Real-Life Retail Florist: Floristry Education for Today's Professionals
It's Thanksgiving week, and Vonda and Lori have plenty to be grateful for — including the project they've been dropping hints about for months, which is finally ready to share. Joined by Ellie LaFever and Abby Chick, floral educator and retail shop owner, the four reveal the Real-Life Retail Florist: a complete digital curriculum for building a successful retail floristry business, a full year of collaboration in the making.
What the Real-Life Retail Florist actually is
Ellie describes it as a digital course that's "so much more than a digital course." The program includes over 110 videos, a comprehensive resource guide, templates — yes, including a business plan template, because you still need one — and interactive spreadsheets with built-in formulas that help you make good business decisions and stay profitable at every step. What makes it different is the collaboration: four unique perspectives from four different markets and walks of life, compiled into one course, rather than a single instructor telling you exactly what to do. Lori compares it to a college semester — a grad-level course for the career you actually want — and says the workbook alone will be a Bible a shop owner refers back to daily for the first five years of business.
Why it needed to exist
For Abby, the need became obvious during the pandemic, when the bottom dropped out for many event- and wedding-only florists. As "the resident retail guy" in her floral circles, she fielded question after question from colleagues desperately pivoting to daily work — and had nowhere to send them for help. She watched talented florists try everyday retail, decide "you can't make money, customers are too picky," and leave the industry altogether. Not because retail doesn't work — retail florists came out of the pandemic stronger than ever — but because they didn't know what they didn't know.
The seed was planted back in the Clubhouse days, when Abby pulled Vonda into a room full of event florists trying to figure out what to do when everything canceled. Abby, a self-described floral course junkie who has been to floristry school, puts it plainly: what they've created is guidance she has never seen anywhere. Even her own staff asked, "Where did you learn this?" Her answer: "This hasn't been taught before."
Who it's for
Each of the four sees a different student. Abby points to experienced event and wedding florists who want to add consistent daily income and retain staff without starting at the bottom — the course teaches the fundamentals of retail floristry through a modern lens, so they can build a retail extension that fits the brand they already have. Lori sees the dreamers: anyone with a calling for this industry — a shop, a flower truck, a subscription business, a kiosk — who doesn't know where home plate is. "We literally and virtually hold your hand through the process."
Ellie, who grew up in a flower shop, makes the case for the second, third, and fourth generations who want to continue a family legacy without running it into the ground — because growing up in the business isn't the same as knowing how to run it. And Vonda adds one more: the wave of outside buyers purchasing flower shops right now with a good business mind but little idea how different a flower shop really is. Even Abby, 17 years into her floristry career, says she's going back to the very first module to fill gaps — nobody ever helped her write a business plan or define her brand identity.
The four C's — and how to get in
Abby sums the whole thing up as the four C's: the courses, the confidence, the community, and the coaching. When the course launches December 1st, purchasers also get four coaching sessions — one with each instructor. Call Vonda for financials and profitability, Lori for anything employee-related (hiring, firing, training, or just encouragement), Abby for the open-book shop-owner questions, right down to the best white rose substitutions.
To get priority access, go to realliferetailflorist.com and join the VIP list. Questions? Email lori@flowerclique.com — Lori will even schedule a call if you're on the fence.
Key takeaways
- Real-Life Retail Florist launches December 1st: 100+ videos, a resource guide, templates, and interactive spreadsheets with built-in formulas.
- Four instructors means four perspectives — established wisdom and current, in-the-trenches retail experience combined.
- It's built for event florists adding retail, brand-new dreamers, generational owners, and shop buyers who are in over their heads.
- Even veteran florists have gaps — business plans, brand identity, mission statements — worth going back to fill.
- Join the VIP list at realliferetailflorist.com for priority access and the included mentor sessions.