I Built a Business. But in Many Ways, It Rebuilt Me.

✨ The story behind Elderberry Blends Australia — and why I hope it reminds other women and mums that where you start does not determine where you finish.

If you had told me 12 years ago that one day I would own my own business, have my own warehouse, create products that would be sent to families across Australia and build something completely from the ground up, I don't know if I would have believed you.

Because 12 years ago, my life looked very different.

I left an abusive relationship with my three children and my car.

That was pretty much it.

I didn't know where we were going to sleep that night.

I didn't know how I was going to pay the next bill.

I didn't know how I was going to afford rent, groceries, school expenses and everything else that comes with raising three children.

I certainly wasn't thinking about becoming a business owner.

I was thinking about surviving.

💪 When You Have Children Depending on You, You Just Keep Going

I had always worked. Cleaning. Fruit shops. Waitressing. Café work. Whatever I could find, I did.

As a mum, I needed work that could fit around school hours and my children, which meant I wasn't always in a position to negotiate. I took the hours I could get and accepted the money I was offered because I needed to put food on the table.

At one stage, I was waitressing for $11 an hour.

When you're trying to keep a roof over your children's heads, sometimes you don't have the luxury of saying, "No, I'm worth more than that." You take the shift. You work. You come home. You look after your kids. And the next morning, you get up and do it all over again.

I was grateful for every job because those jobs helped us survive. But I also knew I wanted something different for our future. I wanted freedom. I wanted independence. I wanted to build a life where nobody else got to dictate what my time was worth.

I just had absolutely no idea what that would look like.

🫐 And Then There Was Elderberry

The funny thing is, Elderberry Blends Australia didn't begin with some enormous business plan. There weren't investors. There wasn't a fancy office. There wasn't a marketing team sitting around a boardroom table developing a brand.

There was me. There was my kitchen. There were ingredients. And there was something I was making for my family.

That's how simply it began.

I had no idea that something I was doing in my kitchen could eventually become what Elderberry Blends Australia is today. And perhaps that's one of the biggest things I've learned from this entire journey:

You don't always need to know where something is going before you begin.

Sometimes you just begin. You work with what you have. You learn. You make mistakes. You improve. You keep showing up. And slowly, something starts to grow. 🌱

🏠 From My Kitchen to Something I Could Call My Own

Little by little, Elderberry Blends Australia grew. One bottle became another. One customer told another. Orders came in. People came back. Families trusted what I was making enough to make it part of their homes.

And somewhere along the way, I realised something.

I wasn't only building a business. I was rebuilding myself.

For so many years, other people had determined what my time was worth. They decided my hours. They decided my pay. They decided whether I got the shift. And earlier in my life, I had experienced something even harder — what it felt like to have another person control so much of my world.

Building my own business changed that. It gave me something I will never take for granted.

Independence. 🔑

Nobody gets to tell me that my time is worth $11 an hour anymore. Nobody gets to decide how hard I'm allowed to work for my own future. Nobody gets to decide how big I'm allowed to dream. And nobody gets to take away the pride I feel knowing that I built something from nothing.

❤️ That's Why This Will Never Be "Just a Business" to Me

When people see Elderberry Blends Australia today, they see the finished product — the bottles, the labels, the boxes, the orders, the website, the warehouse.

What they don't always see is everything that came before it.

They don't see the woman who once drove away with three children and didn't know where they were going to sleep. They don't see the mum taking whatever work she could fit between school drop-off and pick-up. They don't see the $11-an-hour waitress. They don't see the fear, the exhaustion, the uncertainty, or the days when giving up probably would have been easier.

And that's okay. Because I'm not ashamed of that woman.

I'm incredibly proud of her. 🙏

She didn't know where she was going. She just knew she had to keep going. Everything I have today exists because she did.

👩‍👧‍👦 This Is for the Mum Who Thinks She Couldn't Possibly Do It

I especially want to tell this story for other women — and particularly for mums. Because motherhood can sometimes make your dreams feel impossible. You have children who need you, school drop-offs, pick-ups, dinner, laundry, bills, appointments, sick days, and a million things running through your head that nobody else even knows you're carrying.

And somewhere underneath all of that can be this tiny voice saying: "But what about me?"

Maybe you have an idea. Maybe you make something in your kitchen. Maybe there's something you've dreamed about doing for years. Maybe you're starting over after a relationship. Maybe money is incredibly tight. Maybe you look at women who own businesses and think they must have had something you don't — more money, more confidence, more education, more support.

Please don't convince yourself that you need all of those things before you're allowed to begin.

I didn't start with everything figured out. I started with what I had. And sometimes that is enough. ✅

🍽️ Start in the Kitchen. Start at the Table. Start Wherever You Are.

You don't need a warehouse to start a business. You don't need thousands of followers, the perfect logo, or everyone around you to understand your dream. And you definitely don't need to know exactly where you'll be five or ten years from now.

I certainly didn't.

Something I was making in my kitchen became Elderberry Blends Australia. Had I looked at my circumstances back then and decided I wasn't capable, wasn't ready, or didn't know enough about business — maybe none of this would exist today.

That's why I want another woman to read this and think: Maybe I can. 💡

Not, "Tomorrow I'm going to build a huge business." Just: "Maybe I can take the first step."

That's enough. Take that step. Then another. Then another.

🌅 Your Beginning Does Not Get to Decide Your Ending

There is something else I want women who have experienced controlling or abusive relationships to know.

Leaving can feel like losing everything. Sometimes you walk away and it looks like the other person has everything while you're starting again with almost nothing. But starting again is not the same as having nothing.

You still have you. Your ideas. Your work ethic. Your creativity. Your ability to learn, to get back up, to build. Those things are worth more than you realise when you're standing at the beginning.

Twelve years ago, I couldn't see the life ahead of me. I couldn't see Elderberry Blends Australia. I couldn't see the warehouse, the customers, the orders, or the woman I would become. All I could see was the next thing I needed to do. So I did it. And then I did the next thing.

🌿 I Built the Business — But the Business Rebuilt Me Too

Elderberry Blends Australia has given me something far greater than a job. It gave me independence, confidence, and purpose. It showed me what I was capable of. And it taught me that sometimes the smallest beginnings can grow into things we never could have imagined.

That's why every order still means something to me. Behind every bottle is a story that started long before Elderberry Blends Australia existed — a story about a mum who was simply trying to create a better life for her children. And somehow, from all of that, a business grew.

💜 So, From One Mum to Another...

If you're reading this while your life feels messy, uncertain or nothing like you imagined it would be, please don't believe this is where your story has to end.

If you're starting again at 30, 40, 50 or beyond — start. If your idea begins at the kitchen table — start there. If you only have an hour between school drop-off and pick-up — use that hour. If you don't know everything about business — learn as you go. If you're scared — you can still take the next step.

You do not have to have everything figured out. You do not need permission to want something more for yourself. And you are not defined by the worst chapter of your life.

Twelve years ago, I left with three children and my car, not knowing where we would sleep that night. Years later, something I started in my kitchen grew into Elderberry Blends Australia.

I could never have imagined it then. That's exactly why I'm telling you now.

Because perhaps there is a woman reading this who can't imagine what her life could look like 12 years from today either.

Keep going. Keep believing. Keep building. 🌟

Your story isn't finished yet.

And one day, you may look back at the woman who was simply trying to survive and realise:

She was actually building the woman you were always meant to become.

With love,

Tatjana
Founder of Elderberry Blends Australia

Built from family, resilience, hard work and a little kitchen idea that became something much bigger than I ever imagined. 🫐💜