Growing Her Dreams Into Reality

It takes a moment, one decision, to turn the seed of an idea into reality. For Emily McDarment, that seed of an idea turned into The Jade Feather, a plant shop she opened back in 2020. Here she sits down with me to tell me how the journey of being a business owner has shaped and grown her.

Stefanie: Tell everybody who you are and what you do.

Emily: So my name is Emily. I am the person behind The Jade Feather. I own a plant shop in Madison, and it started out as kind of an incubator, incubated business within Crafted Coffee. So I put the plants in the coffee shop craft and coffee. And this. They sell them there for me as well. I still have the plants there, and then I expand it. In May of 2020 to I expanded into my own space where I sell plants that are already potted up in nice ceramic or concrete pots. I do have some additional tools and accessories for taking care of plants, plants, gift things, just really things that a plant lover might enjoy.

Stefanie: So tell me where this love for doing this came from.

Emily: Well, my mom always had plants in the home, and I really didn't pay much attention to them. I didn't really develop a passion for plants like I have now until about five years ago, and it was more a curiosity. I got an orchid from the grocery store and it was just more of a curiosity like, How do I keep this thing alive? I watched tons of YouTube videos on different ways to grow them and and make them bloom and that sort of thing. So it started out more like science experiments than it did really like decoration or anything like that. Once I got the hang of that and really was successful with it for about, I would say about a year, I really focused on orchids and then it started expanding into other things as I got a little bit bored with just house full of orchids, I started expanding into other plants and it just grew from there to the point where I couldn't get plants when I wanted them. So I just decided. All right. If nobody else is going to have them, then I will. And I will just make my own shop. So that's kind of where I started and how it developed into what it is.

Stefanie: So did you have the idea to build it into a business or was it something that just kind of grew into a business and you had people come to you saying, I really want your plants?

Emily: It was intentionally a business from that point. Yeah, it really started out as a business. I remember the day I had a plant craving and I went to, like, Clarksville, Albany, there wasn't anything around here. So I went there and there wasn't even anything there. So I was like, okay, I just need to take this into my own hands and make this a business where, I can buy plants and offer them to other people who are probably feeling the same way that I am. Mind you, this was during 2020 when I opened my business. So COVID was in full swing. People were really getting into plants too. So I knew there was other people out there like me.

Stefanie: You knew that you were not the only one.

Emily: I knew I was not the only one.

Stefanie: So tell me about your journey into business from it being a passion and to now making it to a business. What was that transition like for you?

Emily: I really had to overcome fear. Because growing up when I was a teenager, my parents opened a restaurant and that's a tough business to succeed in. A lot of restaurants start up and fail within the first few years and theirs did. So I saw them put everything that they had into this business and then it didn't succeed. And so there was just like this huge fear that I was going to fail at doing this. So I really had to work through that fear. So it was a lot more emotional work than it was anything else. Once I got, and the fear still creeps back in, but once I got myself to where I could confront that fear and move past it and long enough to get my business license and open a bank account and all of that stuff. Then then I could get moving with it.

Stefanie: Can we talk a little bit more about the fear that you felt specifically when it came to seeing your parents failing in their business? Where did you equate that to your business?

Emily: I don't even really know. It's not the same kind of business. I mean, they used our home as collateral. I mean. I just had this, all or nothing belief that if I failed, if my business fails, then everything else in my life is going to crumble. You know, and so once I was able to just let go of that and realize that it's not all or nothing, obviously I've found a way to make this work. I didn't have to quit my other job and I still have that income and it allowed me to let go of the fear. If this doesn't work out, I'm not really out a whole lot, you know? So I don't have to worry about my business making my house payment or feeding my family or anything like that. I was able to think outside of what my experience was as a kid and do it differently, you know?

Stefanie: So you're able to rewrite the story. Before it sounds like you were seeing it from the perspective of a child and now you're able to come back at it from the perspective of an adult and see it with more light.

Emily: Yeah, and realize that the fear wasn't serving me. Really. I was holding me back.

Stefanie: I love when you say that, because I think our first instinct is to go to fear and worry, and that makes sense. We're trying to- our brains are trying to keep us safe. But when you can step back and know that the fear and the worry aren't doing anything for you because you're not really being protected. What are you protecting yourself from? Is that really a danger? I think that's pretty interesting. When was the moment that you felt like you moved through that fear?

