Flowers, Babies and New Journeys

Hasn’t it been cold these last few days? There has certainly been a shift in the season as we start veering towards winter! I even had to dig out my hat and scarf collection that had been hiding at the back of the wardrobe to wear last weekend, still having popped out to run some errands this morning it is a glorious Autumnal day outside today so can’t complain! Today’s post, flowers, babies and new journeys is a bit more of a personal one. With bubba due in just two weeks I wanted to catch up with you before I go off on maternity leave until Spring next year. If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook you will probably have noticed the business has changed direction over this past year and I wanted to shed some light on what we have been up to and our plans for the future.

Those of you that read this post from back in June. Will know that my husband and I’s journey to becoming pregnant wasn’t the easiest. We feel so incredibly lucky to be expecting our little miracle and another good thing to have come from the tough time we had is it really made me step back and reevaluate what I wanted from the business going forward.

Flowers, Babies and New Journeys

Workshops

I can’t quite believe it’s been a year since we had our one to one floral masterclass with lovely Heather. You can view the post about our day together here in case you missed it. It was such a wonderful day, that left me feeling energised and inspired and knowing that Heather had gained a lot from our day and enjoyed herself too left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It was a pivotal moment for me as I discovered my love of teaching flowers. I knew then with certainty, that I wanted to teach more and make it a main focus of the business. I adore helping people to perfect their craft and find their own style along the way. Seeing people’s confidence grow too from learning a new skill or discovering a new way of doing something gives me a great deal of satisfaction and it’s always wonderful to meet fellow flower lovers and share our floral journey and experiences. Half the time I go away learning something about myself too through the brilliant florists that I meet. So the plan for next year, is to very much to continue with the teaching side of the business. With an aim to take on more classes. We shall also be continuing with our seasonal masterclasses. Taking bookings from March/April next year. We also have some exciting collaborations in the pipeline. One of which with British flower growers Blooming Green, very exciting! Details to follow next year but you can sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date. The subscription box can be found in the footer of this page. If you would like to keep up to date with our masterclass announcements.

Flowers, Babies and New Journeys

Mentoring

Along with the workshops, we also launched our mentoring services this year aimed at helping predominately fellow floristry businesses but also other small creative businesses as well. Over the last six years since establishing Joanne Truby Floral Design. I like to think I have learnt a few things a long the way. Passing on my knowledge and supporting fellow florists and entrepreneurs to carve out successful careers for themselves is something I have become very passionate about. As quoted by Robert  Ingersoll  ‘We rise by lifting others’ and this I believe is very true. There are of course lots of positives to being self employed. Although one downside, that I think a lot of us can struggle with from time to time  is working alone. Working alone can sometimes leave us feeling isolated, sound familiar? Often just talking through your struggles and bouncing ideas off someone else can help immensely and help you to see things from a different perspective making it easier to move forward and make decisions. Over the last eight weeks, we have had the pleasure of mentoring the lovely Nadia from Amaranto Flowers. Which has been such a joy and during that time we covered a whole host of topics including setting business goals, creating a business plan, costings, social media and everything else in between! If you would like a helping hand with a particular area of your business do get in touch.

Flowers, Babies and New Journeys

Weddings

Over the last 6 years we have had the pleasure of creating flowers for so many gorgeous weddings!  I have been truly lucky to have worked with the loveliest couples too. Some of whom I still stay in touch with now. One of my favourite things about working on wedding flowers is creating the floral briefs for each of our couples. Seeing the designs come to fruition on the day. After months of us scheming and planning together, is something I will never tire of! Hence moving forward we will be creating florals for a few selective weddings a year. Whilst we pursue our other new ventures. Since taking a bit of a step back and reevaluating the business. Following our fertility treatment last year. I realised that now feels like the right time to move into a different direction with the business. Not wanting to completely leave the world of weddings behind as I really do love creating the florals and working with our couples. Although sometimes I think you need to follow your gut, this feels like the right time to spread our wings.

Flowers, Babies and New Journeys

Freelance writing

Taking a step back from the weddings this year has allowed me more free time to pursue other creative opportunities. Which I have relished! One of those has been freelance writing. I have always enjoyed writing, even thinking back to as far as secondary school  (which seems a long time ago 😉 ) English was one of my favourite subjects. Since establishing the business I have been fortunate enough to write articles for a number of wedding magazines and blogs. Although it’s only really been this year that I have seriously considered that freelance writing could be a career option that I could do alongside the flowers. Another string to your bow as they say. Those of you who follow us on Instagram I’m sure already know but for those who don’t, I am a regular features writer for the beautiful lifestyle blog Coco Lane. Since the beginning of the year I have written a number of articles for the blog covering an array of topics. Including; Mindfulness, Working Alone, Creative Career Change Tips and Stepping out of you Comfort Zone. The wonderful Kate Cullen launched the New Nuture magazine last month. A digital magazine for soulful creatives that’s full of inspiring content! Including recipes and interesting anecdotes along with our feature ‘Autumn Embracing the Season’. Needless to say since flexing my writing muscle I have discovered it’s definitely a creative outlet I want to pursue further. If you would like to find out more about our freelance writing services, do get in touch hello@joannetruby.co.uk. If you are looking for someone to create content for your blog or perhaps a one off piece for a magazine feature. I would love to hear from you. Our work covers a plethora of topics from flowers, business, nature, lifestyle and well being.

Flowers, Babies and New Journeys

New studio

Along with the imminent arrival of our first baby we are also in the process of moving house (I know talk about not doing things by halves!) Lot’s of changes and new beginnings on the horizon! One thing I am incredibly excited about with the house move (besides from doing it up and putting our own stamp on it, starting with the nursery!) Is I will finally have my own studio, where moving forward I shall be hosting my 1:1 masterclasses and some of our group seasonal masterclasses. For years I have dreamed of an inspiring work space. I think as a creative it’s fundamental to work in an environment that you find uplifting and makes you happy. The new studio is being built from scratch so watch this space for the unveiling which shall be happening next year…

 

Thanks so much for sticking with us until the end of this post. A lot of information to off load at once I know but I didn’t want to go off on maternity leave without giving you guys a little update. I’m sure I will be popping onto Instagram from time to time so will stay in touch.  Looking forward to catching up with you in the Spring.

 

 

4 Comments

  1. Sarah holliday

    Wishing you lots of love and luck and all the best for your labour Joanne. It’s alwasy brilliant working with you and reading your posts. Hope our paths cross again in the future who knows it might be at a baby group! Good luck with the house move. Sarah “wedding Dolls”

    Reply
    • joannetruby

      Thanks so much for your lovely comment Sarah, I hope all is well with you. I always love working with you and the Wedding Dolls, hopefully will get to work together again at some point. Take care Joanne x

      Reply
  2. Lucy Day

    All this is so exciting, and quite right for you to be following your heart. Very happy to hear about your baby, and wishing you very well for the next few months. Such a special time! And great to hear what you plan to do next. I might sign myself up for a one-to-one session with you at some point. Enjoy your new arrival!
    Lucy x

    Reply
    • joannetruby

      Hi Lucy,

      Thanks so much for your message, I know all very exciting! I would love to have a one to one workshop with you, let’s touch base in the Spring next year to chat about it. I hope all is well with you and that things are going well with Wild Bloom. I’m sure you’re gearing up for lots of Christmas wreath making!

      Joanne xx

      Reply

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