We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Evan Leggoe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Evan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I am very content with the path I’ve chosen. My partner is also a small business owner so we discuss these topics a lot and there is an appeal to not having to make every decision regarding the business and getting to simply show up, do the work and go home. At this stage of my life and my business, things are really going smoothly, I specifically started my own business so that I could have more creative control so I really can’t imagine working for someone else. My least favorite part of every job I had previously was the down time where you don’t actually have anything to be doing but you’re expected to still be at work, now that I work for myself I get to work until the task is done and then go do something else I enjoy, there’s no mindlessly trying to fill hours. I’m picky about the clients I choose to work with, and I’m strict about not over booking myself, so I actually think I have a better than average work/life balance. During busy season however, the work gets very physically demanding and I could see needing to step back from it at some point, or at least hiring more help so that I don’t always have to be the one climbing ladders and going back to clean up weddings at midnight!

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 grew up in a family that valued creativity, we even had an art room in our home, so I was pretty much destined to continue on that path. I went to college for fine art, and while I excelled at school, it was clear that making a career out of painting was going to be extremely challenging, and not entirely appealing. After graduating I struggled to figure out what sort of job I was actually suited for and that I would actually enjoy, I can’t remember exactly how being a florist came about but I know it was a rather random idea as I had no experience with flowers and didn’t know anyone who did. After about a year of floundering, I moved to Atlanta in 2013 with no job, no savings, and a very temporary living situation. I got a part time gig as a nanny and cold called a number of florists trying to get a design job and thankfully one studio liked that I had an art background and took me on. I learned the trade from them and worked there for multiple years. It was a very valuable experience and taught me both what I wanted to bring to my own business and what I didn’t want. When I decided it was time to start my own business in late 2016, I left my first florist job and took on a part time job teaching art at an after school program so that I could have some steady income but a more flexible schedule while building my business. I wanted to start my own design business because I was interested in focusing on sourcing blooms locally, and I was tired of doing “cookie cutter” weddings that all looked the same. I wanted to utilize my artistic skills to make each event unique, like the people that were being celebrated. At the time there weren’t many flower farmers in the Atlanta area but I made a connection with Rag and Frass farm that is located almost 2 hours south of the city, so both Julia (the farmer) and I would drive and meet halfway on the highway so I could get her blooms. Now that I live in the Chattanooga area, I have 3 flower farms that I utilize, all much closer and it’s so much easier! The other big thing I wanted to eliminate was using floral foam (an industry standard single-use material that breaks down into micro plastics) which was a learning curve as well. I am thankful that having vendors interested in sustainability is now more main stream, but at the time there were not many resources to be had and I put in a lot of work to figure out foam free mechanics, which I am very proud of. Because of this I always try and share my knowledge freely. I firmly believe that there’s room for all of us and that gate-keeping is not beneficial. I’ve also worked to educate my potential clients and I’ve really seen it pay off, people now regularly comment that they are reaching out to me because of my practices.
Similarly when it comes to style, I actually made a big gamble when I started to book weddings and turned down clients who wanted all white weddings! I didn’t do them for years because I knew my strength is in combining color in unusual ways. It has paid off! While at the time it was turning down income, it means now I get clients who come to me not because I’m just a wedding florist, but because they can see I offer something unique.
I only do weddings, partly because that’s what how I learned the trade, and partly because retail does not appeal to me, it’s a wholly different business. I offer services at different scales because I know how expensive weddings get and I want everyone to be able to have beautiful flowers at their wedding. Last year I started doing seasonal packages to offer as an option for lower budgets and/or clients interested in sustainability. They are offered only in the months when I can locally source all the blooms, and the client doesn’t get to pick the color palette, just a descriptor word like “neutral” or “moody” and I pick whatever looks best from my farmer, I’m really excited about it because I have so much fun getting to put the palettes together and they are so low stress as compared to my full service weddings.
For my full service weddings I provide everything floral-wise they could need from boutonnieres to hanging installations, and I am always the one to actually design the arrangements. I have help onsite, but the part I like best about this job is getting to make arrangements, which is part of why I have also made the decision not to scale up. I’ve put a lot of thought into that decision and I think it’s the right one for me, I want to be hands-on but I also want to have free time to enjoy my hobbies. I moved in 2017 from Atlanta to Chattanooga, which meant expanding my reach and was a bit scary to do, but I have found that I really like doing events in both (and surrounding areas) because it keeps things interesting, I get to work for different types of clients and at a wide array of venues.
I think the other thing that sets me apart is that I’m not a salesperson, I find myself regularly telling clients that they don’t need to go overboard on certain aspects of their wedding design. I am honest about what will give them the most impact for their budget, but I have no desire to push people beyond their means. The wedding industry can really get carried away in waste, and personally try and mitigate that as much as I can.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Spring 2021, after having an extremely rough year due to covid cancellations, I was setting up my first wedding of the year and fell off the ladder I was working on and sprained my ankle. I didn’t know at the time that sprains like mine take months to heal. I had to face a busy spring season one leg down, designing either sitting down or balanced on my knee scooter. I had to rely heavily on my partner so much, including to carry my work in and out of the flower cooler for me. I hired extra helpers in the studio a few times and on site but I still designed and was there for the set up every wedding. It was really eye opening as a sole business owner, since I’m the only one to do most tasks. I certainly had a few break downs but I got through it with assistance and it taught me how valuable it is to have good helpers.

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.

I think one of the hardest parts about being an artistic person is figuring out the overlap of what you’re good at making that people will actually be willing to pay for. I’ve always liked making lots of different forms of art- painting, sewing, embroidery, illustration, jewelry, but when it came to actually trying to make a career out of making one of a kind objects, I just wasn’t succeeding. There are more artists than ever so it’s hard to distinguish yourself, and it’s hard to make people understand that the embroidered pillow you’re trying to sell is in fact a good deal because you spent 8 hours on it. Floral design has been so great for me because it uses my artistic knowledge of color and composition, while being something people are inclined to spend money on. I do still have to educate people on why my services cost what they do sometimes, but all in all it is such a relief to not have to constantly be trying to convince people that what I’m offering is worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.thicketfloraldesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thicketcreative/?hl=en

Image Credits
Our Ampersand photo Ben and Colleen photo