[Hua11.com Original] The first two articles in this career analysis series are as follows:

1. "[Hua11.com · Career Analysis Series 1] I have a job, but I really like flowers. Should I resign and enter the flower industry?"

2. "[Hua11.com · Career Analysis Series 2] I want to open a flower shop, do I need to go to a training institution to learn floral design?"

If you've already decided to enter this beautiful floral industry and are eager to learn with a focus on practical results, what learning channels can you choose? Before addressing this question, let's analyze the characteristics of beginners or zero-based students who are just stepping into the floral industry:

I. Zero-Based Students and the Importance of Practice

Zero-based students tend to start relatively slowly. Typically, after completing a class, they require extensive practice to truly master the key concepts of the course. Ideally, this practice should occur immediately. Traditional teaching methods—where the teacher instructs once, the student practices once, and then the work is set aside—don't yield significant practical benefits for zero-based students in the field of floral art. Why? Because floral art is a handicraft industry, and quick mastery is not feasible. Any promise of rapid progress or speediness is likely an exaggeration.

Instead, students should engage in repeated practice of the lesson's key points immediately after the teacher's instruction. During this practice, mistakes are acceptable. The teacher's guidance throughout the practice process is crucial. If the training institution allows students to repeat their practice or encourages continued practice after training, memory theory suggests that diligent repetition, sufficient practice cycles, and consistent effort will lead to comprehensive mastery that endures over time.

Remember, muscles have memory too—the more you practice, the more proficient you become. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

II. Understanding the Big Picture in the Floral Industry

Newcomers to the floral industry must grasp the overall concept—the "Big Picture." Often, these beginners focus solely on learning the craft without fully understanding the industry as a whole. This perspective can lead to blind spots in their learning process.

For students aspiring to open a flower shop or floral studio, a common mistake occurs: they prioritize learning craftsmanship first, followed by management and marketing. However, if they possess an accurate understanding of the industry and if the training institution provides a suitable learning environment (including well-managed physical stores and internship opportunities), an alternative approach becomes viable. We recommend that students simultaneously learn craftsmanship, theoretical management knowledge, and practical marketing skills.

This approach places high demands on the training institution's facilities, the institution's accumulated practical knowledge, and the teachers' experience. These requirements include excellent craftsmanship, successful operation of physical flower shops, and exposure to diverse marketing scenarios. It's essential to recognize that an academic route or obtaining a foreign florist certificate alone may not adequately prepare instructors for teaching such courses.

Now, let's delve into several forms of domestic floral training institutions:

The first way is the traditional training school or the form of a general studio.

Most domestic training institutions are in this form at present. But this teaching method has relatively limited effects. Why?

Because first of all, the school is in the form of large classes, and one floral teacher is facing dozens or even dozens of students. The teacher has to guide in addition to teaching, and it is difficult to cope, and without individualized guidance, the learning effect will be discounted.

Secondly, after many teachers enter the school, including teachers in the studio, they no longer participate in the market, that is, they no longer need to run a flower shop (or they are directly teachers and have not been tested by the market). Because there is no operating pressure (it doesn't matter if they can't sell), the craftsmanship they teach may be out of touch with the market. In this case, the students taught (especially those who want to open a flower shop or studio) still need to make a secondary style transformation for the market. It is actually like relearning. This process will be very painful and the effect may not be good. Especially for beginners, whether they can pass this hurdle depends entirely on their personal ability.

Because there is not much operating pressure and no need to compete with others, these teachers basically cannot teach you real practical business experience.

Although the works produced are tall and beautiful, if no one buys them (out of touch with the market demand), how to recover the learning investment cost?

Finally, most of these schools do not have subsequent support services or supporting operation services, and students do not even have the opportunity to practice. For the flower shop industry that requires practice and is essentially an individual entrepreneurship, the school's effect guarantee is obviously very limited.

Due to the above objective reasons, the training effect of these schools is relatively limited.

From the perspective of institutional operation, the school model is like a cinema. Because the investment is fixed (the teacher's teaching time), as long as the number of participants is higher, the income will be higher. So you will see that it is mainly schools that advertise heavily.

The second way is to be an apprentice in a local flower shop.

Some floral enthusiasts believe that being an apprentice in a flower shop will be closer to their dream of opening their own shop and make the transition smoother. But in fact, this is basically wishful thinking. The truth is that it is very difficult to learn truly useful floral knowledge.

