Happy New Year!
Can you believe January is already over and done with? In some ways I can. I definitely hit the ground running this month by fully planning out my year and what I’m expecting it to look like in terms of personal and business growth. I’ve mapped out where I want to be and how I plan on achieving those goals. Now all that’s left is to start checking off the boxes and I’m excited for that! I closed off 2021 with a much needed Christmas trip to Niagara Falls with the family. We spent 8 glorious days there and I had such a nice time relaxing. Although it was a mini getaway with the family, I feel like I still need a break of my own and I’ve spent the last few weeks looking into different types of hotels in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) that I could spend some alone time at. It’s really that serious! It’s funny that I’m here doing the most about leaving the house when I’ve only been outdoors 3 times all month. The way the weather has been set up, you most definitely won’t catch me outside. Which brings me to a very serious question: are y’all truly staying warm out there? Like for real, for real?
Anyways, this year started off great! CSBW celebrated 9 years!! So surreal. It’s been 9 years of growth, hiccups, setbacks, small and big wins alike and just overall a learning process. And we could not have done any of it without each of you. We started out as a blog and have grown to such an amazing community over the years. You’ve provided my team and I with clarity, reassurance and unending support and have made this journey so much more bearable.
Over the last 9 years, we’ve had some major wins that we can truly be proud of. We can say that we’ve:
Hosted over 150 successful events (both in-person and virtual)
Had over 6000 entrepreneurs served at our events
Collaborated with over 70 brand partners and sponsors
Published two books (with more to come)
It’s been a wild ride to say the least but the CSBW community made all the sleepless nights, the tears, the stressful days and the moments of self-doubt worth it. For that I say - THANK YOU! When I think of where I see CSBW in the next few years, the simple answer is this - I know I’m not where I want to be at the moment, but I’ll continue striving to be better. I’m happy for all the achievements along the way and will continue to try making a greater impact on the world in the future.
And speaking of impact! We’ve finally hit the 10K mark on Instagram. It was a goal we’d hoped to reach last year, but one we only hit this week. And that’s OK because we finally did it! To individuals or businesses out there trying to grow their social media following organically, remain consistent with your postings, create great partnerships and provide valuable information to your communities. Not what you think they need, but rather, content you know they’ll need. And speaking of partnerships, we have some awesome ones coming up this year. But first, to celebrate hitting our 10K mark, we are giving away a $100 gift card to our CSBW Shopify Store. The contest ends today at midnight so head over to our Instagram page to participate.
As some may already know, CSBW was featured on Global News and Amazon! Yes, you read that right. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview with Global News and was positioned as a small business expert speaking about the challenges and experiences entrepreneurs faced during the pandemic. Snippets of the interview were included in their story featuring an inspiring business woman in British Columbia who turned her hobby into a successful business. You can watch the feature here.
