When and How to Expand Your Floral Design Team
Philosophy Flowers
A time of growth in your business is one of the most exciting times! More projects added to the calendar, more revenue generated, and more flowers brought into the studio are all things to be celebrated. The challenge is knowing when and how to hire the right floral design team members to keep your growth sustainable.
Physical and mental burnout can come when you least expect it! The best way to avoid it is to stay conscious of your workload and know when to ask for help. In this article, we will discuss three different ways to expand your team and when to utilize these types of workers.
Freelancers
Part-Time Labor
Full-Time Labor
Freelance Floral Designers
Freelancers are the unicorns of the creative industry. You can utilize so many talented people to grow your business while they gain experience, earn additional cash, and lend their creative talents to your business.
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When to Use Freelancers:
Larger than normal events
For large installations
When you have a limited timeframe to deliver
At harvest
Multiple deliveries on a given day
For specialized social media creation
Freelancers are generally paid by the hour, by the day, or by the project. Check with florists in your area to find out what the average rate is in your market.
Also, check with your accountant to see what your local and state regulations are for freelancers. For example: In Texas, you are not supposed to hire a freelancer (also known as a 1099 employee) to do anything you do in your business. If audited by the Workforce Commission, you could be subject to serious fines or back taxes.
Part-Time Labor
Part-time labor is utilized best when you set tasks that need to be accomplished weekly, but not enough work to encompass 30 hours or more.
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Tasks for Part-Time Employees:
Picking up flowers and processing them
Organizing inventory and prepping vases for production
Cleaning buckets and containers after an event
Answering basic client questions via email
Content creation on a larger scale—think email marketing, pinning to Pinterest, Instagram stories and posts, etc.
Onboarding new clients
Offloading clients after an event
You can pay part-time labor based on the project or hourly. Some team members work more efficiently on an achievement system rather than hourly. Another benefit to part-time labor is the ability to set hours and more expectations around their work.
In some states, you can not tell 1099 employees (freelancers) how many hours to work, when to start working, or when to arrive at work. On the other hand, part-time labor allows you the ability to mold the working environment to fit the culture and your exact needs. For example, you can ask your part-time assistant to be present every Monday at 10:00 AM to clean and restock the inventory for the next event while freelancers can turn down jobs.
Full-Time Labor
You should consider full-time labor when you have the workload to support 30 hours or more a week. It is also an excellent method when you want to see some serious growth in your business. If you have the funds, you could hire a full-time sales rep to go out and be the face of your business.
Let them attend all the networking events, meet with vendors, conduct consultations, draw up proposals, etc. You could also use a full-time team member if you have a consistent and heavy floral workload. This team member can be in charge of prepping for events and designing.
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The best way to decide who to hire and what they will do is to itemize all the tasks you do in a week or month. Mark each one that brings you joy and that you are sufficient at. Keep those tasks and find a great candidate that thrives on the items that do not bring you joy.
For example, I love numbers and sales. My job in our company is to manage the team, do the bookkeeping, conduct floral sales meetings, and design beautiful arrangements. Networking is not my jam, so I hired a killer sales director that goes to all the functions and brings in the inquiries, among other things.
A full-time role can be paid with a base salary, with a commission, hourly, or a combination of each of these. You have a ton of flexibility when it comes to full-time employees. These individuals play a huge role in creating the company culture, so it is important to be slow to hire and find the absolute best candidate for your business. You can also offer other benefits like continuing education at the Team Flower Conference or health care and insurance.
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If you feel you’re ready to take the leap to expand your team, congratulations! Take some time to think through which type of help you’ll need, and be sure to check local and state regulations regarding hiring. Cheering you on!
