The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello flower friends. This is Jen and you're listening to the floral hustle podcast on this week's episode. I want to talk about three things that you can start now. to prepare for success in 2025. Seems crazy to be thinking about like goal planning and getting your ship together for next year already, but those who plan win.

And I want you to win in 2025, no matter what that means to you. So these three key things, I think for one, Take a little bit of time and they take a little bit of processing. It might take you asking for information from your tax person. It's not like this, like I'm snapping my fingers and I have these three things done.

But when you take time and actually work on your business, instead of always working in your business, That is always where success is created. That is always where like growth happens. So making space for you to be the CEO in your business is so critical. So the first thing that you should be doing is really reflecting on what has happened.

So when you think about this past year. I have like an exercise that I go, what worked, what sort of worked, and what didn't work. Look at things that you did in your business. They could be relationships that you form. They could be, you know, diving into a different type of business model. I am adding silk flowers and silk flower rentals to my business.

And so, like, how did that feel so far? Like, what did that look like so far? And what Did I really enjoy about that process? What do I think could have been better about that process? Realistically, that reflection is really going to give you clarity. And clarity is so critical in our business. Most, especially creative business owners run their business fast and loose.

So they're like running by the seat of their pants. Looking at the next shiny object, looking at the next thing that is catching their attention, and not going like, okay. Can I do a million different things, or can I do a couple really, really well, and most entrepreneurs do a million different things and they're not really super doing anything like this person is an expert.

Like for me, I am an expert in cultural weddings because I have done so much. So many of them. Um, I have experimented in so many ways to really, dial that niche in so hard and speaking of cultural weddings in April here in Minnesota, we will be hosting a cultural wedding rockstar workshop that you will learn all things, cultural weddings, all things structures, all things like that.

What the different cultures require. What do they need? What do they mean? How do you talk to these, type of clients? So I just wanted to throw that teaser out. I will be releasing all the workshops within the next week. So that is very exciting and it has a limited number of spots. And there's not many places that you can go for a workshop to learn this.

And on top of it, to learn structures. So structures are so tricky, but, um, I think that that reflection, when I've done deep, I'm like, I really don't like, there's a decorator that is every time I work with him, it's an experience so if I reflected back, that wasn't a great experience by any means. So that reflection is so important for you to really start feeling into what feels good in your business, what You really like doing what lights you up, what has you excited so that you can move forward and go all in on these things that feel really good, that are making you money, that you find rewarding, and also data helps you make decisions.

So if you spend some time going, okay, I didn't book as many weddings as I wanted to. Or I, you know, this happened or whatever, you know, whatever thing that you're kind of analyzing, then you go work, look at your website and your website traffic is absolute crap. And you're like, Okay, well, this is kind of explaining, like, I need to, because I am not organically raking.

What if I did this year, I really focused on blogging and increasing my domain authority? Because when you spend time on things like that, you're going to have long term gains, long term payoff. And you don't know that that is happening until You step back and reflect. So part of my reflection last year was I am signed up for a local bridal association and I looked, because I have a directory listing, and I looked and I had two referrals for the whole year.

Well because I did that groundwork when they called me for my renewal I knew that I was going to renew anyways because I had booked it. Weddings that somebody emailed me directly and said, I saw you in this publication and I want to talk to you about wedding flowers. So because that happened, I knew that this was going to be a good payoff for me.

And I knew that I was going to move forward with it because they've had me in a couple, like I've been published a bunch of different things, but I just felt it was interesting to share with them. And they, you know, of course, took that feedback that just to let you know, because not many florists are actually even doing this, I looked at my web referrals, and I had two in a year.

So if you are trying to drive online connections, you're not. That's not being accomplished. So if you guys are looking at page layouts, or if you guys are looking, you know, I worked in digital marketing For 10 years and so like those type of things are tweakable. But if I didn't have that data to share and also to use as a tool in my back pocket, if for some reason there was a rate increase or something that just didn't feel good.

