Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Floralpreneurs Go Greener

OK, floralpreneurs…..can I get real for a minute?

I LOVE being a floral designer. Love it. It was my first job, it’s been my only real job for 24 years!….but the reality of the environmental impacts of floristry are pretty ugly.

From the pesticides that growers and florists are exposed to, to the monocultures that produce them, to the plastic packaging, to the transportation and distribution, to the preservatives added to the water to extend longevity, to the floral foam, to the “waste”….well, this is all “less than pretty”.

So what can we do to be more eco-friendly in our business?

Let’s pledge to do more this year with a Go Greener Challenge!…You in?

Even if you’re not 100% green, what can you do to get 1 or 2 or 3 steps closer to green-er?

I came up with 8 super easy steps to get us started…..

1. Eliminate or reduce the amount of floral foam you’ll use this year.

#nofloralfoam has support on Instagram….it’s not just good for the environment to be eco-friendly, it’s also very fashionable.

You can sell your “no foam” approach as a positive.

“I cannot make that design as I would in foam, but here’s what we can do instead to create something beautiful without the green stuff.”

Ariella Chezar is all for the no floral foam approach. Chickenwire, waterproof florist tape and armatures are used in its stead. I attended a workshop with Ariella recently where she was using my friend, Holly Chapple’s, new plastic “egg” or “pillow” which are both now available from Syndicate Sales. It’s an amazing alternative to foam and it’s incredibly versatile. Give it a try; you’ll dig it.

2. Buy locally grown flowers.

If you buy locally grown flowers (particularly organically grown!) you’re supporting a local source and voting for the environment with your dollars.

Check out Debra Prizing’s Slow Flowers movement!

3. Shop local.

Shopping local is a huge priority for my business. I will pay more for something from a business that’s owned and operated in my state because source matters to me. Whether it’s organic or a purchase from my wholesaler, location matters.

Maybe you can get it shipped directly for less….or maybe it’s worth supporting your local supplier!

4. Don’t waste water.

Turn off the sink instead of letting the water run when you’re washing or filling buckets, fix that leaky faucet, reuse water from buckets instead of “just dumping it” once a bucket is empty if it’s only a day old, take any small step toward conservation.

5. Compost.

I know this is required in some regions and that’s the way it should be! Compost your organic waste. I have a compost pile that’s just for my “business waste”; this pile will not be used on the garden as I’m not exactly sure what pesticides the flowers may have been treated with when they were grown. So I’ll compost them, but I won’t spread it around the yard.

6. Drop a product.

Is there a preservative you use to process your flowers that you can do without? Is there 1 chemical you can drop? Even a more earth-friendly cleaning product for your shop is a step in the right direction.

7. Don’t do “not eco-friendly stuff” just because the client wants it!

Just think about the environmental impact when people release balloons or light those paper lanterns that were popular until people started seeing the impact on wildlife…if you’re working on a gig make sure it meets an ethical environmental standard that aligns with your vision.

8. Repurpose leftovers instead of tossing them at the end of the week/event.

It’s going to take work and time….and time is money….but if you can reduce your loss and turn the flowers you pick up from an event or consider your “loss or overage” for the week into a giveaway/windfall in your local community, that’s its own form of being more mindful and repurposing what you have. (Small steps count….think The Lonely Bouquet, for example.)

It’s not easy being a green florist…

I know that it’s hard to consider yourself “environmentally friendly” if you work in the floristry trade…unless you’re an organic grower and you don’t use any chemicals or pesticides, in which case you’re making huge strides as an eco-friendly florist!…..but for those of us who are “more traditional florists” when it comes to sourcing and methods, we can still take steps to lower our impact once the flowers reach our doorstep. That is always my goal, but I realize I can do even better and try even harder to be more eco-friendly. Maybe you can find ways to take steps to be greener, too.

Leave a comment below (scroll down!) if you want to take the Go Greener Challenge with me! 

Let’s see what we can do. Today, tomorrow, all year long.

Oh, and Happy Earth Day, y’all.

