Centerpiece and wreath by Greenlion
Happy Monday everyone. I’m still over here recovering from the emotional rollercoaster that was the Royal Wedding. Seriously though, I am so team Harry and Meghan, haha. Back to reality today, at least the birds are chirping and the sun in shining. In case you’ve missed it, this month’s JAKWellness 12 theme is career, and every week I’ve interviewed business owners in different industries to get their thoughts on starting a business, how to stand out, and things they’ve learned along the way. This week I am very excited to bring you a Q&A with Kim of Greenlion Design. I first met Kim through Jennie Kay a year or two ago (Kim made a flower crown for a shoot I was doing) and immediately fell in love with her. Kim and I have a lot of career and life parallels, probably the biggest one being that we work with our significant other, and we love doing it. It’s certainly not for everyone, but we both agree we wouldn’t have it any other way. I asked Kim about starting her business as a floral and garden designer, how she stands out in a saturated market, and what it’s like working with her significant other, Chris.
If you missed any other interviews from this month, you can check them out here.
J: Did you always know you wanted to own your own business? What prompted you to start Greenlion?
K: A total love and really infatuation with flowers and gardens. Also a strong desire to be our own boss, make our own choices and schedule. Looking back I now know the schedule is more like 24/7 lol!
J: When launching your business what was your biggest mistake/regret?
K: Wasting time being insecure. Growing pains are part of it and looking back I wish I had embraced all the bumps in the road, and saw them as part of the growth. Early on I would let things stress me out that where just growing pains. The challenges of growing your brand are really quite amazing and interesting, figuring all that out is fascinating, and you may miss it one day once the ball is rolling and you spend more time managing the business itself and doing the work you now have.
“Embrace change, it can lead to opportunity…and just be yourself, show your personality and your heart.”
J: What’s your advice for making your business stand out in a saturated market? How did you find your niche?
K: Do your research, then define what makes you different and fully embrace that difference wholeheartedly. Also embrace change, it can lead to opportunity. Change in your market I mean. And just be yourself, show your personality and your heart (working on that myself).
J: What’s your number one piece of advice for someone starting their own business?
K: Get started. Today. Launch before you feel 100% ready. Limit your spending early on. Only spend on absolute essentials. Sorry thats more than one piece of advice!
J: What is it like working with your significant other? Are there certain things you feel are an advantage or disadvantage being business partners and a couple?
K: We find that clear communication is a must for working together. And working fun into our schedules. Doing a quick ping-pong round in-between some calls or meetings and keeping the fun part of our relationship going as well as the business partnership (that is ever present). We both have learned we need to be flexible in the hats we wear, sometimes he is the boss, sometimes I am the boss and mostly we are both the boss. Being flexible in problem solving too, keeping an open mind to each other’s unique way of seeing things.
One advantage is that we have learned SO much about each other that we never would have had the opportunity to learn if we had separate careers. Plus we balance each other out, he is a Taurus and I am a Leo 😉 (side note- a lot of people warned us about going into business together how it can “ruin” relationships. In our opinion it had the opposite effect)!
A huge thanks to Kim (and Chris) of Greenlion. If you want to see some of their incredible work you can check it out here.
As someone constantly Day dreaming about launching her own business these interviews are so inspirational! Thank you both for the advice and motivation! xAllie
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