But without that reflection, you honestly don't. You're not going to have any tools that you're too well. You're going to be like, okay what felt good and what didn't and I think that this is working, but I don't know. All right, the next thing is Spending some time actually figuring out what you want to accomplish So with this reflection of knowing what's working what's sort of working and what's not working You can take that to the next level Are the things that are working something that I should go deeper on?

Would that be more revenue for me? Would that be an opportunity for me to potentially, you know, like take a new whole division in my business because I tried this thing and it worked really, really well. So now I want to take that to the next level. And this is what I think that next level is. Or this year could be financial goal planning.

This year I'm hitting 350. And so next year I'd like to take the business to four. Well, what is my average wedding right now? What is my average a la carte wedding? How many weddings did I do? All of those things. And with that, then you can forecast out, okay, I did this. So what do I need to change to get to my goals this year?

And a lot of times that could be, okay, I need to increase my average wedding because I don't want to do more weddings. I need to increase my average wedding from 5, 500 to 6, 500. So what could I do to do that? If you have a 5, 500 minimum, that could easily be just bump your minimum to six grand. Or if I'm doing a la carte flowers, And I change that to, let's just say, you know, I have no minimum and so I bring that to a 500 minimum.

Like all those little small tweaks, then you need to figure out, you know, the plan to get there, which is step number three. You've figured out your goals. You've written them down. I'm hoping that you share them with someone. I know when any, any time that I am thinking of a new goal or setting like some new pie in the sky dream of something I'd like to do, I want to tell people.

Like, when I decided I was starting a podcast, I was coming back from Arizona. I did a one day VIP day with this business coach, and I went and like, I came home and it was the first thing I'm like, I'm starting a podcast. And then I talked with a couple of friends. I'm starting a podcast. And of course, like sometimes.

Depending on the circle that you live in, and the sum of the five people that are around you the most, basically are often the type of person that you are. So like, if you're around people that aren't bigger thinkers, or people who punch a clock, or people who think stability in a day job is the way to win, like, whatever it is, Like it might not be well received, but you share that.

Try to get buy in on that. I know when I started the podcast and when I decided I was going to start coaching, when I've done bigger weddings, like whatever it is, like I want to have that conversation with my family. I want to get a collective buy in that they're supporting mom, that my husband is supporting me.

And that support is critical if you are really looking to make big growth. If you are just free balling it like I'm just gonna go and like I'm not gonna have a support system It is going to be hard and that's why I think you know tools like the floral CEO mastermind the tools like the floral CEO accelerator like that support is a game changer in your business.

Having people who get you that are trying to do things like you is critical. So at this point, I'm also in my goal planning. I, every year, plan out what I want to do from a personal development standpoint because I know that If I want my revenue to grow, I can't just work harder, I need to work smarter.

And I am all for paying people for shortcuts. Paying people for community, paying people to help give me strategy that they have done and that has worked. And I've done that with other florists. I've taken lots of different courses. I've done that from a personal development standpoint. I do that on a weekly basis with my, the owner of my CrossFit gym.

I am paying for his guidance on making sure that I don't hurt myself, making sure that I'm doing something correctly, making sure that I have a little bit of accountability. Because when I go in, he's like, when did you go to class this week? And he's asking me because he's laying out our workout. But. I don't want to say no, I didn't go, or I don't want to say I just went one day.

I want to be able, like, I went on blank day and blank day, and, or I went these three days, whatever it is. So, like, that extra layer of accountability has been huge. And if you are looking for accountability, currently, the FloralCEO Mastermind Is on a wait list. It's been sold out for three or four months.

But I have one one on one coaching spot available right now. And so that would be me and you like kicking ass and taking names, working on your business for three months minimum. And. It will be transformative. We go deep into making sure that you have the support, you have the tools, you have everything, and you have the accountability.

The accountability is so big. If That is an option. Get accountability with your partner, get accountability with a flower friend, get accountability with your best friend, find an accountability partner somewhere so that your goals are not just goals, that we can turn it into step three, which is an action plan.

