Can a Self Taught Florist Be Successful? Yes, Here's How.
Photo by Visual Stories Micheile
Truth be told, Walden Floral started as “self-taught”. We know that it is possible to be successful because we have done it. We wanted to shed a little light on this commonly asked question and give you an overview of things that will help any self-taught florist become successful.
Being a successful self-taught florist is possible. To be successful you need to know how to educate yourself, design with flowers, build a brand, build an online portfolio, market your brand, sell your work, and price your work so you can make a profit.
I know this sounds like a lot, but it is not something that you have to do all at once, and it is surely not impossible. I encourage you to keep reading and learn what steps you should take first, and how to do them. Dreams start by taking the first step. Let’s go!
Buy Flower Design Books, Read Them, and Mimic the Designs.
The first thing you should do is buy some flower books with some recipes in them. There are tons of great options on Amazon and a few that we recommend.
Once you purchase those books, start looking through them for inspiration. They will show you, step-by-step, how they arrived at the final look. Pay attention to these steps as there is valuable information on how to set up your vase using various methods, how to arrange, and arrangement formulas that you can use over and over again with fantastically unique results.
Another reason why the books are helpful is they will begin to introduce you to floral arranging concepts. Such as shape, texture, and color. As you begin to start arranging, these will make more sense to you.
We recommend practicing new looks from the book, or looking at the arrangement in the book and trying to recreate it with the same or similar flowers. Don’t get frustrated when it doesn’t come out looking exactly the same. Remember that each stem is unique and your arrangement will naturally look a bit different because of that.
Watching youtube videos are great too, but we prefer having a book to look at. It forces you to use your brain and your own creativity to come up with something unique. We feel that a book “holds your hand” a little less than a youtube video, which will force you to grow faster. This is just our opinion, no offense to awesome YouTubers out there, we love you, and your content.
We wrote a free guide that we want you to have. “How to Make an Arrangement with Grocery Store Flowers” is a great way to get started. There are tips and a step-by-step guide on how to make a large arrangement with florals that you can get from your local supermarket. Sign up for our email list, and it is yours free.
Books we bought when we were first starting:
Books we also love:
If you want a more in-depth review of each of these books Click Here.
Where to Buy Flowers for Design
Sometimes it is hard to find the flowers you are looking for. We suggest buying your florals from a local farmers market, the flower market (if you live near one,) a wholesale flower vendor, or even the grocery store.
If there is something particular you want, you might consider reaching out to some wholesale flower vendors and having them ship it to you. Many vendors will ship the florals to you, but they can get pricey. If you can find local substitutes, that is always a great option to try first. But if you can’t, think of it as a business expense and get the florals you know that will steal the show.
Buy a Camera, Start Taking Good Photos, and Build a Portfolio.
The next step after you get some arrangements under your belt is to start taking some pictures of them.
If you know any friends who are into photography, now would be the time to tap them on the shoulder and ask for a favor. You can trade them your new floral arrangements for photos. Maybe they are looking to get into wedding photography. In that case, you should design a tablescape with your florals as the centerpiece.
We did this a ton when we were starting. We would make a small scene and have our flowers be at the center. It’s a great way to get a ton of photos and content for your portfolio and your social media accounts.
If you are going to buy your own, you can buy a great quality camera for relatively cheap. Again you need to think about it as a business investment. The cell phone camera is decent, but there is a HUGE difference between the iPhone and a real full frame camera. Starting with an iPhone or something similar is great, but eventually, you should consider getting something a little more substantial.
We recommend a Canon 5d Mark ii and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens. This will be a few hundred dollars. We recommend you buy one used on eBay. This is exactly what we did at Walden Floral. We then took pictures of every single piece of work that I did. We started with a photo studio in the living room, using the sliding glass door with blinds as a natural light source.
Here is one of the first pictures that we ever took. We added some fabric to make it look lush, and it was trending to have that long torn edge ribbon attached to the handle of the floral bouquet.
Close-up shots that kinda hide that you are in your living room or backyard can go a long way. Here is another example of how to use the camera to your advantage. Just be aware of what is in the background of your photos and you will do well.
If you are in a cool space, definitely play that up to your advantage. Show the florals and the scene.
Take close-up shots of some of the pretty and interesting sections of each arrangement. These close-up shots make great content. And everyone loves looking at beautiful florals.
Get a selection of 5-10 shots to start.
Build Your Brand and Your Website to Showcase Your Work.
Next, you are going to need a brand. That consists of a logo of some sort, a website, and some social media to start.
Do you know any graphic designers? Ask them for help.
Look around on Instagram at other florists and other brands that you like, and ask the designer to make you something based on your inspiration.
