You’ve been wondering if working in flowers is right for you—maybe you’re thinking through how to be a florist or how to become a floral designer.
Here’s the good news: Everyone starts at the very beginning, and we’re here to help. In this guide, you’ll get what you need to leap into working with flowers.
In addition to getting practical advice from real floral designers in this article, you’ll also cover the following:
Is working in floral design for you?
Key benefits to working in floristry
How to get started in floral design with no experience
What qualifications are needed to be a florist
Is owning your own floral business right for you?
Resources can help you get started today (like, right now!)
This article is a comprehensive guide, so we’ve created chapters for you to jump ahead if needed.
You can start from the beginning—or skip ahead to what you need right now using the table of contents below.
Determining your why is an important first step on your flower journey. Sure, flowers are beautiful, playful, and romantic, but they’ve got a deeper meaning and purpose.
Flowers help us honor important occasions in our lives (like weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries). But studies have also shown that having fresh flowers nearby can help boost our creativity and enthusiasm, increase feelings of compassion, and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression (1).
Flowers have a pretty important job to do!
And floral professionals—florists, studio designers, farmers, wholesalers, and more—are the vital people who grow and arrange the delightful blossoms that add so much joy and beauty to our world.
Hear from a few floral designers below about their experience working with flowers:
“Working in flowers brings me peace and a sense of purpose. I take pride in providing a service and a product that is unique and beautiful. I do my best thinking in the garden and get both intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction every time I look up from a flower bed.” — Jalisca Thomason, Floral Designer, Micro-Farmer, and Owner at Rustic Roots Floral Design, @rusticrootsfloraldesign
“A career in flowers offers potential for growth and scalability of business. It’s also very agile, robust, and—of course—creative, which I really missed in my previous career!” — Michal Kowalski, Floral Designer and Owner of Blooming Haus, @bloominghaus
“In working with flowers, I’ve been most surprised by how genuinely thankful people are for quality, locally sourced flowers. My farmers’ market customers gush over fresh Bells of Ireland. They giggled when the first wave of dahlias showed up. I thought people might like them, but they LOVE them enough to smash their faces into their bouquet right after buying it!” — Kaley Deffinbaugh, Farmer and Owner at Long Table Farms, @longtablefarms
Before you decide to take your first steps to become a floral designer, you’ll need to determine your why:
Why are you passionate about working in floral work? What is your mission?
Take time to brainstorm your why: It’s the truth you’ll hang on to when your life with flowers presents challenges and feels more like work and less like creative play.
However, even when your hands and feet are tired and your email inbox needs serious attention, there are still many benefits to working in floral design.
So you’ve decided floral design work is for you—but how do you get started with no florist experience?
The second step is to educate yourself. (If you’re here, you’ve already gotten started!)
You’ll need to understand how to create floral arrangements, how to extend the life of cut flowers, the basic florist supplies you’ll need to create arrangements, where to source flowers and hard goods, and so much more.
You’ll also need to think through pricing, ordering, and florist salary considerations: How much do floral designers make? Is owning a flower shop a profitable business in your area? How much can you make per hour as an employee, and how do you price products as a business owner? (We can help with all of these questions! Check out our guide to florist salary and how much floral designers can make.)
What qualifications do you need to be a florist?
Many people assume you need a degree, license, or formal certification to become a florist before you start working in floral design, but formal certification is not a requirement to work as a floral designer in most of the U.S.
More intensive education is a plus, but many leaders in the floral industry are surprisingly uncertified!
Here’s the good news for those starting in floristry: Many entry-level floral education opportunities are affordable, comprehensive, and can help you build a confident, solid foundation.
These are just some of the things you’ll need to learn before you can confidently start doing floral work:
Floral mechanics: You need to know how to keep your floral arrangements stable for transport and shipping.
The right florist tools to get the job done: Several specific tools are needed for floral work, including important flower care products. Check out this free video for free training on the proper tools: Video: Comprehensive Training on Floral Supplies and get a beginner’s florist toolkit here.
How to select the correct flowers for each arrangement: This is crucial to balanced, beautiful floral work. You’ll need to learn how to apply the principles of floral design to your arrangements.
How to build the most common flower arrangements: You’ll need to understand what it takes to create a handheld bouquet versus a centerpiece or retail floral arrangement, along with common stem counts for different sizes. (And that’s just the start!)
