1 - The Story Behind Business Babes Collective - How and why I started this Business and why I became and Entrepreneur

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:

If you’ve ever wanted to know the story of how our community got started, this is the episode for you. Let’s go back to when the Business Babes Collective was small and really a one person show. During this time of phenomenal growth and challenge, the foundation of the Collective was set. I even share a moment when I wanted to quit but found the courage to keep going. I knew that this community was a lifeline to so many entrepreneurs. I couldn’t let them down. If this doesn’t intrigue you, let me tell also tell you that this episode was recorded before 2020 became what it would be. Let’s take you back to a simpler time!

Key Takeaways:

  • Why I find entrepreneurship so fascinating

  • Where I started in business and events, and my journey into these worlds after school

  • How the idea of creating a networking group came to me

  • My most challenging event and how I made it a success; a foundation that still inspires me to keep going today

  • How the Business Babes Collective looks today and how you can virtually join

Show Notes:


Transcript:

Welcome to the Business Babes Collective podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Wiebe in this podcast, you'll learn tangible business tips and strategies on how to grow successfully and sustainably. We'll also interview seasoned entrepreneurs. So you can listen in on their stories and see behind the scenes of what it took to grow and scale their businesses. Let's dive in. As we discussed the wild, exciting, crazy challenging roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship.

Okay, let's dive into the very first episode today. I'm going to be sharing with you behind the scenes of how this community started in the first place. Before I do that, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported our communities since the beginning or for the past few years, you know, we could not do what we do with business babes, collective it if it wasn't because of you guys. So if you're following us on social media, if you've been part of our events, if you've taken our business program action takers club, if you're a part of our mastermind groups, I just want to say, thank you guys. Like thank you for being here. Thanks for being a part of our community. And if you're just finding out about us and you're like, what in the world are you talking about?

You'll hear more about what we do and what we have to offer later, but I just want to say a huge welcome to you. And I'm welcoming you in with a warm, loving arms. And I can't wait to dive into some of the topics that we're going to be covering in this podcast. But first, let me take you back to how this community started in the first place. So I actually grew up in a very entrepreneurial family. My OPA started a business when he moved to Canada back over 60 years ago. My dad now runs that business and my mom also became an entrepreneur and even wrote a book about entrepreneurship. My sister had her own wedding planning company, and I actually ended up working for her for a little while. And so entrepreneurship was always kind of woven into our family and it was something that always struck a chord with me.

What excited me about entrepreneurship was the concept of creating something out of nothing. And in high school I took a, an entrepreneurship class and then went on to university where I studied business marketing. And I was actually also a part of the business community there. That was when I hosted my very first event. It was a larger scale event. We had to come up with a concept. We had to promote it to the students. And that was when something clicked in me. I absolutely loved that entire process and little did I know a few years later I would be hosting my own events for my business, but that's kind of where the spark then by the age of 20, while I was still going to university, I started my very first official business. Yay. And I was doing social media and marketing for other businesses, even though a lot of that business was, I don't know how to explain it even, but there was a lot of failure.

There was a lot of learning, but I'm so glad that I went through that because I learned so much from that experience. And it definitely has helped me in the business. I run today and also just mentoring other business owners. A lot of the mistakes that I made, I'm able to kind of learn from, or I was able to learn from, and now implementing things into my business now. So I'm so thankful for that experience as well. The next few years I took so many different jobs, just trying to figure out what exactly I was going to do with my life. I had graduated at that point. And for any of you who are recent graduates, you know, it's a scary time. Like you're like, okay, I'm done school now, what do I do with the rest of my life? So I went kind of from job to job, trying to figure out what I love to do and what I was good at.

I ended up also partnering with a health and wellness company and the network marketing industry. And I actually loved that experience so much. And I learned an incredible amount through that company through going to conferences through just the trainings that they had. And so I'm so thankful for that experience as well. During this time, I was also doing a ton of networking and to be honest, I always felt really out of place. So I go to these networking events and I would walk into a room and usually I'd be the youngest one. There I'd usually be one of the only women and surrounded by people who were much more experienced than I was. So I realized that no wonder people find networking. So intimidating. I mean, I sure did. I would walk into a room and just feel like everyone's eyes would go to me because they're like, who is that young girl?

Who does she think she is walking into, walking into this business event? And so one day I actually had a thought, like, what would it look like if I hosted my own event and invited other small business owners that I had met people that I resonated with and people that were either just getting started or that I felt like wanted this type of case immunity. So we started hosting these little events and it quickly grew into a community. I started a meetup group that was originally where I got the word out about these events. And we would host these little gatherings in clothing stores and coffee shops at universities anywhere where they would let us pop up for free because at the time I didn't have any money to invest in this. This was just a little side project hobby. Honestly, I didn't even really know what to call it at the time, but it started to grow.

