My name is Tristan and I am the face behind YEGlashroom, a home based lash studio in Edmonton! This business venture started as a way to earn a little side cash while I hustled to finish the last year of my BBA degree. I had always intended to get a “real job” once I finished my degree, but as it began coming closer to the end I started playing with the idea of doing lashes full time and taking the leap of being an entrepreneur. The thought of giving up something that I had put so much time and effort in to work full time for someone else didn’t sit well with me, especially since I knew that with some more work and a lot of faith I could turn my little side gig into something that allowed me to be independent and support myself.

Looking back, I always had that entrepreneurial itch in me. My first business venture was when I was probably around 8 years old. I cut tiger lillies from my Mom's garden, potted them in old pop cans, and set up a stand for sale at the end of our driveway. Unfortunately, the venture didn’t have much success...however I attribute the failure to the fact that we lived in a rural area, not because it was a bad business move, ha! People ask me if I see myself doing lashes forever and the truth is, I don’t know. I think that like most entrepreneurs, business ventures will evolve over time. Personally, I know that as long as I am doing something that allows me freedom and the ability to tap into my creativity I will live a very abundant life, both soulfully and financially.

All that good stuff aside, there have been plenty of times where I’ve wanted to give up or when I started to go down the thought path of: “it would be so much easier just to get a real job”. But what I tell myself, and the advice I would give to other female entrepreneurs is that when the going gets tough, you just have to suck it up and plough through. Usually the times you feel defeated and want to throw in the towel are the times that you are on the brink of a huge turning point in your business. I think that the hardest part of pursuing any entrepreneurial journey is knowing that at the end of the day, the only person responsible for your success is you. You really have to practice your faith like a full time job, and trust that if you put in the work and effort, success will come. Something I always remind myself of is that the only thing that scares me more than failure is unfulfilled potential. Running your own hustle is stressful, hard at times, and freaking scary. But more than that, it is so SO rewarding and at the end of the day, it’s a great feeling to be a Boss Babe.