In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Michelle Weger, Founder of Venture Creative Collective and international speaker, shares how redefining high performance can unlock sustainable success for entrepreneurs. Drawing from personal experience and years of building systems-driven businesses, this conversation highlights the shift from burnout-driven hustle to intentional, repeatable growth.
Interview By Maheen Bari
Michelle Wegeris an ProductivityExpert, Resilience Speaker, and AI & Business Automation Strategist with over 14 years of proven success. Following her narcolepsy diagnosis in her early twenties, Michelle channeled that challenge into adriving force for business building and relied on productivity strategies and automation to sustain the lifestyle she needed and to maximize every moment of wakefulness.
Michelle founded Venture Creative Collective, a web development and business automation agency that has generated millions of dollars in revenue and helped hundreds of clients since its inception, despite the challenges of her disability. VCC is best known for their unique VIP‘ website in a day’ offering.
She travels the world along side her Great Dane service dog Quinn, inspiring audiences to transform perceived limitations in to opportunities for growth. Michelle is known for her ability to bring clarity to complex problems and help others move for ward with confidence and intention
You were diagnosed with narcolepsy in your early twenties, a condition that sidelines many people from traditional careers. How did that diagnosis reshape your definition of success, and what were the first concrete steps you took to design a business—and a life—that actually worked with your energy instead of against it?
Narcolepsy didn’t lower my ambitions. It forced me to get smarter about how I reach them.
It rewired my definition of success from “How hard can I push?” to “How consistently can I deliver without breaking myself?” My first steps were very tactical: I built my schedule around my peak energy, I stopped pretending I could do everything, and I designed my business to run on systems instead of adrenaline. I also got serious about support, including a service dog, because you can’t build an extraordinary life on an unsafe foundation.
Venture Creative Collective began in 2012 and has grown into a web development and business automation agency that has generated millions in revenue and launched hundreds of websites for clients. What key systems or automation principles do you believe every small business should put in place long before they feel “big enough” to need them?
Most small businesses are not under-talented. They are under-systemized.
The three systems I’d put in place way earlier than most people do:
- Lead capture + follow up: that runs without you (forms, CRM, email sequences, etc). It is not sexy, but it is practical and it frees up your time to do more important strategic elements.
- Automatic time tracking: people underestimate how much time they spend on each task. By seeing where time is being spent you can see where you should invest in first for automation/
- One operational command centre: project hub, templates, SOPs, with clear “who owns what”. And no, ‘in your brain’ doesn’t count, despite how tempting that is for small business owners to do.)
Automation is necessary for any business that wants to grow and make money. It is not optional; it is a required profit strategy.
In Don’t Snooze Your Dreams: Lessons from Life with Narcolepsy, you frame your story as both memoir and practical guide for facing fears and building momentum. What are one or two lessons from the book that entrepreneurs with chronic illness, disabilities, or other invisible challenges tell you have been most transformative for them?
Two lessons come up constantly when entrepreneurs with invisible challenges (chronic illness, caregivers, cultural pressure, disability, etc) reach out to me.
First: Stop building plans for the version of you who sleeps perfectly, never gets sick, and has unlimited energy. Build for your worst day, not your best day. If you can’t repeat something again and again, then it isn’t high performance, it’s luck. True high performance is sustainable.
Second: the DREAM Method, especially the A step: Ally. People try to grow in secret. But everything is harder when you are trying to do it alone.
To succeed faster, stop hiding, stop improvising or relying on willpower, and start building support and systems that make progress inevitable. I call this winning combination: Accessible High Performance.
You’ve become one of the youngest recipients of Ottawa’s Forty Under 40, winner of Inspirational Speaker of the Year 2025 and now speak internationally with your Great Dane service dog, Quinn, by your side. What have audiences taught you about the stories they most need to hear around resilience, and how has that feedback shaped the way you lead your company and your community work?
Audiences don’t need another “you’ve got this” speech. They need the truth: fear is normal, and you can still move forward and achieve extraordinary things, even in imperfect circumstances.
When my service dog is beside me on stage, people don’t just hear my story, they see what resilience and the right support actually looks like in real life. And the feedback is always the same: “I thought I was the only one who feels different.” That has shaped how I lead and how I advocate
At my company, we design for real humans and deliver at a high standard without the burnout theatre. It is not about lowering the bar, it is about doing things differently to achieve an even better outcome.
In my community work, I push for inclusion that is practical, not performative. This is often through tv interviews and media. Most people want to learn how to support people who are different; they just need to be guided on how to best do that.
For Canadian small and medium‑sized business owners who feel exhausted, overextended, or held back by their own limits—whether time, health, or confidence—what practical advice would you share on using automation, boundaries, and mindset shifts to stop “snoozing” on their dreams and start building more sustainable success on their own terms?
Here’s the hard truth: you’re not exhausted because you’re weak. You’re exhausted because your business is running on your nervous system instead of your systems.
My practical advice is a three-part reset:
- Automate what repeats: booking, proposals, invoicing, onboarding, follow up
- Protect your best hours: fewer meetings, sharper boundaries, clearer priorities
- Create a minimum standard plan for ‘bad days’ so you stay consistent without needing perfect conditions
No one has perfect days every day. That is why extraordinary results do not come from perfect conditions.
They come from strong support, well-designed systems, and the decision to keep moving forward even when fear or difficulty shows up.
That’s how you stop snoozing your dreams. You stop hoping you will never run out of time or energy (because you will; everyone does!) and instead start by facing reality and designing for it.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Our platform is dedicated to fostering dialogue and sharing insights that inspire and empower small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