So I have a goal next year of increasing my revenue by 50, 000. I don't want to do more full service weddings. So how could I do that? I have to back into my goal. So part of that strategy of that growth is now I have a completely new revenue source, which is the silk flower rentals. And that was again, a shortcut that I bought through Blue Blossom Academy.

I am feeling confident that with what I have, Put together and what I have on the radar to put together, like I am going to be able to add at least like 25 to 30, if not more. And that is not with me, like with a really big concerted effort. That's with minimal effort. And I know that that feels really doable, feels really good.

So then I back into, okay, if I want to just say 25, 000, that's going to be. Because we pretty much don't have weddings for about four months, I think, of the 4, 5, 5 ish months of the year. So I need to get that 25,000 in seven months. So to do that, if I take my 25,000 and then I am dividing that. By seven, that means that I'm going to need 3, 600 in revenue a month.

I know going into this that I already have 8, 000 booked for next year. And if you are curious about this program, it's super fascinating. I, really enjoyed for one creating it and learning more about silks because it is not something I used to be like a silk snob and just go like fucking gross. No way.

But I have loved the quality of the silks that I've been getting. And she has the sourcing guide that's included all of these. Like step by step by step on how to build this business and how to, she easily has people starting a business that makes like 10 to 15, 000 a month. I just don't, I know from my attention standpoint, And from my bandwidth standpoint, that I just, I don't want to go all in that deep.

But if you use my code Hustle, you get 50 percent off at all times. And then she's giving you her free installations masterclass. that she just launched that teaches you how to do like these big installations in businesses, um, using faux or using silk flowers. And it's absolutely stunning. So I'll take that in there because you also get a two hour coaching call with how to integrate this into your floral business, how to not erode your existing full service business.

I've been using it as like I don't really, at this point, care to create this huge arch for someone. I've now made a beautiful arch that I'm happy to rent multiple times, that is beautiful, that matches the majority of the weddings that I do, and take it from there. So just think about what your revenue goals are and try to think of ideas, brainstorming, action plannable.

items that make this feel more digestible. Then create yourself a scorecard to keep yourself accountable to these goals, because you can have all the goals in the year that in the world, like you could have 15 million goals for this year. But if you don't have them written down, if you don't have that action plan and you it's, you're checking in with it, honestly, it's not going to happen.

That's why so many people Go to the gym for two weeks. That's why so many people, flounder at, you know, saying that they're going to do something because then the world is hard. And You know, then it just falls off to the wayside. So don't let that be you. Start thinking, how am I going to make this digestible?

That's one thing in my, my coaching that I'm always like, somebody says this big gigantic goal. Like I'm going to, or like I had somebody on the floral CEO accelerator call last night say, I want to start working with hotels. How do I do that? And I'm like, Okay. Great. She's like, I think I need to go and, um, do, and like this big elaborate kind of plan said, what if this week we just went in and thought of a package that we could offer a hotel or what if we went in and we scoped out one hotel this week, I, with weddings, what if we had 10 planners That on Instagram, we were commenting on their, their posts for like a month.

We went in and we had this list of 10 planners and we're just interacting with their posts. Then after that, we maybe send them a message and introduce ourselves and say, I'd love to do virtual coffee with you. Like what if we could do those things and made it super like this week, not I I'm going through and building a new website for the floral hustle right now.

Yeah. Yeah. It is a lot, because I'm switching platforms, I'm doing I'm switching it to be where my courses are, and then I can host my website through it, and all these things will become synergistic. But, it is a big project. I sure as hell didn't just go, I'm gonna redo my website, and then just expect everything to happen.

No, it is, we're gonna do this page, we're gonna do this block, we're gonna do this copy, we're gonna do, everything is chunked out. Digestible chunks win every day. Having big, overwhelming, not going to happen, projects are not going to help you succeed at the end of the year. So what can you do to succeed?

