Amy Balsters, The Flower Coach, on Achieving Technique, Foundation and Confidence in Bridal Bouquets

Episode 95: If you're in the floral business, you probably have helped others in one way or another. Our guest today, Amy Balsters, known as the Flower Coach, makes it her mission and business to help others on their journey. Her passion is teaching others how to make lush, lightweight hand-tied bouquets full of loose and airy movement that clients are asking for, with confidence and speed! In part 1 of our interview with Amy, she shares her unexpected floral journey.


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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:03

I think some of my most important, most passionate work I've done, other than maybe being a mom and a wife, but I feel really privileged and honored to get to teach world design now.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Hey Lori. How are you doing today? Doing fabulous. And you, Vonda?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

I'm fabulous. Why not, right? Yes, yes. Well, we have we have a good one. A good next to. So you want to talk about our our guest?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Our guest. Yeah, our guest was Amy Balsters, who is known to many as the flower coach. And we know her signature look with her hat. Yes. And a beautiful smile. I think that kind of describes Amy.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Yes, I totally agree. We both had the opportunity to meet her face to face when we were all at SAF. And she has quite the infectious smile and energy. I think I think she is one of those people that you tend to draw, at least for me, I draw energy from high-energy people. She's one of those people. So it was really fun to have her on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah, it really was. So let's listen to part one.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah, so we broke this up into a series of two because we were talking, talking, talking, and all of a sudden we realized it was longer than the an hour. So we decided to break it up into two parts. Um, the first part really is all about discovery. It's about her story, like how she discovered her niche. She didn't set out to be a florist, right? Um and then she talks a lot about how she helps, her passion is helping shop owners discover their their flow of design. And then the second part, we talked a lot about my favorite thing, mindset. Like, how do you how do you help them get in the right mindset? So let's listen.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Amy, we are so excited to have you join us today. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

It's such an honor to talk to you guys today. It was so great to meet you at SAF. My gosh.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

I know we got to hang out in real life. Feels like a real privilege right now to get FaceTime with people. So I really enjoyed that trip.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

So when I was at SAF, like we all were, I was getting so energized or re-energized by just being around people that are were like-minded. There were times that I felt like I was on the verge of tears. Yeah. I and I it wasn't, I was, it wasn't sadness, it was just true inner joy.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yeah, it is. It's amazing just having face-to-face conversations and getting to hug safely when people are comfortable with hugs. You know, I'm a hugger and I've always been a hugger, and you know, it's pained me the last couple years not to like have that physical touch. Yeah, I mean, I want to like grab people and squeeze them. And it was just really a joy to be with our community, to not just learn, but also to be together and to commiserate a little bit, but also to just remember, you know, that we have survived hard things in our industry, especially at SAF. There's so much rich experience in that conference and room. And it it was an encouragement to me, particularly, to just be reminded that there are so many florists who have survived really hard seasons and really hard things. And it kind of gave me a refreshed uh perspective that, you know, we're gonna survive this. And they can be a lonely business sometimes in your shop or your studio, and to come together in a large group like that, I think is so important. And I'm I'm sort of a conference workshop junkie anyway. But for people that that have never been to something like this, you know, it is really energizing. I think, Lori, that's the perfect word, is it just really does put a pep in your step that you're not alone.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, and another thing I realized when I was at SAF and I was meeting the shop owners, and I was just listening to a lot of them talk, believe it or not, I would be quiet, silent, and just kind of listen to them group. They're so resilient. Like people in this industry are really resilient. They were looking forward. My preconceived notion of coming to SAF is that we would have a lot of conversations of, oh, how are you holding up? How'd you do? But it really wasn't. It was way more forward thinking and looking towards the future. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yeah, I totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

I think resilience and resourceful. I think resourceful is another word that I always use for florists, because and then think what they're going through right now. I mean, have to be totally resourceful. And so resilience and resourceful are my floral peaks, is what I always call them. Totally, yes.

unknown 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

I think you'd have a really hard time surviving in floristry without those skill sets. You know, I think that is the name of the game, even when times were great. You know, things don't always, as you guys know, things don't always pan out. You know, you place an order, half of it comes in wrong. A hurricane comes through town, you know, a bride has a meltdown. It's, you know, it's it's like the flexibility and and resilience and resourcefulness of just making something out of nothing is what, you know, we're kind of like floral magicians, you know, and pooling resources and getting creative with finding solutions for things is really that grit is just such a key skill set to be a great florist. And we're we're needing that more than ever. So, you know, the rubber has officially met the road. It's like it's go-time too. Yes, that's true. Yeah, it's really I I mean, I've never seen a tougher time to be a florist right now. So I'm excited to be chatting with you guys about our industry that we love so much and what we are what we're facing right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

