2023 Clients

With her background as a project management professional, The Tea Lounge owner Michelle Pierce Hamilton is used to handling a lot of moving parts. It’s not surprising that she brings that skill to her own business, continually analyzing parts of her operations and seeking ways to improve and strengthen them. “There is never a shortage of ideas, only a shortage of abilities to implement them,” she says.  

Even before she opened The Tea Lounge Pierce Hamilton was exploring resources, building connections and looking at opportunities to collaborate with community partners, including the Small Business Centre.  

Back then, she had a demanding corporate job and admits she drank too many cups of coffee, wasn’t conscious about healthy eating, and got too few hours of sleep. After losing her father and a close friend, she recognized the need to take an honest look at her own lifestyle and to make changes to how she was living and working.  

Her research led her to tea. “It’s more than a beverage,” Pierce Hamilton says. “Tea drinking is steeped in culture and tradition and is tied to social customs and relationships in all parts of the world.”  

She became a Tea Sommelier, and when she had difficulty finding good quality, ethically produced tea for her consumption, she searched out her suppliers. Then she opened an online store, be Teas, which is still in operation. The move to a bricks-and-mortar building for The Tea Lounge came about unexpectedly in 2012 when a friend urged her to look at the property for sale on Piccadilly Street.  

Located just steps from Richmond Row, The Tea Lounge is more than an old-world tea house where people can relax and visit with friends, read a book, or enjoy an experience. Carefully curated events and programs are offered weekly, from mystic teas with a local psychic, to yoga and meditation evenings, to live music and performance events.  

While the old home provides a charming setting for The Tea Lounge, it also presents its own unique challenges. “This is a 130-year-old house, with a 130-year-old kitchen,” says Pierce Hamilton. In 2022, she updated the kitchen’s electrical capability and purchased a commercial freezer to expand capacity and food preparation capabilities.   

With the kitchen upgrades complete, Pierce Hamilton was able to expand the menu. She collaborated with a neighbouring business, Haven’s Creamery, to create Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream and a new pairing experience with “a sip of tea and a taste of ice cream.”  A variety of partnering local chefs prepare food that customers can enjoy in the tearoom or pick up to enjoy at home.  

Pierce Hamilton feels it is important to diversify risk with multiple streams of income. As part of her healing journey, she became a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Reiki and IET practitioner and teacher, and she offers healing arts services at the Piccadilly Street location.   

On the retail merchandising side, The Tea Lounge sells an array of tea ware and gifts, including locally handcrafted jewelry, art, crystals and more. And now, she is also able to rent the commercial plant-based kitchen in off-hours, providing workspace to local food entrepreneurs and helping to offset The Tea Lounge’s operating costs.  “A total win-win!” she says.    

Nurturing those community connections, finding ways to take her business in new directions, and exploring new collaborations while offering a mix of traditional tea along with new experiences — Pierce Hamilton is still handling a lot of moving parts. She’s still project managing, she says, but these days in a much healthier way.    

Learn more about The Tea Lounge. 

Summer Company

Tell us about yourself and the business you launched at the Summer Company Program in 2022.

I am 17 years old and in grade 12 at St. Andre Bessette. I play on several school sports teams, including football, basketball and soccer. I also play competitive soccer for the Whitecaps. I have two older siblings and a twin brother. I hope to study History or Kinesiology at university in the next year or two.

I started the business Talbot Yard Works. I do local gardening, landscaping, and clean-up jobs in my Oakridge neighbourhood. Spring clean-up, distributing dirt and rocks, digging up weeds, heavy lifting jobs, moving trees and even some laying stone paths and patios. I hired my twin brother to help me with most jobs, and I liked working with him.

How has the Small Business Centre helped your business?   

The Small Business Centre helped a lot. I was able to use the grant money to purchase yard clean–up equipment like a wheelbarrow, rakes & shovels, weeder and company t-shirts. I learned about budgeting and setting up a schedule and priorities. I also learned how hard it is to make money, and that being an entrepreneur isn’t always the easiest because you have to rely on yourself to get things done.   

What led you to start this business? Was there something that drew you into being an entrepreneur?   

I wanted to work somewhere but was too young, so I offered to help my older neighbours with their yard work & responded to help ads on our local Facebook page. There seems to be a lot of need in my area for garden help. People are either too busy or can’t do the work themselves. I liked that I could set the schedule of when I work because I am very busy with my sports. I could work around my own timetable needs. I like working outside and working with my hands. It’s good to see the results of a job. 

Tell us about your experience within the Summer Company Program.   

