Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanja Aelbrecht

Hi Tanja , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I started my entrepreneurial journey as a physiotherapist in Belgium. When I moved to Vancouver Canada, I became a wedding photographer together with my partner. The pandemic brought that business to a halt and made us reevaluate our lives.
That’s how we started Chunky Squirrel, where I could use my talents in SEO and my partner his as a web developer. In 2024 an awesome graphic designer joined our team so now we can offer fantastic websites to our clients.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

As a physiotherapist, I never had to go through any effort to book clients, so when I got to Canada I was in for a rude awakening.
For my wedding photography business, I tried so many different approaches and worked with different marketing professionals. In the end, what worked best for me was focussing on SEO.
Now working as an SEO professional, funny enough I find most clients via word of mouth.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

We often get asked: why Chunky Squirrel? Well, because we’re nuts about websites!
We specialize in web design in WordPress using Elementor and can provide SEO to start off right.

I’m definitely proud of our own brand’s website. A lot of design websites look the same and our funny squirrel stands out.

Other companies are often purely visual design focussed, but because we offer both SEO, graphic design and development, you get the best of all worlds.

We also pride ourselves in not “holding our clients hostage” with mandatory maintenance packages/hosting or other systems. Clients have full access/control over their own website and can choose to work with whomever they like.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?

Always be prepared to adapt.
If you keep trying things that don’t work, maybe it’s time to try something new.

And find yourself a community! Being an entrepreneur can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be! There are so many local (and online) groups, that you’ll find one that fits.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chunkysquirrel.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/chunkysquirrelservices
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/chunkysquirrel

Image Credits

– Photo of Tanja in Green: https://steffournier.com/ – Name: Stef Fournier
– photos (TANJA_95.jpg, TANJA_118.jpg and TANJA_148.jpg): https://www.aaronaubrey.ca/ – Name: Aaron Aubrey Photogarphy