42: The Art of Slowing Down with Bloomingful Purpose (w/ Erica Holland)

All right. Welcome back or welcome to the Naiman Creative Show. I’m Josh Naman, your host and I also founded Name and Creative and we produce this podcast. So if you find yourself here, that’s where you are.

And we have no shortage of great guests. Today is no exception. So riddle me this.

What happens when a burnt out graphic designer jumps on a plane to Bali and comes home with an idea blooming in her heart? Well, you get the roaming petal and the person behind it is sitting across from me and with flowers in between us that she gave us Erika Holland. And she’s a traveler, a creative and a community builder who believes in the healing power of flowers. Whether she’s leading a meditative floral workshop or helping you set intentions with your bouquet, Erica is changing how people think about art, energy, and the everyday joy of flowers and purpose.

We get to work together because she’s also the treasurer of npi, which I’m vice president of. So that’s pretty cool. And I’m just proud to call you, Erica, a partner in creativity, because we are in the same realm.

So I appreciate you coming on the podcast and giving us your time. Welcome. Of course.

Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here. And that was an amazing introduction.

I could use that like as my intro for life. Uh, you can clip it because we just talked about. You’re a clippy.

Yeah, I am a clippy now. Who knew? It’s a new term. If you want to be a clippy, let me know.

Yeah. Well, you do do very well at marketing your business and that’s like one of the many things that I feel like you do. Well, I think it’s has a little something to do with your advertising and design background.

And honestly, since we’re, we’re talking about it, maybe you could start us there on where you were. I know you were big on traveling. Didn’t you live in Australia for a bit and you didn’t live in a home.

Yeah. Kind of a wild backstory. Yes.

I went to school for visual communications, graphic design. What you kind of do on your day to day basis, for the most part I stuck with it. Yeah.

Yeah. I, I dabble here still. I kind of miss it now that I get to do it for like funsies and not like all the time.

Sure. It’s more entertaining than when I was like in advertising and working in an office for like 70 hours a week and never sleeping and grinding. Yeah.

Staring at a computer screen and I was like, something’s wrong with this picture. This is not what I went to school for. But yeah, after college, I basically went and lived over in Australia for a year because I wanted to just kind of experience new place, new culture, get out of the, you know, normal society standards that I’d been in my whole life growing up, and just experience something new.

So I solo traveled. My graduation ticket was one way ticket to Australia. I didn’t really have a plan, but a one year visa and I had a job actually in a design studio when I was there, that was kind of the only thing I set up prior.

And I worked over there for like five months or so in Sydney and then, yeah, kind of bought a car, which is a very common thing to do over there because there’s so many backpackers that the cars are like $1,500 to buy, like a really old, like, Ford Falcon. Oh, really? Is that what you had? Yeah, that’s what we had. Okay.

And yeah, we basically just like, bought it in one city and then, like, drove it all over the country. I did a little road trip from, like, Sydney all the way down the coast to Melbourne, up to, like, Uluru in the middle of nowhere, and then we flew over to Perth, then came back, and then kind of went up to Cairns and then drove all the way back down the coast from there. So kind of drove all over the place.

Had two different cars actually in that time span so that we could leave one in one place and get another one in another place. And yeah, we would just sleep in the car and like, camp out in these cool, beachy towns. And I say it was like the best time and simplest time of my life because we had, like, nothing and we were backpacking for the most part and working.

Two of my favorite jobs I’ve still ever worked to this day was door to door sales and dipping people’s hands in wax. What were you doing that time which was a wild where. What, like, why are you dipping people’s hands in wax? For money, Josh, obviously? Well, yeah.

Is it like, so they can peel it? You never did that? What do you mean? I can’t say I have. No. So, like, as, like, what we would call, like, carnivals here, they call, like, shows or, like, fairs, right? Like state fairs.

So they had, like, booths where you could, like, if you ever been to the wax museum, they used to do this. But you can, like, make a peace sign with your fingers and then, like, dip it in wax and then the wax would harden and you could like, color the wax with, like, other fun colors and then it would harden and then you could, like put it on a base and now you have your hand forever in wax in a peace sign. Oh, okay.

Well, that sounds. People buy that. People buy anything for whatever reason.

But it was so fun because it was like, I don’t know, we were just like dipping people’s hands in wax and, you know, selling them. But it got me into, like, sales because I did door to door sales when I was over there, which is something I never thought I would do. And I loved it, which I would never do in the US but wild there.

It was just like, people are so nice. It was such a cool, just like, way to see the city, honestly, because I was like a foreigner. I didn’t know really anything about the city.

And every day we’d be out in a different neighborhood knocking on doors for five hours. So that kind of opened my eyes to like, the sales and like, not the traditional, like, go work for an employer for like a 9 to 5. And I feel like it like, broke me.

I say in like, I don’t know, a good way or a bad way. But I was like, wow, this is a way different form than like, I was taught or knew. And so, yeah, when I came back from Australia then I was like, okay, I got to start my career in design because I, you know, that’s what I like, went to school for.

And now I’m back after my year of traveling. Let me do that. And so I worked in advertising and I burnt myself out very quickly working in advertising.

And I mean, not all design is like that, right. But, like, advertising is very crazy land. Sure.

And I, after like a few years of being in an ad agency in Tampa, actually, I was like, I need to travel again. This is draining me. And so I went to Bali because Bali had been on my radar since I’d been in Australia, because to Australians, Bali is like our Mexico.

Right? Like, it’s cheap, it’s close, it’s easy, it’s beachy, it’s, you know, whatever. There’s lots of resorts. So everyone had always talked about Bali, but I had like, never been there.

And I had gone to Thailand when I was in Australia, so I kind of knew Asia a little bit. But it was always like in the back of my mind I wanted to go there. Now this is pre Covid.

So at the time, not a lot of people were working remote, like at all. And so that was one of the top spots for like digital nomads to like, go and work remote. And so I had left my job and I was like, I’m gonna freelance and start my own graphic design company and do branding and websites.

Heck, yeah. Funny enough. And so I was like, I don’t need to be in Tampa to do this.

My clients, I’m just talking to them through email. And, like, I’m doing everything on my computer. I don’t need to be sitting here.

And so I was like, where do people work? Remote. And Bali always came up on, like, the radar as one of the top places. So I was like, let me go see what people are doing over there, because I want to surround myself with other, you know, kind of, like, like minded creative entrepreneurs.

People doing cool things, love to travel, and there was already a community there for it. So I was like, all right, let’s go explore it. Absolutely.

Fell in love. I still want to go back and, like, need to go back. And I have friends that still live there now to this day.

Have you not been back since? No, I haven’t. I’ve been back to Australia, but I haven’t been back to Bali since COVID So I kind of was there for, like, six months. And then when I came back, Covid kind of, you know, shut the world down.

And I haven’t been back. Okay. Since then.

But while I was there, I was doing design, but I kind of just fell in love with if anyone’s ever been to, like, Asia or anywhere over there. The way they use, like, their flowers and, you know, it’s just the energy of the island is so based in karma and, like, their values and giving offerings to, like, their gods. And they, you know, they do offerings multiple times a day of these beautiful.

Just, like, little dishes made out of, literally leaves from the palm trees that they put, like, little flowers and rice and, like, coins and coffee beans to like, offer to their gods with, like, incense multiple times a day. And the way they just use the nature there as part of their, you know, daily lives. And, like, instead of having a birthday party where you use confetti and balloons, they’ll decorate it with all kinds of, like, florals and leaves that they’ve, like, woven together to make it
look like some kind of decor.

And I was like, I like that. I love this. It’s so beautiful.

And the energy there is just amazing. And so, yeah, I just started helping out at a flower shop when I was there, because I was like, okay, I need this. That was the spark.

That was the spark was just kind of like I was still doing design when I was there. Like, that’s what I was doing while I was living there. And that was kind of like a spark that ignited the next journey and phase to kind of slowly integrate to where we are now.

But yeah, it was absolutely nothing I’d ever thought I was doing. When I went to school for design and was like, yeah, I’m going to work in, you know, New York and work at a huge ad. I came and talk a huge, A huge ad agency.

Wow. You can’t even say the word because it’s so. It’s like, I really hate it so much.

