From neuroscientist to startup entrepreneur to full time artist, meet Brian Feretic in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California
In this episode of the Career Flipper podcast, Jenny Dempsey chats with Brian Feretic about his journey from being a neuroscientist to becoming a resin artist and entrepreneur. Brian opens up about how he dealt with layoffs, found his passion for plants, and even started a social marketplace for plant lovers. He talks about the ups and downs of switching careers, the importance of taking a step back to reflect, and how he rediscovered his love for art. This episode is all about the power of following your passions and seeing career changes as chances to grow and find personal happiness.
Episode Takeaways
Connect with Brian
Jenny 00:00:02 Hey, welcome to the Career Flipper podcast. I'm your host, Jenny Dempsey. Just a regular human trying to figure out work and life. One messy, magical step at a time. So let's get this out of the way. I'm not some polished career change expert. I spent 18 years in the customer experience world at tech startups, and I thought I had things pretty dialed in. And then I got laid off. Cue the spiral. I ended up doing some freelancing. I stumbled into furniture flipping. Yep. I haul stuff off the curb and make it pretty again. Check out San Diego Furniture Flipper over on Instagram and TikTok if you're curious. And then one random night had a weird dream about starting a podcast. So here we are. But why? Well, I've learned that. And maybe you know this too. But career changes can be weird and overwhelming and lonely. And I had so many questions like, how do people actually make these big pivots without completely losing their minds. How do you keep going when impostor syndrome shows up with the megaphone? And how the heck do people balance side gigs and full time jobs without becoming coffee fueled zombies? Instead of sitting in my own little panic bubble, I figured, why not just talk to people who've actually been through it? So each week I chat with real folks from all walks of life who've made bold, brave, and downright unexpected career moves.
Jenny 00:01:30 We talk about the messy middles, the wins, the setbacks, and those. What the heck am I doing with my life moments? So you and I can feel a little less alone while figuring it out. And I just want to say that if someone shared this episode with you, seriously, thank them. That means they believe in you no matter what your idea is. They believe in you. They know that you have what it takes, even if it may not feel like it yet. Okay, on to today's guest. You're going to meet Brian Furtick all the way from Ocean Beach, San Diego. He went from being a neuroscientist to a resin artist inspired by nature. But wait, there's more. Because in between that, he built a national social marketplace to buy, sell and trade plants and even got into Techstars with it. It all started with a layoff and a plant loving neighbor at a yard sale. Brian realized there was no real way for plant nerds like him to connect together, so he decided to just figure out how to build a whole platform.
Jenny 00:02:35 But the startup life nudged him inward, and eventually he picked up art. And when someone bought his first resin piece for $500, it hit him. This could actually be a thing that I enjoy. That brings really cool stuff into the world for others. Brian reminds us that the nerdy little things that we love, they can open big, beautiful doors if we're willing to follow them. Let's get into the episode now.
Brian 00:03:03 Good morning Jenny.
Jenny 00:03:04 Good morning. You're in Ocean Beach. I'm just down the road in North Park. We got San Diego in the house. I love it. So glad to have you here, Brian. Tell everybody who you are and what you do now.
Brian 00:03:17 I'll say I'm a. I'm like your fellow transplant. I'm originally from New York, and I'm seeking, you know, greener pastures. Moved out here for actually grad school. But currently I am focused on turning another passion of mine into sort of career path. And that is focused on, creating art, specifically two main mediums I work with, resin art and wire sculpture.
Brian 00:03:46 The last couple of months, I've found myself actually getting referred to some friends for transforming their wedding bouquets into the style of art I've been doing, which is combining, kelp. So there's typically an ocean element, and then I walk my roommate's dog and been collecting flowers all year, and I dry them. And I combine kind of these two things together. Connecting. You can say my love of the ocean and, you know, horticulture. And yeah, it seemed natural to start doing people's bouquets. And it's been it's been a blast.
