You’ve always loved working with flowers. As a child, you had a beautiful garden that you helped your parents tend to and you’ve always had a green thumb. So, when you tell everyone that you want to become a florist, nobody is surprised.
Instead of working in someone else’s shop, you would like to have one of your own. Like with any business, opening a flower shop takes a lot of hard work and dedication.
We can help you get started on the right track. Check out this guide to learn what it takes to become the best florist your town has ever seen.
Planning Your Business
Starting a business begins with a solid plan. To this end, grab a pen and a notebook and start writing everything out. You need to have an outline that includes everything from naming your shop to figuring out how you’re going to finance it.
Costs
Owning your own business doesn’t come cheap. The good news is that you don’t need too much to open a floral shop, so the costs aren’t as high as they could be. You can make your dream happen for around 10,000 dollars.
You can keep things on the low side by using a single floral cooler or only doing deliveries before and after business hours. We understand that 10,000 dollars is still 10,000 dollars. Most people don’t have that in their pocket.
You’ll have to figure out where you can get a loan. As far as ongoing expenses go, you’ll have to stock your store stocked with flowers. If you do deliveries, you’ll need to keep a van gassed up and ready to go.
You also have to hire employees and figure out how much you’re going to charge your customers.
Target Market
You can’t make any money from your services if you’re not sure who your target audience is. Most people only buy flowers for special occasions such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
People who have a little more money to throw around may be willing to buy floral arrangements willy-nilly throughout the year. This is something to keep in mind when choosing the location for your shop.
Naming Your Shop
Perhaps the hardest part of starting a business is coming up with a name for it. There are generators online that you can use to come up with a good name.
Once you have one in mind, you’ll have to register it. Make sure that nobody else has taken it by looking it up in your state’s business records and social media.
Legalities
Next, it’s time to get the legal paperwork out of the way. The first part of this is to pick a legal entity. Your choices are a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, and a limited liability company.
Having a legal identity will protect you if someone sues your company for one reason or another. When you have that out of the way, it’s time to get your licenses and permits.
If you fail to do this, you’ll have to pay some pretty large fines. It could even cause your business to get shut down. You’ll need to check with your state to find out what licenses are required for you to keep operating.
You’ll also have to look into flower shop insurance. You need liability and worker’s compensation insurance to cover you if someone is harmed in your shop.
Taxes
No business is exempt from paying taxes. To register for taxes, you’ll first have to sign up for an EIN. This process is completely free and not as complicated as you may think.
In fact, you can do it right through the IRS’s website. You’ll have different options for how your small business is taxed depending on what structure you chose in the last step and the rules in your state.
Stock Up
Before you can start running your shop, there are a few things you need. Create a shopping list that includes floral foam, containers, floral tape, wire, preservatives, delivery tags, ribbons, envelopes, floral cooler, scissors, knife, stapler, bunch cutters, flowers, and wrapping (if you live in a cold climate).
It would be ideal for you to also have glue, a preservative dosing system, and an underwater cutting system. If you don’t have enough room leftover in your budget after getting the first round of supplies, don’t worry about these other things, though.
Marketing Your Flower Shop
There are many ways for you to market your business. The best way is probably through networking. People will often ask wedding planners and funeral houses for floral recommendations.
These businesses will be more than happy to help you out. This is especially true if you give them some kind of compensation for it.
Keep tabs on your customer’s anniversaries, birthdays, and other big events. This way, you can offer them deals and coupons. All legit companies have a website.
Creating one will allow you to take online orders and you can connect it to your social media page to attract customers.
Become the Most Successful Florist in Your Neighborhood
Opening a successful flower shop doesn’t happen overnight. If you don’t have a proper plan in motion, it will be hard for you to move forward. You also need to get any legalities out of the way and stock up your shop.
Once all of that is done, you can start doing what you love most. Making gorgeous floral arrangements for your adoring public.
Are you looking for more ways to help your floral shop thrive? Check out the Business section of our blog for all the latest tips and tricks.
