It's around eight o'clock on a Saturday night. Ivy Lin, thirty-one, has just finished preparing bouquets of flowers ordered by a local hotel, and had them delivered. She owns a flower shop, and does everything by herself. It has been a busy day for her, and her eyes are bloodshot; still, she looks spirited.
Fresh, beautiful flowers are everywhere, with a selection placed in big vases in a large refrigerator. A mild fragrance lingers in the air. A young gentleman comes in, wanting to buy a bunch of roses. Maybe another love story is about to unfold....
Flowers are sunny, positive, and full of vitality. The sight, the smell, and the touch of them delight me so much. When I look at how flowers blossom and wither, I can see and feel how time goes by, how everything changes. I consider myself pretty lucky to be able to combine my interests with my work, and to do my job in such an agreeable environment.
I believe everyone is endowed with talents in a certain field. As for me, I am very awkward with numbers, but I have always had a keen sense of how flowers can be arranged to look their best. Therefore, when I graduated from the horticulture department of a vocational school, I decided to pursue a career that utilized my abilities. I really didn't know what else I could do. But it took me ten years to accumulate enough experience, confidence, and investment capital to start up my own busi ness.
I opened this flower shop last March, and pay a monthly rent of NT$50,000 [US$1,515]. After one year in operation, I was gradually able to make ends meet, and began to reap investment returns. Nonetheless, it's unlikely that I'll make big bucks by operating such a small shop. But I didn't expect anything else when I decided to engage in this business.
This shop is all I have, and I need to devote myself wholeheartedly to it to put the operations on track as soon as possible. Except for my sleeping hours, I'm busy all day long with things related to the shop, from flower purchases, cutting, arranging and packaging, to delivery. I don't even recall the last time I went to the movies or had a vacation. But I have no complaints or regrets about that--I think I'm addicted to flowers, and deeply enchanted with their beauty. Thus, no matter how exhausted I am at the end of the day, my mind is still full of joy. It's important that people love what they do. That way, they will not get tired easily or discouraged when the work accumulates.
What's interesting is that there's always a love story taking place in my flower shop. I am very happy to play the role of "matchmaker," helping transmit the message of love for couples through sophisticated flower arrangements. There is a gen tleman who started coming to my shop to buy flowers when he was just starting to get to know his girlfriend. That went on about half a year. And tomorrow he is going to become engaged to her. I think the bouquets of flowers that I designed and arranged must have cast some spell over their relationship. [Lin states this with excitement.]
I get a great sense of achievement when I deliver flowers to my clients, and see the satisfaction in their eyes. The recognition of my work from clients is the best encouragement to me, and lets me feel that all my hard work has paid off. The only thing is, I don't have strong business connections like those who operate large-sized shops. As such, it's not easy for me to cultivate various sales channels, and build up my client base. Most of the time, I have to rely on recommendations from friends, or customers who once bought my flowers, to promote business. Though this method doesn't promote sales growth very quickly, it is very solid and practical. It should be only a matter of time before I start to secure sustained sales revenues.
During work, I do feel frustrated once in a while. I remember one time, a customer asked me to deliver a bunch of flowers to a lady who worked at the hospital, but the lady refused to accept the flowers, and she wouldn't explain why. I told her the flowers had already been paid for, and that I could not take the flowers back. She appeared annoyed and told me to put the bouquet out in the hallway, in the corner. It was sad to see the flower arrangement I had designed so carefully suffer such neglect.
Sometimes I have to keep communicating with clients about my design concepts in terms of the selection of flower color or packaging materials. In particular, for the environment's sake, I prefer simple packaging made of natural materials. How ever, sometimes customers don't agree with my ideas, and I have no choice but to compromise.
For the time being, I am concentrating on work and do not consider having a relationship. I had a boyfriend before, but I ended our three-year-long relationship sometime ago. The major reason behind our breakup was that we didn't have much time to get together. For my part, I was always busiest during holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas and New Year's. We had frequent quarrels over our dates because I was often late, keeping him waiting for hours. I struggled a lot between an attempt to maintain the relationship and do what I really wanted to do. Finally, I chose my job and gave him the boot. After all, I was more familiar with my work, and had more control over it.
I would call my current feelings about remaining single "relieved." If I were married, I wouldn't be able to devote as much time and energy to being a florist as I do now. Sometime later when the business becomes stable, I hope I can meet the right man and start a family. But the precondition is that he must be supportive of my interests and career. By that time, I will search for a business partner to share my workload so that I can manage my job and family at the same time.
In my opinion, there will always be a demand for florists. What's the reason behind my optimism? Nowadays, though machines are widely utilized to take the place of human resources, flower arranging remains a work of art that cannot be reproduced by technology. Also, the flower business can develop, following the overall upgrading of the living standard and per capita income of Taiwan. The romantic nature of flowers has become increasingly appealing, especially among younger people, as an ideal gift for commemorating special days and occasions.
What do I want to achieve with my job? As a matter of fact, I don't have much ambition. All I hope to do is run this flower shop until I am too old to do such work. I don't plan to expand my operations by opening chain stores, because I wouldn't be able to control the quality of the flowers sent out. I think I should be responsible to the clients directly by arranging and packaging flowers by myself to make sure everything meets the designated standard.
I do have one expectation, though. In the future, I hope the space of the flower shop can be enlarged to include gardens in both the front and back. Isn't it great to think of working in a garden every day, enjoying beautiful scenes and sunshine? The thought of this idea often gives me renewed strength to forge ahead. Then, I will be able to bring in more cut flowers and flower pots, and have the shop function as a "plant hospital," where the clients can send back flowers they buy from me for better treatment or care.
"You reap what you sow." I know if I work harder, I will come closer and closer to realizing my dreams. By that time, all the hardships will seem worthwhile.