What it takes to be a florist in your area: Do you need a license or formal education? In most of the United States you don’t, but you’ll need to check on what’s required for your area. And if you plan to sell flowers in a cart, market, or retail space, you may need additional business licenses or permits.
How to create a floral design portfolio: Before you get hired, you’ll need design work that you can show to prospective clients! (More on that later in this article!)
Check out our How to Become a Florist online course—it’s everything you need to get started in one place. (By the way, the course easily fits in most beginners’ budgets. And you’ll receive a tailored professional development plan to help you with next steps. Check the above site link for the next enrollment period!)
Step 3: Volunteer or apprentice with a local floral designer
One of the absolute best ways to determine if floral design is for you—not to mention, gain some hands-on design and business knowledge before you start out on your own—is to volunteer, intern, or apprentice with a local floral designer.
Looking for internships, mentorships, or learning opportunities with established florists can be a good place to start.
But it’s important to note that when you’re learning from an experienced floral designer, it’s customary to either:
Pay to train with them, such as taking a workshop from an experienced designer or buying an hour of their time, or
Add value to the person or business you’re seeking to learn from in exchange for their time. Examples include trading skills, such as offering social media marketing for a flower shop or volunteering to help a wedding florist with an event breakdown.
Be willing to sweep floors, wash buckets, haul boxes, and soak-in what happens behind the scenes! And if you’re seeking part-time or temporary work with another floral designer for professional growth before you start your floral business, make sure to be upfront about your long-term goals.
Team Flower Member Myca Sturtevant of Whirly Girl Flowers estimates that at least 75% of being a florist is cleaning, book work, and preparations for actually working with flowers. If you’re able and willing to jump in and do the dirty work, you’ll learn a lot (and hopefully get to play with some flowers along the way).
Take a look at what other Team Flower Members had to say about volunteering or working with an already-established floral designer:
“Talk to local business owners; ask to shadow them or help out around the shop or at a wedding. See what the day-to-day really entails and make sure you have a good sense of the hard stuff first! [Floral design] is wonderful, and you are surrounded by beauty all the time, but it is helpful to know about the parts that aren't so beautiful too!” — Amy Plant-Perdue of Plume Events, @plumeevents
“Take part in an internship, offer to help a local designer, take classes, do anything you can to dive in and get a real taste of what it's like.” — Rachel Bridgwood and Lauren Anderson of Sweet Root Village, @sweetrootvillage
Should you start a floral business?
Thinking about owning your own floral business? Once you’ve decided that floral work is for you—and once you’ve taken steps to becoming a florist—you may realize that you want to start a floral design business of your own.
Floral work can look like many different things. You can start small with a side gig, start a flower farm, or invest in a larger-scale operation, such as a retail shop.
That’s the beauty of small business: you get to decide how big (or small) your business is!
“Moving into the world of small business ownership was exciting to me, and I took the official plunge when a perfect retail space opened up in town…. Being a mom always came first, and I loved the flexibility I had as the business grew organically—it’s still very demanding but flexible nonetheless. Also, the business side of floral work has always been as exciting as the creating for me. I love figuring out what we are going to do next to diversify, expand, or purchase just the right product for the store!” — Jennifer Haf, Floral Designer and Retail Shop Owner of BLOOM Floral Design, @bloomfloraldesign
“Going from an income based on hours clocked in to an income that I need to generate can be difficult. I have had to be innovative and creative with the way we get the public to buy our flowers. The support from our community and beyond has been so humbling. Farming isn’t a 9 to 5. I like a challenge... and I love hearing the stories of how our flowers impacted the lives of our customers.” — Janis Harris, Farmer and Owner of Harris Flower Farm, @harrisflowerfarm
If you’re ready to dive into the business side of things, check out our Floral Business Foundations online class.
Contributing Authors and Photographers:
Team Flower Members + Staff
In December 2018, we surveyed our kind and knowledgeable Team Flower Community members, and they responded with amazing, actionable wisdom earned through their hard work as floral pros. We’ve compiled some of the advice from that survey, along with brand-new content written by our staff, into this guide to help you on your journey with flowers.
Myca Sturtevant
Parts of this guide was originally published in a Team Flower article contributed by Myca. (Thanks, Myca!) Bio: Myca started Whirly Girl Flowers her dining room near Boston, Massachusetts, in 2010. After 6 successful seasons in the big city, she moved her life and flowers to rural Wyoming to follow her heart. She loves the mountains, natural design and sharing the inherent joy that comes with flowers.
Photography Credits
