We recently connected with Callie Durham and have shared our conversation below.
Callie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later?
I started my own business in December of 2020. I know that sounds like a terrible time to try to get a new business up and running, but it made sense for me at the time.
I graduated from Belmont University in May of 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing. I graduated with a BFA in graphic design and even though I understood that trying to find a job when unemployment was at an alarmingly high rate was going to be extremely difficult, I was still hopeful. That hopefulness slowly started to dissipate. I applied for dozens and dozens of jobs. Any position that even remotely seemed like a graphic design job, I applied for. I soon began to realize, that unless I had some kind of connection to the company, or knew someone who worked where I was applying, I didn’t have a chance. It was cut throat.
I felt discouraged, but at the same time I started to understand that, even though lots of people graduate from college then get a grown-up-nine-to-five job, that doesn’t necessarily mean that that is the right path for everybody. I started nannying in the fall of 2020. I got connected with a great family with 2 kids and I started off working for them a few days a week. I felt relieved to have some money coming in, and I genuinely enjoyed the work, but I knew I didn’t want to make nannying a full-time gig. I started to consider what I was passionate about, because I really wanted something to work towards. I wanted to be present and enjoy my post grad years, and nannying gave me the money and the flexibility to do that, but I also wanted to invest in my future. And that’s when Bentbrook Botanicals was born.
Although it was a bizarre time to start a business, I don’t regret it at all. Because I had another job to fall back on, I viewed Bentbrook Botanicals as a passion project more so than a business. It was a creative outlet that I could nurture and grow into something special. It was something that I was so excited about, and I still carry that excitement with me every time I connect with a client, every time I learn a new technique, every time I see photos from an event I did. It came along at the perfect time for me.
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
My name is Callie Durham and I have my own floral design business called Bentbrook Botanicals. I do flowers for all kinds of weddings and events and I absolutely love it.
Growing up, I never knew what I wanted to do with my life. I never really had an answer to “what do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child, I was always super creative, but I didn’t have a niche. When I got to college deciding on a major proved to be a challenge at first, but I eventually landed on graphic design. I had some fantastic professors, and I ended up with a few design projects in my portfolio that I was genuinely proud of, but for some reason, I never felt like I was good enough. Perhaps I was too quick to compare my work with my (extremely talented) fellow classmates’. Perhaps I felt as the environment I was in was too forgiving and I would never be a successful graphic designer in the “real world.” I can’t really put my finger on it, but I never felt 100% confident in my graphic design work.
My senior year, a friend of mine introduced me to floral design. She asked if I would help her make a few arrangements for an event she was going to. After that, I was so captivated by floral design. It came easily to me, but I mostly thought of it as a hobby.
A couple months later, in the spring of 2020, I was tasked with finding an internship to fulfill a few credits, so I reached out to a local, successful floral design business. Everything was so interesting to me. Although I spent a lot of time cleaning vases and processing flowers, I also learned how to make a boutonniere, how to build a recipe for an arrangement, how to interact with clients, and a ton of other useful and logistical aspects of the flower industry. Unfortunately, the internship was cut short due to the pandemic.
Once I graduated, I fully intended to get a job in graphic design. I spent four years of my life dedicated to perfecting my craft, and I felt as if I owed it to myself to give it a try. However, finding a job in May of 2020 proved to be a challenge. I applied for so many jobs, and was elated to even get any kind of response from a company. I was able to line up a few interviews, but ultimately never received any job offers.
Looking back, I am thankful for this experience, because it forced me to slow down. I thought I had finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and all of a sudden, my path changed. And, because of the pandemic, there wasn’t really anything I could do about that. I had to take a pause and consider what was really important to me, what I was passionate about, and what I felt was worth my time and energy. I wanted stability, but I also felt that maybe a traditional 9-to-5 wasn’t all that appealing to me after all. I wanted to use my creativity, so I started to consider floral design, and how I could turn that into something more than a hobby.
The idea of starting a business seemed ridiculous to me. I didn’t know the first thing about starting a business. Entrepreneurship was never appealing to me. Why be responsible for everything, when you can just follow someone else’s orders and have less on your plate to worry about? That was always my mindset. However, it quickly became clear to me that if I wanted a future as a floral designer, I was going to have to create that opportunity for myself. Then, I took a look at my tool belt. I had a degree in graphic design which would come in handy when branding my business, developing a website, designing business cards, etc. I had time, energy, and flexibility within my schedule as a young college graduate, with a part-time job. I had creativity and a desire for working with my hands to create things that were not only beautiful, but also serve a purpose. I had a passion for connecting with people and finding ways to serve them. This is how Bentbrook Botanicals came to be.
