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The best business origin stories are inspirational. They teach, motivate, and encourage people to step down the employment escalator and create something of their own.
What we like most is unexpected success. For example, stories about inspired innovators like Buffett and Oprah who achieved their greatest success in middle age. Or the heroic youthful creators of the industry who build not just Jobs and Musk but also celebrities like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. Or the dreamer who can change the life and destiny of a group or community, Sam in the field of AI, like Altman or Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.
For those who want to delve deeper into the academic literature, one interesting read on Ted.com is titled “What can we learn from people who succeed later in life?” But there are many inspiring stories around us of ordinary people who achieved great things.
One that has inspired well over 100,000 individuals and small businesses across North America is the story of HoneyBook, a community of independent business owners (IBOs). HoneyBook is a pioneer in a rapidly growing category that includes both well-known platforms Wethos.co and Collective.com, as well as many smaller specialized communities.
HoneyBook was founded in 2013 by Oz and Naama Aron. It started with a random observation while they were planning their wedding and noticing the archaic payment process when paying wedding photographers. They were shocked by the lack of solutions that gave small business owners access to easy invoicing and payment technology. In a recent interview, Aron talked about the leap of faith he took to start his company:
“We saw very clearly the potential to disrupt and transform payments for small and medium-sized businesses. When we launched Honeybook, we had big ambitions, but the company, especially our Essentially, we lacked the experience to start and run a technology company. At the time, we had the 100,000 community members we now welcome, as well as the 230 Honeybook employees we have internally. I couldn't imagine it.”
Two events led Alon to step down the employment escalator and build HoneyBook. He explained it this way:
“Two moments inspired us to start HoneyBook. First, we began to believe in the vision of the business. We saw first-hand how small businesses can reduce costs, save time, and increase revenue by providing easy access to. And that's when our plans began to take shape. , the moment our first investors believed in us was the next moment.”
HoneyBook's early days focused on the platform's first major professional group: photographers and videographers. Since then, some relevant facts about HoneyBook's success and its subscriber community include:
- HoneyBook is a Series E company
- The number of registered members has grown to over 100,000.
- Photographers and videographers remain the largest group (35%), followed by event planners (9%) and business consultants (5%).
- However, HoneyBook's membership continues to expand to include caterers, florists, coaches, interior decorators, hair and makeup stylists, lawyers, web designers, fitness instructors, and more.
HoneyBook has experienced tremendous growth in both size and membership diversity, and Aron is confident that growth will continue in North America. The data certainly supports his confidence. Nerd Wallet Notes:
- More than 500,000 new businesses open in the U.S. every month
- Small businesses have created approximately 13 million jobs in the past 25 years
- 84% of small business owners feel optimistic about the future of their company
- More than 34% of small businesses survive for more than 10 years
HoneyBook has ambitious expansion plans beyond North America, starting with the UK and other English-speaking countries. Over time, Aron hopes to continue expanding globally with their signature careful and disciplined approach. He said: “We have a huge opportunity in front of us, but we intend to learn and grow one step at a time.
HoneyBook's progress and future plans provide some valuable lessons for other freelance and IBO (independent business owner) platforms and related freelance marketplaces.
- Grow in a disciplined and steady manner. Rather than chasing every expansion opportunity available to HoneyBook, Alon and the team preferred to grow in a disciplined manner, starting by recognizing the continued growth potential of the North American small business market. . As Aron said, “We know there are huge opportunities in Europe and Asia, and we are committed to them.”
- There is wealth in building a niche.. HoneyBook's genius was recognizing the power of scale that comes from embracing and consolidating a wide range of small business categories. The newest addition is the wedding venue. “We want to serve one million business owners,” Aron explained. One of the key aspects of his 2025/26 long-term vision for Honeybook is identifying which businesses Honeybook can best serve and how it can serve them better. It is to do. ”
- Add services that members value. HoneyBook has been piloting a number of value-added services to help our small business members in more ways. For example, we provide support in areas such as marketing + advertising, SEO, etc. Many small business owners find it helpful to hire a business coach, and HoneyBook considers the best way to provide a directory of vetted and certified coaches.
- Help members help each other. HoneyBook not only provides valuable services to business owners, but is also a natural marketplace where business owners can help each other. For many years, HoneyBook held monthly “meetups” where local members shared ideas and feedback and identified ways to collaborate. Post-COVID-19, physical meetups have been replaced with the “HoneyBook Community” where members can meet and exchange ideas, and a series of forums have been created to exchange on specific topics.
- You'll know when to move on from what's working well. The decision to move from physical meet-ups to virtual communities was necessary, but culturally it was neither easy nor straightforward. For many members, meetups were an integral and important part of his HoneyBook 1.0, albeit in the wake of COVID-19. Natalie Walters, Head of Communications at HoneyBook, said: However, as our membership has become more diverse, most members no longer find meetups as valuable. Therefore, we had to find new solutions to serve our community. ”
- Build on insights. HoneyBook is more than just a community of business owners. This is a huge data set, and Aron and his team are starting to dig into what they know about their members to better support them with both tools and education. For example, we help members understand how to better manage cash flow by understanding and planning for the seasonality of their business. Or help members understand the cost of their services, identifying where savings can be made and when price increases are justified and sustained.
Above all, HoneyBook is a reminder of the continued innovation in the future of work that technology has enabled. The transition from job board to global community in less than 20 years is just one aspect of the incredible evolution of the freelance revolution. Many experts say AI will give each independent expert the tools and capabilities of an enterprise. HoneyBook provides a logical extension of its services by providing each One Business with a large and diverse community of colleagues, potential partners, and customers. This has certainly earned its place as a harbinger of the future of work and offers important lessons for startups in the freelance sector.
Vivara revolution!
