Jennifer Sutton connects with Emily Guarnotta, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Phoenix Health, for an honest and insightful conversation about the chaos and clarity of entrepreneurship. Emily’s journey from being a solo provider to co-founding a scalable online therapy practice focused on maternal mental health wasn’t without its challenges—especially navigating telehealth regulations and launching during a global pandemic. Throughout the conversation, she shared valuable lessons about staying clear on your goals, pushing past discomfort, and leaning on a strong support network.
Key Takeaways:
🔑 Clarity is Key
Without a clear vision, it’s easy to get stuck. Emily reflected on how defining her goals helped her stay focused and keep moving forward, even when things felt overwhelming.
🚀 Growth Happens Outside Your Comfort Zone
As an introvert, Emily had to learn to embrace the uncomfortable—whether it was networking, making cold calls, or asking for help. Her motto? “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
🤝 Don’t Do It Alone
Emily stressed how mentors and a strong support system played a crucial role in her journey. Having trusted people to offer guidance and encouragement helped her navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to Phoenix Health and Its Mission
05:58 The Journey of Co-Founding a Business
10:05 Navigating the Challenges of Telehealth
14:02 Aha Moments and Validation in Business
20:23 Prioritizing Health and Well-being
25:42 The Importance of Clarity
28:12 Building a Supportive Community
29:55 Advice for Founders
31:59 The Role of Mental Health in Entrepreneurship
37:03 Connecting with Phoenix Health
Connect with Dr. Emily:
Website: https://joinphoenixhealth.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-guarnotta/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_phoenix_health/
Twitter: https://x.com/joinphoeni73576
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PhoenixHealthTherapy/videos
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:01)
Hello and welcome to Hello Chaos, the weekly podcast exploring the messy and chaotic lives and minds of founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Today our guest is Emily Guarnotta. She is a clinical psychologist and co-founder of Phoenix Health. Welcome to Hello Chaos, Emily. I appreciate you being on our podcast today.
Emily Guarnotta (00:23)
Hi Jennifer, thank you for having me.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (00:25)
Well, just start us out and just get everybody a baseline of what is being Phoenix Health and how did you get started in this crazy mess of being a founder.
Emily Guarnotta (00:37)
Sure. So, like you mentioned, I'm a psychologist and I specialize in maternal mental health. It's also called perinatal mental health. So I've had a lot of interest in working with families that are dealing with everything from infertility
to pregnancy stress, to postpartum mental health conditions, to pregnancy loss. And I've been working with that population for a couple of years. And I was working as a solo provider for quite some time. And I just really realized that as an individual psychologist myself, I just couldn't keep up with the demand for clients that were needing help.
And it got to a point where I said there has to be kind of a better way to navigate this whole thing and make it make a greater impact and allow more clients access to care. So that led me to come up with the idea for Phoenix Health, which is an online therapy practice specifically for the perinatal population.
And our goal is really to make our services really easy to access, accessible, sorry, and affordable. our practice is scalable so that we can work in different states and see clients across the country.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:00)
That's fantastic, and especially, have you seen a rise since post-COVID of people seeking mental health or because you focused in more women's health and perinatal, has that always been kind of a trend to help women and families?
Emily Guarnotta (02:24)
Yeah, it was kind of interesting when COVID happened in 2020. There was a dry spell for about a month there, I'd say in March and April 2020. And then
probably towards the end of April, there was such a large demand. I think people were really struggling at that time. And for a little bit, they weren't sure, you know, is this just gonna pass? You know, I'm not quite sure about the telehealth thing, if I'm comfortable with that. And then by the end of April, think a lot of people were really at the end of their ropes. And that, really saw a large demand at that time. And it's been pretty, you know, pretty steady.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (02:59)
pretty steady growth ever since.
So what have you discovered about yourself in your journey of starting a business, founding a business, and you said you're a co-founder, so that means you have a partner too. Yeah, so how was that, did you choose the partner, how did that experience go?
