5 Tips to Prevent Floral Work Burnout
Do you run your own floral business? As a floral designer—whatever the size your operation—you know firsthand there is so much hard work alongside the gift and beauty of your life with flowers.
And if you are single-handedly running a wedding flower business from your home, this list below probably looks like a bare-bones minimum of “a day in the life.”
Wash buckets
Schedule consultation
Write proposal
Design bridesmaid bouquets
Answer emails
Order flowers for the next two weddings
Shop for hard goods
Pick up the kid from soccer practice
Take the other kid to dance class
Go to the bank
Run through the grocery store
Prepare dinner
Prep corsages and boutonnieres
Clean up workshop
Consult with bride
Sometimes the myriad of tasks seem endless, and you may wonder what happened to your dream of smelling roses and rolling in flower petals for money?
Why did it seem so easy at first to float on a cocktail of adrenaline, chocolate (dark, please!), creative energy, and sometimes straight-up pure fear, and now you feel heavy, exhausted, bothered, and maybe even “stuck” in your work?
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of the pile of things you need to tackle and forget the glorious big-picture that you are painting with your life.
Take a breather and get back to the heart of what really matters: The beauty you are creating in a world that needs your light!
When the Going Gets Tough: Symptoms of Flower Life Burnout
When you feel overwhelmed, burned out, exhausted, under-appreciated, or alone, it’s time for you to get yourself into a new mind-set (or rediscover the one that was open for anything at the beginning of your journey).
Little by little, as your business (and family), grows, the new and exciting things become routine. As you gain confidence in your craft, you could begin to slide into a place of pride or a place where you lose that special touch you used to add to your work that your clients loved. Symptoms of burnout can look like:
You receive an inquiry, and you decide you don’t have time for that small job.
You begin to think you are not getting paid enough for your work.
You cannot bring yourself to start processing those flowers.
You took a long time to get that proposal to your bride, and she went elsewhere—and you aren’t sure you even care.
These may be extreme examples of a floral wedding artist losing the fun and flair of the craft, but this could be a wake-up call to catch yourself before sliding down the slippery slope of going through the motions.
Refresh in the Beauty of Floral Work with These 5 Flower-Basking Moments
Something lit your fire for the flower business, and basking in the beauty of 5 aspects of this life will undoubtedly refresh your soul and put a spring in your step again!
These roses are all the same variety, but all unique!
Bask in the Beauty of the Present
Sticking to a stringent timeline can catch you pulling out your already-thinning hair!
Sometimes you must stop and literally smell the roses! Seriously, just do it. Look. They are right there.
They’re still right there while you are flailing about, flinging stems and leaves and spilling water and dumping trash cans and answering calls and finding and assigning jobs to freelancers.
Sit down. Breathe.
Take a rose (or whatever is there) in your hand. Spin it around and look at each petal. Notice the color, the veins in the petals, the shape of the leaves.
Take a long drink of water. Feel the coolness of the liquid as it slides down your parched throat. Hear the ice cubes tinkle in the glass. See the light shining through the clear drink and notice how it changes the way things look on the other side.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of the pile of things you need to tackle and forget the glorious big-picture that you are painting.”
Go turn on some peaceful music and consciously take in your surroundings. Look at your workspace, whether it’s a spare bedroom, your kitchen, a garage, a studio, or a shop, and see your imprint on every part of that place.
Notice how you have organized things to make your work easier. Look at all your supplies and think of how you came to acquire them. Think about all the preparations you have made to leave a positive mark in the world. You are doing big things. Be grateful for all the little things that happen that add up to the great ones!
Bask in the Beauty of Creation
You have a rare opportunity in your work to be surrounded by beauty. Not only that, but you get to create beauty with something already beautiful! Have you ever paused in your work to look at all the varieties of flowers set before you?
“Have you ever paused in your work to look at all the varieties of flowers set before you? ”
No matter how big your event is, you’ll never scratch the surface of the immense selection of botanical wonders available in this whole wide world! Look at each type of flower within your reach. You may have 100 or even 1000 of the same variety of roses in buckets. No two of them are going to be exactly alike!
Look at the petals, the subtle color variations, the orientation of the leaves, the sharpness of the thorns, the thickness of the stems. Can you spare one to pull apart and look at the middle? You would never know that an intricate reproductive system was hiding inside all those velvet layers.
You know it’s time to take a sniff. Close your eyes. Inhale slowly. Try to register the fragrance in your memory. It’s worth it to take the time.
