We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sheilan Mueller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sheilan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I have always loved flowers. After I graduated college I worked a myriad of jobs… English teacher, server, restaurant manager, bank teller. I felt a lot of unhappiness in my professional life, as evident by how many positions I held. I decided to quit a secure job with no future drop prospects. I wanted to manifest change in my life.

When a designer position opened at a boutique flower shop, I jumped on the opportunity to pursue something creative. I was in love. I would eat up all the flower knowledge I could. Learning the names of flowers, seeing how colors mixed together, exploring different design styles. I loved that shop, so dang much. But the reality sunk in that it was not the income my family and I needed. It’s challenging to be a 30-something year old and live off of $16 per hour.

With a heavy heart, I left the flower shop after two years, and pursued a position as an operations manager with a local fabrication company. I learned plenty of new things, and loved the responsibility. Our projects were big and complex, and sometimes tapped by creative brain. But at the end of the day, I could feel that same unhappiness creeping in.

I wanted to turn my passion for flowers into a sustainable career, so I began to dream of opening my own floral business, and took the plunge in early 2021. But like all small businesses, there is so much risk in the beginning. To make ends meet, I was pushing my new business (Yarrow & Spruce), working full time at a flower shop, and freelancing with other floral design studios in the area. I was working non-stop. There were no days off, and I worked long days. I would work eight hours at the flower shop, only to come home and design whole weddings by myself during the night. My off days were spent designing for other event florists.

Through all of this hustle, flowers brought me to my best friend, Amy. We met at a local flower farm gathering, and immediately connected. From the beginning, she was cheering me and Yarrow & Spruce on. As a florist herself, she was someone I could connect with, and her kindness and compassion carried me through a time with lots of stress and growing pains. We bonded over our love of flowers, and became soundboards for each other to bounce business ideas off of.

I’ll never forget when she told me that she thought I was ready to become a full-time business owner. I was floored, because I thought my little side-hustle business may never grow to more than that. I thought I was bound for a life of multiple jobs, with dreams of my business thriving a distant dream. But she believed in me. This unflinching faith in me was the push I needed. Without Amy, I don’t think I would be where I am today. Her friendship, compassion, and confidence in me was one of the kindest things anyone has done for me and my flower journey.

Sheilan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For a long time, Yarrow & Spruce was a seedling of an idea — a dream of mine to capture enduring stories and beauty through florals. With Yarrow & Spruce now in full bloom, we are lucky to create bespoke, luxurious and garden-like designs for anyone who believes in the magic of flowers.

We believe your event floral design is so much more than just flowers. Great designs should move you, and imbue your story. A beautiful arrangement should be emotional, artistic, and intentional. We want to know our clients, learn what moves them, and then create floral art that is special and unique to them. Something unexpected and interesting, yet somehow familiar and comforting.

We specialize in providing curated floral experiences for weddings and events with a sustainable approach. Our designs are inspired by the seasons, and are a celebration of nature. We are committed to sourcing locally grown flowers whenever possible, and our designs never use single use plastic. In addition to providing our clients with outstanding designs, we aim to be a pillar in the Colorado floral community as a resource for expanding on and improving sustainable floristry and environmental stewardship.

Weaving memory and personal style through seasonal flowers and sustainable practices, we’re devoted to producing designs that will move you.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am a firm believe that we should also push ourselves, and learning should never stop. I have always had this approach in life. I’ve made learning into a game, where I give myself points for different types of enrichment tasks… and I set weekly goals for total points accrued. It’s weird and random, but it works for me! And it pushes my personal goal of being a lifelong learner.

I apply this approach for my creative journey too. I try to do one creative task everyday, with the intention of learning something. I like to explore other creative mediums because I think it will help me improve my floral art. Things like drawing, painting, writing, reading. Even walks in nature can be a creative mission. When local flowers are available, I try to create something for me once a week…. something weird, unexpected, unplanned. A lot of times, the learning is passive. I may not always know a specific lesson taken away from each experience. But I do believe they are compounding, and push me as a creative.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I know so many small creative business can relate to this, but learning to say, “No.”

When I started Yarrow & Spruce, I said, “Yes” to everything. Any design, event, budget, whatever. I said, “YES.” I not only wanted to, but I had to (I need the income!). And I am so glad I did, because this “yes” mentality really helped my creative business grow. It also helped me learn more myself: what I liked to do, what fueled my passion, what worked. Conversely, I learned what I didn’t like, what killed my passion, and what didn’t work.

With gratitude, I began to realize I was reaching a point where I could afford to say “no.” It was scary at first. The quote, “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush,” was always on my mind. But what I had to learn was that by saying “no” I was creating space for projects that excited me. I realized I was reaching a point where people were seeking out Yarrow & Spruce for the art that I wanted to create, and just had to leave space for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yarrowandspruce.com/
• Instagram: @yarrowandspruce
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yarrowandspruce/
• Pinterest: @yarrowandspruce

Image Credits
Paula B Photo Nathan George Photography Kelly Mour Photography