Emily Guarnotta (03:12)
I do, yeah.
Yeah, I actually went through one of those co-founder match networks. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (03:26)
Whoa, I have not heard of that. Really? I don't think a lot of people
know about that. Tell us about that.
Emily Guarnotta (03:34)
Yeah, honestly the specific names I can't remember off the top of my head, but there are several out there where they're they're basically you can like put up a profile kind of saying if you have a business idea or if you're open to ideas and share a little bit about what you're looking for in a co founder. And I've heard actually a lot of people not really having the greatest success on these platforms. But I think there you know, there are a couple of really great
matches that come out of them and I found my co-founder I probably met with like maybe four or five people and I found him and I just like knew he was kind of the one because we really had complimentary
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:03)
Okay.
Emily Guarnotta (04:16)
skill sets where he he's not a clinician like I am he has a tech and finance background, but he really has an appreciation for mental health and he's worked in the mental health space in the past. So he brings in that understanding and compassion, but he's much more well versed in technology and the financial aspect of the business. Yeah, so in that sense, we're really a good match.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:33)
The operations part of it. Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (04:41)
So I have to say that was actually, it kind of happened pretty organically. But going from being a psychologist, mental health, to like now being an entrepreneur too, it's been kind of a weird, a weird thing. you can always feel like those two things go together really neatly with a bow around it. I feel like I've really learned that
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (04:57)
Yeah.
That's right.
Emily Guarnotta (05:10)
Well, I've really stepped out of my comfort zone. I mean, I'm someone that's pretty, has always just been pretty introverted. So the idea of cold calling and reaching out and putting myself out there was never something that I was comfortable doing, but I've just pushed myself to do it. So kind of like seeing myself be able to push beyond my limits has been a really nice surprise.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (05:12)
Yeah.
yeah.
That's right.
Yeah, I think someone, some of the best advice, the year I started the business, somebody was like, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because every day you're gonna walk into something that you've not ever done. You've gotta step in and do it. You're gonna wear a hat that you've never had to wear a hat before. And I'm an introvert too. It's like you're gonna have to stretch yourself in order to really grow a company, but also scale a company, all that.
Emily Guarnotta (05:58)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (06:05)
It takes some brain sweat for sure. So if you, if, well let me go back. What would have been the most rewarding part of starting the company? What's been the most rewarding part of since you founded Phoenix Health?
Emily Guarnotta (06:26)
Definitely the impact on the clients. I would say just being able to see that we have been able to have a greater impact than I was able to have as a solo provider has been really, really nice. And being able to offer the affordable care. So we do take insurance and a lot of practices, which I totally understand are struggling to continue to take insurance because it's a very difficult system to navigate. So we work really hard to be able
to take insurance so that people can get, people who wouldn't have access to out of pocket care can get care with us. And I would just say personally, it's been really rewarding to see myself be able to push out of my comfort zone and do things that I never thought that I would be able to do.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (07:16)
And your co-founder, mean,
when you guys sat down, did you guys have to go, okay, this is how we wanna work together, do you guys have regular meetings, how do you guys operate? Especially with this, it's kind of like a matchmaking. It's not like you guys grew up together, you know what I mean? A lot of co-founders, they've known each other, but this is so unusual and I'm fascinated by.
really understanding like how that works and how are you making it work and continue to work.
Emily Guarnotta (07:53)
Yeah, we do have two standing meetings every week where we go over our tasks and review everything. And then we have check-ins periodically throughout the week, but those two standing meetings are really, important. And, you know, we spent a little bit of time when we first got connected trying to just get to know each other, like just asking questions, like, you know, where did you go to school?
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:17)
Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (08:22)
What are your thoughts on this? Because you're right, we really didn't know anything about each other. And we still try to do a little bit of that now and devote a little bit of our time to like personal stuff so that we do have that connection. Because it is kind of a, you know, it's a unique situation having never met someone in person. And I didn't mention he's on the West Coast, I'm on the East Coast. So we're different time zones and yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (08:26)
Right.
