Life and Work with Nell Foster

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nell Foster.

Nell, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Joy Us garden is my 3rd business which started in 2008 (under the name Joy Us) with the goal of selling 2-3′ fully decorated Christmas trees. I had owned a commercial Christmas decorating business in San Francisco for 15 years & this is what I thought I wanted to do. I soon discovered that decorating small trees was more labor intensive than I wanted & switched to manufacturing women’s gardening accessories which were all made in California. I started to blog a couple of years later to bring more attention to the product. I enjoyed the process of designing & sourcing out materials but manufacturing was never near & dear to my heart. The blog starting gaining traction in 2016 when I moved from Santa Barbara to Tucson. I started taking it seriously as a business in 2017 & now, I’m a full-time content creator. My income streams come from eight sources so it varies from month to month. I didn’t grow up or go to college in the age of technology so that has been the biggest challenge. I have a small team of independent contractors who help me out on a regular &/or as needed basis. My previous business’ had been local & service based – I never dreamed I’d ever been making a full time living as a blogger/content creator. It’s possible no matter what your age is!

Has it been a smooth road?
No, it hasn’t. Technology has been my biggest challenge along with figuring out what I wanted to do in the middle part of my life. My previous business’ had been labor intensive & I wanted to ease out of that as I got older.

I’ve always loved gardening, being outdoors & doing something creative so my blog & videos combine all of those. It may take you a while to nail it down, but if you want it, you’ll do it. You don’t necessarily have to focus your business around your passion, but you do have to like what you’re doing as you’ll be spending a lot of time getting it off the ground & keeping it going.

Failures are part of the journey & can be turned into learning experiences. Not 1 single entrepreneur hasn’t experienced this so don’t feel bad. I never really liked writing & did very little of it. Now, I write every day & consider myself to be a teacher. What you do now may not be what you’re doing in 10 years – that is 1 of the things I’ve learned over the 28 years of being a business owner!

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m a content creator in the field of gardening, flowers & plants. The main focus of Joy Us garden is on houseplants, bromeliads & succulents which a good sprinkling of gardening in the mix. My business is totally online & I aim to educate people all over the world.

I’m the proudest of the fact that I get comments from people every day telling me how I’ve helped them. Also, I’m a baby boomer who didn’t get the internet until she was 50 & until now owns an online business!

I write about what I know in a very genuine, simple & down to earth manner. My readers & viewers can relate to this.

What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
If you don’t know exactly what you want to focus on, keep an open mind. As I said earlier, what you do doesn’t have to be your biggest passion, but you do have to like it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joyusgarden.com/
• Phone: 8058924941
• Email: nell@joyusgarden.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyusgarden/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoyUsGarden
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyUsGarden
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxCA4qKq7D6-HuH3zBf4uLg

Image Credit:
Joy Us garden

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