With love from me to you,

Alison

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Because You’re a Maker

It doesn’t matter if your favorite blog is closing because you are a maker.

And you will make more. You will keep on making until you’re done. Because that’s what makers do.

We design because we love this work.

We take classes and seek out inspiration from other florists we admire because we love to do this work really well.

Click to watch “What does it mean for your business now that Style Me Pretty is closing?”:

It cannot be the end of your marketing plan if your favorite blog closes its doors.

It’s OK to miss it….a lot of people who’ve been devoted fans for many years may miss it.

But you are a maker. You’re the one who makes the content that beautiful blogs want to share. You’ll make more. And more….and more.

Remember: The only thing you own online is your own website!

It’s the only thing you truly control. Instagram, Facebook, just like your favorite blog, can disappear, too, so what’s your plan for when that happens? Where will your best stuff be then?

On your own website, floralpreneurs. That’s where you want to shine.

What to do now: Instead of simply moving those ad-dollars to another online platform, re-invest back into your own business!

 

Put that ad budget into a website upgrade, take an online course….or attend a workshop….or take the funds and give yourself a raise.

You are your own best representative for your business. You have the power to get that SEO all on your own. The power is in your hands (and inside your computer….aka on your website!).

Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

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5 Tips for Dealing with Stamina and Burnout

This video is in response to a burning question I received: How do you handle stamina and burnout?

Short answer: The struggle is real!

Every florist who puts their heart and soul into their work MUST confront the stressful-side of this business.

Do you struggle with burnout and stress in your business?

Ever wonder, “how long can I keep up this pace?”

Busy is great, but too busy is NOT always great.

One floralpreneur wrote to say, “My business is growing, but I feel like I’m drowning….”

Sound familiar? Yeah, me, too. But if you LOVE working with flowers and creating wedding designs and making dreams come true…..well, stress comes with the territory.

Click to watch a replay of my live chat from my Facebook group:

Note: About 28 minutes into this live chat I share some details about my $15,000 weekend…..was it worth it?

The pressure can be scary and you’re not imagining the extreme pressure involved in being a florist.

The stress level often relates to your resources.

You may not have enough work space, or enough help, or enough work!…..

We must be willing to adapt. It takes a special kind of person to handle the responsibility and some people are not cut out for the stress.

BUT if you’re willing to “do what it takes” you can succeed. You set the goals for your biz.

I started my floral design business out of necessity. I lost my job and knew I had to find my own work from that point on.

This may be “one of your professions” or it may be your only profession, like me!….I’m a lifer.

Profitable, successful, happy, loving my business…those are my goals. If your business is making you miserable, something’s gotta change!

5 Tips to combat stress and burnout:

  1. Stop comparing. Don’t get jealous.
  2. Plan better. What are the steps you need to take.
  3. Set expectations for the client so it’s clear what the relation ship; when have you delivered what you promised?
  4. Follow through. Meet expectations. That’s your job. Stamina is related to the follow though. You’ve gotta love it enough to always follow through. Making enough money helps to justify the stress level by the way! You’re getting paid for everything leading up to the wedding day, too, not just the flowers!
  5. Have faith. “Faith is experiential.” The more experience, the easier it is to wade through the stress and burnout of uncertainty.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by stress, especially when you’re newer to the biz….

But stress and overwhelm isn’t reserved for “newbies”….even experienced florists feel the weight.

When the calendar’s not booked, it’s stressful!

If you can draw upon experience, you can maintain faith–

not blind faith–faith with a plan.

How can you make space for more stamina?

I don’t want to burnout.

I’m in this for life!

There’s an ebb and flow in business and in life.

Sometimes we need to schedule and plan for some slower time.

The rush and adrenaline and thrill of delivering a bridal bouquet and putting it in the hands of a happy client, that’s what it’s all about.

Thanks for reading and taking some time to watch!

xo. -Alison

P.S. My templates and courses are all designed to help you reduce your stress and uncertainty.

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How To Wire a Succulent for a Bouquet

Hey, floralpreneurs!

