Emma Huschka On The 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful Service Based Business

Shopify is a fantastic platform to use to quickly set up an eCommerce website. Some companies create highly successful businesses with Shopify, but others are not as lucky. What is the difference? What do you need to know in order to create a highly successful Shopify based business? In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who created a successful Shopify business who can share the “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Shopify Business.” As part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Emma Huschka.

Emma Huschka is the founder and CEO of Fiddle Leaf Marketing, a Portland, Oregon–based paid media agency that helps women-owned small and medium-sized businesses grow through Meta and Google advertising. With roughly a decade in the industry, including a stint as VP of Paid Social at a national digital marketing agency, where she led a large team and owned the company’s Meta partnership relationship, Emma launched Fiddle Leaf during maternity leave with her second child in 2024, driven by a desire to build an agency that actually reflected her values. The company has grown to a profitable, multi-client practice entirely through referrals and white-label partnerships. Fiddle Leaf Marketing is soon launching FiddleStats, a cross-channel reporting platform for agencies, and Mainstreet Ads, a digital course that teaches small business owners to run their own Meta ads.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I’ve spent about ten years in paid advertising, which basically means I’ve spent ten years figuring out how to turn a dollar of ad spend into more than a dollar back. I worked my way up on the agency side and eventually landed as VP of Paid Social at a national digital marketing agency, leading a large team managing a lot of client spend. On paper, it was the job I’d been working toward.

Then I had my second baby, and something shifted. Maternity leave gives you a lot of quiet time to think about what you actually want your work to stand for. I kept coming back to the same realization: I loved the work, but I wanted to do it my way; a smaller, more personal roster of clients I truly believed in, whose businesses I could care about like they were my own. So, with two under two at home, I made the terrifying, thrilling decision to bet on myself. I launched Fiddle Leaf Marketing from my kitchen table with a newborn in the next room, built around serving women-owned businesses. It grew from there, one referral and one relationship at a time.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led you to think of the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

The “aha” wasn’t one dramatic lightning bolt, it was a realization about how I actually wanted to work. In a large agency, clients can become line items. You’re managing a huge book of business, and the relationship gets lost somewhere in the volume. I kept thinking about how much better the work is when you truly know a client; their business, their goals, what keeps them up at night and you have the space to care. That’s when it clicked: I didn’t want to build the biggest agency; I wanted to build a boutique one. A smaller, intentional book of clients where every single one gets a real, personal relationship instead of being one of hundreds.

The other half of the “aha” was just as personal. I was on maternity leave with my second daughter, and I realized I didn’t want to choose between showing up fully as a mom and showing up fully in my career, I wanted a business built to hold both. Something I’d be proud of, that ran on my values, and that my girls could look up to one day. I want them to grow up knowing their mom built something of her own, on her own terms. Once I saw that clearly, going back to the old way wasn’t an option anymore.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

Oh, my early branding was rough. When I first launched, I was so eager to look “official” that I threw together a brand with the funkiest fonts and color choices you can imagine and I genuinely thought it looked amazing at the time. I was clueless and just starting out, making design calls with zero design background and way too much confidence. Looking back at those first logos and materials now, two and a half years later, I cringe and laugh in equal measure.

But that’s exactly the takeaway I love: how much I’ve grown. If I’d waited until everything was perfect, the perfect font, the perfect palette, the perfect brand, I never would have launched at all. Done was better than perfect. My brand has evolved a hundred times since then, and it’ll keep evolving, because that’s what growth looks like. Start before you feel ready, let it be a little messy, and give yourself grace to get better. Honestly, the cringe is just proof of how far you’ve come.

Thank you for that. Let’s now pivot to the main focus of our interview. Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven business” are more successful in many areas. When you started your company what was your vision, your purpose?

My vision was to build an intentional, boutique agency, one where the book of clients stays small enough that every relationship is personal and every client gets me, not a queue. I wanted to prove you don’t have to be the biggest to be the best; a smaller, values-driven agency can out-care and out-deliver a giant one precisely because it isn’t spread thin.

At the heart of that purpose is a deep passion for supporting women in business. I built Fiddle Leaf to champion women-owned businesses, to give these founders the strategy, advocacy, and results they deserve, and to be genuinely in their corner as they grow. When a client scales, makes her first hire, or finally feels in control of her marketing, that’s the win I care about most.

And it’s personal. I started this while caring for a newborn, so the vision was always about building a business that lets me show up fully as a mom and fully in my career, something I’m proud of, that runs on my values, and that my girls could look up to one day.

What do you do to articulate or demonstrate your company’s values to your employees and to your customers?

I’m a big believer that values are demonstrated, not just written on the wall. With clients, it comes down to relationships, we care about their businesses like they’re our own. Because we keep the book of clients small and personal, they get me and my team as true partners: people who actually know their business, treat their budget like it’s our money, and celebrate their wins as if they’re ours. That closeness is the whole point. It’s why clients trust us with the honest conversations too, when something isn’t working, they hear it from me first, along with the plan to fix it.

With my team, I try to demonstrate the “you can do great work and still have a life” value by actually living it. I have two little kids; my people have their own full lives. So we build a culture that respects that: flexibility, trust, and a standard of excellence that doesn’t require anyone to sacrifice their wellbeing to hit it. If I preached balance and then emailed at 11pm expecting replies, the value would be meaningless.

Do you have a “number one principle” that guides you through the ups and downs of running a business?

