MINDING YOUR BUSINESS WITH Tina Siemens, Historian/Museum Owner/Author

When did you know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur or business owner?

I remember when I was five years old I started asking my grandma questions about her life. I loved two of her antique chairs so much that I asked if I could have those when she passed. Not very many five year-olds are concerned about antique chairs, but I was. I think that was the beginning of my love of history.

Was it an easy decision for you to start? What helped you in the beginning?

This could be a two-fold answer. On one hand it was easy, because I knew that this was my calling. On the other hand, it was difficult, because there are so many moving parts to starting up a museum or becoming an author.

What about your audience? How did you know who you wanted to serve, and how did you go about reaching them?

  My audience is the ones who love history whether in written form or being able to walk in a museum and get information. This is definitely not everyone’s interest, but there is a large group of society that does love history; and that is the group that I am just so grateful to share with.

In today’s society we are so blessed to have social media, which helps greatly with reaching audiences across the globe. I am also fortunate to have friends like Cyrus Webb and his team that help in reaching a larger group of people that enjoy history, along with many features, newspaper advertisements and interviews! I feel like my message is being heard and is reaching audiences that I would have only dreamt about 20 years ago. 

What has been the most rewarding aspect of your journey?

Just knowing that I have the privilege of sharing my passion with others and seeing/hearing their gratitude of learning something new after what I have shared with them.

Can you share some of the challenges?

I think the biggest challenge to anything that we start is getting out of my own way. As a human being it is easy to talk yourself out of something if the confidence is not there.      

There are also the financial challenges of starting a brand new project. This can often be a dream killer, but if you're passionate about your dream you will find a way to finance it even if it takes years to do. Like they say, you don’t have to eat the whole elephant at once. Doing it in smaller increments is achievable. 

Life happens and it is often tempting to abandon one’s dream,  even after I had made headway for many years. Circumstances changed in my life that caused me to temporarily hold off from pursuing things I wanted to do, but my motto is “some people never give up”!  

The world is changing daily. How have you been able to keep up with the changes in your area?

Yes, these changes challenge me to really concentrate on my delivery method. Without challenging myself I would become stagnant, so I embrace changes for this fact that it allows me to think outside of the box by trying new ways.    

I have switched to doing a lot more on social media via reels, posts, live interviews, as well as offering in-house lessons to different groups of people has been very rewarding. 

Social media has propelled the awareness of all that I do to a level that I would never have been able to achieve on my own. Because of social media one can reach an online audience and have interaction with people that would not very-likely drive through my small community. Through social media I have been able to reach an audience that is now willing to drive to the museum and aid with hands-on activities and adding validation to the history that I have on display or speak about. Social media is epic in getting the word out in the 21st century.

Thank you so much for all you do, Tina. What advice do you have for others looking to start their own business or become an entrepreneur?

 I would say just do it, and surround yourself with people that you love and that are willing to lend a helping hand or simply support you emotionally along the way as you achieve your dream! Teamwork makes the dream work.

Contact Information

seminolethebook@gmail.com

k.siemens@yahoo.com

info@wtlhm.com

 https://wtlhm.com/

 https://www.seminolethebook.com/