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I never would have guessed that after building a floral design studio from a complete career pivot, and finding real success doing weddings and events, that I would find myself feeling unfulfilled and out of alignment. What do you do when you build your dream, you’re doing it well, everyone seems to like that you do it, and everything looks perfect from the outside, but you find yourself in agony inside without any way to explain it? Something is out of alignment, and when it comes to creative entrepreneurship, with the amount of effort and output you need to put into this business and brand experience, if the effort is not also filling you up, it’s time to restructure and realign. 

In today’s episode I’m sharing advice, insights, and experiences from my own real, and not just a little bit vulnerable, story of how I hit a wall and had to rethink and reshape everything. Through the uncomfortable but utterly necessary process of reckoning with myself, who I truly am, and what I am truly here to do, even if it didn’t make sense on paper and seemed absurd after all the effort I’d put into building the first iteration of my business and brand, the truth is that I was able to build a brand I truly love and that is more successful and fulfilling than if I had stayed where I was. 

What I learned is that what can feel safe and sensible can actually become a self-limiting cycle that can drain your energy and creativity faster than the corporate hustle or stifling job you escaped to start your own venture in the first place. The remedy? Transformation and realignment, and I am here to tell you that the gifts of that process are far greater than any of the discomfort it takes to get there. Plus I’m here for you with the lessons, tools, and perspectives to support you as you step out of feeling confined and out of alignment and into your true zone of genius. 

In This Episode, We Cover:

• Career Pivot and Realignment — Jen shares her journey of transitioning from a successful floral design business to finding her true calling, emphasizing the importance of alignment in creative entrepreneurship
  
  
• Creative Entrepreneurship — The challenges and rewards of building a business that aligns with personal passions and values, including the need for restructuring when feeling unfulfilled
  
  
• Personal Transformation — Jen's personal story of hitting a wall and reshaping her business to better align with her true self and passions
  
  
• The Role of Flowers in Personal and Professional Life — How flowers have been a central theme in Jen's life, both as a business and a personal passion, leading to the creation of the Tarot of Flowers
  
  
• The Importance of Authenticity and Alignment — The significance of authenticity in business and personal life, and how misalignment can lead to dissatisfaction
  
  
• Building a Sustainable Business — Insights into creating a business that is not only successful but also fulfilling and sustainable over the long term
  
  
• Empowerment and Education — Jen's shift towards teaching and empowering others through workshops and mentorships, integrating her background in education and wellness
  
  
• Holistic Approach to Business — Incorporating wellness and sustainability into business practices, ensuring that the work is fulfilling and not just financially rewarding
  
  
• The Journey of Creating the Tarot of Flowers — The process and inspiration behind creating a tarot deck that combines floral wisdom with personal insights
  
  
• The Process of Stepping Into Your Zone of Genius — Signs to know you are in need of a pivot, and how to get clarity for where you are headed
  
  
• Encouragement for Listeners — Jen offers encouragement and practical advice for listeners to pursue their own paths of alignment and fulfillment in their creative ventures
  
  

Mentioned in this Episode: 

• The Big Leap, by Gay Hendricks
  
  
• Tarot of Flowers

Resources:

• Join the Poetry of Flowers — holistic floral artistry online courses to empower your creative practice from anywhere in the world
  
  
• Explore Workshops & Mentorships — deepen your floral artistry practice in-person
  
  
• Discover Tarot of Flowers — a gift of abundant floral wisdom for any flower-lover or seeker
  
  
• Use code CALLEDTOBLOOM for 10% off your first Poetry of Flowers purchase or your first Tarot of Flowers order

 

Details from Our Sponsors:

This episode of the Called to Bloom podcast is brought to you by Tarot of Flowers — your floral oracle for inner guidance in the language of flowers: www.tarotofflowers.com. Use code CALLEDTOBLOOM for 10% off at checkout.

 

Keep in Touch:

Thank you so much for being here, and for being part of this radiant community as we step into these creative callings together. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear from you! Connect with me on Instagram: @nectar_and_bloom and @calledtobloompodcast, and please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify to help other creatives and seekers like you to find their way here too.

 

Full Transcript:

I never would have guessed that after building a floral design studio from a complete career pivot and finding real success doing weddings and events, that I would find myself feeling unfulfilled and out of alignment. What do you do when you build your dream? You're doing it well. Everyone seems to like that you do it and everything looks perfect from the outside, but you find yourself in agony inside without any way to explain it.

Something is out of alignment and when it comes to creative entrepreneurship with the amount of effort and output you need to put into this business and brand experience, if the effort is not also filling you up, it's time to restructure and realign.

In today's episode, I'm sharing advice, insights, and experiences from my own real and not just a little bit vulnerable story of how I hit a wall and had to rethink and reshape everything.

