My love for Rose Pruning grows more and more every year. I started pruning roses when my business was relatively young, but I wasn’t as confident back then as I am now. The business I was started has certainly grown and with it, the rose pruning side of my business has expanded, and I am pruning more and more roses every year.
A lot of people look at what I do and the way I showcase my business and think that I have had it easy, but it hasn’t been easy. In fact, there were many times that I wanted to give up but before Ella died, I made a promise, and that promise was to keep going and to continue building up my business.
Some people have wondered why I stuck to that promise and it’s because Ella believed in me. She told me I could do it. She said that she believed in me and that I was worth something and I should never give up.
Many of you may not have heard the story of Ella. Ella was a neighbour and without her help and her support and belief I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Ella was a powerful woman and she taught me many things about life, about rose pruning and that I was a person that could do whatever I set my mind to. She helped me grow and she also taught me how to grow roses, how to prune them and how to nurture them. She gave me the confidence to build my business because she trusted me. She believed in me and the best way I could move forward was to believe in myself.
When I first met Ella, my life was not great, but I had started a small business, and I felt it wasn’t going far but I needed to make ends meet and the money I was making was paying the bills. I had a pushbike, a trailer and my two hands and from there I made a business.
Ella saw that I was trying to improve my life every day and we would talk and we got to know each other well. She became family to me and at that time, I had no family that backed me or supported me. Ella was different, she was a very kind lady and she wasn’t scared of hard work. Because she ran her own business she was able to guide me and she taught me how to respect the people who would become my clients.
Ella was kind to everyone, and I saw her treat her family with respect and love and that was something I had never experienced. Overtime we became good friends, and I was welcomed into their home, and I felt like part of their family.
Ella taught me how to look after roses. She taught me how to prune them right and to look after them so they would grow strong after each pruning, and they would be healthy through the rose seasons. I have taken all that she has taught me, and I use those lessons in my business. Roses may only be seasonal to some, but you need to continue that care throughout the year.
With the weather changing so dramatically every year it doesn’t hurt to keep a check on the roses. Over the last 12 months we had a disease that could have wiped out a lot of roses but with the care provided I was able to keep on top of it and the roses continued to thrive.
My love for roses keeps growing stronger and over the past few weeks a couple of clients have referred to me as the king of roses. And when someone mentions that I know in my heart that I would not be where I am today if Ella had not befriended me and told me she believed in me. Her care, her trust, and her belief in me, has helped me continue to grow my business.
And I now believe that if you believe in yourself you can grow as a person and you can also grow a business.
In Memory of Ella
14-08-10
