✨ Welcome + Introduce Yourself

[Ani_]

You made it! Welcome to Square’s togetHER community 🙌

Our purpose is for you to find connection, advice, encouragement, and community with fellow women in business and allies. This community is built for and by you, so make it your own.

First step: Introduce yourself in this thread! We want to get to know each and everyone one of you here. Stuck on how you should introduce yourself to other lady bosses? Here are some things to cover: Tell us who you are, what you’re working on and what type of business you own. If you have an online store, feel free to share with the group!

Our guiding principles

We all want productive, friendly conversation propelling us forward. Keep these in mind when posting:

• Share actionable information/material. We want this group to provide advice and actions that you can implement immediately to improve your business. Give context when asking questions and be detailed in your responses. Post about the difficult things so we can figure out an answer together as a community.
• Assume good intent. Tone on the internet is very difficult to convey. Let’s assume that everyone posting here comes from a place of good intention, so we can do the same. If anything feels amiss, please report it to our moderators.
• Treat your fellow sellers with respect. We all come from different backgrounds and may not always agree with one another, but we can always treat each other with respect. We have a zero tolerance policy for harassment or abuse of sellers or moderators because this should be a happy place on the internet.
• No spam or excessive self promotion. We’ve all seen those groups with the same people posting the same thing every single day. Let’s respect each other’s time and refrain from this type of excessive self promotion. But, by all means, when it’s time to celebrate you, shout that accomplishment from the rooftops!

Can’t wait to see your posts and celebrate you! 🎉

[jdpt]

I have 2 PT sisters older than me. I wanted to do Corporate Fitness and PT school was a stepping stone. Then  I fell in love with PT. Much better fot for me!

[SandyDeet]

I love your mission to educate and empower people dealing with pain.  Bless you for helping people learn to adapt and find solutions!

[ksienk]

Hi!  I'm Kimberly - the newborn and family photographer behind K. Sienk Photography.  And I make family photos fun!  I live and work in the Bay Area, and sometimes travel down to LA for work since my family is down there. 

I'd love to connect with you ladies on Instagram.  You can find me there at instagram.com/ksienkphoto. 

[katieand]

I love those photos @ksienk! You must have a ton of techniques for making little ones smile 😀 What are some of your favorite? 

[ksienk]

Thank you!  As for techniques for getting little ones to smile, I start slow.  I let them get to know me a little better, and I get to know them.  I also ask their parents before the shoot to describe their personality.  I know that a shy kid reacts differently than a chatty one.  Then I feed off of their energy.  

I make a lot of silly noises and face from behind the camera.  Kids also love to see people jump, so I do a lot of jumping.  Another one of my tricks that works a lot is my "Tickle Plane."  It's just my pointer finger, but I make noises as it gets closer to the kiddo and then eventually will tickle them (if they will respond well to that).  This one is a great trick because I can start it from farther away and they know what's coming so they start smiling and I can get a great full body shot of the whole family.  

[Brooksca]

Hi, I'm Courtney. I live in Midwest and I own a Massage Therapy/Yoga/ Wellness business.  I've been doing this for about 18 years now.

[katieand]

👋 @Brooksca - I'm already feeling relaxed and at peace knowing you're a part of this group! Do you have a favorite yoga pose?

[Yelibelly]

HI !

My name is Yeli and I own Yelibelly Chocolates in Dallas Texas. We are a custom chocolate company and specialize in corporate gifts with logos on the chocolate, wedding favors, special dessert bars and liquid nitrogen ice cream. 🙂

Looking forward to sharing more and supporting other women in business!

Here are our links to drool on:

www.yelibelly.com

www.instagram.com/yelichocolate

www.facebook.com/yelibellychocolates

[sugarmamma]

Love your business name! From one sweets purveyor to another, Cheers!

[katieand]

I love your tagline on the website "Let's get chocolate wasted" @Yelibelly 😂

It looks like there are a few candy/chocolate ladies in the group, which is super exciting to my sweet tooth self!

[fayesaurous]

Hi, my name is Sammantha (yep with two M's).

