On the 1st of October I finally took the leap to be self-employed full time! I've almost always ran my garden design business alongside another full-time job...often finishing work then designing gardens all evening and presenting them to clients at the weekends.
When I first set up in March 2009 I worked at a local pub while I grew my business. I then in 2012 thought it would be useful to learn more about paving and hard landscape materials so worked at a couple of natural stone suppliers. I also worked for a plant nursery to learn about horticulture and plant supply. In these sales roles I travelled around the country advising landscape architects, garden designers, contractors and local authorities on the best materials and plants to use in their projects.
These roles were great at expanding my knowledge and helped me gain an insight into the industry from other viewpoints. I learnt so much about natural stone I could no doubt bore the pants off you at a dinner party and I'm also known to name stone paving and its geological source when out and about...I'm so cool, haha!
My experience working at a plant nursery was invaluable and taught me more about sourcing plants, specifying them correctly and planning projects to suit plant availability. After almost 10 years, and lots of people saying I should take the plunge, I decided to design gardens full-time in October 2018!
One of my ultimate goals since I set up my business was to have my business name on my car! Well, it finally happened!
If you spot me (you can't miss me now!) give me little wave :)
