A Blooming Business

A young entrepreneur finds a way to “grow” her business

By Laura Forrest Hopfauf

Kayla Crigger may be young, but she’s already doing something that plenty of people dream of doing, running her own small business. Just five years ago, flowers weren’t really on Crigger’s mind. 

As a sophomore in high school, she wanted to be an event planner because she loved working with others and enjoyed coordinating projects. But when she accidentally ended up in an advanced horticulture class her senior year, she fell in love. And soon thereafter 4065 Florals began. 

Having a teacher that encouraged her creative talent and leadership abilities, Crigger began to do some of the planning for designs for her class and delegate tasks to her peers for their own floral creations. Eventually, she began working for her teacher’s floral business, helping to create arrangements for weddings while still in high school. She even took the lead on one wedding which built her confidence and planted a seed that maybe she could do this on her own as a business. 

When her cousin got married in 2022, Crigger did all of the florals herself, from ordering flowers, to creating designs, and arranging. From there, she says “the rest is history.” 

Kayla Crigger is still in high school, but has her own flower business.

Crigger booked her first gig from the work she did at her cousin’s wedding and then funneled the money and the connections from that back into her budding business, a practice she has continued as she’s grown larger in scale and concept. So far, 4065 Florals has arranged weddings, corporate events, and hosted floral workshops, like paint and sips, but with flowers where each guest gets to take home their own creation. 

Owning a small business, even with flowers, isn’t all roses, and like with any endeavor, Kayla has had her challenges.  

“Managing all of it on top of working at Green Hill Farms and as a Future Farmers of America state officer has been hard,” she says. 

But through these hardships, she has learned the biggest lesson that owning her own business has taught her so far—and that’s that her community is there for her.  

“I don’t have to do it all on my own,” she says. “My family has been so supportive, and the girls I have working for me are great and so talented.” 

Her family has given her space in their garage and basement to work from, while the young women working for her have helped run workshops and create arrangements for events— a fact that Crigger doesn’t take for granted. 

“It means a lot that I get to pay the girls who work for me what they deserve based on their skill and experience instead of their age,” she says.

As a young woman working on her own, Crigger understands how much experience and talent really do matter. She isn’t just bringing herself forward with her floral business but is helping young entrepreneurs as she creates space for other young women to do what they love and get what they deserve. 

Ultimately, Crigger wants to own and operate her own event venue on land that’s been in her family for generations. She hopes to provide all-inclusive event packages that include florals. But for right now, she just wants her floral business to continue to grow.  

“I want to be booked every weekend,” she says. “Doing bigger installations, not just bridal parties and center pieces, but even bigger creative arrangements.” 

Starting a business is intimating. There is so much that goes into owning and running your own company and the prospect of opening your own business, even if it’s your dream, can be overwhelming. But the advice Crigger has for others chasing the same dream is to “just do it. Don’t let fear hold you back. It doesn’t have to be on a big scale. You don’t have to jump right in and make it a huge thing. Just take it a day at a time. Grow it like you want to. Take whatever opportunities you can get and roll with it.”  

Floral 4065 started as an unexpected class in high school that turned into a love that turned into a small business for a young woman who just had the guts to do it. It seems like Kayla Crigger has been learning something from those flowers she’s been arranging so beautifully: maybe the best thing we can do is take what the world gives us and find a way to bloom.