No. And I don’t hate it. I don’t hate it for anyone who works in advertising or like, I worked with an advertising.

It’s not the end of the world. It just wasn’t my jam. Like, I like being way more hands on, creative.

I realized instead of like being on the screen so much and like making things and like diying things and kind of doing that kind of playfulness than, you know, just doing everything all the time on a computer and never like seeing, you know, the actual physical product of it. So, yeah, and you get to still utilize your talents by marketing, you know, your own company, which I always find a lot of enjoyment. Like for instance, this podcast, it is a marketing vehicle, but it checks so many other boxes.

It just scratches my itch. But, you know, you get to work on your own company instead of always doing it for others. And it feels good.

It like warms your heart. You’re like, oh yeah, that’s, that’s mine and that’s for me to grow. And you have a cool name, a cool brand that fits it, and you’re constantly doing things, which I’m always impressed about, because, you know, your, your business is so niche.

Yeah, it’s very specific. But that’s not a bad thing because. Because of that, I think is driving your success.

Because once someone learns about you, it doesn’t like, go away. Like, for instance, naming creative. It can go away in someone’s mind.

We, we do our best to do unique stuff. So it doesn’t. But it’s like, oh yeah, we’re creative production, marketing agency.

Yeah. It’s like, okay, you and a thousand other people. Stone’s throw.

Yeah. But you know, oh yeah, we’re like, we do flower arrangement workshops. People are like, what is that exactly? Yeah, you help people ground, re center and something through your beautiful and fun flower arranging workshops.

Relax. Ground and recenter through beautiful, fun and creative flower arranging workshop. That is the power of hearing each other talk every Wednesday morning, say the same thing every morning.

It works, though. I, I probably should Do a better job of that. But I just.

Well, it’s always hard to. In that group because, like, you said, like, what we do is, like, that you can be like, hey, I’m a creative agency. Hey, I’m a lawyer.

Hey, I’m a financial advisor. Right? I get up there and I’m like, hey, I’m a flower lady. Like, if I don’t give some kind of, like, context, I’m not a florist.

And so, like, people are always like, oh, you do, like, weddings and you do this. And it’s like, we do classes. Like, we teach flower arranging workshops.

We don’t necessarily, like, sell flowers. Not yet. But, you know, like, that’s not what our concept is.

Like, our concept is empowering other people to create arrangements. It’s like, if I don’t say this, like, crazy little tagline, I feel like every time, if anyone’s there who has no idea who I am, right? They’re like, what’s a flower lady? Workshop creative? You know, because there’s so much that that could fall under with flowers because people would usually think, oh, she has a flower shop. Yes, she sells flowers.

Right? She sells flowers. And yeah, our whole concept is that we want to, like, empower other people to go out and get flowers for themselves so that they can bring flowers back into their lives more for themselves, for their friends, for their family. Not, don’t go to your local florist, please, by all means.

But, like, you know, you don’t have to always spend hundreds of dollars on flowers, right? You can come to a workshop, learn, you know, a few things, and then, you know, get flowers when you’re at the grocery store. Get flowers when you’re at your local farmer’s market, right? And then you can put together a beautiful arrangement for yourself. And it’s more about the empowering and, like, fun aspect of creating it versus just, like, picking up a bouquet and putting it in water and calling it a day.

Right? Yeah, it’s the. It’s almost the process as much as the final product. Like, you gave me these beautiful flowers when you walked in.

They’re yellow on brand, which is totally intentional, Correct? Yes. And. And, like, you know, giving me this.

It looks great, and it’s nice, but also, like, knowing that you put heart into it. And now it’s, you know, obviously going to go to my wife and girls when I get. It’s.

There’s something very special about that. And, like, I don’t know when you. We had.

When you had mentioned about birthday parties and. And the differences there, I’m like, yeah, we’re buying like a bunch of plastic and paper and hanging it up. How special is it that they use flowers and things like that? Which is way more beautiful, way more natural and resourceful.

Yeah. So I. I totally dig that. So I guess because I’m wondering how you landed on.

Okay, this is what the rowing petal is doing right now, at least to start. You landed on workshops. Is that because you enjoyed the process that you learned so much and you wanted to bring that here because was there a tug, like, from the business side of you saying, like, well, no, just like, start a shop and sell flowers.

Workshops can be integrated. Or was it right away? Workshops is the thing. Did it hit? Yeah.

So yeah, that’s an interesting question. And like, I think it came from when I was sitting literally on the floor with these Balines. This was not a fancy flower shop that I worked at in Bali.

You have to keep in mind, like, the nice places you go as a tourist in Bali are nice places. The places that, like, the locals, like, some work at own, whatever. Like, it’s still very third world over there, right? So, like, this flower shop is literally like three walls and like a garage door that opens and closes, right.

With like tile floor and like buckets of flowers and water and supplies all over the place. So no tables, like one table to like check people in and out at and like wrap some stuff up on. But like, we would sit on the floor of like, it was probably the size, like maybe a little bit bigger than your office.

Wow. And yeah, we would like sit on the floor and just make fire engines. And only one woman there spoke like, English fully.

Everyone else was like, very broken English. And I speak no Bahasa. So, like.

Yeah. Which is like the Balinese, like, version of like Indonesian, essentially. They have like their dialect.

And so, yeah, sitting there like every day when I was there. And I didn’t. I didn’t do it for six months when I was there.

I did it for like, part of the time. And I was just like, wow, this is bringing back, like so much more of that hands on creativity that I was talking about that I didn’t realize I was really craving from like being on the computer so much and can I kind of like lost connection with almost because I was like, I have to work, I have to make money, I have to work and do this and blah, blah, blah, blah. And like, this is what I went to school for, so I must do all of these things and check all the boxes and like, you know, whatever.

And I was like, this is really just kind of, like, therapeutic to sit here and make flower arrangements and learn about flowers. And, like, they were showing me and teaching me things that were not crazy concepts. And I mean, yes, I have a creative background, so, like, it’s probably a little bit easier to dive into, like, you know, picking the right flower colors and things like that, because naturally my eyes pick up on that kind of stuff, but they weren’t teaching any crazy, insane concepts.

Like, everyone’s like, I’m not creative. I can’t make flower arrangements. It’s pretty much like a math project.

Like, you put in these amount of flowers in this arrangement in this order or this shape, it looks good. It’s not going to look exactly the same as, like, mine or your, you know, it might look a little different, but there’s kind of a math and science to it. And so, yeah, it was just really fun and therapeutic for me.

And I was like, wow, I want to do more of this. And like, I was looking for ways to do it in the US and there weren’t options to, like, explore it, essentially. What do you mean by there weren’t options? Like a franchise or established.

No, I want to just, like, come back and, like, take flower classes. Like, that’s what I wanted to do because I was like, I was like, this was the fun thing. I want to, like, continue doing it.

No one’s going to hire me to work at their flower shop, but I don’t really have experience. And like, you know, it’s one of those things where it’s like, we want someone who’s a newbie but has experience. But, like, we’re not going to hire you if you don’t have experience in a flower shop situation, right? Or you get hired and you, like, clean buckets and, like, whatever.

That’s like the pipeline of people. Like, you sweep the floors and clean the buckets and then you move up to like, oh, now you can make, like, the bases of the arrangements and then you can put the flowers in and whatever it might be. And so, like, I didn’t really want, like, a job in it.

I just wanted to, like, take flower classes. But, like, unless you were, like, training at the time, unless you were training to become a florist, there wasn’t really options to kind of do that. And so I was like, huh, that’s interesting.

I feel like more people would love this and enjoy this. Like, I love it. And it’s been so fun and therapeutic and creative for me, as well as educational and so I was like, huh, Maybe we should just start teaching them.

However, I was like, I don’t know enough about flowers to come back and start just teaching flower workshops. I was like, I’ve been here for a few months working in a flower shop in Indonesia. No idea what the flower world looks like in the U.

S. like, I had no clue. And so I came back and I started working at a wedding florist when I came back from Bali was kind of a concept and the idea in my head and kind of wanted to see how, like, working with flowers in the US Was really like.

And so. So you can get their suppliers. Really? Yeah.

So I could steal everything that they did. Yeah, they actually used to do workshops. Um, but they weren’t.

