The Floral CEO

Start mapping out rest- Book vacations or time off to breathe. Look at your calendar and look at holidays, and birthdays and take time to have the moments that matter.Start sourcing supplies- find cylinders, tape, glue, and limited supply itemsGet ahead of the rush and potential scarcity of the items you need. When you wait you could potentially Map out your goals and back into what support you need.Set your intent in your businessBook a CEO day.Plan out what you want your business to be. Chasing something with no vision or purpose. When you put out a goal in the universe you automatically are more committed. Evaluate pricing- adjust accordinglyAdjust prices now- before the wave of people planning.You deserve to make impactful money.Making sure if this is your Mom hustle is covering the expenses of childcare is looked at.Stop overbookingPractice saying no- don't overlook yourself. It's not serving you.

Now is the time to go big and step into your role as CEO and define your 2023 business vision and do some serious goal-setting to start molding your business to bring it to the next level. That next level is one that every aspect of your business is getting 2023 plan to get that part of your business to feel good- easy- aligned and in the end and contributing to profit. If you have not had a good chance to look at your financials and what the profitability of your business looks like- now is a great time to start. Before you can really start to do the work on developing your business and how to improve it you need to feel like what you are doing is worth it and that you can pay yourself and support yourself in your passions.From there we are going to do some serious planning on how you can make your business feel amazing. If you start this process with a little reflection on how various parts of your business feel. Some questions to reflect on- Do you like the current work you are doing and putting out there? Do you like the current client you are attracting? Do you like how their interaction feel? Even the tone of their emails? You do not need to dive into a deep exercise of naming your ideal bride/couple and everything about her but having a general idea is helpful in identifying if you feel you are attracting her. Think of your last 10 couples- what would you change?Another thing I am reflecting on this year is my working environment. My studio produced a ton of work out of a limited amount of space because there is a ton of inventory in my studio. Doing an audit of everything you have used and not used and evaluating from there if you should keep that inventory will help clear the clutter in your space. My favorite life minimalist is Allie Casazza preaching what takes up your time takes up your space. Are the things in your workspace serving you? How do you feel in your space? How do you want to feel? What could optimize your space? Should a goal be to perfect your space?Next, let's look at your time- what do you want to be doing in your business next year? Do an inventory of what you are spending your time on- are those tasking propelling your business forward? Do you have the team in place to make your big dreams happen. In looking at your tasks could you find someone to take on tasks that help you work on driving the business forward.Dream big for your vision of 2023.

Seven things to stop now for a more profitable 2023 wedding season and beyond. 1. Stop guessing on costs/pricing. Do you want a less profitable wedding or a big mistake? Guessing on pricing in my experience always is 2. Stop trying to be the cheapest In town. Being the cheapest in town. The race to the bottom is only going to bring you less profit and you will keep perpetuating cheap weddings. If you want to do fewer weddings that are larger and more profitable.3. Stop comparing yourself- When you keep comparing yourself you keep holding yourself back always thinking you are not good enough.4. Stop using one wholesaler or flower source. Having options and being able to price compare helps you always get the best deal and also up your chances of securing a product.5. Stop promising specific flower choices Nothing eats profitability and your sanity like promising specific flowers to clients. Listen to episode 2 for more details about tactics to make this happen.6. Have a minimum. Looking at what makes it worth it to do a wedding or other type of job. To cover delivery costs, paying for potential childcare, employees, insurance and so much more.7. Start sourcing supplies nowThe early bird gets the worm. If you are expecting to need supplies next season- be on the lookout now. When you wait to the last month you could be paying a premium due to buying when supply is low and demand is high. Plus you also chance- not getting them at all! Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook

Installations are often a struggle for so many florists. It is one of the more complicated floral to price and construct. The first thing to figure out is your installation is your foundation- this is needed for pricing the installation accurately. In this, you will decide based on the structure type which mechanic is best. Depending on your stance on foam or no foam you can look at the weight that your structure will hold. I often will print or screenshot and draw out the mechanics on the inspiration photo or draw a sketch of what is needed. With that figure out the supplies that would be needed.The second step is pricing. Installations can also be complicated to price- but with my simple square foot formula, you can simplify most installations to this simple formula saving time and headache. Look at your inspiration photo and then average out the number of flowers in one square foot of space- take the heaviest and the lightest area and come to what the flowers would average out to be. Take the cost of those flowers and times it by your markup percentage. Then add your design fee (20-25%) and add your supplies and markup on supplies for that square foot. If a foam cage covers 2-3 square feet you can divide the cost and markup by 1/2 or 1/3. For easy math let's say for you have $20 in flower cost in one square foot- and with your markup (3.5x) it brings you to $70 plus your supplies cost- $5 plus markup= $15 for a total of $85 plus your design fee 25% is $106.25 per square foot of installation. Then measure or figure out how wide and long it is a figure out the total square footage of the installation. Times the total number of square footage by $106.25 per square foot to figure out your installation price. I often will include the sizing dimensions on my proposals to ensure there is no misunderstanding of the size.The third step- is doing as much as possible ahead of time. This step saves so much time and headache because the majority of work is done ahead of time and therefore less headache and less chance of hiccups on wedding day. Foam free structures can be constructed ahead of time- foam cages can be prepared ahead of time as well. Preziptying will also help speed things up on wedding day.Installations are a great opportunity for your business to make impactful money and create amazing work.Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook

