, you should definitely hop on a call with Aleya.
Connect with Aleya Harris
Speaking & Media: https://www.aleyaharris.com
The Evolution Collective Inc.: https://www.evolutioncollective.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thealeyaharris
Links Mentioned on this Podcast
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Aleya Harris [00:00:00]:
You tell me if this sounds like you. You have a message to share, but you're not sure if other people want to hear it. You have something that you really feel like could help the world. A story that is unique to you, or just years and years of knowledge that you know other people can benefit from, but you sit at your desk or on your couch contemplating your worthiness. I'm not ready to share this message from the stage because does anybody want to listen to me? Well, there's other people sharing those messages, so why should I bother? My voice is not as important. If you have ever had those thoughts. Well, my friend, this episode is for you because we're talking today about the fact that you actually do have something to say and how you can figure out what that is so you can share it to be of service to other people. If you've ever contemplated being a speaker, a professional speaker, or just even speaking up more in your everyday life and business dealings, then, my friend, this episode is for you.
Aleya Harris [00:01:25]:
All right, let's go.
Yuliya Patsay [00:01:31]:
Welcome to the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. If you're looking for actionable ways to stand out from the crowd by standing in your power, you've come to the right place. Each week, we help you and your fellow empire building entrepreneurs become radically authentic and tap into your unique story to attract your ideal clients. Listen in and learn how to use energy alignment techniques and tried and true marketing strategies to transform from a leader to a legend. And now, your host, powerhouse story, brand certified guide, award winning marketer, bioenergetic business coach, and japanese whiskey lover, Aleya Harris.
Aleya Harris [00:02:26]:
At the end of last year, I ran the beta for Spark the stage, which is a program that helps people become professional speakers. And it went amazingly well. It turned out. I didn't try to do it this way, but it turned out that I got all female participants and all women of somebody's color. Not all black women, not all latina women, but a big, fat, beautiful, gorgeous mixture of women. And these women went across industries. We had people who develop curriculum for after school programs. Lawyers, artisans, graphic artists, marketers.
Aleya Harris [00:03:11]:
You name it, we had it. And I was very, very blessed to welcome them in as participants. The craziest part of it, though, was when I met with them all, one on one, each and every single one of them. From people who presented the most confident to the people who presented the least confident. They all told me, I'm not sure if I have a message that is worthy of coming out of my mouth from the stage. I'm here in this program because I am pretty sure I do, but I'm still very unsure if anybody wants to hear it, if it's valuable enough. I was blown away because these women I admired as soon as they signed up, but then I really admired them once I got to know them. And I'm like, oh my gosh, these women are amazing.
Aleya Harris [00:04:05]:
And it really doesn't matter how amazing you are, though, does it? It really doesn't matter your accolades or all of the things that you have accomplished, if still deep down you don't believe that you have a message that other people want to hear. As we began the program of spark the stage, I started taking them through the curriculum, which, btws, I had never done before. I had never sat down and created something that showed people how I became an award winning international speaker. I just kind of was like doing my thing, riding on out. And so I got to put it to paper and watch the transformation of these women. And in the end, and you can go and ask them, I'm not keeping this secret from you. In the end, they all were saying things like, oh, that's my message. Oh, yes, that is valuable.
Aleya Harris [00:05:06]:
Oh, no, I don't have to talk about that thing I thought I had to talk about in order for people to want to buy from me. I can talk about the thing I actually like to talk about. Oh, I know how I can better help myself and help other people. And that's my goal for this episode, is to give you just a little bit of insight into how I did that in the spark the stage beta and how I am going to continue to do that in Sparkth the stage when it relaunches here in February. That was like a spoiler alert. I'm relaunching Spark the stage in February. So if you are not yet on the waitlist, I would encourage you to go to alayaharris.com spark and sign up on the waitlist so you can be one of the first to hear when we launch. So the first thing that we do in spark this stage is we craft crisis stories, meaning I ask you to pull out the crisis you've been through and I walk you through a process of understanding why that's valuable.
