Happy 2017!

A look back on 2016

Just a few days into the New Year, and it is hard to believe that it has been over a year since the very first post here at Perennial Petals, when we opened the doors to Flower Design by Bridget here in Clearwater, FL!

So very much has happened in the last year, it is hard to imagine it all!  Over 1,800 amazing people have been following my shop on Twitter and Facebook, as the year has flown by!  

I met some wonderful people, and got to design some beautiful flowers for Baby Showers and got featured in Style Me Pretty for this beautiful Military Wedding I had the honor of designing the flowers for, along with all the special flowers I got to design all year long!  

My shop was featured as one of the cover stories for Creative Business Maven Magazine, and my daughter and I got to be cover girls! 

While every year has mountains and valleys, it is sometimes nice to look back and be happy about so many wonderful things that happened in just one year's time!

Here is to the future! Wishing you all a bright and happy New Year!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

Flower Design by Bridget Featured in Creative Business Maven!

This week's blog is to announce that we have been featured in Creative Business Maven Magazine as the Featured Interview for this month's issue!

Super excited to be joining the likes of Makelight and Wild Remedies as some of the other amazing businesses interviewed this month!

You can read the full interview here and if you would like, you can subscribe to the magazine for free here.

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

5 Pieces of Advice to Aspiring Small Business Owners

image via

There are a lot of small businesses out there, and there is a lot of advice that can help you out.  Here are 5 tips for every small business to help you along your way!

1. Have a Business Plan

This can be very simple, or very detailed.  But it must make sure to take into account your projected expenses in materials and overhead (office space rent, utilities, pay roll for employees and yourself, and basic legal fees/permits you need to have, etc).  It is very important to set up the pricing on your services in such a way so that your business is making enough money to pay the bills, pay your staff (and yourself!), keep up inventory and have some extra to invest back into the business so it can grow!

2. Run at a Profit

While a lot of businesses start out at a loss, this is not the way you want to run your business forever.  As part of your plan, make sure to work out what you will need to do to be running in the black.  Set small goals for yourself to get up to that point so you don't get overwhelmed along the way.  Remember to celebrate the small victories and keep revising your plan as needed to get to where you are operating at a profit!

3. Set Realistic Goals

It is very easy to look at all the tasks at hand and feel like there is no way to get them all done.  Be sure to list out things you need to do on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis, and spread them out so you aren't thinking about them all every single day!  Focus on what you need to get done that day and do those things, then focus on the next set of tasks when it is time to do those.

4. Keep Track of Your Finances

While paperwork and filing can seem like the worst chore, it is so very important to keep all your records in order.  Maybe your business plan needs to include a very part-time assistant to help keep track of your paperwork.  Or your task lists need to include an hour or more each week to keep filing up to date.  But staying on top of things like this during the year means that at times like tax season or when you need to do any kind of business review, you have all the information you need documented and ready to go.

5. Remember Your Dream

Sometimes the mundane every day details of running a business can seem extremely mundane.  And sometimes the effort to go through all the little details can seem to be too much.  Or the glamour can fade once the hard work becomes clear.  Remember the dream you had that started you on this path and focus on that!  There isn't a worthy goal in the world that can be achieved without having to try at least a little.  Remember what got you going in the beginning and use that to get you out of bed each day and through all the less exciting tasks that will eventually get you to the successful business you have dreamed of!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

Why Every Small Business Should Have a Little Helper

Six months ago I opened my own flower shop here in Clearwater, FL.  Flowers have always had a huge part of my life, but what has been important to me now is also passing that on to my daughter.  She has been wonderful, helping a little bit around the shop on busy days like Mother's Day and for a few hours here and there after school.

I love getting to spend the extra time with her, though in addition to that, it enables me to pass on the art that I have learned, and the knowledge and experience of working in a business that all young adults should encounter and learn first-hand while growing up.  While I want her to learn and study the field she wants to become a professional in, it is good to learn lots of trades, and there are the basics to running a small business that are pretty much the same shop to shop.

There is something important about going to school or otherwise studying for a trade or a craft.  But there is a lot that goes into maintaining inventory, dealing with customers and using creativity in a professional way, just to mention some things, and the best way to really get an understanding of all of that is to be there and do it hands-on.

I think this is especially important for girls who are growing up in a world that is just now starting to crack glass ceilings and challenge wage inequality and beginning to really disregard gender role designated career paths.  There are so many opportunities out there for young women, and being educated and experienced puts them a step ahead and shows them that they have options.  Being able to give that to my daughter is extremely important. 

But it is also important for all young people who will be growing up and eventually running the small businesses and corporations of the world.  As has been said, it is important to teach your children well, but it is important to teach all children well.  

So while I love having my daughter with me in my shop helping out, and more importantly, learning, I wanted to take this week's blog to reflect on that.

Do you have a Little Helper?  Or are you where you are today because you were able to help out and learn when you were younger?  Let me know in the comments below!  I'm interested in hearing your story.

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

Three Months Later...

image via burke decor

It is hard to believe that Flower Design by Bridget has now been open for almost 3 months!  It seems like just yesterday Facebook, Twitter and Google+ were getting set up, I was blogging about opening my shop, and our website was going live.

It has been a whirlwind, with floods of orders for Christmas and Valentine's Day, and lots of repeat customers in between.  Honestly, those are the best because it means that I was able to create something for them that meant enough to come back.  

I know I am not the only flower shop in Clearwater, but as I said in my first blog, my first boss told me that every arrangement needs to be special.  While it is one thing to copy a mass-popular cut-and-paste bouquet, it takes a little something extra to make the flowers a special message between people.  Because that is really what it is all about.   

That's why I make sure to have "Designers Choice" options, and why I work with my customers to make sure that if you are looking for something for someone important in your life, the flowers are as amazing as they are.  This is in addition to the pre-designed options, as sometimes you might want to pick something - but even these are carefully hand-arranged, because there is no point in sticking flowers in a vase like a robot. 

Being from Europe, I also curated some select gifts to offer in my shop, for when you need more than just flowers, or when you want to send something to someone who maybe has allergies or prefers something aside from flowers.  Things like KOBO soy candles:  domestically grown, pure soy wax and lead-free, enviro-safe cotton wicks that come is a special recycled cardboard box with seeds in it that you can soak and plant (everything from flowers to vegetables)!  I also keep small-batch European soaps and Woodstock wind chimes, which go really nicely with a potted flower option.  I do this because it is one thing to put flowers in a vase or copy a picture, and another to make sure that each piece that leaves the shop is special, and has room for details and extras that make it unique. 

Looking back now after these last few months, I just wanted to say "Thank You" to everyone who has followed along on my adventure of opening up shop, and who has played a part in my dream of sharing my passion and love for what I do.

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Design by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!