Because it was like, right out of COVID They weren’t really doing a whole lot of workshops at the time, so I never really got to experience one from them. And then there was an online company that was doing them at the time. So I had, like, ordered a kit and like, done like an online one.

And I was like, oh, I could do this in person. Yeah, easy. Um, and so that was really it.

I just started, like, working there and learning, like, minimal stuff and then watching a bunch of video. Really self taught. Like, a lot of florists are self taught.

They work in shops, they learn. You open your own shop. That’s like, nothing wrong with that.

There’s flower school, I guess, but I mean, it’s basic concepts and things like that. You can get certifications and stuff. Like, we’re certified now in, like, floral healing and, like, more meditation practices than, like, certified.

Yeah. Okay. Floral healing.

What. What are some of your other certifications? Floor healing and Reiki is our. Our big ones because we’re more on, like, the mindset and like, the mental health and mindfulness practices of it.

So being able to integrate, like, some of those concepts into, like, our retreats and our wellness and like, our team building activities that not all of our workshops are, you know, super spiritual. Sometimes we go to bridal showers and we just make bouquets. Sure.

You know, sometimes we sit for hours and meditate, you know, and do, like, fun circles and flower mandalas. And I’ll give Reiki to the flowers a lot because that’s a really beautiful transfer of, like, energy to, like, give, you know, the flowers Reiki. And if you receive the flowers, you get that beautiful energy as well.

Since I have, like, my Reiki basically, like, certification in there as well. So. Yeah, I didn’t realize that.

So did that that particular Part evolve. When after you started it, did you realize that, oh, there’s this medit. You obviously knew that there’s a meditative power to it.

But as far as integrating that within the workshops, was that right off the bat or did that evolve and you’re like, oh, my gosh. And. And that opened several doors because that’s.

That you’re a niche and then that’s extra niche, which is great. Yeah. How open are we allowed to get on here? Are there limits to anything? No, that’s up to you.

Okay. Fair. No, that was never.

The mindfulness, I think, was always there, but it wasn’t in my head that, like, I wanted to approach it like that. It was like, let’s just go out and do flower classes for people. Probably two years into the journey of, like, doing flower workshops, I went out to Sedona and sat in an ayahuasca ceremony for, like, three days.

Wow, okay. And had been kind of on, like, more of, like, a mental, like, wellness path of diving into meditation. And I. Since I’d been in Bali, I was always, like, connected to, like, that type of stuff with, like, you know, yoga and meditation and sound baths and all of that.

Woo, woo. Fun things that I love to do normally. Yeah.

And I, like, practice it in my own, you know, life. But I wasn’t really, like, incorporating it into our classes. And I had had, like, a few people come and, like, tell me, you know, like, oh, like, you have, like, some kind of, you know, I don’t know, like, like fifth sense, sixth sense.

What is it called? Like, intuitive, you know, approach here to the connection of, like, the flowers. And I had been always getting this, like, weird tingling. I was for, like, months.

I was getting really crazy tingling in my hands when I was working with the fl, and I was like, what is this? And, like, I had a shaman, and, you know, I would talk to them about it and whatever, for about three days. No, this is. I had a shaman, just, like a regular shaman for, like, months before.

Oh, did you? Yeah, one does. They’re very expensive, so I don’t have one anymore. Sounds expensive.

But instead of therapy, I was like, I need a shaman. My mom was like, you need a therapist? I said, no, I need a shaman. And she was like, okay, whatever you need, just do something.

Okay. So I was seeing a shaman, and so it led to my journey of, like, my ayahuasca experience. And I talked to Shama before about this, and I talked to a bunch of people kind of in that realm.

But when I was on The Ayahuasca trip. I also, there was a few other shamans and like energy healers and other people there. And they were like, this is like your Reiki energy is like coming through because you’re connecting with nature.

And like you have this like inside of you. You know that you can connect with it and like share it, but like you’re not doing anything with it. So your hands are just like feeling this feeling, but you have nothing to like, you know, do with it.

It’s just like you’re feeling it and you know it, but like you’re not trained or have no idea like how to then share it back or like give it back or use it for yourself or other people essentially. And so like it’s. It’s kind of almost a feeling.

I mean, I used to get anxiety attacks, which sounds like terrible, which is why I started meditating and all of this fun stuff. But it’s almost a very similar feeling to like if you’ve ever had a really bad panic attack, your fingers start to get like really tingly. Some people when they have like a connection to energy, their hands get warm or their hands get col old.

Like when they give Reiki, you can feel like different sensations. Mine just happened to be tingling and it was because I was working so much with the plants and I was so connected to them. But like I had no idea I was like connecting with their energy and not just like their beauty and pre and like fun to create with.

And so after that like three day ceremony there and talking with a bunch of other people and you know, having all kinds of spiritual woo woo fun things. I didn’t have a crazy, like insane. Went to like alter universe reality.

I wanted to, I wanted to know about what that was. We basically sat for three days and like the first day was like super like visual. Like that was more of a visual thing.

It gave me more like insights into like what I should be doing with the business and what kind of like pulled out more of that like mindfulness approach, more of like the connecting with nature. There were like visions of me. Like actually really funny because we’re working with 15 street farms right now.

And I told them the first time I went there, I was like, this was like two and a half, maybe three years ago. I had such a vivid image of these really long, like wooden tables. Have you ever been to 15th Street Farm? No, but I’ve seen pictures.

Okay. I had this very vivid image of just these two very long wooden tables that were empty and they were under like a Covering in, like, a huge, like, garden field. And, like, I was there, and they couldn’t figure out, like, why I was there.

Like, was I there to do work? I. Like, I. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but I was, like, in this place, and this very vivid thing came to me, and I was like, huh, okay. And it was like. Like, should I set this up for, like, dinner classes? Like, flowers, but there was gardens all around me, so it’s like, I felt like there was a calling to, like, bring people there.

Like, that’s what it felt like. It was like, here’s your space. This is where you need to bring people to.

I’ll never forget the first that I literally have chills now. I’ll never forget the first time I went to Fizzing Treat Farms, and I walked in there and my friend Tina, who, like, works events and stuff there, who I’ve done sound healing with and all of this stuff with in the past, I was like, oh, my God, Tina, you’re gonna have, like, crazy chills right now because this is wild. But, like, this is so much of an image of, like, what I saw in my head, like, two years ago when I sat in this ceremony.

And I had no idea what it meant then, and I still didn’t know what it meant kind of even to this day. And so it was just like, a very weird, like, coming togetherness of it. And that’s where, like, I feel, like, through that ceremony of, like, the different days, like, the one was really visual.

The other was really just, like, emotional. More like family connections came through in that one. And that was the second day.

Yeah, I was like. I was crying. I think it was also Father’s Day, and, like, I wasn’t with my dad, and they were, like, doing, oh, boy, all, like, inner child work.

And I’m just bawling my eyes out. Was it intentional? Like, the first one is supposed to be visual. Did they kind of guide you through through that, or was it determined by where your mind took you? It’s just determined by, like, what you need.

They say, like, the medicine gives you kind of, like, what you need. You have to go in with, like, a really, like, purposeful intention. Sure.

But they say, like, the medicine gives you what whatever you need, so you don’t really have control over it or what’s going to come through. Everyone has a different experience on it. That was just, like, how mine kind of worked.

And the three days I felt was, like, a nice, like, flow because it gave us, like, you know, it was Kind of like breakdown. And then the third day I kind of felt like, oh, this is like a completion of like the visual, the emotional, almost like a meditative third day. For me, it wasn’t an intense third day at all.

And I felt like, okay, now here’s all this information, like, take it with you. You kind of knew what to also expect with the medicine of like, okay, now your body is adjusted to it. Yeah.

Because three days is not a short amount of time. And when you’re talking about a substance like that, like for instance, mushrooms, eight hours feels a lot longer than eight hours. I’m wondering how long each day was when you would wake up.

What was kind of the, the day like. Yeah, I mean, so you do it at night, you do it overnight. So like ceremony doesn’t start to like like eight or nine at night, remember? Yeah.

And so you sit in ceremony during the evening. Maybe it was like seven. I don’t remember the exact times, but it’s in the evening.