Aleya Harris [00:06:09]:
But I realized after taking the women through this that there actually was a step before this that needed to happen. And that's the step that I'm going to talk you through now. So basically, you're going to get content right now that's never been released, and in a little while, you'll have to pay for so you're welcome. First of all, when you're figuring out what to talk about, the best question to ask is, how can I be of service? How can I be of service? This does a couple of things. It takes you out of the hot seat because it's no longer about people looking at you. It's about you getting your hands dirty to help them. I think of it as the difference between standing upstage on the spotlight and worrying if your pantyhose are straight versus being in a soup kitchen and not caring, because you're focusing on serving the people in front of you, and you're focusing on the work and the message. And that's what this question allows you to do.
Aleya Harris [00:07:10]:
It also allows you to think about all of the wonderfulness that is you, the beauty and the gifts that you have that you can use. I want you to think back on all of the people that you've helped, all of the people that you have inspired, all of the people that you have even gotten a warm thank you from, and think about the commonalities there. How were you of service to them? Are you the one that always has the kind word? Are you the one that always has the plan? Are you the one that always is willing to get perpendicular with them and roll up your sleeves? Meaning you're not running your life parallel to theirs, just saying, oh, good job, you can do it. But you're really getting down, opening up the spreadsheets, doing the work with people. Is that how you tend to be of service? How are you best of service to other people? Okay, that's question number one. Write that down. I'll wait. Okay, question number two is, what lights me up so I can be of service really, really well by writing marketing copy.
Aleya Harris [00:08:24]:
Not to shoot my own little horn, but I'm a really good writer. But it started not lighting me up as much. Now, my book is coming out this year, so I mean, I like writing like that, but writing email sequences and web page copy, I'm really good at. And my ads for meta whatever convert better than a lot of other copywriters. But it wasn't lighting me up anymore, so I'm not going to focus on that. Right. If you look at all of my website and all of my stuff out in the world right now, nothing is really focused on me being a copywriter, although I appreciated it because it gave me great insight into the way that people's brains work. That's for another episode.
Aleya Harris [00:09:08]:
What lights me up now is being on stage. And I remember one of the times I was on stage at the end of last year. I stood there and last year was a little rough for me. And I stood there and I said, golly, if I could just do this, I would be over the moon. If I could just help people and love people into the highest versions of themselves from stage, I would feel amazing. And then I started thinking, if I can help other people get this feeling, that would also be amazing. And that's how sparked the stage started. But what lights me up is, like I said, loving people into the highest version of themselves, doing it from the stage being edutaining.
Aleya Harris [00:09:54]:
I love that whole thing. So we have the answer to two questions. How can I be of service? And what lights me up? Well, for me, I can be of service by showing people away, telling stories, allowing them to find a new path, to rediscover themselves, and that the core of themselves is beautiful. And that lights me up. So what lights you up? That's my second question to you. The third question to you is very much more brass tax because I may be woo. I have more crystals on my desk than I would care to mention right now. However, I like that money, honey.
Aleya Harris [00:10:33]:
Okay? I make that money. Or at least I'd like to. So when I think about what do I sell? It's not a fly by night question. It's great to be lit up, but I'm not going to go and speak for free all the time. And actually in spark, the stage I tell you about, if you're going to go speak somewhere for free, which you will when you're a speaker, you're not going to make $5 million every engagement when you first start. But when you are speaking for free, you can still get paid. And if you're interested in learning how to do that, sign up for spark the stage. Waitlist is open.
Aleya Harris [00:11:09]:
I digress. When you think about what do you sell? It needs to intersect with the two questions you already have. How can I best be of service? What lights me up? And then now what do I sell? So let me give you an example. I could only sit here and produce content on the interwebs about energy, healing, clearing, energetic sovereignty, mediumship, all of the cool things that I do that actually clients do come for me, kind of like through back channels, and I do coaching along those things, right? I don't go out into the world with doing that because that's not my number one thing that I'm selling. What am I talking about out in the world? I'm talking about storytelling. I'm talking about radical authenticity. I'm talking about culture. I'm talking about toxic workplace environments and the antidote to that, which is along the lines of radically authentic, strategic storytelling.
Aleya Harris [00:12:11]:
That's what I am. That's what I talk about. That's what I sell. Because I sell keynotes, I sell workshops, and I sell spark the stage, right? So I can be of service in those ways. And the content that I have talks about that. So it's very clear that people can understand who I am and what I sell. Now, almost everyone that I coach struggles with this for a couple of reasons. Here's what's going to go up in your head when you really think about this one.
