I’m Jaeleen the owner and creative designer at Flora Flower Cart + mama to Cali boy + wife to my childhood love, Chase. Flora has been in business for 3 years and is one of the things in my life I’m most proud of and has helped so much in shaping me into the mama that I now am. At Flora we create trendy handcrafted bouquets to inspire the modern girl - because our goal is to do so much more than sell flowers, it’s to love on and inspire each and every person that interacts with our business and to make their days brighter and better!

I’d always dreamed of becoming a mom and so finally reaching that milestone about 8 months ago has been so special. One thing I’ve loved the most has been watching Calum experience things for the first time. He is in awe seeing a little bird walk by in front of him, or getting to touch the water at the drinking fountain on our walk. Becoming a mama has really helped me to slow down and really notice and be thankful for all the small things in life that really do add up to be the big things!

In all honesty it’s been hard learning to the ropes of motherhood while also growing my own little biz. But also amazing, hehe. I’ve been so blessed to have my husband Chase who is SO incredibly supportive! He’s jumped in so many times to help out with the baby and biz. Have a team has also played a huge factor in making this whole thing work - I couldn’t do anything without them! There’s been lots of ups and downs but I’ve learned that having a good strong support system around you is the most important thing ever! They have made this transition so much more smooth than it ever could have been!

I’ve learned to let go of what I had always dreamed/thought it would look like to be a new mom and business owner and focus on making our reality beautiful and peaceful. It’s not worth following all the lists! For me, that often leads to chaos and disappointment when I don’t fulfill all the crazy high expectations I placed on myself.

But I have to add this in because I don’t want you to get me wrong - big goals are GOOD and that’s how you’ll be successful as a business woman. And to be honest, I’ve become even more productive and efficient since becoming a mom, which has translated to all areas of my life! We just can’t get too caught up in achieving the goals, because sometimes there’s something even BETTER.

Here’s my “mom hack” for all the working mamas out there! Find the best time in your day / week where you feel creative and have no one around- then do all your work at that time! For example, waking up at 5am most days and working for two solid hours before the family is awake is how I get it done! I’ve learned it takes me about 30 minutes to do something when I’m able to do it on my own time that would have taken me the entire day to do once the house is busy! So don’t even waste your time the day before, instead play with your littles or spend time with your family! And then I make sure to get up when that alarm goes off and knock those tasks off the list.

My best advice for allll the mamas- Get rid of the idea that’s placed in our heads that there’s a thing called life/work balance. Because in my experience there isn’t. It’s all LIFE and we have to choose to live whatever we’re doing moment by moment and give 100% of our focus to that thing we’re doing in the MOMENT.

For example if you’re a lists lady (like me) then you know what I mean hehe, I was always creating allll the lists trying to desperately schedule our days out and nothing was working. I felt like my business was falling through the cracks and I felt like I was never getting enough time with my son or husband. Once I started being okay with having a somewhat flexible schedule, for example I’ll get rid of my phone for an hour during the day when Calum needs mama time and give him my full attention and then we both walk away feeling content. Instead of doing what I used to do: holding my phone in one hand trying to post an instagram post while trying to occupy him with the other things all the while he’s trying to grab my phone and almost posts the unfinished post 50 times hehe ;)

To sum it up - go with the flow and let life play out each day so you don’t miss those small sooo special moments and give each thing we do 100% of our time and attention. Because I’ve learned that that’s when we’ll feel most ALIVE.

*Photos courtesy of Jaeleen Shaw and Tesoro Viejo*

Growing her business and her brand, how local #BossMom Jaeleen Shaw finds balance