Jenny 00:04:28 Wow. That's a very that's a very unique transition where there was something that you knew you wanted to do. And then suddenly friends were like, hey, I see this opportunity for you to create this for me. And it becomes part of their memories. And I'm excited to dive into how you got to this place because as you mentioned, you're trying to do this right now. Like it sounds like, you know, you're kind of in the middle of it right now to figure out how to make it into your career path.
Jenny 00:04:55 And so hearing all of that is going to be fascinating. So let's just try. Dive into it. Brian, tell your career flip story. Where did you start?
Brian 00:05:03 my initial interest, stemming from an undergrad where, I was interested in, like, kind of behavior and, like, the why behind a lot of things. So I thought I was maybe going to become, like, either a psychologist or maybe a marketer. and then I kind of opted to go more of the science path. Actually, from a class I took an undergrad, it was physiological psychology. It was more looking at all the underlying mechanisms that drive certain behaviors, even just the feelings of hunger. And I was kind of blown away at all this biology and cascading events that happened for just a simple feeling that we, you know, that happens daily. Yeah. And so I worked in science for a few years, at the CRO Company in New York. and I knew to progress my career in this path like I needed to go.
Brian 00:06:01 You need to go get a graduate degree. And I also knew that I wanted to live in California. I've always wanted to try it out, and I've been like a big time surfer, climber and snowboarder. And New York just didn't offer those things at the frequency I really wanted. Yeah. And so I just applied to grad schools in California. I got into a master's program at San Diego State, and so I moved out here and that was 20, 2010 and did grad school. Couldn't get into the PhD program I wanted to get into is a PhD in neuroscience at UCSD. There are a few labs I was really interested in working in, and so that kind of led me into biotech and and drug discovery. So I worked at this biotech startup looking at type two diabetes and a few autoimmune diseases. and I, I actually loved it. It was. It paid well. My my job was still very flexible day to day, so I could still like surf before running an experiment. And I still can, like, live the life I wanted.
Brian 00:07:17 Then they got acquired by this corporation, Celgene, and they have some, you know, groundbreaking, cancer drug Revlimid. They acquired us eventually they laid off 90% of the research staff. And yeah, I was a little naive because they kept promoting how our culture lines and there's nothing to worry about. And, you know, little did I know, like, this is this is very common in this industry. And so I got a big stock payout, I got severance and I filed for unemployment. And I decided just to take that. That gap year, I never did after undergrad and just surf and climb and enjoy life. And probably a few months in, I was already getting a little restless and bored and I was like, I need, I need more, I need more purpose. and maybe I wasn't sure exactly what that was yet, so I went, I applied back to Celgene directly, which I coined the mothership. Yeah. And I was like, let me go work at this big stable organization that I can just put in my 15, 20 years, beef up my 401 K, maybe try to buy a home here.
Brian 00:08:38 And I was at that time, I was kind of comfortable with that orthodox like, stable path that most people do. But I guess the higher powers had different, you know, different things in mind for me and Celgene got acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb within months in a massive merger of the acquisition was, I think, 72 billion. Wow. Yeah. Now, I was aware of this process. I started looking for jobs right away and it just felt empty. And now I now I, I kind of understood the goals of these companies. They're not trying to build this, you know, this this groundbreaking diagnostic platform or like this, you know, this cure for this disease. I mean, there's passionate people, especially on the research side. But overall, it's a business. And a lot of these companies just want to get acquired. And I was like, I'm just going to keep going through this really jarring process. So I just took unemployment again. I was like, I'm just going to ride it out and give myself proper time to just reflect, really just sit with everything that transpired and try to understand really what I want to do.
Brian 00:09:54 And a few months into that, I had this. I was already a big plant guy. You know, one of my nicknames is Plant Daddy Brian.
Jenny 00:10:04 I love that, that's great.
Brian 00:10:06 and like, yeah, I had my every house I've been. I decked out with plants. It's kind of, like, just really changed the, the whole atmosphere.