Yeah.
Oh my, okay, yeah.
But the fact that you guys are making it work, I think that shows a little bit of hope. If there's a founder out there that's like, need a partner, I need another founder. A lot of times we look in our community and we can't find our local direct community. I think this gives hope of like, you know what, the world is our oyster and we can make it work within today's. We were just, Chandler and I, our producer, we're just talking about Mike.
Pre-COVID, I don't even know that would have been a thing, you know? I mean, I don't even know. And I think after COVID, people are so used to now working virtually and being able to have these meetings and creating relationships and stuff like that virtually. So I think, you know, I think that's fantastic that it's, that's the way you found your founder or your co-founder and you guys are making it work.
Emily Guarnotta (09:18)
thing, yeah.
I'm also really big, I know this sounds kind of woo woo, but I'm very big on putting out what your intentions are. So like when I met my husband and then when I was looking for my co-founder, I really kind of pinpointed like what I wanted in that person, what kind of traits I was looking for and what I wanted that relationship and that dynamic to be like.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (09:46)
you
Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (10:05)
And that being said, it was kind of organic in both situations. So I think there is something to being really clear on what you're looking for and putting it out there. And I don't know the mechanics behind it. It's attracted to you, whatnot. But I think when you're really clear, you know what you're looking for, and you're going to find that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (10:10)
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
That's right. Well, and I think it probably made you much more efficient when you were doing the matchmaking, right? Going through that process, you could immediately after you asked a couple of questions to be like, no, they're not it or, know. And as you said, you guys spent a lot of time kind of up that upfront with that engagement, which is which is so key. What what's something that that you like about yourself? I mean, you're a psychologist. I'm going to.
fascinated to know what your answer is. What's something that you like about yourself that you wish other people recognized about you more?
Emily Guarnotta (11:01)
That is such a good question. That gets really deep in there. I think I really like that I have a lot of grit and I really, I work really, really hard. And I think it's not something that a lot of people see because I also kind of.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:03)
you
Emily Guarnotta (11:25)
hide it a little bit. Like I try to, you know, I try to work really hard to be balanced and balance time with my kids and friends and my husband and you know, everything I have going on. So I don't think people always realize how much I work and how hard I work. And I don't necessarily feel like I need that recognition. But sometimes it's nice for someone to just kind of say like, you know, I really admire that you work this hard.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (11:40)
Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, sometimes we really, know, high achievers, we put this, I guess, this air, I don't know, like this impression out there of like, wow, you've got it. And like, sometimes people don't see that behind the scenes, whether you're struggling or just all like the sweat equity that goes into stuff. it's, and if people just kind of walked in your shoes, they'd be like,
Emily Guarnotta (12:12)
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:18)
Whoa, how in the world do you get all this time? And you're right, sometimes you don't need the pad on the back, sometimes you kinda, yeah. Sometimes we gotta, and that's what it's like, we gotta celebrate our own wins, pat ourselves on the back sometimes. So as you, you said that you were a solopreneur that kinda moved into this, there, it moved into more like a scaling of business, so like a
Emily Guarnotta (12:22)
Yeah.
It's nice sometimes be seen.
Absolutely.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (12:50)
this online, is it online telehealth? Is that the category that you describe it as? Okay. What's the biggest, I guess, misconception or misperception that either you had walking in that you were like, this is not what I thought it was gonna be, or things that you were like, people ask me this and I just wanna debunk this myth right now. Somebody wants to.
Emily Guarnotta (12:56)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:16)
Enter into this. What would be something you'd be like, here, let me break down some myths.
Emily Guarnotta (13:22)
Yeah, I think one thing that I didn't realize kind of a myth is that you can just kind of start a telehealth practice and
operate and you're off to the races. There's a lot of licensing involved. You're dealing with licensing, mental health licenses across different states and every state has different regulations. Plus you're dealing with business licensing, plus you're dealing with insurance credentialing and often those three systems do not align and it's super complicated and that's been a huge learning curve for me. I was somewhat, I was a way
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (13:39)
Ew.
