THIS IS ALSO A PODCAST INTERVIEW!
Have you ever wondered how you’re supposed to choose a niche when you’re interested in so many different things?
Maybe you’ve been told that you need to pick one thing, become known for it, and stop confusing people with all the other parts of who you are.
But what if you don’t actually have to choose?
In this episode, I sat down with Emily Killeen, a spiritual yoga teacher, wellness-focused sobriety coach, retreat facilitator, and heart-centered community builder. Emily’s entrepreneurial journey is a beautiful example of what can happen when you stop trying to force yourself into one box and start paying attention to the threads that have been running through your life all along.
Your Story May Already Be Pointing You Toward Your Niche
Emily has always had what she calls an entrepreneurial spirit.
Long before she was building wellness businesses, she was selling pumpkins and gourds outside the bowling alley as a kid. Later, she was selling cups at college parties. Eventually, that entrepreneurial energy found a more intentional outlet through yoga.
She began teaching donation-based community classes in Madison and later moved to San Diego, where she started teaching yoga at Sunset Cliffs. What began as one class a week eventually grew into multiple weekly classes with dozens of people attending.
More than simply teaching yoga, Emily was creating community.
That became an important thread throughout everything she did next: retreats, a wedding venue, wellness experiences, recovery coaching, group programs, and community gatherings.
When I look at a multi-passionate entrepreneur’s journey, this is often what I encourage them to look for.
Instead of asking, “What one thing should I do?” ask yourself:
What themes keep showing up in my life?
Your niche may not be one specific skill or topic. It may be the unique combination of your experiences, interests, values, and perspective.
Your Best Message May Come From What You’ve Already Lived
One of the most powerful moments in Emily’s story happened when she was attending a business conference and trying to figure out what kind of life coach she wanted to become.
A speaker said something that immediately clicked for her: sometimes the thing you’re meant to teach is so easy and familiar to you that you don’t recognize it as your “thing.”
For Emily, that thing was sobriety.
She realized she already had the wisdom and lived experience to support other people on a similar path. Shortly afterward, someone she knew from outpatient treatment reached out and asked Emily if she would help hold her accountable in her sobriety journey.
Emily hadn’t even officially launched her coaching program yet.
She said yes—and that woman became her first client. Emily remembers sitting in her tiny home when she received the text confirming that her first client was in. She described dropping to her knees, feeling warmth and light move through her, and knowing, “This is it.”
This is one of the reasons I often tell entrepreneurs who are struggling to find their niche to look at their own stories.
What have you struggled with?
What have you overcome?
What have you spent years learning?
What do people naturally come to you for?
There may be a business hiding inside those answers.
You Don’t Have to Have It All Figured Out Before You Begin
Emily’s story is also a great reminder that you don’t necessarily need every credential, certification, or piece of your business figured out before you take your first step.
She eventually completed a formal recovery coach certification, but much of what she uses in her coaching comes from her own experience, wisdom, and everything she’s learned along the way.
This isn’t an argument against education or professional training. It’s simply a reminder that your lived experience has value.
Sometimes we’re waiting for someone else to give us permission to share what we already know. And sometimes the first step is simply being willing to acknowledge that you have something valuable to offer.
Consistency Doesn’t Mean Never Changing
One of the themes that really stood out to me in this conversation was the relationship between consistency and evolution.
Emily created her Recovery Revival group coaching program and eventually ran it ten times, supporting more than 100 women. She also created a free weekly meeting that has continued for years.
At the same time, the program itself continued to evolve.
That’s an important distinction.
Consistency doesn’t mean doing something exactly the same way forever.
You can keep showing up while allowing your offers to change.
In fact, that’s often how we make them better.
Maybe a workshop isn’t resonating with your audience anymore. Maybe your clients are asking for something different. Maybe you’re interested in bringing a new perspective or collaborator into the experience.
You don’t have to throw the entire business away. You can refine it.
As entrepreneurs, especially creative and multi-passionate entrepreneurs, it can be tempting to constantly reinvent the wheel because we’re excited by new ideas.
But there is so much growth that comes from doing something more than once. Give yourself enough time to learn what works. And when something needs to evolve, let it evolve.
