For those who hold space.
Who ColibriOS is for
Colibri is built for the people who lead transformational work: breathwork and sound healing practitioners, shamanic practitioners, dance and movement facilitators, retreat hosts, the creators of workshops and events, the schools and trainings that certify them, and coaches.
The big booking platforms were built for gyms and franchises, then pointed at everyone else as an afterthought. We're building the opposite: a platform that speaks your language, container, circle, cohort, integration, and brings your bookings, group sessions, events and the books into one calm home.
What we believe
Software for healers should be transparent: published pricing, month to month, and a cancellation you can actually find. No lock-in, ever.
Why I built this
Stephanie Holbrook
Founder, ColibriOS · Silver City, New Mexico
The letter from the IRS
How would you feel if a letter from the IRS said you owed more than $30,000? I was shocked. That letter is where ColibriOS really starts.
The retreat I ran for friends
Years earlier I ran a meditation retreat. A group of friends met four times a year. I collected the money, booked the retreat center, arranged the catering, and took a tiny stipend for it. Sometimes nothing at all. It was a labor of love and I did not mind. I claimed every dollar in and every dollar out on my taxes, because I knew the IRS was getting a Form 1099-K with my name on it, and most years the two sides nearly matched.
The tax ID that never changed
Then life got busy and a friend took over the retreat. What neither of us knew: the tax ID on the Square account was still mine. The IRS kept receiving 1099-Ks in my name for money that never came to me. So we sat down together and redid his return in TurboTax. I was not worried. I knew the money in almost exactly matched the money out, and the return came out just as I expected. He did not owe more, and I did not owe $30,000.
How I became the tax lady
After that I became the tax lady. He sent friends my way, and they sent theirs. I do not do anyone's taxes. I help people sort their bank statements and mileage logs so the numbers are right before they open TurboTax. Before long, friends who already had an accountant or a bookkeeper were bringing me their paperwork too, so no Schedule C deduction got missed and the accountant got clean numbers at tax time.
From a hackathon to a platform
ColibriOS began as a hackathon project. I am part of Women Who Build, and I wanted to build something for the hackathon that would help my friends. Even if I did not win, at least I would have built something useful.
I started showing it to my friends in the healing spaces: one who runs a breathwork school and teaches classes, an artist who teaches classes and sells products, one who teaches sound healing, and of course the friend who organizes the meditation retreat. Their input turned it into the all-in-one platform you are looking at, built for people who bring peace, love and healing to their communities.
There have been challenges. There has also been real joy in watching my friends grow their businesses.
I write most of what you will find on the ColibriOS blog.
About the name
Colibri is Spanish for hummingbird. Say it koh-LEE-bree. In the Andean medicine wheel the hummingbird, Kinti, guards the North and stands for the soul's journey toward its highest potential.
Four teachings from the hummingbird
Four of its teachings shaped what I wanted this platform to be.
- Courage for the epic journey. A hummingbird migrates thousands of miles on a body that looks too small for it. Start the big thing without waiting for more time, money or know-how.
- Drink the nectar. Seek the sweetness, pass by what is toxic, and take the joy and the lesson from each day.
- Stillness in chaos. It hovers perfectly still while its wings beat furiously. Stay present and centered no matter how fast the world moves.
- Awakened vision. Look beneath the surface. A roadblock is a signal to course-correct, not a problem to suppress.
That is the job of ColibriOS: clear away the operational friction so you can stay still in the middle of your business, drink the nectar of the work you were called to do, and reach your highest potential.