We recently connected with Genevieve Brune and have shared our conversation below.

Genevieve, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I have ever taken in my life was to leave my 10 year career as a technical designer to start my own floristry business. While starting a business is always a risky endevour, the level of my risk was escalated when after giving notice to my corporate job, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US and in my final 2 weeks at my corporate job we went virtual. This meant after 10 years, my last few weeks were reduced to virtual meetings, a virtual exit interview, shipping my laptop back, and no opportunity to clean out my desk. Additionally, my intention was always to be an event-based florist. How does one start an event-based businesses, when events no longer exist?

With that context, you can imagine that from the official “day 1” of starting my business, I was already forcing myself to reinvent and reinvision what my business would look like. This challenge introduced me to different ways of creating, such as dried flowers, and different ways of connecting with customers and other small business owners, such as focusing on my social media presence and offering daily deliveries. While not all of these different areas of exploration ended up sticking in the long term, they forced me early on in my business ownership journey to create a space in a competitive industry and to claim a certain level of comfort in a type of risk that is inherently uncomfortable.

As mentioned previously, starting a business is always a risk, but leaving my 10 year career and doing so at the beginning of a global pandemic heightened the risk in a way that I could have never anticipated. With that being said, I know I am luckier than most with how my story has gone since then. I am grateful now that I had to weather that level of unknown and I was forced to innovate right at the beginning of my small business journey. That time in my life challenged me to see what I was really capable of. Additionally, it strengthened my commitment to not only succeed, but to continually question, grow and evolve. If I had stayed in the perceived security of my corporate job, I can genuinely say that I would be a very different person today – someone who is much more afraid of taking a leap of faith… afraid of the unkown and the discomfort that comes with it.

Genevieve, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Coming out of college, my education / main focus was on apparel design, which is how I became an apparel tehcnical designer. While I loved what I did, since my job was more number-based, I found that I mssed the freedom that came with true creative design. To “scratch” that itch, I started arranging flowers for friends on the side. This side hobby, eventually lead to me signing up for an online floral arranging course where I learned the fundamentals of good flower design, which gave me the confidence to start my own floral design business.

As of right now, my primary focus is wedding florals, but one occasion I also provide other special and corporate even floral arrangements. Additionally, I also love to connect with customers at different local markets where I sell hand crafted dried floral arrangements.

I consider myself a problem solver when it comes to floral design. If my clients want something outside of the box and / or if they just want a stress free wedding day, I am there for them throughout the planning process, but also throughout their wedding day. I strive to provide high design, in a fun and approachable way.

I want my clients to know that I am truly a small business and that when you hire me to assist in your special day or even when you buy a bundle of dried flowers from me at a market, my hands have touched that product and my mind has compiled those components / ideas. When you work with me, you receive a one-of-a-kind, personalized product and experience.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Starting a business involves lots of areas – not just the fun / creative ones. With that being said, it is impossible to know everything you need to know right away and it’s not helpful to push yourseful to be an expert in everything, because you truly never will be. With that being said, these three thing have been the most helpful for me throughout my creative journey and I wish I would have known from the very beginning : 1. Don’t be afraid to ask for help / seek assistance. From how to legally form your business to things like setting up payroll and signing up from Worker’s comp, there are so many nuances in small business ownership. Knowing that, there are free resources to help with this process, such as the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Using these free resources to consult experts and to attend different seminars is one of the easiest ways to familiarize yourself with the different elements of small business development and ownership.
2. Develop a community. There really is a lot to be said for community over competition. Finding fellow creatives who have similar and varying experiences alike, will help you to talk through different challenges and triumphs throughout your small business journey. This community is not only great for problem solving and sharing, but can help on days when you truly feel isolated, because that is a part of entreprenuership that I personally think isn’t talked about enough. This community will become a resource for you in itself and will open your eyes to other opportunities and ways of operating your business.
3. Invest in your own education. I know for me, this came in the form of taking an online course to learn better flower desing techniques and in person workshops with aspirational florists. This investment in your education, not only builds confidence in a world where imposter syndrome is all too common, but it also helps to expand your community and inner resources.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Most of my new clients have come from either previous client or friend referrals, fellow vendor referrals (I’m telling you, it’s all about community), and connecting in person at networking events of markets where I am selling dried flowers. I’ve found that the more personal the initial connection point, the easier time that me and a potential new client have connecting and developing trust and rapport.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blumencbus.com/
• Instagram: @blumen.cbus
• Facebook: Blumen Columbus

Image Credits
Stephanie Snyder @thestephsnyder