No, I can't even.
Emily Guarnotta (14:02)
somewhat of dynamics that I was going to encounter, but it was way more complicated than I ever could have imagined. And it took, made us take a longer time to really launch because we had to deal with all that.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:03)
Right.
Be
Yeah,
is it because of, mean, going outside bricks and mortar, seems like, okay, we know we're gonna plant here and this and you know, but being a telehealth, are there different requirements or do you have to get a license in every state?
Emily Guarnotta (14:31)
You have to have a license in every state. There are...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:33)
Okay.
Emily Guarnotta (14:36)
some professions like mine as a psychologist, I can join a compact where I can operate in multiple states, but other professions like social workers can't do that. So there's like that kind of difference to navigate. Plus you have to have a business license in every state that you're operating in. And you have to be credentialed with each individual insurance company in every state that you're gonna be seeing clients in. So it's a lot to kind of like
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (14:50)
Okay.
Emily Guarnotta (15:06)
track and all these things of course as any other. It takes a lot of time.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:10)
but also just to apply and go through
those, Wow. How long did that take you guys to go through that? That could not have been easy. You're still.
Emily Guarnotta (15:22)
I mean, we're still like, still navigating some of it,
but, it was, I think it added about a year longer.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (15:30)
Yeah, but I was just thinking about that. I'm like, oh my gosh, that what what was the biggest aha moment where like your breakthrough where you're like, this is it. Like I've I've I've done something here. Have you have you had one of those moments yet?
Emily Guarnotta (15:46)
Yeah, know, ever once we kind of got some of that legal stuff under control.
And I was really able to focus on a lot of networking with we network a lot with other OPGYNs and OOLAs and anyone who works with parents. That was kind of the aha moment of everyone we I spoke to was really excited about what we were doing. And that's when I really realized like we really have something here. Like these people who work are on the, you know, the ground with our clients really see a need for
this and that's kind when things started. Our biggest supporters have really been other healthcare providers that send their patients to us.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (16:30)
Yeah, so that
ecosystem has been like, been like, okay, we, you guys filled a gap. We, recognize the gap and they validated the gap is there. And you're like, what's been the most, other than the regulation and stuff now that you've kind of been up and running, what's been the most significant challenge that you faced? Kind of like you're the ocean of like, no, what have we done?
Emily Guarnotta (16:37)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
that's a good question. you know, I think sometimes just the
The challenges are really, again, the networking. Although I've grown to love it, it's definitely really out of my comfort zone and I have to kind of like pump myself up to be able to make cold calls and talk to people. And it's definitely gotten easier, but I would say that that's still a challenge for me because it's just so uncomfortable. It's so kind of unnatural for me.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:18)
Yeah.
Right.
Have you learned, is there any discipline or ritual or routine that you have learned to pump yourself up or to end like, or just to even structure your day to go, look, I just gotta get through, I'm gonna do these once a week during this block of time and I'm just gonna knock it out. Like, is there any tricks?
Emily Guarnotta (17:50)
I do try to set goals for myself. Like I'll say, I want to cold call three people today. And that's been helpful because then it's not super overwhelming and open ended. And then just trying to get it done right away. I think they call that eat the frog. Yeah, so just try to do that tougher task right away, get it done so you can move on with your day. Because if you put it off and wait till the last.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (17:55)
Okay.
Right.
Yeah, yeah.
it's an
energy sucker, yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (18:16)
It really is. You're going to feel
so good once you get that done and you can move on.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (18:20)
right check
the box get it done. Is there a moment like if you look back on into your you know your journey your path is there a moment that really has shaped you to who you are today like that grit that gumption that you know hey I'm gonna just go out on my own and do this I mean what sparked all that?
