Inside the Mind of a Proven Entrepreneur | Julie Hockney’s Journey to Success.
What does it take to transform a passion into a successful interior design business? How do women entrepreneurs balance creativity and strategy while building a brand? In this episode of The Proven Entrepreneur Show, host Don Williams sits down with Julie Hockney, an successful women entrepreneur who turned her passion for design into a thriving interior design business and also, built Bouquet Floral Studio into thriving enterprises from ground up.
Julie’s story is nothing short of inspiring. She started her journey as a music teacher, but her entrepreneurial spirit led her to take a leap of faith. With an eight-week-old baby and nothing but determination, she founded JH Interior Design from her basement. Fast forward to today, she has scaled her business to 23 employees, expanded into Steamboat, Colorado, and established a reputation as a leading expert in the design industry. Not stopping there, she also founded Bouquet Floral Studio, an extension of her passion that has grown into Omaha’s top floral studio, handling an astounding 97 weddings in a single year.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- How JH Interior Studio was founded: The grassroots journey of turning a home-based passion into a full-scale design firm.
- Lessons from women entrepreneurs: The mindset shifts and challenges that come with being a female leader in business.
- Balancing creativity and business: How to manage the art of design while building a profitable company.
- Scaling a small business successfully: Overcoming roadblocks, hiring the right team, and creating a sustainable company culture.
- Tips to run an interior studio business: Strategies for managing operations, clients, and branding in a competitive market.
- How to grow an interior design business: The key decisions that helped Julie expand her company beyond Omaha.
- Challenges of running a floral studio: Handling high-pressure events, managing perishable products, and working with demanding clients.
- Leadership tips for entrepreneurs: How to trust your instincts, embrace risk, and make confident business decisions.
- The power of saying ‘YES’: How Julie’s willingness to take risks opened doors to incredible opportunities.
Through personal stories, real-world business insights, and honest reflections, Julie shares the highs and lows of her entrepreneurial journey from teacher to business owner. She talks about the importance of resilience, adaptability, and trusting the process—even when faced with uncertainty. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned business owner, or simply someone who loves an inspiring startup success stories, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways.
For information on how to work with Don visit us at https://donwilliamsglobal.com
You can also reach out to Don Williams at https://provenentrepreneurshow.com
Don’t forget to subscribe to The Proven Entrepreneur Show for more success stories, actionable strategies, and the best of entrepreneurial wisdom!
Watch the episode here
From Basement Startup to Thriving Business – Julie Hockney’s Entrepreneurial Journey
Hey, it’s Don Williams with today’s episode of the Proven Entrepreneur Show. I have a real treat. Maybe my favorite Nebraskan. Even though I may have said that to like a hundred other Nebraskans, but Julie really is my favorite. My very good friend from Omaha, Nebraska today, where I’m sure it’s colder than Hack. And it’s about 80 here in Fort Worth, Texas today. And so Julie Hockney, welcome.
Ooh.
No.
It is.
to the show.
Thank you for having me. I’ve really been looking forward to this,
My pleasure. let’s, now we know each other. Okay. So you’re, you’re, might be a strange guest, but you’re not a stranger guest if you know what I mean. Okay. And, and we know each other through our association with EO or Entrepreneurs Organization. Okay. And I think you’re currently, El Presidente.
Eh.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Correct.
El Presidente, the first female president ever for Nebraska. And I am proud to represent that. It means a lot to me. Thank you.
Don Williams (01:02)
That’s awesome.
Yeah, you should be. I’m proud of you too. Okay.
And, um, like all positions of leadership, like all teams, okay. Whether it’s the Kansas City Chiefs, which is going to grace the field here in a day or two. Yeah. I was getting ready to say that that’s, they’re probably fan favorites in Omaha because it’s, yeah, it’s not that far. And I was born and raised in Kansas. So I’ve been a Chiefs fan like way back when Lenny Dawson was the quarterback.
and
With our geography, yeah, that’s about all we got.
When they won the Super Bowl the other time, yeah. And so that’s coming up. That’s going to be great. tell me this. Tell me one. no, we lost my train of thought there. So we know each other through EO. You’re the you’re the first female president in the Nebraska chapter. And like in all leadership. My personal opinion.
Wow, okay.
You’re fine.
Nebraska.