Through the uncomfortable but utterly necessary process of reckoning with myself, who I truly am, what I'm truly here to do,even if it didn't make sense on paper and seemed absurd after all of the effort I'd put into building the first iteration of my business, I was then able to build a brand I truly love and that is more successful and fulfilling than if I had stayed where I was.

And here's what I learned. What can feel safe and sensible can actually become a self-limiting cycle that will drain your energy and creativity faster than the corporate hustle or stifling job you escaped to start your own venture in the first place. The remedy? Transformation and realignment. And I'm here to tell you that the gifts of that process are far greater than any of the discomfort it takes to get there.

Welcome to the Called to Bloom podcast. I'm Jen Cavender, founder of Nectar and Bloom and your host as we explore tools and holistic methods that empower you to craft an inspired career and a fulfilling creative life. 

I am a floral artist and educator who left an academic career to build my dream floral design studio. Now I empower flower lovers, florists and creative entrepreneurs like you to find your aligned path, and to build your dream. Together we go deep into topics covering creative entrepreneurship, health and well-being, sustainability, personal transformation, the art and business of working with flowers, and practices for manifesting a life you love.

If you are ready to feel inspired and empowered as you build your next Aligned Creative Chapter, you are in the right place. Now, let's bloom.

* 

This episode of the Called to Bloom podcast is brought to you by the Tarot of Flowers.

Two years into my wedding floral design business, I found myself in a little Airbnb in Joshua Tree with my husband, Carr, over New Year's, curled up in a room full of smoky quartz and earthy artifacts as a hailstorm came through the desert. I was soul-searching, journaling about how to grow my business, to feel more aligned for me,and how to bring together my passions and interests into a unique offering.

I have always loved oracle decks and the powerful experience of using a deck or cards as a mirror to look inward for the guidance or insights I'm seeking.

I also absolutely love sharing this kind of experience with friends, and I am notorious for pulling out a deck with great excitement at some point in any gathering to invite us all to seek and share insights through it together.

And this is how Tarot of Flowers was born. Sitting there with my journal on New Year's Day in the desert, I wrote down that I wanted to create my own oracle deck based on the wisdom of flowers.

This was the perfect way to bring together my background in writing, my passion for healing and wellbeing modalities, and my years of experience working with flowers.

Flowers do feel like metaphoric messengers to me, the way they seem to speak specific emotions and meanings into being through their colors, scents, shapes, and gestures. And flowers are also such a hopeful expression of nature and one that is inherently steeped in emotions. It seemed like a perfect nexus for a flower lover and a seeker to use to look within for insights and guidance.

Now it took me five years to bring Tarot of Flowers into being, behind the scenes, while I was mainly focused on my weddings and floral workshops, but after countless evenings of research and drafting and reading drafts aloud to Carr, after getting my talented sister to join me to create all of the beautiful hand-drawn flower illustrations, at last, Tarot of Flowers was a complete project and finally a real artifact in my hands to enjoy and to share.

Tarot of Flowers is a completely original tarot deck based in the traditional archetypes of the tarot and interpreted into the language of flowers. It includes 78 hand illustrated cards, are full of softness and emotion. And it also includes a guidebook that includes everything you need to know about tarot and how to use your deck, how to pull cards and do readings, as well as complete meanings for each of the flowers.

Tarot of Flowers is available in my online shop at nectarandbloomfloral.com. A perfect gift for any florist, flower lover, gardener, or seeker.

Tarot of Flowers also makes a beautiful addition to boutique flower shops, so please reach out if you're interested in wholesaling.

And as a Called to Bloom listener, can get 10 % off your first tarot of flowers purchase with discount code CALLEDTOBLOOM. That's C-A-L-L-E-D-T-O-B-L-O-O-M, one word, at checkout. And now back to our episode.

* 

So it's a beautiful, blustery fall day in San Diego today. Gray skies and a breeze that's setting all the canyon trees and wind chimes into singing. It's the third day of October in our third episode of Called to Bloom. Auspicious.

In numerology, the number three has to do with creativity and expression, which is part of why we're discussing today's topic, finding authentic creative expression in order to build a sustainable business brand and success.

In this episode, we are diving into advice and insights about transforming a small business into an authentic brand you love and aligning your passions and interests into the brand experience you provide so that your work fills you up while it serves and delights your clients and audience.

I'm sharing my own story of building a successful wedding floral design business, finding that something was out of alignment for me and how I discovered a way to build a more fulfilling, sustainable path forward as a business owner through shaping an authentic brand that I love. Let's dive into the story, insights and advice that today's episode has in store for you.

So in order to map out this transformation experience and this kind of personal tale I'm sharing with you, I want us to start with the before picture.

When I decided to create Nectar & Bloom, I was newly married. I had been deeply inspired by our wedding vendors and just even by discovering the wedding industry. I had no idea this existed before. I knew nothing about it. I wasn't really interested in weddings beforehand. And you know, once you fall in love with the right person, suddenly you really want to celebrate that amazing love and invite friends and family and everyone in to share in that experience.

