How I Turned My Hobby Into A Profitable Floral Business [With Less Than $5K]
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hello, my name is Julia, and I am a florist and founder of Flowers & Flowers Studio in Toronto. We specialize in floral bouquets for different occasions and provide flower services for weddings and corporate events.
In light of increased inflation and prices in Toronto, my core mission is to offer each client an aesthetically beautiful bouquet – no matter the budget. With my expertise in design and floristry, I craft exceptional arrangements that are both high-quality and affordable.
After almost two years of working, I have provided florals for over 500 private and corporate clients, including luxury brands from Prada Group or Panerai luxury watches to various hotels, such as Park Hyatt Toronto.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
My love for flowers started when my husband and I moved from Moscow, Russia to Toronto, Canada in 2019. Being an engineer by education, I wanted to explore more creative areas and started as an interior designer. However, this was not what I was looking for, and eventually, I decided to try myself in floristry as I always loved flowers.
No matter how hard it is, your passion is the thing that matters the most and what helps you stay afloat.
To test myself in this area, I chose a challenging way. Instead of staying in a comfort zone and attending various florist courses, I wanted to experience the actual day-to-day life of florists. However, having no experience, it was a challenge to find a job as a florist right away.
So, I searched on Instagram for flower studios with the most appealing designs. After some time, I reached out to one of the top and busiest flower studios in Toronto and was lucky to get an internship there. It was a very challenging time when I started, as I had to learn quickly and from scratch, stay on my feet for 8-9 hours a day, and do almost everything.
It involved technical work such as cleaning flower stems, cutting packaging materials, and carrying completed flower arrangements to the delivery van. However, I assisted senior florists in the design process and learned from them.
Even though it was difficult, this experience helped me to understand the true “behind the scenes” life of a florist and to learn every single thing. Over time, I was able to create flower arrangements for regular orders.
One day the senior floral designer was away, and I had to fulfill a complex and urgent order. Once I saw the completed product and realized that it was made by my own hands, I became determined to stay in floristry for all my life. The main lesson learned was that no matter how hard it is, your passion is the thing that matters the most and what helps you to stay afloat.
As prices in the flower studio I joined were in a high range (on average, above $250-$300 per arrangement), I noticed that many people couldn’t afford high-quality flowers even though they wanted them a lot. Even when my friends asked me to place a new order and refused to purchase flowers as prices were too high for them. Over time, I figured that this problem is city-wide, and this was a moment when I realized that I could fill this gap between high quality and affordability in the floral market in Toronto.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
I didn’t have much trouble with finding flower resellers as most of them were located in a specific area in Ontario, and, besides, I knew some of them from my job. However, I faced a challenge with the packaging of flower bouquets.
Many florists in Toronto didn’t pay much attention to packaging and delivered flowers in carton boxes. This was not aesthetically appealing to me, and I wanted the packaging to be the same pleasant as the flowers themselves. I spent quite some time developing the design of specialized flower bags and found a manufacturer who agreed to produce my first thousand bags at my specifications for $2,000.
I was a bit nervous waiting for bags to be manufactured and was unsure if it was a good idea, but when I unpacked the first delivered box, I realized it would be a game changer. Afterwards, many clients left 5-star reviews giving special regard to convenient packaging.
Know what you do and believe in it. At some point, it can become challenging to realize your plan, but never give up, and know that hard work always brings positive results.
Describe the process of launching the business.
In 2021, I took a leap of faith and launched Flowers & Flowers focusing on blending aesthetics with affordability and customer satisfaction.
As a first step, I launched a website and created a set of pre-made flower bouquets, started working on SEO, and launched advertising on Instagram.
For the website, I purchased a Shopify subscription with an approximately $60 monthly fee including the domain. It eventually became over $200 per month because of the various apps we needed to make the website more functional.
As I didn’t have a lot of revenue at the initial steps, the SEO freelance services took around $100-200 per month. The advertising budget for Instagram of $50-100 per month helped to improve rankings in search engines and increased the number of subscribers over time (from zero to over 4,700). However, the content was an important part of progress. I took pictures of florals myself and didn’t hire a professional.
Working from home, it was enough to use my savings of around $5,000 for starter costs, such as basic inventory, florist tools, a fridge, and various packaging materials.
