The Floral CEO

 Want a guide to start your floral business? - head to www.thefloralhustle.com/starterkit  

Key points from the podcast!

Having the right mindset!

Having a minimum so you are not running around with low budget weddings.

Providing an experience that is higher end.

Doing multiple weddings- event though it is more to coordinate it is more revenue.

Having a team will help you have more capability!

Providing a great experience- will lead to more referrals.

Delivering what you promise.

Keeping the promises you make to yourself

Having a brand that speaks to your style and not budget.

Connecting with other vendors

Forming partnerships

Many florists struggle with money ebbing and flowing in their business with big bursts of revenue and then a month's time goes by without revenue coming in. In this episode, I talk about 3 ways to grow reoccurring revenue in your floral business.

#1. Weekly church accounts- Finding local churches that want to incorporate a beautiful floral arrangement for their congregation. This could be funded for the church by members sponsoring the week (for a birthday, anniversary, remembrance etc.), by a donation to the church or from an altar guild fun. Spend time weekly reaching out and sharing your business with area churches to help grow your weekly floral orders.

#2 Annual flower orders- As a gift that will keep on coming someone buying their loved one annual flowers which shows up as a monthly flower arrangement delivered to their loved one. Every month in the first week of the month someone pre-placed the order to make sure they show their love and appreciation to their partner, Mom or a special someone in their life. This can be sold at Valentines, Mothers Day, Sweetest Day, Admin day or even Christmas. The initial gift is shared celebrating that holiday and then its shared the big news of the monthly gift they will receive.

#3 Local business client orders- Many businesses that are client based businesses send flowers to clients for special events, get well soon or sympathy arrangements. You could be the go to florist for that business to help them have a go to person that can make it easy for them and make their client feel special. Dedicate 10 minutes a week to reaching out to insurance companies, financial planning offices and any other that has a client base that could benefit or already sends their customers flowers.

That classes and education will elevate you to new heights.

Its ok to court/work with multiple wholesalers.

A cooler is needed- but your don’t need a new one.

Investing in key pieces will build revenue quickly.

I didn’t need to say yes to everything and everyone.

I didn’t need to be the cheapest in town.

I didn’t need to do 100 weddings

Renting a truck- is not a big deal

All the expensive solutions- seriously only need water

Being an S-Corp didn’t require me to be a big company

Want a guide to start your floral business- head to www.thefloralhustle.com/starterkit

Does you floral business give you anxiety? Or has it made your chest feel tight, have a few tears roll down your face or even to the point of running to the bathroom and tossing your cookies sounded like I great idea. I get you! We are often in high intensity situations that can increase emotions and make us feel like the world is closing is on us…but the difference is we can make our reaction to stressful situations change today!

This episode is filled with tips for you to be the boss of your anxiety and say- no today old friend.

1. The 15 min. reset. When things are feeling tough this tool calm help calm your nerves and reset your energy. Step away from your situation and find a calming area- sitting down potentially away from the area causing your stress. Start to think about- in this situation what do I have control of? #1 you can control how you react and feel about a situation and start to feel the control you have in your emotions and as the CEO of your business.
2. Do not put all your eggs in one wholesaler basket. Having sources gives you options. Order hard to find product from two places. Also do not promise specific flowers to clients- that can add so much anxiety.
3. Making things easy for what your are available for. Don’t like funeral work?- You are not available for it.
4. Pulling everything ahead of time. Making sure you have everything and have everything prepped.
5. Book the help you need. Estimate the work on one wedding and book help accordingly.

Download our free guide to a social media audit and planning. Go to www.thefloralhustle.com/social to get yours today! 

Everyone is so focused on growing their social media followers but today let's stop and think about what we really want to accomplish. Are you looking for followers because you want notoriety or to live the influencer life when your social media account blows up? Being an influencer is the #1 career choice for people coming out of college. But- I run a business and want to attract the right client who needs my services - with that I want to help educate them, promote my offerings, be relatable to build trust and inspire the follower. 

Most people want to post pretty pictures- the end. To keep and gain an engaged audience you need more than just a pretty picture. There are 4 types of posts I recommend- Educate, Promote, Relatable, and Inspire.

To help educate your potential clients and make your social media easier- take a single topic every week and dissect that into various forms of content all centered around that one idea. Concept- Winter weddings. Post #1 talks all about flowers freezing and ideas around getting outdoor photos but still having nice photos of your flowers outside. Long-form video - 3-4 minutes long.