Aleya Harris [00:12:41]:
Well, I just want to be of service. I just want to serve. Just let me be altruistic. Honeychong, you can be as altruistic as you want to be. Go volunteer for something. But if you're trying to speak on stage or to run a business, you need to make money. Without money, a business is a hobby. And I don't know about you being a coach, a consultant, a graphic designer, a lawyer.
Aleya Harris [00:13:11]:
Those are expensive things to run without bringing any new revenue. So you don't have to just be altruistic. If you were being of service, those things do not conflict. Also, when you're thinking about like, oh, what do I sell? You're like, I don't want to be salesy. The beauty of it is you're leaning into content and serving, serving, serving. So you're not salesy. You're actually giving, giving rather than taking. You give, give.
Aleya Harris [00:13:39]:
Then you rely on the law of reciprocity to help people understand that it's their time to give back to you by buying something from you. That's how content and the currency of the Internet works. When you're also thinking about, well, what do I sell? It means that you have to get clear. I'm looking at you and I'm looking at you in your eye. If you have 50 million products, and your five year plan, if it exists, includes adding on a new product line every year, new service every year, a new thing every year, you're doing it wrong. The people that are the most successful are niched, niched, niched. I was talking to a client about this today, actually, and she has a therapy practice. She's starting a therapy practice.
Aleya Harris [00:14:31]:
And she was like, well, I want to make sure I add on a therapist who does this, who does that? Who does this, who does that? Because I want to make sure I can cover everybody well, but you don't want to do the this and the that and the this and that. You want to have a therapy practice that does one thing. So you're known for what that thing is. If you try to be everything to everybody, you will be nothing to nobody. So if you, my friend, are like, 99.9% of entrepreneurs and you are trying to do all the things, stop it. Stop. Just stop it. And narrow down niche, down.
Aleya Harris [00:15:06]:
What do you sell? Now? Am I saying that you can't? Like you already heard me say on the back door, I feel like I'm operating a consulting speakeasy here. And through the back door, people buy other things from me, but when they're getting on a call with me, they're either booking me to be a speaker or a workshop leader, or they're signing up for spark the stage. That's what I sell. Now, when they usually. How it works is they book me to be a speaker. Then the audience member or the event organizer is like, oh, my gosh, we need you to implement this. And so then I get retainer clients who are wanting me to do strategic storytelling work within their workplace. Or I then get one on one executive coaching clients.
Aleya Harris [00:15:51]:
Or through sparkthe stage, I get one on one speaker coaching clients. The back end is endless, right? But what do I go out into the world with? Is very, very simple. So I want you to ask yourself, are you simple? Simple makes more money. So, to recap, you're asking yourselves the question, how can I best be of service? What lights me up? What do I sell? And then the last question I want you to ask yourself is, what does my audience need to understand, believe, or know to buy from me? This is when you're really crafting a message. Because, for example, I could come out on stage and tell all kinds of stories about my daddy issues, which are resolving btws, just in case you were checking up on me, thank you so much. I could talk to you about postpartum, which is also resolving. Thank you so much for your interest. Checking up on me.
Aleya Harris [00:16:49]:
Look at you. So sweet. I could talk about being a championship tap dancer when I was in high school and playing the violin and piano. I could talk about all kinds of things. And my audience doesn't need to know those things to understand believe, or they don't need to understand believe, or know those things to buy from me. So, for example, if I want you to sign up for Spark the stage, which I do like full transparency, I'm not trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Like, if you want to sign up to become a better professional speaker. I highly encourage it.
Aleya Harris [00:17:20]:
I digress. If you wanted to sign up for Spark the stage, for example, what you need to know is things like I'm an award winning international speaker. I does this. I also know how to help people feel confident on stage. When people hear me speak, they always want to hear me speak again. I get repeat bookings. When people have gone through spark the stage in the past, they feel more confident because I know how to help them visualize their success. I also know how to get people booked on their first speaking gigs.
