When it comes to running a successful floral business, having the right tools in your toolbelt is essential. For me, one of my most valuable tools was Beth O’Reilly, who with her extensive knowledge in the wholesale and floral industry, became my mentor and ultimately taught me so much that has helped me get to where I am today. I sat down to interview Beth on what advice she would give a florist whether they are just starting out or have been in business a few years now.

Techniques & Principles of Design: Essential for any Floral Business  

The key to success in your floral business is not complicated, it all starts with simply learning the basics of floristry and the principles of designs. The principles and elements of design are what everyone learns in art 101, no matter if you're doing graphic design, sculpture, painting, any art form, you learn the principles and elements of design and you need a refresher every now and then. Even though Beth has been designing for over 25 years, she still needs to be refreshed on the elements of design such as line, form, texture, color, and how they create harmony in unity in our work.

Once you learn and memorize the principles and elements of design you will be able to look at your work and other people’s and really talk about them in an intelligent way. You’ll also be able to find what works and what doesn’t work.  Knowing the foundations will help you in the long term as you will continue and forever use these techniques. A lot of the principles of elements of design can be found in a simple google search and you don’t necessarily need to pay someone to teach it to you, as it can be self-taught.  

Problem Solving is a Key Tool for Your Floral Business 

For new florists who may not know, 99% of what we do as florists is problem-solving. Nothing is ever perfect. You're always solving a problem when it comes to fresh flowers and perishable items and trying to source what you need and solving design problems, all of it is problem-solving.

So put your problem-solving hat on and try not to get freaked out every time something doesn't go your way.  Learn to be flexible and know that you're constantly going to be solving problems, so learn to do it with confidence. Such as, “Hey, I did it this way, this last time and it worked really well or it didn't work that well and now I want to try this. Those are all things that you kind of put in your tool belt, and as you keep using them you continue to build that toolbelt up.   Whether it's a technique that you learn or whether it's a way of selling or a process that you take with your clients, those are all things that you compile and build your own personal toolkit that goes along with your brand. So number one, learn the basics of floristry because you can't solve problems effectively, unless you know the basics, keep adding those techniques to your toolkit, observe and learn.

Confidence will Lead to Success in Your Floral Business 

We’ve already touched on two key points and the third one is confidence.  As a florist, confidence is key. It’s what’s going to allow you to step out and try new design techniques, it’s what’s going to win you clients and contracts. In the Hotel Florist Profit Method, I have a whole module dedicated to mindset and building confidence. I literally teach my students how they can be as confident as possible. Because though I can teach them who to contact and what to say, how to design, and how to automate their business, ultimately what is going to win them those hotel floral contracts is confidence. Confidence is key in every industry, but especially in the floral industry because we are selling our services, we are selling something that isn’t tangible.  So it’s important to be confident and having tools in your toolbelt that you’ve from either experience or through something else like the principles of design, is only going to help you gain that confidence. 

Should Problems Arise in Your Floral Business

So what do you do when problems arise such as the hotel calls you and asks you to take the flowers?  Well, first off you need to step back and determine the larger picture, who is calling to tell you that they don’t like the flowers in the hotel? Is it the concierge or is it actually the general manager? It’s important to determine when you are first working with the hotel who is the decision-maker and who has the say on the flowers and listen to that person only.  Your flowers died? I cannot stress how important as a hotel florist it is to use only long-lasting flowers — it’s so important that I created a full guide of all the long-lasting flowers for hotel designs.  Your contact at the hotel leaves? Learning how to make new connections is an invaluable skill and the more you are forced to keep creating new contacts the easier and quicker it will become. 

Having these 3 main skills in your toolbelt will set your floral business up for success and should problems arise such as the hotel asks you take the flowers down, or the flowers die, or your contact at the hotel leaves and now your set back even further from landing that hotel contract, you will know how to problem-solve and determine your next steps.

Want to learn more about how you can get started working with hotels? Make sure you watch my FREE training for florists on how you can create consistent 5k months through hotel partnerships and never rely on unstable wedding and event income again.  Click here to take the first step towards becoming a hotel florist.