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We didn’t wake up one morning thinking, “Hey, let’s start a business!”
We didn’t make a big decision.
No big worries about “What do we know about starting a business?”, “What if people don’t like our product?” or “What if we don’t sell anything?”
We just started... without even realizing it.
The reason we want to remind you today how it all started for us is to show you how simple and natural it really felt — and how doable it can be for you too.
We’ve always enjoyed making greeting cards, mostly for our family living on the other side of the world, in Switzerland. When we were nine and ten, we spent almost a year there. We saw how people were selling directly to customers — homemade food, fresh produce, or small handmade items — right in front of their houses, often with no one there to do the cashier. People simply left their money in a small box, a beautiful little trust system. Some of you already know this story — you can read it on our blog here.
That’s when we thought, “We could do that too — with our cards!”
We could share them so easily, just by setting up a small cupboard in front of our house.
The point today is: we didn’t think, “We’re starting a greeting card business.”
We just thought, “Let’s take one more step beyond making cards for our family. We’ll share them with other people who don’t have time to make their own cards — people who might like to buy them right in their own village and support local makers and fresh young entrepreneurs like us.”
There wasn’t a big investment — just a few supplies and a cupboard.
And we started an Instagram account. Not for growth or followers, but to keep track of the cards we made and give our first customers an easy way to see them.
That was simple — and we could do it.
As you can imagine, we didn’t have a business plan. No strategies, no marketing plan. Actually, you don’t need everything figured out. If you wait for that, you’ll just start later — and change it all once you get feedback anyway!
Not planning everything in advance might feel uncomfortable at first. For us, it felt easier.
All you really need is to figure out the next one or two steps as they come. (And sometimes, you won’t know your next idea until you’ve taken that first step.)
We were on the path. It was fun. And that fun sparked the next thing, because things seem to unfold as you take your first steps.
When we came back to San Francisco after almost a year in Switzerland, we couldn’t sell the same way anymore.
So, the next step? We built a little house in front of our home. (We wrote that story too!)
People can ring our door when they want to buy a card.
But that wasn’t enough. So we made a website.
Every time you take the next step, you’re doing it from a new place — a place where you’ve grown and become more capable of taking a bigger step.
For us, building our website involved more work and more investment. We even had to pay for someone to help us create it. But investing in our business also meant investing in ourselves — and in what we believed was possible.
And for us, it’s totally worth it.
So if you’re thinking about starting something of your own, we’ll say it one last time: keep it simple and natural — something that fits into your life.
Remove the big, possibly scary expectations from your mind and focus on the small first steps.
That’s all you need to do for now, and for sure, you can do it!
What about you?
If you were to take just one small step toward something you love, what would that be?
And if you’re not sure where to start, we’re creating a short free guide to help you find your first business idea.
It’s simple and practical — something to help you brainstorm what could fit you.
We’ll share it with you next week!
🤝 Before You Go
📅 Save the date!
We’ll be at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market on Saturday, October 26
You can find all the details on our Events page.
💌 New here? You can still catch up — read our previous newsletters here.
🔁 And if you know someone who might need this newsletter today, feel free to forward it their way.
Solène & Zélia, for SoliaVenture
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SoliaVenture is our creative adventure as young entrepreneurs, and we’re excited to share it with you! While we design and create the cards ourselves, we receive the support and supervision of our parents for managing the business operations as we continue learning and growing.