Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Longman.
Hi Sarah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I was a senior in high school, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and I’ve always loved flowers so I decided to apply at a flower shop. My boss there taught me how to design and I immediately fell in love with it and I knew I wanted to work with flowers for the rest of my life. After serving an LDS mission, I started working at another flower shop, where I learned a lot and decided I wanted to own my own business. I looked into it some more and just fell in love with the idea of being a wedding florist. I started doing weddings on the side until I had enough clients to make it my full-time job. I love doing wedding florals because of the variety I get to see and how fun it is to be a part of someone’s special day and be surrounded by so much love. After being a floral designer for 5 1/2 years, I’ve officially been a business owner for the past year and I have never loved my career more. I’ve had a lot of amazing florists who have influenced my career and taught me how to be a better florist and business owner.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been smooth. For a while, I wanted to own a shop and I realized that wasn’t for me. It was scary to leave a job where somewhere else was in charge and then have all the responsibility be on me and having to figure out all the ins and outs of being a business owner and figuring out what worked for me and how to best stay organized. At first, it was really hard to find a system that worked and once I did things got much smoother. Even now I still get imposter syndrome and worry I’m not good enough to be in the industry or I worry my clients won’t be happy with the results. I think all florists feel that way sometimes because floral design is an art, and it takes a lot of time and practice to really find your style and voice
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
When I started doing floral design, I knew I had found my calling in life. Not only do I love it but it is something I have always felt like I have an eye for and being able to create beautiful floral designs brings me so much joy. I have been able to do dozens of weddings this year and help make the bride’s special day even more special. I have been able to refine my skills and style and become an even better florist than I was a year ago. While I’ve done all sorts of arrangements as florists weddings are what I truly excel at
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
One of the hardest things for me when starting out was just believing in my abilities and charging for my services confidentiality. For those starting out, I would tell them to trust in their talent and be confident that they are good at what they do and that people will love it. Imposter syndrome is hard to move past but just remember that it will get better and you will look back and see how far you’ve come and be so proud.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.indyrosefloral.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=8prknzr8myrr&utm_content=lxazn5q
Image Credits
@sammiejophotgraphy
@sadie.photog
@hannahmackphoto
@joniirenephoto
@hayleyjadephoto