Emily Guarnotta (18:44)
Yeah, I think when I became a mom myself, I was working, I had started my practice, I was doing it part time and then I was working for an organization part time as well. And I really realized after I had my first and then after I had my second child, that working for someone else just wasn't working with my lifestyle.
I really needed that flexibility of being able to shape my own hours and just have that kind of control over my life. And that, I think that was really the moment where I was like, I have to do this. And I held on, think longer than I would have liked to. And I really liked working with other people. I liked working on a team in a brick and mortar, but it just got to the point where it was causing more stress and I had to really.
pull the cord and say like, need to go fully on my own now.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:38)
Yeah.
and look at you now. Would you ever go back?
Emily Guarnotta (19:44)
Yeah,
I would not know. I think once you get a taste of it, it's, mean, I don't know if I met an entrepreneur that's gone back.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (19:47)
Yeah
You're like.
No, it'd be hard. And some go back because they recognized entrepreneurship isn't for them. know, because it's not for everybody. Because I know I've kind of had those moments of, could I be an employee again? Like somebody else. I don't know. I don't know. Or I would be like, ooh, I'd be the best employee. Because I would fill every gap that that person might need.
Emily Guarnotta (20:01)
Yeah.
It'd be so hard.
Thank
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (20:23)
So how do you deal with stress and challenges and are there disciplines that you've kind of incorporated into your life as you become a founder and taken on that weight?
Emily Guarnotta (20:37)
Yeah, I've always really prioritized my health, physical and mental. And I've just made those non-negotiables for me. So exercise is something that's like super important to me, getting enough sleep, eating well, and meditating every day, at least for about 10 minutes and doing five minutes of stretching in the morning. So I have a morning routine before my kids wake up that really sets me up for the day.
And then I just put, you know, I schedule in my exercise into my calendar. So I know I'm doing it at this day, this time, and it's just non-negotiable.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:09)
Okay.
Right,
that's good.
What do you think, you know, what do you think our listeners would be or I would be surprised to find out about you that's not on your resume, it's not on LinkedIn? Is there something that's just fun and interesting that'd be surprising to learn about you?
Emily Guarnotta (21:35)
Well, my fun fact, I don't know that this is so fun and surprising, but my fun fact when I play those icebreaker games is always to say that I actually took Latin in high school for a couple of years and I would compete in Latin competitions. So that's something that makes me pretty unique, but I don't remember any of it or speak a word of it, but it was very helpful when I was taking the SATs.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (21:43)
Good.
What?
I bet so, was
like, you know, it's so funny, I have a 16 year old and we've made him take Latin this year. He hates it, only because we knew it would help them on the SATs. Why do I need this? Is ever like, you will need it to make, he's been fighting us. Well, if you hit rewind on anything, would you do anything differently?
Emily Guarnotta (22:08)
Oh really? Oh my gosh.
It's very helpful, yes.
I think I would just be more patient with the process, dealing with the whole, you know, legal thing that mentioned before and licensing was very frustrating. And when I was in that process, I found myself getting down a lot. I don't deal well when I feel stuck. so that it's just, it's emotionally really hard for me to kind of cope with like just feeling stuck and it can make me a little bit at risk for a little bit of depression.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (22:49)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (23:00)
So I would just remind myself it is a process you're gonna get there be patient Yeah, I mean, you know, we all know it but it's it's so hard when you're in it. So really breathe that
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (23:04)
Trust the process, trust the.
yeah,
yeah. And just recognize, just take it one step at a time. If you could pick two things to change about your business, about Phoenix Health today, what would you change and why?
Emily Guarnotta (23:30)
I would I would add more services to what we offer right now. We offer we offer therapy, mental health treatment, but I would like to offer more services like lactation consulting and group therapy and some other services that families could really benefit from. So that's one change that I would make. And then.
Another change would be, and this is something I'm working on, is just delegating more. As a co-founder, I really struggle with delegating and trusting and just trusting in someone to be able to do the job the way that I do it. And I often feel like, if I can do it, then I should just do it. And I feel very overwhelmed.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:06)
So hard.