It's a lot to we are now. I read on your website and I love this, Amy. I teach florists how to design with confidence, intention, and strategy so they can value themselves, attract the work they want, and achieve their design goals. I love that. Now, tell me a little bit about your story. How did you get to that point? I mean, how did you first how did you start working with flowers?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Thanks for asking. I love, I love telling my story because I I love that that people can see that there is a rich history to how we all found flowers. I think so many people fall into flowers accidentally. But for me, it was um kind of like a childhood dream to be a florist. You know, my mom was really an incredible artist. She still is. So I grew up with the arts and in a real appreciation for the arts. And I'm so grateful that I had the kind of parents who are like, you should do whatever you want. You don't need to be a doctor, a lawyer, accountant, like pursue your passion. Um, so I had a lot of encouragement from a young age, I think, to explore many different creative mediums. And I would say I'm a pretty mediocre artist. I'm a decent photographer, I'm a decent like painter. But when it came to flowers, that was really where I found that sweet spot. But um I think, you know, even just as a really young person, I found a tremendous amount of comfort in nature. I had a rough childhood, and I, you know, we had this little patch of blackberries we we planted for my mom's birthday one year. It's just three little plants along this metal mesh fence, you know, very modest yard. Um and I would spend hours just kind of nestled up in this blackberry bush. And I just loved the touch of the leaves and picking the berries, and I just have really rich memories of how safe I felt and how connected I felt. It was like a place of healing for me. You know, when I think back to how this all started for me, it's so much more than floral design and floristry. I think I feel like a lot of times we're looking for healing when we're looking at flowers and nature and this connection we crave with them. And so there was a flower shop called Atrium Floral, like in walking distance to my house. And I would walk in there as like a seven-year-old, you know, I'd like ride my pink bike down there, and I'd walk around, and it's just a, you know, your run-of-the-mill neighborhood flower shop, nothing like overly styled or fancy, you know, very like bare bones. And I would just like, you know, nose pressed on the glass, you know, I had this kind of dream that they'd be like, hey, we need help. Could you like jump back behind the the, you know, like these crazy fantasies? Could you jump in? I mean, it was literally like this fantasy at a young age of like, what is this world? And I would kind of peer behind their curtain, you know, and look at these workbenches and the ribbons and the paint on the wall. And it was just like, this is a magical place. So even as a really young person, I was fascinated by forestry. And I thought that that was a job for only really special fancy people. I thought, well, that's never something that I could do. I just thought that was like, that was a world unknown to me. So fast forward um to, you know, a lot of art classes and a lot of, you know, figuring out what I wanted to be in the world and made a lot of mistakes as a young person, uh, just really losing my way. And I was an excellent student, but I really got tangled up in just bad decisions in life, kind of hit a rock bottom at a young age. And it was, it was my dad who said, Hey, you know, you have kind of like given up this idea of college. You're kind of just, you know, wandering in life. Just just go do something you really like. What do you really love? If you could do anything, I'll help you sign up for a class at a community college. And I was kind of at a low and just thought, you know, I've always wanted to try flowers. I don't know. I mean, maybe, maybe I'd be cool enough to do flowers. And uh I found this little little class in uh Southern California where I grew up. It was just a one night a week, you know, fluorescent light, big chuck of, you know, block of floral foam and pink mini carnations and leather fern, and I was hooked. And I will never forget that first day of just placing flowers and understanding that this this blend between using botanical material and sculpting and using my hands to make something. And I was a graphic design major for a little while, and I was like, I just can't sit at a computer all day. I'm like dying over a year. So I knew I needed something tactile that I could really feel and touch and make. And it was that was it for me. I was I was a lifer at 19. I mean, I really was like, this is it, this is what I'm made to do.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

That just like really gave me goosebumps, I have to tell you. Just like I'm like, oh my gosh, you know, just that little community class. I mean, and you think about how many flower shops offer design classes, and you never know who you're gonna inspire. Someone like you, Amy, who could be coming through their door and just playing a little bit and like a light goes off, and they're like, oh my gosh, I want to do this. I mean, yeah, that is so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

