It was the height of spring when I had the opportunity to meet
up with the vibrant Helena Denison. From never having worked
and not having a CV and being widowed at 30 with two small
children, she has come a long way to finally making a business
out of her childhood passion and lifetime hobby, gardening.
How would you describe yourself? Who is Helena?
I'm the designer/owner/chief bottle washer of small growing
garden company - Honey's Garden Design and Construction. We
create gardens that are very specific to the people we are
working with.
I love gardening and want to give people gardens they
really want to be in; something they can truly enjoy, relax in
and that is easy to keep.
What are you working on now?
It's the busiest time of the year for us; it usually hits
chaos at Easter time. It starts to be sunny, and people look
at their gardens and realize they need attention. A lot of
people want instant transformation, not realising that the
work should have been started in winter!
At the moment I'm personally working on a number of designs
and also about 50 projects from mending fences to major
restoration. Our projects range from a few pounds for cutting
a lawn to £200,000 plus and everything in between.
To put it in context, I started this business because I
love being outside and getting my hands dirty, but right now,
I'm office bound to get on top of the mass of enquiries.
Meanwhile, my team of guys is busy doing the construction
work.
As a kid - what did you want to be when you grew up?
What was work for you?
I had no concept of paid work. My mother didn't work, and it
was not expected that we would have to work for our living.
Our role was mapped out as wife and mother, the supporting act
for an industrious husband. My father ran a successful clay
mining company of 250 employees that belonged to my mother and
my aunt. He was a brilliant engineer and had been landed in
this role at the age of 24 when my grandfather died.
So my model of 'work' was somewhat ambiguous I think
because my parents had distinct 'home' versus 'business'
roles. I had no clear idea of what I wanted to be when I grew
up except that it must involve something creative. It was the
60s and fashion was a big part of our lives and so my first
preference was to train as a fashion designer.
However, as a small child, I was turned out to play in the
garden and I loved being there. I was given a small area in
which I could plant anything I liked, and in winter I made mud
pies and decorated them with bright red japonica flowers. My
aunt, who lived with us, was a great plantswoman, and the
garden was full of rare and beautiful flowers, seed heads,
trees, shrubs and vegetables. I knew their names, what was
edible, and what I was allowed to pick.
What has been your journey to what you are doing now?
Well it has been a varied past. I never worked until I was 30.
I was a happy housewife and didn't even know what a CV was
until I was widowed and had to find paid work. In 1979, my
husband was killed in action in Rhodesia, where we had lived
very happily for four years. I moved back to England with two
small children and had to live with my parents in Cornwall,
because I had no money and at that point no pension.
I made an important decision at this time. It was that
although I was widowed, we were not going to compromise the
standard of living we had grown accustomed to. Everything I
have done since has been prompted by this decision and I am
proud of what I have achieved.
Because I was not conditioned to see work as a chore, I
have a strong need to enjoy what I am doing. Having trained as
a fashion designer in the late 60s, my first job was designing
the first coloured wetsuits for the then new sport of
windsurfing.
I worked with UK's leading company in this area for 18
months until my pension came through from Zimbabwe. There were
a number of things I didn't enjoy about working for someone
rather than for myself. For instance, I don't take orders
easily and have a strong mind if I think that what I am being
asked to do is not going to work. So, in 1981, I was persuaded
to start up my own production company by a local factory
manager. Being recently widowed, I was vulnerable and the
partnership was a disaster. I persisted for four years but in
the end liquidated the company.
However, this experience had taught me a lot about
business, I was asked to join a telemarketing company and rose
quickly from being on the phones to project management. One
day, bored with work I could do easily, I sent a silent prayer
upwards: "Please God show me what is the next vital step I
need to take in my life, and make it so clear that even I in
my most stupid mode couldn't fail to see what it is you want
me to do next". Twenty minutes later I had a phone call from a
headhunter. A client had recommended me for a role to start up
a telemarketing organisation for a big US conglomerate. I took
it.
