Growing Pains, Small Wins & Progress: Love Your Local Startups!

I created this blog page thinking I’d be posting more often… lol.

The stress of trying to own, build, and operate a small business in America these days is no joke. I think we’re low-key masochistic or something. More blog communication in 2026 is one of my goals this year.

It’s easy to believe that small businesses will rise up in this economic climate if they’re good enough—that quality will naturally win, that the best ideas and products will somehow float to the top. The truth is different. The businesses with the best product or service are not always the ones that make it.

I’m often reminded of my favorite bakery/coffee shop during the pandemic: SugarBuzz in Ferndale on Woodward. When I tell you the baked goods were the best I’ve ever had, I am entirely serious. There was magic in what they made. They put in the work. They deserved to have chain cafés all over the country—especially when you compare them to a Starbucks or any of the other places that seem to open endlessly.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/sugarbuzz-bakery-ferndale

And yet, they had to shut down about a year after the pandemic. I don’t know all the reasons, but I know they were heartbroken. They had a dream, and for a brief moment, it came true. I still think about their pastries every time I try to find something nearly as good somewhere else. They deserved to make it if a superior product were the only factor.

Recently, I saw a local indie yoga studio on Facebook, openly asking people to come try them out—talking about how hard it is just to survive. Not all of us have corporate backers. Some of the “small businesses” you see thriving had the good fortune of investors, supporting partners, or access to large business loans that simply aren’t available to everyone.

Not all dreams come from spotting a trend and having startup capital ready to go. Many of us build from skill, passion, and stubborn belief. And it is expensive to stay alive as a business in 2026: influencers, property taxes, web costs, software subscriptions, the price of good signage—everything adds up fast. I personally put everything I had into buying our building, and many small business owners do the same. Every month feels like a new jump scare as we try to get the plane off the ground and keep it flying.

Please know that some of us pour everything we have into a dream—often alone. A dream that comes from knowing we are genuinely good at what we do and wanting to share it. We need a local mindset that values unique products and services over pure convenience, or the habit of always giving business to the same big names. Small startups are the spark of the new. We are the ones who choose to take the leap.

It’s not just “support small business.” It’s the small, indie startups that need the most love. Many of us are giving our absolute all and just need to be seen by more people. And we’re not only here to make a profit—we want to enrich lives, contribute to local culture, and leave people a little happier than when they arrived. We want to be places that feel special and worth experiencing.

On a personal level, my goal is to nurture creativity in our neighborhood. To give kids the gift of art skills and self-expression. To give adults something analog and joyful in the middle of digital chaos. To create new synapses, encourage confidence, and keep fine art alive locally in a way that feels current and welcoming.

We’ve had a great year so far—meeting neighbors, hosting birthday celebrations and team-building events, watching kids get genuinely sad when summer camp ends. Almost everyone who comes through our doors tells us we have something special and that they hope we make it.

Those experiences tell me we are doing something meaningful for Royal Oak—something that connects to its creative roots. A little throwback presence among booming condos and big-business growth, reminding people why this town became special in the first place. Growth is exciting and important. But so is preserving the cultural character that comes from small, independent places doing things differently.

Will we make it? I don’t know. But I do know this: towns with color, spark, and soul only exist because people actively choose to invest in small, simple startups. Magical places that stimulate your senses and enrich your experience—things big money can’t replicate.

This post isn’t just about us. It’s about every brick-and-mortar that moves in with hope and risk, trying to offer something unique. That model is slowly disappearing, and regular local customers are the only thing keeping it alive. Watching businesses grow, learn, improve, and contribute with passion—not because of grants or big budgets, but because the community shows up.

Love your little town startups. Give them your time. Spend your money there. Try them out. Share their posts. Tell your friends. Gas them up. They’ll love you back.

We hope to be a long-term part of this community—but we can’t do it without you. Try the new places. Be patient with the ones still finding their footing. You are strengthening the beating heart of independent entrepreneurship. Its pulse may be faint, but it’s determined to live.

Because chain stores don’t make a town cool.

People do.

Hugs,

– c