And every time I would host an event, I would have people come up to me at the end and they would say, Hey, like, when's the next one? So I started realizing that this was something that people wanted, women would come up to me and say, I felt so included. And you know, there's nothing else out there for people like me trying to grow a business. So I knew this was something that people wanted, but at the time I didn't really think of it as a business. And I honestly also wasn't really looking to make money from it. I was just having a ton of fun. And at the time I was actually working for my mom's business and I was also running my other business at the time as well. So needless to say, this was a crazy busy time for us.

And then something happened that almost me give up on this whole idea. It was the spring of 2015. And I remember waking up in the morning having so much anxiety and so much dread and feeling like, okay, do I really even want to do this anymore? Cause this doesn't really seem worth it. I had worked so, so hard for anyone who's hosted an event before, you know, how much work it is like blood, sweat, and tears had gone into this event. And I had worked like crazy to get everything prepared and have food there and vendors and sponsors and speakers and all these fun things. But the turnout, like I hadn't sold hardly any tickets. Like I think we had about 10 tickets sold and I was hoping to have like 50 people there or more. And I remember just feeling so incredibly defeated and I knew the turnout was good and to be really small and that we were going to be losing money from this event.

And I'd be been spending so much time trying to make this community a reality. And I honestly just felt like a massive failure, but that was a turning point for me. I had to make a decision. Was I going to give up? Because it would have been really easy honestly at that time to give up, but I didn't. I went to that event. I actually called up some of my friends and my sisters and my mom and ask them to come so that he could fill up the room a little bit and make it look a little bit more full. And I just gave that event. My all, even with the people that showed up and at the end of the event, I had a couple people come up to me and just say that they loved the, and this was something that they were looking for this type of community.

And so I just had this big realization, like, okay, I can't give up like as hard as this is. And as much work as this is, this is something that people want. And this is something that people need. And I can't give up because there's people out there that need this community, female entrepreneurs need support, they need community. They want to feel connected to one another. And that was really the moment I decided, no matter how hard things got, I was always going to keep going and just try to figure it out. So now fast forward five years, it is 2020, and we have five chapters across North America. We're in Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, San Diego, Victoria. And we have thriving communities in each of these cities that are being cultivated by our incredibly amazing chapter leaders and collectively we've hosted hundreds of events. We've collaborated with the most amazing brands.

We've hosted, inspiring speakers. And we have a thriving community online as well. We have our online business program. We have our mastermind groups. People are getting so much value from my mastermind girls. If you're listening, you know that you have my heart and I am so thankful for you. You inspire me daily. But yeah, we have this beautiful community that we've created in this past five years. And to be honest, you guys, it feels like we're just getting started. I am so excited for these next few years, as we continue to cultivate this community, as we start adding other things to our offerings, such as this podcast, that's going to be a resource for you guys. And I want you guys to feel like you're heard and educated and that it helps you grow and expand your business. And through all the challenges that I've had through building this community, there's been financial challenges.

There's been times I've doubted myself as a leader in a business owner. We've had people say hurtful things about our community, about me. And, you know, we could have let that knock us off course, but you see the beauty of these challenges has been growth, not only the growth of the business, but also growth in myself, growth for our team and growth for the members of our community. And what keeps me going is the stories of people that have created lifelong friendships from coming to our networking events. People that have met business partners at our networking events people that have started businesses based on the content that we put out people that have hit six figures with their business or doubled their income donated to charities. The list goes on and on with the stories that we hear about people that are a part of our community.

I am so excited for this next chapter of business babes collective. I am so excited about this podcast and delivering you massive value. So if you're someone who's passionate about learning and growth and you want to create a more sustainable profitable business, we're going to be bringing you some really Epic workshops, style podcast episodes that are going to teach you how to build a sustainable business strategies, both marketing strategies, sales strategies, networking, collaborations, partnerships, all of that is going to be within this podcast. And on top of that, we're going to bring on some Epic guests as well. So stay tuned for all of it. We'll see you in the next episode, but before you go, I honestly would love you forever. If you subscribe to this podcast, if you review it on iTunes and then share it in your stories and tag me, I'm at Danny living life on Instagram and tag the business account business babes co, which is our business babes, collective Instagram account.

We'll repost your stories and we'll also connect with you there. So I would love for you to share with me what you got out of this episode. If you could resonate to any part of my journey or story, obviously there's so much more, but I just wanted to give you a brief history of how we started and what that looked like. And so I'm excited to share more with you and I'll share more of my story and weave it into some of the episodes. So you can kind of hear a little bit more behind the scenes of what goes on and what we've been through and our challenges and our successes and all of that. So can't wait to see in the next episode and until then have a great day.

If you loved this episode, make sure you screenshot post and tag us on Instagram at business babes, co want to know when the next episode goes, live, subscribe on your podcast app. And while you're there, leave us a review until next time, keep dreaming big setting goals and taking action. Hey, before you go, if you've been looking for an entrepreneurial community to connect with enrollment for our collective membership is now inside. We host weekly work sessions, monthly virtual networking parties, workshops, and so much more head on over to businessbabescollective.com/sign up for all the details there.



Danielle Wiebe