I made procrastination my friend

Learning to work with the challenges of procrastination- one artisan's journey

There are a lot of challenges to opening your own handmade business and SO many questions to ask yourself before you enter into this venture. Do you have the financial means to get an idea off the ground? Where will you find the time to make AND market your product? Which social media platforms should you use to promote your product and how are you going to learn to use them??? 

But, the biggest question to ask yourself is: “Do I have the self-discipline to buckle down and run my own business? Or will I let procrastination get the better of me?”

Procrastination is my own worst enemy and probably one of the biggest obstacles I deal with on a daily basis. Motivating myself to jump on Instagram to do promotions when all I want to do is cuddle my animals and watch HGTV renovation shows is my everyday struggle. But, instead of getting down on myself and adding even more stress to my journey, I’ve worked together with that little ‘p’ word to use it to my advantage.  

A short little background about myself, to begin… My name is Bree and I own breezy naturals. I majored in Drama at The University of Guelph and had big dreams of being an actress and costume designer. This, naturally, led me to work in the hospitality industry for almost twenty years (haha).

In Toronto, I worked everywhere from restaurants to nightclubs and private catering companies. My work hours were generally in the evenings, so that left the whole day to catch up on my shows, spend time with my animals, and water my plants.

In my early 30s, after acting in some independent horror movies, I realized that I had a huge fear of rejection that would hold me back from auditioning for acting roles. And while I loved designing costumes, I quickly learned it was not my passion.

I made the decision to retire from film and fashion and pursue an interest in holistic healing. I went back to school to study all that I could around holistic practices and was absolutely fascinated with Aromatherapy. I LOVED everything about essential oils. They are natural gifts from the earth with so many healing properties. It opened my heart in a whole new way. 

After completing my studies, I started making custom oil blends for my massage clients and found myself making special creams and oil blends for gifts around the holidays. It was so inspiring and gave me such joy. That is how I knew I needed to focus my knowledge and love into creating products that would bring happiness and healing to friends, family, and anyone else I could reach. 

In 2019, I married the love of my life, Drew. Every wedding has a favor that they give to their guests, so we racked our brains for unique and personalized gifts and the idea of making individual soaps was put out there. It was the perfect opportunity to shower the ones I loved the most with my creations. And there was a huge response from our guests who adored the product and asked where they could order more!

That summer after our wedding, breezy naturals was born. 

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