When Rachel Lilley started her florist’s business in Bath nearly three years ago, it was an instant success. With a steady stream of customers at her small shop and a run of weddings to cater for, her dream career move had come true. But she expanded too fast, and at the wrong time – moving to bigger, more upmarket premises near the city centre just as the recession was beginning to bite.
It was a perfect fit in the ‘artisan quarter’ but it coincided with the start of the recession. The shop was doing poorly and I started to worry.
I had to look at clever ways to market myself and keep myself in people’s psyche.
The answer was right under her nose. She had already been doing day and half-day courses for people who liked to learn a bit of flower arranging and then have lunch at the Royal Crescent hotel.
Rachel decided to offer a longer course. For £3,500, customers could learn the technical aspects of floristry, from the basic retail output of bouquets to bridal offerings and marketing.
Now she has closed the shop and sees the business becoming primarily based on the courses, with weddings providing a reliable revenue stream. ‘The school is definitely the way I want it to go. I want people to know that I’m serious and that you don’t have to go to London to get a course like this.’
She’s confident the model can work and that she can attract people from a well-heeled catchment area of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Devon and beyond. A first-time entrepreneur, she’s found it tough.
There are dark times when you’re running a business. Because it was just me and it was a small business, I didn’t want to bring anyone on board. I didn’t have a finance guy or merchandiser to advise me. If I’d had someone like that I might have hung on in the old shop. And without the recession I might have been OK.

Discussion points 

1 Why is a job costing approach suitable for estimating the cost of a course in flower arranging?
2 Will each course have the same pattern of costs and revenues?