Episode 115 - Over Coffee: How to Get Back to Your Why

We reflect on the past year of the podcast and our paper flower businesses. Learn how we’ll focus on the heart of our craft moving forward, plus what goes into building a successful partnership. Season 4 is over! We can’t believe it! Thank you to our Patrons who have made it possible for us to keep making this podcast. In our last episode of Season 4, we reflected on what went well and what didn’t last year, as well as what kind of changes we’re planning on making for the podcast and our paper flower businesses. We agree that our big focus for 2022 is getting back to the why: the heart of why we keep wanting to be paper florists and share our love of paper flower making.  We highly recommend taking time like we did on the podcast to reflect on your challenges and triumphs. But who has the time or energy for that? You can find the space in your mind to ask these difficult questions. Here are just a few ideas we shared on the episode. Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:► How we balance our personal lives and paper flower businesses. ► Why leaning into your strengths is the key to avoiding burn out. ► Practical ideas for giving yourself space to focus on the big why and direction of your business.► How to build a successful partnership, even between two very different people. Find Space to Reflect If you’re overwhelmed with your work, you won’t have the ability to think deeply or widely about where your paper flower business is and where you want it to be.  As Quynh shared in the episode, she scaled way back on The Posey Box last year because of this very reason. She felt like she never had time to reflect or do anything different. There was always something with an urgent deadline to take care of. She felt burnt out. You can hear the entire story on the podcast, but in short, she decided to focus on other things and is all the happier for it.  We shared some practical tips in the episode on how you can find space. Every paper florist has different circumstances, so there’s no one size fits all answer here. But if you are feeling unsatisfied or overwhelmed, start by carving out some space for yourself. Say No Sometimes Jessie put it well: “Just because you have these great ideas, or opportunities come knocking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they're the right ones for you. And some of them are really tempting! But they might not get you to your why.”  You need to master the art of saying no! We had an entire episode of Paper Talk dedicated to this subject, because it’s just so powerful. (Listen to Episode 85 here.) It’s hard to do, but the more you practice this skill, the better you’ll be at it. Once you find the space to think critically about where you want your business to be, you have to focus on it. That means saying no to opportunities or ideas that don’t lead to it. Build in Accountability You can’t build a paper flower business alone. We all get help from family, friends, peers, and mentors. These relationships are essential for giving you someone to bounce ideas off of, to cheer you on, and very importantly, to keep you accountable. When you share your goals with someone, you’re going to have more motivation to work on them because that person is going to ask about them. Our partnership in particular has been absolutely critical to our success both with Paper Talk and our individual businesses. And as Quynh said, “If you haven’t collaborated with another paper florist, I highly recommend it. The energy and the happiness that you get talking about paper flowers is just so fun.”  “If you haven’t collaborated with another paper florist, I highly recommend it. The energy and the happiness that you get talking about paper flowers is just so fun.” - Quynh  We talked a lot in the episode about how we’ve built our partnership so successfully. It isn’t always easy! But it’s completely worth it. You can also hear about our mentor for the podcast and how that has shaped our path for Paper Talk.  Join our Facebook group where you can share, connect, and grow with us. Please also consider supporting us on Patreon for even more great content like this.