Interview with Rona from Flowerona

Recently I've been reading a truly lovely and unique blog, www.flowerona.com

Rona kindly agreed to answer a few questions, please check her website out and stay tuned for a flower event I will be organizing later in the year.

1. What made you give up your job to run your flower blog full time?

I was running my own Virtual PA business at home and went to see a business coach.  She advised me that I needed to do something creative, rather than simply react to my clients’ needs.

She advised me to create a moodboard and when I did, 95% of it was pictures of flowers.  It sat on my desk for a good 3-4 weeks before I had a light bulb moment one Friday afternoon in August 2010.

I came across a blog called Wee Birdy (http://www.weebirdy.com/) which at that particular time featured blog posts of things with birds on.  So, I thought, why don’t I write a blog about things with flowers on, plus real flowers as I’d previously trained as a florist.

I started Flowerona (www.flowerona.com) in December 2010 and ran it in tandem with my Virtual PA business.  Then in September 2011, I sold my business and now I run Flowerona full-time.

2. Describe a typical day for you.

A typical day starts at 6.30am with a cup of tea at my computer.  I set up tweets in Hootsuite to promote my new blog post that day. Then post about it on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Flowerona).

The next task is to go through all the blogs that I read via Google Reader.  If I think that a particular blog post will appeal to my readers, then I’ll tweet a link to it in Twitter (https://twitter.com/flowerona) or save it for my Flowerona Links (http://flowerona.com/category/flowerona-links/) blog post on a Sunday.

I’ll also pop into Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/flowerona/) to see if there any new images to pin to my boards.

Next, I’ll open my emails and deal with them before starting my blog post for the next day.

Every day is different.  So, I may go out to a meeting, visit a show or trade fair, attend a floristry class…plus all the other tasks of running a home, like food shopping, bill paying, washing, etc.!

Throughout the day, I’ll dip in and out of my emails, Twitter and Facebook.

I generally switch off my main computer around 7.30pm.  But then, after dinner, I’m often on my laptop on the sofa until heading to bed around 10pmish.

3.  If a reader has a passion for flowers but doesn't know how to make it into a career, what would you advise?

I would recommend taking a floristry evening class.  That’s how I started.  You can find out about courses near you via Hot Courses or Floodlight websites. 

Then, once you have some basic skills, you may like to consider doing work experience at a local florist at the weekend.

Photos courtesy of www.flowerona.com