Every week is "Small" Business Week!

We've been thinking lately about what it means to be a "small business".  As we recently wrapped up an amazing Camp Onikas trip to Ecuador (see pic above), where we were asked many questions about The Onikas, we found ourselves reflecting on the fact that we are literally a two-woman show handling all aspects of our biz! The word "small" in this moniker is somewhat of a misnomer in that it may imply minimal or less-than efforts.  Fellow small business owners reading this will understand when we say that building a small business is just as challenging as any other operation, and in many cases, perhaps even more so as there is not a multi-division organizational setup with numerous staff members handling large portions of the workload.  We are two women that divide the responsibilities of everything that must be done to get our brand out there and continue growing. To be clear - we are not complaining!  Heck no!! We are so proud of what we have built thus far and our ability to support the work of our artisans.

The talented Matico, who runs the cooperative of women weavers we work with in Ecuador

 We just wanted to share that we are constantly juggling many roles literally from morning to evening almost every day.  Our social media images don't necessarily reflect the blood sweat tears/labor of love that is our everyday routine.  Every day Veronica is navigating our work schedule and meetings with caring for her two amazing tween girls and Jonnyka is doing the same while also working on the production of a large fundraiser event in Austin. We recently made Sunday our day off, more or less, we still talk business but it is not the focus of our days or our conversation - our rule is we have to talk about non-work things too!  This balance is important for business owners of any size.  We are certified yoga and meditation instructors and the idea of balance is of course central to yogic philosophy and practice.  Burn-out and self-care were very popular subjects at the Harvard Medical School teaching hospital that Jonnyka worked for while in Boston. Even the most physically sound individual can be affected by burn-out, as it is also an emotional and even spiritual phenomenon.  There are numerous scientific studies on these subjects if you're interested in research and empirical evidence. So all "small" business owners out there and anyone working their tail off at a small business, we take both of our hats off to you!  We know.  It is rewarding and wonderful but it is tough.  Some days we have to dig very deep to make it all happen.  But make it happen we do because we care and we want to be proudly doing something we believe in and bring the work of our incredibly talented teams of artisans to our Onikas customers, friends and family.