Speaker 3 00:10:15 Yeah, I love plants.
Brian 00:10:17 One time going going surfing, I was, like, biking down my alley. I had, like, my wetsuit on my board, and I stopped by a garage sale.
Speaker 3 00:10:27 Yeah.
Brian 00:10:28 And I just moved into a new house in O.B., and I stopped, and I asked a woman if I could set some things aside. I was like, hey, I live right there at the corner. I'll come back with money. And when I returned, I brought this rubber plant. I propagated just kind of as, like a neighborly gift. And she flipped out. She's like, oh my God, I'm such a big plant person I don't have that one.
Brian 00:10:51 Thank you so much. Yeah. Why don't you come up? Come take the the plant tour in my garden and you can, like, pick some stuff out. And I was like, you know, I was stoked to, But the the interaction that followed, it wasn't necessarily. It wasn't like this transaction. It was like this beautiful encounter with a neighbor. And she just showed me all the species in her garden. She told me her life story after after our meeting, I was walking home, my new plants, and I was like, oh man, like that was so cool. There must be. There's people just like me. These plants, like enthusiasts just, you know, be. I want to go. I'm gonna go download the app for this to go find more like minded plant nerds in my time.
Speaker 3 00:11:40 Yes.
Jenny 00:11:42 What what app is this?
Brian 00:11:44 So I get home and I was searching for this app. This platform like to connect me with other plant people. It turns out after a couple of days in of like frivolous searching, that it doesn't exist yet.
Speaker 3 00:12:02 Oh, okay.
Brian 00:12:04 So earlier in the year, I saw these interesting signals of and this was 2019, like pre-pandemic.
Speaker 3 00:12:14 Okay.
Brian 00:12:15 I saw all these people making dedicated plant Instagram accounts for their plants as if they were, you know, some their pets.
Speaker 3 00:12:26 yeah.
Brian 00:12:27 And that's like a very unique behavior. So I'm so proud of these plants to to make a whole dedicated Instagram handle for them. So I put those two things together and I started doing research. and like what I saw was like this kind of rapidly growing plant market where people weren't going to their local nursery anymore. They were actually buying plants online and like shipping plants. And then they were really proud of them, like putting them online, talking, saying that they're they're plant babies. Yeah. And that's when it kind of clicked. And I was like, no, what? I'm I'm not working. I was kind of getting over the science path because wasn't truly doing what I initially wanted, which was understanding, you know, the brain discovering.
Brian 00:13:18 You know, that's, to me the biggest mystery in our life.
Speaker 3 00:13:21 Yeah.
Brian 00:13:22 and I was like, what? I'm going to give it a go, let's see if I can do this. And I asked around to so many friends about this idea. And it was it was extremely validated by almost every single person I talked to. And I was like, well, why not give this a go? I did the initial branding, core ideas, core features, which I thought would be useful, and then my next step was to find a basically someone that knew the tech side. I was very I didn't know much, but I knew that I couldn't. I didn't want to code myself, be behind a computer. Yeah, I didn't want to outsource it because I just I just knew, like, things had to happen rapidly. We couldn't have bugs, like, not be fixed for, like, even, like a day could be detrimental. Yeah. So I just kind of looked around for friends I knew were into computer stuff.
Brian 00:14:18 That's how naive I was.
Speaker 3 00:14:20 And.
Brian 00:14:21 Stuff. And I interviewed a bunch of friends. I made a pitch deck and everything, and eventually I locked down my my buddy Nick, who's a climbing surfing buddy. And the day I pitched him, he, his dad sent him a New York Times article about, like, this plant boom driven by millennials. And then he heard an MP. He was listening to NPR and he heard he heard the same thing. So he called me up and he's like, I'm down. I vetted him as best I could. I had like, another actually software engineer friend, like, vet him for me. So I once again, I.
Speaker 3 00:14:58 Didn't.
Brian 00:14:59 I didn't understand this.
