'I lost everything:' Raleigh business owner bounces back by getting social
In 2020, Raleigh entrepreneur Hannah Weisberg lost everything.
Weisberg saw the opening and closure of her venture Dove & Olive Mercantile, an event space and workshop. She nearly lost her home.
"I feel like it was really hard at first because some of my friends who were entrepreneurs in starting their business, their businesses actually skyrocketed during the pandemic because of the style of business it was, and I lost everything," Weisberg said. "I almost lost my house, to be honest, because we had a loan tied to the business. We took out a second mortgage on our house."
With the pandemic, business closing and parenting a young child, Weisberg found herself struggling.
"Having to balance my anxiety and fear of not knowing what was gonna happen while also staying calm for him was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done," Weisberg said.
She turned to podcasts, listing the Bossbabe Podcast and Jenna Kutcher's podcast as her favorites because "they were talking with other women-owned businesses. That's where I was needing to be fed a little bit."
Weisberg was inspired by the stories which included failures and new ideas.
"I would take my son to the pool," she said. "I would take my earbuds, and I would take a notebook, and I would listen to these podcasts, and I would just write and write and write and write."
During this time, Weisberg came up with the idea to start The Women's Social Club, a community of meet-ups and events for women in the area.
In September 2020, Weisberg launched the venture as a twice-a-month meet-ups in parks and other outdoor venues around Raleigh. It has since evolved to include more than 700 women with a variety of in-person event offerings in multiple cities, an online community, and more chapter locations coming soon.
Weisberg launched The Women's Social Club Podcast in January.
"The goal with that is to expand on the experiences that people get to be a part of when they come to our events," Weisberg said.
You can hear more about The Women's Social Club on this week's Out and About Podcast!