And so you take the medicine in the evening and then you like sit in ceremony for however many hours with the shamans. And then they basically like after a few hours, depending on how long the ceremony was, it was probably like four hours maybe. Then you like slowly start to come off of like the medicine.

But the medicine stays in your system for a really long time. So like even like a month after, you still have it in your system. So like the next day you basically go to sleep.

Like we watch the sunrise because like you’re, it’s late and like ceremony ends like maybe like one in the morning or something like that. Two, three. It could go whenever.

Like there’s not like this is the hard cut off time. It’s very like intuitively planned. We’re like, it feels like, sure, now we’re going to end the ceremony.

Yeah, everyone’s in a good place. Let’s like, you know, conclude and then you can just go off and like, you know, sit where you want or go to sleep. It’s kind of hard to just like go to sleep after it.

So like we, I would stay up and watch like the sunrise and like go to sleep in the morning for like a few hours. You’re also fasting, you’re not eating. And then like you wake up.

Oh really? And then like you basically spent. I spent. We were in Sedona, so I spent the whole day just like in nature, like sitting with trees, like talking to them and like in the rock, like hiking.

And then you just like come back and like same thing, like you do the same thing in the evening for, like, three days in a row. But it really opened up. Like, that’s where I felt like I really got into, like, the mindfulness part of it because I saw, like, how important it was to have, like, not this.

Just this experience for me, but how important, like, it is for people to be able to have this power of connecting with nature. Which is why, you know, we’ve done our flower meditations in NPI numerous times. I’ll probably do it on Wednesday when I present again because it’s just an easy practice to do that a lot of us are so disconnected from because we’re sitting on our phones, we’re sitting in our computers, we’re driving, we’re running around with the family, kids, whatever, our own personal lives.

And we don’t take the time just, like, stop and be still and, like. And connect with our senses or with nature. And so my way of helping to bring that, you know, back to everyone is bringing that into, like, our flower classes.

Whether it’s like a mini flower meditation where, you know, you’re walking through breathwork and looking at the flowers, smelling them, touching them, all the fun things, just to give yourself that time and that connection to nature. Because so much of us are missing it and craving it, and we need it, and we don’t even realize we need it. Oh, yeah.

And just even having, you know, like, the flowers here right now in front of us, like, their energy makes the room a different space. And, like, you know, it helps heal your nervous system and your body when you can just sit and reset with them for even just five minutes. So, yeah, that kind of brought in more of that.

And that’s why I went down the path of, like, oh, let me explore Reiki. Let me explore floral healing. I had been another retreat where, like, another.

Like, I was at Deepak Sherpa’s wellness retreat, and one of the leaders there had told me, I need you to write down flower Dharma. And I was like, what? What the heck is flower Dharma? I didn’t know what Dharma meant at the time, which is, like, your purpose. That’s what Dharma is.

And I was like, what? They’re like, you were meant to help people. She had no idea what I did. She was like, she didn’t know what you did when she said that.

And, yeah, and I wasn’t even really doing, like, this at the. Like, I was, like, an idea, you know, But I hadn’t really, like, dove into my business at all. And she was like, you’re meant to help with flowers.

And I was like, what the heck does that mean? Wow. And she. I was like, okay.

And she’s. I was like, I don’t want to be like an herbalist. She’s like, no, no, no, not like that.

Because, you know, that’s like floral essences and herbalists. People always like, confuse us with that too. When we say, like, oh, we work like intuitively with flowers.

It’s like, no, we’re not making like tinctures and stuff. We can, but like, that’s not what we do. Yeah.

So I was like, what. What’s floral healing? Like, what’s. There was like, not a lot on the Internet about any of that.

And there’s still not a lot. SEO is like, great for you on this stuff. Yeah, it’s exciting because we always get like, inquiries from like, New York and like California and like Texas.

And I’m like, how did you find us? And they’re like, Google. And I’m. What do you do with those inquiries? Oh, man.

Do you have an idea? Because I’m like struggling to figure out, like, do we fly to New York and do a workshop? Yes. Or like, you just. They pay premium.

I know. That’s what I’m like, for the right people, sure. Great.

But yeah, that’s. I think, like, yeah, I’m always like, I wish we could do more like out of this, the city or state. Because like, obviously those inquiries come through.

But sometimes it’s not even for big party. So it’s like, sure. You know, it’s 20 people, like a private party.

And like, we’re not gonna come to Texas for you guys. Unless. Yeah.

You pay us a lot of money. I guess. I mean, put a price tag on it because I think, I think it’s niche and if people need it.

And as you present yourself as like the expert in that area. People. People pay.

Whatever. True. Also, you have roaming in.

Yeah, we are moving. So, you know, you’d be feeding that. I don’t know.

We can. We can keep talking about that. We can, we can.

If anybody listens. There you go. Please send them.

Dr. Chris hit me up after NPI this morning and he was like, hey, can we schedule a one to one and just talk strategy? Let’s just like brainstorm. He just wants to sit down and talk. Brainstorm.

Because I love that. Yeah. And we were like, well, maybe we should record it.

But anyways, always everything is content. Yeah, Everything. Record it all.

He gave him a clipper. It’s fine. Clippy McGee, right there.

All right. Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back after this quick break.

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Start your audio journey today@naming creative.com. Thanks for sticking with us. Now back to the conversation.

So maybe some people don’t know what Reiki is listening to this. So can you explain a little bit about what that is and maybe take a step back on you? Because you said you do Reiki to the flower, so. So normally, like, my wife can do Reiki, and she’s done it to me.

Yeah. And every time she does it, I. It’s intense. And she puts me to sleep.

Yeah. But I don’t fall asleep right away. But right before I’m out, I feel, like, weightless, and my back gets, unfortunately, uncomfortable.

But I don’t know, it’s because I’m so relaxed or something like that, and I can’t move my back. I have no idea. It’s so interesting.

But there is absolutely something to it, and I’ve learned a lot from her, and so I just don’t want to assume that the listener is. Is aware of that. So maybe you could, like, expl a little bit about your thoughts on Reiki and then, like, how that.

How you connect that to flowers and that, like, transfer of energy and maybe dive into that a little more, because I feel like that’s very interesting and unique. Yeah. So basically, all Reiki is.

Is a literal transfer of energy. Like, in layman’s, plainest, easiest terms, for, like, someone who has no idea about anything, it’s literally taking everything around us as energy. Right.

Like, anything. Right. Has energy and even things that, you know, like the lights are giving off some kind of energy.

Right. So everything has energy. So Reiki basically takes.

You’re able to channel the energy in, like, a positive way. And so when you do it to someone’s body, what you’re essentially trying to do is take out any blocks, right? So the key purpose of Reiki, where it, like, comes from foundationally, is working on, like, your meridian points or, like, your chakras, if you know anything about that. So you have, like, multiple points in your body that hold different ailments, tension, whatever it is.

You know, you have one in your head, you have one in your throat, your heart. Right. Your stomach, and they go kind of from your head basically down.

And so the purpose of it is to kind of like clear out these, these chakras, right? Because as we live in our day to day lives, things come in, whether intentionally, unintentionally, negative energy, positive energy, right? We’re all going through our days. We can’t control everything around us. You’re going through different things in your life, mentally, emotionally, physically.

And our bodies hold on to that, right? Because that’s what we do. We take it all in. And then if we don’t find a way to happily or positively let it all go, our bodies can get sick, right? We can have illnesses, we can have pain, we can have tension, we can, you know, we all know that if we’re really stressed out and really anxious, you know, fight and flight mode, kick takes over our body, we have anxiety attacks, all these kinds of things which can show up in other ways in your body.

And so Reiki is a beautiful way to help kind of clear, like those pots, like if you’re holding it. Some people hold like anxiety or stress or tension in their stomachs, right? That’s like a lot of people have stomach issues mainly because of a lot of those things. I’m not, not a scientist or any of those nutritionists or anything about that, but a lot of, a lot of stomach ailments, like, come from a lot of emotional trauma.

And so if you don’t clear that emotional trauma, like you can’t stop eating apples to make your stomach feel better if it’s like aching, right? In the same way, like if you’re having an emotional ailment, you have to give it some kind of energy to release it essentially, or do something to help kind of clear that in a more of an intuitive way, right? And so that’s what the Reiki basically breaks up kind of that energy. So when we do it, you essentially can scan a body and see like what’s blocked by a feeling intuitively. So by like, like you see by feeling, you see by feeling.

