Secrets to Self-Care as a Busy Florist

Secrets to Self-Care

As a busy florist, it's easy to get caught up in the demands of your work and neglect self-care. However, taking care of yourself is essential for maintaining physical and mental well-being, sustaining creativity, and achieving long-term success.

In this blog post, we will uncover the secrets to self-care for busy florists, highlighting strategic elements that allow you to share the load, manage workloads efficiently, implement good preparation and systems, reduce hours, plan downtime, nourish your mind and body, and allow time for reflection.

By embracing these practices, you can create a healthy work-life balance and thrive in your floristry career.

Delegate and Collaborate

It’s really important to recognise that you don't have to do it all alone. An essential consideration is how to delegate tasks amongst freelancers to lighten your workload and create space for self-care.

Hiring a number of freelance florists to assist with large events in peak season will significantly boost your output at these times. Or bringing in an admin assistant or PA to help manage things behind the scenes can be really life changing - you don’t have to do everything alone! Think about being really strategic with delegation and make sure it allows you to focus on essential aspects of the business while ensuring work is completed efficiently.

Efficient Workload Management

Managing your workload effectively will really help you in avoiding burnout and overwhelm. The keys to this are to prioritise tasks and setting realistic deadlines for these tasks. You need to get specific on your tasks, it’s no good just writing ‘Do wedding flowers’ on your list, it’s too big and in that one small sounding task are a hundred other little tasks. Break down larger projects like this into manageable steps, allotting specific time slots for each task to stay organised and maintain focus.

Implementing a project management system or using digital tools like Trello or Asana to keep track of tasks, deadlines, and progress is a perfect way to implement this. It does a lot of the hard work for you and can also help with reminders, deadlines and sharing things with team members. 

Good Preparation and Systems

If you can, invest some time in good preparation and where you can, establish efficient systems that streamline your workflow. Being organised and prepared will significantly reduce stress and it will also increase productivity too. The more you pre-prepared you are, the more you’ll get done, the more accomplished you’ll feel.

Create a checklist for each wedding or event, outlining necessary materials, flower quantities, and equipment required and set up a dedicated workspace with well-organised tools and supplies. It’s really important to develop a system for inventory management and ordering flowers to avoid last-minute rushes and panic spending.

Don’t forget that good preparation also includes your personal life as well, and that doing a few things in advance like meal planning and logistic planning (especially if you have children) can be the difference between burnt out and thriving. Making a big batch of meals for the freezer in a quieter week, getting food shopping delivered to your house or even getting a meal box delivery for when the busy times are going to hit. Do your future self a favour and be prepared!

Reduce Hours and Schedule Downtime

Recognising the importance of rest and rejuvenation is a vital component to self-care, by reducing your working hours, actively scheduling downtime and allowing yourself space to recharge and avoid overexertion.

Set boundaries around your work hours and be really concrete and stick to them. You need to create a schedule that includes regular breaks and days off before it gets busy, because it’s so easy to just plough on with work when there is always a job you could be doing. Self-care activities like exercise, hobbies or spending time with loved ones should ideally be booked in in advance and honoured, and if you need some alone time make sure you’ve thought about what that looks like for you and make it happen. You might want to book yourself a spa day or solo cinema date in right after a super busy event, if it’s already booked and paid for you will be far less likely to ditch it.

And remember, please try to take at least one day off in every 7 if you can during busy times.

Nourish Your Mind and Body

Taking care of your physical and mental well-being is crucial for long-term success, as the saying goes, ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’ so taking time to relax, re-energise and fill that cup back up is crucial to running a successful business. Prioritise self-care activities that nourish both your mind and body, whatever that looks like for you.

Incorporate regular, enjoyable exercise into your routine, whether it's yoga, walking, or dancing - it’s important to move your body in a way that feels joyful and not for punishment. You might also find it really helpful to practise mindfulness or meditation to reduce stress and enhance clarity. If you can add this to your daily routine you could really benefit from that space and time and in turn, find it easier to tackle the more chaotic elements of a busy wedding season. 

As we mentioned before in ‘Good Preparation’ ensuring you're eating nutritious and regular meals and not skipping eating to work and only surviving off coffee and pastry (we’ve all been there!) is one of the best things you can do for yourself during busy times. Stay hydrated throughout the day, don’t go overboard on the caffeine and try to get some fibre, fruit, vegetables and protein into your body!

Reflection

Allowing time for reflection is a powerful tool for personal and professional growth which in turn will keep you motivated and curious and keep pushing you in the right direction. Regularly evaluate your progress, successes, and areas for improvement to refine your approach and make adjustments.

It’s a great idea to set aside dedicated time each week or month to reflect on your recent projects, client feedback, and make sure you’re moving in the right direction to meet your personal and business goals. Journaling can also help you gain insights into what's working well and identify areas where you can enhance your skills or processes. 

Some ideas for great journaling prompts to help you through busy times:

Remember, prioritising self-care isn't selfish—it's an investment in your well-being and the longevity of your business and your floristry journey. Embrace as many of these ideas as you can, and be reassured in the knowledge that it’s not going to all come together at once and over night, but you can keep going nonetheless.