Member Spotlight: The Little Posy Co

Hey Helen, tell us a little about yourself! How did you discover floristry, what's your business name, where are you based, what's your floral style, dreams, goals, life story?

My name is Helen, I started Little Posy in 2014 after moving back to my hometown of Perth from New York. We’re 10 years old this year which is a huge milestone. My floral style is seasonal and ethereal, really embracing the beauty of what we can source locally.

We have been an online retail florist since our birth but this year, a decade in, we are expanding our offering to workshops, corporate arrangements, events, and weddings. We’ve received many requests to do all of these over the years, but I wanted to focus on our main offering of daily flowers as I was super busy growing my family and life was too hectic to add anything else. I now have finished with the baby-making – my three boys are 7, 4 and 14 months – and, frankly, cost of living has slowed our daily sales, so now’s the time to dive in feet first!

You’ve got a sustainable approach to your flower business - why is this important to you and what steps do you take to deliver eco-friendly florals to your community? 

I am intensely concerned and obsessed with climate change so much so that I started a masters in sustainability and climate emergency (and dropped out due to previously noted hectic life!!) As a business owner, I have the power to decide what I put out into the world and have significant buying power where I can channel my money into areas that I want to see flourish. I also have a responsibility to reduce our emissions and I want to be contributing as little as possible to the problem and be working towards the solutions. We use only locally grown and Australian grown flowers; we have solar panels on our warehouse, and we have two electric delivery vans. We use paper and twine to wrap our bunches and use a Bio cup as a water source – no cello here! We choose what flowers we send out – customer just select the size – so our wastage is minimal. We compost all our green waste. But we’re always looking for ways to improve!

Perth is on the other side of Australia and the flower options are so different and limited to the East Coast. Can you share the reality of florist life over in Western Australia and how you overcome these challenges?

Great question. It is SO hard and limited. I drool when I see the variety at the Sydney flower markets. I guess we just really have to work with what we’ve got. I work closely with local growers, and some allow us to influence the colours, varieties, and volume they grow each season. For daily deliveries it’s not so bad, and the freshness – often the flowers were picked the morning we collect them from the farm – means they last so long in the vase for our customers. For weddings it’s going to be trickier. I will grow some of the more delicate flowers such as cosmos that we’re unable to source locally and that don’t travel well and we’ll have to import roses from Grandiflora in Melbourne as there are no local rose growers anymore – which is so expensive. I suppose I’ll learn and adapt as I go.

You’ve got a busy life of running a venue, retail flowers, leading a team and mum life - any secrets for juggling, productivity, staying sane and dealing with all the highs and lows?

My husband and I also own a restaurant – La Lune in East Fremantle – and we’re building a house. It’s honestly a lot and I feel very much over capacity right now. We have wonderful teams at all three businesses, and we couldn’t do it without them. We also have an incredible nanny two days a week who helps with our three boys. I’ve been working hard at managing my emotions and learning ways to calm down if I’m feeling overwhelmed. Ultimately, this level of pressure is unsustainable, and I need to reduce the load. The house is almost finished so that’s one thing soon to be off my plate – thank the heavens! A couple of practical things that help me include regular, non-negotiable exercise and my reminders app, which I use for everything. And prioritising sleep. At the moment, I go to bed with my baby at like 7.45pm… Maybe I’ll watch a TV show again in the next year?!

You’re so consistent on socials and I love how you showcase your brand. Do you have a strategy, any tools or mindset shifts you can share for putting yourself out there and making the time to prioritise marketing?

Thank you! We are really trying to have more of a strategy and to embark on more founder-focussed content, which involved a fair amount of stepping outside of my comfort zone! We are still testing this out to see what resonates but I’m very inspired by your use of socials, Ash. Putting yourself out there definitely gets easier with practice. I love your routine of habit stacking posting on socials while you wait for your coffee at your local café. Penny, my marketing/socials manager, and I are trying to plan our content further in advance and try to balance a combination of product-related content and inspirational or educational posts. It’s an ever-evolving beast but you’ve got to put your sign out the front as they say!

You’re a member of Wildflower Academy, what first drew you to the membership and what has the experience been like as a member?

I am suffering an enormous amount of imposter syndrome as I move into wedding and event work. I have 10 years’ experience in retail floristry, but weddings have always been something I have felt intimidated by. I signed up to Wildflower Academy because I need support as I build up my experience and portfolio and the format works for me with my busy schedule. There’s such a wealth of knowledge across the creative areas as well as business and I have seriously devoured so much content already. I feel it is such an invaluable resource and it has really empowered me on this journey. Funnily, I subscribe to a similar platform for parenting – so if I’m not watching one of your classes, I’m listening to a parenting one!

What are some of your favourite classes from the Wildflower Academy membership and why?

So many! I love the bouquets and installations for the technical knowledge and the pricing & quoting and the client journey module in general has been so invaluable as I begin having consultations with couples. I also love the Branding module and the goal setting and habit stacking classes. I’ve watched many classes more than once!

I can tell that upskilling and learning new information is a big priority for you - can you share how you approach investing into knowledge and furthering your education as well as your techniques for making time to learn and take action on your new skills?

I love learning and get quite obsessed about it. But I go in ebbs and flows depending on what else I have going on. I wouldn’t say I’m as organised as you are, Ash, but I squeeze it in as often as I can and dip in and out when I need support.

What results/changes have you seen from these investments along your business journey?

I feel more empowered and supported with a resource that I can come back to when I need help.

Can you share any wins or highs you’ve had along your flower journey?

It’s been a decade so there’ve been many highs and lows! I started the business living at my gran’s house and doing deliveries in her car. I had zero expectations that it would take off and I am so fortunate that it has. We have evolved so much over the years and I’ve experienced so much growth as a leader, businessperson, and florist.

What’s been your biggest challenges when growing your business and how have you overcome them?

Learning how to manage a team. I wasn’t great at it in the beginning because I didn’t have any experience, but I have worked hard to learn and improve and I feel we now have a wonderful culture, with clear communication and support for each other.

What are your business goals for the future? Tell us where Little Posy Co is heading?

My goals are to nail these other areas and diversify the brand. We are lucky enough to be based at a beautiful wedding venue so we will start offering our wedding florals to couples who have booked at Assembly Yard and perhaps next season we will expand further afield. Inspired by you, Ash, I want to engineer this part of the business to work with my life and family so want to ensure we set a realistic minimum spend and cap it at a certain number of weddings per year. I want this to enhance my life creatively but not burn me out. I do feel inspired though to stretch a different floral muscle from the past 10 years- it’s exciting!

Have you got any words of wisdom for new florists wanting to start their business and dive into the floral industry?

Think about who you want to be on this planet, and what you value. I believe it is so much more rewarding to work with the beauty of the seasons and support local growers and their workers and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.