If you or your friends don’t know graphic designers, you can also try to hire a logo and brand designer on Upwork. I think Upwork in general has a great talent pool in terms of design quality. But if you want to get something for cheap there are services out there like Fiver.
Another good place to look is LinkedIn. Look around for freelancer graphic designers on there, you might be connected to one and not know it. Simply reach out, ask them for their rates and if they are available to work, how long it will take, and what their process is like.
Remember, you can always update your brand later. Your brand does matter, but at the end of the day, your floral work matters much more.
As for a website we recommend using Squarespace. It is great for portfolios as it is very easy to set up. If you don’t have a logo yet, you can type in the name of your business and just go with that. A lot of brands have text-based logos.
Your portfolio website should have a home page and a gallery at the very least to start. Introduce yourself on the home and then link to the gallery to show your new work. Lastly, you must have a contact page on there so people can use it to reach out. This is the bare minimum you need in a portfolio website to get started.
Plan Out How You Want to Monetize Your Business.
Next, after you have a portfolio, you can start to plan out how you want to monetize your work.
There are many ways to make money doing flowers. You can do weddings, events, pop-up shops, a brick-and-mortar shop, an online shop, workshops, teaching, weekly floral accounts, and even a flower truck.
No matter what method you choose, you need to make sure you price out your floral work accordingly so that you can make a profit. Most florists do a 3-4X markup on flowers and 2X markup on vases and other hard goods. You then need to charge for design creation and the labor to bring it all to life. No matter your method, make sure that it is viable in your area.
Do research on what the rates are for flower markups and labor. And remember, being underpriced is worse than being overpriced. Working harder for less money is not the path to success, but a recipe for burnout. You also don’t help your industry as a whole when you undercharge. You might get more sales, but you will take home less money at the end of the day. When you are starting, this might be okay for a short while, but you need to raise your prices once you are confident to be in alignment with your industry. You also don’t want to fall into resenting your job, and that will happen when you undercharge.
After you have figured out how much to charge in your area, you need to take into account all of your expenses. Tally up what you actually spend per month on the business.
This is going to be different if you are doing flowers in your living room versus in a rented studio. Think about every little thing that you have to spend money on in order to run your business. Then you will know how much you need to make to stay in business. Goals are extremely important. If you don’t know where you’re aiming, then how will you ever get there?
We recommend starting as cheap as possible. We started with a fold-up table in the living room of our apartment. Our air conditioning bill was expensive because we didn’t have a floral cooler. We used our refrigerator for certain items that needed to be kept very cold.
If you are interested in one on one florist coaching or mentoring, we offer this as a service. Contact us now to jump-start your career! We are passionate about helping other florists achieve their dreams. We support the business side and the design side.
Working for Other Florists is a Great Way to Learn.
This is probably the best way to learn, but it takes some time to get to the point where you can apply for jobs as a designer. However, you can always reach out and ask if they need assistance with processing flowers and cleaning buckets or vases.
You should have your portfolio set up at this point with the work you’ve created so that they can see where you are at with design. You never know, you could get hired as a designer faster than you think!
If you can find a job at a local flower shop without a portfolio, we recommend you take that. That will introduce you to all the skills you will need to develop in terms of setting a solid foundation with the fundamentals.
If you have a portfolio, we recommend sending it and a resume to every florist in your area. They might need you for a gig or more. We also recommend DM’ing florists on Instagram, you never know what can happen! The worst thing they can say is no, which basically means nothing, as your situation hasn’t changed.
Now that you have a portfolio, get some courage and get out there. It only takes one yes.
The Best Way to Get a Job in the Floral Industry.
Simply put, the best way to get a job in the floral industry is to gather a portfolio of work that is as good as the studio you are trying to work at. You are essentially trying to prove that you have the skills they need to produce work at their level. If they have a particular style, make sure some of your work reflects that style. This is what people are looking for on top of a smile and a “can-do” attitude.
Build a List of Floral Inspiration and Designers Either on Pinterest or Instagram.
Building a list of great floral talent that you can reference often is the best way to stay current on trends and stay inspired to do some floral design.
There is so much on Instagram and Pinterest from all over the world. There is no shortage of beautiful and contemporary floral design out there. The best way to do this is to try to mimic the design, and use different florals! Instantly it becomes something new and unique as no two flowers are the same.
This can also lead to an unhealthy mindset of comparison. Don’t let it get you down if your work isn’t as good as someone else. Just use it as inspiration, make something, and keep moving.
This is a great way to keep some inspiration in your pocket when you come across a design problem that needs a solution. Don’t steal others' work, just let it inspire you. You will be surprised at how effective it is.
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