Paper Talk

Jessie and Quynh chat about how to use competition in the paper flower industry as motivation to build a unique brand and embrace what makes you unique.

Scrolling through Instagram, are you ever overwhelmed by what other paper florists are creating? We’ve all had those moments when we worry we won’t ever be as good as our peers, or we don’t know if we’re keeping up with pricing or trends in the paper flower industry. 

Here’s the good news: paper florist competition isn’t ruthless. As we discussed in our latest episode of Paper Talk, we view our competition as motivation, not a threat. We’ve long extolled the virtues of building our community, and this is exactly where that pays off for everyone. Quynh characterized her relationship with Jessie this way:

“We have really friendly competition, I would say. We share our pricing. We share our strategy. We help each other build our business even better. I’m always picking Jessie’s brain.” 

We agree that building bridges with other paper florists allows us to learn and to push our boundaries to places we may have never reached on our own. That’s one reason why we started our Paper X Talk series about pricing, and our topic for the final lecture on December 5 is what inspired this episode. We’ll dive even deeper into how we use competition to price our paper flowers. Buy your tickets now before the price goes up!

Here’s what you’ll hear when you listen to our conversation: 

Why competition doesn’t have to mean aggressive competitiveness, but rather motivation.

Honing your voice to produce unique paper flowers.

Why you need connections in the industry to build community and better your work.

How to deal with imposter syndrome. 

Using competition to push yourself in new and perhaps uncomfortable ways.

You can jump right into our community by joining our Facebook group where we share tutorials and techniques and celebrate each others’ success. And listen now to the podcast to gain a new perspective on competition and how you can use it to stand out in our paper flower industry.

“I think the question is always how do you get your voice to shine through your flowers? And it’s not a simple answer, because it’s such a unique journey for everybody. And that’s why we talk about paper flower journeys so much. We talk about ours because we’re still growing, we’re still evolving. I’m always looking for a way to grow more.” - Jessie

Our Facebook admin Christina Funderburgh hasn’t been in the paper flower business long, but her artistry and business have taken off at an incredible pace. We chatted with her about how she has grown so successfully, so quickly.

You’ve jumped into the paper flower world. You know that you want to turn this hobby into a business. Where do you start? How long will it take?

Christina Funderburgh proves that you can build up a successful paper flower business without waiting years and years. She has always been a DIY, creative soul, so it felt natural for her to create flowers for her wedding even though the medium of paper was new to her. That was only a couple of years ago, and since then her artistry as a paper florist has improved by leaps and bounds. She’s been able to use her artistic background to build her business, Fleur-ish Paper Flowers, into a distinctive brand that we know will only keep growing.

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Christina about how she did this. Most of the resources and tools that she’s used are easily accessible to everyone, including our Paper Talk Facebook group of which Christina is now an admin. As she said on the podcast, the Facebook group, as well as Quynh’s Posey Box, “completely changed my game for paper flowers.” We loved hearing that our goal to share, connect, and grow the paper florist industry has successfully helped her on her paper flower journey! 

“Learning techniques...from all these people that have built up this huge realm of tutorials that you guys didn’t have when you started. That has helped me progress really quickly.”

Here’s what you’ll learn when you tune in:

How Christina makes her pictures distinctive to her brand. 

How she progressed and built her business so quickly. 

Why our Facebook group will elevate your artistry to new heights.

Where to find supplies at affordable prices.

You can join our Facebook group where Christina is an admin, and listen now to the podcast to learn all about how she has excelled so quickly in the paper flower industry.

“The Facebook group and The Posey Box] completely changed my game for paper flowers.”

Christina Funderburgh has always had a passion for art and creating beautiful things that bring joy to others. As a crafter and artist from a young age, she has used nearly every medium under the sun to paint, sculpt, and make jewelry. It was that passion for creating that led her to obtain a bachelor’s degree in multimedia design.

Shortly after graduation, she got engaged and dove head-first into wedding planning. The sticker shock of wedding flowers paired with her penchant for DIY flair pushed her towards making her own wedding flowers out of pearlized paper and book pages. They were a massive hit at the wedding and prompted a friend to commission her to make a book page bouquet for her upcoming wedding.

This sparked something in her—the desire to create long-lasting keepsakes that would never wilt. Previously, she would rarely buy flowers for her home and urged others not to purchase flowers for her as they would wilt so fast, and that decay always made her a little sad. She said, “I’ve never particularly had a green thumb, but by making paper flowers, I can enjoy them all year round with zero maintenance.”

