Please read about what I do on a daily basis as a one woman flower shop owner. How to run a successful flower business by yourself is a question I get often. Sounds crazy huh?
Flower designers most likely usually start off working for a flower company for a few years when they first start desiring the rush of making flower arrangements for themselves. I say rush with a smile because as all florist know, this job is all about being a multi-tasker to the hilt. Flower designing is just one of many tasks of a florist's day.
"But it's such a glamorous job being around beautiful fragrant blossoms and playing with flowers all day. I wish I could do that!" I hear this daily. Lol.
Let's say you already know how to make flower designs that are unique and high end. That's a few years under your belt already. Say that you have worked for a reliable and reputable flower company for a few years and are thinking to yourself; I can do this for myself and make it on my own without working for someone else. Well, I'm here to talk to you today about what you can expect to be doing on a regular basis if you are considering starting your own flower business on your own. It's a big step so buckle up because it's going to take you in many directions. However, I am testimony that It can be done.
Let's just dive right in okay? You want to make fresh flower arrangements for the public. You decided to start a flower business from your home. Let's just say because since you are starting off, you need to save money to get a brick and mortar shop in a great location. Remember location, location, location. So until that time comes, you are going to start from your home. Believe it or not it can be done. Legal business stuff like licenses and permits aside. All other tasks I'll fill you in on. You got all your legal stuff in order, so now lets begin.
You got your vision to make a flower shop from your home and no one is going to stop you in your mind. That's a good outlook because it's going to test your patience on a daily basis. You'll laugh some days and you'll cry some as well. For sadly no one really knows how much goes into running a small flower shop business. Most customers who call to place orders assume you can just whip up a knock out custom design to be delivered in a few minutes with out any thoughts as to what really goes into it. That's okay. We designers know how hard you'll be working for that one.
There are a few key points that are must haves. Aside from having to have a large enough place to work from in your home, you need quite a few supplies to help you set up: such as a designated space large enough to work on, a large display table for your designs that are going out for delivery that day, computer with your website running on search engines, phone lines, advertising budgets, business cards, order pads, stationery, vases, tools of the trade (you know them already), buckets, cleaning solutions, a designated wrapping station, clear wrap, paper rolls, ribbons, prepping solutions, embellishments such as twigs and fun add on decorative items, supplies galore such as funeral forms, sinks for filling vases and disinfecting, refrigeration and mostly of course flowers. Lots of varieties of specialty blooms are a must to keep your customers happy and retuning. Roses, Garden Roses, Lilies, Peonies, Gerberas, Orchids, Hydrangeas, Iris, Cala Lilies, Stock, Viburnum, Ranunculus, Delphinium, these are just a few to name that you should source out to have daily in your shop.
Okay, say you got the setup down so that you can run this business smoothly. Don't forget you need drivers to help take out your phone and website orders. They might be family or neighbors whom would like to help out to make your job a tiny bit easier. Remember your drivers are a huge part of your flower business since you will not be able to deliver the arrangements yourself because you will be too busy designing the arrangements and bouquets, helping with customer service, and prepping the flowers that you ordered from your local wholesaler that comes daily to your home. Your drivers are a valuable asset in your business and must be recognized as such. Tips are often suggested since great care goes into the complex transporting of such a delicate gift. Drivers must handle your gift and present it to the receiver in pristine condition. My drivers do just that. They are valuable to me and I encourage tips for them.
Got all that? Okay let's start to talk a bit about all of your responsibilities since you are pretty much a one man or woman show aside from your helpful contacts and drivers. Let's say today is your first day open as a home based florist. Luckily no one will be stopping by to pick up bouquets since most states will not allow a home residence to be used as a commercial business which could possibly take up parking space on a residential street an ongoing basis. That being said, you have website orders and phone orders coming in first thing upon your opening hours which must be made up in a timely manner and delivered correctly in a specific time frame by your drivers.
Stress is starting to mount but It's something to be understood and expected as this is the daily life of a home based florist.
