A keen business sense — mixed in with some unexpected free time — has helped a few young Edmontonians launch small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Melissa Cook saw her Instagram-based illustration business launch following an afternoon of doodling. Maybe Illustrations, which started in mid-April, quickly became a budding business. “It was a full day of work!
Each piece at the beginning was taking me five hours and I was trying to do two illustrations a day. Then I thought ‘Hmm…maybe I need to be charging more than $10 for these,'” she laughed.
The success of the business was unexpected, but Cook quickly got to work creating branding and a business plan for her venture. “I always thought I would start my own business one day.