The hardest times in my floristry career

The year 2020, amidst the pandemic and lockdowns, was actually one of the most pivotal times of my life and business. It had changed everything for me, for the better. This rings even more true when I look back at the biggest challenges and most devastating times in my career, they have led to the best things in my life and floristry career. 

I can look back at some of the worst days of my life, and realise that they actually led to something incredibly great the following week. When it's happening, it feels so devastating and as if you're never going to get past it. But when you look back on, you realise that might have been the best thing that could have happened.

I'm sharing 5 of the hardest scenarios I have faced in my floristry career, that have completely transformed my approach and outlook for the better! 

1. Uni drop out turned florist

I was studying linguistics at university, I loved it and was so passionate about it. I thought I'd found what I wanted to do. The next year of uni, I got a teacher who wasn't very interesting and I just could not stay focussed in their classes. I ended up dropping out because I felt like I was just passing, not actually learning. Plus, I had no idea what career I could make out of that. 

It felt like such a fail in my life, I had no idea where I was going with my education or career.

I decided to just study floristry for fun. I like learning and it was always something I'd wanted to do.

I discovered something I was really passionate about, I made some new friends, I got freelancing jobs really quickly and I was just so excited that I found a career that I loved. And.... well look at how this all turned out! 

2. Overworked and underpaid

I was offered an opportunity to work as a florist for a styling company where I had an abundance of weddings, creative freedom, a flexible time schedule and a team of boss women.

The job turned out to be good in some ways, but I was very much underpaid, overworked and overwhelmed. I was working until 10pm some nights and I was severely burnt out. 

Within two years, I also had an insane number of weddings under my belt. I'd learnt so much and I'd also networked with my amazing wedding community in Newcastle so I had so many friends in the industry as well. I also started collaborating with a group of like minded vendors to create a little side hustle job doing elopements, which I was so excited about.

Fast forward to my boss found out about this side hustle and lost their mind. I had to resign immediately and I was devastated! It was very messy and a very bad day. Thankfully, because of my reputation and my network I was building in floristry, I started to get wedding inquiries coming my way organically and it was the tiny beginnings of Film and Foliage

3. Transition to full-time wedding floristry business owner

My wedding business seriously kicked off and I picked up a part-time retail floristry job, so that I knew my quiet weeks I'd still have money coming in. I met so many beautiful, talented florist friends working there and it made me feel a little bit safer in business while I started building up bookings.

After some time, I found out that the retail job was not paying the correct floristry wage, which initially I thought it was a mistake. After looking into this further and realising my boss was actually intentionally underpaying the entire floristry team, I resigned immediately.

It felt like the end of something but wiithin a week, I actually replaced that income immediately with wedding bookings since I had more time and energy to put into my own businesss.

At this point, I had gone all in on my business and that was my only income and I was finally taking it seriously. It was all happening!

4. The pandemic and birth of Wildflower Academy

Lockdowns hit and suddenly I had lost all of my bookings, money and future prospects. Not to mention being locked down at home. It was in this time that I built Wildflower Academy! I had so many people  asking me to teach and share throughout my whole floristry journey, and I suddenly had an abundance of time to do that. I sat on my couch for six months, learnt everything I could and built Wildflower Academy.

5. Burnout to dream floral career

After the lockdowns ended, weddings came back busier than ever, but not without hardships. 

We had a bumpy year of postponements and I did 80 weddings in one year. Halfway through that year, the burnout hit me hard. I was so overwhelmed and exhausted, and was feeling a little bit defeated by the quantity of weddings and everything going on in my business. Because of that, I decided to rebrand during the winter and I shifted the entire business to a niche audience, elevated my minimum spend, worked out my ideal client and the type of briefs I get. 

Flash-forward to right now, living out my dream floristry career as a full-time wedding florist and coach across my two businesses with time for rest and dreamy clients in my calendar.

Now, when a bad thing happens, I almost get this underlying excitement for the next chapter. I know that it's the beginning of something new that's going to take me in a better direction.

Has there been a scenario in your life that has been devastating but game-changing? Come on over to our Wildflower Academy Facebook Community* and let me know!

*Our private community is for members only. To join, sign up to our Wildflower Academy membership for just $25 a week!