Have you ever wired a succulent for a bouquet? There are multiple ways to do this, I’m sure, but this is how I do it.

how to wire a succulent tutorial by Alison Ellis

If you’ve never tried it before, I have a quick photo tutorial for you.

First, I insert one of those green, wooden florist picks into the base of the succulent. You will most likely have to remove a few of the bottom leaves from the succulent in order to grasp the super short stem. After I insert the pick, I add a wire, just as you would to a boutonniere, to secure the succulent to the pick.

how to wire a succulent

Then, tape it up, just like a boutonniere or a corsage.

how to wire a succulent, florist education, realflowerbusiness.com

Next, in order to add length to the succulent, I tape it to another stem. I usually use a discarded rose stem or in this case the stem of a mum. Tip: Always make sure the stem is facing the right way before you start to tape. You don’t want upside down rose stems in your bouquet….keep it fresh & profesh. Stems should be oriented in the right direction.

real flower business, business advice for florists, how to wire a succulent tutorial for florists

Here’s one of the best “taping tips” I ever learned: when you have something (like a succulent) that’s hard to grasp because it lacks a proper stem length, you can start the tape a little lower on the stem, and first wrap your tape up the stem, then tape back down again to secure the stem and cover the wire. This is particularly useful when taping foliage by the way such as seeded eucalyptus or anything you add a hairpin wire to for a bout or corsage. By first taping up, you can cover that little bit of wire that you may not have covered the first time around.

how to wire a succulent for a bridal bouquet, floral tutorial by Alison Ellis

Here is the final result. The stem allows me to disguise the mechanics of the wire and also counterbalances the weight of the succulent. (You also won’t have to trim wires in the middle of the bouquet when it comes time to finish it! The wires are already dealt with in this step.)

how to wire a succulent for a bouquet, real flower business

Here’s what it looks like in the bouquet…

I hope you enjoyed this quick tip! Keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneurs!

With love from me to you,

Alison

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There’s no such thing as a small wedding

After 16 years of running a solo-business venture I can say with certainty that there’s no such thing as a “small wedding”. Allow me elaborate….

Yes, there are “large weddings” and “crazy huge weddings” and “regular weddings” and there are weddings that are “not huge”, but small?…..now, “small” is something that’s hard to come by as a florist.

There’s a certain amount of work that goes into the planning process, even for a “small wedding”, which is virtually identical to the investment of time, creativity, mental space and administrative tasks as required for weddings 2-3x their size.

I hear floralpreneurs say “this is ‘just an order for bouquets’….why is this order turning into so much trouble?!…why does this client want to meet with me again?”….and believe me, I get it! If it’s a small-er order, florists sometimes feel that the client should just relax already!….because we do work that’s WAY more elaborate than this…..we’ve got you covered!

But there’s one very important flaw in this thinking; it requires that the client already trusts you.

It presumes that the client values you and your time and your art.

Even a very small wedding is a really big deal to the client…and as a florist it’s your job to give the same level of time and attention that you promise to all your customers if you’re going to build a consistent brand experience.

If a smaller gig gets a different service agreement, then define it. Let the client know the steps so they can work with you with ease. “If your wedding falls below our minimum we…..” (fill in the blank)

Do you require pick-up if they don’t meet your minimum? Do you only meet once? Meet twice? Include a mock-up? No mock-up, no delivery, no meeting? What are your rules? There’s no right answer. You choose the answer that jives with your brand.

What sort of customer service do you provide? What promises do you make to your customers? What’s not included?

If I promise personalized customer service (which I do), then I can’t offer sub-par service to clients who spend “only a small amount” on an event. I can’t say, “I provide outstanding customer service, unless you fall below X-amount in which case the service level decreases….” that’s not how I roll. That’s not what my brand is about.

As it turns out, even a “small wedding order” requires the same base-level of detail and professionalism as a larger one. If the clients were good enough to book, they’re good enough to wow.

Charge what you’re worth and even your smaller gigs can be worth your time & effort!

Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

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