Team Flower

It isn’t uncommon for us to chat with a podcast guest and feel like we’ve made a new friend, but Ashley and Emily are something extra special. They have hearts that embrace all that you are, and you can tell. I’ll bet each of their clients would agree, as they truly take every effort to understand the recipients of their flowers in a way that makes them feel known and seen. They have a beautifully unique vision for their flower shop. They source all of their gift items from local artists, they are champions for women-owned businesses, and they even have coffee and tea + couches in their shop for customers to stop and stay a while. What a way to bring in the community! We’re chatting about some of the logistics of running a business, like delivering flowers (hint: use upperinc.com) and which flowers to keep in the shop versus which flowers to use for weddings and events. Plus, they’re sharing the top 5 things they believe are money best spent on their business. Finally, Ashley and Emily are discussing the importance of investing in yourself. It is one thing to invest in your business, but investing in yourself will do wonders for the success of the things you put your hand to. We are Ashley Singh + Emily Pennington the owners of Mahina + Soul a floral studio with retail. We offer flowers, and various gift items such as candles, cards, jewelry, wreaths and much more. We are celebrating our storefronts grand opening its been one month. Find them on Instagram @mahinaandsoul or online at www.mahinaandsoul.com.

In this podcast you'll learn: - The importance of knowing how to appeal to your ideal client - How to implement and conceptualize your creative ideas - How to choose and approach vendors in your preferred aesthetic - Tips for communicating your creative concepts to the chosen vendors - Conducting day-of logistics - Matching the aesthetic of your styled shoot to specific publications

One thing we love about the floral industry is how diverse the business models can be. Today, Melissa Brown of Bee Merry Farm is on the podcast to tell us about her unique business model: a upick flower farm. A teacher by day and flower farmer by nights and weekends, Melissa has found this to be a widely successful venture within her community! There are countless resources for those in the floral industry, and Melissa is sharing some of her go-to’s when it comes to flower farming. Of course, there are lessons to be learned from flowers that cannot be gathered from books or articles—like confidence, bravery, and courage. Melissa also has a passion for creating art through flat lays! And she is GOOD at it! She’s sharing a few tips and tricks on how to create a flat lay for content (and beauty of course!). Bee Merry Farm, located in the heart of Skagit Valley in Washington, is a small-scale flower farm that focuses on cut flower production, community connection, and backyard beekeeping. An elementary teacher by day, owner Melissa Brown devotes evenings, weekends, and summers to growing and sharing flowers with others. Bee Merry Farm offers u-picks and on-farm events during the growing season; in the off-season, the focus shifts to dahlia tuber care and sales. Owning a flower farm was a dream Melissa never knew she had until she stumbled into it, and she wouldn’t change it for the world. Find them on Instagram @beemerryfarm and visit their website at www.beemerryfarm.com.

You are in for forty minutes of fun, laughter, and practical advice for florists on this episode with Canaan Marshall! He is a ball of sunshine in a dark world! In addition to the joy he spreads, he has an abundance of knowledge to share. You’ll hear all of the following: Tips for taking care of your cut flowers (including hydrangeas) Necessary design skills for a florist to develop Go-to mechanics for arrangements and installations Elements to consider for design process Delivery tips and more! Canaan Marshall is the owner of Canaan Marshall Designs located in Atlanta and Macon, GA. An old soul, he has had a natural knack for all things growing and green since childhood. He is best known as the vibrant, young fellow to turn your everyday into elegant. He has a seemingly effortless way that he creates and often makes his fans feel as though they could create something just as wonderful too! Give him a follow on Instagram @canaanmarshall.

The Tomas De Bruyne is talking with us all the way from Belgium to share his passion for flowers and extensive knowledge of the principles of design. He’s chatting about a few core tenets of developing your creative mind—from looking past your own industry to being openminded (and several things in between!). He’s also expounding upon the importance of being mindful and away, focussing on why rather than what. Finally, you’ll hear from Tomas on why you should utilize the elements and principles of design. (Hint: it makes magic!). And how do you use these principles? Listen in—Tomas is going to tell you!

Joining us on the podcast today is Team Flower member (and former Team Flower employee!) Meagan Cooley of Meadow House Flowers. Meagan has dipped her toes in many aspects of the industry—from weddings and events to flower shop logistics, and so much in between! She’s sharing the things she’s learned along the way and how they’ve all played a part in her newest venture—a retail flower shop. You’ll hear about the difference between retail and wedding clients. What types of flowers are they looking for? How do their budgets differ? What about design? And on that note, we’re chatting about assessing one’s work when it’s “finished.” Meagan is also sharing some of the big decisions that go into starting a retail floral shop. She’s chatting about choosing a POS system as well as determining a layout for your products within a space. The biggest challenge is pursuing your dreams while overcoming fear! Meadow House Flowers & Gifts is a welcoming world of fresh flowers, plants, and thoughtful gifts. A modern twist on the traditional flower shop, they offer a by-the-stem flower bar, custom arrangements, wedding and event florals, houseplants, and retail gift items. They are celebrating 2 months of being open in their very first brick-and-mortar location! Follow along on social media @meadowhouseflowers or visit their website at www.meadowhouseflowers.com.

In this episode, Milli Proust joins Kelly for a lovely conversation. Milli runs a small scale flower farm growing crop to use in her design work for weddings and events. She's celebrating 6 months of a COVID pivot to nationwide bouquet deliveries and selling seeds from the field. Milli has been on quite the journey with her 2020 COVID pivot, and she’s sharing some beautiful stories of her experience with new clients. You’ll hear how she coordinates delivery across the nation as well as some of her favorite flower combinations. Milli is also sharing about how she drys flowers and how she dyes flowers! Using only natural dyes, she’s walking us through her process. Be sure you follow Milli on social @milliproust and visit her website here!

