How to Determine If You Need to Press Pause on Your Flower Business
Lauren Rosenau Photography
The wedding and event industry has changed overnight. For some of us, it may mean dramatically pivoting and finding new streams of revenue. And for others, it may mean we must thoughtfully and carefully consider if it’s financially wise to continue on with our floral business during this season.
It’s a difficult question to embrace, but it’s one we’re not shying away from in this season: Should you press pause on your flower business?
While there are many reasons a floral pro might press pause on floral work—a new baby, an adoption, recovering from illness, a move into a new market—this article primarily addresses pressing pause for economic reasons. However, if you are stopping floral work for a period because of parental leave, recovery, or a life or business transition, there are plenty of applicable tips in this article for you as well.
What Does Pressing Pause on Your Flower Business Look Like?
Running a small business is a lot of hard work—and when you add not just an economic slowdown but an economic halt to the mix, it can become even more difficult.
For floral pros, historically our work has been based on access to local and global resources (beautiful flowers year-round!) and people getting together (weddings, events, celebrations). As the economy slows down significantly, especially in these areas, you may need to make the decision to “close up shop” so to speak and press pause on your flower journey for now.
Practically, pressing pause on your floral business looks like resolving any current contracts by cancelling the work without rescheduling in the near future, serving any current event clients who have adapted their event plans, and/or completing any final orders without taking on more.
In the case that you decide to put your flower journey on furlough or literally close the doors to your business if you have a retail space, know that you have the option to come back to it again in the future when you’re ready. Flowers—and what they mean to us and our clients—will always be here.
Lauren Rosenau Photography
Practical Tips to Follow When Pressing Pause on Your Floral Business:
Refer your clients to other floral designers or flower farms you trust. If a client would like to reschedule their event for a year out but you’ve decided to stop offering floral services for now, connect them with another floral designer you trust. And if you still hope to participate in flowers in some way, send the floral designer you’re referring the client to a separate kindhearted note and offer to freelance if they need a helping hand.
Don’t get rid of your website. If you’re able to continue to pay the annual fee for your domain name and web hosting, please do. Because you’re pressing pause, you’ll still need this in the future (unless you know a complete rebrand would be part of your relaunch if you reopen your floral business). Don’t add any “We’re currently closed” messaging on your social accounts, as it’s helpful to allow others to contact you if they’re still interested in your work. While you’ll want to have a polite “we’re not offering these services right now” email response drafted to send those who contact you (and refer them to another florist or flower farmer), it can be encouraging to see there will still be a future need for your floral work when you decide to start again.
Keep your social media accounts for your business (although it’s fine to let them go inactive as you focus on other needs in your life). Again, don’t add any “We’re currently closed” messaging, because others may still contact you through these channels, and you can refer them to others who you trust.
Should You Pause Your Floral Business for Economic Reasons?
How do you know if you should close your small business? Whether you’ll be pressing pause for a season or closing for the foreseeable future, each floral pro’s unique situation is different. There are a couple things that act as a litmus test for small floral business owners.
While this list can be helpful, it is not comprehensive. Each individual business owner should use their best judgement in considering all factors that apply to their business, market, and financial situation.
Lauren Rosenau Photography
Have you been consistently making a profit the last few years? If you haven’t been maintaining a consistent profit before a large economic downturn, it may be a good time to press pause in order to mitigate the risk of losing additional finances.
Is your pricing sustainable for the long term? If you had issues pricing your products or service offerings to maintain consistent profit before a market slowdown, that concern won’t easily go away during this season. While you should reach out to other trustworthy floral pros for assistance (such as the Team Flower Community) or get additional education (such as a Pricing and Ordering class for flower pros) in order to course-correct, it may be more beneficial to press pause during global or local financial crises.
Were you near burnout before encountering economic difficulty? Weathering a tough season takes a lot of emotional energy. If you felt burnt out and had any doubts about continuing your business before an economic downturn, it may be good to press pause for now to protect not only your financial health, but also your emotional, spiritual, mental, and even physical health.
To encourage you as you’re thinking through your decision: No matter what you decide, know that you are brave and either decision—whether you press pause or continue on through with your floral business—takes strength and intention. Stopping your small business services takes as much bravery, faith, and confidence as continuing to push forward in difficult economic times. It is not a sign of failure and may be a wise business move for some.
If you’re curious about the stories of others who have paused their floral businesses, you can listen to Kelly Perry’s own story about stopping her event floral business here.
Lauren Rosenau Photography
What Does Your Local Community Need Right Now?
Just because you’re pressing pause on your floral journey doesn’t mean you’ll be completely out of work—or have to stop loving the world through flowers. If working with flowers isn’t bringing in the income needed for your household during this time, it’s okay to press pause to make sure you and your family have what you need to endure this season first.
What does your community need right now? Take a moment to reflect here. Think of your neighbors, your school systems, your very own community’s specific needs.
If you decide to press pause on your floral business for now, there are many areas of demand during this time that can help bring in income to your household until the wedding and events industry picks up again or until you decide to resume your flower journey. We’ve included a short list of ideas below, but every market looks different.
In-home childcare help
Homeschooling assistance
Cleaning services
Running errands and making deliveries for those who are homebound
Helping staff a grocery store or hardware store in your community
Emergency medical care (Do you hold a nursing, EMT, or other healthcare certification or licensure? Many communities may need additional assistance in this area during this time.)
What Resources Do You Have That Can Be Repurposed?
You may have resources that can be repurposed during this time—such as a studio space, a retail shop, delivery vans, or event rentals. Depending on how long you may want to press pause on floral work and the cost or ease of storage, you may want to sell some of these items or find new ways to use them in order to generate income.
While you may want to keep some of your event rentals and containers if you plan to return to flowers, you may consider selling others to another floral business, a larger event rental company, or DIY brides. If you have a van or two available, you might find that offering delivery services (like a weekly grocery pickup and delivery, trips to the hardware store, etc.) could be a great way to work through a difficult economic season before offering florals again.
Lauren Rosenau Photography
Give Yourself Grace During This Season—And Permission to Pause
Here’s something you may need to hear: It’s okay to stop your flower business.
While we’re huge fans of the “You can do this!” and “Don’t quit!” mantras (and we wholeheartedly believe in those sentiments), when it comes to taking care of your household, financial future, and immediate needs, pressing pause on your flower journey may be absolutely necessary—and may be the wisest decision for you personally. Only you are able to determine what’s right for you, your family, and your business.
(Each member of the Team Flower Staff has had to press pause, pivot, or stop their small business at some point. You are not alone!)
If you plan on taking clients again in the future, this season in your flower journey could be an excellent opportunity to enroll in floral business education, small business learning opportunities, and more. That way, if and when you return, you’re more prepared than ever!
The truth is, you can run a flower business—you’ve already shown yourself and others that you can by actually doing so. Pressing pause doesn’t mean that you’ve failed to love the world through flowers. It doesn’t mean you’ve given up on a successful dream. And it doesn’t mean your creative art, clients, or flower business goals aren’t important.
Flowers will always be there when you’re ready to return to them. We call our life with flowers a “flower journey” for a reason—it’s ongoing! In the meantime, you can love the world through flowers by creating floral arrangements for coworkers in your new place of work, planting a happy flower garden and sharing blooms with neighbors and friends, or cheering others on in their flower goals.
And we’ll be right here with you every step of the way.
