The Floral CEO

 Hello Flower friends. This is Jen, and on this week's mini Sode, I, I actually was listening to a podcast by Louis House who has a podcast called The School of Greatness, and he had the author of the book Atomic Habits on, and I've read the book, it's a fascinating book. I've listened to the auto book, uh, and it really.

Made me start to think. Um, I, I had a ton of coaching calls, uh, last week, and I think I talked with nine different florists last week. And it just gave me some perspective, um, on, you know, some people who are really doing well, their business was thriving, uh, some people that were struggling. You know, I just, I stood back and I just kind of soaked up, you know, of all the things that I teach.

Florists. I teach habits. I teach, um, mindset. I teach really marketing and sales. And there's kind of a common theme when I meet a, a successful florist that they're, they're doing these things that. Really are contributing to them, hitting their financial goals, hitting their, you know, living their dream life, whatever it may be, that really defines success for them.

And I wanted to dive into what some of those things are because everybody thinks like this person has posted 3.2 times on Instagram this week, and this person has went to five venues this week and, and introduced herself. And you know, just all of these really kind of arbitrary like. Things that you think you should be doing?

So, 10 Habits of Successful Florists. First one, they plan before they design. Successful florists don't wing it. They review timelines, mock layouts, recipes, mechanics, labor before flower week, so that like it's game on and that feels calm and not chaotic. I, it was really interesting. I did on my Green Goddess floral account, I did, uh, you know, obviously I'm here in Minnesota and things have felt heavy.

And last week there was a, um, Minnesota bride opening, like a party. They do two a year for the two episode or two, you know, magazines that come out. And I had a big spread in it. It was a tomato inspired theme and. Really fun and really pretty. But, uh, I posted actually a headshot that one of my favorite, um, venue friends took and, you know, just kind of talked about like how it seems kind of crazy to be happy in this kind of times and, you know, but I'm, I'm happy of this accomplishment, but one of, um, a comment on.

On the whole entire post, um, there was actually a good amount of, between Facebook and Instagram, a good amount of comments. And it is that, like my sense of calm when you meet me is, you know, something that just really, really resonated with that person. And I thought about that, that like I have, I am calm because I am prepared, I am calm because.

I have done this so many times that I could basically do it with my, you know, eyes blindfolded. I, I am calm because I know everything that's happening and I can really forecast anything that's happening. So I also have a habit of weekly planning or really planning around event specific planning and timing.

So I. I don't come in hot, like not knowing what the fuck is going on. And you guys, this is a thing. I see florists do this all the time. They are not prepared. They are drastically under prepared, and it is a complete and utter mess. That energy comes into your day, like literally a tornado is coming into that wedding, which never feels good.

So part of that is really planning before you design. All right, the next one, number two, they know their numbers. Even if you really fricking hate 'em. So they know their average wedding value, labor costs, profit margins, what actually makes you money. Last month in the floral CEO Mastermind, we, we literally dove into where you're spending your time.

What money you're making, how much time is relative to the money you're making, and just had a really good financial check-in. I profitable florists, like florists that are super successful, they don't guess. They decide based on facts and I often. Uh, especially because we are creatives. Creatives are very feeling and emotion based people, and so we wanna make fact-based decisions in our business instead of feeling based decisions.

So a really good habit around this is having regular financial check-ins. Have a CEO day once a month that you can check in on your finances, have your. You know, bookkeeper or your tax person assists with those things so that they can keep you on track. All right, number three, they communicate clearly and confidently.

There's no overexplaining, there's no apologizing for pricing. There's no chaotic emails. They sound like expert because they are an expert. And so the habit behind that is being confident, cons, and having really consistent communication. You wanna make sure that you're positioning yourself clearly and confidently whenever you can, because people respect that like they ex they, they respect the evenness, they respect, they calmness, and they really like to avoid the tornado.

All right. Number four. They say no more. No more than they say yes. Successful floors protect their energy, time, and creativity. So they say no to like the shitty clients, the bad clients, the underpriced work, the people asking for you to match another florist price because they like your work. Well, it's because you're more experienced a million other things more than this other florists that they're getting a quote from.

You know, they, they say no to misaligned opportunities. And so the habit here is to build. Boundaries as a business strategy. Like one of my boundaries is that something has to be fun for me to take a wedding on. It doesn't have to be the whole thing, but it has to be a piece of it. All right, number five.

