Life coach ‘just never said no’ to opportunities
April 2nd, 2011 Posted in Arts and LifeStory and photo by Noelle Johansen
WELLSVILLE — Life coach and entrepreneur Justin Topik claims he doesn’t have it all figured out, but he’s just being modest.
Topik grew up in Clearfield, Utah, and spent every summer on his family’s fruit farm in Perry. He was not always a life coach. Topik studied pre-med for three years at Weber State University, maintaining a 3.9 grade-point average, only to drop out to run a successful clothing company he started in college.
“My mom does a lot of sewing and crafts,” Topik said. “I don’t even know how to sew. I’m really good at gathering resources.” Topik eventually sold his line, but not before his designs were distributed through about 40 department stores in five different states.
Topik then picked up and moved to Tennessee where he pursued writing and songwriting for 10 years. There, through the music business and yoga classes, he met the people who inspired him to write a book and explore inspirational speaking. In Tennessee, he looked for a publisher for six months before he self-published his book of poetry and spiritual messages, “The Awakening Planet,” and sold over 1,000 copies.
“By pursuing music, it kind of opened some other doors for me,” Topik said. Once his book started to circulate, he began speaking motivationally to groups throughout Tennessee. “People look at it as an accomplishment,” Topik said.
While writing music, inspirational material, and constructing and publishing his book, Topik was also baking and selling gourmet homemade bread out of his house. He did this for four years, the bread business being his only income for three of those years. Topik continues to bake bread part time, but has moved on to new ventures, as he calls them.
“I like making bread but I don’t love making bread,” Topik said. “I’m always willing to go down a new path.”
That new path consisted of Topik returning to live in Perry. After a year, he lost his home in a chimney fire and moved to Wellsville. He now writes daily inspirational messages and runs a gift shop from his home for his website, peacepassionpositivity.com. In the past year, he has received 15,000 hits, he said. He is also a life coach and said he enjoys motivating people to keep positive mindsets and overcome things that are blocking new chapters in their lives. “I don’t have it all figured out. I’ve had some mediocre successes,” Topik said. “I’ve had some failures too.”
Running businesses is in his blood. “My whole family is entrepreneurial,” Topik said. He has found his niche in motivational and inspirational speaking and writing. He said he hopes to make a living as a writer and speaker, though it Is not the numbers that define the success for him.
“I’ve had to go down a lot of wrong roads to figure out what the right roads are for me,” Topik said. He said his various life paths have given him a uniquely broad perspective on life which he in turn shares with people around him.
“Anything that you do is a learning lesson in life,” Topik said, “I just never said no.”
Tags: Justin Topik, life coach, Wellsville
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