So. Or a lot of times in Reiki, you can use a pendulum. So like, if you’re like super into this crazy land of things, if you know how a pendulum works, you basically hold it over someone.

You don’t move it, you hold it over a point of your body. So like, if I was holding it over my hand, right, if an area of your body is blocked, it’s going to rotate one way, right? Or if it’s blocked, sorry, if it’s like it’s going to rotate one way if there’s nothing going on, it’s going to stay stabilized. And if it’s okay and open, it’s going to rotate the opposite way.

So that’s like a visual way. If you can’t intuitive, like, feel it. So, like, some people, you know, if I can be like, hey, your throat chakra is blocked and you’re going to be like, what? No, it’s not.

I’ll be like, cool, let me hold this over it. You can, you can visually see it versus me just telling you I can feel this. Right.

You need it to be cleared. But it also works really well with like, you know, if you have like shoulder pain or something from like an injury. Right.

Your body holds on to that. Right. Regardless of whether you healed it and had a cast or you got it surgery and fixed it, there’s still probably some kind of energy going on in there.

And like, you can use the Reiki to disperse it essentially to spread it, to heal it, to get it so it’s, you know, feeling better. It doesn’t happen instantly or overnight. Right? Like, same thing.

Sure. You don’t go to the gym once and you’re skinny. Like, it’s a process and you might need it multiple times for it to happen.

But yeah, it’s a really meditative practice. So like, you falling asleep totally makes sense because you’re just like laying there and you’re receiving this beautiful energy from your wife. Yeah, it’s overwhelming.

Yeah. And, yeah, and it’s like, it’s a beautiful way to receive energy from someone, especially someone you love. Right.

Because they’re basically like, helping you in a beautiful way that they can share, which is, you know, such a amazing gift to be able to share with other people when you can just, you know, intuitively help someone by just like a light touch or just like a transfer from me to you or the same with the flowers. So that’s how I kind of. Because I’m not going to go in my sessions and like, give Reiki to every human being.

And like, when you have different levels of Reiki, you can do one on one Reiki, you can do distance Reiki, you can do group Reiki. And so because I was getting Reiki from the flowers, it felt right to me to like, give it back to the flowers and then share the flowers back with people who are coming to my classes and my workshops. So by me infusing them with like, the positive, like, light and energy from like, Reiki within me, then without me having to, like, stand over you and hold my Hand on top
of your head or over your heart or over your body, and doing that to every person in the room, or doing group Reiki.

If I give it to the flowers and then you receive those flowers or you gift those flowers to someone else, then you’re receiving that beautiful energy without even knowing it. And it’s, you know, bringing that beauty into your life. And, I mean, you can do that.

Like, that’s why we set intentions into the flowers as well. Like, when we do our practices, like, intuitively, you’re giving that energy to the flowers. I’m not like, hey, you’re giving Reiki to the flowers.

But, like, if you set an intention to a flower, give it to your wife or give it to a friend or someone else, they’re going to receive that energy behind it because you sat there and took the time to sit with it and give your energy to the flower. It holds energy just like your body does, just like a tree does, just like a plant does. Right.

Just like another human being would if you just said something nice to death. Sure. Right.

Yeah. So that’s how we kind of use it within our practices to, like, help spread some of that to other people through it. Yeah.

Do you. Thanks for the breakdown. It’s, yeah, it’s fascinating realm because, like, I’m, you know, quite frankly, a skeptic and.

But I feel like I have a healthy skepticism. And, I mean, when we, when my wife talks to me about it or you’re talking about it, when you’re talking about energy or the physical things and the things that are just like, okay, well, that’s a fact, then it’s cool. Right.

And, and I am absolutely on board. I. And I’m wondering, you know, how there’s that test where you play. Like, I mean, for me, I grew up listening to metal music, and I’m fine, and, but now I listen to, like, instrumental.

I’m all over the place. But they did do, like, research that whatever music you play to the, the plants affect it. If you listen to some hateful music, people, they die.

Yeah. Or, you know, they don’t grow as much as flourishing music of, like, classical. And it’s interesting because the energy behind, like, metal is because people are really going through it.

I, I, I grew up with people who played metal who are unbelievably talented. Now one of them is the drummer of Sam Hunt. Yeah.

And, yeah, he’s awesome. He. Josh, you’re coming on the podcast.

His name’s Josh, too. As we’re both. I want to be here when it happens.

Sure thing. But you know, like, they’re going to. Through so much, and so they obviously pour that into music, which is, which is their transfer of energy of all of that inside of them to literally sometimes scream it out or play it really hardcore.

Yeah. And it’s interesting to think about because then that transfer of energy to the flowers, the flowers are like, oh, man, like, this is a lot. Yeah.

Versus like, you know, a classical, soothing piano. Yeah, yeah. Pure relaxation piano.

So, I mean, I really believe that there’s something to it. I’m wondering, do you, when you, when you’re out and about, do you receive much pushback or what are, what are some of the things that, where people are like, no, I’m good, or I’m pushing back on that. What.

Maybe talk to me about that. So we’re really intentional about which workshops we do it with and which workshops. Like, we don’t.

Right. Because they’re not. Like, we have clients that are, you know, all different levels and all different things going on.

And so when we do like our retreats, like this past weekend, I was just invited to do a flower crown class at like a one day women’s like yoga, mindfulness sexuality retreat. So a good fit. Right.

And so they didn’t even know, like, we. We were making. They invited me to do flower crowns.

Right. But like, as soon as I walked into the space, I was like, oh, we’re gonna meditate for sure with the flowers. Right.

And I like, gave them Reiki in front of them to the flowers and like, explained what I was doing. And they were like, oh, God, my, my God, that’s amazing. Right? I love this.

They were like, that meditation was so beautiful. It was so perfect with what we’re doing and incorporating here today. And like, you know, the meditation I can guide with different topics or questions, like, while we’re looking at the flowers as well.

And so, you know, that type of space is very inviting and welcoming for it. Sometimes people will reach out and be like, we want to do a floral meditation. Like, we have different options on our websites and on our brochures that include it and some that don’t.

You know, when we go to Three Daughters later tonight and we weave flowers into a loom. We’ve done that meditating at the flower farm as part of our retreat. But when I’m at the brewery tonight, I’m not gonna be like, hey, we’re gonna get super, super intense.

Sure. If there’s like a, like a calling for it. And I’m like, hey, do you guys want to meditate with the flowers? And they’re like, open to it 100, but I can kind of read the room, engage, like, if it makes sense to do or not.

We always like to do, like our mini meditation. But I’m not always like, hey, I gave these flowers, like, crazy amounts of Reiki. Like, you’re gonna experience Reiki too.

They’re like, can I just get another beer? Yeah. And it doesn’t even matter if they know or not. Like, if I give the flowers Reiki, like, it’s the same with the flowers just being here.

Whether, you know, they’re giving you a positive source of energy to help you right now. You don’t have to know that, like, they’re here. It’s just like when you go walk in the forest.

Right. Or you walk in the woods and you put your feet in the sand, you put your feet in the grass. You don’t have to know that that’s doing anything, but it’s doing something.

Oh, it’s definitely right. So that’s the same kind of approach we take. Like, I’ll explain it sometimes if it feels appropriate and right for the setting, but it doesn’t.

You know, we’re at a bridal shower just making bouquets for someone getting married. Sure. They’re just like, we want a fun, creative activity to do and have a cute flower card set up.

That’s like a favor and something different and cute and matches our theme totally fine. You know, like, we’re just about spreading the joy with flowers. So whether that’s like, you want to get super woo woo and intuitive and connect and we want more people to do that.

But we’re not always like, hey, yeah, this is going to be real, like, grounding. You read the room or the situation. Yeah, for sure.

Same when we go into, like, corporate settings. Like, you know, we’ll do like a breath work and usually we do more like team building, like, intuitively behind it. It’s like, I know what’s happening.

But, like, we’re not always like, hey, we’re gonna sit here and have a Reiki’s chair, right? Yeah. You know, people are like, I didn’t hire you to do that. Sure.

