The Flower Arranger

The Flower Arranger was the first business I ever built. I knew that I wanted to start a business and work for myself and my only option seemed to be floristry as it was the only thing that I had any experience and training in.

I learnt everything about running a business as I went along, I had no business training and no real clue what I was doing. I simply found a studio to rent, bought all of my equipment that I needed (scissors, floristry tape, twine, flower buckets, a hose, a table at standing height) and started an Instagram account.

Although we were a physical business in the sense that we had a bricks and mortar location and created floral displays at weddings and events for individuals and businesses. We were appointment only, situated on a country lane in rural Essex so I was reliant on social media and online marketing to grow the business and make people aware that we existed.

This was the beginning of my journey into learning how to really utilize social media to grow a loyal community and get sales through the door. 90% of our business came via social media, so it really was a big sales platform for us.

I had to learn what kinds of content worked for my audience, what did they respond to? What made them actually part with their money? What turned them off and made them unengaged or unfollow us? It was a huge learning curve but the more I learnt the more it benefitted the business and our sales.