The Floral CEO

 On this week's episode, I wanna talk about 10 things that will help you move the needle if you have a limited timeframe. So if you have 20 minutes. You have 20 minutes to work on growing your business, and I would guarantee you have more than 20 minutes.

If you went and looked at your screen time report on your phone, it probably has you spending an epic amount of time. On things that really aren't impacting that maybe give you a dopamine hit so that it feels good, or maybe just you kind of get sucked into social media. Or maybe you're constantly going in and checking your email, checking to see if there's that glimmer of hope that there's a client on the other end.

So I wanna talk about 10 things that you can do. To utilize those short bursts of time and as a mom, as somebody who runs two businesses, who now is like taking care of things on the farm and doing all the things, I completely get that this growing your business can feel like a lot and. I always like to look at as like I'm ice chipping, I'm taking my little, ice chipper my little mallet, and I'm chipping away at.

This big thing that's called my business and I am emphasizing on small, consistent actions that add up over time and make a significant di difference in your business. And like to me that's, you know, making sure that this podcast. Are done like I am, I'm scheduling that. Then I'm making sure I'm chipping away at doing the show notes.

I'm chipping away at creating the social media graphics to promote the episode. I'm chipping away at all those things. Same thing in the floral business, like I'm making sure I'm creating consistency in my communication to clients. I am responding. In a timely manner. I'm creating proposals like all of those are chipping away of that end goal of creating a business that is successful, that feels good, and that I feel like I'm moving the needle forward.

So the first thing that we often do is we have this big idea, or we have this big project or problem. And we have no clue what we need to do. So if that is you, I want you to think, how can I get all of the things out? Like I did this with the Floral Rockstar Retreat coming up. I literally went and did a Trello board and laid out like, here are all the things that I need to do.

To keep moving the Floral Rockstar Retreat forward. And so those things to me were like, okay, I have a really fun tarot card reader coming to our dinner and then reaching out to caterers was on there. Putting a Pinterest board together, like just like all of these little things, I just brain dump that out into a Trello board because then I could go in strategically and go, okay, like I have 20 minutes.

What on this board could I work on to move this initiative forward that is helping me chip away at all of the bigger picture details of this event. You can do that with a wedding. You can do that with planning out, I want to launch an a la carte flowers. You can do that on a million things. So if that is you, everybody's got big dreams, everybody's got big projects, everybody's got not enough time to do them.

Take some time and just brain dump it out. I do a brain dump of. Everything in my head every Sunday night when I'm doing my Sunday night prep. So I just know that I'm not like missing anything and I'm pulling everything kind of to the surface so that I can work on things and move like bigger picture initiatives forward.

And have it feel good. Like I don't like having a bunch of stuff sitting in my brain and not having it out on paper. I am still a paper person. I use Trello. So that makes me feel good because it's, at least it's a board in front of me that I can slide and move things over and I feel like I'm accomplishing more.

So brain dump it out. Take five minutes and initially like jot down potentially the vision of your floral business. List out some goals for the next one to three months. Write down a major project. Identify like next action steps that are on your mind on launching a new service or improving your site.

Identify the next steps for each of these and note them down so you can start planning actionable steps. Uh, I, again, having regular brain dump sessions is so helpful because I'm kind of grouping all of these things together. I'm capturing, especially with having a DHD, there's so much going on my brain.

I do this like every day. Whenever I come up with things, I just text 'em to myself and I weekly take all those text messages and put them down on paper. All right, number two. Email a wedding planner. Email a venue dm, a wedding planner. Connect with other people. Building relationships with wedding planners and venues can lead to steady flow of referrals.

Referrals are a direct connection that could grow your business. So find a wedding planner or venue you'd like to work with and send 'em a quick email introducing yourself. Hi, I'm Jenny with Green Goddess Floral, and I absolutely. Love following you on Instagram. That wedding you did at XVE was absolutely stunning.

I love your vibe, your vision, and your design style. And I just wanted to introduce myself because we look like we could vibe together and I'd love the opportunity to get in front of you and one of your clients at some point. Here is my brochure that shares my two service offerings, and I love following along with you on Instagram and, um, hope to connect in in real life.

Say you'd like to do a coffee date, say you'd like to do a virtual coffee date, whatever it is, try to drive that connection forward. You know, sharing a little bit about you. Hey, I also saw you were a mom, and you know, like, or hey, I something that you actually make people know that you're paying attention to the details that will help you connect on a deeper level.

Keep it short and focus on building connection and not just asking for business. Like a lot of times people are like, Hey, I would love to be on your preferred vendor list. Like venues do not overly like that. If you've never done a wedding there, you need to try to figure out how to get in the door first.