So through our wedding and the beautiful experience that was, I had found a path for this passion of mine, this desire to give myself a chance to be a working artist, to really give my creativity the opportunity to build something that felt beautiful and authentic and aligned, and also that gave me stability, that felt like a business I could rely on. And that was in wedding florals.

You may already know my story, so I'll keep it brief here, but before starting my floral design studio, I had been an English professor and an academic and someone who was focused on a career in writing and teaching in academia. The funny thing was coming to discover that I wanted to create a floral design studio. 

I had grown up on an organic produce farm. My parents grew organic produce for farmers markets and grocery stores in our area, and my older sister and I built our own little floral business, growing flowers, cutting them, making bouquets, and selling them at the farmer's markets. 

It was a really fun project for us. Each year we would pick out seeds from our parents' seed catalogs. We would decide what we wanted to grow. We would sprout the seedlings, transplant them into our little garden plot, and then water and care for and weed and watch our flowers grow. It was a fun way to have a small business as young kids and it was a beautiful way for us to bond and connect as well as be immersed in nature with our hands in the flowers. I never thought that would be part of my future or part of my life in any way after moving away from the farm and going to college in California.

The funny thing about life is that things come full circle and there are parts of who we are that return to us that say this is really who I truly am even as I grow and evolve.

So for me in discovering the wedding industry and the fact that floral design for weddings and events was an option, I was so inspired. I felt like I was coming home to myself. I felt like I was getting to step into something incredible that would let me create and also give me a market that felt stable and renewable so that I could step into a creative business and feel like that could be something secure and something real for me. And I loved it. Just as I had loved my career in teaching and academia, there were things that I loved. 

And honestly, building the Floral Design Studio, although it came with plenty of growing pains and uncertainty and imposter syndrome and feeling like this was ridiculous and why would I leave an academic career to suddenly start a floral design studio, but it was thrilling. It was so much fun. It was like falling in love. I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

And again, I felt so inspired. I had had such a beautiful experience incorporating flowers into my own wedding with my own floral designer that we worked with. And I thought, I want to be part of that beautiful experience for other brides and other couples. I would love to be the person who helps translate the story of people's love into the visual and sensual reality of flowers. I wanted to help create set design through installations, all of that.

And honestly, it was successful. I started small, I did elopements and little a la carte sales. I practiced in my free time, I took classes, I went to workshops, I tried to really build a thorough understanding of how to start a business and how to create high-end floral designs because that's the kind of service I wanted to offer.

I also started freelancing for as many florists as I could as soon as I had the skills to do so. And that gave me so much more exposure and so many more learning opportunities as well.

And I built my professional network. I reached out to wedding planners. I went and visited venues. I built relationships with photographers. And this is one of the most beautiful things about building a business in weddings and events is that it is a collaborative industry.

The more people you know, whose businesses you admire that are complimentary aspects of the whole wedding production to yours, the more you have friends in your industry to create those amazing experiences with and the people that you have that will refer you and that you can refer to clients of yours.

When I tell people that I shifted my business away from weddings, which we'll get more into this whole process in a moment, they often ask me if I had terrible clients. There's a bad reputation for bridezillas and things like that. And honestly, I never did. I had amazing clients. I actually loved all of my couples and was so grateful to flower for their wedding days. It was so meaningful and it felt very successful. 

And the funny thing was after several years, doing weddings and events that I loved with clients that I loved and with vendors whose work I admired, who I really wanted to work with and who became really dear friends to me. I felt more and more out of alignment. Something was wrong. Something wasn't...feeling like I was in my authenticity and it started to feel less and less sustainable for me as that misalignment grew. It was nothing you could see outwardly, it didn't make any sense, people loved that I was doing what I was doing, I got wonderful feedback about it.

But after my events and after the big production weeks, I would find myself feeling unfulfilled.

So while I had been able to build a successful business outwardly, I was feeling like inwardly I needed something to change.

What I've noticed is that when something is out of alignment, it becomes much, much, much more difficult to sustain. When you first fall in love with something and you know what you want, you have clarity, you have desire, you have drive, nothing will stop you.

There's nothing more powerful than that rush of clarity and passion. But that clarity and passion is hard to sustain if it starts to become apparent that what you're doing is actually not authentic to you or not in alignment.

And that may be because what you're doing is what you think you're supposed to do. It's what you think you're expected to do. That's how I felt. Whereas what I really wanted to do, what I felt called to do seemed absurd or strange or outside of what this business was, what I thought it was to be a floral artist.

What I eventually realized was it wasn't that doing weddings and floral design was not for me, but it was occupying my time when what my soul really felt called to do was to teach and empower other people, was to offer immersive experiences that gave people a safe space to discover themselves, to discover their craft, to discover their art, and also to bring together a more holistic approach to floral design. 