Emily: That's a really interesting question, and I didn't really realize what that moment was until I was going back through a journal. Because one of the things that I do to process things is journal and I had a book that I had read once. There's this, mantra, I don't know what you would call it, but it's "I bless you with love and I really see you and I let you go". Louise Hay is the author, I can't remember the name of the book, but I used that and I just wrote a letter to fear. I was like to the fear that's holding me back to the fear that's keeping me small. I bless you with love and I release you and I let go and I know where you came from and I know what you're trying to do, but I don't need you anymore. So I had totally forgotten that I had done that, and then when I went back, that was like within a week I had my business license after writing that and I didn't really expect it. So it was just kind of a breakthrough that happened that freed up space for that movement to take place.

Stefanie: Wow. So what was the timeframe between that journal entry and then that moment? You wrote it in the journal and then how much time passed before you reread it and then were able to release it?

Emily: So the journal entry was probably late July of 2020 within a week to ten days. August 3rd of 2020 is when I had my business license. It was like one day I just was like, I'm going to do it and once it got set in motion, then it just sort of happened on its own. I know that I was going through the motions of doing it but there wasn't a whole lot of effort or thought put into it. It was just like I was just doing it and not worrying about doing it. I wasn't using up all of my energy worrying about it. I was just doing it. Then by September, I had a Facebook page created and by October I had plants in Crafted Coffee. So it was all pretty quick once it got rolling.

Stefanie: Isn't that something? We put so much energy into our fears and our doubts and we put so much into that rather than what we're trying to create. We're investing in the fear and the worry and the doubt and when you stop letting it hold you back and release that energy that you're putting into that. It's almost like it just turns and you flow in a different direction. Is that what you felt?

Emily: Flow is the perfect word. Because seriously, any time I have tried to force something to happen with my business, it has not worked. But the Crafton's came to me and asked me if I would put plants in in their coffee shop. They had just bought G.H. Coffee, which is now Crafted Coffee. So like, opportunities came to me. The shop in the Trolley Barn, that opportunity through a series of events came to me. I wasn't hunting it down. I wasn't, you know, beating this idea of what I wanted into submission. It just doors just opened.

Stefanie: So do you feel like the doors opened from that moment of that journal entry?

Emily: Absolutely. And there are times when I've recognized I'm letting fear creep back in and I need to rerelease it. Like it hasn't been a one time thing. It's been when I when I see it again, when I recognize it. Oh, there's that feeling again. Or others that thought again. That's fear. I have rereleased it.

Stefanie: Oh, see, that's so important. So I think in our minds, we like to think that fear is this big thing that if we could just overcome it, all of it's going to clear out. Everything's going to work out. But I don't think enough people talk about the fact that fear can come back in several times and every different level and different places that you don't even think about that. This is a process and this is a journey. That's what I love about these kind of conversations, as we're not sitting in that illusion of a one and done. It's a journey. So you released the fear in your journal, but there was a space here between that date and it actually you getting the business license. So can you talk about what happened in between? Because I think, again, the thought can be, okay, when I do this, releasing is just going to magically all come together. But there was a process that happened afterwards.

Emily: I think that I don't know what happened in that time other than, you know, there were moments of inspiration. There were moments of like where energy sort of welled up, you know. But then one day I was just like, I'm doing it. The day that I got my business license, literally, I was on my lunch break and I'm like, I'm doing it... and I did it.

Stefanie: It sounds like whereas before it would have been an uphill battle to push yourself towards getting that business license when that process of releasing and then allowing the process to happen afterwards, the unfolding of what happened afterwards, that's where you're talking about that flow came in and took over. It wasn't a force energy, it was a flowing energy.

Emily: That was an allowing.

Stefanie: Allowing. Mm mm. Beautiful. Here's something else I want to come back to. Also, a lot of the time I see and I've had this experience with my own self, my own business is we think, okay, I open a business now, the clients are magically going to come, I'm going to make all the money I want to make. Now I'm the professional and sometimes the journey is not as clear cut like that, and sometimes you have to go from having a job that covers your expenses while you're creating and cultivating this other piece of work. So this one piece of work is your body of work. Let's for you, you're working with plants. That's what you want to do. You're passionate about it. Your life force energy is moving through that. You're the channel for that. However, at the same time, you live in a world that needs currency for your expenses and so you have a job to do that. Can you talk about balancing both of those?

