We were lucky to catch up with Meg Anderson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Meg, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
The concept of Self-Care didn’t come into my vocabulary until well into my 30’s. Growing up in a religious community that viewed paying attention to self as selfishness = bad. These days however, and creeping into my mid-40’s, I’ve found that the truth couldn’t be more opposite. In fact, self-care is crucial for all of us to stay healthy both mentally and physically as we navigate through our day-to-day lives. As business owners, CEOs, parents, entrepreneurs, our brains are constantly being challenged, and often work comes home with us in unintended ways. In efforts to leave as much work at work as possible, I’ve started doing a CEO day 1x a week as much as possible. This is where I lean on my team to navigate the daily sales + customer needs, while I do brainstorming, dreaming of what’s next for my business, catching up on calls with clients, doing yoga on the back patio, etc. I get so much done on these days. I let my team know ahead of time that Wednesdays is CEO day. I’m available if needed, but only if it’s actually a timely issue. It’s the day where I work from my lovely backyard, drink coffee in the sunshine and dream about what’s next both in life and in business. It’s done wonders for my burnout, that can happen too easily from being so bogged down in the day-to-day work to do lists that we don’t have time to think about the big picture of what my vision is for my business. I get time and space to think about the “why” I’m doing what I’m doing, and if it’s still the right path for me. If it’s not, what changes do I need to make? I always find that my brain, body and spirit are so refreshed after a CEO day.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
At my core, I’m a creative person. As a creative person that also has bills to pay, I decided a long time ago to turn my creativity into my work. While I didn’t realize it at the time, me telling myself I never wanted to have a “boss” again was actually the beginning of my journey as an Entrepreneur.
I’m the CEO + Creative Director at Foliage and East Nashville Flower Shop, both floral design companies. Foliage is our events side of the work, and East Nashville Flower Shop is our neighborhood flowers, daily flower deliveries aspect of the work. I love to bring unique color palettes and interesting flowers in for us to work with, and get a lot of joy from creating something beautiful that’s going to be passed along and shared with others. The fact that we get to help convey the love, sympathy, excitement, apologies, that our clients have for those they’re sending flowers to is truly special. Getting the opportunity to celebrate the life of a loved one that has passed through funeral florals is truly amazing, and we are so honored when clients call us for help with this.
We specialize in bright color combinations, unique, flowing florals with movement, and an attention to detail from beginning to end for all our clients, whether you’re spending $10k or $10. We celebrate 4 years in business this fall and you should join us for our Flower Cafe Pop Up Experience!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Tenacity. 2. Perseverance 3. Mindset. A business doesn’t materialize overnight. It doesn’t become profitable immediately. That’s ok! You’re going to make lots of wrong turns to find the right one. You need to anticipate that bad days will come, and know that they won’t last forever. You need to have the right group of people around you, championing you from the outside, telling you that you can do this! And fyi: this may not be your mom, your romantic partner, etc. That’s ok! Not everyone has the entrepreneur mindset.
Take breaks when you need them. It’s not a race! Take your time! Enjoy it, and be the amazing you that you are!
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks is an amazing tool for everyone ready to make that next step in their life, but maybe a little scared as well. One of the most eye-opening concepts introduced to be was the self-sabotage that happens as we’re about to grow and thrive. Our brains want to keep us right where we are, in the safe-zone we’re in now. The brain doesn’t want us to grow and try something new, go somewhere new, take that new position that we’ve always wanted, because it’s an unknown and not “safe”. So it begins to tell us all sorts of things to keep us from moving into that new area of growth. This was such a huge eye opener for me. This isn’t a great description of it, but this book is highly recommended.
Also: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
Contact Info:
- Website: eastnashvilleflowershop.com
- Instagram: @eastnashvilleflowershop
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/foliage-nashville/
Image Credits
Allen Clark Photography was the photographer of my headshot.
