We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anastasia Ovanessoff. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anastasia below.
Hi Anastasia, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I believe everyone has their own definition of success. For me, success is reaching new heights, innovating my craft, and creating a life that is fulfilling and balanced between work and pleasure. Success is not a destination or end goal, but instead a constant yearning to go further in my own business ventures, travel farther, and be able to look back on a life where I gave happiness to others just as much as I received it.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have been in the floral industry for ten years. I started my own home based business in 2016 while I pursued my Bachelor’s, and later my Master’s, degree in Business Administration and Marketing. I work primarily with bride and grooms to design florals for their wedding day. I love doing weddings because of the type of design work that comes with it; bridal bouquets and boutonnières are intricate, up close and personal designs while centerpieces and ceremeony/reception installments are grand and require more structural creativity. A couple years ago I moved to Denver, CO to explore the floral and wedding industry in the mountains. I currently book weddings in both San Diego, CA and Denver, CO. I love that I get to work by the beach and the mountains and I have been able to successfully operate a design studio in both cities. The pandemic has set a lot of struggles for every business owner, myself included. Soon before the pandemic, I decided I wanted to start thinking of the next steps for my business. I wanted to expand into a bigger, more innovative way. Then the Coronavirus made its way into the news, and soon after shut down everything- I certainly did not have a strategy for that in my business plan! Having a home-based studio made navigating the pandemic as a florist considerably easy. Most of my wedding consults were already done over the phone or zoom and I am able to have most of my flowers and hard goods shipped directly to me. From an operational stand point, I was able to run my florist business with little interruption. However, the desire to expand was on hold. I am now currently working towards expanding my business. I already book events in two cities and I plan on opening a physical location that unites coffee, tea, and flowers. I have always known that I do not want to be just another florist, so joining a few of my favorite things seems like the type of innovation I want to acheive. The first location will be in Denver, CO. and I plan on opening a second in San Diego, CA as soon after as possible!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I certainly have a hard time with delegating tasks, and I often take way too much on my plate. That’s probably something many small business owners can agree with. This past year I challenged myself to think differently and ask myself “is this something I can handle?”. As a small business owner I am in a lot of ways a one woman show. I work with my clients, I create their proposals and visions boards, draft their quotes and contracts, I also do my own marketing, design my own website, write my own newsletters, social media captions, and I do all my own product purchasing, floral design, and delivering. I love the work but it is a lot. I have had to recognize that great success and growth comes from letting go and delegating tasks to others. I now have a software I subscribe to that streamlines the entire client process. It helps me book clients, manage projects, organize files, and much more. I also have hired a woman who does the majority of my copyright for my website, newsletters, and social media. I can focus more on the design work and I don’t find myself getting overwhelmed and I have more time to put towards expanding my business.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I did not need a lot of capital to start my home based floral studio. It was my foot in the door to work towards bigger, better things. I started by booking one wedding, collecting payment before the wedding date, and then repeating the process. When I was a new business owner I kept every single dollar in my business account- I never paid myself. Instead I worked a part time job at a floral shop that allowed me to do my events on the side. I am now working on opening a physical location and that takes a lot of funds! I have saved a lot from the events I’ve booked over the last few years but it was not enough to take the next step in my business. I decided to launch a small Kickstarter Campaign to gather the remaining funds I needed. I shared it with family and friends and I simply do not have the words for how thankful I am to have received so much financial support- not only did I reach my goal but I exceeded it. The Kickstarter model is an all or nothing gamble. If you do not reach your goal in time you do not receive any of the pledges. It was a risk, but I think it is important to challenge yourself, utilize all the resources you have, and to not be afraid to ask for help.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.simplystazi.com
- Instagram: @simplystazi
Image Credits
@tolman.media @studiocastillero @alyssa.mov