Emily: I can. My job that I do for my income is I'm a therapist. I'm a clinical manager at a mental health facility. So I think that that might have also helped prepare me for this because I talk to people a lot about boundaries. I talk to people a lot about balance. I talk to people a lot about fear. Just now I'm in a space in my own life where I can take my own advice. I'm starting to listen to what I'm telling other people and apply it in my own life. But I do have to set boundaries around my Monday through Thursday job and not let it consume all of my energy. I have to do the same to a certain degree with my business. Although that's where I would rather, you know, if I'm going to let something if I'm going to put extra into something, that's where I would rather do it right now, because I know that it it's still growing. I feel in my other job, I'm kind of where I've worked for years to get where I am and I'm kind of where I want to be with that and now my excess energy I want to put into my business and grow that because that's really where I see- this is a tortoise, not a hare. This is like slow and steady wins the race. This is where I'm going to be as I approach retirement versus, you know, just something fun that I'm doing right now.

Stefanie: This is something else that I've seen when I've talked to people is there's a shame and there's hiding around having another job versus your business and the need to want to appear like you're perfect and you've got this business and it's flowing and it's making the money and you're the professional. Then there's this hiding of this other part of you of needing that or choosing. I wouldn't say needing. People will say needing, but it's more about choosing to have a side job. So it doesn't sound like you have any shame in that.

Emily: Absolutely not. I'm proud of the career that I've built as a therapist and also the company that I work for, has been really supportive. I had to adjust my work schedule to be able to open a brick and mortar business. So I went to them and they were really supportive of that and helped by giving me the flexibility I needed to do the other business with plants that I'm really passionate about. So they're supportive of that as well. So and my office at work is full of plants and my shop has little touches of self-care books and stuff like that in it as well. So like there's a little bit of a merger between the two.

Stefanie: See, that's really great. This is what I love also about these kind of conversations is getting the chance to talk to people at different levels, at different stages in their business, people who are full into their business, people who are just starting out. People who are in the middle. Because it needs to be a conversation. Instead of having shame of what we think it needs to look like or it needs to be like. Let's talk about how it really is. Let's talk about the journey of becoming. The creation of what you're doing. What I love that you talked about is that you see it as this transition and there's intertwining but there's no need for it to compete. One sits in the other. They go back and forth, and it sounds like both are an expression of you. However, you're leaning more towards one type of expression over another.

Emily: Yeah, I see that my business is my future. Like my job, my career that I've built as a therapist has helped me grow into who I am now and has helped me become confident enough to be able to move forward into making a business out of my passion, which is plants.

Stefanie: Let's talk about the journey to get here. Let's go back to your childhood. Because I always love to ask in these interviews. When you look back at your childhood, can you see where there are hints of what you're doing now? Or, that it was kind of start to showing up?

Emily: I don't I do remember this but my mom reminds me that my science experiments as a kid were always like, propagating plants and things like that. The the curiosity of how plants work. So there's that. I never have kept my own plants or took care of my own plants. I hated gardening. It was a totall drudgery to have to go out and weed the garden. But my mom was planting the seed when I was a kid because she had a house full of plants. So it was, it's been there, but... there was a time, even as an adult, when my kids were young and I had to put all of my energy into raising babies, that if a plant couldn't keep itself alive, it probably shouldn't be in my house.

Stefanie: So you're like, well, if you can't feed yourself, sorry {laughs}.

Emily: {Laughs} You're going to have to fend for yourself. So, you know, I had plants, but - well, I don't have any of the plants I had when my kids were little. So I think it's okay to tell people that that's, okay, too. I still, I get tired of plants or plants die on me still, and I just don't get too wrapped up in it. They bring me joy and and when it's time for them to go, it's time for them to go.

Stefanie: That's really interesting. You're not really tied or connected too much to it. I think it's interesting that you said that you hated gardening and you really weren't into the plants. I had just done an interview with another girl who absolutely hated sewing and never could see herself sewing and actually her business and her full expression is creating costumes. She has to do a lot of sewing. She had grown up absolutely hating it. Now it becomes a thing that's a part of it. So I think it's fascinating that our lives show us what we're meant to do but we're not always in alignment with that. Or, it might be completely counter to what we think that we would grow up doing.

Emily: It's a readiness. I wasn't in a place of readiness for this until - as a child I didn't want the risk, it felt like a responsibility I didn't want. As a young parent, I had to prioritize other responsibilities. So I wasn't ready for it until recently.