I had been an athlete and a yoga teacher and a person very interested in health and well-being prior to coming into floral design and event work. And once I was in the event industry, I noticed right away and imbalanced a lot of this work can be. Especially for florists, we're working with a perishable product. We have very intense timelines. And it feels very dire to make sure that everything gets produced, gets created, gets designed, gets transported, and edited and fixed up and installed. Plus you're also hiring on new people for each event. There's a lot of moving parts and chaos. It's really a cool and challenging and beautiful process, but it's extremely physically demanding, not just from the labor side of carrying buckets and moving things and lugging and loading in and loading out, but also from the hours in the timeline.

Flower markets open early in the morning, and the design work and the production work isn't done until it's done. So you may have even a hard time making space for grabbing lunch or having a snack or remembering to stay hydrated. So I felt called right away first for my passion to teach and empower others to step into an educator role in the design work and the wonder of building this business. And secondly, to help teach it in a more holistic way so that people like you and like me could do this more sustainably, could take care of our bodies and our minds and our nervous systems while we create this beautiful floral work that we're here to do. I knew it was time to shift something when I found myself journaling a whole bunch of different ideas of what I needed to create to feel like I could grow.

Also, I was realizing that I had been on a wellness retreat a few years before, and I had realized on that wellness retreat, going through this transition, starting my new business, that the thread inside of everything that I do is that I love to empower and inspire. I want to feel empowered and inspired, and I love to empower and inspire others. And if that can be present, then I feel fulfilled. 

So my career might take different shapes and expressions over time, but I want it to serve those two purposes because that lights me up. That makes me feel excited. I want to be able to grow and learn. I want others to be able to grow and learn. I want to step into and create a dream that feels like it can be a legacy and I want that for you too. So in doing weddings, what I realized was I needed more of an avenue to be able to inspire and empower, to create experiences that allowed for that to happen.

And it expressed itself in feeling dissatisfied and in some kind of strange internal agony after my weddings that were all successful and really wonderful and also really dear to

But I found myself having these cravings for creating a new avenue of expression. How could I bring together my writing with my floral design? How could I bring together my love for teaching into floral design?

And so there was an aspect of trying to call in and bring parts of myself together so that more of me could fuel and sustain this business. That actually bringing together more of who I really am would allow this business and this work to be more fulfilling and more sustaining for me as well as the output I was putting out to create for my clients.

So it was this kind of soup of experiences and success, but feeling unfulfilled, of craving a new way to bring myself together to sustain this business and to feel like I could create something more aligned for who I am and how I want to serve that became my catalyst for change.

The truth is, any time we need to make a change in life, it's going to be uncomfortable. And often the pain of where we currently are needs to be worse than the pain and discomfort of facing the unknown and moving into the uncertainty. And that happened for me. I think it happened when it made no sense to me that I would do successful, events with people I loved and find myself feeling unfulfilled and feeling out of alignment.

It was weird, it was like having your joint out of alignment, would ache, it would feel terrible. And it felt like that to me, even though there was this pleasure and meaningfulness in what I had been doing.

And the other sign was finding myself journaling and dreaming in my spare time about these other types of offerings I could do. At one point I thought, I'm gonna create floral confetti from dried flower bits and sell that. And then another point I thought, I'm going to do botanical plant dyeing for fabrics and textiles. And at another point I thought, I'm gonna make a floral oracle deck, some kind of card deck that encompasses the wisdom of flowers —which is the one that actually came into fruition.

So my catalyst really came from feeling that sense of misalignment, from feeling unfulfilled, from the dissonance of not understanding why something was going so well but I didn't feel great about it as time went on, as well as my desire to bring wellbeing and health and sustainability into this industry and as an educator feeling inspired that that was a place where I could really serve by helping to bring in sustainable measures for this kind of work. Both sustainability for the earth and the planet and sustainability for you as the artist entrepreneur.

I also felt a little bit creatively stagnant. I felt like I had done everything I needed to do. I felt like I had achieved the kinds of events I wanted to achieve. 

And even though every event is different, every wedding and every client and their stories are different The actual act of that production felt like something I had mastered and that was taking up too much space for me to be able to grow into this level of my business and my brand that was more aligned for me. And that's important, I talk about this a lot. If you are doing work that is out of alignment for you, it is not only more draining for you and more difficult because it doesn't fill you up, but it is also occupying your time and the space that you have to do other things that might be more aligned and more fulfilling and more successful for you.

So while it's really hard and really scary and I know to say no to certain business that might be out of alignment for you, it is actually beneficial in the long run if you know it's out of alignment to save yourself and your space and your precious time With this one precious life you have to make yourself available to how you are really truly meant to serve.

So another part of this catalyst for me was a desire for deeper meaning in my work.

So let's look at that process of realignment. And again, all of my story that I'm sharing, I hope is to give you an example of a method and a path that hopefully will shake things loose for you or empower you to feel a little more free or a little more encouraged or a little more supported in making a shift if you need to in acknowledging and recognizing if you're out of alignment, or if the work that you're doing feels stagnant or not fulfilling to you, that you too can realign, that you can check in and make this kind of shift into realignment. So how did I do it?

