We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Morgen Howells a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Morgen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.
My husband, Chris, and I started this business together almost 10 years ago inspired by family and our desire to have more control over the time we have to spend with our kids. Although it is true that we control our schedule and the work we choose to do, we very soon realized that owning your own business takes a LOT of personal time! And working full time with your spouse can be the most rewarding and also the most challenging thing! However, the heart of this business and what we set out to do (create happiness, cultivate kindness) is the driving force that always grounds us at times when we feel like we losing it! Ultimately starting our family business has been the best decision. Our family has grown closer and our company continues to grow and be successful. We are very, very grateful.
As far as the kids getting involved…we are so proud to say that our three oldest children have created amazing career paths all on their own! We know we can always count on them to pitch in on big jobs when we need them, and our youngest daughter who is 9 now has proven to be quite the budding little floral designer, although she has her sights set on veterinary work. Can’t say I blame her as we also operate a dog rescue full time, caring for animals is all she’s ever known…and we LOVE that. So whether or not any of them choose to be a hands in part of the family biz, Chris and I know that we are building this company for them and their future. When it’s time to hand over the reigns, we trust they will make the best choice to honor what fleur.ish was created to do.
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 very first job was at a tiny flower stand when I was 15, It took no time for me to discover that I had found my passion for design and my talent with fresh flowers. It wasn’t until many years later that I really connected with my purpose as a floral designer…
I was married and a mom by the age of 19 and had the honor of being a stay at home mom for many years, just doing floral design as a “hobby”, while in between PTA meetings and coaching soccer, volunteering, etc. My husband was a good man, and a good provider, and also struggled his entire life with bipolar depression and addiction. Subsequently, at the age of 28, I became a widow when he succumbed to his illness and took his own life. The whole world as I knew it ceased to exist as I was then faced with a new life as a single mom of two small children, and really had no idea where to go or what to do. Immediately my path lead to hospitality, and I started my career in food service as a server, bartender, eventually, management and I was able to support us that way. I still hold a flame in my soul for hospitality and food service, But through the years, I still kept a pinky toe in floral design. It was because of something that really stuck with me in my heart at my husband’s funeral… everyone sent red roses. Everywhere, there were red roses! It meant something, truly. People were expressing love and support, grief and sadness, so many sentiments through those flowers. They weren’t just meaningless stems, they were a communication of real human emotion, and that meant something to ME! I never forgot that… and this was when my purpose was discovered.
Fast forward to the year 2012 when the most incredible man in the world entered my life, Chris Howells. We knew the moment we met that every obstacle in our journeys before had led us to each other. We really did fall in love at first sight (soooo cliche, I know, but it’s true!), and never looked back. At that time, I was a floral designer for another company part time and managing a restaurant full time. When we learned we were going to bring our baby girl into the world, once again, my whole world changed and perspective was SIGNIFICANTLY altered! It was soon after Charlie Victoria was born that my husband stepped forward and gave me his shoulders to stand on, he created our dream company, fleur.ish! It was how to work from home with our baby, doing what I truly loved, and create a vision and a purpose behind the design that I really believed in.
I truly believe that flowers are a physical expression of human emotion. They say “congratulations!” “I’m sorry”, “I love you”, “I miss you”…. they are there to welcome life into the world or to start a new life in marriage, to say goodbye when our loved ones leave this earth…they are so much more than just pretty flowers, they are life! I’ve discovered that MY whole purpose in life is to create happiness and cultivate kindness, and floral design is my medium to do so. It’s why we say fleur.ish is “floral designs with humanity in mind.” There are so many opportunities to be kind and make someone happy every day, especially with flowers! I dare you to not be happy when someone hands you a beautiful bouquet. One of our favorite things that our company offers is the opportunity for our clients to donate their event florals to hospice patients. Many times we hear stories of nothing less than miracles happening, when a terminally ill patient who hasn’t even made eye contact with anyone in months, will suddenly smile and speak when a volunteer comes in the room with a beautiful arrangement of flowers for them. Flowers are amazing!!! I truly fall in love with my job on a daily basis when I see what is possible.
Chris and I are absolutely 50/50 partners in life and in our work. We are a team in every sense of the word, and I believe that is the biggest success of all. fleur.ish LLC is now 10 years old and we have continued to increase business year after year, even post covid, and I am certain that is due to our partnership and commitment to humanity and the compassion we share with all. We laugh together (a LOT!), we cry together, we problem solve together… and, of course, we fight and argue and all that goes along with a passionate relationship, but we always reel it back into what’s really important, which is simply being good humans! To each other, to our clients, and to every being we come in contact with. We are so happy about how far we’ve come and where we are going! fleur.ish is truly a dream realized!
In addition to specializing in luxury and custom wedding designs, we proudly offer boutique services such as custom dry bars, flower crown bars and workshops for private events as well as public forums. I have to say, these may be our favorite jobs as we get to personally interact with so many fun and amazing people, along with our incredible team of designers we’ve added to our “family” over the years. We encourage anyone to reach out to us and ask for more information about our interactive services, they are so fun!
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
For us team building is more like creating a family. We truly do care about every individual that works with us. And we love to encourage growth in the company! Finding each team members strengths and giving them their own leadership roles we hope really shows them that we see them, we trust them to represent our brand, and we are proud to work along side them. Chris and I love to hire learners! Those that have a passion for floral design but are maybe just starting out and eager to learn. It creates a foundation for a long lasting professional and personal relationship, and like I said, our team is our family! And of course recognizing growth and hard work with raises and bonuses is always necessary. Acknowledgement is huge, no matter how big or small the contribution may be. Oh, and food! We are constantly feeding our crew! Nobody likes to work hangry,!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Owning a business that operates almost solely on large events, covid nearly destroyed us. Chris had just given up his career in optics to take on a full time position as CFO and I was already full time designing and operations, so when the whole world shut down in March of 2020, all signs pointed to our business failing and us potentially losing everything! But Chris and I have faced many traumatic challenges in our past and we were not gonna go down without a fight! We collaborated with other industry vendors we know and love to come up with ways to safely celebrate events like drive by grad party’s, baby showers, birthday parties…we started no contact drive through pop up shops for Mother’s Day and holidays, opened an online store for ordering and deliveries….things we never considered as event florists before, but those creative ideas along with applying for every single grant and loan we could think of , we managed to save our business and came back stronger than ever in 2021 and 2022. It’s safe to say that we are confident now that we can really do anything as partners in life and in business.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.ocfleurish.com
- Instagram: @fleur.ish
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ocfleurish?mibextid=haYZDX
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/yV6DiUTu9vI?si=gtA2O5JxMiHdIV0L
- Yelp: Check out fleur•ish
Image Credits
Dearly Beloved Photography – Jenn Kostich