Love to smell good and treat yourself to some aromatherapy?
Em’s Essentials is an online Milton-based essential oil company that creates aromatherapy blends and skincare treatments. It is run by local resident Emma Thomson.
Emma is a mom of two boys and a fur boy. She was born in Scotland where she then moved around Canada for a few years and finally settled down in Miton with her husband.
She started her company Em’s Essentials three years ago. Her product line consists of aromatherapy rollers, serums, body butter, and, more recently, a men’s line, including after-shave balm and beard oil.
While her business started recently, she was inspired almost a decade ago as she was struggling with frequent headaches that were only made worse by the chemical cleaners she used in her house.
“I got into essential oils after my youngest was born, about nine years ago,” Emma says. “I suffer from a lot of headaches.”
This led her to discover the world of essential oils. She started creating blends for her headaches and then for skincare.
“I was just making it [essential oil blends] for myself, and I became totally obsessed,” she explains.
While Emma continued making her headache blends, a few years later, her sister reached out to her. Emma’s sister is a local massage therapist who encouraged her to produce a blend for her massage clients.
She made a blend called Stress Ease and soon created another one for anxiety. The massage clients loved it and started asking Emma’s sister if they could buy some to take home. Therefore, Emma started to make more blends.
“I made one for my friend’s birthday, and I called it Happy Place, and I started selling that one as well, and I just kept coming up with all these different blends for different purposes and to make you feel good, really, and it kind of just took off from there,” says Emma.
Although she works full-time for the Weather Network, that hasn’t stopped her company from growing. Emma loves creating new blends and aromatherapy, and to her, it’s all worth it. She enjoys the process of sitting down at her dining room table and making oils, something which her kids have become involved in too.
Her family, from her husband and kids to her sister, are all her inspiration and support group. They drive her to keep doing what she loves.
“I just really love it. Honestly, I could just sit at my dining room table and make oils all day,” she explains.
Emma also loves connecting with the customers who buy her products. She’ll even adjust one of her mixtures if needed.
“I have one woman, her son is allergic to all nuts, so I won’t use Sweet Almond in hers. I’ll replace that with another oil,” says Emma.
As a solopreneur, Emma’s had her share of business challenges. From getting the product to look the way she wants, to labelling mishaps, to getting the word out about her business and suffering from imposter syndrome.
Her advice to those wanting to dive into their own business is, “As hard as it is, try not to give up. Embrace it and just be confident in your abilities.”
Her products can be purchased online via her Instagram and Facebook, but you can also find Em’s Essentials in three local shops, Megs’ Octopus Garden in Burlington and Allegra Spa and Life Yoga Studio, both in Milton.
She believes her prices and small batches are what set her apart from larger businesses that offer similar products. It’s also about the heart that goes into her creations and the one-on-one interactions with her clients.
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