I'll tell you one thing. It wasn't a clean and linear process. I did a lot of journaling. I did a lot of crying. There was a sense of grief in building my dream and building my success and not finding it in alignment. That was really confusing and disorienting. So if you're going through that, let yourself grieve, let yourself acknowledge that strange and unexpected sense of loss, and know that that's part of it. We are going to have to let things go in life, especially because we are in need of the space and freedom to grow and evolve. 

Everything in nature grows and evolves. A tree doesn't stop growing, even if it slows down for certain seasons or it's in different stages of life. But a tree continues to grow. We also continue to grow. our bodies continue to change throughout the duration of our lives and our personality, our mindset, our emotional patterns, our beliefs, our understanding of the world, and our callings in how we serve also evolve.

So the first step is really to do some acknowledging. And that's what I had to do, journaling, therapy, also making space to just kind of soul search and reflect.

I needed to look at what I was doing that I loved and I needed to look at what I was doing that was draining and that was feeling out of alignment.

And it's simply a matter of physics that in order to change direction, an object has to slow down its velocity. So you have to slow down your progress and your rate of work in order to make a pivot or in order to make a change. And that's what I had to do. It was terrifying. I had to slow down my business. I had to say no to inquiries.

I raised my rates to make it more worth my while if I was going to continue to do the work that wasn't my goal to continue to do, and I just had to deal with having more space and less income and less bookings. It was a dark place. But as you will learn and as you may have already experienced, we have to go through the void. We have to step into the unknown. We have to go through the scariest part in order to make it through to the revelation, to the clarity that we're seeking to build a fulfilling life and a fulfilling creative career. So I slowed things down. I did a lot of processing. I sought support. And then I needed to restructure my offers.

I needed to reimagine my offerings. If I was a floral artist with a floral design studio who taught floral design, how would I restructure what I offered if I no longer did events and weddings?

I also really needed to step into the messaging I had already been sharing. I needed to believe in myself and the fact that I felt called to share messaging about wellness, about health and taking care of ourselves while we do this kind of work, about acknowledging that a very demanding creative and physical practice is going to need supportive systems that help us stay healthy.

And I needed to be brave enough to start building new offerings in my business. I was already teaching mentorships. I also started teaching group workshops soon after that. And I loved these. This felt really aligned. I was still doing my weddings and events, but I started to focus more on the education. And I always recommend this. If you're going to make a shift, if you're going to change careers, or if you're going to change paths within your career, try to start slowly, try to reduce what you rely on currently, as you increase what you would like to rely on and what feels more aligned and more sustainable for you, slowly. This is hard. If you are a passionate creative entrepreneur like me, you wanna just dive in head first and go in, but in truth, the more slowly we can transition, the more harmoniously we can transition, the more sustainable this is and the more enjoyable the process.

It's a little tough to be patient, but it pays off in being able to not just burn out and give up, to be able to pull this thing off with more peace of mind. And it's healthy to build that sense of trust with yourself, that even if you can't get across the finish line today, that you trust that each little step you take toward that shift or toward that new chapter is getting you there.

So I had to slow things down. I had to do a lot of processing and grieving. I had to make space to consider what else was possible. And I had to be courageous and step into what I believed and what I felt was true to me, trusting that my audience would come with me, trusting that my audience would know this is where we're headed. This is how I can serve you in a way that is more authentic to me and that really was more of an expansion of what I was already doing, rather than any kind of complete 180 pivot. I had already done that leaving academia and doing floral design. Once I was in floral design, then it was calibrating. And that's what I want for you too.

Then I also wanted to bring in and integrate more of myself. to also integrate these other parts of me that wanted to join and be part of my business. And that was my background in writing. That was partly my background in academia, loving to create courses of study and teaching. That was my background as a yoga teacher and as someone who studies Ayurveda, which is an ancient system of self-healing and health and wellbeing and being able to bring these different parts of myself and these passions and these things that were so important and so powerful in my life and so big in my life into my work as a floral artist.

And I needed to figure out a way not only to bring these parts of myself together and to believe in that enough, but to also create a cohesive brand with that, which was scary. I didn't know anyone who was doing what I was doing. And I say this again because I'm so passionate about you knowing that there are many paths you can take in your creative venture and in your floral artistry work.

So the more you discover about who you are, what you love, the passions and skills you have, the areas of expertise you bring to floral artistry and creative entrepreneurship, the more tools and resources and nourishment you have to fuel what you are doing and to shape a cohesive brand as I have worked to do that allows you to do the work you really want to do. And I keep saying this, but when we are in alignment and when we are in our authenticity, everything is easier.

When we are out of alignment and out of authenticity, the effort to do the amount of work we need to do as creative entrepreneurs is so much harder, such a much steeper climb than when we are in alignment and excited and our passions are fueling what we are doing. It becomes so much more delightful, so much more sustainable, and so much more fulfilling over time.

