These days, there are so many ways you can start your floristry career. There's no one stop shop, and often is a combination of courses and hands-on leaning that will start you on your floristry journey.

- Taking a formal floristry training course.

- Look at less formal Career Change courses run by florists

- Gaining experience in a flower shop

- Practising at home and building your skills

Most florists build their careers through a combination of hands-on experience, courses, and learning as they go. It's a life-long learning career as trends change. Keeping your skills fresh is key to progressing and staying relevent. 

Floristry is often seen as a calm, creative career, and there are moments of that. Working with flowers is a privilege, and there’s something very special about creating something by hand, often for important moments in peoples lives.

But it’s also a physically demanding and fast-paced job.
Early mornings at the flower market, long days on your feet, managing stock, working to tight timelines, and often juggling multiple clients or events at once.

There’s also the business side: emails, pricing, ordering, accounts, marketing, websites. All these are running alongside the creative work.

It’s a career that suits someone who enjoys both creativity and structure, and who is happy to adapt quickly when things don’t quite go to plan.

Working in a flower shop
This is one of the most traditional routes. You learn on the job, gain hands-on experience, and begin to understand how a floristry business operates day to day. Don't expect to dive into flower arranging straight away. You may be tasked with sweeping, cleaning and conditioning the flowers before you even get started making bouquets.

Taking courses or workshops
You can take formal floristry qualifications, or enroll in a shorter career change course. Both are a great way to build confidence and learn core techniques. They can give you a strong foundation, especially if you’re starting from scratch.

Starting independently
With the rise of social media and online training, many people now begin by practising at home, sharing their work on social media, and taking on small projects or events. With lower overheads and online platforms, this has become a much more common route. Whilst this route is valid, I'd always recommend getting some hands-on experience or mentoring alongside will greatly benefit your learning experience.

Most florists move between these approaches, building experience gradually.

I can still remember the sheer excitement and overwhelm when I took my floristry career from Saturday girl to full-time business owner.
I started, like many do, simply through a love of flowers. But very quickly, it became about much more than that.

From working on my own to employing staff, managing projects, running accounts and building a business floristry became both a creative outlet and a full-time career.

The flowers have always remained at the heart of it, but the journey has been shaped just as much by learning how to run a business as it has by learning how to arrange them.

If I were starting again now, I’d approach things a little differently.
I’d focus on building strong foundations first and not growing too quickly. 

Understand your pricing, learning how to work efficiently, understading where I shlould put my effots and gaining confidence in my own style.

I’d also embrace the opportunities that now exist through social media, while being mindful not to fall into the comparrisonitis trap.

Most importantly, I’d remind myself that it’s okay to take things slowly. Floristry is a skill that develops over time, and confidence comes with experience.