Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanti Grossman
Hi Shanti, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The first 5 years of my career I spent in the music industry, managing bands, which taught me a lot about organizing a lot of people and different personality types, looking back this has been incredibly helpful in managing my staff today! I also learned how to do large impact marketing on a small budget during those days in the music industry, which has been so helpful through the years of entrepreneurship. After leaving the music industry, I did a short stint in the non-profit space, and then transitioned to product based businesses in 2009. My first product based business taught me some really hard lessons about scalability, my second business grew to the point that I eventually sold it, and now I am solely focused on A Brighter Year. I’ve been self-employed since the day I left college, almost 20 years ago, but each business adventure has taught me different lessons and left me with some amazing building blocks to make my next business bigger and better!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have never met an entrepreneur who has had a smooth road. Every journey has its ups and downs. There are definitely times when the road is smooth and so easy, and times when everything seems to be a struggle. The main thing is that you have to have the tenacity to push through the hard times, and also the self discipline to sit back and enjoy the good times, or else this journey of entrepreneurship will lead to burnout very quickly!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am the founder and CEO of A Brighter Year, a company that specializes in bite size coloring activities for adults. As I entered a new phase in my life of being a working mom of 2 under two, my life got very stressful and very busy. Ironically during these stressful busy times, I craved creativity the most, but all the creative outlets I had previously had time for required way too much time, and so many decisions! Time was in short supply and decision fatigue had set in, and I was struggling to find a creative outlet that fit into my new busy lifestyle.
Previously I had loved adult coloring books, but was now immediately overwhelmed when I’d open up a page that was so detailed and took hours upon hours to finish. It was actually causing me more stress to try and get through a page!
After searching and searching for an easy and simple coloring book for adults, I decided it was time to make one and share it with the world. I launched A Bright Year in 2020, and since then have sold over 500,000 of our simple and easy mini coloring books!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are so many people who deserve credit in every single person’s entrepreneurship journey, because it is not just about your job or business, it is about you as a person, and so many people help shape that along the way.
I feel that my entrepreneurship journey started at such an early age. My parents always encouraged my creativity and also my early days of running lemonade stands. During my time in the music industry, I had so many people to look up to who taught me tenacity and also that it was ok to take a different path than your standard 9-5 job, and love every second of your non-traditional path. In the product business space I’ve learned to surround your self with other small business product based businesses that will get you through the slow days, and also through the busy days, who will help you see a clear path forward when you’re lost in the weeds or most likely drowning in a pile of invoices!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://abrighteryear.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abrighteryear/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/abrighteryear
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ABrighterYear
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@abrighteryear
Image Credits
Laura Morsman Photography