Within that process of realignment, I did have to let go of old models. I did have to let go of what I had started out to do. Not entirely. I knew the whole time it wasn't nectar and bloom that was out of alignment and it wasn't doing flowers or working in flowers or teaching that was out of alignment. It was that I was doing too many things and that some of the things that got me started, like my wedding and event work, I had outgrown.

What I did realize was that everything I had learned and done became a tool for me to share with others. I was already teaching in my workshops how to create, and execute weddings and events. My experience, because I am an educator at heart, is to learn and master something and find the tools and resources and tricks of the trade and to formulate that into experiences and tools and resources for others on my path. Maybe that's how you are too or maybe there's a different inner calling behind what you do that you are discovering that fuels your work as a floral artist and as a creative entrepreneur. Keep seeking that and we'll get more into that a little later in this episode.

My point here is that it can be very challenging emotionally and cognitively to let go of the early work, to let go of the old models that helped you get where you are today. It was hard for me. It sometimes still is. Sometimes I reach out to my wedding vendor friends. I miss them. It was amazing the things we created together. And I trust that on my journey right now, I'm most called to produce floral experiences and to teach and educate and empower others in floral artistry, as well as share flowers as a transformational and inspiring medium of art and of nature.

As I let go of some of the work I started doing, I really had to believe in and embrace and start to dream up and build the offerings that would take that place. In the process of my floral artistry career, as I said, I started teaching mentorships and workshops right away. Then I started creating online courses because I wanted people to be able to access floral artistry education from anywhere. And I really wanted to share my approach that takes the art of poetry as a form of composition into how we compose with flowers, letting flowers be a way of telling stories and creating emotional experiences for others. And I wanted to bring my perspective for a holistic approach that is sustainable, that takes care of you as a floral artist and human being as it takes care of the planet as we're creating in floral artistry.

So the excitement of discovering what I really wanted to do helped me to let go of what I didn't want to do because I wanted to make space for that. And it does require some soul searching and some facing the scary space and unknown to get there, but it's worth it.

So let's then step into the brand that you can build, the brand that you are building now, and I'll share with you the brand that I am building now, the brand that I've been building for the past few years that I'm now living in that feels so much more rewarding, fulfilling, and aligned.

I knew as I discovered that something needed to change, as I mentioned, that it wasn't that my business was wrong or that working in flowers was wrong. It was that within that business, something needed to shift.

For me, that was a pivot into really focusing on floral education. I'm a Scorpio. My whole soul and being is all about transformation. I'm also in Ayurveda, a Pitta Dosha. So someone that is more of a fire constitution that is very metabolic and transformative and all about this alchemy in life, making something into something else.

And so creating transformative floral education felt really aligned.

I also expanded my mentorships instead of being a one day, one on one workshop. Now it's a two day studio immersion. I also introduced wellbeing experiences. We offer retreats and what I call "bloom circles" on full moons and new moons where people come for immersive floral experience, tarot card reading from Tarot of Flowers and a deeply resetting and relaxing sound bath. Everyone needs different relaxation and nervous system nourishing activities or sort of anti-activities — more of a chance to just receive. 

And I think through knowing that myself, through facing burnout, I was able to find these healing modalities that I also want to share with others. So that became part of my work too. As I began building the new brand experience, I was bringing together these different nuanced parts of myself and also expanding and improving the offerings that I really love and calibrating them to you, to my audience, to making them more fulfilling and successful and nourishing for you.

And then there was creating the Tarot of Flowers deck. That was a long-term process behind the scenes while I was still doing weddings, also teaching workshops and building online courses. In the background, I was writing this big manuscript, assigning different meanings for each of the flowers to each of the traditional archetypes of the tarot, separating flowers into sword-like flowers for the suit of swords and cup-like flowers for the suit of cups and reading about all these meanings and matching them up with the understanding that I have through working with flowers of how flowers behave and what their metaphoric messages are for us and matching that with researching folklore about each of these flowers and bringing together an experience and what I hope is a gift for anyone who gets to interact with tarot of flowers that brings together the wisdom of healing and introspection with the metaphoric guidance and messages of flowers. So eventually the tarot deck became the first kind of hard good gift that I could share.

So each of these pieces became part of this new brand. How could I be a floral artist and educator, devoted to immersive experiences, transformation and wellbeing, well, you start to become that. If you're looking at your floral artistry business or your creative entrepreneurial venture and thinking this is out of alignment, start to really dive into what is exciting. How can you start to bring that together? Because I would like my story and my example to be something that really supports you in knowing that this does not have to take one shape and that it can actually be more successful, way more fulfilling and more sustainable for you over time.

So the difference for me now is that the work that I do now really supports my clients and my students and my audience and it supports me. I'm not doing work that I'm just good at but that doesn't fill me up. I'm doing work that I love, that I put my heart and soul into and that brings me joy to do.

