Since i do a lot of business coaching of inspiring entrepreneurs and have a lot of focus on how to create a sustainable lifestyle and business for yourself, I decided to do a new storyline around inspiring entrepreneurs. What they all have in common is the need for living wholehearted and creating a lifestyle which works around themselves and their need to balance their creativity, business and family life.
One of the best ideas I give to my clients is to “fake it till you make it“- meaning; find some rolemodels who inspire you and know, that if they can make it - you can make it. We have all started at point zero and worked our way up. Look at your rolemodels, look at their energy, get inspired and when times are difficult, try and imagine how they would work around the situation. In this feature I´m presenting you to some of the people, I believe is leading at their field.
The next person in this series is Signe Svanholt Skov - a mom, a wholehearted entrepreneur who moved from the urban part of Copenhagen to an island, Orø, to go for her dream of making her own jewellery brand. Signe has this light and easygoing aura and is very easy to talk to, but she also has this great artsy mind, which makes it funny to talk to her about the subject of doing wholehearted business.
Tell me a bit about yourself and your business PalmPetit?
I'm 33 years old, married to Thomas and we have a son, age 3, called Eick and one more to join us in October. I used to go out almost every weekend and dance with Thomas and friends. Now we do it once in a while to feel the old sparkle and feel free for a while. Then we miss our boy, come home happy hungover and go to the woods and play with him.
I'm a trained goldsmith 2012 and studied jewellery art at 'Institute of Precious Metal' 2013-2016. If you put those two educations and our life as parents together, they go hand in hand with the creation of PalmPetit. PalmPetit started in April 2019. It began as a selfish wish to create a memory of my little boy's hand, who grew so fast.
I had a hard time coping with that in the beginning. And I thought, 'Perhaps I'm not the only one who would love this jewellery.' Luckily I was right and moms all over the world have welcomed PalmPetit. I feel the deepest gratitude for that.
Can you describe what creativity is to you and why it is such an important element to have in your life?
I think creativity is very individual and can evolve along the way for each person. For me, it landed the first time I held a goldsmith saw in my hand. I was really good at the craftsmanship and now I had the perfect media to put my creativity into.
I don't have a continues flow of creativity, as my husband do. His mind is always on work. I have to sit down and get into the flow, but then I love the process of creating.
You moved from Nørrebro to Orø some time ago, why did you move and what does it mean for your creativity and your business?
We talked about moving out for a while. We had a small shop together with a friend in our street in Heimdalsgade just next to our apartment, and my husband runs a small culture house called Øen in Mimersgade. We loved the dynamic flow of people and our local hood. But after having our son, we just felt the need to get more space and nature around us. So we had to try it out. We are not surrounded by as many creative people physically everyday anymore, but at the same time we don't get distracted in the same way we did before. Also we are economically free in a way, we would not be, if we had upgraded our apartment in the city.
It was also here on Orø, I had the time and space to build up PalmPetit. We go to the city (60 minutes drive), when the need is there and enjoy going home, taking the ferry and feel the peace surround us back on Orø.
I know you are a mother next to being a business woman, how do you manage to balance family & business life - and still prioritize yourself without getting stressed out?
I think that for me it would be more stressful to have a 8-16 job. We have calm mornings without stress and I can pick my son up early and work in the evening instead. For me the goal with PalmPetit is not to make a bunch of money. I want to make other parents happy giving them a the opportunity to make memory of the special time with their kids. And of course doing what I love - making jewellery and being my own boss. As long as I can pay the rent, bye good food and go on vacation once in a while I'm happy. It has been stressful starting up a business, being a mother and a good wife at the same time. But I made a deal with myself not to get stressed. So when I get the feeling that I'm pushing it, I try to take a step back and get my prioritize right; son, husband, business.
Getting time to myself - I'm still working on that.
We are in the midst of Corona, how does it affect your business life and how do you stay calm in the chaos?
It's a hard time for everyone. My sale went down to a minimum the first week, but I'm actually doing fine now, which I'm very grateful for. I'm also lucky that I don't have a shop rent and a big stock. The place I feel the pressure most is time wise.
I still get prints in from Jan-March and have too keep up working half time. We take turns working. So customers have to wait a bit longer. Luckily everyone is very understanding. We try to make the best of the situation and actually I think, we have connected as a family in a whole new way.
You were part of my Bubbly bootcamp - why did you choose to be part of it?
I really miss inspiration and energy from others. I sit by my own most of the day...and we live on an island, so meeting other women, with there own business and connect in a small group means the world to me. And then of course you Cille.
I believe you can open some new doors in my mind, both business wise and creative. To be pushed to think outside your mindset and comfort zone sometimes is really healthy.
Do you have any advice for upcoming creative people and how to get started with their projects?
Well, if you have a good idea and dream of makin. To quote Jesper Buch; “Don't try to build a Ferrarie, build a soapbox (sæbekassebil).”
You will make a lot of mistakes along the way and learn from it. If you are scared to make those mistakes, you will not get anywhere. Accept your mistakes and appreciate them, you will get so much wiser :-)
And another true cliche; All beginning is hard. It will get easier. Good luck and have fun.
Wanna know more about Signe & PalmPetit, go to https://www.palmpetit.com/
