How can you throw out the playbook and create your own rules? Christina Stembel, founder & CEO of Farmgirl Flowers never thought about being an entrepreneur until she saw an opportunity to bring beautiful and affordable flowers to the everyday person. Without any business education, she grew her company to a multimillion dollar business that is the only large scale, female founded and predominantly female run ecommerce flower company. She shares how to embrace the discomfort of the unknown, how authenticity makes your brand stand out, why you don’t need the approval of investors, and how to go back to your roots and think outside the box.

– Sign up for Cathy’s retreat and get the early bird bonuses! Cathyheller.com/retreat
– Follow Cathy on Cameo! Cathyheller.com/cameo

– Buy Farmgirl Flowers at farmgirlflowers.com
– Follow Farmgirl Flowers on Instagram @farmgirlflowers and Christina @christinastembel

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

1. The secret sauce is just doing it. It’s jumping off the edge of that cliff, taking the leap and seeing if it works.
2. You have to get out of your own way. You have to accept the discomfort along the way and believe that you can handle whatever tomorrow will bring.
3. Return to startup. Throw out the playbook and go back to your roots. Go back to thinking outside the box.
4. Don’t overthink your brand. Just tell your story and be who you are. Those are things that resonate with people.They want to hear your real story. They want to know that there’s actually real people behind it.
5. There’s no strategy. It’s called scrappy.
6. Investors are not the smartest people in the room. Don’t let yourself be treated badly by people who only know spreadsheets. You are good enough.
7. Clear is kind. You can care about your team, without worrying if they like you. You want them to respect you.

Thank you so much for listening!

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