Interesting to hear what businesses students were starting up. I appreciated the support from the group meetings. Sometimes it is hard to set aside time to go to the meetings because I had a very busy summer with the demand of my business. 

What were some of the challenges you faced getting started, and how did you overcome them?  

It was hard to get my name out there to start with, but once I got some good recommendations from people on our local Facebook page, I didn’t even need to advertise much. It was hardest to organize and keep track of the jobs coming in. Another challenge was figuring out how to do the quotes and price my jobs so that I made sure I was being reasonable and getting paid enough to make the work worthwhile. Sometimes the jobs took longer than I thought they would, and I barely covered my costs.  I learned as I went along. 

 What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received and why?  

Doing the little things goes a long way. In the type of business I have been doing, it seems that doing the little things sets me apart from other big landscape businesses. The customers seem to appreciate the personal touch. 

What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur today?  

Make sure there is a demand for what you plan to offer and don’t be afraid to do hard work and put the time in. 

Are you still running the business, or do you plan to pursue this in the future?   

Yes, I am planning on running this again in the summer. I even hope to hire a couple of extra guys because I expect this summer to be even busier than last summer because I’m not going to wait for word-of-mouth recommendations but start advertising in the spring. I now have my full driver’s license, which will help me get around to the different job locations in my neighbourhood. I hope that this business will continue for me even when I’m at university.   

 

Learn more about Talbot Yard Works  

Summer Company

When Angel Tsiga moved to London in 2018, she found that there were not a lot of hair salons that catered specifically to people of colour. “I wanted to go to someone who specialized in working with my kind of hair, and there were not a lot of options,” she recalls. “I thought this could be a business opportunity!”   

She jumped in headfirst, so to speak, opening The Fix Inc in December 2019.  Since then, Angel has survived the COVID shutdown, developed her own line of hair care products, and tapped into the London Small Business Centre assistance.   

“My business advisor has been an amazing support,” says Angel, who appreciates the help beyond the financial assistance her business received. “She did a lot of market research and provided insights that have helped with target marketing.”  

After looking at different options with her advisor, Angel used some of the funding for signage and branding, product research and development, and setting up an online ordering and sales system for the new line of The Fix Inc hair care products.    

She had sourced ingredients like Jamaican Black castor oil and sea salt spray to use in the salon and has begun to play around with different recipes. That led to the development of The Fix Inc shampoo and conditioner, hair and beard oils, wax sticks, and a heat protectant spray that are now sold to the public.  

Angel’s background is in business and finance, first in Zimbabwe and then in the U.S. She switched gears when she moved to Canada, completing a program in mental health and addictions at Ryerson and working at a harm reduction site in Toronto before moving to London. Once she decided to pursue entrepreneurship, Angel had to return to school again to become a qualified hair stylist. 

After finding affordable space on the Hamilton Roads business corridor, she installed four workstations and reached out to the Black community to find three more stylists. One worked in a salon in Jamaica for 27 years; another worked with hair in Nigeria; the third specializes in braiding and creates most of the wigs that The Fix Inc sells.  

“We specialize in cutting, colouring, barbering, braiding, cornrows, twisting, dreadlocks, wigs and weave applications and upkeep,” says Angel. 

“I knew I wanted to work with people, and the salon is a great way to do that. You listen to people, give them a place to offload some of their stress, and when they leave, they look good, and they feel good. That’s why our tagline is ‘Bringing out the beauty within’.” 

Learn more about The Fix Inc.

Tell us about yourself and the business you launched at the Summer Company Program in 2022.

My name is Nick Taylor, and I am 21 years. I live in Kilworth and am in my second year of Kinesiology at Western.     

Last Summer, my partner and I launched our very own soccer camp, which we ran out of my public school. We offered weekly camps and private lessons, allowing parents a local and trustworthy option to enlist their child. We taught our campers the basics of dribbling and shooting, making them better teammates and helping one another out.  

How has the Small Business Centre helped your business?   

The Small Business Center helped introduce the very structural basics of running your own business. The SBC helped me understand that I wouldn’t just be running a camp, but I would be in charge of my own business.    

What led you to start this business? Was there something that drew (or pushed) you into being an entrepreneur?   

Since my earliest teenage years, I’ve been a working man. I’ve worked in a kitchen, a grocery store, and hockey arenas, but I was never satisfied no matter where I worked. Starting my own business allowed me to be my own boss, make my own money, and decide exactly what I wanted to do.  

Tell us about your experience within the Summer Company Program.   

My experience with the Summer Company Program was very influential. The classes they provided helped everyone learn so much from a business perspective. Evidently, everyone came out of the Summer as much more confident entrepreneurs.   

