A Personal Leap

I had mentioned on this blog a few day before that I was learning so many things that lie silently behind the scene to only once in awhile to bare its face.

Oh, about a lifetime ago I worked in a flower shop. To say my creativeness 'bloomed' is an understatement. I was so happy working in the front where I dealt with flowers and people but then I got a chance to start working in the back. Ordering flowers and then actually going to the local suppliers to pick and choose which flowers I would need for the next few days was a real eye opening process. I could actually see a warehouse filled with every colour, every shape, every kind of flower imaginable...and then every cost to them!

After about 6 months of being on both sides of the table (or at least I had figured that was all there was to it) I was offered the opportunity to buy right out the whole flower shop. Now being in a very well established area and having an amazing clientele and that the owner had been the original and so the shop had a fantastic rating and profile. With this all being in mind, I did up my whole proposal, business plan along with financing requirements in order to go in for a loan. After that intense but successful exercise I ended up having an epiphany! There is so much more than what I knew to run a small business.

Off to school I go, granted in my 30's but still young enough to not take for granted the ability to learn. I ended up with my diploma in business management with an accounting background. Now I figured with all of the education I had enoug
h to arm myself to see if I was ready to go it alone.

And of course, after a 3 year program the little shop that I had wanted in the beginning and lead me to this point in life had been sold. Sigh.

Off onto another adventure. I ended up with 7 years of experience being in council chambers and working side by side with a mayor and SAO (senior administrative officer). This was the best job and life that I had up that point in my life.

With a few years in-between then and now, life has taken me down many paths with so my curves and one-way roads that I have now ended up here.

Where is here? Here is in my wee nursery working with faeries. I can't imagine doing anything else anymore (of course eventually I will want/need to get back into the workforce).

So after all that has been said and done one of the newest gifts that I have been able to learn from and on my own is graphic designing. Prior to now I have always resourced this part of the company to an amazing friend but then as life goes on, she moved away to another area that we could only talk to each other through the phone, email and messaging.

For now, this is the story behind where I came from and where I am now.

Sitting on the Fence Post

You know how when you are just teetering on the edge of life and you just don't know if you have what it takes to take the next big leap? Well I have been teetering with my company for the last few months. I have put all of my ducks in a row and just kind of sat there, contemplating the next step. As I work full time, I must admit that my little Faerie Nursery somedays just takes the back burner.

Well over the past two weeks, I have managed to get myself together, have a few brainstorming sessions with great people and in the end making the decision to jump!

So, I jumped. Here I am now, dangling off the edge, with one wee little finger still hanging on for dear life. I don't know about you, but even when you have surrounded yourself with wonderful friends, family and supporters, it is still hard to say...okay, you are going to be okay and everything will work out just fine.

I have applied for two grants for small businesses here in the Northwest Territories. The first one being for small tools and supplies. Now with this grants, like all grant, I had to come up with a business plan that catered to this specific grant. In the end, I decided to commit to making 80 Faerie Suites (50 small doors and 30 large door {these sets include a magical wooden door, trinket chest filled with goodies and a flower petal faerie}{I already had almost 80 doors cut and in the stages of completion}); 50 Seed Pod Faeries (I already have 15 done so I figured that wasn't unrealistic); 25 Teacup Nurseries (as this is still in the experimental stage, they shouldn't be too hard to make, as well each nursery will come with a matching flower petal faerie); and then 200 hundred flower petal faeries (I have over 50 already in made). Now as I am only one person and each of these creations are lovingly hand made, I figured that I could handle this amount of production. The second grant was for marketing and this is the big one. I was hoping to have everything it takes to have a full trade-show booth; store displays, all printed materials, designer and webpage master time and to top it all off, advertising in the local newspaper and possibly a national magazine.

Well today, I found out that both of the grants have been approved! (Actually the small tools and supplies one was approved and signed off last week). So, now here I sit. Pretty scared, pretty nervous and feeling pretty overwhelmed to tell you the truth.

Today, I have taken that leap of faith. That next step. That saying so-long fence post, I don't need you anymore.

So I hope that each and everyone of you, will join me on this journey. As I said in my Facebook post earlier today when I found out my second grant had been approved...

WORLD....HEAR ME ROAR!!

Business Plan

It's not like I haven't been doing anything or ignoring my blog by any means. 

This week has seen me concentrating on getting by Business Plan together. I have done research from different websites to find something that is similar (no point in re-inventing the wheel if I don't have to). 

I have the majority of it done, just have to work on all of the financials now. Hopefully it will all make sense in the end :)