20 % of leaders are really high performers. 20 % of leaders are low performers and 60 % are somewhere in the middle. Okay. And I happen to know independent of you, you would never tell me this, but I happen to know that you’re a very high performing leader. so thank you for your service and your leadership. Okay. Yes, ma’am. All right. So tell me, I think you own, you know, to be on the show, you have to be an entrepreneur. Okay. And you have to be a
Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm. Okay.
Wow, well thank you.
Thank you. It means a lot.
Mm-hmm. shoot.
No. That’s right. Yeah.
Proven entrepreneur. Yeah. And so
I think you own a business or maybe two. Tell me about your businesses.
Yeah.
So I own JH Interior Design and we are a full service interior design. We’re the firm in Omaha and now Steamboat Colorado. like a, like a, talk real entrepreneur. mean, real entrepreneurs. There’s a lot of them, but I started in my basement when my daughter was eight weeks old and we just hired our 23rd employee this month.
Congratulations!
So it is, thank
you. has been so, and I like to say that not just as like a drop in number, but it gives me like a reflection moment when I phrase it that way. Cause it just has been an incredible journey and very grassroots, very slow, very, it wasn’t like started overnight. Everything was in place, like open the doors, they’ll come. It was like one paint deck, one notepad, one client go buy a printer.
And so JH Interior Design was born along with my daughter in 2007. And then I also own Bouquet Floral Studio, which is a fun separate story I could tell, but it was an offshoot of interiors because the floral aspect, if you look at a finished photography of say a kitchen or a home, you’ll often see floral in it. And I knew that our
Photos needed that when I started to build a portfolio. And so I would just be like, well, we need these centerpieces. And people are like, what? And I was like, I’ll just make it. Here we are. We did 97 weddings last year and we are the top florist in Omaha. Yeah. Yeah.
Gosh, I’m pretty
sure I’d rather be boiled in oil than deal with 97 weddings. I would.
You would. It is
not for the faint of heart. mean, imagine the brides, the bride’s moms, the grooms, the event planners, the weather. I mean, all the perishable products, like the emotions. It’s an insane industry. So.
was already
in awe, but I’m just telling you, I can’t even wrap my mind around 97 brides, bride moms, wedding parties. You know, we had a little event here in Fort Worth and roses are kind of my thing. know, like most of the time I speak, most of the time I facilitate because of my romance in your customer book, which the logo is a rose. I give roses. I give away a lot of, I give away a lot of thousands of roses a year.
huh.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Mm, right, yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
And sometimes, and like at that event where we bought 600 roses, the guys would look at me and like, why do I need this rose? And I’m like, you have no game at all. You, you, hold, hold the rose next to your face, smile, which just means show your teeth, dude. Okay. Take a selfie, send it home to the Mrs. And say, I’m thinking of you. I was like, now.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Thinking of you. So easy.
I’m like, I have
real game. That’s just like a little bit of game, but I can’t tell you how many people came up to me the next day and said, man, that really worked. And you’re like, oh my gosh, you guys are slow. yeah, we may be brother and sister on the floral thing, even though I’m not dealing with no brides, zero brides. Yeah. Okay. So, so I’m gonna take you all the way back to little Julie.
Mm-hmm.
Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Get with it. So you get it.
huh. huh. huh.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Five years old, pigtails, ponytails, whatever it was, five to 18, you’re
living in your family home, whatever that looked like. Some people lived with one parent, some two, some with their grandparents, some wherever. Was there an adult in your childhood home that was an entrepreneur?
Mm-hmm.
huh. Yeah.
There was.
Really? Who was it?
It was my stepdad.
Your stepdad, what did he do?
And crazy enough, both the homes I grew up in, entrepreneurs. And it took me a long time to reflect on this, my dad and stepdad, entrepreneurs. One started and still owns a phenomenal real estate company. They’re both in real estate. The other one has gone between real estate, private aviation, public service, and then back to real estate. And nature and nurture, I was wired and watched both.
That’s awesome. You know, so many times a child raised in a home and you in two homes with two entrepreneurs, okay. You know, the kitchen table is many times the boardroom table. And so they hear things, they see things, they rub up against things that other children just don’t do. And so it’s not as big a stretch to kind of clear that mental hurdle of
The kitchen table is many times the boardroom table. Share on XYeah.
We should.
Mmm.
What you feel?
Interesting.
Hmm.