What were some of the challenges you faced getting started, and how did you overcome them?  

The most troubling thing I encountered initially was understanding how to promote the camp and ensure a successful summer. Through the guidance of the Summer Company Program, I confidently promoted the camp, gathering the community’s interest and providing a busy and successful summer.  

 What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received and why?  

The best business advice I’ve ever received was to be patient and that not everything would fall into my lap. Understanding the power of ‘word of mouth’ and how it can be your best marketing partner allows you to be patient and understand that if I did great work, I would gain the respect of my customers, and they would help spread the word.  

What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur today?  

My advice to an aspiring entrepreneur would be to enjoy the experience. Running your own business can seem stressful due to the responsibilities that come along with it, but it is a learning experience. Understanding you’re human and will make mistakes is vital to enjoy and seeing you and your business’ growth.  

Are you still running the business, or do you plan to pursue this in the future?   

My partner and I are going to run the camp again this Summer. All of the positive feedback and a successful first year made running the camp seem less like a job and more like a fun activity.   

Learn more about Future Stars.

Summer Company

When Bella Kim followed her heart to London in 2015, despite being welcomed into her future husband’s large extended family, she says there were times she felt terribly homesick. “I missed my mom’s cooking, so I went searching all of the local Asian restaurants, looking for authentic Korean dishes that tasted like home.”

Nothing quite hit the mark, so Kim decided to cook her favourite Korean meals herself.  Creating authentic Korean dishes eventually led her to launch Bella’s Acacia Catering, a line of hand-crafted kimchi and other packaged products that are retailed locally, and most recently a café that bears her name.

“We specialize in vegan-friendly, nut-free, allergy-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free food, and offer unique flavours,” says Kim. She has expanded twice, but still does all of the shopping herself, going out two or three times a week to hand-pick the premium, fresh ingredients that she sources locally.

When Kim first started cooking her family recipes here in London, one of the biggest challenges was finding the right ingredients. “I tried all types of cabbage — even cabbage grown in Canada doesn’t taste the same,” Kim says. But she persisted, and when she started sharing her home cooking with friends and family they soon started asking her to prepare food for them.

Demand grew, and Kim decided she should offer catering as a business. She connected with an advisor at the Small Business Centre when she launched Bella’s Acacia Catering, and has stayed connected with the SBC throughout her entrepreneurial journey. 

Kim opened Bella’s Acacia Catering working out of a rented commercial kitchen in Old East Village in 2018, while she was still a full-time student in the Business-Accounting program at Fanshawe College. Kim recalls nights when she worked in the kitchen through the wee hours of the morning and says 15-hour days were often the norm.

Although her initial goal was to be a CPA, in 2020 Kim decided to step away from school and channel her energy into building her catering business. She moved her operation to the back area of the London Food Incubator at 630 Dundas Street as soon as space became available — in the fall of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic.

“The business was struggling, so I decided to take my packaged food to farmers’ markets and pop-up events — basically anywhere that I could connect with the public. Some people didn’t even know what kimchi is, so I had to educate them,” she says.

Her persistence was rewarded with a growing loyal customer base — so much so that in November 2022 she moved to a larger space, closer to the building’s front entrance, with room to set up a small eat-in area. Through her business advisor at SBC, she was able to access funding, which helped with the cost of renovations, the purchase of kitchen equipment, dining tables and chairs, and some marketing expenses. 

Although Kim continues to do all of the shopping and cooking for Bella’s, she now has three to four part-time workers who help with food prep, cleaning and sterilizing, and packaging. The business is split fairly equally between food orders for catering, pick-up and dine-in, and packaged products that can be purchased at Bella’s, Remark or Momo’s at Western Fair Market. 

Having dine-in seating means Kim can meet more of her customers in person, but she would also like to expand her wholesale business by distributing packaged goods through local grocery and more specialty stores.  She’s confident that demand for her food will continue to increase, she got the persistence she needs to grow the business…and she’s ready to work more of those 15-hour days.

Learn more about Bella’s Acacia Catering.

Even as a young boy, Giuliano Caranci was fascinated by animals and knew that when he grew up he wanted to own a pet shop. When he was 10 years old he adopted a budgie, then a second one, and soon birds became his passion.

His childhood dream became a reality when he opened Jungle Services, initially online in 2012 and then as a bricks-and-mortar store in 2018. It is London’s only pet shop that specializes in parrots and exotic birds.