After a year and a half of working with text weight paper, she wanted to make something more true-to-life, and that is what drew her to crepe paper. Her works are crafted from premium European crepe paper and fine art mediums. From single stem flowers and home décor pieces, to bouquets and full floral arrangements, these make great gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, housewarming, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and so much more!

Follow Christina on Instagram @fleurishpaperflowers, Facebook, her website and Etsy.

Stephen Brooks talks about the many facets of running a paper flower business: how to take great photos, which craft shows to enter, how to trademark your name, and more.

If you’ve been lucky enough to see pictures of Stephen Brooks’ amazing paper roses, you’ll know why we were so excited to have him on the podcast as a guest. We love the aesthetic of his paper flower business, which was strong enough to carry over through a business name change. We’ve been following his work for years now, and he is an admin of our Paper Talk Facebook group. 

In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Stephen about his recent business name change and the steps he took to trademark that name to avoid legal trouble in the future. This is a topic that we ourselves have wondered about, and hearing how someone else has navigated it was enlightening and encouraging. 

Our conversation also covered many aspects of running a paper flower business, including pricing and craft shows. Stephen has lots of experience in this area, and we loved seeing the flower cart he had made to sell his paper flowers at shows. 

And since Stephen is such an incredible photographer, he also gave us some tips for taking great pics of your work. Here’s a little taste of what he shared:

“If there’s one tip I could tell anyone who makes paper flowers, it’s to really spend the extra time taking great pictures. I think scrolling through Instagram and looking at different paper flowers and different paper florists, taking that extra time to take the perfect picture is so worth it.”

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation on the podcast: 

How to trademark your business.

Why you should participate in craft shows and how to choose the right one.

How to prepare for a craft show and set up your booth.

What to ask friends and family to find the right price point.

How Stephen takes his beautiful photos of his paper flowers.

Remember to join our Facebook group where Stephen is an admin, and listen now to learn from Stephen’s experience building up a successfully branded paper flower business.

Stephen began creating paper flowers in early 2017. After desperately trying to find real and artificial Juliet Roses for the celebration of the birth of his second daughter, he stumbled upon a paper flower version of the rose. After making a small bouquet of roses, he began to discover the joy that came from making these intricate flowers.

In May of 2017, Indiana Paper Company (formerly The Paper Peony) was started. Offering a variety of custom orders, Indiana Paper Company is steadily growing to provide people in the Indianapolis area and around the country with handmade paper flowers.

In addition to crafting paper flowers, Stephen is a stay-at-home dad of three, teaches piano lessons, shoots photography on the side, and co-owns a local theatre company.

Follow Stephen on Instagram @indianapapercompany, Facebook, and his website, or contact Stephen.

Susan Bonn is an admin for our online group, teaching all of us with her wealth of knowledge about paper flowers. Learn more about how she teaches, calculates prices, and keeps customers happy.

If you’re part of our Paper Talk Facebook group, you’ve heard of Susan Bonn. She runs the monthly Makers Meetings where we join together with paper florists from around the globe to chat, share our projects, and elevate each other's paper flower artistry. 

 Susan also facilitates our group’s monthly paper flower challenge. You can take a look at the banner on the Facebook page and see last month’s incredible creations from our members. It’s a stunning and creative lineup! If you can’t tell, we love our group and would love for you to join us.

We’ve loved working with Susan for the past couple of years. Besides her stellar work as our Facebook admin, she is an incredible paper florist and teacher. In our latest episode of Paper Talk, we chatted with Susan about how she started her paper flower journey, her experience becoming a teacher, and some of the strategies she’s employed to keep her paper flower customers happy.

One of the things we discussed was how Susan prices her products. As she said, “Pricing, as we all know, is the most difficult part of what we do.” We agree! That’s why our Paper X Talk on November 14 will continue our lecture series on pricing. You still have time to buy your ticket so you don’t miss out on hearing about the factors we use to determine our own prices. In the meantime, here’s Susan’s advice: “If I would have one recommendation to most people who want to sell their flowers, is learn your craft first.”

Here’s what you’ll learn when you tune in to the podcast: 

What it takes to be a paper flower teacher.

How Susan connects with students in a natural way through virtual classes.

Why it’s important for students and customers to feel like you’re connected to them and not just selling them something.

How Susan calculates her prices for paper flowers.

How to under-promise and over-deliver to keep customers very happy.

If you haven’t joined our Facebook group, click to become a member, and don’t miss our Makers Meeting on the last Saturday of every month. And listen now to hear all about Susan’s paper flower journey and how she’s built up a successful paper flower business.

What began as a creative outlet following a 40-year career as a financial professional, Susan Bonn began crafting paper blooms inspired by Mother Nature in 2016. The joy of turning paper into a 3-dimensional flower can be seen in each bloom with stunning and realistic attention to detail.

