Visiting the Grade 8 & 9 Classrooms  Talking Entrepreneurship, Nerves and All

Last week, I did something that pushed me far outside of my comfort zone.

I walked into a classroom full of Grade 8 and 9 students and shared my story. Not just about owning a business, but about careers, learning, community, and how nothing ever turns out quite as planned.

I should say this upfront. I was nervous.

The kind of nervous where you rehearse what you are going to say in your head over and over. The kind where you wonder if you are actually qualified to be standing at the front of the room. The kind where you think, I have never done this before, what if I mess it up?

Public speaking has never been something I am naturally comfortable with, and I have never done a presentation like this before. Not in a school setting. Not to students this age. Not with a whiteboard, a laptop, and a room full of faces looking back at me.

There was a very real moment before I went where I thought about backing out.

But I did not.

Because over the years, running a business has taught me something important. Growth usually shows up disguised as discomfort.

Telling the Version of My Story That Is Not Polished

When I agreed to visit the classrooms, I knew one thing for sure.

I did not want to show up with a highlight reel.

I did not want to pretend I always knew what I was doing, or that my career unfolded neatly, or that success arrived because I had some grand plan figured out early on.

Because that is just not true.

So I started at the beginning.

I told them I was born and raised right here in Town. That when I was their age, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be. That I genuinely thought adults just woke up one day knowing their careers, only to later realize they really do not.

At their age, career planning was the last thing on my mind. I cared about my friends, what was happening that weekend, and where we were all going to be hanging out.

And that honesty seemed to land.

The Winding Road and All the Jobs Along the Way

I shared how my career path was anything but straight.

I talked about odd jobs growing up. Dusting my grandma’s cat figurine collection. Running lemonade and craft stands every summer. Trying babysitting before quickly realizing it was not my calling.

I shared how I volunteered throughout school, including Meals on Wheels, without realizing at the time that I was already learning responsibility, communication, and confidence.

My first real job at sixteen was as a flag person on a highway crew. It was not glamorous. It was not what I pictured myself doing. But it paid better than minimum wage and taught me that even jobs you do not love still teach you valuable skills.

Later in high school, I managed a rental property my dad owned. I had to learn paperwork, contracts, organization, and how to talk to actual adults when things broke or problems came up.

And yes, I admitted that I worked as a waitress in my last year of high school and was absolutely horrendous at it. But all my friends worked there, so I powered through until graduation.

That part got a laugh, which helped calm my nerves more than I expected.

Feeling Stuck Is Still Part of the Process

After high school, when I moved back to Eston, I worked at the co-op, the bank, and then the RM office. At the RM office, I learned payroll, banking, accounts payable and receivable, and bookkeeping.

Those skills later became incredibly valuable.

But I was honest with them. I was not happy. I felt drained. I felt stuck.

After seven years, I moved to a grain shipping company and learned logistics, cross-border shipping, customs, and problem-solving.

Looking back now, every job taught me something. Even the ones I did not love. Even the ones that felt like they were not going anywhere.

That was an important message I wanted them to hear.

Feeling stuck does not mean you are failing. Sometimes it just means you are learning what you do not want.

Taking the Risk That Became Clementine

Eventually, that realization led me to start my own business.

In 2017, I opened Clementine Home Floral Gift in Kindersley just before the Christmas season. The space we leased was a brand-new build. At the time, we thought it was perfect because we could choose everything.

The reality was very different.It was expensive, stressful, and a lot of work to get ready in a very short amount of time. We needed to start turning a profit almost immediately.

But even before the doors officially opened, I already knew something important.

From my previous business partnership, I had started realizing that online was where the future was heading. I kept thinking, why limit yourself to just the population of your town when there are so many people outside of it who could find you, connect with what you are creating, and support it?

So we built a website right away, even before opening the store. And we focused on social media from day one.

We wanted to build community before day one even began.

When Preparation Meets the Unexpected

When COVID hit and everything shut down, when people had to stay home and businesses were forced to pivot overnight, we were able to adapt quickly.

Not because we were lucky, but because we had already done the work.

A couple of years passed, and the momentum stayed. Eventually, we noticed something surprising. We were doing more business online than in-store.

So we tested it.

We closed the store for one month and focused entirely on online sales. That single month did better than the three months before combined.

That moment taught me two things. Trust your gut. And pay attention to the numbers.

Closing the store was not an easy decision, even when everything pointed in that direction. It was scary. It was emotional. And it changed our lives in ways we are still adapting to.

But it also confirmed something important. Our brand was strong enough to move forward.

A Real Example of How This Work Adds Up

One example I shared with the students was about working with Jillian Harris.

A lot of people see collaborations like that and assume they happen overnight or because someone gets “lucky.” The reality is very different.

Our connection with Jillian did not come from one post, one email, or one big moment. It came from years of showing up consistently online, building a brand with clear values, and doing the behind-the-scenes work long before anyone with a large platform noticed.

We focused on being ourselves, sharing honestly, and creating a brand people could trust. Over time, that built credibility.

Today, Jillian and her team consider Clementine Collective one of their go-to places for home decor. That still feels surreal to say out loud, but it is also a reminder of something important.Opportunities like that usually come after a lot of unseen work.It also reinforced something I really believe in and wanted the students to hear.You do not need to pretend to be someone else to be successful. You do not need to copy what everyone else is doing. Being consistent, doing good work, and staying true to who you are matters far more than trying to look impressive online.That lesson applies whether you want to run a business, work in marketing, go into a trade, or do something completely different. The effort you put in today often shows up later in ways you cannot predict.

Teaching What a Brand Actually Is

One of my favorite interactive moments was when we talked about branding.

We wrote two words on the board. LOGO and BRAND.

I asked the students to name brands they recognized, like Nike, Apple, and Disney.

Then I told them something I truly believe.

A logo is what you see.
A brand is how you feel.

A brand is not just colours or fonts. It is who you are, what you stand for, what you represent, and how you make people feel.

Watching them connect those dots was incredibly rewarding.

What People Do Not See Online

We also talked about what people do not see.

Running an online business is not automatic. Social media is not just posting a selfie. Influencer culture is not effortless.

We made another list on the board.

Looks Easy and Is Easy.

And we talked about everything that lives behind the scenes. Websites, algorithms, SEO, photography, editing, emails, analytics, problem-solving, and constant learning.

I told them something I genuinely believe.

If it looks easy, someone worked very hard to make it look that way.

Walking Out Changed

I walked into that classroom nervous, unsure how it would go.

I walked out feeling really grateful.

Grateful that I said yes, even when I felt uncomfortable. Grateful that I shared the real version of my story instead of a polished one. And grateful for the reminder that trying something new is often how you learn the most.

Thank you to the teachers who invited me in and to the students who listened, asked thoughtful questions, and stayed engaged throughout.

And if you are reading this and feeling unsure about trying something new, this is a reminder that you do not need to have everything figured out first.You just need to be willing to try.

xo Christa

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