the importance of practice and patience

Are you new to your industry - booking clients that aren't your style for the experience, and not charging enough because you feel you aren't worth it? Me too. I am not the kind of person to get even a little deep, on any sort of social media, so this is a bit out of my comfort zone. Sharing this has been in the back of my mind for a while now so it just had to happen.

These past two months of wedding season have been hard, really hard. I am newer to the floral industry so trying to figure out what I like, who my ideal client is, how to manage money, not compare myself, and still complete weddings has been a struggle. 

When you aren't loving what you're creating, it is really hard to be motivated. I have found it to be my biggest struggle, because I have a hard time admitting that I like my work. I have a problem with comparing myself to others, and a bad habit of caring too much what people think. I am always finding myself scrolling through instagram looking at other people's work, and thinking about how bad I suck at floral design. What I forget to consider is that they have probably been doing this for 5-20 years, so they have their style figured out, and they're only booking their ideal clients. I also find myself making arrangements and through the whole process I keep going over everything bad someone could say about it, almost to prepare myself for the worst. I forget to remember that it isn't often that people tell me they hate something I have made. It is hard working in such visual industry where there is constantly other images to compare yourself to, but there comes a point when you have to forget about everyone else's success, and focus on your own. Just starting out, you probably won't be very good. I look back a year ago and can't believe that I thought I was doing good work, and I still don't love everything I make. It's a little cliche but 100% true - practice makes perfect. I am so much better than I used to be and only getting better from here.

I am going to be completely honest and say that the wedding industry is hard, and especially floral design. When you're working anywhere from 9-15 hour days, rushing to get things done in two days that should normally take a week, keeping flowers from wilting in the heat, dealing with shipping delays and flowers that come in the wrong shade of pink, and then not making very much money, it makes it even harder. I truly believe that anything good is hard, and that to be successful you have to work hard, but you have to know your worth as well. I have a hard time charging people what I should because I am new, and I feel as if I am not worth it. But I am worth it; I spend so much time and energy making sure that everything ends up how it's supposed to - more often than not something goes wrong - but I try so extremely hard that it makes me and my time worth it. Of course I am not worth what a florist who has been in the industry for 20 years charges, but I am worth something. If you're going through something similar, know you are worth it. My point here is that we all have to start somewhere and we HAVE to remember to be patient. One day we will be where we have wanted to be for so long, you just have to work hard, and be oh so patient.

You might be wondering why I chose these photos for this post. A few days ago a new flower friend and I went wildflower picking. We made arrangements only from foraged flowers and greenery, then took a bunch of photos. Things like this are what keep me going, and help me remember why I do what I do. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE what I do and I feel so lucky, but like I said before anything good is hard sometimes. I keep reminding myself to be patient and keep practicing.

If you made it this far thank you for reading!