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Hi, I'm Willy
Coming from a long line of entrepreneurs & doer's, it's safe to say that I was born to be my own boss and create my own freedom. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to turn my creative hobbies into a business.
Now I'm doing it again, but helping you achieve the same dreams at the same time!
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My mission with "From Start to Progress" is to help the doer's and entrepreneurs start their business off on a solid foundation. To be able to give access to key resources that are often overlooked and making that leap of faith into self employment a bit easier.
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With more than 10 years of experience starting various businesses and currently operating
Thistle & Sage Creative Plant Shop
& Special Events Florist
I want to help you start your business off on a solid foundation!
Setting up these crucial elements can make world off difference later on in your business. Most of the steps you will take are a one time-only thing, but others you will refer back to year over year.
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Where it Started
Let me tell you about the struggle and WHY I started From Start to Progress!
When I started my own home-based (from my kitchen, then basement) floral business back in 2013 there was no one there to tell me about all basic "things" I needed to start my business. I spend hours googling and reading books to get a bit of information here and there.
I knew I didn't really need much to get started but I knew that there were essentials that I needed to be a legal and legit business. The search can get overwhelming and told myself I'll figure it out later because i'd much rather be creating and selling. Until that later shows up as a letter from the government in your mailbox, all because you didn't submit the right papers they needed. Truth be told I didn't even know I HAD to do these things!
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Life is not all Business
Aside from being CEO, owner and boss lady, I'm also a momma of two beautiful young boys & wife to my amazing husband, Tye.
When I'm not in the store you can find me with a cup of coffee in my garden on our acreage outside of Brooks, Alberta. Being an introvert (introverted/extrovert) I love just being at home, making homemade pizza, scheming over our next home renovation project, living my hockey mom life or entertaining my boys.
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I've always said that family life come first and that has been my goal with being an entrepreneur - to create my own freedom & to spend as much time with them as possible.
Fun facts
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Yup, that's my real name and nope, it isn't short for anything! Just Willy! But being born & raised in Zeeland, the Netherlands with the name Willy being handed down throughout our family may have something to do with it.
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My husband and I renovated our house/ acerage and built a rather large garage/shop from the ground up with 95% of the work done by just the two of us.
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Then 6 years later, after getting married and having two babies, we bought and completely renovated our 2nd retail space in the span of 2 months.