Stefanie: Readiness. I love that. When you said that, the readiness to to take it on. So your potential was always there but you weren't ready.

Emily: Even with the whole fear thing, I wasn't ready to let go of that until I was ready. Then when I was ready, it just happened.

Stefanie: See, I think that's really interesting you say that because I think we get caught up on wanting to force this change. We're wanting to make something happen and push it. Right? If I could just get past this fear, if I could just get past these things and I can make this happen, and yet you can't. You're not ready sooner than you're ready. So you felt now you've been a therapist for a while. What led you to the therapy?

Emily: That was a really organic thing. Like in college, I didn't, you know, in my undergraduate, I didn't really know that this was where I would be. I sort of just landed in a job, a bachelors level job in a mental health center. I applied for it. I thought, that sounds kind of interesting. I didn't even really know what it was that I was going to be doing. Once I got there, I met really interesting people and formed these relationships with people who ended up being mentors and models and inspiration for me. That's how I decided that I wanted to move forward in that career. The company I work for is really supportive of growing their people from within. So while I was working there, I went to school and got my master's degree and they were flexible with that. So that I sort of grew up in the company that I work for. Not that it wasn't intentional but it wasn't ever planned. It just grew into this, too.

Stefanie: Using the plant puns {laughs} I was going to ask you if you felt like this has grown you. But I didn't want to use a plant pun. But we're going to use them. We're just going to go there {laughs}.So, this has been an organic growth. Do you feel like if you were not a therapist that it would have led you to plants still?

Emily: Hmm. That's really hard to say, because I think that a lot of my personal growth came through my career. I learn about myself by helping other people, too. So maybe not. Maybe you know it or it would have come through a different way. I mean, I suppose I really believe that we can get from point A to point B through different paths. So I could have still ended up here just from a different route.

Stefanie: So what I really love let's go back to the fact that you say that you could also be yourself in this other job. What I see a lot of hiding. So it's either people are hiding they have a business and they're hiding that they have another job or they have this other job and they're hiding their true interests of creating a business or doing something different. Was it always just intentional that you brought plants and you said you have a bunch of plants as a therapist in your office and then in your office, in your business, you have a bunch of of self-help. Being yourself in both sides. Do you feel like that was easy or organic, or did you feel like you kind of had to walk into expressing you truly were on both sides?

Emily: I feel like I've never had to hide it. I've never thought about having to hide it. So it was that wasn't necessarily. a consideration. Through my career, there's always been opportunities to bring nature into it. We've done groups where we go out into nature and practice mindfulness or things like that or we had a group that grew a garden and so that's always been an option to incorporate that into my career as a therapist. So I never really thought about having to hide that because there was opportunities to use nature. With my shop, I've never thought about really hiding it either because I just never thought about it.

Stefanie: You never had that hang up?

Emily: No, not really. If we're going to talk about hiding, I don't know if this fits in but I think one of the biggest pieces of fear that I still carry is showing myself in my business. Through social media. People have said to me, when people are buying from you, they're buying you and the expression of you, that is your business. They're not buying the products. They're buying you. That's been really hard for me. To make myself a part of that because it feels really exposed. So if there's any piece of it that is hiding, it's there. It's like, I don't quite feel so comfortable putting myself out there for everybody to see just yet.

Stefanie: It's interesting because I was going to ask you if you feel like being a therapist and having this business is an expression of you. I was going to ask that question. Do you feel like both of these are a natural expression of you?

Emily: Absolutely. Yes. But something about social media and like putting like my picture out there for everybody to see and, I don't know, I just feels a little bit intimidating and awkward. Also the one piece that I guess is a little bit awkward to cross over between the two careers is like when my clients come in and they're like, "Oh my gosh, you have a shop? I'm going to come shop at your shop." ...and I'm like little bit uncomfortable with that because of like the ethical considerations of people coming in and potentially, you know, outing themselves. They can't say that they're my client. But it's weird because I'm not supposed to, you know, there's all these HIPA rules and things like that. So it just- and it puts me in a weird ethical position, you know what I'm saying? So that crossover where there's not supposed to be an exchange of money and resources between clients and therapists and things like that. So it's a tricky dance to navigate between.

Stefanie: So are you feeling some resistance from really expressing that this is what you're wanting to do because of that?

Emily: I did have kind of a maybe a little bit. I did have like clients discover my Facebook. So it's easier if I don't put myself completely out there with my kids but maybe they won't notice, you know?

