Cassandra (Cass for short) is the creator & founder of Bella's Botanicals & Boutique. Yes, we named the business after our daughter!
As a budding herbalist as well as mom & wife on a journey to live a more self sufficient lifestyle not just for myself, but my family, I thought our own blog about our journey along with tips, tricks and anything else would be a good place to start!
Hello Everyone!
My name is Cassandra, a lot of friends and family call me Cass. I'm a mother to two kiddos, well one is almost an adult, that are 13 years a part in age. Also a wife to an amazing husband I thought I'd never find if I'm being honest. Passionate about health & wellness in general, but also about finding yourself while enjoying life. I decided to start this blog for many reasons. I feel I'm constantly finding blogs where people talk about the ease of their lifestyle but not the bumps in the road on their path. While I do not believe anyone's life is "perfect" I also believe most like the perception of seeming to have it all together while afraid of showing their own vulnerabilities. I spent the majority of my life trying to appease others only to be left feeling empty, depressed and like I was no good. My blog in general will be on array of different things and not just one sole focus. I'll touch on my journey into herbalism, provide tips & tricks we've learned, discuss my love of arts, but also provide the real truth to my journey to self love (which is still a work in progress) and finding my true self. There's a lot of "How To" guides and I will never claim to know the best way since I probably don't even do those ways myself, but there are struggles I feel a lot of us share which are rarely spoken about and not that I really want to share mine, but I feel sharing is another step for me since I halted my voice on a lot of things which happened. I think this blog will allow me to release some tension on my end and get things out, while also letting those who are in similar situations know you can control your life and make changes.
From my experience, nothing in life is easy, choosing what to focus your energy on to make yourself happier can be hard, but once you decide it can become the best and easiest decision of your life.
I hope my experience overall will help at least one person decide to leave toxic relationship behind as well as help others integrate into a life they want vs what they've been told they should be living.
We don't get to decide on a lot of things in our first 18 years of life, but after that, we get to decide everything!
Just a bit more about myself, how Bella's Botanicals came to be and what you can look forward to in different blog posts going forward.
Bella's Botanicals & Boutique was formed for many reasons. I have always owned at least one business since my early 20s. Some successful, but a lot failed. From my experience, don't work with family unless you have a great relationship foundation. If you have any inkling of doubt just DON'T do it. This goes along with employers where you get a W2 or even 1099 from, if they take advantage of you, there IS other work. It's hard to find nowadays with the a lot of companies wanting to "underpay" everyone whether or not they have a degree. While I have almost enough credits for a bachelors degree I don't officially have one. I have several certifications I've completed over the years for different jobs or just simply seeking knowledge.
With this business, I decided to merge the two craftier business with my herbal/botanical focus to have a one stop shop for a lot of things. While I still own another business which has nothing to do with this business, I will say everyone should start their own business at least once in their life. It's an experience like no other, but will also help you discover when "employers" aren't doing right by their employees so you can pick a better employer when you're ready. I personally will never not own a business of some sort as I prefer to work for myself. I vowed in 2022 when a family feud started that I would never bust my butt to make others live a more comfortable while it has an adverse affect on my own health & takes me away from my family, ever again. This doesn't mean I won't work for another company, one of my business is providing bookkeeping services to other businesses and I have companies I love working with, but I'm not an official employee I'm a contractor.
Bella's Botanicals and Boutique is where I decided to not only offer my knowledge, but wonderful products at affordable prices. It irked me early on what some people charge whether it's an herbal product or handmade items. While I know and understand the need for making a living, I do not agree with over 50% profits. Drives me batty and makes it harder for a lot of people to buy items they want and in turn they turn to traditional stores with crappier products just to be able to afford it. My goal is just that. Yes, we have a small profit margin which is why we don't do a lot of "sales", but we do offer a loyalty program where you get a point for every dollar in product or subscription service you spend to earn a discount. We also have subscribe & save options on some of products as well.
There's nothing really "special" about me if I'm being completely honest. I'm flawed, I've sinned, I've made and continue to make mistakes, but one thing I no longer apologize for is being blunt & honest, while living my life how I want to. I grew up in the traditional family back in the 90's, if you're not an 80's kid you may not understand, but it revolved around both parents working, going outside, dial up internet, no phones except the house phone, no tv in bedrooms, but also was taught to believe what my elders said since they knew best & not to question adults. Go to school, get good grades, go to college, get married, have kids, work your butt off to get ahead while spending little time with your kids, repeat cycle. I was also in a household where I was the "black sheep". I wasn't all bad, but having someone who abuse you mentally, emotionally and physically isn't ideal for anyone let alone kids. This was then used against me as others were told I was a troubled kid, hard to handle, along with made to seem "crazy" when I would finally blow a gasket & fight back. This led to not having many healthy relationships in general. But in time, with wonderful friends, I escaped that reality and was really able to see the toxic relationships for what they are as well as took corrective actions for not only my mental & physical well-being but for my kids (at least the youngest) as well.
Thankfully, my husband showed and continues to show what a real relationship should be between two people and we don't have to like the same things or even do the same things to make the other happy. We have to come together with our differences, find similarities we can enjoy together but also be true to ourselves. Thank goodness for his patience, everyone knows I'm not the easiest person to understand nor get close to. But to end this part, I am proud of the recovery I've done, the person I am now and becoming who I was meant to be without walls.
Always believe in yourself!
If you believe you can, you will. It's a bit more complicated than just saying the words on repeat, but it holds truth. If you do not believe you can do something, you'll never have the courage to try or you'll make yourself fail. BUT if you believe you can, you'll give it your best shot and IF you fail, you'll learn what went wrong, make corrections and try again. Whether it's a new diet, lifestyle change, education, new business, or whatever. Failure is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of courage you had the guts to try.
If you'd like to Subscribe, provide your email and each post I make you'll receive an email. You'll also get emails on new products & any news. We try to limit it to no more than two per month. But since we're getting this blog up and running, 2023 will probably average 3-4 per month and drop down once we get into a good rhythm with everything. Below is a sneak peak of some products you'll fine in our shop. Thank you for stopping by!
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