The business grew from nothing to 90 employees in the first
six months and we were in profit by our 11th month, which was
way before the initial plan. Within a year we ranked second to
BT (British Telecom) and were perceived as serious market
players. Unfortunately our mother company had made big losses
in Europe and a decision was made in the US to close all
European operations. I was determined that no one I employed
was going to suffer from this set back and so I spent the next
month making sure all my people got placed in good jobs and
seeing that all our client relationships were properly
managed.
Seeing an opportunity, I contacted all our clients and told
them in advance what was happening and guaranteed that I would
manage their projects or place them with other agencies to
ensure continuity and success. As a result I was offered five
roles in client companies. I answered them all the same way:
"Thank you. I am very grateful and I think you would get more
out of me if I worked with you rather than for you".
I decided to become a telemarketing consultant. Call
centres were now the big thing, and I worked with anything
from new start-ups to strategic development work consulting at
a director level in top companies.
In the early 1990s, I met someone at a party doing a
Masters in Change Agency at the University of Surrey, and
immediately knew that was my next step forward. I qualified in
the year 2000 as an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies.
It was my first degree and immensely difficult, but the most
rewarding I had ever achieved.
I worked in change consulting until just before 9/11 when I
sensed that the market was beginning to look lean. Clients
were making budget cuts and big consultancies were jumping on
the personal development bandwagon. I decided that a recession
was starting and 9/11 made the market even more difficult. I
could afford to take some time to consider my position, so for
about six months I did very little paid work.
My adopted daughter had just finished her RHS (Royal
Horticultural Society) Certificate. It was early summer and I
told her that we were going to clean up people's gardens in
the local area to earn some money. I designed a leaflet and we
started door dropping. Within two hours we had had twenty
calls and I realized there was a ready market for this
service.
So we gardened all summer. In the autumn, my daughter no
longer wanted to continue, but I decided this was going to be
a serious business. In October, I did my first garden design.
A client wanted a wildlife garden and part of this included
paving around a pond. I decided to subcontract this work, and
thus met Gareth, my future business partner. I quickly
realized that I needed to employ my own workmen and over the
next year built up a small team who are still with me now. The
company has evolved from garden maintenance to garden design
and construction.
Inevitably, having a background in design I was never going
to be content with simply digging over gardens. The company's
natural evolution is underpinned with a strong business
message. We love gardens; we are passionate about creating for
you the garden of your dreams. And a client recently wrote
exactly this: "Thank you for creating the garden of my
dreams".
What has worked in this business? I love talking to people.
I love colour and structure. I spend time with clients working
out what style is the closest fit for them and what colours
and designs will bring out the ideas they cannot necessarily
express for themselves. I look at their house, the pictures
they choose, their clothes, their personality, and that is
enough for me to put together a design that's in integrity
with who they are as people.
What voices have you had along the way?
I believe that whatever happens I am looked after and that
I'll manage. I would say I am spiritual rather than religious
in the traditional sense. Deepak Chopra says that one should
"commune with nature daily" and I believe in this as a guiding
principle. I talk with my god daily and say thank you each
evening for specific things that have happened during the day
that bring me joy or make life easier and sometimes I ask for
particular things such as more work, great clients, profitable
projects or new creative ideas. I am always answered.
How are you feeling now? How do you see the future?
I'm peaceful and optimistic. I feel as if I have arrived in
the place I was always meant to be. My only remaining ambition
is to be invited to design a garden at Chelsea. And I would
like to be remembered as a wonderful plantswoman. I'd love
people to say: "Wow, what a beautiful garden". "Yes, it's an
early Helena Dennison".
What advice would you give to other people in similar
situations as you were in?
· Never let your perceived limitations hold you back. Chance
your arm, take a risk and go for it.
· Get passionate about something and turn it into your work.
· Remember to do the ground work; plan it, fuel it with
passion, be flexible enough to pull it apart every so often
and look at what works and what doesn't and take it forward
from there.
· Be humble enough to ask for help and guidance, both from
your spiritual center and from those who work with you.
Helena Dennison runs Honey's Garden Design and Construction,
and can be contacted on +44 (0)208 3576 966 or +44 (0)7956 110
188.
