editorial
Sometimes I wonder if we are losing the skill base completely. In fact I am permanently amazed at how little some fl orists seem to know. Stuff that I think should be second nature doesn’t even appear on the Richter scale as far as design and fl ower skills are concerned whilst there are some people running businesses who don’t seem to have a clue. It’s almost as if we have a ‘lost
generation ‘; a cohort of fl orists and shops who came into the industry in the heady days of the late 90’s/early 00’s, when even if you were bad you could still make money, but who are now struggling to survive without even the most basic of skills... like being able to make a hand tied properly never mind cost it properly (hence the article on page 91)
In some ways I blame myself. In
the old days we used to do loads of step by steps and spell out how to do the business side in words of one syllable. I guess as I/we got older we just assumed everyone knew it so moved away from that sort of content and focussed on other things – well there is a limit to how many pages we can do! Fact is though, all too many
fl orists don’t know enough but still think they can either run a fl orist shop or make a bouquet. In the absence of anyone or anything else we shall go back to basics in terms of content … although in this wonderful digital age I suspect YouTube may feature this time round … and the only fl orists I shall put my faith in are those on our Good Florist Guide list … if you want to be included see page 70.
There was an interesting reaction when I said Emily was having fl ower-fi lled jam jars at her wedding. Because a lot of the audience immediately assumed she was doing her own fl owers. Well 1) she knows I would take a very dim view of that and 2) she actually didn’t dream of it, she
wanted to enjoy the day not worry about the fl owers or cake etc and why she had a professional fl orist doing the bouquet, headdress (big fl owery number) and all the function fl owers. So, as we became pretty adept
at scavenging in the run up to the big day, jam jars took over our lives because it is one of the big trends this year. As are bouquets brooches; thanks to Corsage Creations (page 26) - Emily had a gorgeous dragonfl y in hers. Trends in weddings are changing and whilst it would be wonderful if everyone ordered lush tall candelabras or miles upon miles of cascading hydrangea, a lot of brides don’t want that and to them fl ower fi lled jam jars are the thing. But it doesn’t mean you can’t
make money on them or pooh- pooh it as not quite fl oristry. As Emily discovered a meaningful spread of jam jars (even with my contributions!) cost just as much as a half decent table arrangement because the labour, cost and fl ower quantity was on a par.* The diff erence wasn’t money... it was the fact she got the look she wanted.
Actually a common theme of this issue is putting a new look on everything … be it wedding work or funerals, your marketing strategy or your pricing policy. In fact when we sent out the survey for The Price is Right feature (page 91) more than one respondent said thank you because it had made them think twice … one fl orist admitting she hadn’t reviewed her prices for 10 years. But while that may sound
shocking make sure you too haven’t fallen into the ‘I’m too busy/too scared/too anything’ to re-assess your business top to bottom and every month. I know I keep banging on about it but now I spend a lot more time talking to fl orists I know how easy it is to fall into the trap of not seeing the wood for the trees! Summer, which as I wrote this
fi nally seemed to have appeared, is the perfect time to re-group, re-charge and re-assess.
As you’ll see from the Team page (6) I’m working with a lot more young people. And it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made. Not because they’re cheap (I always pay proper rates) but because they come with a whole new set of ideas, skills, thought processes and above all incredible enthusiasm. OK there are things they don’t
know and things they do that irritate me beyond belief (hey it’s my birthday soon so I’m offi cially allowed to be a Grumpy Old Woman) but so far the good has far outweighed any of the negative and to be honest I am better for it as well. There’s a spring in my step, a joy that ideas are welcomed with open arms instead of a negative or blank stare, in short there’s a ‘can do’, ‘must do’, ‘want to do’ attitude that is truly wonderful. Employment laws mean you
can’t suddenly dump all us oldies and nor should you; people like us still have things going for us! That said if you have youngsters on your team make sure you are using all their strengths to the full – it could be a very interesting and good for business experience.
Have a great summer … see you in the Autumn!
** 1 See the adverts for Floralcloud (page 2) Florisoft (page 83) and Floristpro (page 87). Florist Window can be contacted on 08001693266
** 2 A fact Joy Gill proved when she posted a recent wedding shot where she had to do 120 of them. Making jam jars look fab isn’t as easy as just plonking a few fl owers in!
F&wb Summer 2013
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