From small budgies to large macaws and parrots, Giuliano helps people find the best bird for their family.  He also sells food and supplies, provides grooming services, and offers education and resources to help customers keep their feathered friends healthy and happy. Jungle Services carries an extensive selection of pellets, as well as dehydrated fruits and vegetables and baked treats that Giuliano makes himself. His prices are comparable to larger chain pet stores, but the variety is much larger.

Giuliano breeds most of the birds that he sells, hand feeding them and caring for them until they are old enough to move to a new home. He also runs a bird rescue service to rehabilitate and re-home birds when their owners’ circumstances change and they are no longer able to care for them.

“Birds can be a great family pet, and parrots can be a great companion for someone living alone, but they need to be properly cared for,” he says. That includes providing a high-quality diet, social time since they thrive as part of a ‘flock’, toys and activities that provide mental stimulation, and regular wing and nail maintenance.

“Education is a huge part of what I do, and a lot of my time is spent doing research and answering questions,” Giuliano says. It’s important, but it can be extremely time consuming. “One day the Ambassador from My Main Street walked in, and when she saw what we’re doing here she started talking to me about and how the program could support my business.” The My Main Street Local Business Accelerator Program was delivered in London by the Small Business Centre in partnership with other local organizations, supported by the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) and the City of London.

Giuliano was thrilled to receive funding to purchase high quality camera and video equipment. He records information about different topics that bird owners will find helpful, and regularly posts it online. He still provides specialized information to some customers, mainly through fee-for-service individualized consultations.

Giuliano also records activities and events that build community among local bird lovers, from following the progress of newly hatched babies to a ‘gender reveal’ party for Oscar, a 26-year-old cockatoo (many species of birds have no outer indication of their gender at birth, and for Oscar a DNA blood test was required) and a birthday party for one of the well-loved rescue birds.

“Jungle Services isn’t just a store, it’s my full-time life,” says Giuliano. “Some of these birds will live 30 or more years. It’s important to ensure that people know what to expect, to find a bird that is a good fit for them, and to have the knowledge and resources to support them after they take their bird home.”

Learn more about Jungle Service.

If you have to wear a wig, you want it to look natural. It makes sense to have it cut, shaped and styled to suit you, says Jagoda Hall, the owner of Salon Cyan. The upscale downtown salon quietly introduced wig sales and services a few years ago for clients who lost hair during cancer treatments. Some had brought wigs that they had purchased elsewhere and asked the Salon Cyan stylists to cut and style them. Some were looking for instruction on how to shampoo and care for their wigs, or asked if Hall could do that for them.

As more and more people needing wigs found their way to the salon through word-of-mouth and referrals from health care practitioners, Hall and her salon manager, Kasia Fevens, recognized that the need was more than simply covering their bare heads.

“When people suffer from alopecia or lose their hair during cancer treatments, it affects them emotionally as well as physically,” Fevens says. “Having a team that can custom fit and style a wig, in their own natural hair colour, and to suit their face —what a gift that is! People feel so much more confident and more comfortable about their appearance.”

With training Fevens became a wig specialist, and a wig/consultation room was set up on the salon’s second floor. In the bright and cozy space clients have access to a full display of wig choices, both real and synthetic. And they have privacy when they bare their heads — and often their emotions. Part of the cost of the display wigs and shelving came from My Main Street Local Business Accelerator Program, delivered in London by the Small Business Centre in partnership with other local organizations, supported by the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) and the City of London.

Having her own upscale salon was a far-off goal when Hall arrived in Canada from Poland in 1996. First, she had to learn English, then get formal training to be a stylist, and then get experience working in other shops before she could hang out her own shingle. “I knew I wanted to have my own salon, and I knew I wanted to be downtown,” she says.

When the building at 115 Dundas Street, just east of Talbot, came up for sale Hall fell in love with the yellow brick interior walls and the feel of the space. “This building is older than Canada,” she says. “I knew it would be a challenge to be here, but I also could see the potential, and I wanted to be part of the change in this part of the downtown.”

Salon Cyan opened with Hall, her assistant and a receptionist working on the main floor. Now the salon fills both the first and second levels of the building, there are 11 stylists and several assistants, and almost all of the women who work here have been trained by Hall.

Over the past 25 years Hall has won national awards for colour, cutting and makeovers, and coached and mentored several Salon Cyan stylists who have entered and won national and international competitions. The award-winning styles are captured in posters that hang on the salon walls.

People may wonder why Hall named her salon Cyan. “In Polish, Jagoda means blueberry, and cyan is a beautiful shade of blue. My husband wanted to name our daughter Cyan, but I preferred a Polish name,” she explains.  “The salon is like a second baby, so there was no question what the name would be!”   

Learn more about Salon Cyan.