I have good sums to be because as a teacher now, you know, I teach hundreds of florists every year, and I feel like my work is really sacred to me. It's not just another chapter in my career. It feels like really missional work to be sharing not just really foundational floral techniques that have served me for 20 years, but to really get to the heart of why floristry matters. And I love to share my story and my journey about how I got here because it has been a lot of healing for me and a lot of working through patterns of pain and trauma and self-doubt and imposter syndrome and security to find a lot of meaning and purpose and intention in my work. That there is a really important part of what we do in people's lives around grieving and celebrating. And it isn't just about fashion or fame or Instagram celebrity, it's about what we're doing has meaning and matters. And so that is a big part of why I love teaching, is not just about, okay, here's how to make a grape, okay. I mean, I love that too. But I think we have really important work we do in floral design. And I think that's a big part of my message, is we need to be better to ourselves in the process of creating, but also to have boundaries with ourselves so that we can have boundaries with our clients, with our teams, with the people we work alongside. Because, you know, when we're creative, we have this really vulnerable process, and I think we can tend to be really abusive to ourselves, and we tend to hyper focus on all these externals. And really, again, this work we do is is sacred in my opinion. This this work of creativity is it's a it's an act that matters. And so this journey that I've been on for the last 20 years of flowers is really, it's just really coming full circle through teaching now, full-time. This is what I do full-time now. I don't run a wedding business anymore. I don't I freelance occasionally for friends. Um, but this keeps me very, very busy. So that's kind of how I got here. You know, I I did a lot of things in floristry before I got here. I I've worked as a professional freelancer for a lot of years in the special events and wedding industry, kind of more the high-end event industry. I've run retail shops. I've been a retail designer, I've ran my own company for eight years, I've done a lot of different things in the floral industry. And I have found that all of that, I've been able to sort of aggregate all of those years into really effective teaching and really being able to take kind of my hard knocks lessons as a, especially as a production designer in working efficiently and running my own business and realize it can be really hard to make money in floral design if you're not disciplined in terms of how you buy, um, how you design, how you manage your labor costs. So I've learned some really expensive and painful lessons, and I'm trying to shorten that window for designers of all levels. And I'm really trying to bridge foundational mechanics, foundational floristry with sort of the modern look that a lot of brides are asking for, because this was really where I struggled. I had this classical training, I went to school for floral design for two years in a care edited program, graduated, and had this amazing foundation mentorship. But when I started my own business after being a freelancer for so many years, I felt really stuck in the style that I was doing. I thought, you know, I had this muscle memory, and that made me a really effective designer. But when I decided to do flowers for myself and build my own business, my own brand, I wanted them to feel more like that blackberry patch that I grew up in. You know, I wanted them to feel like they just grew and that they were sort of surrounding me. And in order to get that style, that open form style, I really struggled. And I took all these classes and workshops, and I just thought, you know what, maybe my ship has sailed. Like I think I might have like lost some relevance here because I don't know how to do that. Look, like it is so my desire, and I cannot get this movement that I'm craving. And I'm a professional designer. How can I not figure this out? And it really came back to going all the way back to day one of foundational floristry. How do you use foundational principles and elements of design and design application and apply those to this eerie garden style that I was craving? And it finally clicked for me, standing literally standing in my garage one day. I was working this bouquet and I was doing all these crazy things to it because I'd been so many workshops and gotten so off track. And I finally just whipped up a spiral. And I had not made a spiral in a lot of years. I'd got been doing all this crazy stuff, and I was like, oh my God, that took 10 minutes. What have I been doing?

unknown 17:04

Why?