Aleya Harris [00:17:52]:
All of those things are things that you need to know, believe or understand to buy from me. Another thing I need you to believe is that you have something to say when you go through the fact that you can be of service and you know what lights you up and you know what you're selling and you know, based on those things, what do people need to understand, believe or know to buy from you? Then that in and of itself is the beginning of you delving down into the messages of what it is that you need to talk about. Right? So the next step then is crisis stories. And actually, let's see, in a couple of weeks here, I'm going to be reviewing crisis stories on another podcast episode so you can get a preview of that. That also is inside of Spark the stage and I have a LinkedIn newsletter article about it as well. As well as well that is coming out soon. So crisis stories is once you get that foundational work, then it's diving in more deeply into saying, what have you basically survived that is worth telling? Related to the answers to your previous questions the beauty about starting from this place is you will find yourself on a path of self discovery. I'm about to get on my soapbox, so be prepared.
Aleya Harris [00:19:17]:
I dislike greatly not going to say the H-E-A-T-E word, but I dislike greatly speakers who get up on stage who are just delivering a presentation. It doesn't really do much for me. I could read that in a blog post, right? I don't need to take my butt out of my normal chair to put my butt in this new chair that's not as comfortable as my normal chair. I put on makeup for this and I wet set my hair. And I don't need you to just tell me something that I could have read on a blog post. I need you to have gone through something, to have gone through a transformation yourself, to have gone through transformation for other clients and learn the lessons and be telling me those things. Most likely you, dear. And might I say, good looking listener, I know you're like, you can't see me.
Aleya Harris [00:20:10]:
Yes, but I feel the vibe. You, dear listener, have gone through some things. You've learned something. You've been maybe in business for years, or maybe you're new, but you're having the experience of being through a first year of business based off of the other things that you've done in the past. You've gone through some things. You've learned some lessons. Those are the things that you want to talk about as a speaker, because speakers who just deliver their presentation are not successful. Speakers who have gone through the journey and can guide you on how to do it, too, those are the speakers that are successful.
Aleya Harris [00:20:43]:
So when you figure out what you want to talk about and you incorporate storytelling into it, you develop your talk, right? And the process looks like you develop the talk that sells the thing. You learn the lessons from selling the thing. Then you adjust the talk, right, to sell the thing, to learn the lessons, to adjust the talk. To develop the talk, to sell the thing that you get it, you get it, you get it. It's a full circle moment. That is how you prevent yourself from becoming trite and cliche. There's a lot of speakers on the speaker circuit who have not done that well. It's not that they needed to go off and talk about whole new things or all of a sudden get into gen alpha and what they're up to.
Aleya Harris [00:21:29]:
It's just about they forgot to keep taking us along their journey of struggles and trials. They forgot to continue to be vulnerable. They forgot that being a speaker is a courageous act. For me, I don't have a fear of public speaking, but, baby, put me on the stage and give me two spotlights. I love it. The fear part comes from, am I really going to tell them this story? Golly, that was really rough. Am I really going to be that vulnerable with them? And if I've resolved the issue, and I can say it from a place of clarity, not tears, because I do not like people crying on stage. Right? I'm not here to emotionally hijack you.
Aleya Harris [00:22:13]:
But if I can tell that story with clarity, and I can tell you what I did to solve it so that I can, going back to the questions, be of service to you, then I'm going to tell that story. My new quote that I just came up with, it's a quote by me, like I'm quoting myself. I know it's a bit much, but if you've been listening to me for a minute, you kind of know I'm a bit much, though. The quote is, secrets don't help anybody. I'm going to say it again because I really like it. It really fits what I'm trying to say. Secrets don't help anybody. So if you're going to be of service, you can't keep those dark and dirty secrets in your closet.
Aleya Harris [00:22:54]:
They prevent your own transformation. They prevent the transformation of your audience, and they prevent you from making the type of connections that develop lucrative relationships, that really bring in longevity of following and money. So when you're developing the talk and learning the lessons and going around and around and around, you're also developing a career that lasts and stays centered in an authentic place. So people will continue to listen to you because there's a natural reinvention that takes place as you begin to incorporate the curiosities and the lessons inside what you're doing. For example, when I launched Spark the sage the first time, I was just like, well, let me put down what I know. And I was very open with all the people. I was like, y'all, I ain't never done this before. I've taught courses and I talk and workshops, but I've never taught on this topic of speaking before.