As a home based florist you have to wear many, many hats to pull off seeming like you are a company who is professional above all else. It's not for everyone. It takes a desire to be your own boss and love to multitask from the moment of opening to the moment of the day's closing time. Even after your shop's hours are closed, you will be working until the wee hours of the night preparing for the next day's orders. Throw in the mix that you may have multiple sympathy orders that come in during the prior day that which have to go out first thing in the morning before you are officially open for business. Most funeral services are earlier that most flower shops are open and therefore you must have them completed the night before and have them set up to be delivered before the service from your drivers. Coordinating routes with your drives and keeping in constant contact with them via text is yet another time consuming task that is ongoing daily. Many customers will give a wrong address by mistake and your driver will have a hard time finding the location. Another set back.
It's a very stressful task to try this on your own, but since your reading this so far and you are curious, I'll tell you more. I should know I've been doing my flower business Joey-Lynn's Flowers in Haddon Township New Jersey since 1995 pretty much all by myself for almost 30 years. In the last 10 years I have had a great deal more help and I can attest to the fact that you have to be able to assign tasks out to helpers to remain a professional in this career.
What is a typical day like at my shop? I will tell you this not to discourage you but to inform you of what a successful flower business run by one person looks like. Ready to hear what my day looks like?
My alarm goes off at 5:30am and I was just so happy dreaming of what gorgeous blooms where coming in today from my wholesaler, which is probably sitting at my front door already in a large heaping stack of ice-filled wooden heavy boxes. Being a natural born designer that I got from my dad, half the battel is done. It's in me to naturally know how to design flower arrangements and pretty quickly too. That has to be part of who you are before you even think about creating gifts for customers. A love of flowers and a creative mind can go a long way. With that said, I get ready quickly! No time to spare. Coffee, dressed and get downstairs to open my shop by looking on my website to see the orders that came in overnight and that have to be created and sent out today.
Next I get the boxes of flowers that I ordered from the day before that are waiting to be opened, cut and conditioned; putting them in clean prepared buckets of warm water. Approximately 30 buckets will be washed and filled with solution. Time consuming is an understatement in a pressed for time business. I must then cut and prepare all the flowers that are in the boxes. Removing the leaves and thorns as part of conditioning (which I assume you know all about already). I then cut and quick-dip; a conditioning process for each and every stem. I then place them in the buckets and clean up the huge mess of leaves and trash from the boxes. Breaking down the cardboard boxes for trash and wiping up all tables and sweeping all floors is yet the not so glamorous side of what most people think of when you tell them that you are a florist. The flowers for today at least are now drinking and conditioning for a few hours before going into the cooler where they will stay as I need them to design with. Next after all this is somewhat cleaned up, I check the website for today's orders again. As I am writing out the cards that the customers wrote to me, the phone starts to ring...
With the phone ringing I have to hold off writing the enclosure card to answer the call. I must ask the customer if the flower arrangement is going to a local location as I only delivery locally which helps keep the volume down. I ask the reason for the design such as is it a birthday, anniversary etc. Where it is going to be delivered to and what day. I always get the recipient's phone number as well as the person ordering the arrangement. I ask what type of flowers they would like If I have them in stock and what price point they would like to spend. I ask what they want me to write in the enclosure card and take down all their credit card information. I thank them very much for their business as well because they are calling me to help make someone's day special. They could have called another flower shop, but chose me. Then I run their credit card with the appropriate amount which I calculate with delivery fee and tax, run it through my system and hope it goes though. Sometimes their credit card is declined and I have to call the customer back to get another card from them. This is very time consuming since I have drivers waiting for me to advise them on their pick ups.
Then it's back to the website orders while designing this current order. Just trying to design something beautiful is work in itself. You can't really have your concentration on anything else while creating in a timely manner. Timing is everything and multitasking is paramount! Since this arrangement is going out to a local town for today, I must reach out to my drivers and let them know where and when to deliver this fresh flower arrangement that will be waiting for them wrapped and presented beautifully. Meanwhile I must pick and choose the most beautiful blooms to design with. As I'm designing this arrangement, the phone rings at the same time as an order notification comes through my website. I answer the phone call, yet while taking down that order another call is trying to come through at the same time. I have to continue my call with the first client. Finish up that order and call back the call that I missed, hoping to talk with this new customer and them ring them up as a sale! The process is repeated over and over again all day long meanwhile the drivers are waiting, and more flowers have just arrived from my wholesaler all of which I have to give my full attention to. Did I mention that the phone is ringing off the hook with voice messages as well as orders that customers want for today all at the same time? Did I mention that the customer who loves all of your website designs still wants for you to email them a receipt separate from the charge sale? And also "can you text me a picture of the flowers you made?" Is a common question now being asked as well. Stopping the crazed wind whirl cyclone that you are riding to abruptly take a high quality photo is now becoming the norm. How confusing this could get if one is not highly organized. Just keeping track of who gets what and personalizing each design from notes taken in a hectic environment.
How I get all of this work done quickly is created by multitasking.
Now let's brief on holidays. Flower shops are super hectic on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, proms and of course wedding season. Holidays such as these are super stressful with multiple orders coming in through the website with custom notifications at the same time. Long cards are being written out all the while of having to rush frantically to get the fresh flowers prepared again in heavy cleaned buckets of water with no time to spare. No breakfast for me as just bites of a lunchtime sandwich which someone brings to me is enough. However catching a breath is important though since you can only run a flower shop business if you are professional. You must breathe, take a breath and act composed when you answer your calls. You must choose wisely which task is a priority. You must give you potential customer your full attention. Obviously you want to answer that phone that's ringing off the hook to bring in sales, yet you have to have time to organize everyone that is trying to help you as well and design to boot. Speaking of boots. You should get some good support shoes for your legs and feet will thank you. A cushioned mat to stand on while designing is essential too.
Running a flower shop business is also a strenuous business too because of all the heavy lifting you will be doing on a daily continuous basis. Large heavy boxes of fresh flowers, heavy buckets filled with water and heavy flower arrangements like casket sprays and huge heavy glass vase arrangements can all put a strain on your back and muscles. You must be able to physically be able to move swiftly and correctly constantly to be on point and to avoid injury. Every step counts and must be made precisely. Exhausting yes! Rewarding? Yes to that too. The feeling you get knowing that you are needed to make a beautiful flower arrangement, bouquet for a birthday, anniversary, get well, condolences, just because or I'm sorry arrangement is like none other for me. When someone calls to ask for your help to show honor for their loved one who has passed, it makes it all worth while. You are the go to person whom will showcase your artwork to honor them and help them celebrate a life well lived. You are the gift maker. The owner of your own business, the designer, the customer service, the physical worker, the organizer, the cashier, the wrapper and the woman or man who stands behind your product. You do it seemingly effortlessly. You must because it is your name behind your product. Pride is first and foremost, for you must show all that you are as a designer. Your work is on display and word of mouth is paramount.
Some advise however is if you feel that you cannot do all this by yourself, by all means get the appropriate helpers that you need to successfully gain continuous growth. Don't feel like you have to do it all by yourself. I know that I felt like I had to do it all by myself because I was the name behind the designs. They are my creations so how could I let someone create my vision? And when you are just starting out you need to save money by doing most tasks yourself. Hiring some helpers like order takers and wrappers, drivers and conditioners for the flowers will make your life and business run smoothly. Lots of retired people who would love to help can make a wonderful addition to your flower family. Neighbors also are wonderful helpers too. Let them know how they can make a difference in your life and see what wonderful friendships come from it.
Bottom line is that you can do it. You can run a small flower shop business all by yourself. You just need to be able to have that drive. Did you crash at the end of the day? Are your muscles sore? Are your fingers green and full of thorn picks? Are your shoes full of leaves and bleach stains from cleaning buckets? Are you exhausted and feel like no one knows how hard you just worked to make someone happy? GOOD! You just finished your first day as a flower shop owner/designer.
I hope this made some sense to you about what I go through daily and what you can expect from starting your busy day running your successful flower shop business if you choose to on your own.
I wish you good luck and many, many blessings for a smooth journey and perhaps not as much stress and exhaustion as most of us have endured. Be smart and get the help you need. This is your world that you created, you incredibly creative person and success is literally at your fingertips. Go shoot for the stars.