SPEAKER_02 17:05

I went all the way back and just thought, you know, I've had all the answers all along. They're here. It's a it's an application issue. It's about taking these foundational things and applying them to this new styling of floral design that I was craving. Once I figured that out, I realized I was onto something. And I figured, you know, I can help other people figure this out. And I started getting asked, hey, can you help me? Can you help me? And um my dad was a corporate trainer for 30 years. He worked in HR developing training programs. So speaking, and you know, he'd drag me to uh happily drag me to Toastmasters as like a 14-year-old now. I love, I love speaking. I love teaching, I love um explaining complex things and simplifying them uh in a way that's really accessible for people to understand. So this really has come to fruition is a really long answer, but there's sort of again this kind of aggregating of all these experiences, all these ideas, all this passion into now teaching, coaching floral designers on how to work intentionally, confidently, because there is so much noise out there. And I think that what I have found in the last four and a half years of me, really full teaching, is so much confusion around what technique to use and how to do things. And there's people are looking for answers. And I feel like I've really been able to bring some clarity to the situation for a lot of designers to say, here's some technique, here's some vocabulary, here's some definition for you to really sink your teeth into, to go home and practice those mechanics over and over and over, and then develop your own style on top of that. My goal is not to make a bunch of Amy Ballsters or Amy Nicole Florals or the floral coaches. My goal is to build designers' knowledge around how design works really functionally, and then they layer their aesthetic and their unique voice onto that. And that's really where I found a sweet spot and really have become, you know, hopefully a voice for foundational floristry mixed with relevant styles that designers are looking to learn. And so it's really just kind of to be honest, a dream come true. I always wanted to teach. And to be honest, I never felt like I was good enough. I never felt like I had a large enough platform, I wasn't a big enough celebrity that people would even want to know what I knew. And what I realized is that people are just craving answers. They don't really necessarily care where they come from, they just need help with their bouquets and their design work. And so uh it took a lot of stepping out for me to put myself out into the world and say, hey, I think I can help. And if you're interested, you should come hang out with me and we should make your design work easier. And so this has really become, I think, some of my most important, most passionate work I've done, other than maybe being a mom and a wife. But I feel really privileged and honored to get to teach floral design now. And I feel like every person who walks through my door is really important and their story is important and their journey is important, and I want to help them make their work easier and lighten their load a little bit. So that's led to so many amazing opportunities. All my workshops have sold out, and it's just continues to be a huge success. And I think in part because we're really getting to the root of where the problems lie and we're dealing with things at this foundational level. Mindsets a bit of that, but also really just foundational technique, which you guys are masters at too. So um, yeah, that's a really long answer.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Amy, I love that you help both new people in this industry and we're calling them seasoned people in this industry. Um, but I'm wondering what are the top two reasons or frustrations that you have found when people finally pick up the phone or shoot you the email, however, they correspond with you, and the subject line says, help me, please, when they start typing in. What have you found? What are the reasons?