The business quickly gained traction, winning the trust of daily purchasers and corporate clients. I started receiving many offers for weddings as well. I took into account every single review and feedback from my client and used it to upgrade my bouquets, change my website, and so on to better meet customer’s expectations.
A big advantage of my online store was my hobby in photography and the fact that I am an active Instagram user. Good-quality pictures of my bouquets helped me to improve the conversion rate and maintain good aesthetics of the website. At the same time, sharing these and other pictures on Instagram helped a lot to increase the number of subscribers on the Instagram page from 0 to over 4,500 in just a year.
As I look into the future, I aim to expand the business to a physical retail store keeping an online presence. The first launch of an online-only store was a great option to test customers' design and pricing preferences without significant startup costs. However, now it becomes obvious that I need to hire more people and my clients need a dedicated place where they can come and see my work in person.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
I have one major piece of advice to all aspiring founders - know what you do and believe in it. At some point, it can become challenging to realize your plan, but never give up, and know that hard work always brings positive results.
One of the first challenges I faced was very low traffic to my website. Being more or less proficient in Instagram, I didn’t know how SEO works, and, to improve this area, I hired a freelancer to help improve our ranks in Google. It was naive to think that this would be enough. After changing several SEO consultants, I realized that this area is more complex and requires dedication and an analytical approach.
The first step to understanding the problem was diving deep into Google Analytics, which helped me to understand who my customers are, where are they coming from, and what might be their preferences. Combined with actual feedback from satisfied clients, it gave me a good understanding of what my customers are looking for.
For example, initially, I assumed that I would sell florals primarily to young people and was surprised to get more orders from an older generation. This might be because I prefer classic design in flower arrangements which might be a more comfortable choice compared to experimental design. This helped me to stay focused on classics as my primary direction of the design.
The next step I realized is that I need to adjust my products to meet customer expectations. It required changing the design of pre-made bouquets multiple times, changing the design of the flower bags, and so on. However, the result was very positive - nearly 15% of clients returned and started buying flowers from me regularly on every occasion.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
The current business model is profitable, and I am doing what I love. I gradually optimized my costs by finding new suppliers in Ontario and abroad. This allows me to maintain prices in the range of $50-$110 for high-quality flower arrangements.
The business is highly seasonal, with most of the online purchases happening in December and February and with a low level of sales (approximately 30-40% decrease) in the summer months. However, summer is the high season for weddings and this allows us to compensate for decreasing retail sales with increased sales from weddings and events.
My short-term goal is to open a physical studio in downtown Toronto. Having negotiated the lease in one of the most popular neighborhoods, I am on my way to expanding the business to a new level.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
One of my mistakes was that I relied too much on freelancers and consultants thinking that they could solve all the issues. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that you will achieve success by fully relying on someone.
At the end of the day, your understanding of any problem must be a basis for other people who help you and not vice versa. When I realized it as in the example with SEO, the result proved this approach is right.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
I love Shopify as a major tool I use to manage my online store. It is simple, convenient, and allows me to customize.
Various apps in the Shopify store allow me to add any functionality to the store with seamless integration. It was especially helpful with the local delivery service (Trexity) that automatically schedules a new order for delivery once a purchase is made on the website.
Another great app was Zapiet which allowed me to customize the process of checkout with more options for email notifications to the customer.
Another great tool outside Shopify is Mailchimp. It is just a necessity to work with your clients regularly, and this tool makes email marketing much easier. Even Shopify has integrated email marketing tools, but Mailchimp has a big advantage in templates, which makes the process of designing new emails a breeze.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I often watch YouTube videos made by other florists and the designs they create. For example, FlowerJoos often inspires me to create something new. Also, my competitors are great teachers too.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
As I mentioned, my main advice is to believe in your idea. I am sure that I wouldn’t make the first step in opening my business without a strong belief that it is worth it and that everything will be fine.
Support from your family and friends is also very important. They can always support you in challenging times and can bring you a new perspective on some problems, which can lead to unexpected solutions.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
I am planning to hire 1-2 florists in the next 6 months for a physical studio once it is opened. This work will combine working on flower arrangements on- and off-site, talking to clients, managing orders, tracking inventory, and many other duties that comprise the florist’s life.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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