Growing up I heard the statement "Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life". I grew to believe this with every fiber of my soul. In search for what I loved to do I bounced between jobs never staying anywhere longer than 2 years. Everywhere I went I did an "okay" job and management was thrilled with my performance. I received awards, won sales goals and became accustomed to makin
g the boss smile. As soon as I mastered a position I would find myself scrolling through page after page of bland job descriptions on Monster.com (does that even still exist?). By the time, I was 24 I had tried my hand at Retail, Restaurant, Recruiting and even Accounting. I literally had no idea where I was supposed to be. How many of us have been in this same scenario? Just because you are good at your job doesn't mean that is where you were meant to. Taking a leap and making a drastic change is great in theory, but, when you have a mortgage to pay and a family to care for a risky leap may not be an option. I needed to find something I loved to do that would also provide for my family. When you are an independent soul like many of us creatives are, failure is not an option. So, I continued to search for that thing that made me "tick" that thing that excited me so much it kept me up at night. That thing that I absolutely loved to do and I thought I would find it in a traditional career. If you are reading this and know what I do then you already know that what I found was far from traditional, but, you may not know that how I found it was even less traditional. Once I began to feel the pull of weddings I finally felt like I knew my direction. It was as clear as the hand of a compass pointing towards its magnetic force. It became increasingly difficult for me to focus at work. All I wanted to do was to see more, read more and learn more about the subject I was excited about. For 3 long years, I lived a double life. Grey cubical by day swanky basement home office by night and in between making time for my handsome husband and 2 young children. Even though I loved everything about weddings and by this time was bringing in a significant 2nd income I was afraid to let go of the 9-5. Evan though the money was there I was not feeling quite ready to make the leap and give up the stability. So, I continued with my double life. Then, fate stepped in. It was a Thursday in mid-June and I had left the confines of my grey office a few minutes early so that I had time to run those last-minute wedding errands for my bride. With errands, complete and feeling accomplished I arrived home just in time to check voicemails (this was pre-smartphone days). What I heard on the recorded message sent chills down my spine. The florist had quit. Not, just quit on my bride's wedding, but, had quit her business completely. The wedding was less than 24hrs away and I felt panic setting in. Of course, I started with trying to solve the issue the traditional route by calling local florists, but, finding a florist available on a moment’s notice in mid-June is virtually impossible. After hours of searching and more "no's" than I could handle my years of job hopping experience came in handy. I had been thrown into many situations in the past that had required quick thinking and learning a new skill on the fly. If I could figure out complex office tasks, certainly I could figure this out. I called the florist who had quit and convinced her to allow me to pick up the flowers she had ordered for the wedding. Remember, I was a wedding planner and not a florist so imagine my shock when I am greeted with boxes of blooms all tightly packed and stacked on her front porch. Not knowing what I was going to do with the contents of the boxes I loaded them into my husband's white Chevrolet Trailblazer and headed home with a "can do attitude" and fear causing my heart to beat at an elevated rate. I dragged the boxes to the basement, turned on my computer and searched for a brand-new website offering homemade video tutorials (Youtube in its very early days) with that and a book from Paula Pryk would be the beginning of my floral education. Once the fear subsided I began designing and I LOVED it. I stayed up all night and called out of work the next day to continue designing. I should have been exhausted, but, I was exhilarated... I had just worked harder and longer than I had ever done at that time and I was loving it! The words danced in my head that I had heard spoken so many times as a child "Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life". This was my "thing" this was what I was looking for! Immediately after this experience flowers were introduced to my planning company and within the year I was full-time and devoted to this business that I love so much. So, if you are working a 9-5, living a double life and just don't feel right about leaving your "day job" then maybe the time isn't right. Maybe you are where you need to be right now. You may not have found that thing that makes you tick and that is okay. Remember that just because you are good at your job doesn't mean that is what you are meant to do. Wedding planning was a job to me and although I didn't know it at the time my hesitation to leave my 9-5 was because I didn't want to take the leap for just another job. Your "thing" is out there and if you haven't already you WILL find it. If you have found your calling and are ready to leap that is awesome and I hope I can encourage you to make it happen. If you are still searching and need more time that is awesome too. If flowers and weddings is “your thing” then I am here and I hope I can help you in your journey to building a fulfilling career doing what you love.