With Bentbrook Botanicals I can genuinely say that I get to do what I love. I love that I get to be creative and work with my hands to create new and beautiful things. I love seeing a bride’s face on her wedding day when I deliver her bouquet. I love going to the wholesaler and seeing the variety of flowers that I’m lucky enough to get to work with. I love telling people that I am a floral designer.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
My floral design business, Bentbrook Botanicals, is not what I do full time. I have another part time job at a shoe store called Nisolo, which is a certified B corporation, that values sustainability. I usually work at Nisolo Monday-Wednesday and then my weekends are dedicated to floral design.
Sometimes, I feel as though I’m not doing enough. I look around and compare myself to the other local floral designers who are posting on Instagram every day and who are constantly doing big, impressive events. I think to myself “why aren’t you full-time yet?” “Why don’t you have more weddings and events lined up?” It’s been 2 years and I still have to have a part-time job in order to pursue floral design.
Is it appropriate to refer to your side hustle as your business? This is a question I struggle with. Sure, I have consultations with clients. I design personalized proposals for each client. I create unique floral arrangements and installations for my clients. I send invoices. I have a wholesale license. I pay business taxes. However, I am not full-time, so I can’t help but feel a tiny bit like a phony when I refer to myself as a “business owner.”
It all comes back to how you measure success. Once I take a second to reflect on my current job situation, I am overcome with gratitude. I have the opportunity not only do what I love at a professional level, but I also get paid for it! I’m grateful that I haven’t experienced burn out at all. Every time I have a wedding or event on the books, I’m stilled filled with excitement, the same way I was when I booked my first wedding two years ago. I’m not sure I would be able to say that if I had a wedding booked for every weekend of the year. In the floral business some months are a whole lot busier than others. May and June along with September and October are usually pretty hectic, while other months tend to be a bit quieter for me. Working at Nisolo gives me some consistency throughout the year. I love my schedule of having a part-time job and the stability and routine that it gives me.
Of course I want to grow my business. I want my business to be greatly successful, and I would love to eventually achieve full-time status. It’s so easy to look around and compare myself and to feel like I’m not doing enough. At the same time, I am so content with where I currently am in my journey as a business owner. I have a part-time gig at an awesome and sustainable company, and I also have a business where I get to use my creativity and design skills to serve my community. I just turned 25 and I am so excited to see what this year brings for me and for Bentbrook Botanicals.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
A common misconception about floral design is that people assume that all I do is play with pretty flowers. Although, I do get to do that (and it is such a treat), that is only a fraction of what I do.
Creativity is a huge part of my job, but whats just as important is time management, communication, adaptability, perseverance, and compassion. I am so thankful I get to use my creativity in this profession, but without all of these other skills in my too lbelt, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.
Heres a breakdown of what my process looks like:
– First, I get in touch with a client. Sometimes, they reach out to me. Sometimes, if we have some kind of connection, I will reach out to them. We usually communicate though email and after they take a look over an example proposal (which is a proposal that lists the prices of commonly ordered floral items) that I send them they decide whether or not we are a good fit for each other.
– After the client decides that they want to move forward with me as the florist for their event, I have them fill out a form. The form that I send them basically walks through the all of the details for their wedding/event; When and where the event is taking place, the color palette and vibe they are wanting to emulate, how many bouquets/arrangements are needed, and everything in between.
– Once the form has been submitted by the client, I start to build their personalized proposal. Proposals consist of a vision board, a collection of flowers, fillers, and greenery that I think will be perfect for the big day, a list of every floral item along with the quantity and price, and a breakdown of the overall cost at the end. This is a big and super important step because no two proposals are the same. I always start from scratch and make sure that the vision I am cultivating for the client is totally unique.
– Next comes the first consultation with the client. During this initial meeting with the client, I present to them their personalized proposal. We talk through all the details and we start to edit everything together. Sometimes editing can take a while, but other times clients are fully satisfied after our first consultation. It all just depends on the event and the client.
– Once all of the edits have been made and the client is 100% satisfied with their proposal, we move onto payment. For smaller events I usually receive the payment all at once, but for all of my weddings and larger events, I require a 30% downpayment upon finalization of the clients proposal and then I require the remainder of the overall total no less than 30 days before their event date.
– Leading up to the wedding/event I usual order most of my flowers through the wholesaler ahead of time. Then, (usually) two days before the event I go to the wholesaler to pick up my order. I take the flowers home and I start processing and then once all the processing is done, I get to design. I design all of the arrangements, bouquets, boutonnieres, installations, and whatever else the client orders.
– On the day of the event, I pack everything up, deliver it to the venue, set up everything, make sure the client is satisfied, and then later, once the event is over, I come back and break everything down.
Thats basically what my job looks like. I love the artistic aspect of being a floral designer, but at the end of the day, it’s only about 15% of what I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: bentbrookbotanicals.wixsite.com/website
- Instagram: @bentbrookbotanicals
Image Credits
Photo of me in black turtleneck taken by RACHEL TAYLOR Photo of bride in long sleeve dress with white bouquet taken by ABIGAIL FLEISHOUR Photo of bride in strapless dress with bouquet with warmer tones by ASHTON BROOKE STOFFER