Speaker 3 00:15:01 Yeah.
Brian 00:15:01 This lingo. And I just kind of put faith and trust. I was like, know what? He's down. let's just do it. We started working on it December 2019. Then the pandemic happened, and then we both were. Then he got laid off for a few months, and within that time we cranked out an MVP, launched it.
Brian 00:15:23 I think it was June of 2020. And that kind of defined the next 4 or 5 years of my life just trying to figure stuff out. Having no clue what I was doing. And yeah, that was a crazy experience.
Jenny 00:15:42 Wow. Yeah.
Brian 00:15:43 So that was a lot.
Jenny 00:15:45 That is a lot. But that that makes sense. There's a lot because there are so many here. So I mean. First of all, I want to jump back to the fact that you moved cross country. I'm going way, way back because I think, you know, you knew that there were things that you enjoyed in your life and you weren't necessarily getting them there in New York, were you like in the city? Were you upstate? Where where were you in New York?
Brian 00:16:07 I basically live right on the border of Queens in Long Island.
Jenny 00:16:10 Okay.
Brian 00:16:11 So not quite like Manhattan City.
Speaker 3 00:16:13 Yeah.
Brian 00:16:14 it was more like a suburb.
Jenny 00:16:16 Okay, so you're in the suburbs and and obviously the things that you enjoy to do aren't necessarily available.
Jenny 00:16:22 You had this idea like, oh, let's move to California. And you did, you did you applied to school and you got in, San Diego State. Woohoo! I went there for my undergrad, so cheers. State. but you did it and you moved out here and you learned that you it's I mean, California is your jam. Like, this is home. This is your place. And then, you know, when you hopped into like kind of, I'm going to say corporate, but it's, you know, biotech world and it's very corporate, very business. There was something that you said that stood out so much to me. There are passionate people, but at the end of the day, it's business. And when you said that, it kind of made me think about because I also got laid off, from like ag tech. I was working in the tech world tech for my entire career. But like, there are so many passionate people at these companies, so many smart, intelligent, talented people.
Jenny 00:17:22 But you brought up such that that. Good point. It is just business at the end of the day. And so when you came around the second time, you know, to start after you got the lay off and you got a little restless and then you applied and you went through it again, you know, you you got the whole thing again and you just kind.
Speaker 3 00:17:40 Of.
Jenny 00:17:41 Saw yourself in this cycle. And it sounds like at that point kind of questioned that orthodox view that you had of, you know, the salary, the 401 K, this kind of and I air quotes all the time stability. you know, the things that we thought that we were going to have from these jobs and it's just business and we don't always get these things. And so you you questioned that. And look, it led you. And it's not easy to question that. But hearing you share this story that the fact that.
Speaker 3 00:18:14 It.
Jenny 00:18:15 It opened your eyes to something different because I think and maybe, you know, people like this too.
Jenny 00:18:20 And no harm, no foul like to each their own. But some folks will just kind of stay in that rat race. They don't question it. Why do you think you questioned it? What was you know, what did you not want to go back to? What was it about that the business life that you know, that stable paycheck life that was no longer appealing and doing something different and risky And like you said for years, not really knowing what you were doing, you know, what was what was kind of going through your mind at that time.
Brian 00:18:52 Yeah. I kind of was questioning, like, how did I get here? Because I, I think it was absolutely a gift that I didn't stay in academia. I have, like very strong opinions on that path. And I think it kind of takes advantage of very smart people who are passionate about research. And they they expect very long hours and they really don't pay people. And you could fight getting grant money super competitive. And I was like, thank you.