The logic is very simple. Calm down and ask yourself: Why does this flower shop hire apprentices? (Whether it is paid or unpaid) The reasons are nothing more than:

1. The store is busy and needs someone to help with the chores (such as removing thorns, cleaning, etc.);

2. The store is not busy, but the owner does not want to do those less valuable jobs.

So cheaper labor is recruited in the name of "apprentice". Individual flower shops may also be aware of "cultivating competitors", which also leads to a discount in teaching quality. What you learn is only the superficial, and the real craftsmanship is still in the hands of the shop owner.

I believe this is relatively easy to understand.

The third way is the "Practical Floral Training" model combining "craftsmanship + management" founded by Hua11.com.

The characteristics of the Hua11.com model are:

1. Teaching in a physical flower shop. In addition to mastering the craftsmanship, students can regard themselves as the "owner of the flower shop" because they are in the flower shop, and carefully observe and understand all aspects of the operation of the physical flower shop. This kind of experience is extremely valuable for students who want to open a flower shop or floral studio.

2. Insist on small-class teaching. This can ensure high attention from the teacher to the students.

3. Allow repeated visits to the store for re-listening within one year, and have permanent student group support to ensure the short-term, medium-term and long-term learning effects of the students.

4. The "Flower Shop Entrepreneurship Exchange Meeting" organized offline by Nick Wong, the founder of the Hua11.com brand, every month, communicates face-to-face with the students, solves doubts and guides the way. It is a very valuable link in the course and is highly rated by the students.

Because in this "craftsmanship + management" combined model, the teachers are the operators of physical flower shops, which determines that the teaching content of the teachers is in complete accordance with the market demand. What the market demands, the teachers teach. Therefore, the students will eventually master the most popular flower arrangement techniques directly. After completing the course, the students can immediately engage in floral work without the need to re-adapt.

Another advantage is that students can personally understand all kinds of knowledge about operating a flower shop, including flower material processing skills, management, purchase channels, sales skills, inventory management, etc. By being exposed to it in the flower shop, they can master a lot of skills.

"More skills do not burden you". Whether it is for learning to open a flower shop or studio, these are quite meaningful.

There is actually a logic involved in this, that is, to open a flower shop/studio, you should find someone who has successfully opened a flower shop/studio to teach you, rather than learning in the classroom. This is like learning to swim. You should learn and practice in the swimming pool, not talk about it in the classroom. It's the same reason.

"Knowledge gained from books is superficial after all. It is crucial to have it personally tested somehow." Don't be pompous, but practice. This is the first point you must keep in mind when entering this industry.

In addition, since the outbreak of the epidemic, many students from other places are not convenient to attend classes in person. Therefore, Hua11.com has also considerately launched the "1-on-1, online live teaching by real teachers, interactive teaching" model, allowing students to connect with the teacher via video at home and flexibly make appointments with the teacher (even at night or on weekends, which is convenient for working students) to learn floral art.

During the 1-on-1 teaching process, the teacher will track the student's learning situation throughout the process. Point out problems immediately, and students can also get the teacher's reply and guidance immediately if they have questions, restoring the offline learning mode to the greatest extent and ensuring the learning effect.

Many students from other provinces and foreign countries have used this model for learning and have given good feedback.

The fourth way is to learn through recorded videos or books.

Although this way has a lower cost, the effect is relatively poor. Recorded videos seem understandable, but in fact, there are still many subtleties. Without physical classes or immediate guidance from online teachers to mark out the key points and reveal the mysteries, it is difficult to truly master them and a lot of time will be wasted. If the teaching quality of the recorded videos is poor, it may even mislead and make learners realize the wrong way. It will be time-consuming and laborious to correct it later, and the loss outweighs the gain. Therefore, we generally only list these materials as references. Or as a reference for improvement after learning.

As a floral worker, one thing to keep in mind is that floral art changes with the fashion trend. So we have to keep continuous learning and repeated practice. Only in this way, the works we produce will be accepted by the trend.

The above is our summary. I hope it will be helpful to you. Thank you.

Copyright Statement:

This article is an original creation by Hua11.com and is included in the “How to Run a Flower Shop and Floral Studio” Ebook. The content of this article may be periodically updated and is initially published on the Hua11.com official website blog. You can find the article at this link: https://hua11.com/blog/4667.html.

Reproduction of this article is permitted, provided that it is reprinted in full and all copyright information is retained. Any form of plagiarism, whether partial or complete, is strictly prohibited. Legal action will be taken against violators.

The work titled “How to Run a Flower Shop and Floral Studio” is copyrighted by Hua11.com. Additionally, the “Practical Floral Training” model and the concept of “Light Decoration” are original creations by Hua11.com. The trademark “花艺意” is registered and protected by relevant national laws.