Turning a passion into a successful business can be a difficult challenge, it may seem impossible. However, Rita Martin proves that you can create a business from your passion. Her love of quilting led her to open Baby Barn Fabrics in 2008, located in Eel Ground First Nation. Now, it is the first and only Indigenous-owned fabric shop in New Brunswick.
Quilting is a creative outlet for Rita and her art form. When she joined the quilting club in Eel Ground, she began getting requests to make quilts. The idea to open her own business came from the amount of shopping she was doing. “Buying fabric left and right, paying taxes, then a lightbulb clicked in, why am I paying taxes when I can own my own shop?” thought Rita.
In the beginning, Rita did not want to feel in debt to someone, so she worked and put her own money into the business. She bought a 16 x 15 baby barn, which is how the business got its name, to build her shop. Rita said when she opened her shop, “the first shelf only had 10 bolts of fabric on it. Now there are 5 rows of shelves, 3 in every row, and they are all full.” Today, the shop offers any materials needed to create your own quilt.
In 2019, Rita participated in JEDI’s business incubator program. Even though Rita had already opened her business and knew the fundamentals of what it took to start a business, she learned about marketing and how to pitch her business. Learning to do an elevator pitch was the hardest part of the program for Rita but she did so well that she won the best elevator pitch during the graduation ceremony.
Rita is in the process of setting up a website for Baby Barn Fabrics. “I hope it goes well because I’m nervous as hell. I remember JEDI asking me ‘have you thought about going online?’ and I said ‘I don’t know, I’m just a small-time country girl with a small shop. I don’t know if I could handle it when the orders start coming in.’ But I’m doing it.”
Rita said the best part of owning her own business is that she is her own boss, and it allows her to meet new people. She gets orders on Facebook from people from all around the world, she has had clients from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and other parts of Canada.
Rita is proud of her business; she credits that pride to the amount of time and effort she put into the business. Reflecting on her biggest challenge of opening a business Rita believes that if she did get help to open her business, she “might not care for it as much.”
Discussing how COVID-19 has impacted her business Rita said she was fortunate to stay busy. She has been making masks for people and companies. The way the business operated had to be changed, doing more orders online and limiting the number of people that could be in the shop at a time.
Rita is passionate about her business, “the barn is a place of comfort” for her and she has no plans of ever stopping. She is building a legacy with her business and hopes to pass it onto her girls eventually. Her granddaughter, the creator of Kys Kreations, is already working with her.
When asked what advice she would give to new entrepreneurs Rita said “don’t give up. That is the best advice I can give, don’t give up, if you have a dream, fulfill it.”
