I never thought I would make it this far and sometimes I’m still not sure how I’m holding on. Taking a leap to start and run your own business takes some serious guts. There have been days where I wanted to give up and work the regular 9-5 job, but something has kept me from that grueling life. I decided to take a leap of faith and immerse myself in this industry. I wanted to be creative and try new things without being told what to do. I take direction quite well, but I tend to follow the beat of my own drum to complete the job properly. I never liked the idea of working for “the man.“ I wanted to be my own boss. So here I am: being creative, running my own business and not hating everyday life.
It hasn’t been an easy ride. I have made some poor choices and let my naivety get the better of me. I’ve been taken advantage of due to my sweet disposition and had to learn the hard way that other individuals don’t have your best interest in mind. It has made me a bit callous over the last few years, but, in all honesty, I’m okay with saying “no” more often.
I initially started in retail flowers working for a young, female entrepreneur. I had so much fun making arrangements and delivering flowers; it was the best job in the world! Business was always kind of slow, but I was genuinely inspired to find ways to make the business grow. The owner soon lost her drive to keep the shop open, so I decided to purchase it from her without any knowledge on how to run the business.
I quickly found out that it was definitely not easy and flowers were just a footnote in keeping the shop afloat. As the year quickly progressed, I couldn’t believe the kind of craziness I witnessed within my own shop. For as much as I worked and adjusted, it never seem to be enough. Hardly any foot traffic, and when you would get some, it really wasn’t a lot. I had a lot of lonely people who just wanted someone to talk to. Oh man, the kind of insane stories that happened to me in that shop… but that’s for another blog post.
I soon realized, this wasn’t going to work out the way I wanted it to. I wanted to be my own boss and not let the customers become my bosses. I wanted to have professional, trusted relationships with my clients.
Fast forward to now. I don’t have a brick & mortar storefront anymore, but I am a one happy florist! I decided to cut retail out of my life and just focus on weddings & events. It took some time for me to figure out how to do this without the shop, but life finds a way! I now work from various locations all over the San Fernando Valley with so many other creatives!
Since I’m no longer in a store 6 days a week, I have the time and energy to meet other like-minded entrepreneurs in the wedding industry and connect with them. I’ve joined some wonderful groups that have helped me grow my business exponentially. I go out and freelance with other florists to learn more about our ever-changing art. There’s so much more opportunities to grow as a boss babe and I have so many dreams I still want to accomplish.
Three years later and I’m going into the 2019 wedding season full force, one of them being my own wedding. I’m a married woman now, with my amazing partner in crime, so before I got too busy this season, I was able to set up an ethereal photo session with the amazing Trista with Trista Maja Photography. I found this magical dress at Sidecca in Burbank with the intentions of wearing it during my dinner rehearsal, but that didn’t happen. The two of us decided to chill at a park, make a large flower crown and play with some smoke grenades to make this magic happen. I wanted to channel a few things during this session: nature, freedom, power, confidence and beauty. In essence, I wanted to channel my inner Goddess, Khaleesi and Stevie Nicks all in one shoot. Maybe I can be as powerful as all these icons one day, until then, I’ll just keep being the boss babe I already know I am.
Cheers!