Ficus creative studio

Ficus creative studio Ficus is a creative and graphic design studio, specializing in creating impactful brands & intuitive websites.

Ficus is a Creative and Graphic Design Studio, specializing in creating Bespoke Brands & Squarespace Websites.
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We breathe life into brands for passionate entrepreneurs who are ready to light up the world with their brilliant ideas.

{10/10}⁠⠀I’d be lying if I didn’t say that there is a part of me that is trembling as I put this new business out there ...
11/26/2020

{10/10}⁠⠀
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that there is a part of me that is trembling as I put this new business out there going:⁠⠀
“I hope they like it."⁠⠀
"I hope people still want to work with me."⁠⠀
"I hope this isn’t a mistake."⁠⠀
"I hope, I hope, I hope...” ⁠⠀
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But at the end of the day, the biggest thing I am happiest about + most proud of is that I listened to myself. I trusted myself enough to follow the nudge when it said "Ficus has got to go." ⁠⠀
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I didn’t ask questions or hesitate. ⁠⠀
I just tuned in and said "F**k… yes. It’s time."⁠⠀
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So, it's time. This is the last post we'll be doing on this feed, as Ficus. We're spending the next couple of months wrapping up client projects and starting to put our energy towards ⁠new projects and this new endeavor.⁠⠀
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I love you all.⁠⠀
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything. All of the support + cheerleading + wanting to be part of what Ficus stood for. ⁠⠀
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So here I am again, betting on myself and saying to the world: “I love it, and believe in it and me enough in this very moment that I think I can make a go at this.”⠀
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I'd love if you came along for the evolution... ⁠⠀
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I'll see you over there 😉⠀
💛✨ Greer⁠⠀
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{9/10}⁠⠀It was all leading me to this place and to this next evolution. I don’t know if anything else could have pushed ...
11/25/2020

{9/10}⁠⠀
It was all leading me to this place and to this next evolution. I don’t know if anything else could have pushed me so hard. ⁠⠀
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Sure, I had some relationships that were trying along the way, but the biggest one to overcome was the one with myself. That inner voice that said:⁠⠀
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"Who are you to be trying to do this?" ⁠⠀
"They’ll all find you out for the imposter you are sooner or later."⁠⠀
"When I hit this number, goal, client… then I’ll be worthy."⁠⠀
"They know best what I need. Even better than me."⁠⠀
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Most people don’t understand. They probably never will. The entrepreneurial journey is a deeply personal one that varies from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. ⁠⠀
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Even though we’ll be doing the same things — branding + website design — this feels like such a finite end to me. Not because I wanted to end the beauty and success and joy that came along with Ficus...⁠⠀
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but because I want to close the door completely on a chapter of my life that no longer feels like me. I don’t recognize that insecure little girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing or what she’s worth anymore. ⁠⠀
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I know who I am. ⁠⠀
I know what I am doing. ⁠⠀
I know what I’m worth. ⁠⠀
And I also know I don’t need anybody else’s external validation to be joyful about it. ⁠⠀
I don’t need someone to tell me how to do my business because I know what I need best for me. ⁠⠀
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And letting go of Ficus is it.⁠⠀
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{8/10}⁠⠀I built Ficus up as a labour of love. ⁠⠀I loved it. ⁠⠀I cried for it. ⁠⠀I gave myself completely to it. ⁠⠀⁠⠀It s...
11/24/2020

{8/10}⁠⠀
I built Ficus up as a labour of love. ⁠⠀
I loved it. ⁠⠀
I cried for it. ⁠⠀
I gave myself completely to it. ⁠⠀
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It sort of loved me back. Mostly it was a great mirror for how much work I had to do to value myself, truly own my gifts, use my voice, and find my way to worth on a long path that started well before my entrepreneurial journey.⁠⠀
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We choose different vessels to do our work. Mine just happened to be in my work. ⁠⠀
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Every interaction I had, every move it caused me to make, every time I had to defend my worth, every excruciatingly uncomfortable conversation I had to have. ⁠Every time I elated at something I created, every time I felt immense gratitude of how I could be so lucky to do what I do every day, with amazing clients who trusted me completely with their vision. Every time I talked with my team and realized that I had people that supported me dearly, and I could support them back. ⁠⠀
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What a gift.⁠⠀
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{7/10}⁠⠀Like any co-dependent relationship, you have to give yourself the grace + the space to find yourself again. ⁠⠀⁠⠀...
11/23/2020