They don't wait to feel ready. They post before it's perfect. They raise prices before it's comfortable. They try installations before they feel like experts. Okay, and the habit is you gain confidence by taking action. So like action before confidence is going to make you even stronger. All right, number six.

They build systems that support busy seasons. They don't rely on memory or adrenaline. They use templates, checklists, workflows, repeatable processes. Templates that you know, just are like the core of your business. Just systems. So the habit here is systems that reduce stress. What can you do that will reduce your stress?

All right, number seven. They protect their creativity. They seek inspiration intentionally. You design things that excite you. You avoid constant burnout work. Like, uh, you guys have heard me probably a million times talk about baby's breath in mason jars. Can't do it. Can't do it. I'm I even looking at it, it makes me just grossed out.

Creativity is treated like a resource and not something too drained by. The habit here is creating cre, creative nourishment. So that could be by going to Trader Joe's and buying like five bunches of flowers, or you're at Trader Joe's or whatever grocery store, and you are gonna practice making a two ingredient bouquet, a three ingredient bouquet.

You're going to go and pick some flowers outside and just practice, like practice to feel inspired. Uh, my workshops are a way that I get to totally just go deep into being completely creatively inspired. And I want that same thing for you because it, it feels so good. And if you have a hard time, like thinking through, like, I don't even know how to be creative.

Come to one of the Floral Rockstar workshops because we dive into how to access, how to come up with ideas, how to like unlock all these ideas that you can implement into your, you know, clients. Uh. Mood boards your clients, hopefully budget. Um, so creativity is treated like a resource and it's not something to drain dry.

So really have a habit of really creatively nourishing yourself. Alright, number eight. They show up consistently, not constantly. You guys probably all know the person that you see on social media, they're like, Hey, and they're talking a million miles an hour all the time, and then all of a sudden you're like, where'd that person go?

Because they just burnt out. Consistently doesn't need to mean constantly, consistently could be, I am going to show up three times per week. I am going to market myself in small, regular ways so that I can stay visible year round and I can focus on consistency over volume. So that habit is really sustainable.

Marketing rhythms. Okay. Creating a cadence in your communication. Like what are your content pillars? What do you wanna talk about in your business? What are you gonna talk about? That inevitably will hopefully boost your bottom line and just keep showing up. Don't disappear for months. And then panic posts go, Hey everybody, it's me.

I'm back. Like nobody gets it. You guys. Alright. Number nine. They involve instead of staying stock, they change pricing, offering branding, business models. They allow themselves to grow past old versions. And there's a habit, uh, around that of just adaptability and reflection. And this is something like in the month of January, we dove into in the floral CEO Mastermind, because I wanted people to reflect.

On what is working, what's not working, what's sort of working, where can we tune the knobs to make your business feel even better, to optimize your time in relation to profitability and to optimize your offering, to feel inspired, to feel like this is giving. Then number 10, you act like a CEO, not just a floral designer.

Okay. Make decisions based on long-term sustainability, profitability, and alignment in your life, not just what feels easiest today. So the habit there is CEO level thinking. You are not thinking five steps ahead of you. You're thinking about your future and beyond what your brand could evolve into what you want to be, what kind of human, what kind of business owner like.

Next level thinking, and then in case you wanna take that even to the next level, make yourself a CEO day. I preach about this so much because having that time to reflect that you are sitting in the CEO seat is so critical and you deserve that time to reflect, that time to tweak, that time to make your business.

Uh, you know, that 10,000 foot view of your business to actually like, look at it and go, what's going on? Like, how could I make this better? But if you're in the weeds and working in your business instead of not ever working on your business, things are not going to change. I am rooting for you, you guys.

We are one month into the new year, and I would love for you guys to send me a DM on Instagram after all these goal planning and goal setting and talking about habits like what has stuck so far in 2026 and what has already fallen to the wayside and why. Like I would love to cheer you on, love to root you on for creating the business in the life of your dreams.

So send me a gamma on Instagram. I'd love to hear about what is going on with you. I'm here for you, and if you want to bring your next level self. Please go check out the floral CEO mastermind@floralc.com slash mastermind. And I know I talked a lot about creativity in this episode. You need to go check out the Floral Rockstar Workshop series.

We have three over the top amazing workshops coming that you are not gonna wanna miss. It is. Truly epic. Uh, the installations that we are going to be putting together and the price is a fraction of what other educators are charging because I want to keep education affordable and I wanna hang out with you.

So go check out floral c.com/workshop and I would love to see you there. Thank you so much for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower filled day.