Stefanie: Yeah, but at the same time, your business doesn't grow.

Emily: Exactly. So it's a tricky spot to be in. Some of it is self-consciousness and part of it is how would I handle that in the best, most ethical way?

Stefanie: So there's always going to be something in our business that we're going to use as a crutch to hold us back from our growth and our expression. Then it's always easier to say, well, this is the problem. I don't know how to move past it. Yet we're not actually taking the time to figure out how could we pass it? Who could we talk to to figure out how to move? Where can I get more information? We're not necessarily going in that direction to solve it because it's nice to hold on to the thing to keep us safe. So you were able to release fear in order to open the business but it sounds like you've got a little bit of fear when it comes to growing the business. So how are you navigating through this one here? Do you feel like, you can see you're holding onto the resistance? Is that something that you're ready to let go of? I guess you were able to let go of the fear then. Do you feel like you're moving through the fear now and you're ready to let go? Or, do you think it's going to take a little bit more time?

Emily: So I think that it's going to take a little bit more time because that's not the only fear I think that's holding me back. That's probably the easier of the two or more fears. But it's workable, it's fine. I'm doing things like this interview with you just dipping my toe into putting myself out there more. But the big fear for me is at some point, there's 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, there's X amount of my time and energy resources and I'm maxed out. I'm doing seven days a week. So at some point, if I want to grow my business, I'm going to have to let go of some of the stuff I'm doing at work. Let go of hours or, you know, take a risk and go out on a limb and let go of some of the income that feels safe and stable to be able to extend what I'm doing with my business. That's where I'm not quite ready yet, because I think that hits really close to the original fear of failure is a catastrophe because I won't be able to afford the lifestyle that I've got or whatever, you know.

Stefanie: It sounds like you have the same fear as before, but it's presenting itself in a different way. I love this interview because, again, this is not the stuff that people talk about. I think when it's so easy to be on social media with the perfect image, pretending you've got it all together. But not wanting to talk about the real stuff that's going on, because many of us, I think we are afraid that if we talk about that, that's going to make us look unprofessional or it's going to make us look like less of a business owner and we're afraid maybe that that won't bring us clients. But I think it's the vulnerability, that humanness, that connects people to your brand. To who you are. So you're not just another person selling a plant. Your Emily with your business. Right? So, I want to say kudos to you first, because not only are you doing this interview, you're also doing this interview in a very vulnerable way. So that's a big step forward.

Emily: Part of it kind of feels like what I do every day in therapy, though, I expect people to be vulnerable. The only way we move through this is if you feel like you can be vulnerable and talk about these hard things.

Stefanie: Yeah. You know, I've also seen with people that the fear of putting themselves out there on social media sometimes comes from thinking that we have to do social media and marketing a certain way, the way we see everybody else doing it, instead of realizing that we could do social media marketing, whatever way works for us, that is still in the same expression as everything else that we've been doing. Do you feel as you're putting yourself out there more and more, you're learning that you can actually do it that way?

Emily: I feel like I don't know enough about social media to do it any other way than what I've been doing. Social media in my personal life. I don't really use social media. So that has been really a big challenge for me to be consistent with social media, to know what to post on social media. I see other business owners, there's one in particular who, she probably markets herself more than she does the products in her store...and I get it. That makes me like her and her store more than if she were just posting pictures of the newest products she has in and I really admire that. But I don't know how to do that necessarily. You know, like she's a very unique and dynamic person and I don't feel like I have that like wow factor that she has.

Stefanie: Mhm. Yeah. Well but you're not the same person.

Emily: Absolutely.

Stefanie: So it just sounds like you're looking, you're on your way, to discovering your version of it. You're on you're on your way to figuring out and I think that that's a really great point. Another great thing about this conversation is we all have to go on that journey. We all have to go on the journey of figuring out our version. None of us were born with a manual and how to create a business our way. We're living in a time where we have to discover that for ourselves. Isn't that a blessed thing?

Emily: Absolutely.

Stefanie: That's, again, a part of the journey. It's what's growing you. Right?

Emily: Yes, it's definitely growing me, for sure.

Stefanie: In what ways do you feel like this business has asked you to stretch further than the comfort zone of the current career you have?