Brian 00:19:24 I did not get into a PhD program. So I've been way deeper. I still valued that discovery process. But it wasn't it wasn't investigating the questions I really cared about. I just kind of got soul sucking and I just wasn't really even say, good scientists. I was good at asking questions and seeing the right things and tying things together. But like as a bench scientist, I was terrible. but in one hand, I would say that I almost didn't even have the courage myself to quit because I put so much time in this path. There was a fear like, wow, did I just waste like ten plus years of my life? Sometimes I think life or higher power makes those decisions for you and kind of is like, no, Brian, you're not meant to just be stuck behind in the cell culture room. I was always like, very social. I knew I knew everyone and like beyond, even beyond my department. but yeah, I was like, you know what? This is the second time I'm getting laid off.
Brian 00:20:37 I think that's a sign for me, like, chill out. And This is my opportunity for something different. And then I just knew that I needed time for like freedom to find that and not just jump. I was fortunate to not have to worry about money, but I knew I needed time and like, like almost like sabbatical in between to give opportunity for that next thing.
Speaker 3 00:21:05 Yeah.
Brian 00:21:06 And that happened with that beautiful interaction I had with a neighbor. And that led to me starting a, you know, a marketplace tech platform and raising investor money, getting into a top global accelerator, Techstars, and really learning so much about business. And the cool thing was like, especially in hindsight, like my business sense was so true and it felt so intuitive and natural. And I would have never learned this If I didn't get laid off a bunch of times and take that scary leap. You know, essentially experiment with my own life to be like, hey, you don't know unless you try. And if you try and don't like it or fail, you can always return to what you're doing, the status quo.
Brian 00:21:58 But that just seems so like I would rather do anything else than return. Taking that like, step back.
Speaker 3 00:22:05 Yeah.
Jenny 00:22:06 Oh, that resonates so much with me. I have some so many more questions for you. So first of all, the moment with your neighbor that it sounds like community. You're very social person. Community is such a big part of who you are. It sounds like you're in a neighborhood where you connect with people on a regular basis, and having that moment to, like, get to know your neighbor on such a deep level. Like with plants, I'm a huge plant person myself. I can.
Speaker 3 00:22:36 See, yeah, I see a little.
Jenny 00:22:37 Shelf of plants. I love love me some plants. And to connect with people or share propagation or, you know, just talk about talk about plants in a way that I was like, that is a beautiful experience. And so for you to have that light bulb moment, to then take it and think, okay, I'm going to figure out a way to bring this to life and the things that really stood out.
Jenny 00:23:04 You talked to people. You asked people, what do you think of this? And I think a lot of the times we have these ideas in our heads and they might feel like, you know, wow, this is a big idea. But this is a lot of work. But it doesn't have to always be just us. And so you reached out, you were talking to others. You knew what you were good at, and then you reached out to find help on the things that you didn't necessarily know how to do. And you found someone, you vetted them out, and it just happened to be at the right time. And then to hear about all the things like Techstars and the like, all these things like, that's incredible. What is the name of the app? Is that something you could share?
Brian 00:23:43 Sure. it's called blossom, but it's spelled incorrectly. It's b l o s s m.
Speaker 3 00:23:50 Okay.
Brian 00:23:51 And it's on. You know, the Apple Store. Play store. We have a web based platform.
Brian 00:23:58 if I were to do, like, another app sort of situation, I would. I didn't realize how important the name was, especially if you try to. We're like, oh, there's another blossom app, but we can just spell it this way. You know, it's like Lyft. There's all.
Speaker 3 00:24:16 These yeah.
Brian 00:24:16 Tech companies that spelled wrong. But we actually encountered massive SEO issues. And the Play Store actually auto corrects to the right spelling of blossom. Another plant app that's just plant ID. And so I would be talking I did all the user acquisition and like, you know, marketing I.
Speaker 3 00:24:39 Did.
Brian 00:24:39 Essentially everything beyond the the actual programming of the product. We actually spent a lot of time going through the name. But the the name blossom, actually, you know, love the story. I was talking to my one of my roommates at the time about this idea, and I was like, hey, man. Like, you know, people connecting through plans, like, like, who knows, maybe even, like, love will blossom.