Now, as you begin to remove thorns and leaves, listen to the sounds of the clipping or stripping. This is just chapter one of the beautiful story you are about to tell with your work.
Bask in that beauty! As you pluck away the outer petals that aren’t satisfactorily pristine, feel the velvet and the moisture of the flower. Bask in the beauty of the creation with which you work.
It was lovingly created for you, just as you lovingly create for your clients.
Bask in the Beauty of Your Craft
You had a vision for something you desired in life. You felt drawn to join in the joy of a couple’s special day. You wanted your designs to receive compliments.
You needed to express yourself through creativity. You had this innate desire to get slimy and sweaty and wet and dirty and stinky—wait. No. Let’s get back to beauty.
“Flowers are lovingly created for you, just as you lovingly create for your clients.”
You heard a calling to bring something into the world that would inspire joy and love and unity and gratitude. And you’re doing it! You get a vision, you present it to people, they like it, and you bring it to life!
You are learning as you go, and sometimes you surprise yourself as well as others. You are making connections with real people, and you are giving them something they need and want. That’s pure beauty. Bask in that!
Can you see her smiling at you?
Bask in the Beauty of the People in Your Life
As a business owner and creative, you undoubtedly encounter an endless array of people in your daily or weekly life. Even if you are flying solo, you are not doing flowers alone.
You source your supplies from somewhere—do you have a sales representative to thank for their help? Do you know anything about that person besides what they do for you?
Everybody has a story, and it’s fascinating what we can discover about ourselves through hearing a story about someone else’s life.
Do you ask your engaged couples how they met? Knowing their love story allows you to express their uniqueness through their wedding flowers! Do you take any opportunities to express appreciation to your clients for their trust in you?
A small gesture like a handwritten postcard can make someone’s day, let you know that you are there for them during a somewhat stressful time, and can go a long way when it comes to receiving referrals!
Do you employ people or work with freelancers? It can be easy to quickly take these skilled lifesavers for granted. Chances are, you have carefully curated a culture in your workspace, and these people have adopted and embraced your goals and values. Essentially, they have become your extended hands, feet, mind, and even soul.
It is because of them you might find time to sleep and eat! You lift each other up, make each other laugh, sometimes aggravate each other, but you are a team! Take a step back and think about where you would be without them, and make time to appreciate your helpers with unexpected compliments, gifts, notes, or surprises. At the very least, step back and think about each one of them with gratitude for what they bring to your business and your life.
“You have a rare opportunity in your work to be surrounded by beauty. Not only that, but you get to create beauty with something already beautiful! ”
Is your family involved in your work? Do they know the ins and outs of what you do daily? Have you invited them to come alongside you in ownership of your flower business? Are you aware of how your stress thermometer affects the people you love? Depending on the dynamics of your household, you may find that whether your family wants to be involved in your business or not, they are.
Your mood and attitude will directly affect the atmosphere in your home. It is in your best interest, even in the middle of the busiest of projects, to extend patience, respect, and kindness to the people closest to you.
When you find downtime or a break, engage your special people in a bit of quality time over a meal, a walk, a card game, a quick word of encouragement or gratitude, or a snuggle session before you get back to full-force flowering again. It will do your soul well. Maintain healthy family relationships, and they will, in turn, respect the time you need to focus on the demanding tasks on your to-do list.
Just as no two flowers are alike, the same is true for people. Just as essential as flowers, people are at the very heart of what you do and how you do it. Bask in the beauty of the gifts they offer to you, and spend time showing them a sincere appreciation for their unique life stories, talents, and help.
In this, you will find pure joy!
Take time to be creative and relish the beauty that follows.
Bask in the Beauty of the Joy we Share with the World
Flowers. Love. Trust. Unity. Smiles. Family. Joy!
As a wedding flower provider, you have a unique opportunity to put your heart “out there” to cultivate the atmosphere for a beautiful and emotional moment in time, all the time!
These moments live on throughout history as passed on to children and grandchildren.
Essentially, we are privileged to be part of the beginning of a family story, over and over again. Throughout your career, how many families will you serve? For how many life stories will you author the “forward” section?
Have you thought to count? Have you stopped counting?
Never underestimate the significant impact you will have on a day, a person, a family, a legacy!
Every bucket you wash, every flower you touch, every inquiry you answer (whether or not they eventually hire you), every stem you cut, every headache, every sleepless night, every growling belly, every bill, every wet sock (okay, I spill and spray a lot of water!), every cold glue-covered tooth (again, I do lots of things I shouldn’t!), every bleach-stained towel is a rock in the path to a life of true meaning, a life that matters.
