I am fascinated by my garden!  Which, I know that may sound crazy to a seasoned gardener but to me it’s all pretty new.  I’ve wanted a garden for years.  My mom always had one and I loved watching all the veggies grow and then having all that delicious goodness for dinner, knowing you grew it!!

But for one reason or another I’ve never planted one.  We didn’t have enough room, or we needed to till the whole yard up and my husband and just couldn’t agree on how to go about it. Plus, it’s a lot of work and effort and we just weren’t sure we wanted to commit.  But this year I convinced him!  Somehow, I keep getting served prepper ads on my Facebook feed and I saw this great way some folks were planting a garden.  They did it in 5 gallon buckets!

How brilliant is that!  You can move them around if you need to.  If there’s a late freeze you can put them inside.  It’s more contained and doesn’t take up so much room and you can even put them on something higher so you don’t have to stoop over so much, and for my “getting old” back that was a great thought. 

Yay!!  It was a good time of year, I had buy in from the hubby, I was ready to go already!  Next was a visit to Lowe’s.  There were so many steps to this.  We got buckets and soil.  A couple of the things we wanted were plants and some were seeds.  We mainly went for the things that I like because my boys aren’t big vegetable eaters.  We decided to start somewhat small and see what happened and expand next year if this worked.

I mean, I am southern so I feel like it’s a law to plant tomatoes, right?  Tomato plants, check.  Got 2 just in case.  Next were squash and zucchini plants.  My mouth was watering thinking about it all these fresh veggies!  I also wanted cucumber and green bean but those were seeds.

I was nervous about the seeds.  That just seemed harder and less likely to work.  The plant already existed, all I had to do was keep it alive right?  But we chose ones that looked good and went for it.

We got home and drilled holes in the bucket so the water can drain.  Then we read the directions on the seed packet… plant one inch down.  Full sun…. got it.  We got little cages for the tomatoes and a trellis for the cucumbers, if they grew that was.

And then… we wait.  Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not the most patient person you will ever meet, so I was out the door the next morning… just looking.  Making sure they all looked good.

Every day, before I left for work and when I got home.  I looked.  I made sure they looked ok.  Did they need water?  What about food?  Was the soil ok or did it need fertilizer?

What about bugs?  Those leaves don’t look good… put the stuff to kill the bugs…

AND, I talked them.  All the time.  I don’t them how strong they were and told them, “you can do it!  I believe in you.  You will grow big and strong and make lots of veggies!”

A week or so later I saw it!  Little green sprigs had broken the surface of the dirt.  The green beans and cucumbers! They both were making it.  I would tell my husband, be gentle!  They are babies.  But before I knew it, they weren’t anymore – they were huge!  And I was able to pick a few green beans every day.  The cucumbers were full of flowers but no fruit.

The tomatoes only produced a few and the squash & zucchini didn’t produce at all.

So, of course, we started trying to process what we had done wrong.

But the truth was, we hadn’t done anything wrong.  We simply tried some things and some were more successful than others.  We fed, we watered, we nurtured, we kept the bugs away but still some plants didn’t do what we thought they would.

It really made me think of my life and career and especially my business. 

How many times have you decided to try something but didn’t really know how to proceed?  You made a plan and nurtured it, you believed in it and you watched it grow but it didn’t turn out quite like you planned or had envisioned. 

Our squash simply needed room to spread and get it’s elbows out, as I hear some people say.  It was smothered.  It couldn’t grow because I had kept in a container that was simply too small and didn’t fit it’s needs.

The cucumbers had a ton of beautiful flowers!  But they never made fruit… why?  Because they were never properly pollinated.  It needed additional help, outside help.

With the tomatoes, to be honest, I’m not quite sure.  They never got that big and they produced, but just a few.  The green beans just kept producing.

Sometimes that’s how your business will be, or even your life.  Things won’t always go the way you think they will.  The key is to still try the things and then learn from what happens so you can adjust and try again. 

What did I learn from my garden that I apply to my business?

1. Plant the seed, then nurture it and allow it break the surface and grow.
2. Don’t smother the project.  Give it the room it needs to do it’s thing.  Sometimes you have to put an idea out there and see where it goes.  See who likes it.  See who responds. 

For both of these, it’s so important to give your project what you can, but sometimes you have to just get out of the way. 

Let’s take a course you are offering as an example.

You put it out there with certain intentions but the result may be something you never thought of.  You may have people take your course that you hadn’t thought of.  They may present challenges you never thought of addressing.

There is so much you can analyze and learn from in that process. 

Who responded?

Who actually signed up?  What kind of interaction did you have with that person?

Who actually showed up? 

Who participated during your course?  Who engaged?

How did the price effect participation?

As you continue to offer the course, you will start to see patterns and see where you can make changes or adjustments.  It also may show you places where there is a need for a different kind of course that you can add to your services.

So let it breathe and grow.  Offers can change… prices can change, content can change.  Be willing to let the project teach you. We realized that some things will be influenced by outside forces that you can’t control.  

3. For example, my cucumber needed to be pollinated.  I can’t control that.  That is part of nature.  The same can happen in your business, job or life.  Illness, environmental factors, we saw this with the covid pandemic.  Businesses were left scrambling to adjust how they could deliver their goods or services safely.  Some simply faded away as that wasn’t an option or financially they couldn’t make the change.  When things outside your control happen, you have to access the situation and do the best you can.  Sometimes it can be very difficult to navigate but other times it could be a pivot you needed or that opened up a new aspect of your business.  The key here is to remember it’s not you, but also be careful not to fall into a victim mentality. 