Planners, same thing. I've had tons of planners say that they randomly just get people asking to be on the preferred vendor list that have never worked with them. You need to try to figure out how to get in the door before you are on a preferred vendor list. You need to earn their respect, earn the right to be recommended by them, and I don't take that lightly.

I take that as like I need to show them. That I am full of ideas, that I am fast, I can come up with concepts, I can problem solve like all of those things. You could even have a template made for this communication, but try to build in some personalization to that specific, um, their Instagram or a personal note or something like that, because that is going to make them know that you're actually paying attention.

All right? Then you can also number three. Develop, I call these like your content pillars. Develop some Canva templates that talk about your core service offerings, having some type of visual template that you can just plug and play into your Instagram, into your Instagram stories that shares. Hey, this is my full service event.

Event design service. Make it easy for their them to share informa sharing that information so that a potential client goes, oh, I didn't know they did that. I didn't know they had a la carte. I didn't know that they had our rentals. I didn't know that. They, um, do event design. Like it is really simple to do in Canva.

You can include your branding pricing, if that's appropriate, clear descriptions of what clients can expect, and save that template so you can periodically use it, and so you're getting a long shelf life out of that. Canva has tons of free templates and you can adjust them to match your style and business.

Super easy. All right, the next is. If you are constantly sending a certain type of email, create a template. Really easy. Streamline your communication. You can save tons of time by not having to rewrite and reinvent the wheel every time. You can take typical messages that you are repeating and just create a consistency, like a thank you for an inquiry pricing request, uh, a consultation request.

Create a template response for all of these common inquiries in your email or in Google Word or whatever type of system so that you can copy and paste it. You can save it in a folder, make it really easy. You can set up, can responses in your email, things like in Gmail with templates feature to automate the process.

So making it super simple is so going to save you time in the long run if you take that 20 minutes now to invest and really nail your process down. All right. Another thing, I like to go in and I actually, I do this in the bath, you guys, I purposely go in and interact with key accounts that I want to do business with on Instagram in the bathtub.

I go and I look at their account. I see if they post anything, and I go and thoughtfully respond to their posts, their stories. Because I want to be seen. I want them to know that I am supporting them. I want to be purposeful in that interaction so I can build a relationship and expand my reach with that client.

And if it's easier for you to just go pick 10, like go pick 10 people. Who would you like to work with and go engage with them. Wedding planners, event venues, if it's an influencer, whatever it is. Go and purposely interact with those people. Make sure your comments are authentic and relevant and the content is meaningful.

Interactions set a timer up even if you need to, and just 10 minutes, so then you don't get sucked in the Instagram, you know, loop of just consuming all of this content, which is is never good. All right. The next little burst of 20 minutes that you have and something that I think it just always gets like swept under the rug, and that's just.

If you have 20 minutes, go and check like what does your not listing look like? What does your Zola listing look like? Your Google My Business listing. Check and make sure that information is correct, that you are putting a new photo on there of a recent, your recent work or event. Respond to reviews or messages you have received.

Just showing up with engagement. Keep your profile looking active, posting updates, making sure that it just doesn't look stagnant and that it doesn't look like you're potentially even in business anymore. All right, then, if you have a few 20 minutes, number seven, go and clean up your inbox. 20 minutes of focus time in your inbox.

Make sure you're not missing anything. Make sure that you're going and responding to, or even go in and just unsubscribe from things. I go in once a week and I unsubscribe from 10 different things because I wanna keep my inbox clean. I do not want my inbox to look like garbage and be overwhelming and not feel good.

And so if that is you and your inbox feels like shit, just start unsubscribing from things that are inconsequential and that you know, really you don't need them in your inbox. And the best thing is to just get rid of 'em. So if that is you. Just go in and start cleaning up, chipping away at it, making sure you're staying on top of your communication.

20 minutes of strategic time in your inbox can be really impactful. All right, go and send. If you have 20 minutes, a recent ride, a recent client. Hey, thank you. So much for choosing us. I loved being a part of your event and my favorite moment was this, or my favorite thing was this. I really appreciate your business and I'm really looking forward to have the gallery shared with me.

Um, because I'm so excited to share your beautiful wedding with the world. You could make a template to do this. You could do a, you know, a personalization of a template, but doing that is going to go a long way. People love personalized. Thank you. Like I, for my event, this, uh, Saturday got. The cutest little like, thank you card.

That was of course matching all their stationary and everything, and I absolutely loved it. It was beautiful. They were very thoughtful in their thank you. And honestly, like they even mentioned Patia because I had my consult with them the day before I got Petya and i, I told them like it was gonna be a few days before I got their, their whole estimate and put together, et cetera.