There's an amazing book called The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks If you haven't read it, go have a read. It's a really empowering and really clear and beautiful book about stepping into your truth. And it's called The Big Leap because it takes a big leap. It takes a big leap of faith. It takes a big scary jump out of what you know into what you really want to do.

And in this book, the author describes essentially a framework that's very helpful. We have these different zones in life that we can get stuck in or that we are trying to get to. There's a zone of incompetence where you're not good at this. This is not for you. That's easy. You don't get distracted by that. There's a zone of competence.

The zone of competence is a box. because it's limiting.

And in the zone of competence, you are good enough at what you're doing. You're competent at it. Other people are just as good as you, but you can do it and it's okay, but it's not great and it's not very fulfilling. So that's kind of tough. You're limited and stuck in that. 

The next box as you level up is the zone of excellence. And this is the most confusing zone because in the zone of excellence, and this is where I was before making this adjustment. You are in a box, still limited, doing something you're really good at. Or you're just often acknowledged for it. People love that you do it. People want you to do this because you're doing it really well. This is the hardest place to escape because you do get so much external validation and so much support and encouragement to keep doing this thing because the world likes that you do it and you do it really well. 

The problem is it is still that confining box. You're good at it, but it doesn't thrill you. You have nowhere to grow. You feel like you've already done it. You feel stuck and it doesn't make sense. Outwardly, you're doing well, people like that you do it, you're excellent at it, why don't you love it? 

That's where the zone of genius comes into play. So in this book, he also describes the next level and that's what we're trying to make the big leap into is the zone of genius. The zone of genius conceptually is not a box, it doesn't limit you, it's an upward spiral. It's something that you could circle around in, expanding and finding growth and empowerment.

And that is two things come together. The work you do really well and the work you love and could do all day long. There are certain things for everyone that we're like, ⁓ everyone asked me about this. I could talk about this all day long. I love talking about this or I love doing this thing that is what we want to get to know and to bring that together as we take this big leap into the zone of genius.

I mention this book and this framework because it's been so helpful for me in conceptualizing why when you reach a certain level in a certain field that starts to feel confining or disappointing and it doesn't make sense because you're really good at it, you're in the zone of excellence. And that's okay, but it's not going to let you grow or be fulfilled. So you want to jump into your zone of genius.

So that's my first lesson and framework for you as you look into what you're doing, how you're doing it, and how this could become more fulfilling and sustainable for you. Are you in a zone of competence? Are you in a zone of excellence? Are you even aware of what your zone of genius could be? Is there a way that you can start to conceptualize that or start to imagine or dream it up? And how can you start to plan your leap into that place? Because that zone of genius is what's going to allow you to feel more fulfilled, and what do we need more in life than to feel really good about what we're doing and to feel fulfilled? 

I know I want to look back at my life as an old lady someday and think, I'm so glad I did that. I love what I was doing and I did what I wanted when I wanted to do it. And I was grateful for the courage and the freedom to do that. And I took the opportunities. In fact, I gave myself the opportunities that I could give myself, to build a life that I'm proud of, to build a life that I am grateful to have lived and that I'm really satisfied with. And I want that for you. And that is completely available to you.

The second tool I want to offer you is to consider how powerful authenticity and alignment are for small business. I've mentioned this a few times through the episode, but I really want to bring it home here as we wrap up that when you are in authenticity and when you are in alignment, you are drawing from your truth. 

There is a flow of energy that comes from an endless source that allows you to do what you are meant to do fully without it being such a struggle. When you are out of authenticity or alignment, when you're trying to do what you think you should do. And we've talked about shoulds in a previous episode. energy is in resistance. That energy is a struggle. 

And I'm not trying to say that we all have all the freedom and all the privilege to just do whatever we want. What I am trying to say is that within your means, within what you can control, what can you do to calibrate toward authenticity? What feels authentic to you? What really excites you? What feels like sustainable, exciting expression of your creativity and your entrepreneurial spirit in the work that you do.

Thirdly, I want to encourage you. This is actually a very exciting moment if you are starting to realize that there is a big leap you need to make or there is a transformation you need to go through.

It's going to be uncomfortable, it's going to be awkward, it's going to be an emotional experience, but trust that process because as I said in the beginning, the gifts of going through it are tenfold. The reality that you step into when you move through these moments of needing to transform, is so much more worthwhile to step into, even though it requires going through this unknown, stepping into the void, going through the discomfort. And you get more confident and better at going through these moments of transformation when you go through one.

So here are a few signs that you might be ready for your own pivot:

Number one, you feel like the passion is gone. The energy is gone. There's no more magic. You're feeling like things are just becoming rote and repeated. 

Sign number two, you're doing a great job. People love what you're doing. You're getting great feedback. You're finding success, but you don't feel good inside. You feel disappointed for some reason. It doesn't make sense. That's another sign. 

