Changing Career & Becoming a Farmer Florist With Rebecca Stuart
#027 - Farmer Florist Rebecca Stuart from The Garden Gate Flower Company shares her small business journey. After working in various roles in a corporate environment in London and Bath, she now lives in her home county of Cornwall, growing and designing flowers for weddings. And she recently started creative art direction for product styling and prop sourcing. After studying at Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Rebecca moved to London and began to temp. She worked her way up from receptionist to secretary to running a team. And during this time, she learned a lot about the processes of running a business like marketing, PR and email management. Whilst working at Macmillan Publishers, she met her husband and decided to go back to New Zealand with him. She took two years out to travel and work in New Zealand and Australia with him. In 2001, they returned to the UK, got married and bought a house in Bath. During a holiday to France, they decided that they were either going to move to France or back to Cornwall. Rebecca originally thought the conversation was a bit of a 'holiday chat'. However, on their return, her husband put their house up for sale. And shortly afterward they moved to Lostwithiel. She decided that she wanted to run her own business and started making curtains and blinds. However, she found working on her own to be lonely. Her friend Maz had read an article about flower growing. And she suggested that Rebecca started growing flowers in her paddock. So, they did!They had a website set up, decided to do wedding flowers and worked closely with the local wedding market. Inspiration for their seasonal designs came from Constance Spry and the Dutch Masters. Rebecca discusses working collaboratively with other wedding suppliers, including Louise from Taylor & Porter and Leech Pottery. Plus she talks about her passion for photography, her recent move into commercial styling and her plans for the remainder of the year. Listening to this episode, you'll hear how passionate Rebecca is about flower growing and working collaboratively with other small businesses, particularly photographers whose work matches her brand. At the end of the podcast, you'll discover her practical tips, which I'm sure you'll find very inspiring. Show notes are available on the My Small Business & Me website: https://mysmallbusinessandme.com/episode27