#ideastakeflight Stories: Trisha Dohn of Well365

Meet Trisha Dohn, founder of Well365 headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD. We asked Trisha to share a bit about her journey, as well as her Ideas Take Flight moment; that pivotal moment which allowed her business to grow through a major hurdle.

 

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Trisha on her Ideas Take Flight moment:

I have always been passionate about health and wellness.  I grew up in a family of athletes, was an athlete myself, and knew that taking care of myself and others was something I wanted to continue as I began my journey into adulthood. 

I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a Master’s degree in Exercise Science.  Upon graduation in the early 2000’s, the term corporate wellness was not popular or slightly mainstream. As many people with my background did, I went and worked at a fitness center.  I worked with individuals on their diet and exercise program but soon identified that I wanted more.  Not quite realizing the position I was taking, I accepted a job with one of the health care systems as a wellness coordinator.  This position is what exposed me to corporate wellness. 

Fast forward to 2015 while working in the corporate world of wellness, I identified that all of my work was being driven by corporate decisions and people whom did not understand corporate wellness nor the passion for wellness like I did.  This along with doing some soul searching on what I wanted to do, my Idea of Take Flight moment occurred and I took the leap of faith and started Well365, my own independent, corporate wellness company. 

well 365 logo

I quickly learned that although I was an expert in corporate wellness, I had so much to learn about owning and running a business.  I learned about Zeal when they released an opportunity on social media about an Accelerator program.  I found out about it the night before the deadline to submit an application to be accepted into the program.  I quickly threw some things on paper, sent it over and kept on with my business until I learned I had been invited to give my elevator speech. Keep in mind, I didn’t even know what an elevator speech was!  All in all, I was accepted into the program and that was the pivotable step to me finally understanding that I was an entrepreneur, I owned my own company and for me to be successful, I needed to embrace this opportunity to learn from others who were successful in this space. 

Throughout the accelerator program, I realized that working from home was no longer a good fit and I decided to become a tenant at Zeal.  2 years later I reflect on the amount of help I received from resources, connections, brain-storming that really assisted me to get where I am today.  I started out in my basement with just myself and today have grown Well365 to 17 people turning in timesheets on any given month and clients we serve across 28 states. 

Well365 has just begun and the sky is the limit for where we will go!   

 

Join us at Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship on Thursday, September 5th at 4PM for our monthly Refresher social, as we celebrate Well365’s tenant graduation as Trisha and her team move on to dedicated office space in the Sioux Falls area!

If you are inspired by Trisha’s story of resilience, tenacity, and embracing the risks of failure, we encourage you to share yours! Zeal Center is here to help #ideastakeflight by connecting you with the resources that can help you get there most efficiently, and to guide you through the journey – challenges and triumphs alike!

Start your journey today. Set up a tour of the space!

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