Hiring freelancers can be a stressful situation. Finding help when multiple florists are filled with heavy wedding weekends. I want to share several tactics of how I am other florists who have found freelancers successfully.The first thing that I think is a game changer in an unconventional one- Find flower friends. Over the years making flower friends has brought me weddings, forged fierce friendships, and amazing opportunities. I think starting to make flower friends can be as simple as starting to say hello at the wholesaler. Start commenting with kind words on the flower friend's social media posts. Then when an opportunity comes about to potentially send a wedding inquiry they are a way when you are booked, borrow something needed or just be there for advice. Second game changer- On the weekend look at Instagram stories and posts of established florists posting previews of their weekend work. Then when there is a post tagged with the freelancers in it- take a screenshot on your phone and place it in a folder named freelancers in your phone to help keep track of it.Third idea- It is a simple one but a goodie. Post graphics in your stories that you are looking for freelancers and you can even post specific requirements you may have. I would include your location- by City so people know your location to help entertain the drive to you etc.Fourth- Find florists that you like their work and send them an introduction DM and explain what you are looking for. Ask if they would be open to freelancing.Fifth idea- Start a resource to help support your local flower community. I started a FB Group and website called MN Floral Collective. It is exclusive to MN florists and allows them to post wedding dates they need help with, sell items, and find/borrow hard-to-find things. Threw this flower friends have had so many great interactions and found freelancers and freelancers have done posts and had success finding work as well. This was a pretty easy endeavor- I started the group and shared it on Instagram. Many florists shared it on social and it grew.I hope you found these tactics helpful and start early to make sure you are setting your wedding season up for success early.When you find great people- cultivate an environment of growth and support. I let freelancers choose their job based on wanting them to grow. New learning opportunities also help build confidence in a freelancer and want to come back because working for you is find and they get to learn new things and grow their skillset. I do not have assembly monkeys in my studio that are just told this is what you are doing - with super detailed instructions leaving no room for creativity or innovation. Make working in your studio different- it will help freelancers come back and create an amazing vibe in your business.Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook

Today we are going to talk about something I often see flower friends stressed out at the wholesalers about. Promising flowers that are difficult or hard to get or are finicky flowers to deal with can often cause stress during the consultation process, the planning process, pickup day and delivery day. Often that stress can suck the life out of your wedding floral journey. The first thing we will discuss is why we shouldn't promise specific flowers. There are so many things out of a florist's control when it comes to procuring specific flower choices. Limited availability, weather, transportation issues, bugs, customs issues, pricing fluctuations and so much more can really throw off a wedding if things do not come in as planned especially when a couple is expecting something. I very plainly explain to my couples that I do not guarantee specific bloom and I explain to them why. But I do not dwell on what could be proceed as a negative rule- I flip this in a positive manner to the couple. There can be so much benefit to having the autonomy to pick the best flowers for their wedding, everyday flowers or whatever flower event you are working on. I will tell my couples about unicorn flowers that without the ability to look for the best flowers possible often would leave limited availability, limited seasonality or potential amazing finds from flower farmers or farms that normally are not often available. In proposals I put example blooms but label them like that with a notation that things are based on availability and have verbiage surrounding flower choices in my contract. Another thing I touch on with my couples with difficult color palettes that substitutes can be difficult and that neutrals may need to be brought into the color palette.Then when you are going to try for your customer or yourself to source difficult blooms. A couple tips to help try and source hard to find blooms, unicorn flowers are getter pricing in general. My first tip is to not put all your eggs in one wholesaler basket. Many wholesalers have different suppliers, farms and even local farms so different wholesalers have access to different sources. With hard to find options I will often order from two wholesalers to up my chances of getting the product. I will order 1/2 from one wholesaler and the other 1/2 from another wholesaler. Or if your wholesaler has an online marketplace like Holex- you can order some from the wholesaler and some from the marketplace. Auction sites are also a great source for competitive pricing and larger scale viability since many farms feed into the auction site which are often farms that deal in high volume so they offer competitive pricing. Another strategy I use on almost any wedding week is ordering my rose products direct from rose farms in Equador. Purchasing as low as 100 roses in possible with some farms. They are shipt directly to my studio via UPS or FedEx. The roses are usually fresher in quality as the time from farm to vase is left. Also some harder to get varieties are easier to source direct from the farms as their direct sales are more financially beneficial to a farm. My last tips is to make friends with a flower farmer. Locally grown flowers are often more beautiful, have more hard to find items since many flowers do not ship well and have longer lasting product since the time from farm to vase is cut drastically.Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook

In this episode, I will walk you through one of the best tools to help stop ghosting after providing a quote and to stop price shoppers before the consult saving you time and a kick in the confidence department. A brochure is a great way to help provide pricing guidance to a prospective couple and set the stage for the experience of working with you.Components of an effective brochure.1. An introduction page.2. About you3. What makes you different- why me?4. Reviews 5. Examples of your work- Show off a bit!6. Service offering breakdown (Full service/a la carte)7. Breakdown of the process of working with you. If you have two offerings.8. FAQ's. Beyond the website- common questions asked in consultations.9. The booking process- how to move forward.Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook

We currently live in anti hustle society. What is anti-hustle culture? Anti-hustle culture is a rejection of the notion that business owners should hustle. The grind, the working all hours, the constant activity that is glamorized in certain entrepreneurial circles and by some prominent entrepreneurs. How many people do you know who are successful that did not hustle a bit to get where they are. On top of that our world is a single day with a perishable product- the hustle is real that day.