Hey, I’m a brand new mom. have an eight week old baby and I’m going go down to my basement. I’m going to start a business because normal people don’t do that. Julie. No, no, normal people don’t. and so.
Right?
They don’t, do they?
I thought
maybe I was abnormal. This really solidifies it, thanks.
I think it’s better. The better wording is unique and, and gifted, abnormal kind of sounds bad. okay. So, so you did have entrepreneurial influence as a young girl. Okay. Tell me about your first job, which it might’ve been a company. It your job might’ve been a lemonade stand in Omaha. don’t know. But the first time that you traded effort for money, what was that?
Mm. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Okay,
so I could go career out of college first job or I could go like as a kid job. Do have a preference?
Well, let’s go with,
we’re going to get both, but let’s start with the very first time.
Okay,
okay. So I was a bus girl. Because that was the only job they could give me at 14. Because my parents said you will get a job. Don’t care what it is, but you’ll get a job and pick somewhere close to home because we have to drive you. So okay, I have since done the same to my kids.
Okay.
And let me ask you, are you born and raised in Omaha? Okay. All right. So you.
Yes. Born and raised,
went away for a while, came back.
Yeah. So I’m born and raised in Wichita and I can remember, I might’ve been 11, 10, probably 10. And my dad said, what are you going to do this summer? And I’m like, I don’t know. I’m going to ride my bike and play baseball and do what I do. he’s like, but what are you going to do for work? I’m like, I don’t know. And so I painted our home.
Yeah. Yeah.
What? It doesn’t work? It works?
Wow. Inside or outside? I was like, okay. Did it stick?
I wouldn’t say I was, no, outside, outside. Yeah. Cause I wouldn’t say I was a,
I wouldn’t say I was a great painter, but, but, you know, but I, I could put paint on a surface. And so I painted the house and then my, which I did not get paid. he still owes me dad. If you’re listening, I did not get paid. he didn’t promise, he didn’t promise to pay me, but, but I didn’t get paid. And then my first paying job, drove.
That’s good to say.
Hmm. An interest now.
tractor at wheat harvest for my grandfather. there I was 11. so, you know, work ethic is certainly part of the mix, you know, part of the mix. Okay. So, so we’re leaving 17, 18 year old Julie in the dust and you’re, joined the merchant Marine, you hiked across Spain, you went to university. What’d you do?
wow. Wow.
Wow.
Huge. Huge.
Mm-hmm.
university. I was a Jayhawk. So here’s our Kansas connection. I am a Jayhawk. So I got out of here and I said, I am leaving the state. I want to find the biggest school as close as I can, know, far enough that maybe I can’t get home. But if I needed to, but I don’t want, you know, anyone coming to see me. My parents really probably wouldn’t have anyways.
Okay. my, my gosh. Love that.
just because I was very independent and that’s how they raised me. So I went to KU and I studied music education and I was a music teacher. And it’s fun now looking back that entrepreneurial spirit was in me, but I haven’t now gone back to pinpoint it and I keep taking it further back. Like when I had the bus girl job.
Hmm, what the?
I was like, shouldn’t we reorganize all the cups and the, because I can’t get it fast enough to the, to go then the trip. they’re like, well, we’ve always had it this way. I’m like, but I think it can be better. Little things like that. Like I’m now just reflecting like how far back did this entrepreneur spirit start? And so I, in my student teaching fifth year, so it’s a five year program. You go to be a student teacher and you.
maybe know some of these schools because you know Kansas, but we’d go meet with our advisor and they’d say, all right, where do you want to your student teaching? There’s a beautiful new school, Blue Valley North. There’s this Olathe, beautiful. There’s da da. And they’re like, they go fast. So get in there. And I was like, well, what else do you have? If everyone’s doing that, what else do I got? And they said, well, there is this school that’s in the inner city. It’s really rough. It’s in Kansas City, Kansas. Nobody wants to go there. And I said, sign me up.
I wanted the challenge and I wanted to, I think, have that like you write your destiny and you can get in and kind of make something your own. And that, started so early on for me, but I didn’t know at the time that’s what was happening. I just thought, again, I was a school teacher. Doesn’t everybody just go to inner city and shake up the music program? And no, I guess they don’t.
