Magdalena is a Massage Therapy Alumni graduated from Fanshawe College. She started her business idea in December 2021, and in Summer of 2022 she took the LeapIn Accelerator Program and that was the boost to her business.
The "guru crystal" has a line of crystal jewelry, crystal candles, crystals, crystal keychains and crystal infused aromatherapy sprays, and one of her goals is to has her own physical store in London.
MAGDALENAS MINERALS - Magdalena Maletta
Introduction:
Hi, my name is Magdalena and I'm the founder of Magdalena's Minerals. I've studied hair styling and massage therapy at Fanshawe College.
1. What sparked the idea to start your own business?
I've always been passionate about crystals and minerals growing up during my childhood and during the pandemic, I decided to turn that passion into a business.
2. When did you identify the opportunity?
Honestly, I did it on a whim to be 100% honest. I applied for the Kellogg Spring market and did everything with no plan to be honest, and the roadblocks that I had were definitely not having a plan or knowing what. I was doing.
3. How many hours per day and per week did you work during the first stage?
So, during the beginning I probably was working like 30 hours, like prepping for markets and stuff like that, and I was also working full time at the same time. So, I definitely did not have any kind of work life balance at the time.
4. How did you find out about LEAP Junction? How have they supported you in your business development?
So, my friend who owns Soft Flirt, told me about LEAP Junction. She took it in the past and she encouraged me to take this program. So, that's how I found out about it. I genuinely didn't know about it until I found out through her and LEAP Junction has helped me a lot with my business through planning, resources and really learning how to properly run my business.
5. What does work/life balance look like to you?
So, work life balance for me it really depends on the time of the year. It will fluctuate, I also work another job at the same time right now, so it can really fluctuate. I definitely would say I probably put like 20-30 hours right now and sometimes it can be even more on top of working full time so. It can definitely be really hard to have a work life balance, especially for myself.
6. Is there anything you would do differently if you were starting over?
If I were to start all over again, I would definitely do many things differently. The biggest thing would be planning and having a set plan. I was very disorganized when I first started, and I didn't know what I was doing and it would have definitely been helpful to know about LEAP Junction before because they have a lot of resources and are very helpful.
7. What advice would you give to someone interested in starting a business today?
If you're interested in starting your own business, I would definitely recommend to try. I would definitely say take the leap and I would definitely recommend booking a meeting with LEAP Junction. They will help you out a lot with learning like figure out what you need to do, planning and just helping you out in general of how to start your business.