Aleya Harris [00:23:46]:
It was foreign to me. So I was like, you guys are going to get what you get. I'm going to pour into you as much as possible, but you're going to need to give me constant feedback. And some of the feedback that I got was that it was too much. It was too much. So it was four weeks, and they ended up with like four or 5 hours of homework a week because I didn't realize how much it really takes to be a speaker until I was telling somebody else to do it. And it was just too much. So when we relaunched Spark the stage, it's going to be six weeks, and as opposed to everything being live, we're going to have an on demand course component as well as having live sessions for six weeks.
Aleya Harris [00:24:29]:
See what I got them in from the speaking. They all had seen me speak for the most part, all seen me speak. I sold the thing and now I'm incorporating the lessons. And now when I go back and speak, like, I have workshops coming up about this topic to sell spark the sage again, I can incorporate all of those beautiful and delicious imperfections, like underestimating how much time and effort it really takes to be an expert in something and how much time, energy and effort it's going to take for someone to learn how to be an expert and managing expectations around what that looks like. Also looking at the dedication of people and what that looks like, I got a lot of people because spark the stage, the beta was originally four weeks, all live taught, like I said, right? A lot of people are like, oh, that doesn't work for my schedule. That doesn't work for my schedule. That doesn't work for my schedule. So that's another driver for why I'm doing the on demand component, right? But I really looked at it, and the people that did sign up, one had a newborn baby.
Aleya Harris [00:25:33]:
One was on, like, a crazy different time zone. One had a full time job and could only watch the recordings, right. One was moving house, but they still signed up because they had a certain level of dedication. So then that's another lesson I can talk about, is what happens when you're dedicated to your dreams, right? What happens when you're dedicated to your own story? Since I talk about storytelling, you see how the lessons and being aware of the process after the sales allows you to incorporate those lessons into the next time you get up on stage to sell the thing. You stay relevant, you stay connected with the problems of your ideal client. And it keeps me engaged. It keeps me engaged in the process. It prevents me, as an entrepreneur, from getting shiny object syndrome, because I'm constantly learning and growing and developing within my own product.
Aleya Harris [00:26:28]:
So if you want to know what to talk about, you start with those questions, and then you just talk and you listen. Listening is the best way to know what to talk about, because once you sell the thing, you listen to how that thing went, and then you redo the talk. You redo the thing or not redo. You adjust, tweak, and you continue to realize that you have something even deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper to talk about. So if feeling like no one's going to listen to you, what you have to say isn't important is preventing you from sharing your message. I hope that this episode maybe nudged you in the right direction, and I encourage you to journal about it. I can encourage you to talk to a friend about it. You can send me a DM.
Aleya Harris [00:27:16]:
We can voice message about it on Instagram if you want to. But one thing that I learned after taking the beautiful women through spark the stage beta is that each and every one of them had not only things to talk about, but things to talk about that at times move me to tears. I was inspired and I was motivated, and I felt called out in the most delicious and beautiful ways by what they had experienced. And they had, some of them, they just brushed it out like, oh, it's no big deal. But it is a big deal to someone, and it doesn't matter if that someone is a seasoned speaker like I am or starting out. You have someone who needs to hear what you have to say, and I hope that I get to be one of those people who gets to hear what you have to say. Again, depending on when you're listening to this spark, the stage is either accepting people on the waitlist or we might even be open for you to make a purchase and to sign up. So go to alayaharris.com Spark and either sign up for the waitlist and or join us so that you can not only know that you, in fact, yes, have something to say, get feedback on how to incorporate that into a signature talk, and finally, and most importantly, go out into the world and be of service to others.
Aleya Harris [00:28:45]:
All right, that's it for this episode. Until next time. My name is Aleya Harris. This is the flourishing entrepreneur podcast and I'm sending you, my dear listener, lots and lots of love, light, and abundance. Don't forget to like and subscribe. And until next time, I'll see you soon. Bye for now.
Yuliya Patsay [00:29:08]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. Vibing with what you hear, leave a five star review to spread the love and be sure to click subscribe. We wish you love, light, and abundance. See you next time.