They probably don’t, but you know, problem solving, which is basically what you’re talking about. Hey, I was a problem solver and, and not just maybe there wasn’t even a problem, just a, an improvement. You know, I just see a way to make this better. Okay. And, and, and I don’t understand why you’re not letting me make it better. Okay. I know it, you know it, you know that I know it. Let me do it. And, and sometimes, sometimes that doesn’t happen. Well, I, I’m so impressed that.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Let me do it. Let’s just get in there and do it.
Let me do it. Let's just get in there and do it. Share on XYou went all the way from Omaha to Lawrence, Kansas, which is about four blocks. No, no, it’s not. Okay. Three hours and 15 minutes. If you drive the speed limit two hours and 30, 30 minutes. If you, if you drive like I do and, and then the topography, of Lawrence, Kansas looks a lot like the topography of Omaha. There’s about three strands of barbwire between there and Canada that’s closed the Canadian wind in the winter time.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Three hours and 15 minutes.
No car. Uh-huh.
Yep.
Hmm. Yeah.
And so, but, but they obviously have a stellar music program and they have been known to play some basketball. Yeah.
Yep.
Okay.
Yeah, and they
won when I was there, which was amazing. So pretty cool.
Yeah. Yeah. Great. One of the storied basketball programs in the NCAA, obviously. Okay.
So we graduated, we got our degree in music appreciation. We go to the inner city of Kansas City, Kansas, which would be like the inner city of any major, Philadelphia, New York City, whatever. And so there’s some challenges in education there. Okay. How long were you a teacher?
huh. Yep.
Yeah, sure. Yeah.
yeah. yeah.
About two and a half years.
Okay. Wasn’t terrifically
fulfilled teaching. I have a little sister, she got her degree in education at Colorado. She went to Kansas state. She graduated from Colorado state. Okay. And she made it about a year before she was frustrated with public education. And, uh, you know, what you.
No?
stay, go.
It was hard and I
think I realized too, was confining. As entrepreneurs, we want the freedom of, I want to work 100 hours or two, or I want to work from this city or that. I was being told what building to go to at what time every day and barely had a lunch break. was like, this feels like I want to write my own story a little more here. It feels very figured out and boring, but I loved the kids. I loved the teaching part.
My little sister found the same thing. You know, I don’t get to teach what I want, how I want, and like everything is prescribed and hats off to teachers. You know, we need great teachers. Okay. We don’t need bad teachers, but we do need great teachers and there’s certainly some out there. so hats off to them. Okay. So went to Kansas City, Kansas two and a half years.
Yeah.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Yes.
It’s hard. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
Yep.
Then you hitchhiked across Spain? Okay, do tell.
Kind of, but instead, do you know what I did?
I jumped on my boyfriend’s tour bus and moved to Nashville.
Wow.
And let
me tell you, my parents were thrilled after they’d just finished that five year education. And I had that degree, but again, I think I was like, ooh, a way out, ooh, like a new, like a fresh, like we’re always like, ooh, jump to that. You know, it’s that like, I don’t want to get comfortable in one thing because I felt so stagnant and I wasn’t being utilized. So when I saw that…
Hmm, I’m thinking they weren’t really.
was with my boyfriend or fiance at the time, think is banned. were a Christian rock band and I’m listening to them talking about, we’re buying this tour bus and we’re helping figure out the payments. And I’m so excited and they’re moving to Nashville. And I was like, who’s going to run the band? And I mean, they didn’t pause for a half a second. I was like, I’ll do it. So, so I’m the tour manager, right? I’m like, I got a binder. got, you know, MapQuest at the time. We didn’t have.
I love it.
anything like I’m printing out map quests and we’re flying down the highway and I would get set out, plug the power, do the sound check. And I was like, well, who’s going to run the soundboard? And they’re like, well, we just jumped back and forth between like the bass player. And I was like, I’ll do it. So I get behind the soundboard. mean, there are, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a soundboard, there’s a million tiny buttons. I figured it out. I loved it. Like I loved like mastering it and then kind of moving on. Like that was the fun part for me. And I felt like I was helping. And then
shut the lights down, I’d go out front and I’d sell the t-shirts and CDs back when we bought CDs. And I remembered, yeah, I think I was creating sales goals for myself. Like nobody was even telling me how to do this. And so I sat the band down when I was like, Hey guys, cause there was a lot of us were either, we were dating, married to engage to these guys. We were all kind of at the end of college and we were friends and couples. was awesome. And I said, Hey guys, trying to sell a couple more CDs and shirts and stuff here.
