Hannah Ellis

Hannah worked at Michelle’s Flowers from the age of 14, before going off to university to do a fine art degree. When she returned, it was on the basis of building and running a dedicated wedding service, an idea that had been brewing for a number of years.

“We had talked a great deal about how my skills and ideas could be put to best use within the business,” she explains. “After university, my role became much more specialist, as I was given the challenge and sole responsibility of establishing and growing a new area of the business to its full potential.”

Business owners, Michelle Grainger and Karen Pullin invested in Hannah and the idea by building a dedicated Wedding Planning consultation room, where customers could relax over a cup of coffee whilst discussing their wedding plans and individual floral requirements.

Building the confidence of her customers and introducing new ideas, coupled with hard work and commitment meant that in less than five years, Hannah succeeded in increasing the company’s wedding business by 400%.

Now a director, she has overseen geographical expansion of the business too, winning weddings from as far away as Harrogate and Knaresborough:

“Winning weddings in areas like this is a great achievement for us”, states Hannah, “because competition there is so much more intense.”

The plans don’t stop there. Next stage is to enhance the services offered within the division beyond the purely floral, looking at wedding favours and opportunities to develop an invitation service.

Her boundless energy and inspiration to keep the business moving and growing Hannah puts down to business owners, Michelle and Karen, whom she cites as her role models:

“They always work hard, and are always open to new ideas to build the business. Their attitude is to try everything. If you stop moving you don’t go anywhere.”

For others desperate to scratch their entrepreneurial itch, Hannah advises them to work really hard, not to take the knocks too badly, and to bear in mind that the established route is not the only route:

“People are often surprised that I did a degree and came back to the shop. They expect that I would do something different, like friends of mine who have gone on to be teachers.

“I saw it as an exciting opportunity for lots of forward steps. I have been given lots of ownership in the shop, and now the business is as much about me as it is Michelle and Karen.”