“I always say the minute I stop making mistakes is the minute I stop learning and I definitely learned a lot”
As I’m sure we all do, January is a time to sit down and reflect on how things went last year. I do this on a personal scale but also more of a business audit as I also have accounts to put together for the HMRC
As it is a relatively quiet time it is also good to try and get ahead in planning for the year ahead and look at what went well and what could have gone better!
So, I thought – lets be honest and tell you how it really was to be a florist in 2019!
Behind the scenes
The year always starts quiet – so I have such good intentions of planning, tidying etc. For the last three years I have promised myself that I will redo my website. I have built my own website using Squarespace. Self-taught, it’s not too bad but I do recognise that it needs updating from a visual perspective (New images etc) and a new layout to mirror the growing trend of predominantly mobile usage. I also feel it looks a bit dated (do you agree?) and could really benefit from a freshen up. In theory this shouldn’t be a difficult job. Most of the copy is there. The structure is there. I have stacks of new photos. But I’m scared. The current website may not be perfect – but it works. What if I re jig things and it doesn’t work! A success of a business can really be affected by its’ Google ranking. When you Google ‘Wedding flowers in North Devon’ – I need to be at the top. Not three pages down. I needs to be brave and go for it as the longer I leave it the more dated it becomes…..
Growing British Flowers (or not)
January is also the key month for taking stock (Both physically and virtually) of seeds and what to plant. By this stage I normally have lists of what seeds I have and what ones I need to get. What are the ones to stay in the patch, what to forget about and what to try new for this year. First honest confession; growing did not go well in 2019. I planned my planting and flower list for the year. I was realistic and really cut down on what I saw as ‘essential’ varieties and flowers to grow. I ordered the seeds, sorted out the greenhouse and bought a second propagator. It started well. Germination rates were higher than previous years and I was excited about the prospects ahead. But then it all went a bit wrong. Although germination was good, seedlings refused to grow. Nothing moved. I’m no horticultural expert, I have more of a sow and hope approach, but this was disappointing. After some embarrassed chats with more green fingered people than me – it seems like my failure may have been down to using cheap compost. Now, compost is expensive and I can use a lot so I do shop around online, around the garden centres, supermarkets etc to see where the best cost per litre is. And yes, I went for the cheapest. Seems like this was a big mistake as cheap does not equal good and said compost probably didn’t contain the right nutrients to get my seedlings underway and growing into strapping good plants. I failed my little offspring. I am ashamed. This had consequences:
Overall the number and quality of flowers I grew last year was significantly down. This meant I had to buy in lots more stock – British of course – which obviously impacted costs and overheads. That expense can make a crucial impact on any profit for the year.
Still unsure what direction I want to take with growing this year. Maybe even fewer varieties and just concentrate on a handful of easy growers to get my confidence back up. It’s a lot of patience, time and work to get those blooms a blooming.
Weddings, weddings and more weddings
My main income stream is wedding flowers. And 2019 was the most amazing year for weddings. The final count was 51 weddings in the year. When you think that weddings are predominantly on Saturdays between May and September then you get an idea of workload. Of course not all of these weddings were big fancy affairs, I do a lot of small scale weddings where the request is just for a bridal bouquet and a buttonhole. But it still saw me doing at least 6 weddings every month in the key wedding season. Two a day is my max – and only if they are both of manageable size and located near each other. Ideally, I would only want one wedding on any given day. I did slip up last year and found myself booked for three weddings on one Saturday. Completely my fault and it shouldn’t have happened. All were completely different styles, not too far apart but included archways, flower crowns and copious bridesmaids and buttonholes. Because I was so worried about it I did actually plan and prep much more than I would normally in a working week. It was a lot of work and a lot of hours but I was really proud that it actually all come together and all went to schedule. Yes, I was tired and slightly stressed, and I’m never doing that again. But I did it. (an added complication was that I also had a courtesy car from the garage as my vehicle had spectacularly died the week before – more on that later)
If you don’t work in the floristry or wedding industry, then you may not realise how much work goes on behind the scenes in the actual planning and admin. It’s not all playing with pretty flowers you know!