Will you not tell, because we played a lot of colleges and lot of junior high girls like, goo goo over these band guys. I said, will you not tell these girls that we’re like together? Because sales really go down when you do that.
And they’re like, wait, you don’t want us to say that like you’re, yeah. I was like, no, because I can’t sell to my CDs. Cause they think you’re cute and they’ll buy more. just treat me like the hub. Okay. I’m trying to sell CDs.
I love that. So, so I want to, I want to emphasize a couple of points. One, you like doing new things, which sometimes in entrepreneur land, we call that O’Shiny disease, you know, and, and it goes along with our thirst for learning. You know, we’re, we’re insatiable learners, but we’re also insatiable. that looks fun. you know, yeah.
So that was that.
yeah.
It does.
opportunities, right? that’s fun.
And sometimes really to
rock and roll, you know, we’ve got to put our blinders on a little bit and not allow those things to come in. And, and then you, I mean, I think, you know, this, you know, my main business, I help people sell more of whatever they sell and like, and like, not just a little bit, like, let’s blow it up. And, um, and so I love that. It makes my heart go pitter patter. Don’t tell them I’m your fiance. Just.
Right.
huh.
Yeah,
please.
Let me make some sales here, man. I to sell something, you know, I just don’t feel good if I don’t sell something. And yeah, I totally, totally get that. Okay. So, so then after Nashville, and I have a couple of friends here and I should introduce you next time you’re down. One that had a very popular Christian band, David Cannington and David left the band right before they had massive success.
Yeah. Like, come on.
Yeah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Wow.
And
he’s very, he’s very accomplished entrepreneur. I don’t feel bad for him. Okay. But he did leave the band. he too had a fiance who he married. Now they have a whole bunch of children and, and he didn’t feel like that life was conducive to his family life. And so, so love that. All right. So, so you do that for a while and somehow you get back to Omaha. What’s, what’s up? How’d that, how’d that work?
Cool.
Mmm. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
So great segue, you kind of made your own segue. I was starting to think about, ooh, 170 shows a year on the road. We’re not making friends, we’re not making roots. I feel like we’d mail our rent check in. And again, probably the Julie pattern of two, three years, like, okay, that was awesome, but what’s the next chapter?
We don’t live there!
I was feeling this tug to go back to my original love, which was interior design, which I loved in high school. And it was unfulfilled, unsettled to me. I also was like, well, we’re not going to, I’m not going to sell t-shirts forever, right? And I think my new husband was like, why not? That was tough. That was a hard time for us because it was kind of one of these, well, you want to maybe do this forever. And I think I’m kind of done.
Hehehehehe
So it was a tough time for us, but we figured it out. We navigated. I went back to school in Nashville and I said, let me see, let me test this soul feeling I’m having of design. And I signed up for some classes and I came home. was like, it’s there. This is it. I said, my teacher tried to hire me. I was like, I love this. I love it, love it, love it. I have to do it. I said like, you love music, I love design.
Again, didn’t know I was an entrepreneur at the time. So moved, we moved back to Omaha and he still kind of commuted and traveled with the band. It was a little, it was rough, it was a little messy. We were doing our best to respect each other’s paths that we were on, except what you do, right? And I went to work at a small firm and that was kind of where I started cutting my teeth in design.
love that. And so, you know, I don’t know. So I think everybody’s an artist. And some people’s art is computer programming. And some people’s art is interior design. And some people, my art is words. I talk and I write. And so, and I think we do our absolute best work, our purpose work, our mission, life mission work when we are in our art. Yeah, and
Yeah.
Yeah.
don’t know.
Mm.
art. like that.
and so even the people that think, I’m the engineers, I am not an artist. I’m like, you, you’re so an artist. You’re so an artist.
Mm-hmm. You an artist. Yeah, they think art is
paint. They think art is, you know, playing the violin. They think art is a sculpture. Yes.
Yeah, yeah,
and I don’t know if you know this about me, but my wife is an artist. My wife is a, my wife worked in fashion forever and decorates and floral and is a very accomplished painter. And I’m just lucky to be invited to the party because I’m not sure how I got here, but I’m staying.
Okay.
Wow.
Yeah.
You’re here. You’re good.
