Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenna Careme. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jenna, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
Jenna’s Succs all started as therapy for my career as a hospice nurse. Dealing daily with death, discomfort, and the hurricane of emotions that comes with end of life care, weighs on you and your soul. I started spending more time in my garden and adding color to my life where ever I could. I wanted to be and feel bright, such contrast to my 40 hour work week This helped tremendously with burnout and feeling the heavy sadness of my profession that follows you home. I started tending to my plants more and began to simply paint flower pots to add color to my yard. My son, being only 2 years old at the time, was so excited to see the new colored pots. This encouraged me to continue to spread colors and expand my garden to heal my empathetic heart. It exploded after that and the yard got quite full of foliage and rainbows. One day, my husband said, “The yard looks like an Ace Hardware got barfed on by a unicorn. You should get rid of this stuff.” As right as he was about my rainbow oasis, I couldn’t just get rid of my colorful creations and plants. Instead, I thought I’d try sharing my magical eye candy and wonders of mother nature that I’d grown myself. So Jenna’s Succs was born and my inner light was saved.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’ve been a hospice nurse for 12 years and have been in health care for 22 years. I’ve always had a passion for caring for things, whether it be disabled adults, dying individuals, animals, or plants. I always said I have way too much love to give and need to share it, I am also a strong advocate for happy living and peaceful dying. Meaning, Life is short. I encourage others regularly to remember they’re human and that every day is worth going to bed happy, Buy the plant, wear that bright color, eat the cake, and throw away your worries, We are not promised tomorrow so enjoy today, whatever that looks like for you. I am very passionate about spreading hospice and death awareness, I feel Americans would handle death and dying much less painfully if we, as a cultural, spoke more openly about death and what it really looked like. I’ve never understood that people can easily speak about child birth and all the “gross” and emotional stuff that happens but we can’t talk about death and all that goes with it. Especially since dying is nearly identical to being born, At birth, we are a little sweet potato curled up needing help with eating and growing appetites, incontinence, and building physical abilities. Babies slowly become more alert, begin eating on their own and eventually walk and tumble. As we move further in our journeys nearing death, were do the same but in reverse. The dying individual, whether from age or disease, will begin to lose their appetite. They will become weaker and start sleeping more. They lose their ability to control their bladders and bowels. Death is Life in reverse. If we understood that, maybe we would cope better with losing grandma to “old age” or with losing an uncle who has cancer. If we were educated on death, we might prepare better and leave our families more financially stable or less heartbroken. With that said, Jenna’s Succs was created with the goal of spreading plants, color, and kindness at any budget, It is also my personal goal to educate anyone interested in death, dying, and hospice. I want to provide a comfortable space where people can ask questions and receive knowledge at their comfort level and pace. (Because death is scary but it doesn’t have to be!) With life being so short and not promised, I want to share my happy creations and plants with anyone, whether they can afford it or not. I will always find a way to get customers the item they love or something similar that matches their budget. I have taken trades, garden help, and even a lottery ticket as payment. I will even offer discounts for seniors, military, health care, teachers, cool cats and broke Joes. I specialize in upcycling and recycling to keep prices low and Mother Earth cleaner. I also keep quite a stock of vintage items and planters because who doesn’t like funky old junk?
Jenna’s Succs is not only a licensed nursery and LLC but I also provide gardenscaping services, spray painting services, garden and paint workshops (in person and virtual), and just about anything plant and paint related.
I make garden art of all kinds and focus on bright rainbow colors that also glow under black light. It’s like a happy little surprise! (And you should see the nursery at night!)
I grow all my own plants that I sell and have a huge variety of cacti and succulents. I also sell indoor plants, airplants, and shade loving plants. I mix my own potting soil using compost, perlite, soil, and chicken poo. Yes, you can play with the chickens while shopping at Jenna’s Succs!
Jenna’s Succs does large orders of plants and planters such as weddings, birthdays, and memorials. I even do “take home kits” where children can put together their own fairy garden at home or they may visit to make one on site!
I also make jewelry, resin creations, and canvas art. Anything that tickles my fancy, I like to share!
The whole reason I do what I do is to make the World a brighter place. Life sucks but at least you can fill it with unnecessary colorful junk and plants to warm your heart, even for a little bit.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Stay positive and give yourself time. Nothing happens overnight, except pimples on Prom day. Give the Universe time to pave your path to success and smile while doing it. I was not successful when I first started Jenna’s Succs, In fact, it took 3 years before meeting my first goal. My first goal was to make enough money with JS that I could reduce my hours working at hospice. Now, I am part time with hospice and spend more time sharing happiness through JS, 2. Areas of knowledge: I am very observant and have spent a lot of time in the garden, literally just staring, I am self taught and pride myself in growing plants naturally and feeling out your plants, There’s always so much advice out there about what to do with or for your plants, My best advice has always been to do what your plants would do, Plant bone dry? You have to ask yourself, would it drown itself in water or would it drink slowly? Your plant looks yellow and droopy, would it get up and walk to a sunny area or would it gradually lean to the sun?
3. Qualities: Dedication… I am 100% dedicated the mission not the money. I just want to make enough to support my family and glitter addiction (joking) and make the world a better place one rainbow and plant at a time,
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
My biggest challenge currently is keeping up with creative demand. Most of my current profits stem from custom orders. These are custom creations requested, whether it is a miniature dog memorial piece, colored gravel, filled planters, rehabbed pieces, party favors, resin art, paintings, or one of a kind masterpieces. There is only me to “Jennafy” them, as my customers say. I am the only person who can put that rainbow, glittery, magical, whimisical spin on things. Custom orders take up to 4 weeks to complete. I would love to have a faster turn around time. If I did not work at hospice also, I could get orders out quickly. The second biggest challenge is needing a store front. I am currently selling off my property, which is licensed as a nursery. Being a home business, this deters new customers and doesn’t provide a typical shopping experience. Visitors are hesitant to visit during business hours thinking it is rinky dink home business, When, in reality, its a lush nursery, a petting zoo (kidding but not), and an oasis to forget the world for a while. Even though I am open 4-5 days a week, 9-5, I feel I would do better financially if I had a store front that would be more welcoming. However, with my profit margins low to keep to the mission, its difficult to take that leap. I have begun selling and shipping nationally this year so I am hopeful that a store front is in the near future!
Contact Info:
- Website: JennasSuccs.com
- Instagram: JennasSuccs
- Facebook: Jenna’s Succs- Succulent Gardens with Flare
- Linkedin: Jenna’s Succs
Image Credits
Photos by Jenna Careme
