I was looking for an old photo of Lydia on my phone the other night and in between the thousands of kid pictures and videos there were hundreds of photos of flowers and floral arrangements.

(In case you’re not familiar with my story, I trained as a floral designer when I first moved to Canada back in 2012. That job was the first pebble in the water whose ripple effect led to me creating The Strategy Studio. You can catch the full story here.)

I then went on an epic scroll down memory lane of 10+ years of floral pieces I’d made both for work and for pleasure. I could see the progression of my designs, from tight-as-a-ball bouquets that I’d clearly been holding onto for dear life while making them, through to arrangements I love so much that one of them is now framed in my home. 

It got me thinking about how my years as a florist had impacted my approach to entrepreneurship. I’d never really thought about it until now, but learning the art of floristry is such a mind game. On one hand there was my innate need for perfectionism. On the other was the reality that the best designs were never the result of a perfectly-executed process of formula. 

Here are the Top 3 Lessons floral design taught me about entrepreneurship.

1. A solid base is the secret to success. 

In floral design you’re often taught that your final design is only as good as the foundation upon which it’s built. When you get your greenery right (the base of your arrangement) you create the perfect frame within which your statement flowers can shine. 

Remembering this lesson was the proverbial kick I needed to tackle many of the biz foundations that have been on the to-do list for too long now. 

What’s a foundational element of your business you’ve been overlooking that could do with some TLC and attention? 

2. Don’t force something that’s not working. 

As you’re adding flowers into a floral arrangement you usually have a loose idea of where you’re wanting them to “stand”, or which way you’re wanting them to face. But there’s always one pesky bloom that has zero desire to cooperate. It will spin itself in circles, fall out of place every time you take your eyes off of it, or just generally not do what you want it to. 

I would battle a single stem for far longer than I care to admit… until Joh (my dear boss) would delicately remind me there was no point fighting with nature! She’d remind me I could either take it out—don’t force something that’s not working—or embrace the fact it might have other plans that will work out better than you expected. 

Is something not working in your business? It is time to let it go, or perhaps embrace the uncertainty of what else is possible?

3. Don’t be afraid to break it all down and start again. 

But when nothing is going as you had hoped or planned? There’s no shame in breaking it down and starting again. Sometimes going back to our base is the reset we need to find a new path forward. 

As Marie Forleo says, moving on doesn’t mean you’re giving up. You win or you learn, but you never lose. 

That project that’s challenging you…. What would happen if instead of trying to persevere with something that’s evidently not working, you hit the reset button?