Number three, you find yourself dreaming all the time about something else, maybe a bunch of other things. You find yourself interested in other things, dreaming about, journaling about, all these other ideas, or maybe just one big idea, for your creative work or for your business, and that is also a sign.

Number four, you feel like you have outgrown what you're doing, like as though you're wearing shoes that don't fit anymore, or you're trying to stay in a box when really you need to stretch.

And number five in the signs that you might be ready for your own pivot. You feel like you need to quit. You feel like you need to jump ship. You feel like you need to go back to your old job or find a new job. Your creative venture just isn't working. It's time to bail. This is a sign that you also need to pivot. 

Sometimes that instinct might be it's really time to make a big change. But most of the time, if you have started your dream, and you've been building something beautiful and something that you truly wanted to do with your career path and your creativity, if you're starting to feel like you need to bail, it's because you need to make a change. So start to slow down, make the space, feel the feelings, process what you need to, and start to listen into what is actually asking you to bring it into being. Is there a specific offer that you want to offer? Is there a certain part of your work that you thought you had to do but that you really don't like to do? Could you let it go?

Is there resource that you would like to make and offer to your audience? Can you start to draft it and iterate it out?

Keep in mind that it can take time. Let my story about tarot of flowers be an encouragement to you that these things take time. and I say that because it took me way more years than I thought it would to make tarot of flower,s and

The thing I'm most proud of is that I stuck with it, that it's now a real thing in the world that people are sharing and enjoying. So stick with it. Find that thing that's calling to you. Know that it can take time and start chipping away.

Remember above all that building a brand around what fills you up makes creative entrepreneurship more joyful and more resilient.

We need more joy in our lives. We need our work to be something meaningful. It's a huge part of our lives. And when it's resilient, you can weather what comes up in life. You can weather the growth pains and the changes in your business.

So as we wrap up for today, I wanna offer you a little bonus clarity exercise. I want you to use this either just as something to meditate on or something to use as a journaling prompt, but ask yourself this question.

Where in your own work do you feel most alive? And how might you bring more of that forward?

As you explore this prompt, think about what you love about what you do. It's also helpful to get clear about what you don't love about what you do and make a list of the following. 

One, what you love most about your work. What makes you feel most alive and full of purpose? What makes you feel most fulfilled?

Two, what is missing that you dream about doing or having the space to do? What is really exciting to you that you want to do or move toward? 

Three, what do you not love about your work? Separate this into two categories, what you have to do and what you don't actually have to do. 

Four, looking at that first category, what you have to do. What can you get better at through seeking support, training, education, or advice to improve your systems and have an easier time doing what you need to do that you don't love at the moment. 

And five, looking at the second category, what you don't have to do. What can you let go, delegate, or leave behind that you don't love and don't need to be doing yourself in your work.

This is going to give you a lot of clarity as you explore the pivot or transformation that you are excited to make.

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As a final thought for today, I just want to leave you with a huge encouragement that what you are here to do, what you are meant to do, and the alignment that you're seeking in the work you are here to do is yours to find, is yours to bring into the world.

And remember that a brand is the way that people relate to your business. If a business is a building, a brand is a home. People who come know exactly what you're about. They can recognize themselves in it. It's a beautiful way to attract your ideal clients.

So trust your instincts, pivot and transform in the areas that you need to so that the work you do is sustainable, is fulfilling and is aligned. And so that it's easier to attract the clients that are here for your services.

Gosh, let me just say I totally feel vulnerable in sharing this episode. But my hope and dream is that sharing my story and this pivot and this transformation I've been on over the past few years into the brand and the business that I have now is encouraging and inspiring for you because it is possible. And it is worth it.

So go forth. Turn inward, listen to those callings, listen to what's trying to come through and start to take steps toward it. And if you need support, reach out. Take a mentorship, find a coach. I would be so glad to hear from you and to help you strategize and plan forward how to make this business of yours more aligned into a brand and an experience that you love and that brings you more success and fulfillment.

Just remember that what is calling to you is calling to you for a reason. You alone are here to bring that into the world. You alone are the one who is here to channel that creative experience. So listen — and keep moving toward it.

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Beautifully done. You just completed another episode of Called to Bloom, and I don't know about you, but I always think finishing a resource that nourishes my being and makes me feel more connected feels so good.

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Thank you so much for being here and for being part of this radiant community as we pursue our creative callings together.

Head to calledtobloompodcast.com to find show notes, and details from our sponsors. And if you're ready to deepen your practice with classes and immersive experiences in flowers and wellbeing, head to nectarandbloomfloral.com and explore my workshops, one-on-one mentorships, poetry of flowers online courses, wellbeing experiences, and my original Tarot of Flowers deck.

You can also find me on Instagram at @nectar_and_bloom for more inspiration, tools, creativity, and like-minded community.

For now, keep blooming. The world needs what you are here to create.