Continue to trust yourself. Believe in what you’re building and in the expertise that got you here. When you run a business, the ups and downs are constant, a slow month, a hard client conversation, a decision only you can make, and in those moments it’s easy to second-guess everything. My number one principle is to come back to the confidence that I know this work, I’ve earned my seat, and I’m capable of figuring it out. I built Fiddle Leaf from the ground up on my own judgment, and every time I’ve trusted that judgment instead of doubting it, the business has moved forward.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

The hardest part of starting was the sheer aloneness of it. When you leave a leadership role at an established company, you leave behind a team, a brand, and a safety net all at once. Suddenly I was the strategist, the salesperson, the account manager, the bookkeeper, and the person doing all of it during nap times. There were absolutely stretches where I’d look at the uncertainty of it and wonder if I’d made a huge mistake walking away from a stable, senior job.

I won’t pretend the doubt never crept in, it did and still does at times. But the drive to keep going came from two places. First, every time a client gets real results and tells me it changed their business, it reminds me the work matters. And second, I’d made a promise to myself and my family that I was going to build something on my own terms. Quitting would’ve meant proving that doubt right, and I wasn’t willing to do that. Referrals started coming, one client told another, and slowly the thing I’d built on faith started standing on its own.

So, how are things going today? How did your values lead to your eventual success?

Honestly, I feel so grateful when I look at where things are today. Fiddle Leaf is a profitable agency with a roster of clients I genuinely adore, a small team I’m proud of, and two new products I’m excited about to continue to expand our business: FiddleStats and Mainstreet Ads. And the part that means the most to me: we’ve grown almost entirely through referrals and partnerships. This is truly one of the biggest compliments to get from a client.

That’s really where the values come full circle. When you keep your book of clients small and personal, treat their businesses like your own, and stay genuinely in their corner, people feel it, and they pass your name along. The women we’ve helped grow become the reason the next woman finds us. And underneath all of it, the thing that got me here was trusting myself enough to build it my way, even when the “safe” path said otherwise. Now I’m focused on the next chapter, growing thoughtfully, filling gaps in the market, and extending our impact to even more women-owned businesses, while still being the kind of present mom and founder I set out to be.

Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a founder or CEO should know in order to create a very successful service based business? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Use every resource at your disposal. When you’re building a lean service business, your time is your most valuable asset and there are so many incredible, often free tools out there to protect it. AI tools have honestly made me at least 10x more efficient than I ever imagined, and they get better every single day. I lean on them for everything from first drafts to research to streamlining the parts of my day that used to eat hours. Being a small, boutique agency doesn’t mean doing less, it means being smart about the resources that let a small team punch way above its weight.

2. Put yourself out there and keep going when things fall flat. This is the scary one, but it’s so worth it. Putting yourself out there is risky and uncomfortable, and it’s also how everything good happens because people want to connect with people, and most genuinely want to see you succeed. The ones who don’t aren’t worth your time or energy. The flip side is that not everything you put out there will land. Some posts, some ideas, some ads will completely flop, I run ads for a living, and I promise you not every ad is a winner. That’s not failure, it’s normal and healthy. You test, you learn, and you put yourself out there again. That willingness to keep showing up is what separates the founders who make it from the ones who don’t.

3. Relationships are everything. I’ve always been a social person, I can talk to just about anyone, and that has benefited my business more than any marketing tactic ever could. Old colleagues, classmates, and friends have reached out over the years to reconnect, and I rarely say no. Those conversations have turned into clients, partnerships, and some genuinely awesome relationships. It’s the reason Fiddle Leaf has grown almost entirely through referrals. In a service business, people don’t just buy your service — they buy you. Invest in relationships sincerely, and they’ll carry your business further than any tactic can.

4. Celebrate all the wins, big and small. It’s so easy to blow right past your wins on the way to the next goal, but those moments are the fuel. I make a point of celebrating everything; a new client, a campaign that crushed it, a client hitting a milestone, even just a good day. Big or small, wins are wins, and they’re worth honoring. Those little celebrations are the things that keep me motivated and keep me going, especially on the harder days.

5. Love what you do. I can’t stress this one enough. We spend so much of our time and energy working, and I always knew I wanted to spend that time happy. I’m so grateful I found something I get real fulfillment from, getting to take a skillset I love and use it to actually help people. And the part that’s truly a dream: getting to empower other women and moms along the way. When you love what you do and it’s tied to a purpose bigger than you, the hard days get easier and the good days feel incredible. That love is the foundation everything else is built on.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

My husband, without question. Starting a business is a leap of faith on its own, starting one with two under two is a whole other level of terrifying. And through all of it, his belief in me never wavered. He was steadfast in encouraging me to take the leap when it would have been so much easier to play it safe. What I’m most grateful for, though, is his consistency in reminding me that my success is because of me; my work, my expertise, my judgment. On the days I doubted myself, he was the one saying, “You built this. This is you.” He’s been my sounding board for every big decision, my biggest fan when a win came in, and my true partner at home so I could show up for the business. I genuinely don’t think Fiddle Leaf exists without him in my corner.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’d start a movement to help as many small, women-owned businesses grow as possible and just as importantly, to give women the confidence to bet on themselves and take the leap in the first place. So often the thing standing between a woman and the business she dreams of isn’t ability or ideas, it’s belief. I know that feeling intimately; taking my own leap was terrifying. But betting on myself changed my entire life, and I want that for as many women as possible.

A huge part of that movement is storytelling. When women see other women who took the risk and made it work, it stops feeling impossible and starts feeling like, “If she can, maybe I can too.” So I’d share these stories relentlessly; the wins, the messy middles, the leaps of faith, to reach more and more women and remind them what they’re capable of. If I can help even a fraction of them find the confidence to build something of their own, the ripple effect on families, communities, and the next generation of women would be truly incredible.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow us on Instagram @fiddleleafmarketing, on LinkedIn (Fiddle Leaf Marketing), and check out our agency website at https://www.fiddleleafmarketing.com/.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!