Susan has been featured on the liagriffith.com artist interview series, CarteFini.com as a featured artist, and has won numerous awards for her designs. Susan Bonn Designs was chosen to be the provider of the awards ceremonies bouquets for the US Figure Skating Championships —the equivalent of the Olympic Trials — in 2018, just prior to the Olympic Games in South Korea.

Follow Susan on Instagram @susanbonndesigns, YouTube, and her website.

Our guest Amy McGee has changed her business focus many times over the years. Hear how she decided when to try something new and how she did so successfully.

Change is difficult and scary. When you are presented with a business opportunity or something is pushing you to transition to something new, how do you know if it’s right for you? What if you make the wrong decision? What if you fail? 

These are questions that go through every small business owner’s mind at some point. Recently at our Paper X Talk lecture, we discussed how deciding to do something new, like changing your prices, is such a personal decision. There are so many factors to weigh. We’re excited to continue that conversation about pricing on November 14 (buy your tickets here), but we wanted to have a deeper discussion about change and transitions in general. 

That’s why we invited Amy McGee of Botanical Brouhaha to chat with us on our latest episode of Paper Talk. You’ve probably encountered her amazing blog about fresh flowers and heard her voice on her podcast. If not, you should check it out right away. We’ve found so much inspiration for our paper flowers from her work.

Amy has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to this topic of change. She started out growing cut flowers as a hobby while working as a dental hygienist. But then, opportunities in the floral world began to present themselves. She had to make decisions about what she wanted in life. Her floral business transitioned or did something new multiple times over the years, and with each change, she stayed grounded and successful by always keeping a connection with what truly inspired her to stay in business.

Amy put it this way: “There was such a connection for me with nature when I started growing those flowers, and just kind of getting into this industry. That’s what was leading me, was that connection to nature. And then it kind of grew into this connection with other people, because you all know, flower people, gardeners, farmers, they’re some of the kindest people in the world.” 

You can hear more about her journey and how she made her decisions by listening to the podcast. Here’s what you’ll learn from our conversation: 

How to know it’s time to change

Where to find the courage to try something new when you’re afraid

Why surrounding yourself with innovative, positive people is so important

How Amy has given back and strengthened her community through collaborative workshops, and how she’s pivoting during Covid

We loved learning more about what Amy is doing to provide virtual help to florists now that her regular in-person workshops can’t continue. Her new project, Bloom Trust Co., will launch in mid-November and connect florists to the resources and knowledge that they need to be successful. We can’t wait to check it out. We feel very similar with our work here at Paper Talk and our mission to share, connect, and grow the paper flower industry in any way that we can.

Listen now to hear all about navigating transitions, Amy’s new venture, and more.

Hear about the books Jessie and Quynh are reading right now and some of the valuable information they’ve learned about branding and building their businesses.

Do you wonder where we turn for info about building our brands? While experience is important, learning from others can save a lot of time and heartbreak—one reason why we’re committed at Paper Talk to share, connect, and grow with our community of paper florists. 

“It’s one of those few books...that’s very actionable. It’s set out in very straightforward categories, let’s say ‘5 things you need to do to create a...resilient brand.’” - Jessie

The small business landscape is always shifting over time, and one way we keep up with those changes is by reading books from experts. As Jessie said about the book she’s been reading, “I found her really interesting because she’s talking about marketing in the 21st century, like about now as opposed to 10 years, 20 years ago. It’s changed so much.”

That expert insight has been especially important to us as we go through the process of rebranding Paper Talk. We’ve both been reading excellent books about building brands, and we just had to share about them our latest episode of Paper Talk. 

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation: 

What we’re reading right now and how those books are helping us build our businesses.

Why customer service is an important part of rebranding. 

Whether you should offer variety or one strong product.

How we find time to read while running businesses.

We love the actionable advice given in the books we read, and the straightforward way in which information was laid out. Quynh put it this way: “If you’re in the process of rebranding like we are, there’s so many different components that you need to think about. And he really talks about, ‘Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that?’ And then he relates it to a story that he’s done, and it’s like, ‘Oh, yes! That’s why I need it.’”

We highly recommend you listen to the episode and hear all about Donald Miller’s “Building a Storybrand” and “Obsessed” by Emily Heyward. 

And remember: we want to hear from you to know about which topics would best help you build your brand for future Paper X Talk lecture series. Send us an email or DM!

Check out the books we mentioned in this episode (affiliate links below):

Donald Miller’s “Building a Storybrand”

“Obsessed” by Emily Heyward.

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