3 Lessons for Yakima Business Women in Networking & Conquering Insecurity
Jenn Sharp is the founder and owner of Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace.
She's a visionary and such a creative, inspiring woman in business! Jenn also comes from a family of Yakima entrepreneurs. Here, we discuss her journey and some of the lessons she's learned along the way about business networking and overcoming entrepreneurial insecurity.
We'll be going over:
The Journey of Yakima's Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace
From Southern California to Yakima
Creating Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace
3 Lessons on Business Networking & Overcoming Insecurity
1. Just Start | Anxiety & Insecurity is Normal
2. Get & Give Help | The Value of Mentorship & Coaching
3. Expand Your Creativity | Look at What Other Businesses Are Doing
The Biggest Surprise About Starting a Yakima Business
The Journey of Yakima's Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace
Jenn originally grew up north of Seattle and loved the four seasons of the Pacific Northwest, but her entrepreneurial journey really begins in southern California. Jenn's academic background was in early childhood education, and she was a preschool teacher before becoming a mother to her two daughters and son.
In California, Jenn had a really creative group of friends around her that pursued all kinds of hobby ventures in floral, showers, parties, and weddings. She was always near a Trader Joes or at the Downtown LA Market. This experience laid the groundwork for her business when she moved to Yakima.
From Southern California to Yakima
Jenn and her husband's journey to Yakima was a more of a personal transition than a professional one; they weren't pursuing careers, they just wanted a simpler life than what Southern California had to offer.
After the move, Jenn focused on getting her family settled in the West Valley area. It took some time for her daughters, especially her middle child, to adjust to a new school and community. However, that challenge ultimately shaped her daughter's character.
Now, her daughter has a degree in psychology and mental health and aims to work with kids facing difficult transitions.
“Our new life is here. The move was hard but worth it, and I would do it again. We were ready to simplify; we didn't move for a job, and that really surprises people. Once I got my kids settled in, I realized they were going to be okay. The experience made my daughter as strong as she is today. We made the choice to live in Yakima.”
Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace has even become a bit of a family business now. Her son helps with deliveries, and one of her daughters works in the coffee shop they've partnered with - Better Now Coffee.
Creating Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace
Once her family was settled in Yakima, Jenn decided to explore her own interests and talents. With her background in design and love for flower arrangements, she began creating floral pieces as a hobby. It started with making arrangements out of Fred Meyer flowers for fun, and a small project for the West Valley girl's soccer team.
Then, Jenn began receiving requests from friends and acquaintances to create arrangements for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. One of Jenn's friends connected her to a wholesaler. Eventually, she was running a small floral shop out of her garage.
Her business only grew from there.
With enough demand, Jenn moved from her garage to a small, rented space behind the SOZO Sport Complex. From there, she had an opportunity to occupy a newly renovated spa for a month over Valentine's Day to build foot traffic and business to the new location during the pandemic. Finally, she decided to open her own brick-and-mortar shop on 40th and Summitview Ave.
3 Lessons on Business Networking & Overcoming Insecurity
Jenn has had an incredible journey with so many valuable lessons along the way. I think watching her start and grow Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace has been a powerful statement to the importance of networking and moving past insecurity as a business owner.
1. Just Start | Anxiety & Insecurity is Normal
One of Jenn's biggest challenges was moving from a private space like her home setup with customers that she knew, to a more traditional brick-and-mortar business. This also meant learning how to use social media to promote her business.
Jenn recalls the first time she made an Instagram post:
"The first Instagram post I ever made, I think my sister did it for me. It felt so uncomfortable to put myself out there and say, 'Look at these beautiful flowers I created. Please come and buy them.'"
But repeated exposure help Jenn learn to not let insecurity rob her of pursuing her passions. She's embraced the idea of learning and growing every day, whether it's figuring out how to make an invoice, price her products, or taking on holiday decorating challenges.
Don't let insecurity of rob you from doing it. As women, we tend to get in our head a lot and think we need to have all the answers. Honestly, I tell people all the time, "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm learning every day." If you talk to other business owners, you realize anxiousness and a little bit of fear is normal, but you can't let it take over.
Because I've seen Jenn's shop grow rapidly, I asked whether she had developed a seemingly typical 5-Tear Plan for her business yet. She intends to start drafting one next February, when she'll have been in her new space for a year.
I think it's so important to for female entrepreneurs to realize you don't need to start with a 5-Year Plan, or with every bit of the path charted out. Jenn just went for it, and so can you! By acknowledging that insecurity as an entrepreneur is normal, we can often find the courage to move forward and overcome obstacles.
2. Get & Give Help | The Value of Mentorship & Coaching
It really takes a whole tribe of people to make a business happen. Jenn and I can't emphasize enough how important it is for entrepreneurs to learn to delegate tasks. People who aren't self-employed often don't realize just how much goes into maintaining a business. The small, mundane day-to-day chores can stack up and drive the passion right out of you.
If you can hand off a task, go for it!
Along with delegation, Jenn has had firsthand experience around the value of finding good mentorship and coaching. She has two really strong support people in her life: her best friend in California who oversees 500-person crew for a TV network company, and her sister who owns Crafted (another amazing Yakima restaurant). Both have helped her with personal growth and acted as a sounding board for her business ideas.
Owning your own business also means you'll have plenty of opportunities to pay it forward with mentorship, and Jenn has helped other local entrepreneurs grow, too.
About 6 months into her floral business, Jenn met the owner of Rooted in Candles (also named Jen).
“Jen was ready to start her candles but had all these worries. I couldn't believe it, but I really helped her push through the fear. I think we all wrestle with it, but no one talks about it. Working with Jen helped me get better at my business too. We have such different yet complementary strengths, and now we help each other out.”
3. Expand Your Creativity | Look at What Other Businesses Are Doing
Because of their upbringing, Jenn and her sister have an incredible eye and passion for detail; their mother helped with theatre in the church they grew up in and was very attentive to things like lighting and sound.
While Jenn's business started out as "Simply Crafted Floral," it quickly expanded into "Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace" which includes a:
Clothing boutique
Barber shop
Coffee shop
Wine bar
Mimosa bar
Gift shop
Flower shop
Gathering space
Not only does running so many different aspects of a business require attention to detail and management, but it also requires openness and a willingness to continually learn and adapt.
“I say to people all the time, "Tell me what you see in other towns and other cities. If you see an idea, I'll make it happen." I love visiting different gift shops and boutiques! I was just in Italy celebrating my anniversary, and now I'm thinking about how to have the best olive oil. I'm always looking at different brands that would be a good, aesthetic fit for my store.”
The Biggest Surprise About Starting a Yakima Business
For Jenn, it was the community; her business has helped her connect and fall in love with Yakima. It was a lot of juggling and growth along the way, but now her family is all here and making huge strides locally.
Ten years ago, Jenn would not have been able to imagine this kind of success. She had no idea that Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace was something that Yakima needed, and I believe Yakima is looking for other inviting community environments that are more homegrown than a Starbucks.
“It's incredible to see these gals that have lived here their whole lives, having little coffee dates for 50 years with their best friends. THAT'S what makes my heart happy: seeing the community loving this space. I had no idea we’d open those doors, and I feel like my business is something Yakima needs. That's not the reason why I started it - you don't know what Yakima needs when you're not from here - but Yakima needed Simply Crafted. It's been amazing to see!”
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Thank you for joining us! If you want to find out more about Simply Crafted Floral & Marketplace, check out their website, Facebook, or Instagram. I hope you found something you can take into your business ventures. I'd love to hear from you and learn more about how other Yakima business women are conquering their insecurities and networking with others. Stay tuned as we hear from more badass business women!