I make Wire Wrapped Pendants, I do alot of my own Lapidary work, I sell Quartz Crystals and other gems and minerals.

Got into the business of rocks due to my family because my mom owned a crystal mine for about 15 years and my Dad was a Lapidarist. My mom homeschooled me after 6th grade and we traveled all over the states selling our Quartz Crystals to new age shops (the square card reader would have been SO helpful then!) 

I now sell mainly on Etsy and at minor events. It's kind of hard for me though since being homeschooled, I never had a support group or friends, it was always myom and I. My husband helps me alot too, but I enjoy being independent in my business.

I'd enjoy having some friends or just someone to chat with every now and again.

[katieand]

Thanks for sharing about your business @fayesaurous! I bet the reader would've been helpful while you and your family were selling in the past 🙂

Do you have a favorite type of gem or mineral? Also, where are you located now? 

[fayesaurous]

I forgot to mention my business name is Spirit Springs Curio. 

@katieand It totally would've been helpful! So many times we cashed checks, but the card reader is amazing and makes me definitely appreciate it!

I LOVE Labradorite and Rainbow Moonstone. I'm currently located in Athens GA. 🙂

[SandyDeet]

I'm such a rock hound.  Can't wait to check out your site!

[pilsenoutpost]

Hi! My name is Teresa. I am owner of a community art gallery in Chicago called "Pilsen Outpost". We support emerging artists with featuring and selling their art along with utilizing the gallery space for community serving events. I'm a full time artist myself and juggle between running my business, being a teaching artist and hustling my own art work. I'm also a mother of 2. 

I love how Square has done so much for the small businnes person and keeps growing to provide us all support. I'm excited for this initiative Square has started here and look forward to being of help and seeking support from you all. I'm sure we can all relate to so many things that happen as a small business owner and having a place to discuss it is helpful and motivating! Thanks 😃

Here are some photos of my art and the activities we have going on in our space. 

My Art 😃Pilsen Outpost ExhibitionPilsen OutpostFree Printmaking DemonstrationEmbroidery Workshop

[katieand]

These photos are fabulous, @pilsenoutpost! I especially love the Frida portraits 🖼

You must be ready for community building since your art space has a community focus. Can't wait to hear your valuable business and community advice ♥️️

[SandyDeet]

What a great way to bring the community together.  My hubby is an artist. He's looking forward to the day he can spend less time in our carriage and sleigh business and can spend more time volunteering more in our local artistic community.

[WonderWoman420]

Hi y’all, I’m Felicia I own and operate a tattoo shop in downtown San Marcos, TX with my husband. I do Tooth Kandy and manage the shop as well as our family. We have one adult son and a 13 year old daughter as well as 3 Shih Tzus. Can’t wait to read everyone else’s intro’s!!

[katieand]

Hi @WonderWoman420 - Great to meet you! I've only been to Texas once (I traveled to Austin, which is think is close-ish to San Marcos), but I definitely want to go back. 

I just had to look up Tooth Kandy 🙂 I didn't know it had a name! Do you have a favorite/preferred style of tatooing? 

[WonderWoman420]

I’d have to say my favorite style of tattooing is traditional classic, bold will hold!

[Caty]

Reading through this thread is amazing! So many great stories, intros, and photos... I love it! Can't wait to see and share more. Thank you all for being early members of this space. ❤️️

I'm Caty (pronounced like Katie), and I joined Square here in San Francisco almost 4 years ago to build... the Seller Community. 😊 My role has changed a bit since then, but the Seller Community team is still part of my broader focus and scope. I'm so excited to see Katie launch togetHER, and can't wait to see what happens when we more intentionally bring together this dynamic group of women business owners. It's gonna get soooooo good!

I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, and my passion for small business comes from seeing it and living it first-hand. I know that someday I'll have my own business, but for now I'm happy with helping to empower as many people as I can. I don't have an official side-hustle, but every now and again I'm known to decorate wedding cakes or birthday cakes. I also love brainstorming on strategy with my business-owner friends (literally, that's how I spent my St. Patrick's Day...) Can't wait to get to know you all a little better!