I have wanted to have my own floral design business for as long as I can remember. In high school I fantasized about having a store that was one half floral shop and one half coffee shop (another one of my loves is coffee). That way, I envisioned, I could meet with clients over a nice warm mocha as we poured over pictures of flowers. But life kept moving and a floral business of my own seemed rather unattainable, despite how much I thought about being a florist.
My fourth year in college, I got a job at a local floral shop. I was very excited about the prospect of designing arrangements on a regular basis. Shortly after I started working there, however, I learned that the shop already had designers on staff and that my job duties were going to be all the non-design tasks: taking orders over the phone, helping customers in the store with sales, and cleaning. My desire to design floral arrangements grew even stronger being in an environment full of flowers. Often times, I would find excuses to send arrangements to my friends, just so I could design something. Since I was paying for these arrangements I was then able to design them.
As I was approaching graduation and feeling the social pressure of needing to get a “real career”, but not knowing what to do with my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, I decided to join the service program, AmeriCorps NCCC. I was in the program for almost two years and had some amazing experiences, including being a part of the clean-up effort after Hurricane Katrina. During my time in AmeriCorps, I also learned that three tab shingle roofing is another one of my loves and something I am actually pretty good at!
My career transitioned into the nonprofit sector with ease, given all the nonprofits I worked with while I was in AmeriCorps. In 2007 I moved to Colorado where I continued planning events and fundraising for various nonprofit organizations. Then people I knew began getting married and my desire to design floral arrangements grew even more stronger. One day when I was at an open house at a venue down in Parker in a search for a venue for an upcoming fundraiser, I met a girl who had her own local floral design business. She did all the design work out of her house. That was an epiphany for me when I realized that I, too, could have my own floral design business despite not being able to afford the expense of a retail shop. I wanted to have a legitimate business and I knew I had to give it a shot even if it meant failing.
In January 2011 I came up with a business name, Design Abloom, purchased a hosting package and the domain name with Network Solutions, and walked down to the Secretary of State and register my business with the State of Colorado. I was official! I had a friend help me with a website and a graphic designer who I had worked with in the nonprofit sector designed a logo for me. And through the amazing power of word of mouth, I started to do floral design for weddings here in Colorado. But I was finding that people couldn’t remember the name of my business and I had was having trouble with updating the web site myself and feeling like I was burdening my friend asking her to make the changes.
I decided I needed a new, memorable name for my business. I brainstormed. And brainstormed some more. And some more after that. I would ask my friends to participate in “which business name do you like best” surveys. Everyone had a different opinion and I never felt like any of them sounded right. So life continued with the floral business on hold.
In February 2012, more than a year after I originally registered my floral design business, I came up with a name that I thought was going to be it – Toss Floral Design. After having written out all the words associated with weddings, “toss” seemed to embody flowers and the fun loving nature of weddings. I thought it was perfect. I re-registered the name with the Secretary of State, and purchased a new domain name. At the same time a good friend of mine needed to design a website for one of her graduate classes, and so I got an amazing new website.
Then, slowly, however, I learned about all the other words associated with the word “toss”, most of which have negative connotations. I had been naive of all the different meanings of the word toss the first 30 years of my life and now all of a sudden that was all I could think about when I said my business name out loud.
Subsequently I went through another period of business name turmoil and I decided to change my business name once again. I also decided I needed a new website, because the wonderful website my friend had designed was all html, which I knew even less about than Word Press, and I wanted to be able to update the site with pictures and content on my own. I was back to square one.
After another couple of months of fretting, I was browsing the web for inspiration, when I saw the words, “love letters”. Finally, I knew what I wanted my business name to be. “Love letters” sounded lovely and sweet, and the thought of receiving a love letter gave me a warm, romantic feeling.
So, after finding a friend to design a new logo and getting some guidance on Word Press, I taught myself basic web design and after several weeks of dedication, my floral design website was complete, name and all. I am so grateful and excited to finally have a floral design virtual storefront where I can showcase my floral design work!
I couldn’t have started this business without the love from all the people who believed in me. Who people who continued to believe in me, even when I kept changing my business name, in my many moments of indecision. To my family, my friends, my boyfriend, and other vendors in the wedding industry. To all the brides and grooms I worked with even when I didn’t have a website up on the internet. Thank you. This blog, this website, this business, this gratitude…is my love letter to you.