Nita Agustin Counselling
Nita Agustin is an Indonesian Chinese licensed clinical counsellor based in Burnaby, B.C., who proudly provides guidance and support to gender- and neurodiverse teens and young adults who are curious about living as their most confident selves.
The path that led Nita to start her own business wasn’t a linear one. As she explains, “Having my own business was a culmination of years spent wondering why I can’t fit into a box. I felt like I spent enough time in the first 30 somewhat years of my life finding places and pockets of community where I fit in. Later on, I learnt that there’s a vast difference between fitting in and belonging. I needed to do certain things in those workplaces in order to fit in. Nowadays, I’m able to show up as myself. It’s been tremendously liberating.
It's been transformative for me to be able to work with folks who are internally motivated to make shifts in their lives. It means a lot to partake in and witness the many shifts that happen as we work together. I want to make an impact in people's lives and it's been very rewarding to have the opportunity to do so through my work.”
Giving back and helping others shine has enabled Nita to build a business that’s truly rewarding, but getting to the place she is now hasn’t come without its challenges.
“Comparing myself to others, accessing funding, and developing a sense of direction are the greatest challenges I’ve had to overcome. One of the hardest, invisible hurdles is trusting the process, which means not comparing myself to other practitioners in the field. In the beginning, I started off by [trying to reflect] what other counsellors were doing. I felt like this was a reasonable starting point. But soon enough, I realized that I was doomed to fail if I were to copy and paste their decisions and mindset. After I [started making] decisions based on my gut, purpose, and my own end game, I’ve seen my practice flourish in ways I never thought possible.”
Nita realized there’s no blueprint or step-by-step manual for building a business, and believes that knowing your values is critical to making decisions and maintaining your sense of direction. She’s also found it extremely helpful to have a small and supportive network who she can reach out to when she needs to soundboard ideas.
Like so many entrepreneurs, securing funding and building her business with a limited budget has been particularly challenging.
“I see resource allocation and budgeting as [the factors that] would help move the needle in my business the most. But each decision is not black and white. There might be a time when it makes more sense to bleed money in the short term in order to propel longer term growth. Sometimes I may need to make lifestyle adjustments in order to support my overarching goal. At the same time, I also don’t want to be a starving entrepreneur. I’ve needed to be very intentional about my decisions and plan strategically.”