Flowers: After a breakup, she escaped her depression with a bouquet and founded London's hit flower shop, beloved by British princesses

In East London there is an upscale flower shop: McQueens. This shop is one of the most popular flower shops in London.

McQueens has many important and distinguished clients, who have signed long-term cooperation contracts with banks, hotels and shops, and its clients also include many famous restaurants and shopping malls.

In addition, this flower shop also undertakes the decoration of many important international venues, such as celebrity parties after the Los Angeles Oscars.

Many people would think it must be riding on the coattails of the late famous designer Alexander McQueen to be able to open so successfully.

Actually that is not the case. This flower shop was already open long before Alexander McQueen became famous.

The story begins in 1990. Kally Ellis, founder of McQueens, said: "This year was the worst year of my life.”

That year Kally was 28, having just broken up with a boyfriend she had dated for many years. She sold the apartment she and her boyfriend had bought in preparation for marriage, and moved back home to live with her parents.

Kally, who worked as a clerk at a small city bank, was very tired of this job. One day she suddenly learned that her best friend since university had died in that year's Lockerbie air disaster.

In the middle of summer, she went to Paris to comfort her friend's mother, and Kally walked into a small flower shop.

"It was a sad visit. I wanted to give her a bouquet, so I went into a small flower shop and bought some simple tulips. I watched the shop staff carefully wrapping and tying them to make a simple bouquet. I waited in that small flower shop for about 20 minutes, and finally the clerk handed me a bouquet of tulips. It was breathtakingly beautiful." Kally said.

A few weeks later, when Kally had returned home, on a September morning, she had a dream in which she was working in a flower shop and was making a beautiful bouquet.

This dream was like an epiphany, as if a light switch had been turned on, and what lay ahead was bright and clear. At the same time a voice beside her ear said: "Now is the time to walk out of your depression and start doing something."

"So I went downstairs and told my mom and dad that I was going to open a flower shop." Kally said.

My parents acted as if they had not heard and said: "Okay!"

Then they said: "What would you like for breakfast?"

Many friends around her learned of Kally's decision and tried to talk her out of it, saying:

"We are in an economic depression right now. Flowers are a luxury. You will close down very soon. You might as well play it safe and keep your iron rice bowl at the bank."

But Kally thought:"If you do not pursue your dream, when will you?"

And so Kally began her plan to open a shop. She went to her boss at the bank and volunteered to be laid off. At the time it was the height of the Great Depression, and the bank was happy to cut staff, so she took a severance package, plus the money she got back from selling half of the apartment she had shared with her boyfriend after their breakup.

Gathering a total of 14,000 pounds, Kally bought aramshackle little flower shop struggling to survive in Shoreditch in East London.

This flower shop, McQueens, was named after the owner at the time, Carol McQueen. This Ms. McQueen was the aunt of the later famous fashion designer Alexander McQueen. (That is the only connection)

On January 1, 1991, Kally got the keys to the shop. "That year, while all businesses were in depression, I seemed to see bright windows and a future of birdsong and fragrant flowers." Kally said.

However, things do not always go as one wishes. Less than a week after opening,

"One morning, when I came to the shop entrance, I suddenly found that the area in front of the door had been painted with a red line by the urban management authorities. This meant no parking, and more importantly, it meant no one would come to the door." Kally said.

However, when one way is blocked, another opens, and a crisis can also be a turning point. Kally thought at the window for two days and made a decision: since customers could not come to the door, she would go to the customers.This setback instead laid the foundation for the future success of McQueens.

Kally put a big sign in the window, offering on-site flower arranging services, and presented her service plan to many upscale hotels, restaurants and shops that needed flower arrangements maintained.

Unexpectedly, although the economy was in recession, there were indeed quite a few upscale venues that needed flower arranging services, and her phone began ringing nonstop.

However, what truly laid the foundation for her success was the third year after opening.

One morning in June 1994, she suddenly received a call from the Serpentine Gallery, asking whether she could help with the setup for a large event. They needed to build four 20-foot-tall flower platforms within three days, but the famous flower shop designer invited from France had actually not brought all the flowers and construction staff.

And the person attending that day was a global focus of attention:Princess Diana.

"I said on the spot: no problem. But after I put down the phone, I started trembling myself." Kally said with a smile.

Kally started out as a bank clerk who knew nothing about flower arranging, a marriage-age woman with a broken heart, and a tiny flower shop in a remote street. Twenty-five years later, she now has 40 employees and each flower shop is at least 12,500 square feet in size.

McQueens has an annual turnover of 5 million pounds. She has four directly operated stores and one globally famous flower arranging school. Her clients are all world-renowned hotels, famous stores, Michelin restaurants and wealthy people.

I believe that in everyone's heart, just like in mine, there is a voice and a dream.

It is just that some people choose not to listen, some people choose not to take action, and of course even more people, like me, take action on it.

If you, like Kally, have a dream in life:to open a flower shop, but you know nothing about flowers or running a business, would you take action?