Bunny Young grew up in an entrepreneurial family, became a therapist, then founded A Better Place Consulting after a health scare and burnout forced her to rethink what work should look like. A heart condition and 80-hour weeks pushed her to redesign her career around balance instead of hustle.
Chapters
That's really all it is. And my businesses were a manifestation of things that I was passionate about. Rights that I wanted to wrong in the world. Not to be like the Batman of entrepreneurship, but a bat girl, Bat woman, bat person. So I put together these slides of like once we talked what is really going to be beneficial for you this morning as a part of my story and when we look at it, I put together some bullet points of what I think the most key important pieces of my DNA are. I know for certain that this man down here is my. Well, I know for certain he's my grandfather, but I know for certain that he also has been one of the most instrumental influences in my life. So he's an Irish immigrant, Cork to New York City, did the whole thing. And then New York City to Southern California is 60s to open what is now Toys R Us all across the west coast. And within six months had four kids. He completely quit. He was burnt out. He said this is not for me. He was making relationships and selling toys and selling consumerism instead of selling fun. He got into it thinking that I have four kids, I'm selling fun. So then he. His entrepreneurial story had been shared in our family. My father here, who is not my grandfather's son, he married into the family. What a lucky man. Him and my mom also had their own business and their own company. So my mom grew up running my grandfather's company and then started her company. My dad worked for my mom and still does today. So. And my dad's one of the most hard working individuals that I've ever met. And a little bit about his history. We did the whole ancestry DNA. He is a Norwegian Mexican. So thank you. I know I don't look anything like that. I think I look Norwegian. But just knowing who we are, knowing where we come from, come from, is my entrepreneurial DNA. I grew up thinking the only thing I'm never going to be is an entrepreneur. Absolutely not. Went to school, got a master's degree, went to school, got an undergraduate. I got a master's degree and was very happy, or so I thought. Being a therapist, I worked in crisis intervention for eight years. Child protective services, incarcerated individuals, law enforcement, US Military, which I am part of a military family. My MLS is white. It previously was doctor and Granddaughter. For those of you who are in military. MLS is my job. It's the same acronym but they want to say MLS instead of job. We'll give it to them. So all of this kind of made this DNA where I knew I wanted to help people. But I wanted a box. I wanted the safety of this box. Fast forward to 2012 when we moved to Virginia. My license as a therapist didn't transfer. So here I had my entire identity wrapped up in being a therapist. Not what I did. You could have told me and read me my job description and that didn't resonate with me. It was what was on my business card. And in fact, when I founded A Better Place Consulting, I worked myself with a coach for six months to figure out what to put on my business card. Do you know what's on my business card today? Your name. My name? Funny. That's it. That's me. That's my business. That's what I do. Is bunny. And so I had to get through some of this mind cheese. And I knew what my core values were. I also knew that I have a heart condition. A 40 hour work week was not conducive to my lifesty. And I was working for somebody else 84 plus hours a week because of my core values of authenticity and loyalty. I just wanted to give my all. I was giving my all to my job instead of giving my all to my family and myself. And you can't. You've heard, you can't pour from an empty cup. We've got 1 million cups, right? How do you fill those 1 million cups? It's not from all of it out on the street. We've got to pour it from somewhere.