Yeah. And we’re just about like, the, you know, the fun and rel part of, like, connecting with nature too. So you don’t have to get that deep to have that same benefit.

And that’s not where we started either. So that’s why I’m like, yeah, it’s totally fine. However you want to Connect with them is a great way, regardless of how deep you want to get with it.

So, yeah, like even the five minutes or you’ve done a 10 minute, I think at Sun Leaders, but like even a five minute or a few minutes of doing it and pausing, I think that’s really the, the, the big takeaway. Yeah. Is, I mean, like, like our society, American culture is like hyper.

I mean, we’re just on steroids. Where it’s like, guys, why don’t you drive out there and you’re like, where are you going this fast? Where you’re going to endanger me and my kids? Because now I have kids and I’m driving. I’m like, you could have killed my family.

Yeah. Was it worth it to get somewhere 10 seconds sooner to get your burrito faster and whatever it is, like, we need to all take a beat. Yeah.

We all need to slow down. So like, the more of this kind of stuff on what you’re doing with what my wife and her brand with, like these brands need to get together and become bigger and, and spread more, which I do feel like there is an overall movement towards that. Because if there’s a need in the world and business does fuel that.

Because these people who, like my wife has learned from, and I’m sure you’ve learned from, or like your shaman, they’re banking, you know, if you’re, you know. And you’re doing well. Yeah.

And so I don’t know the details of that, but I know you’re doing well and like, great. Right. Because the world needs it.

You’re doing well and you’re giving, you’re filling a void. That’s like a positive movement. So for me, I’m all for it.

And, and hence here supporting you. I’m wondering though, like, and last, before we get to a fun spot, how do you. And I would imagine I already know the answer, but just to make sure, how do you give it back to yourself? So you.

It’s a lot of giving to the flowers, giving to the people in your workshops. What do you do to recenter yourself? Yeah. And ground yourself? The same thing.

Like I. By myself. Yeah. It’s funny because like everyone’s always like, you’re such an extrovert.

Like, you’re so social. And I’m like this shy, shyest person still in my, My inner child’s like, you’re so shy. And I’m like, I actually really like being alone, which sounds.

I love being around people with energy and I absorb a lot of that and I love Giving and, like, teaching. But, like, my. I think as being, like, an only child, like, my time for me to recharge is literally like, sitting in nature, like, with a tree or flowers or whatever it is.

Like, I love a nature walk in the woods. The beach here is a little congested for me, so a natural beach somewhere else. Sure.

Which is why I like to travel, too, because then I can, like, really escape and, like, explore other places and, like, their nature. And that’s always been my, like, go to is to just, like, sit by water by a lake with the trees, walk around, and I just meditate on my own, like, with the flowers. I’m big in meditating.

I go to sound bats. Also. I also am big with yoga.

So whether. I mean, the types of events that we partner with are the. With.

I found those partners because I did those things for myself. Right. I love those things normally.

And that’s kind of. Yeah. Our practice, like, you know, even if just a few minutes, like, before I go to bed at night, I also give myself Reiki at night before I go to bed, because I’m like, I’m gonna meditate every night before I go to bed anyway.

I might as well reset my whole body. You give yourself Reiki, so you’re just, like, transferring your energy, or are you dispersing it in a different spot? No, I’m just. I’m just dispersing it.

So. Yeah, because, like, the energy comes from right within. Like, it’s not like it’s coming from, like, a specific area.

It’s just like, your aura generally. Right. So it’s like, if I can call in, like, light, happy, nice energy, let’s just say to make it easy in layman’s terms, and I give it to my body where I’m feeling, like, anxious or overwhelmed, I can clear my own, you know, chakras and things like that as well.

It’s cool because I can use the pendulum, like, on me too. And I’ll be like, oh, damn, this isn’t cleared yet. Let’s go back and, like, give it.

But that’s why, like, because I received elements energy from the flowers too. Like, if I sit and meditate with the flowers, then I can take that energy and also, like, give it back to myself as well. And so, yeah, basically all the same practices that we do in our classes.

That’s why my, like, we do a wellness retreat twice a year at the flower farm. And, like, I basically put together an itinerary that’s like, this is all the fun wellness things I Like, to do in eight hours. And we do all of it at the farm.

So it’s like meditating, yoga, journaling, picking flowers, flower crafting, flower arranging, making, like, mandalas in the grass with flowers, taking floral baths, like, just walking through nature. Because those are the things that I love to do and they’re helpful. And so the more we can share it, like, whether I’m doing it by myself to heal me or with others, that’s, you know, the better it is.

So, yeah, pretty much the same practices. Yeah, it makes sense. And I figured that would be pretty much the answer.

But I. I appreciate the detail because ultimately you’re doing something that you love and believe in and that are passionate about and that you need and makes sense in. In regarding any business or someone pursuing something like those things, if they’re in alignment, you’re doing the right thing and you’re going to be successful, in my opinion. So it’s, you know, now this has helped me put the puzzle together a little better because we’ve known each other for a while now, and it’s nice and it
pleases me that I know more about.

Okay, this is. This is. Yeah, it makes more sense.

It made sense, but now it makes, like, really good sense. And I love that. That.

So I appreciate you taking us through your. Your journey, your trips and, and all of that. My.

My wife is, like, very eager to do ayahuasca trip. I. Yeah, for three days, like, I’ve done mushrooms. Right.

And. And that’s like, I feel like years ago I did it and I’m still coming down. Yeah.

To be fair, I’ve had very bad mushroom chips and I’m, like, terrified still to this day. Yeah, it can be. It could be a lot.

And it’s not like, you can go, okay, I’m done. Abortion. I was stuck with it.

I was like, six hours. I was like, please get me out of this. I don’t know what’s happening.

And I hate. I was in Thailand, too. It was like.

It was like one of those things were like, don’t do it in a crazy place where you don’t know anyone or take too many. All the things wrong. All the things wrong at one time.

And I was like, this is the worst experience of my entire life. Oh, no. So, yeah.

But, yeah, you can be. It can be intense. And, like, they do say, like, don’t do it until, like, it feels right and you’re, like, in a good setting and, like, everything is in alignment.

Like, I wanted to do it for, like, three years Before I actually did it, because it just never came in a way that was appropriate timing, felt right, was with the right people, was in the right place. And then when it finally all did, I was, this is so easy. Yes.

Just sign me up. Yeah. And so it’s a lot like.

I don’t know how people do things, some of that on a whim or whatever, but I feel like, you know, for. For me, I’ve been very intentional about her. It’s like, okay, this is a good time.

I’m around the right people. Where no matter what happens. Yeah.

Because it’s so important. I mean, because everything is also exaggerated and sensitive and big. So something that you feel.

Well, that. That feeling might not go away for six hours. Yeah.

Because you felt it and you’re in it. And it’s hard to explain other than that. But it’s been.

It’s very interesting talking about that. For me, it’s fascinating because if. If you haven’t experienced those things, hard to imagine that, like.

Oh, no. Like, you’re just, like, exaggerating. But it’s a real thing.

Those experiences are so intense, and it’s real. That’s not fake. So there’s like, this whole realm where it’s like, there is something there.

And I feel like, for me, I feel like it has a lot to do with time. Where slowing down time or the manipulation of time with these particular things allow our eyes and our minds to see. And a slightly different.

Like right now, we’re seeing in a very particular spectrum. We work with light and color, and so we’re. We’re all locked in.

But with a substance such as those, I feel like it just bends that spectrum ever so slightly. But that. That little sliver on whatever end opens it up.

It’s a massive deal. Yeah. For our bodies, our minds, to process what’s actually happening.

Like, imagine time for a hummingbird or what. What a bee feels like. Time.

Yeah. You know, and so for me, those. It has to do with time.

But part two of our. Part two, speaking of time, now we are in rapid fire. Okay.

Oh, boy. What’s rapid fire? Rapid fire. Oh, boy.

We went from talking about, like, really slow, really chill, and now we’re gonna go rapid fire. Okay. So ultimately, I’m gonna ask you a series of questions that I like to ask, ask all guests.

There’s a couple specific to you, but I like to see the common threads. I hope I have answers. I’m sure you do.

