5 Great Things About Running your own Floristry Business!
Maybe running your own floristry business has been a dream of yours for many years. Maybe you hate your current job and have decided it is time to do something for you. Whatever your reason for starting your business is it will be an adventure, with lots of challenges and hopefully lots of rewards. But a long the way you may have some self doubts (this is total normal) so here are my five things I believe are great about running your own floristry business.
1: Working with Nature
Don’t loose sight of the beauty that you get to work with. Whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed by life I go for a walk, work in my garden and absorb myself into nature. As florists we get to work with the very best ingredients that mother nature grows and I feel super lucky to work with such beauty and natural elements everyday.
2: Follow your Passion
The saying ‘you only live once’ may be something that we think about but don’t act upon. Enjoying what you do is so important. Building a business is hard work, but if you have passion this will shine through what you do and will push you to keep going when times are tough. Showing others your passion will help you to build your business and will add to your happiness. Having passion for what you do is the foundation to any business. If you are passionate about it then you will work so hard to get others on board and that is the beauty of building a business based on passion.
3: Show Yourself What You Can Do
A business is a great way to push yourself to do things that you never thought you would do. The school has been open since 2018 and during that time what started as a few workshops has now turned into me teaching career courses, wedding workshops, seasonal classes, creating dried floral displays for shops and events. It has pushed me to be stronger, more confident in ways that I could have never imagine in early 2018.
Tackling social media has been one of my biggest challenges. It is an area that I have never been 100% comfortable with, but as the business has grown so has my following, and that is something I am very proud of. I totally believe that running a business can push you out of your comfort zone, which is such an important thing to do during your life. It shows us what we are capable of and even facing our fears can sometimes have the most wonderful results.
4: Working With The Seasons
Don’t underestimate how wonderful it could be to work with beautiful products and with the seasons. Floristry, or floral design is so much more than simply making bouquets. There are so many links with fashion, interior design, art work. As with fashion and interiors, colours and trends are often set within our industry. Whether you choose to follow these trends is up to you as the designer. But the beauty of working with the seasons is not just about focusing on the flower content, we can draw on the wonderful palettes that each season provides us, as well as looking at texture in nature throughout the year. Whatever challenges floristry throws at us, working seasonally will keep you inspired and always feeling creative.
5: Fitting it Around you Life
I am not suggesting that you will have loads of free time if you are running your business, you will probably get up early, work in the evenings and it might even sneak into your dreams. But it is possible to make it fit around your life, whether that is making sure you can go and see your kids in a play, or be there for sports day, or whether it’s going to run along side other work you do. Growing a business doesn’t mean that you need it to be the size of Amazon. Think about what turnover you want to get to, what fits around your life and make sure you can balance it with the other important aspects of your life.
If you have ever thought about floristry why not pop along to one of our open mornings. I might be bias but it is a wonderful industry to be part of and why not follow you dreams and begin your floral journey with Flourish Sussex Flower School today!
Alicia xx
Bringing the Outdoors Indoors
Surrounding yourself with nature and the colour green has so many positive qualities. The colour green is meant to bring calmness, bring down anxiety all because when we look at it it brings us closer to nature.
Often when we think of bringing in flowers to the home pound signs may appear. But bringing nature indoors doesn’t have to be expensive. Here we guide you through three arrangements that are quick, easy and cost effective, allowing you to enjoy nature inside as well as outside.
Outdoors Indoors
Ideas to bring nature into your home.
Surrounding yourself with nature and the colour green has so many positive factors. The colour green is meant to bring calmness, bring down anxiety, all because when we look at any shade of green it makes us think about nature.
Often when we think of bringing flowers into the home pound signs may appear. But bringing nature indoors doesn’t have to be expensive. Here we guide you through three arrangements that are quick, easy and cost effective, allowing you to enjoy nature inside as well as outside.
Entrance Table Flowers
Having flowers on an entrance table is one of the places I always try and place an arrangement. As soon as you open your front door you want to feel calm, relaxed and for guests, flowers will add to that inviting feeling. For me I don’t want anything too over the top. A simple small vase or white jug filled with a combination of flowers and foliage will be enough to add to the table, without it looking too dramatic
Top tip: You must think about the colour of your table and the objects you have on it when choosing your palette for your flowers. I have quite a bit of rustic burnt orange and brown. In the autumn it is fun to bring out those darker tones, but for spring, summer and winter my go too is white and a silvery green. I want something understated and not competing with the oranges and browns. Simplicity is key.
I have used “Ariadne’ Butterfly Ranunculus in the white jug.
2: Bringing in the Branches
Branches are a lovely way of filling space and if you are a lucky enough to have access to a garden this is a bonus as they are free! Branches can fill a large space and provide beautiful movement. When arranging your branches it is important to hold the branches and see where the stems naturally want to go. If you arrange by being led with the flower movement of the branches, your display will be natural bringing beauty and elegance to your design.
Top tip when working with branches: any flower that has a woody stem needs to be seared. This simply means putting the stem after you have cut it ,at a 45 degree angle, into boiling water for 30 seconds. It’s important that you don’t leave them in for any longer than that otherwise they will get damaged and die.