Emily: I think that this business, that's everything that it is. It's started like the seed of it is my passion for plants, my obsession with plants. But really, it's been more about the journey of growing and stretching and finding my way outside of my comfort zone and there's been seeds of that planted for a long time. I have a friend, we were having a conversation. It wasn't even about this business. It was years before the business idea came and I don't remember what we were talking about, but she was like, why don't you just stop being so vanilla and really be you. You are so much more than this persona that you put out there. It's vanilla and that's not you. So I think conversations like that were seeds for me for this and for me in this process. I mean, there was just so many. Looking back on it, it wasn't just a one time decision. It was lots of different seeds were planted.

Stefanie: Honestly, it's perfect. I think you say it so eloquently. I think what's beautiful about what you're talking about is you're talking about the journey of growing and creating this business. and it's growing you as you're growing these plants, as you're taking care of them. I think that's the story. But I'm so glad that I that I get to tell through this interview as your story of how plants are affecting your life and how it's, you know, as they grow and you're nurturing them. So are you growing and nurturing your dreams and that's what we all do. Or we can let them die on the vine. We can not nurture them. We can let them sit there and they can die off. Sometimes we have ideas that just die off, just like you were saying. You're like, I was nurturing my children, so I had no energy to nurture these plants. Sometimes you have to let those things go and you were okay with letting those things go to take care of what you needed to do.

Emily: Yeah, absolutely.

Stefanie: It also sounds like you realize that you have one foot in this new world and one foot in the old world, and you're going to have to transition.

Emily: Yes.

Stefanie: Do you see that that's something you're going to have to do now, soon, or do you see that that's just coming down the road and you're okay with it just kind of being in the distance for a minute? Do you feel in the rush to do it or no?

Emily: I don't have fire to do it and then I feel this sense of frustration. Like, "Oh my gosh, I have this really cool idea. I have this inspiration..." but I don't feel ready to act on it yet. I'm not ready to let go of the things on one side of my life that I need to let go of to make this happen over here. So I just write them down and I just kind of have them in holding and hope that that when I am ready, that that inspiration is still there.

Stefanie: So let's talk about that a little bit. We're going to use a little bit more of an analogy. Sometimes when you have an idea and you're starting something, that's the seed. Then there's the sprout, right? Then there's that period where it's just growing, growing, growing but nothing's really harvesting or it's not full bloom. Where do you feel like you are when it comes to where you are in your business right now? You're not quite the seed, but where do you feel like you're at right now?

Emily: I'm maybe not the sprout, but you know that stage when it has its first real leaves, it's not a sprout anymore but it just has that one set of real leaves? That's where I am.

Stefanie: That's where you are. What do you feel like you'll need in order to nurture more of your growth?

Emily: I think that's where the event rental comes in because that is kind of like fertilizer. It's a higher yield. It's an aspect of the business that I can do in spurts but doesn't require an extra day in the week, every week. It something I can do within what I'm already doing to enrich what I'm already doing. It doesn't require more business hours open. It doesn't require anything outside of what I'm already doing. It's something that can come from within what I'm doing and that will add some extra resources to the business. I feel like before I can let go of what I have with my job there needs to be more volume of business, more income, more consistency than what there is now. Before I can let go of anything that I'm doing currently.

Stefanie: It sounds like to me you're aware of the growth that you need. You have the vision of where you want to go. But you're not necessarily in the rush to jump there. It sounds like you can have the vision and hold it and still make steps towards it.

Emily: Yes.

Stefanie: I think that's really great to talk about when it comes to the journey of creating a business or anything. We have the vision sometimes we get frustrated because we see that vision and we want it now. We want the end result now. But there's not enough conversation about the journey that goes from here, where we are, to where we want to be and all that stuff that has to happen in between to get you there. There's not enough conversation about that. Sometimes it's a slow process and sometimes it's a messy process and sometimes you don't know where you're going and to get there but you're just trying everything. What advice would you give to somebody who's feeling that way? They too, are not to sprout anymore necessarily. or maybe they are the sprout and they're wanting to get those leaves. What would you give what advice would you give them?

Emily: This is this is the first thought that came to my mind so I'm just going to say it. There was this, I don't know if it was a podcast or a book, but it was about getting from where you are to where you want to be and just basically plugging it into your GPS. As long as you're moving forward, you might have to take detours and you might turn left when you should have gone right but you're eventually going to get there because the GPS is going to reroute you. So as long as you're moving forward or moving, even if it feels like you're moving backwards, as long as you're not just sitting in park. You're eventually going to get there.

