Housewife builds career as florist and flower arrangement teacher in midlife

Housewife builds career as florist and flower arrangement teacher in midlife

2023-07-14

Today we meet a flower arrangement teacher who created a new life for herself after the age of 40. Having spent her younger years as a housewife, Tai Su-chen decided to find work as a florist and then open her own flower arranging business. Despite not having access to large amounts of capital, and lacking confidence with digital tools, Tai found her own way to a successful career. Now, she has an online following with her live-streamed flower classes, and is even getting into acting.

Tai Su-chen picks up her floral shears and gets to work. With a few deft snips, the bouquet quickly emerges.

She spins the turntable, rapt in concentration, to find the best spot for the next stalk. After many years as a housewife, Tai’s love of flowers led her to find work as a florist for the first time at the age of 41.

Tai Su-chen
Flower arrangement teacher
I was about 41 when I went to work as a florist. I started learning how to buy stock, how to arrange the flowers, and how to think like a manager. Later I started to think that opening my own store was not the path for me, because that needs a large amount of capital. So I started to build my own business at home.

Tai spent a year studying many skills, getting to grips with everything from stock to managing costs, as well as the art of flower arrangement itself, and how to market herself with analogue methods.

Tai Su-chen
Flower arrangement teacher
We’re already at a certain age, so can’t really use digital products very much. We don’t know how to send out messages about the classes we’re giving. So it was a flyer I wrote myself and then took to get copied at the printer’s, and I took a whole stack of these posters around and put them into each house’s letterbox. And some communities have security who won’t let you post flyers, so we got turned away.

But setbacks didn’t daunt her. Obnoxious customers and rude students have done nothing to quench Tai’s spirit. She has continued to develop her skills, even starting to stream her work online and becoming – who would have thought it – an internet celebrity.

Tai has not let challenges keep her from giving her creative gifts to the world, finding the courage to step out of her comfort zone and create a whole new life.

從小喜歡花草! 戴嗉珍41歲首踏入職場圓插花夢

2023-07-14

新北林口區有一位花藝老師戴嗉珍，她原本是家庭主婦，因為從小喜歡花草，為了一圓插花夢，41歲那年，首次踏入職場、到花店工作，沒想到花店工作讓她欲罷不能，燃起創業夢，短短一年多自行創業，不僅接案插花、開課教學，甚至學當網紅直播、還斜槓兼職當演員拍網路劇，一起來看看她的精采人生。

一手拿著花藝刀，削減花腳，動作俐落又快速，她是花藝老師戴嗉珍。

轉動桌上轉盤、眼神專注，再找出最佳插點，原本是家庭主婦的戴嗉珍，因為喜歡植物喜歡花， 41歲那年到花店工作。

[[花藝老師戴嗉珍]]
"我大概41歲左右，進去花店工作，我就開始學習如何進貨，如何整理花材，然後以一個經營者的角色下去思考，那後來覺得開花店，好像不是我可以走的路，因為那畢竟需要比較大量的成本這樣子，所以我就開始在家裡面開始創業"

花了一年時間學習，從進貨到成本控制，學習插花技藝，用純手工方式推銷自己。

[[花藝老師戴嗉珍]]
"我們已經有一個歲數了，所以其實不是很會用電子產品，我們不知道怎麼樣發布這個開課訊息出去，所以當時是自己寫的文案，寫了文案之後，然後去影印店去複製，自己揹著一疊海報紙，然後挨家挨戶去投(信箱)，那有一些社區，它有社區管理它不能夠投，所以我們就是被拒絕這樣"

儘管被拒絕，接案也曾遇過奧客、沒禮貌的學生，各種挫折卻沒澆熄戴嗉珍的創業夢，她拼命學習、一邊摸索，甚至做出突破，斜槓直播當網紅。

戴嗉珍大膽走出舒適圈，用行動活出不一樣的人生。

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