You Can Be Consistent AND Creative
We don’t have to choose between consistency and creativity.
We can have a consistent way for people to connect with us while still allowing our content, offers, and businesses to change and grow.
For Emily, that looks like her ongoing community and weekly meetings. For another entrepreneur, it might be a weekly newsletter, podcast, group program, or regular social media presence.
The important thing is creating some kind of rhythm that allows people to stay connected to you and get to know you over time. You don’t have to constantly come up with something brand new to stay relevant. Sometimes saying the same core message in a different way is exactly what helps people finally hear it.
You Don’t Have to Be Perfect on Social Media
Emily has also built a significant audience through Instagram, and I loved hearing her perspective on social media because it isn’t based on trying to create the perfect content strategy.
She doesn’t have a rigid Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule.
She pays attention to when she feels creative, keeps ideas in her phone, and lets content come from her own experiences and the conversations she’s having with clients and her community. And honestly, I think we need more of this.
Social media can become exhausting when we believe every post needs to be perfectly planned, beautifully designed, completely original, and optimized within an inch of its life. It doesn’t.
Your audience doesn’t need you to reinvent the wheel every time you post. They need to understand what you stand for. They need to recognize your voice. And they need opportunities to connect with the real person behind the business.
What Happens When AI Can Give Us All the Information?
We also had a really interesting conversation about AI and where entrepreneurship and coaching are headed.
There is nothing inherently wrong with using AI to help organize, edit, or streamline our work. But I think there is a big difference between using AI as a tool and outsourcing the heart of your business to it. When we give away our ideas, our creativity, and our core message, we lose some of what makes our work uniquely ours.
And as AI becomes more integrated into our lives, I actually think the human side of business becomes even more valuable.
People can get information anywhere now. What they can’t get from a search engine is your presence. They can’t get your particular energy, perspective, lived experience, community, or the feeling of being in a room with you.
That’s why I’m increasingly drawn to experiential offers, community, retreats, group programs, and other ways of creating genuine human connection. As we become more surrounded by technology, those experiences may become even more meaningful.
Your Personal Growth and Your Business Are Connected
Another thread throughout Emily’s story is how deeply personal growth and entrepreneurship can be intertwined.
Her recovery journey, wellness practices, nervous system work, leadership training, and self-care have all influenced the way she shows up in her business. And I think this is something that many soul-led entrepreneurs eventually discover.
You can’t completely separate the person from the business. The more you learn about yourself, the more clearly you can see what you’re here to create.
The more regulated and connected you feel, the easier it can become to make decisions from intuition rather than fear. And the more you allow yourself to grow and change, the more permission you have to let your business grow and change with you.
You Don’t Have to Choose Just One Part of Yourself
Emily’s journey ultimately brought her back to the question she had been asking herself: Should she focus entirely on wellness or entirely on sobriety?
The answer turned out to be neither.
She realized she could weave both together.
Her wellness events naturally attract people from her sober community, and her sobriety work naturally connects with the wellness experiences she loves creating. Instead of choosing one side, the two became part of a more layered and unique brand.
And to me, that’s such a beautiful example of the soulpreneur path. Sometimes the things you’re trying to separate are actually meant to be woven together.
Your past experiences.
Your passions.
Your gifts.
Your struggles.
Your healing.
Your interests.
Your vision for the future.
They don’t have to make sense as separate boxes.
They can become the thing that makes your business uniquely yours.
Connect with Emily Killeen
Emily offers:
- Recovery coaching
- The Recovery Revival mentorship program
- Weekly Sober Sisters meetings
- Wellness workshops and retreats
- Cacao Flow experiences
- Sound and sensory healing experiences
- Authentic relating workshops
- Retreats in Sedona and beyond
Learn more: https://www.emilykilleen.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happy.sober.free/
Recovery Community: https://www.happysoberfree.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emily.eller2
Some topics we cover:
- Sobriety and entrepreneurship
- Wellness-focused recovery
- Building authentic community
- Social media and online business
- Human Design and Projector energy
- Nervous system healing and self-care
- Retreats, workshops, and experiential healing
- Alcohol-free living and recovery support
- Entrepreneurship as an evolving journey
- Healing, intuition, and embodied leadership