Right, right, That's like the,
I think that's the entrepreneur mantra. Like we've all faced that. So if we met a year from now, what would we be celebrating?
Emily Guarnotta (24:29)
Yes.
We would be celebrating Phoenix Health's continued growth that we would hopefully be operating in all 50 states. Right now we're at about 40, so we'd add at least close to 50.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (24:51)
Let's do it, let's make it
happen, all 50, yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (24:55)
Yep, and being able to take insurance in the majority of those states as well so we can make our treatment really affordable.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:01)
Very good.
That's a great goal that we'll celebrate next year. That'll be your, is that the 2025 kind of, the goal for this year is to make that happen.
Emily Guarnotta (25:14)
It
is. Yeah, my co-founder and I were just actually doing our goal setting last night. That's the goal. I love it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (25:19)
Yeah, isn't that fun? I
worked on that over the last week or so. Well, what advice would you, you know, either you've been given or advice that you've kind of learned that you would give others that either you've learned or you have been advised and you're like, that was the best advice ever. What would you share?
Emily Guarnotta (25:42)
Thank
Being super clear on things, would say, super clear on your goals, super clear on where you're going, who you want to work with. And as a psychologist too, I do often see this with my clients that when they struggle with clarity, they're just so stuck.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:05)
Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (26:06)
And it really can be hard. If you don't have clarity, really, it's almost impossible to move forward. So the best advice I've ever gotten and I would give people is to be super clear.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:17)
Yeah, that's really good advice. I'm working on that right now for myself. Clarity. It's one of my words for 2025. So if you had to sum up your journey in one word across your entrepreneurial journey, what would that word be?
Emily Guarnotta (26:35)
I would say curvy, because it's been kind of like a roller curvy there. Yes. lot of twists and turns.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (26:39)
Curvy, yeah, a little roller coaster. unexpected.
What was the most unexpected thing for you? Was it just the regulations and all that or was there other, were really pretty, I can't imagine.
Emily Guarnotta (26:53)
The regulations were pretty huge. Yeah. And
I think just the amount of time, you know, everything that you think, you think something might take a month, well, it's probably going to take six months and it's beyond your control. I don't like when things are beyond my control.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:03)
Yeah, yeah, that's right. I know, you're like, why is this
not happening fast enough? We're very impatient. Now if you look forward into the next chapter, what word would that be to sum up kind of like where you're going?
Emily Guarnotta (27:12)
Yes.
I would say, so I know it's gonna still be curvy, but I wanna say there's like a touch more mindfulness with the curvy. So where I can, I'm anticipating it's gonna continue to be curvy, but I can be more patient with the curviness if that kind of makes sense.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (27:42)
Yeah, no,
that totally makes sense. Is there, did you like tap into any resources, whether it's locally or nationally? Obviously you found a founder, co-founder matchmaking, but were there other resources that you tapped into to like, how do I start a business? How do I scale this? And, you know, along your journey, was there anything that helped you or were you like a book podcast kind of a person?
Emily Guarnotta (28:12)
I'm definitely a book and podcast person. I will listen and read it all and soak it up. I think you can get so much valuable information from other people who have been there. I also did, I do have a mentor through Score, the small business.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:19)
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, and a lot
of people don't realize that there's a score office in every single community, and it's free, and completely free, yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (28:35)
Mm-hmm. It's completely free. And
it's just great to have someone who's there with you on your journey that you can bounce ideas off of. They can give you feedback. And they're really like your, like they're your cheerleader too. So I love meeting with my mentor. He, you know, I started with him early on and he's been a really valuable resource. And I know I do have a coach as well.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (28:49)
Yeah.
That's fantastic, yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (29:03)
And I do have my own therapist. So I kind of have this like team that I can talk with. Yeah. So that's been that's been really helpful.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:07)
You're a block community. Yeah.
How did you find your coach?
