Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danielle Harris. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Danielle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

All of my social media, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn is all managed by me! The thought of outsourcing my social media came across my mind early in my business. But, it was a comment made by an instructor in a social media class that I took that changed my mind. She stated that people go on social media because they want to relate to people – they want to understand your life, what makes your business YOU, and want to relate to your content. It was then that I realized that my business wasn’t just ‘selling flowers’ but it was also about me – my personality is part of my brand. I noticed that I started to become more comfortable posting on social media when I started to include my own personality. It was simple things – instead of saying ‘We at Little Blooms” I would say “I” or “Me” because that was more fitting. I realized that as I became more comfortable opening up and including in my own personality into my posts, I started receiving more positive feedback and engagement.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started off my career in a very different field than where I am at today. I graduated from UCONN with a BA in Statistics and began working for an Aerospace & Defense Company right out of college. From there, I shifted positions from supply chain to manufacturing within the same company while also getting my MBA from Babson. I wanted to get my Masters from Babson, as they are a school focused in entrepreneurship, and I knew that one day I wanted to own my own business, I just didn’t know what that business would be.

After I finished my MBA, I found myself searching for something to do with the ‘free time’ I had now that I no longer had homework to do. So on a whim, I found a floral design class that was only a few towns away. The class was a few times a week for a month or so where you would learn the basics to floral designing. I fell in love on day one.

After I completed the class, I started going to grocery stores and just buying flowers to practice with. It was when my coworkers started wanting to buy flowers from me that I made the decision to actually get my tax ID and become a legitimate business – Little Blooms.

Since this time, almost 4 years ago, I have quit my full time job and I am pursuing Little Blooms full time. My main focus in my business is weddings – providing full service florals for weddings and events.

Flowers hold a truly deep meaning to me, one rooted in happiness, love, and compassion and I like being able to spread these feelings with each arrangement that I create. Each wedding client I take on serves as a great honor to be apart of such an important day. It is truly an honor to make love stories bloom.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As I mentioned previously, building my audience on social media started becoming easier for me when I understood that I could be myself. I was always worried that if I put myself or my personal life out there too much that my audience would not care and would not want to keep following me. But it was the total opposite.

I have been given the nickname of “The Dancing Florist”, which all started from a video I posted of a behind the scenes before a wedding of me making sure the bridal bouquets are ‘dance proof’. From there, this resulted in a series of videos I create each time before a wedding making sure all the bouquets will be dance proof. It’s fun, it’s goofy, and it’s totally me. Is it slightly scary posting weird videos of myself dancing on the internet for tons of people to see? Yes, definitely. But it’s me, it’s who I am and I truly find the videos funny and I get excited to post them.

So, the advice that I would give to others that are starting to build their audience on social media is just to be yourself. You don’t have to follow trends if you don’t feel comfortable doing them. Your audience should be genuine to who you are, so the content you post should reflect who you genuinely are.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think one of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist/creative is honestly being considered to be apart of this community. It has taken me a long time to recognize myself as an artist – I never really thought initially that floral design was an art form. It wasn’t until I started taking my creativity into my own hands and started designing how I find flowers beautiful that I accepted that I was also an artist.

Any form of art is intimidating to me and walking into an industry full of floral artists can definitely bring out the imposter syndrome. I spend the first few years in this industry second guessing myself a lot and thinking that my work was not good enough. It took a lot of time that I had to dedicate to my own growth in this art form. I realized that in order to grow in this industry, you needed to let your creativity run free and give yourself opportunities to design what you like – not just what you see popular on Pinterest.

I know that my style will continue developing and probably change over time, which I consider to be more avenues to grow and learn new things.

I do also consider all my past clients and future clients to have a huge impact on the push to continue growing and learning new aspects of floral design. I find it to be a great honor to have my works of art on display and held during someone’s wedding ceremony, a day that will be cherished and kept in memories for years.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.littlebloomsfloral.com
• Instagram: @littlebloomsfloral
• Facebook: @littlebloomsfloral
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/littlebloomsfloral/
• Other: TikTok – @littlebloomsfloral Pinterest – @littlebloomsfloral

Image Credits
Kirsten Capron Photography Lexi Foster Photography