I’m staying at
a good friend who used to tell his wife, if you ever leave me, just know I’m going with you. And, and I’ve shared the same thing. If you go. Yeah. Yeah. If you ever leave me, just know I’m going with you. That’s it. That’s it. Okay. So. All right. In JH design, how long have you had the company?
Okay, I’ve never heard that and I love it. I’m gonna use that.
be right there with you so just let me know.
Mm-hmm.
Since 2007. So let’s do a little math. 18 years almost.
Yeah, you told me that, sorry. Okay.
So tough question.
Is there a hard moment? And I know there were hard moments. You don’t make it 17 years without there being some brutal moments. you have a hard moment you can share that maybe at that time it was just…
Oof.
Mm. Hard.
soul crushing, devastating, it hurt. But today, looking back,
Hmm.
Maybe it turned out to be the very best thing that could happen to you.
Mmm.
So I’m looking for a hard moment and hopefully that turned out for the best. And they don’t all turn out for the best. I’m a 38 year entrepreneur, founded a dozen companies. I can tell you some things that were brutal. Okay.
That’s a great question.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Wow. A lot of hard moments. Mm-hmm.
You know, I, and I still am hard on myself about this one. So we do our best to find people who we trust and share the vision. And I always was so flattered that they’d want to…
work at our firm. Like I always was very humbled by, um, probably not realizing at the time how great our culture was, all the things, you know, part of that imposter syndrome kicks in like, wow, you want to work for me? Like, I don’t even know what I’m doing. So we were at some real growing growth moments and I went out and recruited and found what I thought was a great asset to the team. Really built her up, hired her, paid her well. And it was
bad. It was just, and it was really hard on the rest of the team. And I really blame myself. And I was so down about it. was like, how could I do this? And then how do I fix it? And what’s the example I’m showing? And it was, it was months of just like stomach aches. And, and I was like, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. I can’t find the right people. I don’t know how to, I don’t, and it’s, and then looking back,
what we went through and how we grew as a team and the example it showed to those A players and that person was left in a weird way, it was worth it. Cause it raised the bar for the type of people we want to have. But I was really hard on myself on that. I still to this day feel like, wow, the time we wasted or the people I upset, but it’s for the better.
I love that. Thank you for sharing it. It brings three thoughts to mind. One, it’s always the who.
Yeah.
Hmm.
We think it’s the what, it’s rare. Sometimes I guess it is, but rarely it’s almost always the right people will get the right things done. Even if they don’t know how to begin with the wrong people, they won’t get it done. then, and then the other side is that, if you have, if you, as an entrepreneur listening today and you’re going through something really
Mmm.
and
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Just know that the good stuff is on the other side of the tough stuff. So keep going. Just keep going. Okay. And, and I’ve been there, Julie’s been there, done that where it’s like, my gosh, why am I doing this? Surely I should go back to teaching music. Okay. But just keep going. The good stuff is on the other side of the tough stuff.
Mm-hmm. It’s so true. It’s so true.
Mm-hmm.
Yes. And I like,
I like to say trust the journey. Cause part of the journey, sometimes you’re like, I, I remember my dad came in to say hi once he’s like, I’d give anything to be back in these days. And I was like, really? Do you know what I dealt with today? Do you know we barely made payroll and we got this and we have an unhappy client and our IT team. And he’s like, trust me, you will look back on this and be like, that was the fun part.
us the journey.
Thank
We were building in, we were on our toes and we were pivoting and problem solving. It makes me tear up just thinking about it, but he’s so right. That is like the fun part, the journey, the highs and the lows.
Well, so many people that are not part of the entrepreneurial world kind of have this view that entrepreneurs, all about, you know, it’s a profit motive. It’s all about the money. And, and the reality is that’s just a piece of the equation. Okay. It’s really just how you keep score. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say it’s really
just what kind of keeps the paying the bills and keeps the doors going.
Yeah, it’s really, to me, it’s just like the scoreboard for the Superbowl. It’s like, did we win or did we lose? That’s, that’s the deal. But, but the, the intricacy of strangers, prospects, customers, staff, contract, to me, it’s always on the people side. Okay. You know, and, and I get, get, I love the people side.
Yeah. that’s a score.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Mm. Yes.
