While Chelsea was a welcome interlude, the reality is that floristry in the real world continues to be hard and at times weary making. So when Barry Porter (foliage man extraordinaire from New Covent Garden Market who presented a brilliant show at Chelsea) asked me would I open a shop I thought long and hard. 

That said, if I did have superwoman powers, I’d do it like a shot because what I’ve learned over the last 30+ years would mean I wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

For example I wouldn’t waste money on non-essentials and loads of sundries, I wouldn’t necessarily have the biggest shop in the world (a view shared by Neil and Anthony in this months Business Briefing My Shop feature), I would have the chutzpah (and a paid by the project PR person) to be a lot more ballsy about myself and what I was offering, my website would be immaculate but backed up by plenty of local, face-to-face, communication, I’d be learning from (and copying) what the supermarkets did rather than moaning about them and I’d be much more focussed on the business and marketing side rather than getting totally up myself about the design side.

For while I will never ever underestimate how hard it is to be a florist – both because of the sheer hard graft needed never mind increasing competitive forces, I equally don’t think it is impossible to make a decent living.  And that’s why I’ve loved meeting so many new ‘kids on the block’ - be they the young 20 something’s or second career-ers - in the last few months who are breathing new life into the sector and showing that floristry can move forward in the way the world of fashion and cooking has.

But while I won’t open my own shop, I and many of my older (50+) colleagues would be more than happy to mentor, advise, help or just chinwag with anyone who feels the need for a review of what they’re doing or just have some blue-sky discussion on what they do next.  We’re working on the idea to see how it would work both time and cost wise but if you want to share what we’ve learnt and be part of it ping me an e-mail.  None of us claim to be a Mary Portas (personally I’m far too short!) but we know a thing or two about making flower shops more successful and are happy to share.