Emily Guarnotta (29:15)
That's a good question. think I actually, I think she might've put a post on LinkedIn. Yeah, and she works specifically with moms. So that really attracted me to her, because I wanted to work with someone who could help me with business, but also understood the motherhood piece since I have two children.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:22)
Really?
Right. When they
were what relatively young then when you started the company. Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (29:40)
Yeah, yeah
they were. So they're four and six now, so we've been doing this going into our third years. Yeah, they were little. Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (29:48)
Yeah, so they were they were little. Yeah,
no one prepares you for that balance.
Emily Guarnotta (29:55)
No, and I think, you know, something that I struggle with too is sometimes, you know, I said I love podcasts and I love reading, but it's hard for me to relate to someone who owns a business and doesn't have children just because it's a very different, you have to approach it very differently. So when I find someone that's a parent and an entrepreneur, it's like, want to pick their brain all day long.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:12)
Yeah.
That's right,
that's right, because it is, it's a different, I don't know, it's a different relationship. Like yeah, there's like a whole different layer of stress. And you know, when you're not just planning the business calendar and goals and objectives and monitoring, I mean was managing six calendars and you know, with family and the kids and I think it's just a level people don't really.
Emily Guarnotta (30:26)
you have less time to work with.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (30:49)
understand and really yeah very very strategic. Is there a book or a podcast? mean you said you love podcasts other than you know Hello Cast is one of the best ones but is there another one like that's your go-to podcast?
Emily Guarnotta (30:51)
you have a lot less time to work with. So you have to be really strategic.
Yes, of course.
I really love a diary of a CEO. I would say that's probably one of my favorites. I also love Ed Mylatt, Lewis Howes. Yeah, those are...
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:10)
yeah, that's a good one. That is a-
yes. I didn't know what his
podcast, I just know it's Lewis Howes. don't know. What is his podcast called? The School of Greatness. Okay. I just watch him. just look up him. I couldn't remember what his podcast was, but those are good ones. Yeah.
Emily Guarnotta (31:22)
The School of Greatness.
Yeah, those are definitely, they're always top on my playlist.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:35)
Do
you have some that are in your clinical psychology kind of realm or do you kind of tend to listen to ones that are more business entrepreneur, mompreneur?
Emily Guarnotta (31:48)
I can read more
mental health psychology, but I tend to listen to more business, entrepreneur and spiritual. Yeah. And I really love a good podcast that merges business and spiritual together.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (31:54)
Yeah.
Blends all of them together, yeah.
Well, because when you look at, I know that you have mental health for families and stuff, but man, mental health for founders and entrepreneurs has taken on a whole world of its own. Pre-COVID, was, no one really talked about it, but the suicide rate among founders and entrepreneurs was higher than normal. Now I think post-COVID, more mental.
health, more awareness, people are talking about it, normalizing the stress. Everyone's, and that's why we started the company and the podcast was really to support other entrepreneurs to find a community, find resources, being able to talk about things of like, you're not alone when you think about things like that, or you're stressed, you're not alone in that. So I think it's good to build that community.
And it looks like absolutely. So in your community, are they all local to you or is it virtual for you as well?
Emily Guarnotta (32:57)
100 % and we all need communities.
with the community that I personally connect with. It's a mix of both. So some are virtual. My mentor's local, so we meet at the local Panera Bread, but my therapist and my coach are all virtual.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:12)
Yeah
That's kinda nice, you can just, are they on your own time zone?
Emily Guarnotta (33:30)
One is and one isn't. And I'm the worst with time zones. my gosh. You would think I would have it down pat, but I make mistakes all day long.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (33:41)
You're like, what time am I in? Where are you located? Is there, okay, so coming from a psychologist perspective, what, I mean, you've given some really good advice. What's another just really good piece of advice that you'd like to leave other founders?
Emily Guarnotta (34:03)
I would say, I mean, this is really cliche, but I really wholeheartedly believe it is really get comfortable with being uncomfortable and don't be afraid of failure. Cause like we all, we all encounter failure.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:15)
That's right. That's right.
