Sometimes the best business ideas aren’t planned at all. Sometimes they show up on day 60 of a 90 day journey to create something new each day.
For Danielle Paluska, owner of Wild Comfort Body Care, that’s where it began.
“I had worked in mental health for years and had gotten rundown. I sensed it was time for me to step back from that role and take a leap of faith in a new direction,” Danielle said. What followed wasn’t a business plan – it was a personal one. Burnt out and searching for a way back to herself, she set out to do something creative every single day.
Danielle remained present in the moment and while she wasn’t clear on where this would lead, she stayed open to the process. Danielle adds, “I did something creative every day, and on day 60, it was time to try my hands at soap-making. I found solace through the soap-making process and the feeling stayed with me during the next 30 days of my creative journey.”
By day 90 – right around the time she needed to decide if she would return to her former job – the answer to the question ‘what will I do now’ had already arrived. She knew wasn’t going back. What followed was a new passion of answering the question
“I wonder if I can?” and a whole bunch of hand-made products and a calling to continue her Wild Comfort journey.
This October marks 12 years since she first took the leap but upon reflection, Danielle can see roots reaching back much further than 2014.
“I also grew up in a very entrepreneurial family,” she said. Her parents ran greenhouses and an earthmoving business, and Danielle was one of five siblings – the only one who hadn’t started a business of her own, until she did. “I think this path was inevitable”
That entrepreneurial upbringing, paired with years spent working in mental health, shaped what she’s most proud of today: an ability to run a business without losing sight of what matters -balance.
“The keen awareness of the hard work it takes to keep a small business going, but also remembering how important balance is so that my values, family, self, and community are cared for,” she said. It shows in how she treats every customer who walks through the door. “People come into the shop and they leave with an experience and genuine interaction. Visitors don’t come here and just get sold a product. I’m curious about people and love to hear their stories.”
That curiosity extends to how she runs the business itself – including the hardest lesson she’s learned along the way: knowing what not to do herself.
“I love to do everything myself,” Danielle admitted. “That’s part of what the journey was in starting Wild Comfort — I wonder if I can. And I learned very quickly that I can try anything but there are certain things I am not good at.” Social media topped that list. Rather than force it, she handed it off early to someone who could represent the brand authentically. “I passed that on fairly early on to somebody else who is able to represent the brand myself in a way that feels authentic to who I am.”
It’s advice she now passes along to anyone starting out. “Start with what you know, and talk to people who have the skills,” she said. “Ask good questions. Be willing to try something and adapt. And give up the things that you’re not good at – let other people do the things they are great at, when it’s possible and financially feasible.”
That same instinct – knowing when enough is enough – shapes where Wild Comfort is headed next. Danielle hit the sales targets she’d originally envisioned nearly five years ago, and rather than chase further growth, she’s chosen a different goal entirely.
“I was worried that if I grew much more, I could lose the joy I experience running this business,” she said. “So my goal is to maintain the stability we’ve built, while keeping things fresh, of course.”
For Danielle, that stability is deeply tied to place. She moved to the Woodstock area at 12 years old, later left for roughly 14 years, and eventually found her way back – this time settling in Norwich Township right down the road from her parents, with several siblings close by.
“It’s home,” she said simply. “Our neighbours have been our neighbours for a very long time and there’s a strong sense of community here.”
That community extends naturally into how local businesses operate alongside one another, rather than in competition. “Small businesses work well together in Rural Oxford. I don’t feel like I’m competing for customers with others in our spaces,” she said. Wild Comfort products are made for a number of other businesses across Oxford County, and collaborations are a regular part of how Danielle works. “In fact, partnership opportunities come up a lot,” she said. “There’s a sense of using each other’s skills and growing each other’s businesses.”
At the heart of it all are the hand-made products themselves. Danielle handcrafts every bar of soap, along with a full line of body and home care products, right on her property – using only natural ingredients, herbs and botanicals for colour, and essential oils for scent. Every formulation is her own.
The shop keeps modest hours, open Thursday and Friday afternoons, but Wild Comfort shows up well beyond those two days. Danielle sells at the Woodstock Farmers Market on Saturdays, offers products online, and is carried wholesale by numerous businesses throughout the area.
Twelve years in, the joy Danielle set out to protect is still easy to find – in the shop, in the conversations, and in the details.
Wild Comfort Body Care
Danielle Paluska
445300 Gunn’s Hill Road, Norwich
Norwich Township
Established 2014
wildcomfort.ca
https://www.facebook.com/wildcomfortbodycare/
https://www.instagram.com/wild_comfort_body_care/