Tricia Enns took place in the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training program in Ottawa in 2013 and is the creator of Branch Out Bakery.

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How do we make goals when we don’t know what goals we want most?
How does one choose to pursue an idea without knowing the results?

These are two questions that constantly encircled (and still do) my head when I first started Branch Out Bakery.

Branch Out Bakery started as an idea, as most things do. It was an idea that brought together two of my passions, good inclusive food and biking, into one fun and light hearted business.

Having an idea is easy, trying to change that idea from a dream to a reality is—well—a little bit more tricky. After deciding to take the tricky route, many questions (that many budding entrepreneurs face) erupted in me:

• “How do I reach my target market?”
• “What is my target market?”
• “How do I price my products?”
• “What sort of good is my businesses doing for the world?”
• And finally the big question: “Is it even worth it (both in regards to the money and time investment)?”

These questions weighed on me for the first six months as I struggled to make something of Branch Out Bakery. Oh, and don’t forget my fear of failure. That was the heaviest of all.

What I really needed was some clear goals and a plan of action. Lucky for me, right around this time I was provided with the opportunity to be involved with The Natural Step Canada’s IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training program. I was not sure what I would get out of the program, but I decided to go for it.

IMPACT! helps youth pursue their social enterprise dreams by providing community, mentorship, business plan development, and seed funding.

So I jumped. I engaged in the program as the cook for the first weekend and as a participant for the second weekend of the program. What I found most helpful was the community and mentorship the program gave me access to. If you know me, you probably would not guess that I am very shy when it comes to asking for help and meeting new business-related people. Therefore, the mentorship program was like gold to me.

Once I was connected to my mentor, I realized something fairly obvious: we are all people struggling to live and make the world a better place. My mentor told me about a project he spearheaded in the past that failed. The failure of someone I saw as successful caught me off guard, because I never associate failure with success. Learning about the failures of people I look up to helped me realize that failure is nothing to be scared of. Indeed, I have learned that failure is an essential step to success. I was inspired and ready to move forward.

Branch Out Bakery continues to evolve. Currently it has become a hobby that I love. By making it a hobby, I no longer have the pressures of trying to pay for rent, and I can accept (or reject) any opportunities that come my way.

Life is an adventure, goals are important, but “doing” is even more important. Failure is not something we should worry about, but rather celebrate. The greatest people always fail first.

Written by Tricia Enns

Learn more about the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training program, or contact us at jsnider(at)naturalstep.ca or 613.748.3001 x5230 to get involved.