Two years ago, I put a crown on my head for my 50th birthday photo shoot.
Not because I had a brand strategy.
Not because I was planning a logo.
And definitely not because I knew where the next few years were going to take me.
I wore it because it was fun.
And because, apparently, I've always been a little extra.
At the time, it was just a prop.
Turns out, that crown had plans.
It Started With a Birthday
Turning 50 felt like a perfectly good excuse to do something memorable, so I booked a professional photo shoot.
There were outfit changes. A puffy tulle skirt made an appearance. And somewhere along the way, so did a crown.
During the shoot, my photographer and I spent hours talking about my life—the stories, experiences and assorted plot twists that had filled the first 50 years.
Eventually she said:
“You should write a book.”
I laughed.
Which, in hindsight, is pretty funny.
Because two years later, on my 52nd birthday, I wasn't just looking back at photographs from that shoot.
I was celebrating 400 books sold.
The Crown Wasn't the Only Thing That Stuck
That conversation eventually helped nudge me toward something I hadn't planned on doing at all: writing a children's book.
Then came Oliver the Owl: The Culinary Pro.
Then Oliver the Owl: A Sweet Season.
Then book signings, local retailers, readings and opportunities I hadn't known existed when I first sat down to write.
Oliver even managed to get me onto television.
I appeared on Studio 701, ND Today, BEK News and KFYR-TV's Good News.
This from the woman who, two years earlier, was simply wearing a crown at a birthday photo shoot.
Life is weird.
I highly recommend it.
Somewhere Along the Way, the Crown Became Zestful
The funny part is that the crown didn't disappear after the photo shoot.
It kept showing up.
As Zestful Productions evolved, that little symbol started making more and more sense.
It wasn't about pretending to be royalty.
It represented something I'd started giving myself permission to do:
Take up a little more room.
Try the idea.
Make the thing.
Wear the ridiculous outfit.
Start before everything is figured out.
Celebrate the milestone.
Be proud of what you've built.
Be a little extra.
Eventually, the crown became part of the visual language of Zestful Productions.
Something I'd worn for fun had quietly become a symbol for the business I was building.
I certainly didn't see that coming.
400 Little Reasons to Celebrate
By my birthday in 2024, 400 copies of my books had made their way out into the world.
Four hundred.
I know businesses are supposed to talk about numbers in impressive ways, but that number felt personal to me.
Those weren't just “units sold.”
They were books sitting on nightstands and books tucked onto children's shelves.
Books given as gifts.
Books opened at bedtime.
Books read by grandparents and grandchildren.
Books that began as an idea at my computer and somehow ended up in other people's homes.
That's pretty incredible when you stop and think about it.
So I did.
The Part I Couldn't See Yet
Looking back at that birthday photo shoot now, what strikes me isn't that I had some grand vision for what was coming.
I didn't.
There was no master plan connecting the crown, the books and Zestful Productions.
One thing simply led to another.
A birthday led to a photo shoot.
A photo shoot led to a conversation.
A conversation helped spark a book.
A book opened another door.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I started building something I hadn't known I was going to build.
That's probably my favorite part of the story.
Not everything meaningful begins with a business plan.
Sometimes it begins because something sounds fun.
Sometimes somebody says, “You should write a book.”
Sometimes you put on a crown.
Here's to Whatever Comes Next
On the day I originally wrote this, I was celebrating another birthday and 400 books sold.
Those were the milestones I could see.
What I couldn't see yet were all the things that would come afterward.
And maybe that's the point.
There will always be another idea, another detour, another thing that doesn't go according to plan.
I'm becoming increasingly okay with that.
After all, some of the best parts of this whole Zestful journey started with things I never planned in the first place.
So here's to birthdays.
Here's to ridiculous ideas.
Here's to unexpected chapters.
And if the occasion calls for it—
wear the crown.
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