Hello all and welcome to our first blog post.. I’m Verity, one half of The Bath Flower School and thought it was high time we started sharing a blog post for all of our lovely followers.
As I sit down and start writing I’m feeling totally overwhelmed by the current COVID-19 situation and am struggling to find the right balance between carrying on with business as normal, and feeling totally deflated by this uncertain time, which undoubtedly has (and will) continue to affect everyone for the foreseeable future. It had always been our intention to blog, so given the fact we will now have more time our hands, (or not so, now that I’m homeschooling my 9 and 7 year olds) seemed like the best time to start. Not only will it provide a distraction from this temporary reality, but it will also mean I finally get to put a tick beside one of the things that has long been on our to do list!
Anyway, on with my blog !
The Beginning…
So, last year Saffy and I were told that the Flower School we were working for was relocating and effectively we were jobless. As you can imagine our worlds were turned upside down for many reasons. Whilst we both could have gone off and freelanced/carried on with private work it would have meant that the teaching element would have been missing. Teaching is something we’re both truly passionate about. We had to keep teaching!! The realisation of this happened over a cuppa in a café when Saffy and I decided to go it alone, together! We were going to set up our own flower school and do it in a way which was reflective of us as florists, our values and our style of teaching. We wanted to throw away the so called rule book and give our students the technical tools and inspiration so that they could develop their confidence and floristry skills to become their own style of florist. With the shift towards sustainability, we decided our school would be completely foam free and we would teach our students alternative methods. With these clear views in mind ‘The Bath Flower School’ was launched in November 2019.
So, The Bath Flower School, how did we get from that initial conversation about starting to actually launching our business? The irony was, we basically had to put into practice everything we had been previously teaching students. We were now in their shoes, setting up our new business. Whilst the core of any flower school will always be similar to the next, Saffy and I had to decide what would make us at ‘The Bath Flower School’ different from any others. How would we brand ourselves? Not obvious initially, but it became quite apparent fairly soon that it was us, Verity and Saffy that would make us different to the next flower school. The way we teach, how we relate to people, the care we take in looking after a student's well being and our general outlook and personalities. With our different personalities and creativity it would mean we would bring something extra to the table for our students.
Why, I hear you say? For anyone that has come and done a course with us, you will know (or I hope so) that not only do we pride ourselves on quality/availability of flowers, course content and our teaching style, we genuinely what our students to feel welcome from the minute they walk through the door. We’re both home bodies at heart, so it’s in our nature to make everyone feel at home and relaxed. This was the main reason why we wanted to incorporate ‘family style’ lunches into all of our courses, it would give us a chance to sit down all together and reflect on our day, as well as having some fun banter. The Bath Flower School is about making everyone feel inclusive!
So, with our brand sorted, we then had to find a premises so that we could actually run the school. With no financial backing, a long-term rental was not an option for us so we decided to go down the ‘pop up’ route and to our surprise we came across the Museum of Bath at Work. Having lived in Bath for over 13 years and living just a stones throw away,it was amazing that neither of us had been to the museum before. Not knowing anything about it, Saffy and I were intrigued with what lay behind its big red doors. Much to our surprise (and excitement) we were shown the mezzanine level and knew instantly that this was where we would start our journey. Whilst it’s not our forever home, we absolutely love the museum…. Its tall ceilings and big windows make it a great light space for us to teach and the eclectic museum articles make for some awesome backdrops!
Venue sorted we then moved onto how best get it out there…. obviously social media was easy enough in that we had insta and facebook in place, it was the website that would be more time consuming/challenging. Being totally headstrong and thinking I can turn my hand at anything I set out on building us a website. It was definitely a labour of love and above anything else a big learning curve. With thanks to squarespace, google, a little help from my partner Paul (who thankfully works in IT), we had ourselves a website!
With everything in order, we then had to wait for the bookings to come in. Now that was undoubtable the scariest part of the process. What happened if no one liked what we’re offering, and we don’t get any bookings. Fortunately, with Christmas just around the corner we had our wreath workshops to kick off with and by the end of the festive period we sold around 150 places. We were beyond happy with that start and it definitely got us out there in terms of exposure. From there on in we started getting bookings and now we have completed the first of all our classes. Yes, it has been a rollercoaster for us, particularly now but we we’re loving every minute of it so far. Whilst we’re here to teach floristry, the importance of social interaction has never felt so as it does right now. Like everyone, we cannot wait to see the back of this crazy uncertain time. We want to assure you we are going nowhere, and we will be here ready and waiting to welcome you back in school.
Stay safe, keep well and be kind to those around you!!
Verity x