Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in e-commerce but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Steven Kieboom, founder of LocalBoom, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

We love Canada! My mission is to provide the best local Canadian shopping and gift experience. Our gift store in Vancouver and our e-commerce website provide a wide range of local products so customers can shop online or in-store. We are passionate about awesome unique gifts, clean beauty products, natural self-care, chemical-free & plastic-free products, and more.

We support Canadian entrepreneurs and advocate for Canadian-made production. Just by making a choice to shop with LocalBoom and support our growing collective of entrepreneurs, we donate part of our profits back into our communities, organizations, and individuals all across our amazing country.

We provide a sales platform and exposure for small or start-up Canadian brands who get lost in the shuffle of bigger markets like Amazon or Etsy. Supporting local is easy as we consolidate brands onto one easy-to-use platform and beautiful gift store.

Our customers are mainly in Canada, but we also have international customers (some are ex-pats, and some are just looking for high-quality products). They range from ages 18 to 65 and are mostly female, but male consumers are growing all the time.

Tell us about yourself

I have always been passionate about skincare and beauty products. From a young age, I was researching clean beauty, the best skincare ingredients and regiments, and also making some of my own (for at-home use). I come from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners and always wanted to work for myself but was never sure how that would look. One role I had during my professional career, before my entrepreneurial journey, was Operations Manager at an e-commerce company. I learned about online sales and running an e-commerce platform. Over time, all my experiences and passions combined into what is now LocalBoom.

I wanted to create something that I was passionate about (products, natural ingredients, skincare, etc.) and share it with the world while at the same time supporting and empowering other creative entrepreneurs. I am motivated every day by the fact that Canadian brands and smaller Canadian businesses do not get the exposure they deserve and to provide customers with easily accessible, clean, and non-toxic products. Every Canadian, no matter where they live, should have affordable access to Canadian-made products.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Taking my business from an idea to a successful online store to a physical location - all alone!

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Staying motivated and focused when times are rough and tough. Having to do many things alone (strategy, planning, forecasting, projecting, etc.).

Also, in this day and age, keep your business/online store secure and safe in an affordable way. We have had lots of issues with security, fraud, spam attacks, and hackers trying to ruin and shut down our website and all the work that has gone into it. We have had detrimental experiences with this, and we have been told by police agencies (like the Vancouver Police Department) that the internet is the "Wild Wild West" and cannot be easily policed. So basically, anyone can attack your website, brand, or company without any repercussions.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Get a bookkeeper from day 1. Or close to it. If you can swing it, also start working with an accountant as soon as possible.
  2. If you are starting a website or online company, ensure you have ALL the right security measures in place to protect your data and your website, including a Firewall service from your domain provider as well as DDOS protection.
  3. Take breaks and/or rest for yourself. As an entrepreneur, especially a solopreneur, you tend to work 24/7/365, believing it to be necessary for success. It is important to make time and put in the effort to look after yourself. You can be a hard worker and still take a day off...you cannot be successful and at the top of your game if you are burned out.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Some of the best advice I got when I first started was not to have a "death grip" on your vision. Your business will grow, evolve and change over time organically. You have to let your ideas evolve, plans migrate, and directions change in order to be successful. If you stick to your original vision even as tides are turning, you will run your business into the ground.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://localboom.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocalBoom/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/localboom.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/boom_local

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.