Brian 00:25:08 And he's like, dude, that's what you should call it. We thought that was great. We saw the other blossom app. We were like, this could be cause problems. We thought of me and now, like my CTO Nick, we're thinking of of all these different names like plant related names and events, we just circled back and like, blossom just sounds the best. Everyone love that and the cute little story behind it. my roommate, his name's John, or aka his nicknames H. Those things are just more like beautiful when there's like meaning and like like a story behind it.
Speaker 3 00:25:47 Yeah.
Jenny 00:25:48 They really are. And then you're able to hold on to that and it becomes part of your story and H's story and Nick's story, and then you're building this, and then it's part of your neighbor's story or people using it that you don't even know. The plants are part of it. Like it's all just this big thing that would not have been created had you not gotten laid off and had that feeling inside like there's something here.
Jenny 00:26:18 and so moving forward, you know, you have the app, is this still something that you are doing every day or you're working on the team in addition to the art?
Brian 00:26:29 So. I full time dedicated my life to like, you know, felt like my my dream since like idea conception and I. This was this was actually great timing to I was on unemployment and right as was about to end the pandemic happened and they were like, oh, we're going to extend unemployment. So this happened for two years. I was able to not worry about supporting myself, focus on the, you know, figuring out this, the startup. And then after that, I actually started selling plants, my own personal plans on my platform. And I supported myself for almost two years that way.
Speaker 3 00:27:20 Wow.
Brian 00:27:21 I would actually use that in investor pitches. And I was like, listen, there's a new gig economy forming around plant selling. There's no dedicated platform catering to this niche population. It requires more than say, Facebook Marketplace or offer up this like interactive, community like relationship building aspect.
Brian 00:27:45 Yeah, I was like, I've been supporting myself for two years and I think my top month was like three K and I was like, there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of other people like me, but there's no proper place for them to do this, like safe commerce plus community. and to answer your question, I actually I left last year. and the truth is, is that startups are extremely difficult and especially the dynamic with your co-founders. and I was weary of this even from the beginning, doing starting a business with with friends. And ultimately, I just.
Speaker 3 00:28:35 Is.
Brian 00:28:36 Far out for a long time. Then after Techstars, there was very misalignment on, you know, the product roadmap, the future of the company and became essentially like it felt like to me like a three verse one. I was like, I felt like I was getting pressured out, but also like the whole path of the company shifted and no longer became my dream. And nor did I think they were doing or wanted to go in the right direction.
Brian 00:29:08 Didn't seem like sustainable in a business sense. It wasn't catering to the the user base appropriately. Like I was like, you know, I was the plant expert. I was so deep in the mind of the user, of the plant person, of our, you know, our target audience, which is absolutely critical for any business. and there's the rest of the team I felt was just so disconnected from that. And then they're not listening to me. And it wasn't based on like, this is what Brian thinks. this is what Brian thinks. Plus all the market research I've been doing and all the user interviews and also just sometimes, like, you know, my intuition and you have to take risks when you're a four man startup and you have big, bigger, well-funded competitors now in play, copying you like this was flattering, but we had.
Speaker 3 00:30:05 Right?
Brian 00:30:05 Right. Competitor plant story was just stealing, branding, copying, you know, email templates. you know, ambassador program, poaching users.
Brian 00:30:16 It was kind of it was kind of cool. But also, you know, it adds a new layer of urgency where we were just moving at our own pace now, like, we have to move faster. Not only are they a direct competitor, they have more money and resources and they're copying. sorry, that's a tangent. But ultimately I left last September and I immediately was trying to start a mushroom marketplace. Basically a mushroom version of blossom. And I just knew we needed to be to raise a proper seed round. We needed to expand our market. And you know, I was like, let's incorporate other passionate aligned communities like the plant ones. And I felt like, that's mushroom people. That's art people, right? I got shut down by the team. So I was like, well, I'm going to do this myself. Got another CTO. We started working on it, kind of what happens. We had another stalemate with the product. I realized I was making the same massive mistake I did with blossom.