I get people to handle the non people side because that frustrates me. don’t like dealing with that people side. And to me, the people side is where all the magic is. Who? It’s not the one. It’s the…
Okay, okay.
For sure. For sure. It is
the who. The who gets me out of bed every day. The notes I’ve saved in my file have nothing to do with profitability and KPIs. The notes I have saved were the personal notes of thanks and gratitude and life changing moments. And that’s what I hang on to. Yeah.
There you go! I love that!
Me too. You’re a sister from another mister. Okay.
Now, now I want to ask you about a warp speed moment. So sometime in your business when things were going pretty good, okay, they were okay. We’re not on the ropes. Okay. We’re not breathing a brown paper bag. Latter is pretty calm. Okay. But all of a sudden, pardon me, a hire or a new piece of strategy or maybe an economic condition out of your control, you know,
Yeah.
Yes. Uh-huh.
Thank
So as entrepreneurs, tend to disregard those, but there’s no doubt you can’t, you know, you can’t overcome things out of your control. Okay. But a warp speed moment, things are going along. Okay. And then all of a one thing, and I get that hockey stick growth things really accelerate. Do you have something like that you can share?
Yep.
Totally. And you’re going to love this. And it actually was one of those horrible but then growth moments with both companies combined. So, Bouquet, as we were talking about, did the 97 weddings last year. Well, there all of a sudden was a time when people weren’t getting together in 2020. And we had 35 weddings cancel overnight. Big ones.
And we were an event-based company. So we pivoted. I said, no one’s leaving. We’ll find something to do. We did some video classes. We delivered flower kits to doorsteps. My son was in here helping us make flowers by Bobby. I mean, these poor kids, as you know, they’ve been through it all.
And meanwhile, I get a call from some other Omaha entrepreneurs that built a neighborhood, one of which was my brother, and we’re going crazy because nobody could get together when they built a whole business on people getting together. And they said, we are going to steamboat Colorado for the day. You want to go? I was like, sure. Another theme, I think, in entrepreneurs, sometimes you just say yes, even though you have no idea what you’re doing or why.
It was the worst that could happen. So I go, they said, we want your design eye to look at these investment properties and really help us pick something to invest in mountains. I said, okay. Did it pick the house? I said, this is the one. They’re like, that’s the grandma house. said, trust me. This is, I got this. Love this. Look past the grandma. Four families bought the house. We were one of them. I went up there about eight or nine times almost as a, again, personal project. Like I’m going to figure this out by myself.
I have no idea what I’m doing. Met the painters, met the tile guys, and I look around this amazing city and I’m watching people flock there from the coast. And I’m like, there are not enough designers here. So we put all the chips, I always say, in the middle of the table. We had a business that was 35 weddings down. had COVID. I said, we’re opening an office here, buying a building. We have three full-time designers there. And it’s been.
amazing to watch and it started from a horrible situation. But we maximized it a good time and put, know, just leveraged it and took a lot of risk and the growth is we’re watching it come to fruition and it’s so cool.
Yeah.
I love that. So let me share
with you Don’s concept of yes. Okay. And, and I share this with every client. All progress, all human progress starts with yes. From the beginning of time, all progress starts with yes. Now catastrophe is sometimes avoided with a no, but progress doesn’t follow no. Progress follows yes. And so.
Mmm.
Yes.
True.
Hmm. I like that.
So many times I have clients that someone wants to buy something from them that they don’t actually do.
Mm-hmm.
And my counselors always say, yes, we’ll figure it out. It’s so much easier to sell people what they want to buy, what they want to buy, than it is to sell them what you want them to buy. And that’s, that sounds really simple, but sometimes the biggest things are really simple. So, I love that progress starts with.
you what.
Mm-hmm. I need to remember that one.
Mm-hmm.
Yes. Okay, so if I could look into your mind and I had access to everything that you know.
I’m looking for one golden nugget.
Mmm.
about.
life, your family, your business, something that you view as absolute treasure, some piece of wisdom.
Mmm.
Ooh, piece of wisdom. That’s, now you’re putting me on the spot, but I like it. I would just say, and I do want entrepreneurs to hear this, and maybe especially women, trust your gut. And I think we get really, really bombarded with,
Mm-hmm.
personality test opinions, we’re gonna do this assessment and you’re trying to be this and you’re trying to be that. And when you know, like when you’re talking about how you’re wired and you know your gifts and you believe that each day you’re grateful to wake up, if you can use those gifts and you’re secure in that, then go. Trust that gut and go because so many times I second guess, that’s kind of bold. I shouldn’t say that, but I know the answer or.
