A survey published by Redfin last week found that 74% of homeowners say their home is a “reflection of who they are,” while 57% of renters say their home is “just a place to live.”Becoming a homeowner can lead to all kinds of changes in a person’s life. For Sara Southwick, an HR professional in Provo, Utah, homeownership was the beginning of a whole new career. After becoming a homeowner in 2017, she attended a free community class to learn about local landscaping, which convinced her that native desert plants would be best for her yard. But finding native plants at local nurseries proved difficult. “I was [driving] all over the place on a wild goose chase, trying to find plants,” Southwick said. “Eventually it occurred to me — this is a problem I could help solve.”Deep into her career as an HR business partner for a tech company, opening a plant nursery was just a seed of an idea. But when her manager told her that her three-quarter-time position was no longer an option — that she would need to either go to full-time hours or leave the company — she plunged into entrepreneurship, launching a company called Native Utah Plants.“It has been an enormous leap, and a huge learning curve, and a dramatic change to my lifestyle,” she said. Now, instead of spending her days at a desk, most of Southwick’s work is outside, sourcing and caring for plants in her own backyard. She said demand has been strong, and her biggest challenge is figuring out how to scale the business responsibly. “This is what is supporting me and my kids into the future,” Southwick said. “I have to run it as a business in order for this to work and for me to still be a business in years to come.”Click the audio player above to hear Southwick’s story.