Post #2 Carousel posts of the main points from your video.
Post #3 30-second video of one of your points from your long-form video.
Post #4 Reel featuring winter bouquets with trending music.
Post #4 Carousel post with more cold weather-friendly bouquet options (evergreen, pinecones, twigs etc.).
Post #5 Your favorite winter bouquet inspiration and why- 

Things to have on your social profile
Where you are
What you sell
Who you are

Linktree- is a great resource in your social media bio to help share different points in your business that you want to route your clients to.

Is that time of year that you are freaking out for the amount of weddings you have booked?

Every year this happens to even the best florists.

Step #1 Verify your feeling is realty. Apply numbers to truly investigate if what you are feeling is true. Data can shed light and help provide big insight into what the year is looking like. Go in and record in a spread sheet separated by month the weddings you have. Then go in and put the estimated gross of that wedding. How does it look?

Then, if that looks bad. Test your connections points on your website. Inquiry forms, chat and any other connection point on your website. Make sure all of the basic things are functioning.

Now-what can you do if it a realty.

Put yourself out there showing the masses you are available! Created graphics in a place like Canva. Then make similar graphics explain how people can book your, what your process looks like, and even make a screen recording video of how they can connect with you.

Release the energy of feeling things are out of your control. We re action taking problem solving people. Take action!

Wedding planners can be in a constant source of couples needing to book florists. Think out of the box on how to get in front of wedding planners.

For years in my business I felt like I had to give everyone a great deal and that was my path to success- but I also felt when I was working with such wonderful people that I wanted to give them a deal to give them what they really wanted but couldn't afford unless I was giving away the farm. I felt like Profit was a bad word. I started making it in my mind a hobby of creating something with joy is ok to not make a profit because the people are so great and I bet I'll get good photos after....and on and on.

Changing that narrative was critical- because even though I wanted to start making some money- I now was attacking my unideal client because they wanted things as cheap as possible. I had the cheapest wins mentality forever- that was not how profitability works but I kept doing them and trying to grow a little bit more each time.

Consumers often make Profit a bad word- you need to condition yourself that it is a critical part of your business and you deserve it.

How can you change the narrative of profit in your business?
What profit can help you accomplish?
Why you need it!

Looking at profits/costs in a transaction. Arrangement- shipping, freelancer, car insurance to delivery, delivery boxes etc.

My top 5 tools for your floral business.  I breakdown why I love all of these amazing tools.

Canva- Online and an app

Photo Shop Express- App

Quickbooks

Planoly Online and an app

G-Suite Online and an app

Bonus- Zelle Online and an app.  Works with more

Objections come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes it might not be a plain objection from you couple- it might be your objection.  I want to talk about some objections I have heard from my couples, myself as my business has evolved, and what I have heard from coaching clients and fellow florists.  Often reframing the objection and showing another perspectives can help lead the client.  But you also need to define to yourself if this objection on their or your part come up if there is a hard line of something you are not willing to do.

One of my biggest personal objection when someone says they want to use bridesmaids bouquets as centerpieces.  When I hear this- It makes me scream inside my head- NO!!!  But that probably wouldn't lead the conversation in a good direction so then I do my first step and ask a clarifying question to make sure I heard and understood what they said correctly.  - Clarifying question- Just to make sure I understand what you are wanting to do- you are wanting to repurpose the bridesmaids bouquets and use them as centerpiece?  Then they likely will save yes.  I then help validate their idea to save money is a good one- so you acknowledge it was a good thought but....let me share some of the things that has happened with some of my other weddings when doing this very thing- bouquet didn't make it because bridesmaid forgot, bouquet was laid on its side and left in the sun and was brown and burnt., The flowers were out of water for 5 hours and were seriously drooping.  Then suggest usage in a place that could be enhanced by the flowers but not be the only thing on it so the condition is a little less important.  Offer budget centerpiece ideas, talk about the stress of worrying if they get there and talk about is $400 worth the stress, running around, making the head table not look as fabulous and potentially someone having a centerpiece with dead flowers.

I want all tall centerpieces- this is often a bad idea because it is not the best look.  I then pull up some photos and show them how your eye travels across the room and it travels flat with all tall.  You could show them examples just using vases of how you look at it.

Here are some additional questions I cover-

I would like you to do the personals and Aunt Karen is going to do the centerpieces-Your bid is higher than another florist's- will you match it?Why are wedding flowers so expensive?
Why are trader joe's flowers so much cheaper
Will you take another event on that day?

Time to audit all the things related to your budget. 

First- check in with your website and technology products. What business tools do you have and are you utilizing them and are they working correctly, For each tool- expense- ROI- and am I utilizing all the tools.

Then look at regular expenses. Look at your taxes, should you be starting a 401 Simple Plan. Dive into what you have forecasted so you can see what will help. Look at your expenses and what your ROI is and what things look like then make plans to be using tools that are, making your business more profitable. If you never take this time- things will never move forward.