Jenna Johnson – Landscape Architect
Episode #18: Welcome to the She Builds Show, I’m your host, Stefanie Olson. Today I’m excited to interview Jenna Johnson. Jenna is one of the most talented landscape designers I’ve ever encountered, her love for the outdoors and the ability to make the most cohesive outdoor living environment truly blows me away.
Ready? Listen in…
SHOW NOTES:
• I met you when you were kind of in the middle of working for the last one and then starting your business, and I’m curious, because I’ve never asked you what made you decide to take that leap to be like, I’m done working for y’all, and I’m ready to do it? It wasn’t like just being done working for other people, it was sort of just like I… Had a dream to have my own business when I was… I think I was like 18, I was like… I went to a junior college before I went to Cal Poly. And I was like a life guard. I was in high school, and I was telling one of my friends that was working with me about how I wanted to become a landscape architect and how… At 18? Yeah, I feel like it was right when I had just learned about it and how I thought it sounded like an amazing field because I could have my own business one day and it seem like something that I can do with kids, that would be a manageable kind of job. And he was like, What are you talking about your 18? (1:25)
• So does your husband do some of the homeschool stuff? I do use that for the afternoon, so he does it in the morning with the kids, and a lot of times, he mostly does the Science, he used to be an outdoor science teacher, so he’s really good at doing that and he get’s it’s excited about it. Yeah. He does that part with the kids and he makes breakfast and does all the things like all morning… While I’m working in the office and then if I can be done by one… then I go to my meetings all day, and if I’m home, I’m designing, and if I’m out, I’m doing a consult at someone’s house where I’m designing on site and drawing stuff up for them right there to hand off at the end of the day. Or I’m measuring if it’s a bigger project, doing a site analysis, getting things home, I can drop the base map and do the whole design. (10:34)
• I really want it to be something that people see. Come to life and see the vision. Absolutely, and I think just figuring that out in… Once I’m on my own, now that I’m actually working with lots of people is kind of learning of that whole part of the install… Absolutely, yeah, because most people don’t want to just stop there, they’re like, Okay, now how do I get this to actually make it happen. They don’t just want the design, they want to know who do I call to build this and how much is it going to cost? Which is hard to do when you’re not on building it. (19:37)
• And sometimes for me, I can just move on to the next thing and not just sit in the fact that, Wow, the blessing has come, it’s here, I’m living the thing that I dreamed of having. And sometimes we forget and we get caught up in all of the business and the stress, but really there’s so much gratitude to be had in the thing that you wanted to do, and I think that keeps us happier and more fulfilled when we can just sit in the fact that we’re living the thing we dreamed. Yeah, it does. I think I should do that more because you’re right, it is really easy to move on. (23:05)
CONNECT WITH JENNA:
• Website: https://jenna-johnson-designs.business.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennajohnson.designs
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-johnson-7218642a
WAYS TO CONNECT WITH STEFANIE…
• Website: https://shebuildshomes.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shebuildsbetter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shebuilds.homes
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shebuildsshow