{7/10}⁠⠀
Like any co-dependent relationship, you have to give yourself the grace + the space to find yourself again. ⁠⠀
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You realize you can’t keep going down this path without total destruction of one of you… you, or your business. If you go down, the business goes down. If the business goes down you’ll be battered and bruised, sure… but you’ll still be alive. ⁠⠀
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And you realize that perhaps you aren’t quite as entangled as you thought. That maybe your business isn’t this enmeshed entity that has run away with a piece of your soul. Maybe your business isn’t what has been making you worthy all along. Maybe you are the one that has been making your business worthy.⁠⠀
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Because as I've been reminded lately, your worth is not in your work. It is not in how much you can do for others. It’s not how much and how often you can abandon yourself in order to serve. It’s not in being a ‘yes’ person, or following a certain formula. It’s not about taking a certain course, or going to all the right networking groups. ⁠⠀
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It’s about how much you trust in + love yourself. It’s that moment that you felt what you had to offer the world was worth something and you decided to put it out there. And needing anyone else to validate that is where we get mixed up as entrepreneurs, artists, creators, and humans. ⁠⠀
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It’s hard not to want the outside world to tell us we’re enough. It’s hard to not let how much money is in our bank accounts dictate the amount of self-love we’re willing to give to ourselves.⁠⠀
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But what is even harder than that is losing ourselves for the sake of love from someone or something else… businesses included.⁠⠀
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{6/10}⁠⠀It’s not like this for every entrepreneur. ⁠⠀But this is how it was for me. ⁠⠀⁠⠀Of course there were other circu...
11/23/2020

{6/10}⁠⠀
It’s not like this for every entrepreneur. ⁠⠀
But this is how it was for me. ⁠⠀
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Of course there were other circumstances in my life that led to this state. It wasn’t all my work. In fact, I didn’t feel worthy unless I was working. Often it felt like the only thing in my life that was going well, and so I dedicated every waking moment to it so I could feel a sense of accomplishment and like I was good enough. ⁠⠀
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I don’t know if anyone would have known — even my team. The nights that I stayed up with crippling anxiety unable to sleep. The times I woke up literally not breathing anymore and gasping for air — fearing that I would die in my sleep one of these times. ⁠⠀
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How my eye started to twitch every time I heard another email ding come into my phone. ⁠⠀
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How it felt like I was constantly letting down every single person in my life and the shame and guilt that came along with that. ⁠⠀
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How I was drowning my sorrows in Netflix and wine working late into the evenings — somehow adding those 2 things made it kind of like a party. ⁠⠀
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A sad, workaholic party for one.⁠⠀
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{5/10}⁠⠀We abandon the reasons we started our business in the first place because we believe we need to do it X way in o...
11/21/2020

{5/10}⁠⠀
We abandon the reasons we started our business in the first place because we believe we need to do it X way in order to find success… “It’s the ONLY way”, they say! ⁠⠀
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We can’t say no to a potential client because that would be absolutely absurd… even if every fibre of our being is screaming and pleading with us not to do it. ⁠⠀
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The client is always right so we must listen to them, and give them what they want… even if it’s not even really what we do. ⁠⠀
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And slowly all of these little acts of abandonment arrive you at a place of exhaustion and lost identity. Your vision and mission seem miles away and like a distant mirage that you’ll never reach. Your well is dry and you are desperate to drink anything that feels real. You consider going back to a 9-5 on more than one occasion but quickly realize that is just further abandonment of your already lost soul.⁠⠀
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{4/10}⁠⠀But there’s something far more interesting that happens on the journey of being an entrepreneur… the worthiness ...
11/20/2020

{4/10}⁠⠀
But there’s something far more interesting that happens on the journey of being an entrepreneur… the worthiness we feel within ourselves. ⁠⠀
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At first it starts externally. Measuring our success by how hard we can push, how many projects we can take on, how full our schedule is… wearing busy like a badge of honour. We figure if we distract ourselves with external success we’ll start to feel that shift of internal worthiness naturally build. And it does… a little. ⁠⠀
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But in reality most of the time a fuller schedule just equals higher anxiety levels, less time to actually work on your worth, and poor care of our health and relationships… mentally, emotionally, physically, sexually, spiritually. ⁠⠀
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Until we break. ⁠⠀
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There’s a point where you’ve lost everything of your former self. You don’t know who you are but your work anymore. It defines you. ⁠⠀
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You live, eat, drink, breathe and sleep it. Literally. It becomes the energy you thrive on. Running yourself ragged without even realizing it because you feel so entangled with this entity that you have created. You become it. You are it. It feeds you, and you it. You will stop at nothing to keep it going for the demise of it means the demise of you… or so you think.⁠⠀
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{3/10}⁠⠀It’s the most beautiful and most terrifying thing. Betting on yourself. All it takes is that little moment of co...
11/19/2020