Brian 00:31:26 You know, sort of like how you choose your team. And then I was like, maybe this is like my rebound company.
Speaker 3 00:31:33 Me.
Brian 00:31:35 And I was like, I'm like all my mentors and stuff. Recommended, like take time off. You grinded for three years. You need to reflect and refresh your mind and body. And so then I was like, wait a minute, I think there I kind of ignore them, but I think they're right. And so then I just took off the rest of the year to surf sabbatical. And then now this year, I've been I've been making art for probably six, six or so years, but I never really promoted it, never shared it on social media. I just.
Speaker 3 00:32:12 Yeah.
Brian 00:32:13 Enjoyed doing it. And I was aware I was like, I don't want to be a starving artist. Like I see some of my friends struggling. I don't want to ruin or taint another passion of mine. You know, I was I was kind of, you know, fearful of that.
Brian 00:32:28 And lo and behold, a couple months in, I, you know, I start sharing my process And, you know, showing off my wrist and stuff. One guy, an acquaintance like, hits me up and he's like, hey, man, your stuff's great. Like, are you selling these? And I'm like, well, I haven't been working for a few months. Maybe I should sell him one. I was like, I think this is worth $500. And he's like, he's like, done, I want it. And so my first piece sold was 500 bucks. And what I saw was someone so excited for it. He hung it up above his keyboard, which is like, he's like.
Speaker 3 00:33:02 I have the.
Brian 00:33:03 Perfect place for it. And I kind of was getting the same feelings I was getting with blossoms. I did had so many interactions with users. Many became friends.
Speaker 3 00:33:11 Yeah.
Brian 00:33:12 And I was like, oh man, I was able to create something that had such, such a positive impact on somebody else.
Brian 00:33:20 That's very meaningful and special to them. That's kind of why I just said, fuck it, I'm gonna let's try the art thing and, but not go too deep into business mode. Like just keep it fun still. So yeah, I just committed to that. And I did like my first art show like a few weeks after. And then I just been like super inspired, still to be cranking out art. I make all these pendants for friends, I give out. I always make birthday like, little resin framed, kelp flower gifts for like, birthdays and like friends engagements. And also I've been, you know, getting a bunch of sales at, like, this $500 mark for bigger pieces. You know, I do I do feel like this path is going to lead me to another, bigger purpose, something where I can have scalable impact, probably, you know, utilizing tech in some fashion. It's been really enjoyable, like learning, connecting with all these other artists, musicians. I haven't been burnt out.
Brian 00:34:23 I haven't been burnt out making art yet, still loving it and enjoying it. Really consistently Reinforced by when I give art to people or I see people checking it out. Like, people just get so excited and stoked and everyone once again is like loving it. And I'm like, just listening to my gut and body. Been focusing a lot of growth and stuff this year, and your body doesn't really lie, so just trust your gut and intuition and it's telling me to keep doing this.
Jenny 00:34:55 I think that's important insight because sometimes we feel that and we question it, or we think it's wrong or we think, no, no, no, I can't, I can't do that. Who am I to do that? But it doesn't lie. It is really there to guide us. And also sometimes, like what you said, you know, sometimes universe higher power, whatever it is like, we'll make sure we get where we need to go, because if we're not listening to that, it will it will make sure that we still get to that path because.
Jenny 00:35:27 Because that's where we're supposed to be. And so.
Speaker 3 00:35:30 With, with.
Jenny 00:35:30 Art. You know, coming from like the startup world, the many hats, you know, the all the ups and downs of relationships with other teammates and founders. And then then you go and you take the sabbatical and you're surfing and you're just really finding time to tune in, and then you kind of just naturally, again, fall into the next kind of phase of, of your flip, so to say. And but the thing that pops in my mind is because I do furniture restoration and makeovers, and it's very much a personal art, like it's my way of creating art. And sometimes when I take on too much, sometimes I lose this kind of spark and I have to kind of dial back a little bit. I'm still finding my balance, and I'm wondering if you're kind of navigating that at all with art as you kind of shifted into a business. do you find that there's anything that's like, oh, this doesn't feel right to do art in this way.
