Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Glassman

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

My name is Michelle and I run a full service floral design business based out of South Portland, ME. I started my business in my home garage when we moved to Maine from Boston back in 2018. I left my corporate career in commercial property management to pursue a vision that I couldn’t quite see clearly yet. I had no previous floral design experience, and I started everything from the ground up being self-taught. I now have a brick & mortar that is located at 72 Ocean Street in South Portland, ME. We are a year-round floral design studio/shop specializing in retail, weddings & intimate events, and workshops. We believe in retaining the charm & artistry that was originally founded in my garage studio. We welcome all and simply hope to provide warmth & inspiration to those who walk through our doors. Our ethos is founded on authenticity, approachability, & whimsy while supporting our local flower farms as much as possible.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

I suppose life is never smooth. So my journey was definitely not that. I am not a natural entrepreneur. I held my career in corporate for close to seven years before leaving it behind at the age of 28-ish to figure out a different career path. In all honesty, already being in my late 20’s, and relatively established in my corporate career it was unnerving to say the least.. My entire family is engineers so there wasn’t really a model for me to mirror a small business after in that regard. However, my family & friends were supportive of my decision but it came with a lot of uncertainty, insecurity, and concerns. There was a significant amount of struggle between my husband and I, because he didn’t really understand at first what the plan was going to end up looking like, which is fair because at the time I didn’t have a plan. I left a six figure career at that time to “play with flowers”.

I also had to do a lot of internal work to build confidence within myself. You can have all the support in the world but you need that internal strength to not just believe in your goals but to achieve your goals. It was very humbling in the beginning because I was filling entry-level jobs that took me years back in my career skill set so that I had the time to grow a side business. The first job I took upon moving to Maine was as a retail associate at West Elm thinking I was going to garner some level of interior design experience. I also took a job as a front desk secretary for a real estate broker in Portland, ME, because it was part-time and allowed me the flexibility to start working with my own clients. However, it was super humbly and I had to swallow my pride knowing that I just left a career where I had been at assistant manger level. I even took a job for $14 per hour as a marketing assistant, where I was thinking in my head what the heck am I doing because I was making close to six figures only a few months ago! I do think it takes a certain level of grit to role reverse your life all while holding onto a very foggy vision of a creative design business in a very competitive and tech forward world too. So a lot of the time I was like… this is not going to work.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

Our studio consists of a small boutique shop that carries artisanal, handmade, small batch goods and a working studio space. We specialize in retail & event work while holding onto a certain caliber of artistic design. I never want to become my product in the sense that it can be really challenging six months out of the year to receive beautiful, fresh, and quality product. I do my very best all the time to create unique pieces for our customers on a weekly & year-round basis. This isn’t necessarily easy when you don’t have good & consistent access to floral ingredients in a state like Maine. It’s a reflection on the level of value that I place on maintaining as much artistic freedom even while running a floral retail business. It’s a fine balance of building a profitable business by ordering & sourcing smartly while maintaining an eye for design. I believe this to be my big differentiator or strength in the area of retail floristry. Most people describe our designs using the word whimsical which alludes to our ethos being: playful, fanciful, quirky, and unconventional. We are just here being ourselves and trying to share our artistry with our community to inspire and uplift our patrons & clients.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?

This is a weirdly challenging question to answer, almost like when you’re asked your strength and weaknesses in a job interview. I would say that maybe people don’t realize how quirky and silly I can be. I mean when Alivia first started working with me, we did sounds reenacments very theatrically and loudly in the studio. Alivia did a strong performance with baby sounds and I did an animated version of a peacock. Luckily no customers walked in at the time, but the shop door was open and they probably could hear us from the sidewalk. So there’s that …

People may also think I’m more like “boss mode” as an employer. However, I struggle the most with maintaining a balance between friend and boss. I definitely lean more into friend mode. This is a constant battle when you start managing people if you tend to struggle with being too friendly, chatty, and open as an employer. I really want to keep an intimate and family-forward working environment though so I think it works for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.petalageflorals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petalageflorals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Petalage/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/petalage-south-portland