From Psychologist to Seed Merchant With Grace Alexander

#029 - Seed merchant Grace Alexander shares her multi-hyphenated 'suit to boot' career story. Originally, a psychologist, a change at work was the trigger to her deciding to plant some flowers in her garden. Since then she's become a seed merchant, has set up a membership site and written her first book.  Based in Somerset, Grace was working as a children protection consultant clinical psychologist when in 2013 personnel issues arose in her workplace. She started planting flowers in her garden, loving the tangibility of gardening as it balanced the intangibility of her job.  She then set up her first business and called it Corfe Fruit & Flowers. And she started creating wedding flower designs. Things started to improve at work and she returned full-time. But she couldn't let go of flowers. She realised that it was no longer feasible to continue to do weddings. However she absolutely loved seeds. And selling seeds gave her the opportunity to bring all her obsessions of graphic design, fonts and styling together. She now continues to sell seeds in specially designed packets, as well as run a membership programme called Gather. And she continues to work as a psychologist 2 days a week. Grace shares how her first book, 'Grow and Gather: A Gardener's Guide to a Year of Cut Flowers', has come about. An authentic take on flower growing, the book is to now to be published on September 30th.She also discusses her monthly membership subscription, Gather. It features how-tos, what's out now, jobs to do this week, interviews, imagery and films.  Plus it includes the opportunity to buy seeds from her shop and access to a private Instagram account. Listening to this episode, you'll hear how passionate Grace is about being a flower grower, selling seeds and working with nature. 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/episode29