How to Start a Floral Business
The floral industry is fun, fast-paced, and full of opportunity! I love being a florist. And I want to share all I know about how to start a floral business with you because it might just be for you, but it’s not for everyone!
Why start a flower business?
Reasons for starting a floral business are different for everyone. And I can’t speak for anyone other than myself. So here are the 3 reasons why I personally wanted to get into the floral design business.
1. Designing floral arrangements brings me joy.
2. My skill as a retail buyer transfers well into buying wholesale flowers.
3. I wanted to become a business owner and experience risk versus reward first-hand.
What are your reasons for wanting to start a flower business? Grab a pen and piece of paper and write down the first 3 reasons you can think of for wanting to jump head-first into flowers!
Starting a Home-based Floral Business versus a Retail Flower Shop
There are a few options when it comes to starting a floral business.
Start a home-based floral business
Start a studio-based flower business
Open a retail shop
Buy an existing business
Let’s take a quick look at some unique qualities of each option and then get down to some pro tips on how to run a flower shop successfully.
Start a Home-Based Floral Business
Many of my floral designer friends have started their floral businesses from home. And it’s a great way to start! There are 3 main reasons my home-based flower friends love working where they live.
- No expensive rental payments on a retail or studio location
- Flexible working hours
- Zero commute :)
There are two sides to every coin. So keep in mind, my friends who work out of their homes also say they feel like their business is always in front of them. It’s a bit hard to disconnect when your business is in your living room. So, this is why starting at home and then moving to a studio or retail space is common among florists. It’s a smart plan for growth! Another great option is to seperate home workspace from home living space. A few of my friends have turned their garage or apartment studio into a dedicated space for their flower shops and it works well!
Here are a few tips specifically for starting a home-based floral business.
Dedicate a space in your home for your flower business because it can creep across the entire house quickly if you don’t! And dedicate a photo taking area within that space so you have somewhere to photograph your work.
Starting a home-based floral business can be a challenge because there are lots of distractions at home. Time-blocking, using a timer, and focusing on one task at a time can be very helpful when working from home.
Also it’s super important to understand that the value you bring to your clients is equal to a florist with a brick and morter retail shop or a studio location. So don’t under-price your designs just because you are working out of your home. That’s where EveryStem can really help you as you start your business because the florist software acts like a bodyguard and protects you from making emotional pricing decisions.
Start a Studio-Based Floral Business
Here are some specific tips for starting a studio-based floral business.
The location of your studio will play a huge factor in how much time you spend driving to and from home. So be cautious about choosing a location and factor in your drive time before you rent any space. Also, it is important to know that commercial leases are very different from residential ones. So read the fine print and be sure you are aware of your responsibilities when you sign a lease for your new studio space.
Organize your space with a flower shop flow in mind. Order comes in, order gets made, order goes out the door- that’s a typical flow. The idea is to organize your space, so you aren’t backtracking during that flow.
Get to know your neighbors and give them flowers occasionally. Then if you need a favor, hopefully they’ll be there to help you. And they might want to order flowers or know others who’d be interested in your services. Lot’s of small business owners have other friends who are also small business owners, so start making new connections as soon as you move into your new floral studio space.
Start a Retail Shop
The demands of a retail shop are much different than a home-based flower business or a floral studio. This is because a retail shop needs to keep consistent store hours for customers. Someone needs to be at the flower shop during business hours to answer the phone and handle walk-in clients.
If you don’t want to hire a team right away or prefer to work alone most of the time, a retail flower shop may not be your best fit.
If you love chatting with lots of people and the buzz of a flower shop makes your heart sing then I’d say it could be your thing!
Buy an Existing Floral Business
I went ALL in and decided to buy an existing business. It was risky, but I wanted to take a big risk!
There were a few great benefits of my decision. I had a built-in team of floral designers and delivery drivers that were already familiar with the flower business and were able to help me learn on-the-job. I also received support from the previous owner of the flower shop for a few months as we made the transition. Plus, and this is the biggest benefit of them all, I had a built-in client list and consistent daily orders coming into the shop from day one.
Now we can get into some details about starting a flower business that applies to all the options you are considering!
Florist Side Hustle versus Full-Time Commitment
I know quite a few florists who have full-time jobs and flower side hustles. Frankly, I’m not quite sure when they sleep!
It may seem like weddings only happen on the weekends. So you may think a side hustle would work well, but prepping and planning those things happen all week long.
Huge props to all the side hustle florists out there! Kudos to you.
But a full-time commitment was my personal choice. I think that owning a small business takes a massive commitment and I feel like my choice was the right one for me since I purchased an exisiting flower shop and managed it myself.
The best thing to do in my opnion, is determine what type of floral business you want to run first, and then determine if a side-hustle or full-time commitment would be best suited to your business model. And if you need income from another source before you can go full-time, a side-hustle is an amazing way to start. Eventually it can turn into full-time when the business grows big enough to sustain your income needs regularly.