And if you don’t, there have been people who like someone I Can’t remember who. Maybe it was Jan. He’s.

I don’t think he had an answer for his favorite music. That. I’m like, whatever.

I’m bad. Like, pop culture reference. And like, favorite.

This isn’t like a quiz. It’s. It’s internal.

Wrong. Favorite answer. Nope.

The answer is 34. All right, hit me. You ready? So ultimately, the goal is, if you need to expand on it, do so.

But I won’t. I will just give you an answer. Sure.

All right, so here we go. I feel like maybe. Maybe some of these are obvious, maybe not.

We’ll start. What’s your biggest source of inspiration? Oh, that’s a hard. That’s.

That’s. That’s supposed to be a one word answer. It doesn’t have to be one word.

Rapid fire. Okay. Biggest traveling.

Boom. You did it. See, I had to think, though.

Yeah. We get there. Yeah.

Other cultures, I get inspired a lot by just like, traveling, roaming. Love it. Yeah, ditto.

I love how you injected, like, that passion of yours into your business. Makes a lot sense. That’s a big, big concept for me that needed to be incorporated.

Yeah. And it makes sense to the actual, like, strategy of the business, too, so. And so we have a flower shop, which might happen sooner rather than later.

I like that. Next podcast, part two. What’s the favorite place you’ve ever been? Bali 100.

Australia is close, but Bali holds a special place in my heart, clearly. Yeah. Okay, so Bali.

I’ll add it to the list for me and my family. Yeah, visit. It’s also much cheaper there.

I love it. The dollar can go a little further. That’s cool.

Your favorite flower. Ooh, purple orchids. Purple orchids.

Why? Why? I don’t know. I just always love purple orchids. And they’re not really a big cut flower.

Like, you know, we work a lot with cut flowers because we make bouquets and arrangements. And, you know, orchids are a beautiful plant that grow and you can cut them and use them. But it kills me to do that because, I mean, the plant regenerates.

But we all know how hard and long it takes for orchids to bloom. Yeah, we’ve killed a few. Yeah.

Yeah. They don’t come back so quickly, or they do, but they’re just like a vine. And you’re like, this is a pretty plant.

When is this? Until it blooms again. I don’t know. Just always love purple orchids.

I mean, I love all orchids, but purple is my favorite color. Yeah, we got purple lights in the studio. Yeah.

I Just always loved them. They’re just so unique and there’s so many varieties. If you ever go to Singapore, there’s a bunch of on your way to Bali.

It’s a good stop. Cool. I’d like to go back to Singapore.

Lots of orchids there. Okay, cool. But, yeah, it’s my favorite beautiful bloom.

So if anyone wants to get me flowers. Orchids or peonies, if you’re going cut flower. Peonies.

Yeah. They smell so good. The ones in London.

Oh, my God. In Europe. I know this is supposed to be rapid fire, but the ones in London, it never is.

I was like, this isn’t rapid fire. The ones in London were insane. I got to go to, like, flower farms out there, and I’ve just never seen peonies.

Like, I think they have a different variety. It’s clearly not the same strand of peonies we have here. They were like, like so big, so frilly, so fluffy, so beautiful.

Just like in their random gardens on, like, the sides, you know, of the streets where they have, you know, little beds of flowers and stuff. And I was like, we need that here. I love tropical trees, but, you know, you go up north, you get more peonies and stuff, but.

Okay. I knew that one would get you going, so. Sorry, that was a long.

No, it’s okay. It was to be. There’s probably 10 more, but I’ll just keep it with those two.

Yeah, good, good. Now rapid fire. There’s always one where it’s not so rapid.

Okay, fair. And that’s. It’s a fun.

We do. We do what we want. Like, whose lines in any ways the.

The points don’t matter. Great. Like that.

What about a favorite book of yours that might have shaped who you are made a. The biggest impact. Oh, what I. Is it the Power of why? What’s that book called? The why? I think something.

Something why? Yeah, it’s really my favorite book. I can’t remember the title of it, but I think it was just the most impactful. Okay.

Multiple people, you know, always recommend it. It’s like, I feel like on the. You know, if you ever start a business and you’re like, what book should I read? It’s like, read this book by Simon Sinek.

I think is. Who’s the author? Okay. Yeah, it’s ringing a bell.

Yeah. That could be totally wrong. So, like, no one go quote me on this later on.

I’m honestly pretty sure it’s on our bookshelf at home because my wife has it. It probably is every Every entrepreneur who’s ever like, I’m a self starting entrepreneur, what book should I read? Always comes up. But I think it like, even to this day, like when I get like lost in just like what I’m doing.

Like, you know, as a business owner, we especially as like a niche kind of topic. So many people come to us with like, partner with us, partner with us, do this, do that. And it’s like, you know, it’s easy to say yes to everything.

And like we used to say yes to everything. And the last like probably year or so, I’ve kind of like taken that into more of my concept and like intuition now too where it’s like, okay, well what is our why? Like, just because they, they want to do it. It doesn’t align with like who we are and what we want to do and our mission.

And so I think that, you know, you could read that book over and over again. I’m a big audiobook, which is why I probably don’t know the names of anything because I just put audiobooks on all the time and like play them. I’m like, I don’t know who this book.

I never looked at the COVID ever once, you know. And so yeah, that book has been kind of just more of like a reoccurring theme I think in my life that like has been utilized throughout different points of business. And now I’m kind of like, oh, I should read it again.

Okay, yeah, I’ll add that to my ever growing list. Especially because of this podcast. Yeah.

But you know, you, you make a great point that it’s, it’s a. First off, hard to say no, but it’s such a powerful. And it’s actually saying yes to other stuff.

But you know, if you people come at me all the time as well and it’s like if you start to let people pull the strings of your business, it becomes a different thing than what your mission was. It can very quickly if you don’t keep to that why. So that sounds like a very grounding book.

Yeah. And I sound stupid because I can’t remember the name of it. But we’ll find it.

There’s a lot of things going on in my head, guys. Someone look it up. I think it is called the Power of why? Or yeah, I don’t know, something why.

Yeah, we’ll find it out. We’ll have it in this show. Start with why.

Start with why. That was. Start with why.

I was like, the Power of Now was like stuck in my head and I was like, it’s not the power of. But that’s why I kept, like, linking those two in my head. And I was like, I can’t think of it.

Thank you. Sorry. Start with why.

Yeah. I don’t normally pull stuff up, but I figured it was. Thank you.

It was gonna bother me. Who is the author? Does it say Simon? Yeah. Okay, good.

I got the author, right? You got the. You got the author. At least I’m sure you’d be happy about that.

He’s like, I don’t care about the title. I just know that I wrote it. Yeah, yeah, fair enough.

All right, cool. Just a couple more. Okay.

You’re doing great, by the way. Well done. Really rapid fire there for 10 minutes.

About the book title. It always happens, trust me. Especially lawyers, a musical artist or album that you could have on repeat forever.

Okay. There’s a song called Every Storm Runs out of Rain. Okay.

It’s on album. I can’t remember who sings it because I always have to look it up. But it is my favorite song because it’s also, like, anytime I’m in, like, a downer moment in life, it’s literally, like, jamming.

And I vividly remember listening to it when I moved to Florida, like, driving here, and I was like, I’m changing my life, going to Florida. All right, whatever. And now anytime I’m in, like, a bad place, I’m like, this song is great.

I go to on repeat over and over and over and over again. Oh, cool. I’m not gonna sing it because I am a terrible singer, but it’s basically too late.

You just did now. That’s gonna be clipped. Yeah, great.

Amazing. But, yeah, if you ever get a chance, look it up. Every Storm Runs out of Rain by Gary Allen, 2013.

Cool. I thought it was by a girl. It’s a girl song.

You thought it was about her fight. I’m like, a woman definitely sings that song. Really? Yeah.

Here’s a comparison. Oh. Oh, gosh.

Look it up again. Is there another artist? Wow, I’m, like, really getting grilled here. I told you, I know nothing about pop culture.

I mean, maybe it just has, like, a falsetto. No, it’s like, Gary Allen owns every storm, and then in parentheses, runs out of rain. Yeah, that’s a dude.

Maybe you’re listening to a cover of it. Maybe. Maybe that’s who wrote it.