I don’t know if I should tell them that because it’s not what they’re wanting to hear, but I know it’s the right thing to do. And I wish earlier I would have been a little bolder and trust my gut and just go. Not regretting anything. It’s just reflecting. I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs, maybe especially women, can use to hear that.
I love that and it looks like you’re reading from the book of Don. I word it a little different, but to me, you know, we’re intellectual beings, but we’re also intuitive and instinctual beings. And most of what education teaches us is to be here.
huh.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Totally. Yeah.
Most of all, and
I’m not disregarding that, I think you have to use that, but I will say this. If you’re gonna live in your art, if you’re live in your gift, it’s in your heart. It’s probably not in your head. Okay, and.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yep. Head gets
in the way sometimes. Yeah.
A lot of times that’s
where you have the doubt. That’s where you have the fear. That’s where you wonder, you know, as a kid, you could fly, you could, you could do anything. Okay. And, connecting at that intuitive and, and instinctual level and just, you know, one thing I share with my clients is this, it’s less about doing that it is about being.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Okay. I can give you the 42 steps to go do, won’t make any difference if you’re not being who you’re supposed to be. All the world will love the real you and have no time for a false you. That may not all the world, know, even everyone’s why you get a hang of it. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.
Love that.
Yeah.
being, yeah.
Hmm.
Maybe. I mean, the smart ones. Hey, I
will tell you, you just triggered something in my mind, but one of my absolute favorite quotes right now is, be where your feet are. Because I think this helps us do the first thing I was talking about. And society, I feel, really pushes us to overanalyze the past and worry about the future. Be where you are today. Just be, just use your gift and be in today and it’s so much more fulfilling. Yeah.
I love that. You know,
psychologists know live in the past, flirt with depression, live in the future, flirt with anxiety. The only place to live is the present. And that doesn’t mean don’t plan. And that doesn’t mean don’t reflect, but you can’t live in the past or in the future. Okay. Humans aren’t designed to do that.
Yeah.
Mmm.
Yeah.
Mm.
Okay. So love that.
Mm. Yeah.
All right. Okay. Toughest question I’m going to ask you. All right. I never tell anybody this one’s coming. Yeah. So I’m put you in a time machine. I’m going to send you all the way back, just like Star Wars or Star Trek. And I’m going to introduce you to 20 year old Julie.
Okay.
boy.
Mm.
Mmm.
be like today, Julie, meet 20 year old Julie. Okay. 20 year old Dawn had more hair and it was a different color. Okay. But 20 year old Julie meet today, Julie. Then you have like 60 seconds.
mm-hmm
to share.
Whatever you think would be the wisest share for today, Julie, to gift 20 year old Julie. So something you know now, you didn’t know then. I’ve given you a long time to think about it. putting me in the time There you go. I put me in the time machine. Today, Julie, meet 20 year old Julie. What do you got?
Long time actually written a whole answer in my head now
Yeah, today, Julie.
Today, Julie would say to 20 year old Julie, which actually I just saw a picture the other day, which cracks me up because I’m thinking of it. I look like I was 12 when I was 20. Today, Julie would tell 20 year old Julie, you know what you’re doing. Just do it and be yourself.
Love that.
It’s not, you don’t have to please everyone around you. I grew up fast and I felt it was my job to take care of everyone. You know what you’re doing, just do it. And you don’t have to just please everyone around you.
Love that. Love that. Wise words. Okay. So Julie, if somebody wanted to reach out to you that saw or listened to podcast, what’s the easiest way to get in touch with you?
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Awesome. I honestly prefer an email. They can go to our website and look at stuff, but julie at jhdesignomaha.com because we also have jhdesignsteamboat. So julie at jhdesignomaha.com is my email. And I would love that. I love meeting new people.
Awesome. Love that. Okay. Well, I want to thank you so much. I’m so grateful that you came on the show today and share your heart and your head.
Aww.
Yeah. Aw, thanks, Don. This is, I was really excited about this. So thank you for having me. It was honored. Yeah.
My pleasure. Folks,
that’s today’s episode of The Proven Entrepreneur Show. We’ll see you next time. Thanks.