{3/10}⁠⠀
It’s the most beautiful and most terrifying thing. Betting on yourself. All it takes is that little moment of courage + confidence to say to the world… ⁠⠀
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“Here is who I am.”⁠⠀
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"This is what I do."⁠⠀
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"And this is how I do it.”⁠⠀
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“I love it, and believe in it and me enough in this very moment that I think I can make a go at this. I am willing to push aside everything I have been told about safety and security and playing by society's rules. I am willing to make a fool of myself and have my heart broken and put myself out there bare and open and ready for ridicule on the off chance that this might amount to something beyond my wildest dreams… being validated that my idea + my skill is worthy to the world.”⁠⠀
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And so we do it. We put it out in a post or we start sheepishly telling friends. We put together a website and a logo that we’re satisfied with {for now}. We create write-ups for our services, come up with prices that are often too low, and we set to work for anything and everyone.⁠⠀
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We sacrifice sleep and meals and time with loved ones. We stare at screens until our eyes bleed, and curl up into a ball in the shower and cry a little… or a lot. ⁠⠀
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We have dance parties when things go our way, and get utterly elated at the idea of a new client or project or sale. ⁠⠀
⁠*Ding* another badge of worthiness comes our way from the world.⁠⠀
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{2/10}⁠⠀Why this change? ⁠⠀⁠⠀People still have a lot of questions and are unclear on what exactly we are doing. In one s...
11/18/2020

{2/10}⁠⠀
Why this change? ⁠⠀
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People still have a lot of questions and are unclear on what exactly we are doing. In one sense, it doesn’t feel like much is changing. But in another, it feels like everything is. ⁠⠀
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The journey of an entrepreneur isn’t an easy one. It’s not all big paychecks and free afternoons to spend with your other entrepreneur friends. ⁠⠀
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Does that happen sometimes? Yes. ⁠⠀
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But more often than not the entrepreneurial journey is one of self-determination and perseverance. Pushing you past the limiting beliefs you have of yourself. Putting something out in the world while your rational mind screams at you: ⁠⠀
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“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” ⁠⠀
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“Who do you think you are to do this?!”⁠⠀
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{1/10}⁠⠀We’ve been quiet over here. In the busy midst of change and expansion… and also fear. ⁠⠀⁠⠀Change can be scary. I...
11/17/2020

{1/10}⁠⠀
We’ve been quiet over here. In the busy midst of change and expansion… and also fear. ⁠⠀
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Change can be scary. It requires a letting go. A trusting of the unseen and the unknown. Of letting go of old identities and ways of being to make way for the new. ⁠⠀
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We’ve been in that process over the past several months — who are we kidding, years — but now that it is nearing closer and closer to what once was an idea becoming a reality… we step one foot at a time towards the unknown. ⁠⠀
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Deep breaths.⁠⠀
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Wading into the cold depth.⁠⠀
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As the cooler dry months are coming we're starting to switch up our skincare routines around the studio. Lathering up wi...
10/10/2020

As the cooler dry months are coming we're starting to switch up our skincare routines around the studio. Lathering up with oil, dry-brushing, and indulging in more long soaks in the tub. ⁠⠀
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Tell us what some of your favourite seasonal skincare routines are for right now to keep that summer glow! Our hands are already dry and cracking as we type this! 😣⁠⠀
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New on the blog! A week in the life at Ficus HQ.⁠⠀/⁠⠀When we originally came up with this idea for the blog it was pre-c...
10/08/2020

New on the blog! A week in the life at Ficus HQ.⁠⠀
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When we originally came up with this idea for the blog it was pre-covid… let’s just say things have changed a fair bit since then. Normally there would be a lot more shenanigans happening in the studio. We’d have our stretch + storytimes throughout the day that are rewarded with delicious coffee. Greer would constantly be interrupting Saija will a silly story or the sound of laughter at her own hilarious joke. But at the moment there’s only one desk in the studio as we’re all working from home.⁠⠀
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But let’s get real… who the heck knows what a normal week is anymore anyhow?! After 5 years, we have a decent system dialed in that we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes peak with you!⁠⠀
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Click the link in our bio to read more! And to leave you with a question to think about this week... ⁠⠀
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How do you take charge in your life + business to remain in control of how things run on a daily basis?⁠⠀
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Address

#56/158 2nd Avenue N
Saskatoon, SK
S7K2B2

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