It's January!!
Strange how one minute I was constantly brushing glitter of my brow, now am I gearing up for a spectacularly busy few months gearing up for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, workshops and the small matter of a trailer TV programme for the BBC.
Valentine's is just a few weeks away of course (4 weeks on Monday to be precise!) and we are busy designing our own in shop range for all the romantic people of the world. Always difficult to think of something new for Valentine's although not everyone is on favour of the ubiquitous Red Rose. I think the key is to keep it simple and remember that the bulk of the customers are men; as I say keep it simple!
As Mother's Day is the beginning of April it seems like there is plenty of time to get prepared, but to be honest, this busy time needs far more work and attention than Valentine's Day. The bulk of the customer's and 100% of the recipients are women - not a time to keep things simple! The Interflora range is fine, but again we will be launching our own range and bringing in some really exciting additions to go with the floral gifts from Chococo - The Purbeck Chocolate Company and LSA Glassware (particularly loving some of the new items from them!)
Before all that though, I have taken on the challenge of taking part in a trailer for the BBC based on competition floristry. On the 26th January a group of florists will take part in a one off competition whilst being filmed by a production company commissioned by the BBC. Hopefully the powers that be at the Beeb, will be impressed enough to go ahead with the programme proper and we can strut our stuff on the TV in the not too distant future!
...and on top of all that, I am planning the next round of workshops. These have become so popular that the in shop sessions are now SOLD OUT until May! I will be scheduling some extra dates to deal with the demand, and these will be held during shop hours in Wimborne upstairs in "The Studio" (it's actually just the room upstairs, but with a few pictures on the wall and lick of paint...)
Additionally to these shop sessions both David Denyer and myself are holding our first Hotel based workshop at the Bournemouth Highcliff Marriott Hotel on February 2nd. The cost is £55 including all materials and a 2 course lunch in the award winning Highcliff Grill. There are few spaces left and we are confident to reach a class of 20 - the ideal size!
The Hotel format will be branching out shortly and we are aiming to roll it out over the South in the next few months.
My other area of concentration is some serious work on the business. Marketing, marketing, marketing basically. I have been a member of a serious "kick ass" business group since last year, and now the messages from our monthly meetings are really taking shape. It's mind blowing what you can do when you really put some serious work in!
Speaking of which...
All the best for now,
David
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