Taking a Risk and Being my Own Boss

Growing my small business would be a dream come true for me. I am so glad I took a risk on something I was passionate about, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to be Over the last two summers I have discovered my passion for all things flowers and gardening. My involvement in the college of agriculture helped me realize what I would not have realized on my own. The summer after my freshman year I decided to take a big risk, I decided to start my own small flower farm and sell bouquets. I got to work as soon as school ended. I picked my flowers, planned my garden, sprayed the grass, tilled the ground, and planted my flowers in my parents front yard. I did it completely by myself. Through this experience I learned so much. It wasn’t perfect. It still isn’t, however the lessons I have learned were almost more valuable than the flowers themselves. During the summer, the busiest time for a flower garden, I was also working an internship full time. Talk about a full schedule. I would wake up before it was light out to start watering, I would be out in the fields all day for work, then I would come home to weeding and watering until dark.

I was the most exhausted I had ever been in my life, but so fulfilled from the pleasure I was finding in my work. Being your own boss sounds like a great idea, until nothing gets done without you and every decision falls on you. I learned to take initiative and try new things. I did not have all of the material I needed, but I decided to make the best out of what I had. I spent the whole summer so nervous about what people would think and questioned if my product was even worth it. Finally, on August first I was ready to sell my first bouquet. I went out to the garden with my bucket and garden scissors and cut enough flowers for 5 bouquets. I arranged them and set them up in the trailer at the end of my driveway that I converted to a little shop. Do you know what happened? The important people in my life showed up for me and bought all five of my bouquets. Could they have probably bought better flowers from the grocery store? Probably, but their support meant the world to me. It was enough to make me do it again the following summer.

Growing my small business would be a dream come true for me. I am so glad I took a risk on something I was passionate about, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to be my own boss. It made me realize so many things about the real world that I would not have been able to see if I had played it safe and not taken the risk.