I’m passionate about helping small business owners get found + noticed + remembered online.

When I started Elmtree Digital Marketing, I was going through my own business transition. You can read the whole story here, but let me give you a snapshot.

I was a scuba diver and had a thriving overseas business as a tourism operator, but in March of 2020, that came to a screeching halt. I’m sure you don’t need a reminder of what was going on in the world at that point in time.

At first, I did what most of you probably did … watched the news all day, drank way too much wine and complained to anyone who would listen.

But I quickly realized, I wasn't alone. There are millions of businesses world-wide in exactly the same spot. In Canada, tourism was hit especially hard through the pandemic with almost 300,000 Canadians in this industry becoming unemployed. Women and visible minorities suffered job loss disproportionately and recovery felt like it was a long ways away.

In my local area of Oceanside, British Columbia here on Vancouver Island, there were hundreds of small business owners trying to figure out their next steps as they navigated closures and lock-down and more recently the post-pandemic landscape. Small business owners who were dependent on personal interaction with their clients (landscapers, hairdressers, financial planners, restaurant owners) were trying to navigate the digital communication world, many of them for the first time.

That's when it hit me … here was a way for me to apply my skills in marketing and communication and make a difference to other small business owners right here at home. From that realization, Elmtree Digital Marketing was born.