I never even dreamed of being here one day. Imagine – introvert & homebody, starting a community for small business owners… Crazy, right? 

Let me quickly paint a picture of how I ended up here.

When I moved to Canada back in 2015, I discovered Michaels & the whole new world of crafts. It’s safe to say that it was love at first sight.  I became a loyal customer and spent weekends (and most of my paychecks) buying craft supplies and making craft projects and decorations. One day I met a friend who saw all my crafts and said I should sell them on Etsy. I had no idea what Etsy was nor thought anyone would buy my handmade polymer clay magnets and earrings at a time. But she was selling jewelry on Etsy and said I could earn decent pocket money from that. That sounded like a crafter’s dream to me, and off I was googling what Etsy is and how you even start an Etsy shop.

In case you are wondering, yes my first Etsy shop was a big fail – I had no idea what I was doing and was learning everything from Youtube.  It took me five years of learning, quitting, making mistakes, and starting all over until I finally found “small business success”. 

I created a small business that took over our entire house. And entire life! I became a girl who went from making unicorn polymer clay earrings & painted beach pebbles on Saturday afternoons to a girl who reached over $400K in sales on Etsy in one year. Saying that out loud still sounds insane to me! The craziest part is that I did that from our living room floor and kitchen counter! 

My small business became my full-time job and I was so happy to be able to work from my sweatpants and make crafts for living?!

When I started to share behind the scenes of my small business on TikTok, I realized I wasn’t the only one.  There were thousands of other women who were dreaming about starting their own business or already started and were going through the same struggles as I did. They were feeling lost, overwhelmed, lonely, confused, not believing in themselves – or all of the above! 

There were moms wanting to create their business to be able to work from home and be with their babies, there were introverts (like me) who desired to work from home and not have to go out every day, and there were teenage girls having big dreams for their future. I knew that starting a small business in today’s day and age with technology, internet, resources, information and the power of social media is more accessible to regular people (like me and you) who are starting from scratch than ever. And..

That was the start of the Small Biz Babes Community. I knew I had so much to share from the journey I went through and I wanted to help other women to overcome their obstacles easier than I did.

When you are reading this, I am guessing that you are just like me – dreaming of starting your own small business or already working on it. And I am so happy that you are here! 

If the “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams” (Oprah Winfrey) – I want to be part of it and cheer you on! And I am here to hold your hand, share the mistakes I made, and lessons I learnt, and show you my tricks, so you can go and chase your big dreams feeling supported and inspired! I want to show you that if I did it, you can do it too.

So, What is a small biz babes community?

Think of it as a place of comfort where small business owners, aspiring small business owners, entrepreneurs & motivated women come to feel empowered, supported and inspired to follow their biggest dreams. You can learn from our resources how to start, grow and scale your dream small business from scratch while also living fulfilled life without burnout! You can come here to learn, ask questions, share your wins, and frustrations and meet your new small business besties!

When it comes to values – I don’t support a hustle culture and don’t think we need to work 24/7 to create “success”. I don’t define success by the number of followers or night shifts done for the business. I define success as creating a business that allows us to do more of what we love, instead of chasing shiny objects until burnout.  I am a burnout survivor. I changed my business to fit my life and by sharing what I learned I want to help you to create a business that contributes to your life and wellbeing and allows you to do more of what you love! 

If you’d love to know all the time new blog post or resources comes out, make sure to follow along on Instagram at @smallbizbabescommunity. If you’d love share your small business story with me, please send me a message, I’d love to chat! 

Until next time, xo

Michaela