Can a Flower Business be Profitable?
Yes, a flower business can be profitable! And I recently wrote an entire blog post for you on that topic. So check that post out when you’re done reading this one!
There are 2 keys to ensure that your floral business is profitable.
1. Price for a profit using florist specific software.
2. Control your flower spending using a pricing formula.
The biggest mistakes I’ve seen other florists make is that they spend all their profits on more flowers, vessels, and fun rental items that never get rented. And then when the rent is due there’s not enough dough.
I love spending money as much as the next person, but since I realized that any money I spend comes directly out of my profits, I do a double take to see if it’s a necessary expense before clicking the “buy now” button.
Smart systems are imperative to controlling your costs and hitting your profit margins! That’s why I created EveryStem software.
Invest in a dedicated software | EveryStem
EveryStem florist software specifically helps you to price accurately and avoid over-spending on flowers to ensure a healthy profit margin on every event!
EveryStem was created because I believe technology has the power to change the way you price and order your flowers for a profit. And the software is based on 18 years of my personal experience as a flower business owner and florist. 12 years of running a flower shop has taught me that there’s a lot of human error when using a calculator to build the recipes for floral arrangements on-the-fly.
EveryStem is the tool that I use today to ensure each design is priced accurately without having to type in each flower price and manually multiply all those numbers.
Pro Tips: Before Starting a Flower Shop Business
Differentiate your floral design business
Have you read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins? It is one of the best business books of all time according to Inc. magazine. Grab a copy and start reading soon. You’ll learn a few important concepts to start your profitability plan by reading this book! Here are 3 of my favorite questions from the book.
What are you deeply passionate about?
What can you be the best in the world at?
What drives your economic engine?
For example, my floral design team was deeply passionate about expressing customers’ emotions through flowers, and we were the best in the world at listening to our customers. Lastly, our economic engine was driven by epic customer service that led to word-of-mouth referrals and high customer retention. The answers to these questions are what differentiates you from your competition.
Consider Multiple Income Streams for your Business
In addition to my weddings, events, and daily floral offerings, I built a strong client list of catering and hotel businesses.
My multiple income strategy:
Approach new hotel and catering businesses by offering to listen to their needs and the needs of their clients.
Increase clients’ satisfaction levels with quality and service, make sure the businesses are aware of this added value.
Attract repeat referrals from these businesses by making them shine in front of their clients.
Expand these offerings to other businesses through content marketing and word-of-mouth referrals.
Grow revenues through this new association of business contacts by serving all of their clients.
Increase profitability with seasonal selections and standardized offerings once we learned what they were looking for in designs.
My goal was to have 5 businesses in the catering, hotel, restaurant categories who called on my floral studio every time a client needed flowers. It was a success because we used this series of efforts and logical framework to build the momentum needed for long term customer retention. This business plan worked wonders for my floral design business and I was able to grow without having to work more on Saturdays or create conflict with my wedding work since these clients wanted flowers on weekdays.
How to Run a Flower Shop Successfully
Flower shops are like people. Each one unique and beautiful in its own way. So there really isn’t just one right way to run a flower shop successfully. In fact there’s probably infinite ways to find success as a floral designer.
First off, I like to consider what successful means to me. What’s your definition of successful? I find that it’s essential to define your goals and your plans before you can evaluate your success.
My business’s definition of success was to serve our clients to the best of our ability and make a healthy profit so we could all get a bi-weekly paycheck and keep the lights on and the rent paid. I didn’t intend to grow my floral business into a giant multi-million-dollar empire, nor did I want to open 2 additional locations.
So keeping that in mind, let’s look at a few things you can do to run a successful flower shop that keeps the lights on and pays the owner and team a fair wage.
Choose your business location
I know you’ve heard that location is everything and there is a reason that saying is so prevalent. Location is a critical part of running a successful retail business, but it’s getting less important as technology and online ordering become more mainstream.
A home-based business for example is a smart choice for wedding florists and delivery focused businesses. And in those cases the location is not important because you’ll be going to the client instead of the client coming to you.
I loved the location of my flower shop because it was walking distance to a flower wholesaler, and it was in a centrally located neighborhood with other popular shops and a decent amount of parking for our clients. Foot-traffic can play a huge factor in retail sales so keep that in mind if you’re looking for a space that will facilitate grab-and-go florals or a walk-in customer flower business model.
Floral trends come and go. So it’s important as you start
your new flower business to be aware of what styles
your clients are drawn to based on trends!
Take Floral Design Courses and Stay Current with Trends
Some of my personal favorite floral educators are Passion Flower Sue, Alison Ellis, and Alicia Schwede. Online courses are valuable because they are available to you for an extended period of time, you can learn at your own pace, take notes, and let all the info sink in deep!
