In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews serial entrepreneur Bunny Young, a champion of post‑corporate entrepreneurship. Bunny opens with a childhood story about a boy rescuing a single starfish, illustrating her belief that helping one person at a time creates meaningful impact. She emphasizes that the entrepreneur’s greatest asset is themselves, arguing that investing in personal growth yields the highest return for a business. Her core business advice centers on knowing and protecting one’s core values. When asked what she would tell her younger self, she stresses listening more and speaking less. Regarding happiness, she rejects the pursuit of happiness as a goal, preferring self‑actualization and self‑awareness as the path to fulfillment. Bunny highlights the book Erasing Institutional Bias by Dr. Tiffany Jana, noting that confronting personal biases and building alliances is essential for change in organizations and society. Her favorite quote, from Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, underscores the power of caring. Finally, she directs listeners to her Facebook group “Difference Makers: Passion into Profits,” the primary community where she engages with like‑minded entrepreneurs.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Bunny Young with us. She is a serial entrepreneur and supporter of post-corporate entrepreneurs. So welcome to the show, Bunny.
Thanks, Tyler. Glad to be here.
Of course, glad to have you on. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Bunny, is What's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
I think that's going to be the story that my grandfather shared with me when I was little about a— after a storm, there were thousands of starfish that had washed up on the beach, and there was a little boy picking them up and throwing them back in. And an old man came along and said, there's thousands of starfish and one of you, you're never going to make a difference. Little boy picked up a starfish, threw it back in the ocean, and looked at the old man and said, "I made a difference to that one." And that just impacted my life to know that I could do something every single day that would make a difference to one person. And that was truly making a difference and making an impact. Even if I didn't save thousands of starfish, if thousands of people saved one starfish, then that was meaningful.
Yes. And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I love this question. Uh, um, for me it is that you as the business owner are your most valuable resource to your company and quite frankly to your life, and therefore any investment that you make on yourself is the highest return on investment in your business. Coming from being a therapist in a previous life, sitting down with business owners who are so concerned about growing their marketing or growing their website but don't want to make any investment in themselves, that's truly where it starts and where all of that transformation and the highest return on your investment comes from.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? You're not necessarily industry-specific.
Know your core values, know why you started your business, and never sacrifice those or settle for anything less than outside, um, of your core values.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
If I could give myself one piece of advice, I'd probably give myself at least 5. Listen more, talk less, open your eyes, hold out your hands, just be. But definitely the one piece of advice would be listen more and talk less.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I don't like this question, Tyler. I don't like focusing on happiness.
Okay.
So, I'm going to say that my key to happiness would be forgetting about trying to achieve happiness and go for self-actualization or more self-awareness because I think that we're in a world where literally everything around us is telling us what happiness looks like from cars to clothes to who we date. And so, if we're stuck in that pursuit of happiness, I don't think we're ever going to get there. But, if we're really comfortable with who we are and what we want to do with our lives and where we want to go, then I think happiness is a part of that journey, a positive consequence, if you will.
Yes.
And I will tell you, I like that answer. And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
This is a brand new book. I had the opportunity to learn a little bit about this from Dr. Dr. Tiffany Janna. It's called Erasing Institutional Bias. And the number one thing that I've learned from it is that we have the power to make a difference, and that starts with us. So whether we're in an organization or whether it's in a family, that working on yourself to overcome your internal biases, whether you're aware of these or you're unaware of these, and then also cultivating an alliance of like-minded people to help us. We're never going to be perfect, but being able to go inside and figure out where some of our biases lie and work on those, and then having essentially a community of individuals to help us be the best version of ourselves and vice versa is really truly where the power comes, whether that's in a company or just in this world. So Erasing Institutional Bias, and it's on Amazon.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
So I follow up Dr. Tiffany Jana with the Lorax. So my favorite quote is from Dr. Seuss, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not." And I have that tattooed, so that's how much I love that quote, Tyler Wagner.
Oh, very cool. Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
I stalk my Facebook group of like-minded entrepreneurs called Difference Makers Passion into Profits. So even if I'm not responding to text messages or emails, that's the most frequented place in my life. I'm there on videos and commenting all the time. So Facebook, Difference Makers Passion into Profits. And I hope all Spanish guys find you there. Of course. Thanks again for coming on. We Thank you for having me.
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