Hi Bonbon,
The love for various aspects of the Asian culture came about with Karate kid, as I'm sure many people love for bonsai began with this film and I think many people my generation we're somewhat influenced by the film one way or another. I had my first tree when I was 13 and killed it fairly quickly
I began my horticultural studies in 1994 and began working in landscaping for a couple of years. I left the landscaping trade, worked in sales for a while, whilst trying various different studies at Uni and TAFE.
In 2004 I began doing a few odd landscaping jobs here and there for relos, and eventually I went back to study to study Computer aided graphics for landscape.
Late in 2005 I met up with an old friend who owned Zen Flower and Gardens and asked me if I'd be interested in working there perhaps doing a little bit of sales and landscaping, he had some really nice trees and on my first week I had to get myself a little tree I just fell in love with them, so that's when I began collecting and reading about these little trees.
In mid 2008 my friend was going overseas to get married and live so he asked me if I was interested in purchasing this business with the stock and eventually we came to an agreement, I scraped all my monies sold my apartment and moved back with the folks... sacrifices you make
I guess one thing to understand is that I don't have a traditional nursery, as there's no point trying to compete with Bunnings. My store has a wide range of large feature pots, large marble statues, water features, some plants & trees and part of the shop is dedicated to bonsai and bonsai accessories.
Apart from running my store I also have the landscaping side of things to take care of, and most of the work is carried out by myself and my father. At times I get mates in the trade to give me a hand on the larger jobs. When I'm out on the job I will get my mother and a casual to look after the store.
So since last year I've been working pretty much everyday, the only days I don't work is when I can't get out of bed usually from being sick or really rundown, unfortunately these are the sacrifices you have to make to make a small business work.
My store still has a long way to go with display & stock , I guess about 60% of the 'bonsai' stock came with the nursery, there rest of the stock I have grown or purchased as starter stock and worked, trimmed and shaped. I have spent a lot of time with Mr. Hahn, and has taught a me a lot, but the language barrier can be frustrating, so I've had to do a lot reading to fill in the gap. I should probably join a club... but who has time to stand around and chat when you have I have so much work to do
Anyways I'm determined to make it work, everyday I get to work on the little trees and that's enough to keep me happy for now, even if I don't get a steady wage yet
I rather be doing what I love
Dam that was a long ramble....