And I wonder who’s saying, you’re lost and you’re giving that. Can we cut this out of the podcast? Like, nothing gets cut. This is perfect.

My phone’s also Stuck in airplane mode and I can’t take it out of airplane mode don’t take it out of airplane mode. No, I can’t search anything. No, we’ll get there.

We’ll have it in the show notes. We’ll figure it out. But every storm runs out of rain.

Maybe if you sing it, then we’ll know exactly what we’re looking for. Here we go. A one, a two, a three.

Nope, nope. Definitely not. Nope, nope.

Not happening. Okay, last one. Move on.

Move on. How do you define success? How do I define success? Being happy. Done.

You know, that’s a pretty common answer. So. Doesn’t surprise me with what you’re doing and like fulfilling your.

Your passion and desires and needs with your business. So I would imagine you’re probably pretty happy. Like, I never see you and you’re bummed.

And I’m not saying that you don’t get bummed, but you’re pretty happy. Do you want to know what Patrick told me the other day when I was getting my brakes and oil changed? Yeah. He said, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re like a Hallmark movie.

What? Take it. You’re just like the nice, like sweet, like happy per. Like, you know, where you’re just always smiling.

I had Delilah with me also. He’s like, you know, you’re just giving out flower. I brought flowers.

You just giving out flowers, walking around with the cutest little dog. Always happy, never in a bad mood. I was like, thank you.

Fading. That is nice. That’s a nice compliment.

Yeah, I don’t know, I think like, also, I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m like, not always happy, but I tried to. I tried to. You know, I think like always look at the pots.

Always glass half full versus like half empty has always been my outlook on things. So like, even when things are bad, I’m always like, well, what can we change? What can we do? What can we learn? How do we move forward? And I think, yeah, like a lot of people, you know, success is like money, cars, things like that and like, I think experiences and happiness and people that are around you, like, what makes you happy 100%. Like, you know, you can always make more money or go out and buy fancy
things if you really want.

But like, let make you happy and make you successful. I don’t know. Those are the.

Those are the important things. Yeah. I mean, teach their own, but a Ferrari is not going to heal your.

Your inner child. Yeah, exactly. You still need to reset your nervous system and say it with flowers.

If you have a Ferrari or you have a Honda. There you go. Indeed.

Or what was it, a Ford Fiero or what were you. Were you driving through Australia? Ford Falcon. Falcon.

Ooh, a nice little hatchback. We slept in the trunk. Awesome.

You win Rapid Fire. Congratulations. Great.

Was there a competition? It was like playing. Again, ongoing competition. You’re against all the 39 other.

Or at this time, 40 other guests. Was I the fastest? Means, how do you win Rapid Fire? Everybody wins. Great.

Even though I knew none of the answers, you were doing great, you had for. For the music question, having a song specifically, that’s pretty unique. So you gotta.

Actually, I’m questioning my own song choice because. Yeah, what you’re gonna do is get a report from our audio director, Jordan, who will analyze your answers and give you a number breakdown. One out of a hundred and.

And then that’s an ongoing. You know, when I cry and have to go sit with my flowers. Well, at least you have a process to do this.

This has been great. I obviously knew we were gonna enjoy our time. I want to know in closing, a couple things.

One, what is the rowing petal and the petal tribe look like next 5, 10 years? Where are you going? You had mentioned flower shop. Yeah. Maybe make it talk us through your vision real quick.

Yeah. So rowing. So petal tribes are online platform that we have for rooming petals.

So people not here in lovely states of Florida. It’s basically like a monthly version of what we do in person here, but it’s available online. So you get different weekly content, flower meditations, workshops, floral crafts, journal prompts, all that fun stuff.

But it’s online in a platform and kind of like a course content. And you get new content every single month based around the theme or the season of the month. So that’s our way that we want to grow and try and reach people who aren’t necessarily here and able to attend our workshops and kind of grow floral communities in, like, different cities where, like, people using that can also get together and, like, watch a flower workshop video that we have.

We don’t send supplies. It’s all about empowering them to go out and, like, pick flowers from, like, a local farm or when we’re getting their groceries or making it easy for them and bringing them into their home and spreading more of our flower, you know, love and magic in a broader spectrum versus us going everywhere. So petal tribe is huge.

Possibly maybe on the gl, I’m not sure yet. Maybe going into partnership and opening a retail space here. We’ve been looking at some places, but nothing’s like, like, permanent or in the works yet.

To bring more retail and have a little bit of our own location to, like, bring people to. We love our partners, and we’re never going to stop roaming and doing that with the farms and the partnerships that we have and the breweries and all of those amazing places. We work with Keel Farms.

We work with Mindful Bloom Farms. We love being at all the farms, 15 street farms, as well as the businesses that we work with. But having our own space and coming kind of into a collaborative space with other florists too is also like.

Like a fun kind of, like, passion of mine as well. I feel like that’s inevitable. Yeah.

And that’s like, we know, like you said before, like, did you always want to start with the flower shop? I originally wanted to flower truck. That was like, my original, like. And then I was like, flower trucks are expensive.

I have no funding. Let’s just bring flowers to people’s house. Definitely buckets.

Yeah. Way cheaper. So I think, like, yeah, the evolution of it has kind of, like, Right.

That, like, people always ask, like, where’s your store? It doesn’t exist, but it might soon. In your heart. Yeah.

You are the store. We bring the store to you. So that’s kind of there.

And then the last one’s kind of our retreats. So, like, partnering with the farms and things like we already do. I would love to combine our traveling of, like, we went to Columbia Flower Farms, you know, this past year, and, like, learned all about the growing there.

I was in London. We went to the Cotswolds and went with, like, local growers to their farms out there. And so we already do our day retreats here.

But the goal in the next five years is to do some kind of international retreat and go to farms in other countries. So I can combine, you know, our love for travel and love for flowers, and it’s a different experience when you’re working with flowers of a native country. It’s always different there, so.

Oh, yeah. Those are kind of our three main areas. Love it.

In the next five years. Five years. We got to all those things in five years.

In five years. Let’s fast track that. Yeah.

Need to be faster. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, that’s kind of the main things we’ve been working on.

Love it. That’s awesome. I mean, I look forward to watching that grow.

You know, no pun intended there. Yeah. Bloom, bloom and grow.

Exactly. I mean, yeah, you’re doing really cool things and I look forward to just continuing to watch, like, the business flourish because, yeah, you’re doing. You’re just doing really great stuff.

Like, it’s good work and it’s positive, and I’m all for that. We need more of that. So I appreciate what you do.

If someone wants to get involved with what you’re doing, connect with you, where do they go? Yeah. So Instagram and website are our two best places. Our Instagram’s just the Roaming Petal.

You can DM us. We have all our workshop listed kind of in there. If you want to look for a public workshop website, if you want to book a private event, learn about our corporate partnerships, anything like that has all kind of, like, our workshop options on there, too.

Our emails on there, our phone numbers on there. There’s a form on there you can fill out to get in touch with us. You can browse all the fun things that we do as well.

But, yeah, email, that’s just. They say that’s the roamingpedal.com. if you need.

Everything’s very easy. I was gonna say it. If you need.

Everything’s at the Roaming Pedal. The Roaming pedal. The Roaming pedal.

We’re very good with our, you know, our, I don’t know, company name is on all of our branding and all of our stuff. So. Yeah.

Or just come and, like, say hi somewhere when we’re out and about. Wonderful. Come see us.

Hopefully you get some more people connecting with you on this because. Yeah. I mean, if they weren’t intrigued by the start of this and you’ve stuck around, hopefully I think you’ll understand the power of what Erica and her team are doing at the Roaming Pedal.

So I really appreciate your time. You’re obviously busy, but it’s been nice to pause and just enjoy a conversation with you here. So thanks.

You know how we have to end this, though, right? You know what we have to say at the end of this podcast? I don’t. What? Yes, you do, Josh. Well, you have probably, I’m sure, what you have to say.

What do I always say at the end of, like, oh, have a blooming. Have a blooming full day. Yeah, yeah.

No, we have to say it, like, together. Like, when we say goodbye. Like, goodbye, everyone, have a bloomingful day.

Okay, one, two. Have a blooming full day. Sam.