53 min
Changing Career in Your 50s With Melissa Richardson My Small Business & Me
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- Entrepreneurship
#024 - Florist Melissa Richardson shares her small business journey. After running a model agency for many years, in her mid-fifties she set up JamJar Flowers in London. Now with a team of three permanent staff, she designs floral concepts, installations and art pieces for bespoke events and private clients.
On leaving school, she went to drama school. After having worked as a photographer's agent, then freelancing in styling and casting, she became a model agent. When the model agency she worked for went bust, her dad suggested that she set up a model agency.
Aged 55, after having run the agency for 27 years, she decided to close it. She'd always had a great love of flowers, so she started a floristry business from her kitchen table. Melissa shares the reactions from her friends and family about her career change.
She then talks about the transferable skills that she'd used in her model agency and then in her floristry business. She also discusses the benefits of working with people younger than herself, including Amy , Talena and India. Melissa explains what JamJar Edit is and how it came about. Plus she discusses the impact of the pandemic on the business.
The Nature of Thyme, a pressed botanicals exhibition, which they created pressed flower designs for, and their installation for this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show are also discussed in detail.
Listening to this episode, you'll hear how passionate Melissa is about changing career mid-life and working with a team of younger people. At the end of the podcast, you'll discover her practical tips, which I'm sure you'll find very inspiring.
Show notes are available on the My Small Business & Me website: https://mysmallbusinessandme.com/episode24
#024 - Florist Melissa Richardson shares her small business journey. After running a model agency for many years, in her mid-fifties she set up JamJar Flowers in London. Now with a team of three permanent staff, she designs floral concepts, installations and art pieces for bespoke events and private clients.
On leaving school, she went to drama school. After having worked as a photographer's agent, then freelancing in styling and casting, she became a model agent. When the model agency she worked for went bust, her dad suggested that she set up a model agency.
Aged 55, after having run the agency for 27 years, she decided to close it. She'd always had a great love of flowers, so she started a floristry business from her kitchen table. Melissa shares the reactions from her friends and family about her career change.
She then talks about the transferable skills that she'd used in her model agency and then in her floristry business. She also discusses the benefits of working with people younger than herself, including Amy , Talena and India. Melissa explains what JamJar Edit is and how it came about. Plus she discusses the impact of the pandemic on the business.
The Nature of Thyme, a pressed botanicals exhibition, which they created pressed flower designs for, and their installation for this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show are also discussed in detail.
Listening to this episode, you'll hear how passionate Melissa is about changing career mid-life and working with a team of younger people. At the end of the podcast, you'll discover her practical tips, which I'm sure you'll find very inspiring.
Show notes are available on the My Small Business & Me website: https://mysmallbusinessandme.com/episode24
53 min