Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in floristry but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Scott Rzesa, owner of Artisan Flowers, located in Ada, MI, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Artisan Flowers is a small 20-year-old "craft Florist" creating artistic arrangements and events for all occasions. Everything is made to order, never shelved. As we like to say, all of our floral designs are "invented at the moment."

Tell us about yourself

Daisy Rzesa AIFD, CFD, is the primary owner and accredited designer of Artisan Flowers. They studied with some of the industry's most esteemed floral professionals. She designed for over ten years on 6th Ave in NYC, earned her Internationally accredited AIFD designation in 1997 before settling with her business partner and husband Scott in Ada, Michigan, where she opened her small floral business in 2003. She has the utmost pride and attention to every detail of the design process. She has a 5-star bevy of admirers on Google.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

After starting the small business in 2003 and earning the trust and admiration of the community, Daisy became the private florist for the owners of the Amway Corporation, billionaires Rich and Helen DeVos, from 2004 till their deaths in 2017 and 2018. She spent every special occasion creating original concept design work and motifs for their family gatherings and events, also providing in-house floral designs twice a week to all their residences. They considered Daisy and Scott (who assisted with concept and set up) part of their small number of trusted vendors. Daisy brings the same passion and style to every customer who has ever entered her shop.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

It is difficult to balance the responsibilities of a start-up and successful business with the needs of what were then five and 7-year-old little girls who spent a great deal of days and nights with their parents in the floral facility for those early years. It is also a constant challenge to manage the ever-changing details of both sales and necessary profitability. Certainly, the pandemic put a burden on the business, but the biggest challenge came in 2017 when the town of Ada began a literal demolition and reconstruction from the ground up. Artisan Flowers was displaced from its 14-year-old home in a historic "little red schoolhouse" landmark and relocated to a newly constructed building in a newly envisioned and developing Ada Township. The entire project is still underway, and construction early on was prohibitive to business. But Ada now has a new vibrant business community of many 100s of retail and service businesses where 30 or 40 companies once stood. We were sad to lose our landmark location, which the DeVos family preserved and now has returned to its roots as an ice cream parlor. But we were fortunate to be there for all those wonderful years.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

The mistakes of small business start-ups are easy to identify. Scott was a Senior VP in the upscale Food Industry in NYC for 20 years, so they had extensive experience in-store design and product placement in very small and expensive facilities. The biggest challenge to new entrepreneurs is evaluating the actual market demand for their product and "right-sizing" their costs. SPACE is one of the primary mistakes of early business development: 9 out of 10 small businesses are paying too much for excess space they do not need, creating the first and biggest cost burden on their business. The second mistake is aligning associate requirements with the expected sales of the start-up. Most companies add too much initial labor than is actually required, again putting early cost pressures on the business. The third mistake is not having enough initial capital to sustain the early development phase of sales. The attitude is far too prevalent that it's ok to lose money while the sales are developing. This attitude usually coexists with the owner's misunderstanding of demand for their product. We had two small children to house and feed and expenses to pay. We made a profit from day one. We had no other choice.

Where can people find you and your business?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Artisan Flowers/139219366126510

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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