Um, because I was getting a mini Highland cow and they already thought the farm was pretty cool and pretty fun. And were kind of a enamored with that. And I just was, uh, like they, they said. We are totally smitten with beya and, hope you guys, uh, the best, blah, blah, blah in the future. It was just really cute and personalized, and I think all of those little personal touches go a long way.

All right. The next is if you don't know who you want to work with, spend some time researching. Spend some time researching like local wedding planners. Even who are your competitors and what are they doing? Um, what are venues that you really wanna work at? What are networking groups that you even wanna be a part of?

Like really understanding your local wedding market and what's going on. I am the go-to person. If somebody's wondering something, I probably know the answer in my local market. I know the newer venues, I know kind of, um, like the superpowers, a lot of the different wedding planners or where to get something because I know all the rental places.

Like those are things like you wanna be that go-to person that just knows because you can use that information to build a business. And I have like, I can. Pretty much, if I think of something I, I probably know somebody who is an expert at it or can help with it, or is at least a resource to get me going in the right direction.

And that is part of my networking strategy that is part of the success of my business and could be part of yours. So just research like. Then you can start building your next 20 minutes that you have available. These are five wedding planners that I really would love to work with and start a strategic plan to interact with them, to build a relationship with them, to send them an email, to introduce yourself, to send them a postcard, to introduce yourself, whatever it is, to start at least crawling towards that relationship that you are gonna be so excited about when you get to the point.

Of this worked, that communication worked because when you get there, it feels good. My wedding, this Saturday that I was mentioning, that was me inching my way into the door of a wedding planning firm that I literally have booked four weddings for. In the last two and a half months and I had been introducing myself and like renting stuff from their rental division and all the things for quite some time.

And all of a sudden, I don't know what happened, but I got in the door and I'm in the door now, and this wedding this weekend was a $6,500 wedding. I had another one that was a $6,500 wedding. I had one that was a $4,000 wedding, and I'm excited to see what's next because it has been super fun to see that work of me just like interacting, reaching out, networking has paid off.

All right, number 10. Set a small focus goal in the next 24 hours of something that you can do that would be impactful. Okay, I really in the next 24 hours, like doing this weekly is going to help the, you break down those bigger goals into smaller, manageable tasks that can be completed. And can be completed somewhat quickly.

So I, every Sunday, if you guys have listened to my episodes on Sunday night prep, like I'll actually, I'll put that in the show notes because that is what can make or break your week. Planning your week makes a huge difference. And if you go in this 20 minutes and even did your planning of your week out.

Uh, or you went in and you're like, okay, this week I really wanna get this accomplished and just figure it out. How am I actually gonna do that? How am I actually going to make this happen? Write it down, prioritize it. Make those bigger goals into small chunks that you can chip away at, and those manageable tasks can soon be completed.

I know that sounds so easy, Jen. That sounds so easy how you're saying it like I chip away at little things all the time and when you chip away at things, they feel better. It doesn't feel overwhelming 'cause you're doing this big, huge thing. Like even today, I downsize my storage unit because I have more space here.

I wanna keep a storage unit for my tear down person to be able to return things through and for my silk flowers to be stored there. Um, because I don't have a place that I really want them on the farm yet. And I got chunks of my storage cleaned out. Like periodically I would go and I would take a, a load.

I would take a load. And then today I, I ran up with the trailer. And went and got a couch for up in the studio that has a hide of bed in it. So that, um, I think I've mentioned it. I am gonna have like a mini farm retreat for a one-on-one that you can come down to the farm for one to two days and you can actually stay on the farm in the studio 'cause there's a shower and a bathroom and a little mini kitchenette and all the things.

And. I went and picked that up, but then I went over to the storage unit 'cause I knew I had three shelves and I had the trailer. So I loaded up the shelves to, were just slowly chipping away. I think so many people think they need to race across the finish line and just do these big, bold things just as get all this shit done.

But then it doesn't feel good and then you're overwhelmed and like a million things. So if that is you, slow down. Bite size pieces make big goals happen. I hope that these 10 things, because these 10 things are all very doable, all very actionable, and I really think could move the needle in your business.

I hope that you can take action on one of these or several of these this week as these smaller tasks are. Going to create big impact. If you pick one of these things and you're working on them, please take a little selfie or screenshot and share it on Instagram. I would love to cheer you on and tag me at the floral C because we all need a little, Hey, you're doing it.

You're winning. I support you. Way to go. And I hope this structure of just picking that 20 minutes, and you can do that even with a kiddo. I remember when Bodhi was littler, I was doing tons of these with just a, a baby. Carrying a baby, wearing a baby. Having a baby in a little snug of monkey and. It is all possible.

It's all figureoutable, as I often say, and I hope that these things help you figure out how to make your big dreams happen. Thank you so much for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower filled day.