Jenny 00:36:30 I want to stay in this path as opposed to just going full force into business mode again.
Brian 00:36:35 Yeah, I told myself, I'm not going.
Speaker 3 00:36:38 To.
Brian 00:36:39 Go into that deep business mode until, say, next year. And I was like, I'm going to feel this out and make sure there's the last two months. We're actually very busy. I was having a bunch of wedding bouquets, I did some. a couple friends wanted, flowers from, like, memorial services, also like, preserved and a bunch of commissioned pieces. And it was actually exciting. And I like staying busy. I don't loaf around or just hang out. I'm always doing something. And maybe that's a coping mechanism or something. but yeah, I like staying busy, so I haven't gotten, like burnt, burnt out. And I'm next year I think I'll like reflect and reassess everything and be like, all right, Who's my true target? draft up a business strategy. Because right now, all I'm doing is just simple Instagram.
Brian 00:37:37 Just uploading my stuff to, like, a central place that people can use as a reference. People can see press flowers. They do. You know, they'll take your your bouquet and put it in resin blocks, but they're not making it into this very unique, personalized art that I try to make very meaningful to them. I ask them questions, get to know them, and see if I can, like, integrate that into the art piece. But it was the first time where I had like set materials to work with. So I have probably like a thousand flowers at my house. I have stacks.
Speaker 3 00:38:11 Of.
Brian 00:38:12 Kelp and algae like all over the garage. I'm sure my roommates get.
Speaker 3 00:38:17 Sick of it.
Brian 00:38:20 But I did have a, a short stint of maybe like a roadblock where I was like, oh, wait, I have to produce the same level and style of art I've been doing, but only the set bouquet. But actually once I just, I was like, all right. Just sometimes you just.
Brian 00:38:38 I actually give this advice to people and I'm like, oh, they must think it sounds so dumb. They're probably like, Brian, this is like patronizing. But sometimes you're just like, hey, man, you just gotta go do it. And in doing so, like during that process, things become clearer. Like something pops up. And I found that very important for the art I'm doing. Sometimes I just start doing and then the ideas come. They're not always like preconceived ideas. And once I started this, even, like I took her bouquet out after it finished drying, I just started seeing what I had to work with, placing it within a frame. It came so fast to me, like what design I was going to do. And then I was like, oh, this is actually easier because I have like a limited quantity of things to work with. You know, it was like a new it was like initially a roadblock that became like a challenge, that became something I was, like, excited to overcome.
Brian 00:39:32 And now I'm like, oh, this is actually easier for me and just as rewarding and enjoyable.
Jenny 00:39:38 And that's great advice to to just start doing it, just start doing it and let the ideas flow to you and let it, let it find you, let it find you. I love that, Brian. Thank you for sharing your journey. From the scientists to tech world, startup apps and and in the golden thread through it all plants. And now there's art. And where can people see your art? How can they find you?
Brian 00:40:07 Made an art? Instagram. It's actually my my Korean name. It's Byron Bay J.
Jenny 00:40:16 Awesome. Thank you Brian. Thank you for being here and sharing your story. And that's a wrap on today's episode. Thanks so much for hanging out with me and Brian. And if you want to connect with Brian, check out the show notes for all the details. If today's story hit home or you know someone who's stuck in a career limbo, send this episode their way.
Jenny 00:40:36 Seriously, it might be exactly what they need to hear to keep going when things get really messy. Oh, and if you got your own career flip story or know someone with an awesome one, head over to the career flipper. Com to see how you can be part of a future episode. While you're there, sign up for the mailing list so you don't miss any new episodes or behind the scenes stuff. And hey, remember, every tiny step counts, even when it doesn't feel like it. You've got this. What's the best that could happen?