SPEAKER_02 21:27

I love that question. Yeah, thank you, Lori. That's an awesome question. So I was doing one-on-one coaching a lot. Different designers have different problems. New designers are struggling with confidence. Well, I mean, a lot of designers are both struggle with confidence, but newer designers are struggling with confidence, um, but also just really foundational techniques. Oftentimes, most people in the floral industry are self taught. They've learned from somebody who is also self taught. So there's a lot of hacks or self taught things, which is totally fine. I think that's how a lot of great trades are passed down. However, There's a lot of holes sometimes in that knowledge base. And for somebody starting out that's kind of working through the mechanics of how to design flowers, it's like, man, I'm I'm not making any money because I'm putting too much stuff in here. Or I break into stems, or my stuff is dying, or I everything looks like a ball with two arms, and I'm trying to get open form styling design. It's like there's layers to what the problems really are. And when people sign up for my hands-on workshop, I send out an interview, you know, a document where they answer some really specific questions about their pain points. But I've also have a Facebook group where when you join the Facebook group, you have to answer what your biggest pain points are. So I have collected thousands of floral pain points over the years. Yeah. So I can better understand how to serve my community in terms of creating content. I don't want to just create for the sake of creating. I'm trying to actually solve design problems. So I'm constantly gathering the data, trying to identify what those pain points really are so I can focus my attention in those areas. So a lot of times this is really just about foundational floral mechanics. I don't know how to make a bouquet. I don't know how to get this airy styling. So I've sort of found a niche in teaching the style that I do, which is very kind of open form garden style airy. I know there isn't for many debates about this, that we are having a hard time in the floral industry identifying this style. But I go back to just the basics. This is open form style, right? There's lots of negative space, whether that's a lot of negative space or a little bit. There is not, it's not a mass design anymore. It's not a closed form. So we have this kind of movement and gesture and openness that people are moving towards in their work in terms of what I'm seeing in the wedding industry for the last, you know, five, seven years. But also just in just forestry in general, I see this kind of desire for more open, loose styling. So I have a lot of designers that come to me because I teach that, because that's my specialty. And so I have had 30-year veterans come to my workshops because they can't, they're struggling with that style. And so with my new designers, or my, you know, I call them kind of my three to fiver years, you know, we're really focusing on foundational mechanics and then working on some more advanced design application technique. But for my really established skilled designers, oftentimes what we're doing is unlearning some things. And we're re-establishing some new muscle memory in how we hold and place flowers. And I should clarify that I've taught so many different types of floral design classes, but I really niched down about two years ago and found a real home in teaching bridal bouquets. I think they're one of the most challenging things that we make as wedding designers or as retail shop owners, and they are not intuitive. You need some training because they are tricky, and there is a methodology to making great hand-tied bouquets, in my opinion. And so I tried a lot of different things, and I really focused on teaching foundational bouquet making with advanced design applications. So I called this workshop Bokeh Bootcamp. It's really become my main focus. I teach this multiple times a year. I used to travel all over the country teaching it. Um COVID happened, so I taught it virtually through Zoom and now in-person workshops here at my home in Virginia, but also launching an online course focused. It's literally Bokeh Bootcamp online. So it's a self-paced, recorded course where people can go through all the different modules. Yeah. So I've been hard at work at this for a long time to try to bring clarity back to bouquet making and to really show people how to build effortless bouquets and get that lucenary styling. But really, it's based on the spiral. It's really the most flexible, incredible, geometric solution that has solved all my heart and my bouquet heartache in terms of cascade, in terms of open form, oval, round. I really am on a mission to prove that bouquets do not have to break us. And we can quote build better bouquets with confidence, ease, understanding, but really it's rooted in the foundational tenets of floristry, understanding multiple design applications like terracing, grouping, collaring, veiling, clustering. I use all of these things in how I design. And so bringing this terminology into this modern styling is really where I have found my sweet spot. And so with my older designers, and I don't mean old by age, but I have really tenured designers come, experienced designers, we are learning how to undo some of that really round shape because they can do that in their sleep. It's the other stuff that's really intimidating for them. And I'm, I was in that boat. I've walked that road of feeling like, can I compete with the 21-year-old that just launched a floral business and has better Instagram skills than me? Like, ah, like that is scary stuff because we're in an industry where trends change, and we have to be able to lean into that. And it's like that was my process was like, I want this and I don't know how to get there. Um, and it was created a lot of self-doubt of like, I don't know if I'm like can do this anymore. So, you know, I really love seeing a pep in the steps. Some of my favorite testimonials and comments after Bokeh Bootcamp come from my most tenured designers, where I've gotten the most glowing reviews. I'm literally like in tears in my living room because I get DMs where it's like, hey, I I had the wedding. I came to Bokeh Boot Camp because I had this wedding booked, and I was really nervous because this style isn't what I do. And I nailed it, she loved it. Like I accomplished this thing, and I now have a process for how to do this, what kind of material I need to buy, what what kind of layering I need to build into this thing to get the shape, to get the movement. And it's like, yes, this is when you know that moment sometimes in life where you're like, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. You know, I've had more of those moments in the last four years teaching than I've ever had. And I and I've done a lot of things in my life, and I have just never felt so aligned before in what I'm supposed to be doing, which is helping florists design better and helping them step into the new era of their business that they can compete. They can compete with the 21-year-old florist down the street. And what I always tell my really tenured designers is it doesn't matter how good someone's Instagram skills are, they there is no competing with 20 years of experience when it comes to running a business. Everyone can enter, right? But to stick it out for the long haul to make a living, to have a disciplined process of recipe writing and ordering and production methods, like this is what keeps you in business. So let the Instagram fame be what it is. You're never gonna necessarily compete. That's not the goal. It's to get really good at what you do and be able to step into that new stage in your business where you can confidently create what brides are bringing you. That's your job as a professional. We're in the service industry. So we have to show up in that and and help our brides figure out this style they want. That's my job as a professional to know how to do that. This isn't about celebrity or fame or popularity. This is about serving this person standing across from me who's saying, I really want this. Can you make this for me?

SPEAKER_01 30:13

And me going, yeah, I can, I know how to do that. We often talk about how necessary it is to have confidence in what you're doing. It might be the confidence of making that bridal bouquet that Amy's talking about, or being able to sell with confidence, which is what Lori teaches in sales prep school. But knowledge and confidence are the key to elevating oneself. Now, this is a perfect spot to just take a little break. You won't want to miss part two. So we will see you next week when Amy talks about mindset.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.