Enquiries come in all year, sometimes several a week. All these need an initial response and then quotes, conversations, phone calls, face to face consultations – this all sometimes before I even have the booking! Email threads with upcoming brides can get a bit out of hand – I need to learn how to ‘manage’ this better as my record is a thread of 84 emails over one wedding! Add to this Facebook messages, whatsapp messages and texts and it can become a full time communications exercise. This was probably one of biggest areas of ‘failings’ last year. I struggled to keep on top of my admin and as current Brides obviously took priority, I was guilty of ‘forgetting’ future potential brides and as such I believe I lost some bookings for this year. Major learning in the consequences of being not as organised as I should be. There is no repeat business when it comes to weddings (!) so however amazing one year has been, you still have to keep working on the next.
But with a rare proud ‘me’ statement: I achieved over 50 weddings, single handed. Every one unique and special – and honestly enjoyed every one of them. I was proud of what I created. There were some stand out moments. A staircase at Halsannery, an arch at Sandycove, hanging hoops at a marquee, eleven bridesmaid bouquets, several jaw dropping bridal bouquets - and not a single issue. Flowers are obviously a natural product with no real guarantees of colour, quality and size. I rely on wholesalers for some of the stock and interpreting brides’ visions for their wedding is not always straightforward, so of course there is plenty of scope for ‘error’. But it was a perfect year for my perfect brides and for that I say a big ‘Thank You’ to all of them.
Mechanical failure
Of course it was not without a few stressful moments. Deliveries not complete, or wrong colours can cause a bit of panic but I must admit what let me down most in 2019 was my car! A trusty Volkswagon that actually was pretty Tardis like in its capacity but it had a rough year. On one wedding day I had delivered the bridal flowers to a bride at her cottage then was driving to deliver the buttonholes to the groom and drop off bouquets at the venue. Unfortunately, I then punctured a wheel in a spot with no mobile coverage and little ability of changing a wheel myself! I was utmostly grateful to a passerby who stopped and assisted and got me on my way before the ceremony started! But two weeks later it was all over – the car died on the North Devon Link road and was towed away. The garage tried hard to resuscitate it and I had a courtesy car for four weeks: a Fiat Panda!!! The most un Tardis car there is. Try doing three weddings in one day with a car the size of a wheelie suitcase and that tests your nerve!
But the upside is that I now have a good practical van. Loads of room and fabulously signwritten. Look out for me in and around North Devon delivering flowers to all!
…and up pops Christmas
As per usual the year ended with Christmas! I have had a pop up Christmas Shop in Butchers Row, Barnstaple for the last 4 years but this year there was ‘no room at the Inn’. I frantically looked at other options and blindly followed others suggestion in trying Mill Street, Bideford instead. I was dubious. I know Butchers Row worked, Barnstaple is surely busier than Bideford, would people find me? But I needn’t have worried; Mill Street was amazing. I was so lucky to secure such a ‘pretty’ shop in such a good spot. Footfall was frantic and even though I was open two weeks less than last year I did just as well! So another big ‘Thank You’ if you were a Pop Up customer.
Wreath workshops? Well who knew they would prove to be so so popular. I ran seven workshops this year at five different locations. Some were sold out by October (Thank you Johns) All in all I taught 63 people how to make their own natural Christmas wreath. And feedback was tops – I even put out a questionnaire to see how it went and yet again another big ‘Thank You’ if you attended and said such nice words.
‘The climb’
All in all 2019 was the busiest yet. Not all went according to plan, so much could have gone a lot better and I have had to learn from my mistakes in a costly manner. But I am proud of 2019 and buoyant for 2020. It may not turn out to be as busy as last year, but I know I enjoy what I do and what I can achieve.
The unlikely Miley Cyrus may have kick started this blog and she will also kick start my 2020 with some apt words of what lies ahead for me:
Watch this space….
The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I'm not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I
I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on, 'cause
There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb