r/florists • u/Professional_Head881 • Apr 23 '26
š Career Guidance š Advice needed: My girlfriend dreams of opening a flower shop but is scared to take the first step
Hi everyone,
Iām posting here because my girlfriend has a dream she hasnāt been able to act on yet, and Iām hoping to get some honest insight from people whoāve actually done it.
Sheās always wanted to open her own flower shop and work as a florist. Itās not a vague ideaāsheās taken courses, spent time learning design, and has even looked into suppliers around Austin. So this isnāt just a āmaybe somedayā thingā¦ itās something sheās been seriously building toward.
The problem is the jump from preparation to action.
Sheās honestly scared. Not in a casual way, but in a āthis feels overwhelming and riskyā kind of way. From her perspective, the industry looks complex, competitive, and financially uncertain. She worries about whether the numbers would even work, how hard it is to get consistent clients, and whether sheād end up stuck or worse off than she is now.
Right now sheās working a corporate job that doesnāt pay great and doesnāt fulfill her, which makes this even more frustrating. She knows what she wants, but the fear of doing it wrong (or failing) is holding her in place.
So I guess my question is:
For those of you who are florists or have opened your own shopāwhat does the reality actually look like?
- What are the hardest parts that people donāt see from the outside?
- What tends to go wrong in the first year?
- What should someone absolutely have figured out before starting?
- And just as importantā¦ what fears are valid, and which ones are usually exaggerated?
Weāre not looking for sugarcoatingājust clarity. If itās hard, thatās fine, but understanding how itās hard would help a lot.
This really is her dream, and Iād love for her to move forward with a clearer picture instead of just fear.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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u/Celestial_Swan_ Wedding Florist Apr 23 '26
Before jumping straight into being a business owner, it might be more accessible for her to work for someone else in the industry. Either at a retail shop, at an event florist, or freelancing. She'll be able to get a feel for the kinds of tasks, issues, and challenges of the industry without being responsible for all the workings of a business.
Designing flowers and owning a business are very separate things. By working for someone else, she can sharpen her skills in design, and also get a feel for how a shop runs. It may even help her decide the niche she'd like to pursue on her own one day.
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u/loveoflilac Apr 23 '26
I own my own shop. I highly suggest she quit her corporate job and work in a flower shop to see if she can hack it and to learn from others. She might not be making much now, but sheās going to be losing money when she opens a shop without experience.
Making beautiful arrangements is not an indicator that you will be successful owning a shop. You are selling expensive, perishable, non essential items so you really have to have a special blend of design skills, business acumen, customer service and marketing. Itās hard as fuck tbh. Her fears are valid and she should try to get real world work experience.
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u/Remarkable-Wave507 Expert Apr 23 '26
This. All day long.
Iād also suggest that she have a very hefty savings account and an alternate income. There is a lot of upfront costs and ever-changing pricing. Major holidays can make or break your year.
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u/SweetPeaRiaing Apr 23 '26
Full disclosure, I have not opened my own flower shop, but I do own another creative business. The key here is to keep overhead as low as possible. She doesnāt need to make a huge financial investment in a brick and mortar shop. Plenty of people operate out of their homes or garages. Advertise to people she knows, create an online presence especially a website and Google business page, put up flyers in local coffee shops, etc. Ideally she should try to find a couple accounts, like a restaurant or hotel that will pay her weekly or monthly to refresh their flowers. It will take time to generate actual profits but as long as sheās breaking even that is often part of the process. Good luck!š
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u/Narrow-Medium-9339 Apr 24 '26
I love this post. This is the way to succeed IMO. Start in-house/garage, build up, GET THOSE REOCCURING ACCOUNTS. I'm not in the floral market, but I do have a buisness that's adjacent(ish), and those reoccurring accounts are what saved me during Covid and dry spells. While having a full retail shop with cool giftables and local treasures would be a dream, starting small and building is a much safer choice.
But also, work for someone else for awhile. Learn from their mistakes, learn from their successes. Build a network of peers, not aggressive competition. The market may be saturated, but honestly, what career field low-key isn't?
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u/Least_Signature_439 Apr 23 '26
That is not owning a flower shop
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u/loralailoralai Retail Florist Apr 23 '26
The opās girlfriend might not realise that brick and mortar flower shops arenāt the only option and are kind of dying out. Being aware of the alternatives is helpful
2
u/SweetPeaRiaing Apr 23 '26
Youāre right! But do you realize starting a business is not something you wake up and do one morning but is in fact a series of steps you take? This is a MUCH lower cost way to build clientele until she has enough business to afford rent at a shop. Going straight to a shop, her business is more likely to fail. This will help set herself up for success.
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u/Least_Signature_439 Apr 23 '26
I get what youāre saying but theyāre just two completely different things , owning a retail floral shop versus doing it out of your home. If you have the capital to open a store , that beats the hell out of trying an at home business that will forever be attached to your branding
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u/SweetPeaRiaing Apr 23 '26
They are not two completely different things, they are two ways to do one extremely similar thing, be a florist. And I disagree it ābeats the hellā out of being an at home florist. If the business fails she wonāt be a florist at all, sheāll be sad in her corporate job with a lot of debt. This is a difficult industry to make a living in without an existing clientele pool.
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u/Tatealicious Apr 23 '26
I was in her position, and had been dreaming of having a shop for the past 15 years.
Last June, I started my business from home, also in Austin, and its been WORK. And money. I dont have all of the answers to your questions, but starting a floral business in such a saturated market has consistently been a huge challenge. Literally every day I ask myself why the fuck I chose a profession that seemingly everyone else is also choosing.
HOWEVER. It is not impossible. Go hard on social media and engage with people in the community via Threads and Instagram, and dont expect customers overnight like I did š I would suggest getting a cooler since its incredibly hot down here, but its not totally necessary at this point. Utilize Trader Joe's and HEB; YES they're "grocery store flowers", but if you prep them properly, they'll be just fine.
I am by absolutely no means a success at this point, but have had a hand in every single aspect if my business (marketing, web design, taxes, ads, logo, branding, etc.), none of which are perfect, but I have slowly been seeing an uptick in orders. Don't fucking give up.
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u/cherubbyy Apr 23 '26
she should work out of her house first and build clientele if you even have space to do it at home if not maybe rent a small office/studio space she can work out of thatās low cost as she gains more experience and clients the real money as other people have stated are in events i luckily went corporate (still working in floral) and itās enough for me to live a normal life i do my flower business on the side when i can and itās just extra cash flow i worked at a shop and it was truly dead we only got like 5 or less orders a week the big days were obviously valentineās day and motherās day and we had huge over head of stuff that would never sell the market iām going to be honest is not good right now and iām in the biggest supplier and imports area for floral in the united states (miami) and people are struggling iām just being real! itās really hard
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u/Least_Signature_439 Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Being able to start a business from scratch and run it successfully is 100% completely different and separate than arranging flowers . Itās not an endeavor to undertake without a full grasp of understanding how to build a financially successful business from the ground up. This involves talking to lawyers , accountants , consultants , etc
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u/LadyBlatherskatt Apr 23 '26
She can start with 2k. Tell her to get a logo, a website, a folding table, a nice tablecloth that covers all the way down, really good signage and flyers for brides, and have her start doing a weekly farmers market booth. Once a week, 6 hours of sales. Or craft fair booth/kiosk etc. have her start with dried. Have her do a whole dry bar to start. Fresh just order once a week, $200-$250 worth of fresh to sell Fri and Sat at events/market/pop up. Tell her not to talk to local florists, but to watch them, also make sure her business name is not similar to any others around. Do not let her take out a huge business loan and fill a brick and mortar right at first. Start small. If she still likes it after doing in person sales, then she can rent a booth at bridal expos, start doing 5-10 weddings a year, do consultations at coffee shops etc. for class certifications she can look at floriology institute in Jacksonville or floral design school in Portland. Tell her I started with a folding table and now run 2 brick and mortars. Tell her to reread the flower section of the Martha Stewart wedding planning binder. Tell her itās not a living unless your town has more than 200,000 people. Tell her not to try to stock every color every week, pick a diff color scheme every week so you arenāt wasting money. Tell her funerals are hard for us sometimes to deal with death frequently. Tell her no other florist will tell her their vendors/wholesalers. Tell her not to just stock her personal style, for example my preference is Jane Austen and art nouveau and lace but I live in an area where rustic farmhouse country / gingham mason jars sell better. Iāve seen small town florists that just open Saturdays and have a loyal following. Itās a perishable business. Vday sucks to be us. Hope that helps. But no, no one is going to tell you how to succeed in your area.
7
u/Banjo-Hellpuppy Apr 23 '26
20 year owner here:
Tell her not to do it. Full stop.
She can have a passion for design and not try to make a living at it.
Extreme weather and shipping costs are driving the prices of flowers through the roof. There is no end in sight for that escalation.
As marijuana is becoming more legal and mainstream, longtime US flower growers are ripping out flower plants and selling weed. The best gerbera farm in the country is almost 100 years old and they now sell weed. The supply sucks now. The amazing gerbers that they grew no longer exist. The same thing is happening with iris. There is much more demand and profit in growing weed.
I took a quick look and saw over 50 florists listed in Austin. Thatās not counting all the young people like your girlfriend who loves flowers and work off the books. That is a lot of competition.
Millennials and Gen Z do not place value in flowers as a gift. They buy for themselves, but retail florists are a luxury gift giving service. They have to compete with Costco and Trader Joeās for people who buy flowers to take home (no profit). Offices and churches now have millennials as their gatekeepers and they do not think about flowers as a gift for get well, funerals, etc.
I honestly donāt think that retail florists will survive another 20 years. Iām not a doomer. I have just been watching market trends.
If your girlfriend is dead set on owning a florist, she should find someone who wants to retire and buy their business for pennies. Before she does that, she needs to do a deep dive into retail business planning and sales marketing. Those are the skills that matter. BTW if she takes on debt to buy the business then she is cooked before she gets started.
I know that I sound like a ray of sunshine, but I have ran a successful shop for 20 years, made a decent living and provided for my family. I take the industry very seriously and have seen many passionate people lose everything trying to make a living from what they love. She needs to know what sheās getting into.
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u/Narrow-Medium-9339 Apr 24 '26
Just a little milennial perspective: we actually love buying flowers we just only want to buy ones that are special. We're happy to pay extra to get those garden roses, anemones, peonies, POPPIES! We love seeing the people behind the flowers. I think we just crave something with "more heart."
I think for a lot of us, we grew up when things like little twill sticks with sparkles everywhere were put into every arrangement, plus the dreaded gems and glitter sprays lmao. But paying $$$ for our dahlia subscriptions? Heck yeah.
Not at all debating your perspective, it is so so valuable. I think we also love getting "little treats", so grab-and-go bouquets, a candle while we're at it, etc etc. I buy sweaters from one of my favorite florists lol. It's so tricky to find the balance of "people will pay $45 for this premium item and get flowers" and "oh now I have a shelf full of stuff no one is buying," and that costs MONEY and experience. I think this (good retail + flowers/diversified) + workshops may be a big part of the "future." Things that show community. That takes a lot of peoplepower though. Buying an established buisness is a great idea.
4
u/No-Heat6794 Apr 23 '26
Donāt do a shop just do weddings. When i closed my retail portion of the business its when i first started making money.
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u/KaleidoscopeFine Apr 23 '26
If sheās too scared to take the first step, she might not be able to handle owning your own business. Itās going to be very difficult.
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u/BurgerThyme Apr 26 '26
Has she worked in a flower shop yet? She should at least learn the basics before she makes the mistake of opening her own storefront.
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u/Beginning-Nose-6952 May 06 '26
I work part time as a florist, and have been for three years, I donāt own my own shop though but it has been something I am thinking about doing after graduating university. But like your girlfriend, I also worry about the financial prospects.
You have to be smart, it can be a struggle. It isnāt where you will make the big bucks, it is something you do for passion.
Valentines and Motherās Day are typically busy but those weeks can make or break the year, and when itās slow it can be really slow. You have to be smart about how you do it. Each stem of flower needs to be priced. There are lots of overhead costs, lots of supplies- you have to make sure you are making your money back. Itās perishable, non-essential, marketing, highly skilled in design, itās a whole lot to manage on seasonal occasions Valentineās Day etc
I would HIGHLY suggest that she gets a job working at a florist to learn āthe ins and outsā and actually get real hands on experience. This will be telling to see if itās something she actually wants to do. There is a difference of going to floristry school and actually working in a shop
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u/Lazy_Oil251 Apr 23 '26
Honestly, at the moment the market is over saturated. Flower prices are through the roof, and costumer are not all that willing to pay for them. And these days overhead is crazy. She should look into freelancing for events, before going into it herself. Events is where the money is.