Florist News

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbee to this forum, and I have been finding your posts very interesting!

At the moment I am an office worker who has a keen interest in flowers. I have never done any professional training, and never worked in a florist before.

I've been doing a lot of reading to get an idea of the day-to-day life of a florist, and I think it looks challenging and interesting, although I am adult enough to know that no job is perfect.

I've signed up for a night-school course at my local college which starts in February and I'm hopeful I can learn enough over the next few years to become a qualified florist.

I am in a reasonably well paid job at the moment, however I have a savings policy due to mature in a couple of years time, and I am wondering if my long-term ambition should be to set up business. I know, I can hear you all shouting 'this girl wants to run before she can walk!', but there is nothing wrong with ambition!

I hope that you don't read this post and think I have no appreciation for the hard work and training you have all put in to become professional florists.

Believe me, I would be going down this path for the love of flowers, not for money, however I do have a mortgage to pay, and I am wondering if you all think I am mad to consider giving up my secure employment to eventually set up business in your industry. I would have the backing of my fella's parents who know quite a bit about business as they once ran two very successful beauty salons.

Have any of you taken a huge leap like this? I'd really appreciate any advice that you could give.

Thanks!
Newbee

Hi Newbee

I would say you would be mad to give up your job and open a florist shop at this present time without some experience on what has to be done to make it profitable.

I work as a flower exporter in Holland supplying UK florists on a daily bases and over the last year we have seen a big decline in the floristry trade, just for instance look who is selling flowers now in the UK, every supermarket, nearly every high street shop like Boots, Next, Debenhams, Thorntons, M & S and theres probably alot more to add.

So you need to think how you can either do something these guys dont do or try and compete.

To compete you would have to have your own flower farms in Kenya so you can keep costs down and sell a bunch of Crysants for £1.99.

Or you can do what alot of start up people are doing now and specialise in something, Weddings, Events, Corporate work ect.

This isnt an easy business forsure, but if you are business minded and work at it proffessionally yes you can make some money.

__________________

Hi Newbee

Just thought I would say hello and wish you the best of luck in what ever you do.

Regards
Ian

Aspirin...you must be having a bad hair day!...all those negative waves!!!
Agreed, some businesses go under and some businesses thrive, whilst yet others simply stand still. Such is the circle of life/society/capitalism or whatever you like to call it. So why didn't Columbus mothball the Santa Maria and go fishing?

Yes, it is tough on the high street. It's not for the fainthearted or the over-cautious. But there is definitely a living to be made. Yes the supermarkets are selling more flowers than ever, but they don't provide the service that a lot of people are looking for. Yes you can forget about selling a load of cheap bunches as impulse buys but do you really want to do that? I still sell a lot of cut flower (as seen) because there are so many varieties you just can't buy in a supermarket. Can you walk into Tesco and buy a dozen 80cm Grand Prix on any day of the year? Can you buy a bunch of bouvardia, a bunch of Pompeii lilies, a bunch of baby blue, a bunch of bear grass, etc, etc. If you want to take the wife home a nice bunch that hasn't got 'supermarket' or 'garage' printed all over it and you want to spend upwards of twenty quid, where do you go. Most of my flower goes out as hant tieds around the £25 mark but i also do 10-15 and fifty quid plus quite often. It doesn't take much to make something look special and you can always tailor it to look exactly how the customer wants it. The supermarkets cannot do that (for now at least). But it doesn't stop there. I do the weddings, the funerals, the functions etc and i sell just about anything that is linked to floristry. It all pays the rent and enables me to carry enough stock to be able to do anything i want at any time. It is hard graft, it's mind boggling at times and you have to be on your toes. Some days i just want to stop the world and get off.

I don't try and pretend to be something i'm not. I haven't been to floristry school. I haven't got any certificates. Everything i know and do, i've taught myself. I cannot think of anything i wouldn't have a go at. I can't recall saying to a customer "i can't do that". To me everything is a challenge. If i need to lose money or time on something just to prove i can do it, then i will.
It's a pride thing. I don't get complaints about my work because i won't send it out if i'm not happy with it. I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm red/green colour blind. But that hasn't stopped me. I cope with it. If i need to ask, I do.

So..Newbee..what you're telling me is that you want to do this because you want to work with flowers. That is a good starting point. If you were doing it for the money, i would have to say forget it. Not because you wouldn't make any money. Quite the opposite. If you do something out of a love for it and do it well, the money will come in without you having to think about it too much.
That's not to say you can ignore profit and loss. You need to be on the ball. If you have some good people behind you that you can turn to for advice, all the better.

I know people who have had twenty years experience. I also know people that have had one years experience...twenty times. Make of that what you will.

My advice is to follow your heart, follow your dreams. You only live once.

Asprin - Thanks for your advice, I think I may not have been clear enough. I'm not planning to open my own florist until I had gathered atleast a year or two of practical experience in a successful florist. At the moment I know NOTHING about ordering, how to price things, relays etc.

I think you may be right about specialising in something, or finding a niche in the market, but until I work within floristry it may be hard for me to identify a unique idea. It is certainly worrying to me that the supermarkets are so dominant in this country, however I do think that fly2hi is right about florists being able to provide a service that the supermarkets can't. I know myself that the quality and attention that goes into the flowers sold by florists is of a much higher standard, and the variety offered is much much better.

IanF - Thanks for welcoming me!

Fly2hi - It's very encouraging to me that you have made a successful business without taking qualifications. Would you be able to tell me more about your personal experience? Did you work in a shop instead to gain experience, or did you dive in head first into your own shop and employ people with the know-how?

I have always had a creative streek, I like painting, card making, sewing, gardening, making hand sewn teddybears and much more. I am also happy to work hard and get mucky, often doing major DIY tasks around our home. I get a great sense of satisfaction from doing a job well, although some poeple say I can be too much of a perfectionist. I beleive that the key to making a business successful is communicating well with your customers, and being passionate about providing good service. I am prepared to put in long hours as and when they are needed. I think I have what it takes, I just need to learn more about the industry. Don't be afraid to speak your mind if you think different qualities are required to be a good florist.

Thanks!

Hi Newbee
I took the leap and and haven't come down yet! So long as your prepared to suffer sore feet, rough hands, 24 hour work days, you'll be fine! I'm with fly2hi on this one - go for it - when your ready of course.

Good Luck

Breezy

Hi newbee,
well, to cut a long story short, we were greengrocers many years ago, 28 to be exact. We were the first greengrocers in our town to go self select,i.e. pick your own produce as the supermarkets do. there was an opening for floristry,no one around us offered that service, so,we employed a florist,kitted part of the shop out,walla, we were off. SO I THOUGHT. Two weeks before Christmas, our wonderful florist,(not) went sick, phoned me on the Sunday, and said she wasn't coming back!!
To cut an even longer story short, with shed loads of flower orders,I studied the design book we had in the shop,and did my best.
I did all the floristry work for ten years before I was confident enough to call myself a florist.
As i said, that was 28 years ago,my daughter was 11months old,in the shop in her pram,thankfully,we had the best of customers who would take her for a walk in her pram to give her a different view from the four walls that surrounded her.
I, no we, have had a good life, many all nighters, but hopefully, I'm about to retire, my daughter is now the best hand tied queen (as I call her).
So basically, if you've got the stamina,and the flair,cos I don't care what people say, you cannot be taught it,it's in you. Go for it. On hignsite, get some shop experience first,'cos it aint as easy as it looks. good luck whatever you do

Hi Breezy,
Sore feet and rough hands isn’t enough to put me off! At the moment I work in a dull lifeless office, where I get a sore bum from so much sitting! J To be up and active all day sounds tiring but exciting. The thing that really draws me to floristry is the idea that I can add value by being creative. In the office there really isn’t any room for creativity! What did you do before you took the leap?

Hi Flower fairy (love the name! – I played with flower fairies as a girl!)
It’s great to hear that you managed to fill the orders despite your florist letting you down. I’m assuming that the floristry side took over the business and you no longer do grocery? There seems to be a few people on this forum who purely learned from experience. The reason why I am tempted to go to florist school is because I often have ideas of the way I would like the flowers to be presented, however sometimes they just wont stay where I want them. I am hoping that with tutoring I will learn how to use wire and other tips and tricks to place the flowers. I have great admiration for you just jumping in at the deep end.

Is anyone currently taking a floristry course, and would you recommend it to others? What kind of things are you learning?

Hi Newbee

Your not mad, I have so many students who come to college and train to follow a passion and become florists, some have started business from home covering wedding and corporate, others have gone into esablished flower shops working full/part time, and some have opened flower shops from scratch. The most important thing is to gain as much experience as posible before you jump in, so you get it right as others have said so many flower shops come and go. I always wanted my own flower shop but it didnt quite happen like that I now have a workshop and I visit or brides come to me, i get my work through advertising and word of mouth, and I also teach which I love, I wish you the very best of luck.

Bud

Hi Newbee,
I too worked in an office, yep know all about sore backsides! You do need to go to college to get the basics, look carefully at what the courses offer and if possible talk to other students. Alot of what you learn at college is not always practical in the commercial world and alot of it will seem old fashioned (though, hopefully, they are looking at updating the syllabus). The best way to learn is on the job training, getting placements in floristry is not easy, look back at some of the older threads about working from home etc and you will see why. I have been a florist for 10 years and had my own shop for just over 1 year, it was one of the biggest decisions I have made (apart from should I have another wine!) It can be really tough, there have been times I can hardly speak I'm so tired and I haven't seen my kids for 3 days but then the rewards are great, like when we did a special arrangement at Christmas for a guy to put an engagement ring in for his girlfriend - she said yes Or when families of particularly sad funerals take time out of grieving to come and tell us the flowers were beautiful - these times make it worthwhile.

Breezy