29th September 2021… Sarah and I have been throwing around business ideas for a few weeks, nothing too serious, just a bit of fun really. And then, on a very grey day in an NHS office I have a flash of inspiration and tap out a message ‘I think I’ve got it…' That was when the concept that is now Flora While was born. And this week, a whole 52 weeks later we have sent out our first orders… it feels quite monumental (we might even go out for a celebratory coffee and cake!). Ok, so we did go with something that we wanted to test throughly and was seasonal so we knew we wouldn’t be shipping our first products until the following autumn, but to be honest I’m pretty glad we gave ourselves time. Before the concept of bulb collections came along we committed to making high quality and sustainable products so we wanted to make sure we got it absolutely right be for launching … we're hoping you agree that we have! A year feels like such a long time, but its flown by...
Winter was a season of planning and testing Spring was photography, photography and more photography Summer was filled with design on every level - branding, website, collections, booklets… so many decisions!! And now here we are again, in autumn, shipping our beautiful bulb collections across the country… whilst planning next years collections at the same time! And underneath all that we’ve been busy with the business startup stuff that isn’t quite so exciting - bank accounts, costings, storage clouds, marketing plans, SEO, plant passport courses (we passed!), supplier sourcing... and our families will tell you how long it took to work out a name! We have had some fantastic support along the way, and I’m bound to forget someone if I try to list them all, but there are a few people who have really helped us get our vision of beautiful collections of bulbs giving easy impactful displays off the ground. Rachel, our fab brand queen who understood so well what we were trying to achieve from a pretty garbled brief, produced a set of visuals which we both loved and represent us so well (no small challenge as we like very different colour palettes!). She’s also made sure our booklet and leaflets are beautiful! Becca (beccadunlop.net) who made our lovely website and taught us how to not break it! If your looking for a web designer we’d highly recommend her! And finally the Penrith team at Reeds Printers (www.hhreeds.co.uk) who have talked us through all the printing processes, and helped us make sure our paper choices as sustainable and recyclable. I also have to thank my ever tolerant husband who has been dragged round flower shows and moved endless pots, and Sarahs kids who are very tolerant of mum having ‘boring’ conversations at strange times of day but were first to sign up to the mailing list anyway! We’ve learnt so much during the last year, and have no doubt that we have lots more to learn but there is one thing that we have been reminded of … we’re a pretty fab team! We’re just getting started with the Flora While journey… hop on and join us, we’ve got some great new products coming along in the next few months and don’t want you to miss out!
Comments