4. Some things look pretty on the outside, but if you look really closely, they aren’t as great as they seem.  Ie. My cucumbers… pretty flowers, no fruit.   How often do you find yourself comparing your business or your life to others around you.  Things may look great on the outside.  You may find yourself being a big jealous and wishing you could have what they have.  But the reality is we have no idea what’s really going on with others.  There life may really be great.  Or they may be hiding a myriad of problems… just like my cucumber plant.  The world needs your voice… your product.. whatever it is, it’s you and that’s what we need.  Don’t try to be someone else.  Be you. Trust me, we all have our own issues.  Do what’s right for you, there’s no need to be anyone else… be the real authentic you.

So what seeds have you planted lately?  Maybe it’s been planted in you.  Had a little nudge lately? A thought that felt right or that just won’t go away, like something you should listen to.  And this doesn’t have to be just about a business.  It could be about a relationship, or your job or even a party you’ve been wanting to throw.  Don’t ignore the seeds… nurture them.

What kind of care do your seeds need?  Where do you need to tend your garden?

I encourage you to take one action a day towards that need.  It can be small, it can be grand.  It can be as simple as meditating on the idea and clearing your head or making a list of your goals.  It could be Journaling what you envision this little seed will be one day.  You’ll know when it’s the right step, just for the love of all that is holy, take it!

I wanted to take a few minutes and introduce myself and explain why I’m here and what kinds of things I want to talk about on the Ballyhoo Bridge Podcast.  My name is Heather and I’ve been working in marketing, PR, graphic design and the like for about 30 years. 

Just a few short years ago I began a spiritual journey by complete accident.  Of course, I don’t believe in accidents… I believe everything happens for a reason and this is no exception. 

It started when I took a class to help me grow a side business I was trying to get off the ground.  It was a mindset class.  the truth is, I didn’t even really know what that meant.  What I am doing now is nowhere near what I thought I would be doing or how that side hustle started… I learned so much… for one thing, why I don’t want to hustle… I ended up learning what I really want out of my life and what I want my life to be. 

I finally began to understand my intuitive gifts and began to develop them and use them to help the people in my life. 

Like so many other people of my generation, really any generation I guess, when I was young and graduating high school, I did the thing that was expected of me.  I said I wanted to go to school for art, my mom said, that’s fine but it needs to be something where you can actually make a living… not be some starving artist.  And That was just ONE example of the typical conditioning statements from my parents.  I would venture to say from most parents…So I did that… I never became a film maker or animator like I had dreamed of for so long.  I only sang in my car, not on a stage… and the reality is, when I struggled to let go in painting classes or choir or anywhere, I think that conditioning was taking hold of my brain and my paintbrush.  It told me to do the right thing and to NOT let go.  When I started this journey, I didn’t even know what conditioning was, much less how much effect it had on my life and my decisions.

So, I got the degree that I enjoyed but I didn’t love.  I did the corporate jobs that don’t fit how I’m wired and are difficult for me to focus and not get bored in… I changed jobs a lot… trying to find where I was supposed to be. 

When it comes to the marketing I do everyday, the truth is I’m good at it and I really do enjoy it.  And through this journey I’ve come to understand more of why.  I both like and need to be creative and I both like and need to help people.

I find I am still shifting into the alignment of who I am and my purpose and I’m ok with that, it means I’m growing. 

So many of us spend our lives trying to understand why we don’t fit the expectations of those around us.  And for many reasons, we don’t try to discover what our real fit in life is. 

But then something happens and causes the shift that makes you start your journey. 

See, I’ve taken a lot of classes and met a lot of people.  One thing I’ve noticed is, the ones in a class on a spiritual journey always end up wanting to open a business… they find something they love they want to share with others… AND the ones in the class to help their business almost always end up on a spiritual journey. 

Running a business on your own can be rewarding and freeing and fulfilling and all the ing words, but it can also be brutal.  When you hit dips, and you will, you start to question everything, not just about your business but about your very existence.  You aren’t good enough – that’s imposter syndrome.  Everyone was right about you and doing this crazy thing – that’s conditioning… do you see where I’m going here?  Finding yourself and your inner strength, aligning with what’s right for you and what truly makes you happy can play a vital role in your success and all the ing words we talked about earlier. 

I grew up a Christian. I went to church every Sunday. My relationship with God was solid.  I thought…  I thought I had this “love myself, strength thing” under control.  The further I went, the more I realized I didn’t and that part of my conditioning actually kept me from being open enough in my spirituality. 

I won’t lie, there are things I heard people talk about and partake in that as a Christian, and using my conditioning to hear, I questioned. I have learned more and understand more than I ever thought possible.  I learned that many times we are all saying the same things, just using different words.  I am closer to God than I’ve ever been.  Part of that is because I opened my mind and allowed Him in, in ways I hadn’t before. 

I am aware many Christians hear woo” and spiritual things and they run for the hills.  But the truth is the parallels are staring us all in the face if we can choose to let go and see. 

These are the things I will talk about in my podcast, the myths, not just of spirituality and how we are not so different, but the myths of business and with a little help, the next steps aren’t as hard and overwhelming as they may seem.

Most solopreneurs I’ve met need help.  Not just in getting their head and their heart straight but how to do this business thing… finding your thing, figuring out how to plan it and market it.

But business isn’t just about marketing and branding and social media algorithms.  It’s understanding your true, authentic self and then showing up as THAT person, not the one you think you’re supposed to be. 

So we will explain the jargon, clear up some misconceptions, address confusion and discover we are all not so different.  No matter what your background is, we are here to bridge the gaps between what you think you know and what you think you don’t.

Oh and one more thing… this name, ballyhoo bridge. My son suggested it and I kind of love it!

Ballyhoo means extravagant publicity or fuss

A Bridge is something intended to reconcile or to form a connection between two things.

So, let’s make a fuss!  And bridge some gaps…

I hope you’ll join us!

You can listen here or anywhere you find your podcasts!