In-person floral design workshops are wildly popular right now, so my advice is to ask your flower friends and get some real honest recommendations before you invest in any big workshops. Often travel and accommodation expenses are not included so the cost of one weekend can balloon quickly. Workshops can bring lots of value because you meet new flower friends and get to interact on a personal level. If you do attend an in-person workshop, ask lots of questions and most of all- have fun!
Market yourself. You're open for flower business
Sell yourself. You cannot be profitable without sales. It’s that simple. First, read up on content marketing and current sales skills. Then, practice those skills on your friends until you feel confident!
I’ve gotten 16 emails from Target today alone. So don’t be shy about marketing yourself. You have to make people aware of your offerings so they can become your customers.
Do all the things to promote your business that you legally can, but above all- build an email list. And use it often.
I’ve learned over the years that word-of-mouth is king when it comes to marketing a flower business. So the number one thing you can do is make your existing customers happy. Then ask them to recommend you to a friend or two!
Build a Website and focus on SEO
Here is a statistic that drives my point home. A whopping 80% of small businesses don’t use content marketing. Content marketing is the most underestimated digital marketing channel.
You need great content marketing on your website and social media channels. If you take the time to invest in learning these techniques now, you’ll be strides ahead of your competition!
The small business growth statistics for 2019 prove that the combination of content marketing and SEO is indeed the most important element of a successful digital marketing strategy. Build a website that uses the right keywords to target a relevant audience, produce high-quality content, and provide a dynamic user experience and you’ll see the number of leads increase drastically.
To put it another way one of the best ways to increase sales is through content marketing and SEO. So, find your brand voice and spend some time writing to your prospective clients.
Save your Cash. Spend it on Things That Move the Needle
There’s an easy way to erase your profits. It’s to spend them. Evaluating every tiny purchase that happens in your business may not be necessary, but you need to make sure you’re analyzing big-ticket purchases regularly. A big part of executing your business plan is ensuring the profits stay in your bank account!
One of the things I spent my cash on was a new delivery van. Yep, that’s me at the loading dock of a local Austin wedding venue!
Hire Staff. Move Fast
Labor is a huge factor when it comes to your floral business. Your team needs to have a sense of urgency when it comes to design work. The profit on a floral arrangement is directly related to how long it takes to make it. Motivating your employees and yourself to constantly be aware of your speed is essential. Talk openly about your expectations and give clear deadlines, limit distractions, and offer constructive feedback regularly. You can also create friendly competitions and challenges to motivate your team! Be sure to hire based on work ethic and teach design. Don’t be afraid to part ways with a team member if they aren’t a good fit.
Be Proactive
Equally important to speed is a proactive mindset. You want to emphasize the value of being proactive to your employees and your customers. The mindset of getting as much done in a day as possible is contagious! If you are ahead of the game because you’re proactive, then you’ll have more time to catch your mistakes. Alternatively, if you leave everything to the last-minute things can easily get dropped or forgotten. Mistakes cost money, but your team also needs some flexibility to learn and grow. So, seek out a balance that works for you.
Another option for florists is to focus on hotels and
businesses who want to order flowers on a weekly basis.
Set Aside a Budget for Your Business
It takes money to start and run a business. Bootstrapping doesn’t mean you don’t spend a penny. It means you are responsible for the captial you invest in your business and spend it wisely.
Be smart about how you spend your money, but don’t expect to start a business with no budget. I recommend starting with a capital investment of somewhere between $10,000 and $100,000 depending on the type of business model you pick, so that you can buy the essential tools, systems, and equipment you’ll need to run your business without feeling guilty about spending money. If you plan ahead and decide that you’ll allocate a capital investment, then you know you have some runway to get started on the right foot instead of scraping by because clients can smell that a mile away.
Register your business
I live in the great state of Texas, so my business had to be registered and I also had to get an agriculture license. So check your state’s requirements and get set up legally at the beginning. It’s easier that way. The Small Business Administration is a great place to learn more about registering your business, applying for licenses and permits, and getting federal and state tax ID numbers.
Get advice from a tax professional
I love my CPA. It helps that he is a longtime family friend and I’ve known him my entire life. A reliable CPA is key to running a professional business. Find one who comes highly recommended by other small business owners or flower friends.
Challenges of running a flower business
The flowers are the easy part.
I could tell you a hundred stories about the challenges of running a flower business, but every business has its challenges, right?
Most of the issues I had while running my flower business felt so important in the moment, but now I look back and they seem much less so. The biggest challenge is organizing the business and your life so that you can enjoy both.
I love flowers and if you do to, I bet you’ll do just fine.
Besides as florists we need something to complain about when we all get together for lunch! :)
Any questions about starting a flower shop for me? Reach out. I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time,
LuAnn