Impacting a Community Through Flowers

Welcome to a new series highlighting everyday women who love their jobs. Learn what a day in the life looks like, and discover how God has led them to where they are today.

What three words would a close friend or family member use to describe you?

Personable, creative, intentional.

When you were a little girl, what did you want to be?

I never had a specific passion/goal or "I want to be ___ when I grow up"! My parents always called me a "flower child" though, just with the things I enjoyed and my personality so I guess they saw something in me I didn't!

Did you always know you want to be doing what you’re doing now? If not, who or what led you there?

Not at all - I went to the University of Tennessee and graduated as an RN and worked for about 3 years as a nurse before pursuing this business idea. A dissatisfaction with my original career is what led me to pursuing something new. I've always had a deep love for flowers and gardening so that's what started the idea of Flourish Flower Truck for me.

What gets you excited about going into work?

Getting to have such an impact on the Knoxville community through the gift of flowers. Also getting to do something that is mostly outdoors and is very creative.

What does a typical day look like for you?

This has changed a lot over the 3 years in business. Originally, I was the only one doing it all. I was the one out on the flower truck each shift and doing all the prep work to get there. Now with a few employees taking the load alongside of me and with a toddler at home, my role has transitioned more to a behind-the-scenes place.

I still take the flower truck out every other week or so because that's what I love doing the most! I am now functioning as a "floater" so I fill in gaps in all areas of our business whenever that's needed - that could be farming, selling on the truck, flower prep, delivering, or helping with a wedding!

What do you love most about your job?

The flexibility it provides me and my family has been huge. To be able to do a job I love from my home with my husband and baby is a dream. I also love that we get to do something unique that impacts our community directly. To be a place where people know they can come when they need something to communicate joy or pain!

What are the challenging aspects of your job?

Being mobile has a lot of benefits but it is also quite challenging. The challenges that come with that are the ever changing locations/schedules - not only for organization but for employee consistency and customer consistency as well. It also means we are selling all times of day each day of the week, so there isn't really any "off" time which can take a toll and we've had to come up with ways to combat that to keep from burning out.

Another huge challenge of being mobile is that our business is not only seasonal for the most part, but we also have to be on the lookout for rain and such every day and sometimes that requires canceling shifts which is hard on us and our customers!

What is one advice you would give to someone who is interested in doing what you are doing?

1. Don't overthink it! Looking back at myself in those first few months and responding now almost weekly to someone asking for advice on how to start a flower truck, it's easy to want to have every single detail in place and figured out before starting, but it's all such trial and error and if you can learn patience to let yourself learn as you go, things run much smoother and can be enjoyed so much more!

2. Failure and hard days aren't defining. It's way too easy to have one bad day of sales or one negative comment and take it way too personally or let it define you and your business. Being able to go into each day knowing that if something goes wrong, if people don't show up that day, or if an idea fails, that that isn't what determines your business’s worth, impact, and success!

What specific skills or educational background (degrees, certifications etc.) are needed for someone to be successful in this role?

Really - none! I had no business or floral education/experience going into this. I have taught myself along the way and had a lot of people in my life offer help and expertise. I definitely think those would have been immensely helpful in the beginning, but also not necessary!

Has your faith played a role in your professional journey? If so, how?

Absolutely. Loving Jesus and believing He has called us as His children to be more like Him and to love those around us is what guides our decisions and intentions with this business. It means we think through those we hire and what businesses we partner with and the way we handle situations differently than someone would that didn't have these beliefs.

It means we see our business as more than a financial means or place to feel successful. It truly is the heartbeat behind what we stand for and why we do what we do - to bring light and joy into our community.

Are you able to establish a work/life balance in your work? Why or why not?

This has been the most challenging thing for me personally. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that my business runs out of my home. There are constantly employees here which makes it really hard to set boundaries and turn "off" work.

It's also challenging in that it's something running 6-7 days a week so there are no "weekends" exactly. I also fall prey to the struggle with social media addiction and feeling the need to check our business account/answer messages all throughout the day so it's been really hard to create boundaries there as well!

If you are married with children, have you experienced any positives and challenges of growing your professional career as a wife and a mother? If so, what?

Definitely both positives and challenges! My daughter is only 18 months old and I have already loved sharing the love of flowers with her. That she gets to go out on the flower farm with me and play in our flower studio while we work. It has also as of a few months ago become my husband's job as well to work with Flourish! We never expected this business to be fully providing for our family so it has been such a joy to make that transition.

The challenge is that sometimes it feels like work has to come before family and that choice is almost always easier than putting family before work unfortunately. For similar reasons as mentioned above with work/life balance. There have been really hard days/weeks where something has to be done and you have a baby clinging to you not understanding why.

What is one thing you are looking forward to about your professional career this year?

That we get to keep expanding and making flowers more accessible to Knoxville!

To learn more about Flourish, check out https://www.flourishflowertruck.com/.