Stefanie: I love that. Yeah. Not letting go of that vision and just taking steps towards it. Even if you don't think it's leading you to where you want to go, it's still going to be leading you because that vision is yours.

Emily: Yes, and there's lessons to be learned along the way and not worry about, like, getting there as fast as you possibly can or even the most direct route, but just keep moving.

Stefanie: I feel like businesses are an expression of who we really are. It's just all about our personal growth through this expression. Even when we get to the quote unquote destination, where we think we're trying to head to, there's going to be more growth after that. There's going to be more expansion. So there's no real there to get to. It's just more and more.

Emily: Absolutely. Because I don't- I know for myself, maybe there's people out there that like once they reach their goal, they're content to just sit there and nest in but that's never been my experience with any of my life's journeys. Once I reach a goal that I had, then it's like, okay, now what's next? Where are we going now? You know? ASo there's constant reevaluation of where I'm going.

Stefanie: Let me ask you this. Since you hated gardening growing up and you didn't see yourself being in a business with plants. What made you think, okay, I'm going to sell plants? There's other people out there. Especially if you didn't have really anybody coming to you necessarily at the beginning? How did you know "Yeah, this is what I want to do and I'm going to invest my time and my money and my life into creating this and cultivating this"?

Emily: I don't know. Where I am now, wasn't the original idea either. When the original idea happened, it was like, okay, phase one is going to be I'm going to sell houseplants and I could do that out of my home. I can do that out of my garage. I can put a little shed out in the yard with lights and a heater. My original plan was to just online or Facebook or local sales, that sort of thing, but that wasn't the whole business idea. Eventually I would love to have a green house or something even more than what I have. So I knew that I couldn't just jump there. So it had to be one step at a time and I knew that, if I want to do this before I die, I'm going to have to start now because it seems like such a huge goal. That's so many steps on the journey. So I've just got to start with this. So it's like a bigger picture.

Stefanie: Yeah, if you don't plant that seed, nothing can grow. You gotta to get started at some point, right?

Emily: I have a whole field to plant.

Stefanie: There you go. Our dreams. Our visions. We start off with a vision. We start off with an idea. We have no idea how big it's going to be, and it could be so huge, and I think sometimes that's why we're so afraid. it's as if can sense it's going to be a big thing. A lot can come through it and a lot is going to be asked of us and I think that's a lot also where some of the fear comes from but you do have to just get started. If not, it's just an idea.

Emily: It's the anology of a staircase. You're standing in front of a staircase and all you can see is the first couple of steps and you don't know what all is involved in the staircase and what's at the top of it. But you know that, all you have to do is find that next step and then the next step and and maybe that's all that reveals itself to you is one step at a time. But that's all you have to do. You don't have to jump to the top of the staircase.

Stefanie: Yeah, I don't remember who said it, but I think it's faith is taking the next step on the staircase even though you can't see it or something like that. I've always equated it to driving on the highway with headlights. You can only see so far. Once you come around the curb it's going to reveal more of itself but only as long as you keep moving. Because it you're never going to reveal more by being stagnant and staring there. It's just going to be the same light into an abyss that's going to scare you. But if you keep moving, it's not so scary. More reveals itself. So, since this is a Women In Business series, my last question to you is how do you feel like being a woman has helped you in business?

Emily: I have not really thought about that before. I definitely think there's a community of women, especially who I have encountered in Madison that are very supportive of other women in business. So I don't know if that same thing exists with men. I don't know, because I'm not a man. But I do know that there's a community of women who support women in Madison. So that has been really helpful and inspiring. I'm trying to think if something intrinsic about being a female helps with business. I don't know. I would want to explore that more before I speak on it.

Stefanie: Okay. Fair enough. So thank you, Emily, so much for doing this interview. It's been really illuminating and it's been refreshing and it's been fun. I know people are going to get so much insight from this. Tell everybody where they can find you if they wanted to look you up online.

Emily: So I'm on Facebook. The Jade Feather is our Facebook page. We're also on the web at www.thejadefeather.com. I also have Instagram, although that's probably where I put the least of my posts and my time and that sort of thing into.We're located in the Trolley Barn in Madison. 719 West Main Street and also I have plants at Crafted Coffee, which is at the corner of Broadway and Main in Madison.

Stefanie: Awesome. Thank you again so much for doing this.

Emily: You're welcome. Thank you for inviting me to do this. It was fun.

Stefanie: Absolutely.