Some 41+ years ago I knew I had a deep inner desire to be a floral designer but I questioned my creativity. I grew up on a farm with a mother who grew beautiful flowers along with a big vegetable garden. In my eyes she was the queen of creativity. Sewing my dresses, making us holiday decorations and gingerbread houses along with the cutest stuffed animals. Plus she was an amazing cook and baker. She would let me pick flowers for my tea parties with dolls, help us make May baskets which we filled with flowers to share with others. My love and appreciation for beauty in nature truly started at our family farm. My grandmother was also an avid gardener, we would refer to her flower and rose beds as the “Moore’s Manito Park”. It was overflowing with so many varieties and colors, I remember her showing me how to use holly hock blossoms as dolls and she always enjoyed a stroll through the roses holding my hand admiring and smelling them together. On the other side of my family I had a great uncle and aunt who owned the Chets Flowers in Cheney and cousins who worked for them. My grandmother was very creative too and made beautiful beaded jewelry and Christmas ornaments. Artistic abilities and creativity seemed to run strong in the family so why would I doubt my own ability?
I worked throughout high school for a wedding caterer who taught me to decorate cakes. She even took me to Seattle to enter our cakes in competitions which I was delighted to win some blue ribbons at. Still I doubted my creativity? Partly due to my own shyness and personal insecurities, and not believing in myself, telling myself “you aren’t gifted like they are” type of thoughts. Plus there was one particular high school teacher who really threw me a punch when he was going over my testing results for collages. I wasn’t the super star when it came to academics and testing for the most part was something I struggled with. Always double guessing my answers. That day when he was reviewing my results he told me “ I’d never amount to much", ouch! And that I just wasn’t cut out for college”. His words hit low and hard they shattered my hopes and dreams for my future. They embarrassed me and made me feel even worse about myself. His words would haunt me for many years and as I thought about my dream to be a floral designer to own my own shop, I simply let it slip away. I didn’t pursue it because I believed him. I believed him more than I believed in what others were telling me, more than I believed in my own dream. I didn’t want to fail, so I didn’t even try to enroll in the floral program at our community college.
I got married the summer I graduated from high school and we moved to the Tri-Cities where I went to work as a document control clerk out at Handford. From there we went to Texas, back to Washington and on to New York. I worked where ever I could get a job but nothing came close to my dream of doing something creative until I was hired to help at the Stewart Army Sub-Post Base in their Craft Shop. During this time while stationed at West Point I experienced a turning point in building my self confidence in my own creative talents. I learned to do pottery, stain glass, and lots of ceramics. The people there were truly creative mentors who nurtured my inner belief in myself and told me “whatever you want to do Sue, you can. You just have to take a step forward and start”. I learned to laugh at myself and some of the hideous creations I made and I learned to accept praise and take pride in the beautiful pieces I designed too.
While in New York I got involved with my first homebased business called Undercover Wear a home lingerie company and I loved it. Interacting with people, sharing this cute interactive story line as you showed a house full of women beautiful lingerie was fun. The night held a lot of laughter and as they bought the pretty pieces my confidence grew and I made money. It was a business I was able to bring back to Washington when we moved and it worked well for our schedule with young children and my husband who worked shift work.
Because I had enjoyed crafting so much in New York I continued to try new things like ribbon embroidery, painting, beaded jewelry, wood and gourd crafts and more. I had built my belief up in my abilities as a creative soul and the success I had in several home based businesses also helped me realize that if I wanted to I certainly could have a successful floral business one day too. Yet it wasn’t time yet, we had children, 5 of them and I took on homeschooling and continued with it full time for 14 years. During which I was a Homeschool support group leader, I coordinating art and craft days for kids and talent shows for dance and music performances. Creativity was being expressed in new ways and my business skills developed as a mother, bookkeeper, teacher, director and mentor.
Then I started to long for more adult interaction and decided to go back to work part time. I again turned to a home business so I could work it into the cracks of my family life. It was with a whole foods nutritional company and I met the most amazing uplifting and supportive people through this company. One of my team members worked on feet bringing the body systems into balance through the signals on the feet. I loved these reflexology sessions and when she started teaching it I joined her classes. I then went on to do both businesses sharing whole food supplements and working on feet. This was a rewarding and fun time in my life. I was learning a lot in my holistic studies and enjoyed sharing essential oils, teaching mandala painting classes and holding workshops and sharing facial reflexology techniques and pampering facial masks an scrubs. It was another creative adventure but still I was not yet working with flowers .
Then my hands started whispering to me they needed a break from working on feet. I knew I still wanted to work with people and help them in some way so I studied Feng Shui with the Western School of Feng Shui in San Diego. This was an amazing adventure and so much fun to share. I was still sharing Juice Plus but now instead of working on feet I was working in peoples environments, homes, offices, gardens etc. I love my Feng Shui business and sharing either in a one on one consultation or in a group class setting I enjoy it all.
One day while sitting at my computer I had this desire to explore the help wanted adds to just see if any florist was looking for some part time help. I still had a longing to work with flowers. And there it was a part time designer position. I applied and got the job. It didn’t take me long to realize I had finally come full circle back to what I had dreamed of doing over 40 years earlier. After just a couple years working as a designer I knew I wanted to open my own business. There were so many things I wanted to expand and explore while some other parts of the business I wanted to leave out. Doubts started to creep in, but my husband wouldn’t let me back out of doing it. I knew I didn’t want a storefront shop but a home based studio. I wanted the freedom to work whatever hours I wanted and be able to still enjoy my family, gardening, and sharing Feng Shui. I would create my floral business in away that fully supported my dreams. And with the support and help of my husband I did.
I studied with the Floral Design Institute in Portland, and have attended workshops in person and over the internet from numerous designers from around the world. I have taken the golden nuggets from my previous work experiences and molded my business into one that supports me. I still am modifying and changing it to fit who I am and what my needs are year to year. I think that is part of the fun of owning your own business. I had set aside my Feng Shui consulting to focus my energy into building my floral business and now 6 years later I feel it’s time to bring a little more balance back into my life between my passions. I miss the one on one interactions with people in my Feng Shui practice and want to blend the two flowers and feng shui together more.
This year due to COVID I had less floral business than before with over 2/3 of my weddings moving to next year, so I used the time to freshen up on my Feng Shui and took a course on Flower Therapies and a couple on Clutter Clearing. It’s going to be fun bringing all the areas that I’m passionate about together to share with my customers in the years ahead.
I do consider myself a “late bloomer” when it comes to following my dream of owning a floral business but looking back on the past 40 years of living I’m glad it all played out the way it has. Every adventure along the way has contributed to who I am today. Each experience has built my belief in myself and I know without a doubt that I am a creative soul. I believe that we all are. That creativity is simply expressed in a million different ways and that is what makes our world such a beautiful place to be in. The diversity in creativity is so beautiful. I believe the Creative Energy of our Universe (God) is taking me on a life long adventure showing me how creative I truly am and how fun this life experience can be when one follows their heart.
May closing words for today - May you watch your words carefully, they are powerful and they can build up or cut down someone’s spirit. Be careful not to dash the hopes and dreams of another. There’s always a way for us to find success and it looks very different to each of us. May you be filled with boldness to take a step forward to move in the direction of your dream. It may not be the direct route to it, but you certainly will gain something powerful and helpful from the experience as you continue to step towards it.
If you’d like to contact me you can do so here. I’d love to hear from you, design an arrangement or book your event. Thanks for getting to know me and I look forward to knowing you.
