When Jennifer Ruiz tells people she makes paper flowers, they say "how cute." Then they see her four-foot installations for Valentino and L'Oreal and the reaction shifts to "oh." She works as a caregiver from 10:30pm to 6:30am, comes home to take her son to school, then creates massive floral installations on four hours of sleep. She's exactly at the financial breaking point where her business income matches her caregiver income. Not above it. Not below it. Right there.

What You'll Learn:

Why "paper florist" gets a different reaction than "I make paper flowers"

How she learned to create giant flowers by watching YouTube tutorials in Russian and Korean

The language kit she created so crafters can speak corporate to luxury brands

Why her rental flowers (which last three years) are her biggest money maker

How the paper florist community shares leads and pricing instead of competing

What it's like to keep 80% of your business details stored in your head

Why flowers became her escape and healing during a difficult time in her marriage

About Jennifer: Jennifer Ruiz is a paper florist based in California who creates massive floral installations for luxury brands and weddings. She teaches monthly classes and is working toward running Petal Loft full-time.

Links:

Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizJennifer's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petal_loft/?hl=enMore episodes: thetodoshow.com

Lauryn creates dark, moody wedding photos. Not the bright, airy Pinterest style everyone expects. Her style makes people feel something they can't name. She edits each gallery two or three times, uploads it, then sometimes pulls it back down to re-edit more. While doing this obsessive perfectionism, she's listening to Stephen King and wondering who the killer is. Her 8-year-old daughter has adapted. She doesn't ask "Mom can you do this?" anymore. She says "Mom, can you set an alarm?"

What You'll Learn:

How constantly witnessing the deepest sentiment of people's hearts at weddings makes her "kinder to my husband. I'm like, aw my God, I guess I love you too."

The printed list method: checking off every shot so the next 45 minutes are free to just be creative

Why one bride grabbed scissors and redid her entire bouquet mid-wedding (and Lauryn just said "okay I'll be back")

Her slow season list includes: taxes (sad face emoji), call Fidelity, make welcome guide, blog 47 weddings

The question creative people face: "It's generally creatives who have the most awful evil taxes, and it's like, this is the opposite of what our brains were built for"

What Taylor Swift knows about work-life balance that wedding photographers should steal

About Lauryn: Lauryn is a moody wedding photographer based in the Philadelphia area who specializes in dark, saturated, atmospheric images. She got diagnosed with ADHD a little over a year ago and runs her business through a system of alarms, post-its, and organized chaos.

Links: Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quiz More episodes: thetodoshow.com

Alina Fattakhova tells her clients which women rejected them and exactly why. She's a luxury matchmaker in New York City, and people pay her to deliver brutal honesty wrapped in strategy. She treats finding a life partner like applying for jobs. Spreadsheets, data points, reverse engineering your timeline from age 35 backwards.

What You'll Learn:

Why people apply to 200 jobs in two weeks but won't do the same for dating

The "illusion of choice" problem in New York City dating (and why it makes people less willing to commit)

How raising prices actually brought better, more self-reflective clients

What it's really like to tell a 40-year-old man why stunning blondes keep rejecting him

Why nerdy clients with dating spreadsheets often find patterns they need to break

The accountability party trend: forcing yourself to do hard tasks (like scheduling a sleep study)

About Alina: Alina Fattakhova is a matchmaker and founder of a boutique matchmaking agency in New York City. She went from luxury jewelry sales to construction bidding to discovering her real talent: connecting people. Now she runs events, screens matches, and gives people the reality checks they're paying for.

Links:

Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizMore episodes: thetodoshow.com