Flower varities that I have used around the house. Populus Eucalyptus, Buttefly Ranunculus “Ariadne’ and Papaver Seed Heads, small.
3: Decorating The Fireplace
I love fireplaces and it’s a good job as we live in a 15th century farmhouse, so fireplaces are in most of the rooms. Even though the house is very old I didn’t want the interior to be oldie worldly, instead I have opted for different looks; a dark snug, a monochromatic lounge and for this space it is all about white.
This is actually a landing, but it is a large space so I wanted to create it into a space that we could use. With three small children I find trying to get moments of calm challenging. But by having spaces around the home that reflect calmness can really help me to take a moment.
This space has textured walls and beams. The floor is dark, but it gets a lot of light. Old houses have a tendency of looking dark, something I wanted to avoid. By filling it with white objects and plants allows the brightness to be shown.
For this display I used three white thin vases. I wanted to combine different textures. The Populus berry eucalyptus is so incredibly beautiful, so it really just needs space and placing. Just having it on mass is stunning and it will just do its thing. The poppy heads add a lovely texture and the ranunculus just bring that element of femininity to the piece.
Bonus: both the poppy heads and eucalyptus will dry which means I only need to change the small vase, making it less maintenance and cheaper.
To see how I created the fireplace display check out our Instagram grid where we share lots of ideas on creating beautiful floral arrangements in the home.
Thanks for stopping by!
Alicia xx
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Wedding Flowers Sussex
Wedding flowers are of course one of the most important part of the floristry industry. More than ever people are wanting to make their weddings completely unique and transform their wedding venue, which can be done with lowers.
Combining vision, inspiration with your clients wishes, while making sure you come away with a healthy profit can be a challenging task.
Our four day intensive Wedding Mash Up course combines inspirational designs, with eco friendly techniques and business knowledge, so that students come away with a wealth of knowledge and vision to supply their own clients.
From creating a show stopper of a bridal bouquet, to a table installation to a fireplace design and stair case display, at Flourish Sussex Flower School we pack this course with everything we believe you need to know, so that you come away with the knowledge and tools to execute unique wedding flowers successfully and confidently.
On day one students are given an introduction to the course and listen to Alicia’s experience of running her own wedding and event business for eight years. Then a demonstration is given of how to create a seasonal, garden style bridal bouquet, finished off by beautiful botanical dyed silk ribbons from northern hands. In the afternoon a model comes in to hold the arrangements while the students work is photographed.
Day two we will turn our attention to table installation. As a group we will create runners, table vases, urns, meadows, all to create a striking display.
Day three we will turn our attention to the business side. Students will be taught how to order from a wholesaler, how to allocate flowers to arrangements, pricing, running a successful wedding.
On the final day we work in a private home and decorate the fireplace and staircase.
All arrangements will be photographed and students will be sent final shots of the arrangements, plus images of your working.
Course Details:
Date: 17th-20th October 2022
Price: £860.00 includes all flowers and foliage. Payment plans are available to all.
Make Your Easter Wreath with Flourish Sussex!
Hello! I'm Alicia from Flourish Sussex Flower School. I founded the school in 2017 and have been lucky enough to welcome many students through our studio doors. We moved to our permanent studio here in Sussex last June and we have created a beautiful space for students to get creative in.
This blog is where I share floristry tricks, tips, inspiration and guidance. I want to share my passion of floristry and hopefully get you to get creative with flowers. I hope you enjoy!
Easter is fast approaching and what could be more wonderful than creating your own Easter wreath for your home. Here at Flourish Sussex we have everlasting wreaths and wreath kits that you can choose from to celebrate this wonderful time of year.
This year we have three glorious designs to choose from.: The Bridgerton, The Featherington and The Danbury. Each one comes with a grapevine wreath frame, a beautiful selection of dried flowers and foliage and a velvet ribbon. Instructions are included in the pack and if you need some extra help you can simply watch a tutorial on our Youtube channel.
Check out our Bridgerton wreath tutorial here
Please note the video shows the wreath on a large frame, this year we are only doing medium wreath kits.
If you don’t fancy making a wreath we also sell pre-made kits, check out our online store for the spring collection.
If you want to make an event of it, why not sign up to our half day spring making course. Spend the morning with us on the 6th April and create your own wreath under the guidance of myself. You also get some sweets treats and a glass of fizz.
Get creative with Flourish Sussex Flower school this spring time!
All about Ribbons!
Hello! I'm Alicia from Flourish Sussex Flower School. I founded the school in 2017 and have been lucky enough to welcome many students through our studio doors. We moved to our permanent studio here in Sussex last June and we have created a beautiful space for students to get creative in.
This blog is where I share floristry tricks, tips, inspiration and guidance. I want to share my passion of floristry and hopefully get you to get creative with flowers. I hope you enjoy!
I love ribbons. I think they can add such beauty to any bouquet. But as a florist it is really important that you know the different types of ribbons that are out there. In this tutorial I discuss some of the ribbons we use at Flourish Sussex Flower School and who are my preferred suppliers.
LINKS:
Northern Hands: https://www.northern-hands-uk.com/
Lancaster and Cornish: https://www.lancasterandcornish.co.uk/
CFleurs Design Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Cfleursdesign?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=569996199