Bex, the founder of Botanical Tales, is a nature-loving creative who predominately works with dried flowers in her practice. Having recently quit her corporate job to dive nose-first into her creative business, she has been writing about and working with dried flowers for a number of years. Having spent many years working an office job, she knows firsthand the importance of staying close to nature, and Botanical Tales was born out of a desire to find an antidote to the fast paced, corporate world she was once so entrenched in. Bex runs creative workshops where she teaches people how to dry flowers make beautiful wreaths and dried flower displays, she sells her own dried flower art, as well as writes for her blog and for a number of independent magazines, always accompanied by beautiful photography. You can see her lovely creations at her website and on her Instagram @botanical_tales.  

Regardless of where your business model fits in the floral industry, you experience the effects of the floral supply chain. But what all goes into the supply chain and how exactly does it work? Flower Moxie is a unique business model servicing DIY brides with a unique look into the behind-the-scenes of cut flower supply. Amy McCord of Flower Moxie recently took a trip to Ecuador where she toured over ten mass-production flower farms. We’re talking all about the behind-the-scenes of these incredible farms as well as some fun facts about the trends of rose growing. Speaking of trends—who sets them and where does the floral industry fall in the trend-setting chain? We’re bouncing around some ideas and talking through the role of floral business owners in making these trends truly come to life. Flower Moxie is an eCommerce business that sells flowers to DIY brides. They empower our customers by providing recipes, step-by-step instructions, and video tutorials. Check out their website at flowermoxie.com and find them on Instagram at @flowermoxie.

Do you ever have an itch to create something outside your comfort zone? What about to change the design expectations of your clients and customers? Sarah Wahab of Mulberry and Moss has implemented pushing the boundaries of creativity into her business model, and it works! She’s joining us on the podcast to chat about how to do this within weddings and events as well as in everyday design. She is also giving some tips on how to communicate these expectations to your clients. Sarah is passionate about simplifying the backend of a floral business. So much so that she’s created a product suite for making these processes more efficient! We’re talking about the details around all of that entails. We’re talking about creating recipes and keeping track of them so they can be referenced later. Mulberry and Moss is an orange County florist specializing in luxury wedding & event floral design with a romantic, natural and timeless garden aesthetic. She offers digital resources and online courses with the goal of helping other florists streamline their businesses and create more space for the work they enjoy. Find Sarah on Instagram @mulberryandmoss and check out the website at www.mulberryandmoss.com.

Maggie has had to navigate obstacles on her floral journey and has worked hard to find the silver linings through each of them. Her story is so relatable, and we can all take note of her ability to wrestle the struggles of life with a positive outlook. She is sharing all kinds of farming tips and techniques! You’ll hear everything from growing lisianthus and harvesting dahlias to which tools she can’t live without on the farm, and more! At Petal Back Farm, they offer fresh-cut flowers locally, bulbs and dahlia tubers nationally, and photography presets and educational material worldwide with much more to come! "Petal Back" is an ode to the flowers, but also to their inclination to get back to the land with their "old-fashioned" hobbies. like gardening, herbalism, producing maple syrup, raising chickens/honeybees, hunting, and foraging. Find Maggie online at www.petalbackfarm.com or on Instagram @petalbackfarm.

If you’re anything like us, you’ll be inspired and touched by today’s conversation with Sierra Steifman of The Floral Society. She has a heart of gold and it’s all geared towards the industry! Our conversation on the podcast covers a multitude of helpful topics, starting with Sierra’s go-to studio tools (all of which you can find available on The Floral Society website). We’re also going into the maintenance of clippers and various types of flower frogs. AND, you’ll hear a topic we haven’t discussed much—tablescapes! Sierra is sharing a few tips on enhancing a tablescape with other decor items, namely candles. Candles have so much diversity in height, width, design, and even in the holders! Listen in to hear Sierra’s favorite designs. At The Floral Society, they create thoughtfully designed floral, garden & home goods inspired by nature. Founded by Sierra Steifman of New York’s boutique floral house Poppies & Posies, they are driven by a love of flowers and dedicated to sharing our expertise with others. Established in 2018, The Floral Society designs and develops tools and objects to awaken the inner creative, encourage the budding florist, and inspire communities to gather. There’s a seat for everyone at their table. Follow them on Instagram @thefloralsociety and shop the site at thefloralsociety.com.

Nicole Rossi of Texture Florals (find her on Instagram at @textureflorals) joins Kelly on today’s episode of the Team Flower Podcast! Nicole is an architect turned floral designer, and she founded Texture Florals which provides floral design and styling services for weddings, events, and photo and video production. She views floral design as an art form, and her work is largely influenced by a desire to create the unexpected.

Heather is sharing the ins and outs of photography and the editing process. We are talking through how florists and photographers can interact and work together to streamline processes. Heather is sharing her thoughts on how to choose publications and how florists can collaborate with photographers to submit their shared event.

There is no doubt that flexibility is a necessary attribute within the floral industry, but often what must accompany it is resiliency. Paige has had to live this out within her business and is sharing all that she’s learned, including, but not limited to: A continual willingness to shift your dream The importance of listening to your customers Even if you don’t feel fully ready, just do it—one step at a time We’re finishing off with some practical advice about shipping plants (how does one even go about it?!) and plant inventory (what plants should you carry?). ReRoot is home to the magically chill jungle! They are a creative houseplant shop that focuses on connecting and inspiring people with nature. And they just celebrated four years of business! Check out their beautiful shop on Instagram @rerootgardens and order some plants to go at www.rerootgardens.com.