I said this on another podcast. you know, I used to say I fail up or I fail forward. And but I've tried to over the last few months, I've tried to take out failure even as a word in my vocabulary, because it's not really if it's just lessons learned. And I think that's, know, we need to be more comfortable and accepting of it's going to happen, but it's just a lesson.
Emily Guarnotta (34:35)
Mm-hmm.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:44)
that you learned from. That's it.
Emily Guarnotta (34:45)
Yeah.
And no one else is staying awake thinking about, know, Emily screwed up that business 10 years ago. Like, no one cares. No one cares.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (34:53)
Nobody's thinking about that. Yeah.
I've had to learn to accept, let that stuff go. been, you know, I journaled at night. I started that about 16, 18 months ago and I just journaled three things. Like what brought my, what was the greatest moment of joy that happened that day? And you know, not just business, just the day in general, because my kids are part of that.
What thing am I, you know, what am I anxious about? Or what did I feel like I didn't do was great? You know, I didn't handle that phone call or I didn't handle that meeting well or, you know, I should have said these words to my kids or whatever. And then what am I looking forward to? Those are the three things. I just like a couple of lines, but it's been fun to kind of go back and look at the things that I wrote from the beginning. like, God, I was stressed out about that. That's so silly.
That's so, and then it also reminds me of like the joy moments that I had maybe forgotten just a little, you know, because some days it's really hard and it's like there was nothing great that happened today. And then I'm like, I have to force myself to go, yeah, there was. I smiled at least once. What brought that joy? So it's been, that's been something that has helped me kind of get over just, I call it ghosts and cobwebs that have been, you know, sometimes rattle in there that,
that prevent you to move forward or it sticks you, makes you stuck.
Emily Guarnotta (36:29)
Absolutely. And I would just say also, people should just know sometimes these practices like journaling and meditation and exercise. We don't always feel better right away when we do them. We've really got to stick through them. You know, I think I was, yeah, I meditated for like years before I ever felt like it had any of an impact or I stopped dreading having to do it every morning.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (36:30)
Get out of my way. Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, consistency. Yeah.
Right.
Emily Guarnotta (36:55)
You know, but there you will wake up one day and realize, wow, like this practice has really helped me and I'm so much less anxious or I'm so much, you know, less overwhelmed with it.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:03)
Right.
Yeah, yeah, it
took about six months for me to kind of go, oh, this is like, because you know, it takes what 21 days to form a habit or, you know, but once you start doing after a couple months, you're like, oh, I need to do it. Like, and then it became, oh, I really, you know, when I look back on it, I'm like, oh, this is this is helping. And I miss it when I when I don't have it, when I don't do it, I kind of like, oh, I need to go back.
Emily Guarnotta (37:26)
Yeah.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (37:35)
I can't go to sleep unless I get that done. Well, this has been wonderful. So before we go, before we go, how can people get a hold of you, Emily, and learn more about Phoenix Health, about yourself, your journey? How can people connect with you? And if there's anything that you want to offer or anything, here is your moment.
Emily Guarnotta (37:59)
Yeah, you can find us at joinphoenixhealth.com and our website. You can sign up for free consultation. You can learn more about us. You can even get started with therapy right through our website so you don't have to deal with making phone calls or anything like that. And it has all of our socials on there. And we'd love to connect, you know, and if there's, if you have any ideas for us, if you're...
a parent or you're in the perinatal phase and you're struggling and you think that we should be focusing on something, we're definitely open to ideas too.
Jennifer "JJ" Sutton (38:36)
Very good.
Joinphoenixhealth.com. All right, we'll tag you. I'm always amazed at how fast these things go. Thank you so much. I enjoyed the conversation. And for everybody, thank you for listening and watching us and joining us today. The podcast episode will be available on all your favorite podcast platforms. I prefer Apple, so go to Apple, subscribe to us, like us, give it that five-star review, and help us.
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