What Running a Florist Business Has Taught Me

Starting a business and running one are two very different things.

Before OBF began, I spent a lot of time preparing for the practical side of becoming a business owner. But once the orders started coming in, I realised that some lessons simply can't be learned until you're in the middle of it.

Over nearly three years of running OBF, I've learned lessons about pricing, time, boundaries and knowing when to change direction.

Some of them came from mistakes. Others came from opportunities that seemed exciting at the time but weren't necessarily right for the business. And some simply came from doing the same thing enough times to realise there was a better way.

Here are some of the lessons running a florist business has taught me.

I Learned That a Bouquet Is Worth More Than Its Flowers

When I first started OBF, I knew I was pricing my flowers lower than they probably should have been. That was intentional. I wanted to get my first few sales, learn how the operations worked and gain some real experience running the business.

As orders started coming in, I began to understand my numbers better. I realised that the price of the flowers themselves was only one part of the equation. Once I accounted for things like delivery and the other costs involved in running the business, my margins were much smaller than I had initially thought.

So I gradually increased my prices and started learning more about how florists price their work, including how to use an appropriate industry markup while still protecting the business's margins.

One thing I still do, though, is offer discounted bouquets when I have flowers left over from other orders. If the flowers are still beautiful and usable, I'd rather offer them at a lower price and let someone enjoy them than wait until they deteriorate completely and earn nothing from them.

That was another lesson I learned early on: pricing isn't simply about putting a number on a bouquet. It's about understanding what it actually takes to create and deliver it — and making decisions that make sense for the business.

I Used to Say Yes to Almost Everything

For the first year or two of OBF, I said yes to almost everything that came my way.

Looking back, part of it was curiosity. I wanted to test myself and see what I was capable of handling. I even accepted sponsorships that, deep down, I knew probably weren't the best decisions for the business. At the time, I saw them as opportunities to challenge myself and prove that I could handle the pressure.

One of those experiences involved creating more than 20 bouquets for an event. Sourcing the flowers, conditioning them, arranging everything, packing the bouquets and organising their delivery took far more time and energy than the finished bouquets might suggest.

One of the larger events I took on during OBF's early years

At the same time, I was still breastfeeding my son, who was only four months old, so running a growing business while caring for a baby was its own balancing act. I remember one event where I even had to make a pit stop at home to express before heading out, while my mum looked after her grandson.

Thanks, Mama. 🤎

Those experiences taught me a lot about time management and what it actually takes to fulfil a large order. But they also taught me something more important: just because I can do something doesn't necessarily mean I should.

As OBF grew, I started looking at opportunities from the business's perspective rather than just my own. Some sponsorships didn't really bring much benefit to the business, while the time, money and energy involved could have been better spent on paying customers or other areas of OBF.

I used to find it difficult to say no. Now, I find it much easier to look at an opportunity and ask whether it genuinely makes sense for the business.

Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Learning to say no was probably one of the hardest changes I had to make as a business owner.

In the beginning, I saw almost every opportunity as something I should consider. A sponsorship could mean exposure. A collaboration could introduce OBF to a new audience. A large order could be a chance to challenge myself.

But over time, I realised that not every opportunity is a good opportunity.

Saying yes takes more than the time it takes to complete the work. There is the sourcing, preparation, communication, packing, delivery and all the behind-the-scenes work that customers don't necessarily see. When an opportunity isn't bringing enough value back to the business, those hours have a real cost.

I used to make these decisions more from a personal perspective: Can I do this? Can I squeeze it into my schedule? Can I make it work?

Now I ask a different question:

Does this make sense for OBF?

That small shift in perspective has made saying no much easier.

I don't think saying no means turning away opportunities. Sometimes, it means making room for the right ones.

Your Business Will Become Something You Didn't Expect

When I first started OBF, I had a fairly simple idea of what the business would look like: source flowers, create arrangements and fulfil orders.

I didn't expect to eventually offer a Bloom Bar. I certainly didn't expect that I'd become interested in creating digital products.

But businesses evolve, and I think that's one of the things I've come to appreciate most about running one.

From the beginning, I knew floristry in Singapore was a competitive space. There are many florists offering beautiful arrangements, so I knew OBF needed to find its own way of standing out.

One of the earliest things I did was start an Instagram series called “Arrange With Me”, where I showed the process from conditioning the flowers, to arranging the bouquet, to the finished result. I personally find these kinds of videos very therapeutic to watch, even when I know nothing about the subject, and I had a feeling other people might enjoy watching the process too.

One of OBF's early “Arrange With Me” videos, where I started sharing the process behind each bouquet.

That series became one of the content pillars I built around OBF — another example of something I hadn't necessarily planned from the beginning, but discovered along the way.

Now, as OBF approaches its third year, I'm also thinking more about scalability. Floristry is hands-on and naturally limited by time, while digital products can reach people without requiring me to create every product individually.

I don't know exactly what OBF will look like a few years from now, and I'm increasingly comfortable with that.

I think the best thing you can do is pay attention to what your business is teaching you — and be willing to let it evolve.

Still Learning as I Go

After almost three years of running OBF, I don't think I can say I've figured everything out — and I'm okay with that.

If anything, running a business has taught me that there will always be something new to learn. Sometimes it's a lesson about money or time. Sometimes it's about people, boundaries or knowing when to change direction.

The business I run today isn't exactly the one I imagined when I first started. And I don't think it needs to be.

I'm learning to see that as part of building a business — not a sign that I got the plan wrong.

Because sometimes, you only discover what your business can become after you've spent enough time actually running it.