As part of the Morning Lazziness series about empowering women who encourage and do incredible things with their ideas in society, I had the pleasure of interviewing Celi Arias.
Celi Arias, Expert Scale Strategist, is the CEO and Founder of The Grown Ass Business, where she guides entrepreneurs through her proprietary methodology, Key Growth Systems, to build strong foundations for their businesses. Recognized as a top coach by The Upside in 2024, Celi helps her clients break free from revenue plateaus and burnout by teaching them to view and manage their ventures as true businesses. Her approach addresses the common issue of entrepreneurs hitting a ceiling due to limited knowledge or skills, emphasizing the importance of understanding core business principles over quick fixes like funnel building or social media tricks.
Celi’s clients often come to her feeling stuck, confused, and exhausted, unsure of how to move forward. She provides clarity and control, helping them identify and optimize the essential business departments necessary for growth. The Grown Ass Business Method incorporates five key systems that every business needs to succeed, allowing entrepreneurs to wear multiple hats effectively until they can hire specialized roles. By focusing on these fundamental pillars, Celi ensures that her clients’ businesses are built on solid foundations, ready to scale up to seven figures and beyond.
With an impressive educational background including two bachelor’s degrees, an MBA, a Master of Divinity, and two additional certificates, Celi brings a wealth of knowledge to her coaching practice. Her journey in entrepreneurship is both a professional and spiritual quest, constantly pushing her to question, grow, and find innovative solutions. From her early experiences as a professional tango dancer and fashion industry professional, Celi has always embraced challenges and sought out unique ways to overcome them.As an immigrant from Argentina who arrived in the US at the age of six, Celi’s upbringing in a family of doctors and scientists instilled in her a strong work ethic and dedication, while also inspiring her to question traditional paths and forge her own. Her diverse background and relentless pursuit of excellence have shaped her into a dynamic and passionate coach, dedicated to helping others achieve their business goals and realize their fullest potential.
Here’s what we found out about Celi’s daily routine, followed by an exclusive Q+A.
Can you share the journey that led you to become an entrepreneur and the inspiration behind starting your own business?
I started my first business when I was 11 because I desperately wanted to take ballet lessons and my single mom couldn’t really afford it. So I started a little babysitting business (that I ran well into my teens) and paid for my first ballet camp, my ballet slippers, and my leotard. I rode my bike to the studio and signed myself up for a summer dance camp. They had to call my mom to inform her and get her consent. Needless to say, my mom was not totally surprised by the call.
As a woman in the business world, what challenges have you encountered, and what strategies have you used to overcome them?
I think business is challenging no matter your gender. As a woman, and when I started my global fashion line in my 20s, the hardest thing about that time was to be taken seriously. I walked into fabric mills, looking already younger than I was, and I’d want to place large orders of fabric, and it was hard to get the mills to serve me. Men would walk in and pass me in line, and it was the beginning of realizing, oh, not only is running this business hard because I have to figure out ALL the things, but I’m doing it in an industry and a country that tends to favor men. That only made me more fiery and more determined.
How do you effectively manage the demands of your professional life while maintaining a healthy personal life as an entrepreneur?
Before I had a baby, I gave myself a long morning ritual to get myself grounded and connected to my higher self before my day began. Now with a baby, I’ve actually had to plan what I call Grounded CEO Spirit time into my work day. At first, I found it beyond frustrating to take hours of my working day to do this. But I realize that getting grounded and connected with myself, my intuition, my years of experience and wisdom are in fact a business activity and should be done during my work day. So I have my baby to thank for that reframe.
What networking strategies have proven most effective in building meaningful connections within your industry?
I genuinely try to connect and even refer people in my industry to each other. It gets hard to keep up with people so I also keep a document so I can remember people I’ve connected with, who they are, what their industry is and how we can help each other or who I can refer to them if the opportunity comes up. People appreciate the genuine support and the occasional outreach for no particular ask except for to say, hello.
How do you seek out mentorship, and what role has it played in your entrepreneurial journey?
I am very careful with seeking out mentorship because I, like everyone else, have been burned by bad coaches who just saw me as a number and a $ sign. The most important thing I look for is, have they accomplished the things I want to accomplish in my own journey. And EVEN more important than that is, do they model the values that I value and that I want to value for my clients? I am interested in being a high-touch coach who is integrity with her methodology and in high service to her clients. There is a lot of money-hungry BS out there and I want to learn from and share space with people who model integrity. I have not had many mentors in my life, but I am happy to say my pickiness has put me in rooms with some of the absolute best in the industry.
What strategies have you found most effective for selling your products and reaching your target audience?
Always know your product-market-fit first. Do you truly solve your client’s problem? Do you know how to speak to it? Do you know how to price it in a way that is effective for them and profitable for your business? I speak to the heart of what I solve, to the results I’ve gotten my clients, and my clients often do the selling for me because they also happily share their results with the world. It is one of the best marketing moves around. Ensure client satisfaction.
What marketing techniques have you employed to promote your products successfully, and how do you measure their effectiveness?
I’ve been a part of summits, speaking at conferences and events, and I’ve partnered with some great collaborators. I’ve made great lead magnets that deliver high value and have created very simple funnels for my audience. And at the end of the day, I measure it. Without the metrics, you can’t know if your efforts are working. I teach my clients how to track, and I have created a tool called the GAB Control Center that makes this kind of tracking easy and intuitive. Tracking these efforts is key so we can learn from the data what works and what doesn’t work.
Can you describe a significant setback or failure in your business and the steps you took to recover from it?
All businesses have setbacks. This current business of mine is not as hard to run because I’ve learned a lot in the past 25 years, and I challenge myself to truly walk my talk. That said, I have failed launches and marketing campaigns still to this day, and I look at those setbacks as helpful data and information about my audience.
In the past though, mistakes I made in my business left me homeless. I recovered by leveraging my skills, rebuilding my network, and applying the hard-learned lessons about financial management and strategic planning, but it was a grueling lesson to say the least. That experience is why I’m so passionate about teaching entrepreneurs the rules of the game and how to approach it, so they don’t fall into that kind of a setback.
What key piece of advice would you offer to aspiring women entrepreneurs who are just starting their journeys?
Please avoid shiny objects. It will be tempting to spend time and money on your branding, your website, your logo and your marketing. Resist! There is an order to growth (I’m writing a book about it) and you will save so much time and money if you focus on proof of concept and selling something before putting money into the fun creative things of a business.
Is there a specific mantra or quote that resonates with you and guides your actions as an entrepreneur?
Always. It is always easier than you’re making it. This resonates with me because as entrepreneurs, we often overcomplicate things. Remembering this helps me step back, simplify, and focus on what truly matters in growing a successful business.