What can you do to make this super digestible that you're going to take action on your goals? And if they do feel overwhelming, you maybe even need to break it down more. Because when you chunk something down to a level that is so easy That's not going to feel like you're going out to do 10 rounds with Muhammad Ali.

You're going and going like, I got this. One big example of making it digestible for me and putting an action plan is like over this last year and a half, I have lost over 35 pounds. I go to CrossFit three to four days a week. When I first started CrossFit, like thinking about going two days a week sounded completely overwhelming to me.

This week, I have five days planned, so. I went in and started with how can I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna plan for success on Sunday when I do my Sunday night prep, I'm gonna plan my week. And when I plan my week, then I'm going to go in and say, I'm going to go and go to CrossFit this day, this day, this day.

Okay, so I got that. I got to get the kids to whatever. I'm going to bring them to karate on this day and this day. Bodhi is going to go to jiu jitsu this day and this day. So, like, I plan my week for success on Sunday. I don't just think that it's magically going to happen because There is no magic in schedule.

You aren't all of a sudden going to organically have a shitload of time that just becomes available for you to start accomplishing your dreams. So you need to make time. And I want you to know, because if you're a mom especially, it's hard to sometimes think. That you deserve that time. I absolutely deserve time for growth.

I deserve time to make my goals happen. I deserve to take care of myself. I deserve to be happy and do things that make me happy. And so do you. So like, what would it look like if you started your week out and you planned joy, you planned growth, you planned taking care of yourself? You planned your goals into your action plan for the week.

Like, on Wednesday, I have free time. I'm going to go and do X. Like today, I knew I was going to go set up at Essence Event Center, one of my favorite venues, and actually where two of the the business, um, bouquets and branding workshop is going to be, and the workshop for the installation intensive, um, that's going to be in March.

And so, like, I love going there. And, um, We are working on starting a new bridal association chapter here in my market. So I, like, already had planned out. I'm going to see this person today. I want to talk to them about being on the committee to really start this, to get growing. And so I had planned to talk to her, like, I did that strategically because I was new that in person that I'm going to have a better chance of like her understanding instead of me calling or texting her.

I also want to plan out the next Minnesota Floral Collective event and start planning that for April. And so I was like, I'm also going to circle back. And see if they would be amenable to having an event. Like, so I'm fitting it in when it makes sense. I'm not going out of my way because I, that has never gone well for me.

Like going out of my way to just get something checked off my list. So what can you do to also fit synergy? In your schedule, I know that I like right now on Mondays, I go to pottery class in the morning. I leave 15 minutes early so that I can go to CrossFit and I can go to the noon CrossFit class. Like I fit that together so that fits seamlessly and then I'm getting to CrossFit, but I'm also bringing joy into my life by creating some fun things and spending time at pottery.

I have to leave 15 minutes early. Who cares? Two and a half hours of doing pottery is a long time for me anyways, with my attention span. How can you also, when you are doing your planning, take time and build joy into it? Take time and build taking care of yourself. Like, that should be part of your goals.

I am going to take care of myself next year. What does that look like? That could be part of your action plan. Because taking care of yourself doesn't just magically happen. And it isn't a gift to you to actually be able to take. It is a right for you to be able to take care of yourself. So stop apologizing for, Hey, I'm sorry I didn't do this.

I'm sorry I didn't do that. You need to prioritize you and your goals and your family and yourself first. Thank you so much for listening Flower Friend. I hope this episode was helpful. I'll put all the links of the things that I mentioned in the show notes, but I am so excited to be on this journey with you guys going into the new year.

I hope the podcast was helpful. If you wouldn't mind heading to your podcast player of choice, Spotify or Apple is preferred, and do a review. I would so appreciate that. Reviews are so critical in getting a podcast to show up for the right people. And I hope that this messaging helps you, so if you do a review, it could help another flower friend.

Thank you 📍 so much for listening, flower friend, and you have an amazing flower filled week.