The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello Flower friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. On this week's episode, I did a Monday motivation and I got a lot of great feedback about it. So I thought I would turn it into an episode, and that is three ways to get more done in less time, and that's basically just being more efficient.

So my first way, which I. Might be a little overboard, but I have a lot going on. Um, I run multiple businesses. I have the podcast, I have children. I have. Animals. Like, there's just so many things going on, and as someone who has a D h D, my brain's also going a million miles an hour. And when I have time to relax or time to reflect or just downtime, my brain doesn't stop and ideas percolate come to for, you know, just flooding my brain.

And so I have a notes app on my phone called Evernote. Uh, I am an Apple user, so that is, um, an Apple app. I believe I have file folders. Created for all the different facets of my life. So I have, uh, let's just say a podcast. I do have a podcast, um, episode file. So when I come up with somebody asking me a question and I'm like, oh, that would be a really good podcast episode.

Or if I have a couple ask me a question, or, you know, they email and ask for clarification on something. Oh, that would be a really good video to do on social media. Or if I have, let's just say, um, you know, something come, comes up with my kids and I'm like, oh, I should ask their doctor about that next visit.

So I have a doctor's app. I have. Uh, a teacher's app. So if Bella tells me something or my son tells me something I, you know, can remember when it's timely for me to meet with that person, that question that I might have. Uh, my daughter has autism and we have an autism parenting coach, and we meet with them every couple months now because we had kind of a burst of sessions to really, um, get on the same page of a.

A helpful approach to when we're running into issues or even just handling certain issues and how to do that. So I have a folder that is our Mitch folder when we meet with him. I can say this situation came up and I don't know if I handled it the best way I could, or do you have a different approach for this issue?

Because I feel like it just didn't land how I thought it should. So I have all of these ideas because when I called a brain dump, and especially when you feel overwhelmed, doing a brain dump and getting all those things out there makes you feel like they're not going to be lost. Because I think losing ideas or losing momentum is something that creates anxiety.

So get rid of that anxiety, get. File folders for everything or get a notepad and just literally write them all down. Capture them because you will feel better if that data, if that. Those ideas are captured rather than just going into the oblivion. I've had moments when I'm like, I wish I would've wrote that down.

Now I can't. It was a really good idea and now I can't remember it, and I remember I was going to do it, and you know, you, I just, there's regret, which causes anxiety, which causes just all the icky feelings, so, Having a notes app in your phone? I personally have it in my phone because I feel it's at my fingertips and I'm in the bathtub.

I'm out with the kids. I'm at the stop sign. I know not a great moment, but I can write it down and it's just, it's in a place that's easily accessible. I'm not saying I wish I had my notebook with me. I wish I had a pencil, whatever it would be. I'm just going to. You know, tackle it then so it doesn't go away.

And then those notes help me be more efficient in my podcast episodes because I feel like I got really good organic content to go off of in my couple videos because I feel like I got really good organic content that was timely. Somebody was asking about it. It's relevant, and so I'm more inspired to talk about it.

My doctor's appointments, I'm not preparing and going, oh yeah, there was some things I wanted to talk to him about and I don't remember. It's just there easy. So having that notes app and having it as a catch all for your brain, power on overload is a great start to being more efficient because you're gonna get those ideas, you're gonna feel better about it.

You're going to maybe even pick. Three of those things off of your to-do list, three of these things off of whatever, so you can start moving a, you know, moving forward and taking action on these items Then, This might be a game changer for you cuz it was a game changer for me. It's called Sunday Night Prep.

I learned about it from Ali Kaza. I absolutely love her. She is a mom minimalist and has a podcast called The Purpose Show. And I love it. I love her. I've done business coaching with her. I, she's so inspiring and so real and she has this practice called Sunday Night Prep that I have adopted to help. Me feel better prepared for the week and to get everybody on the same page.

So Sunday night prep is a series of things that you can do that you're, you're preparing for your week. So the first thing I do is I prepare understanding my schedule and taking that schedule and making everybody in the household aware. If you were a mom, and you are familiar with the phrase, mental load, moms carried the mental load of a household.

Like nobody's business. You are thinking about what is next for your kids? What is going on with this? We, your kids doing all these things, but now you're also worrying about like, okay, this is going on with my husband, or this is going on with me. This is going on with the business. Like your mental load is just exponentially bigger than most when you're a mom and especially if you're a mom business owner.

So take that and. Get the question, mom or honey, what is going on? On Tuesday night? I have a magnetic schedule that is right on my fridge. It has the schedule for the week, so when I am asked, I can say, oh, I'm pretty sure that's on the calendar. So they can take and walk their butt over to the fridge and they can look.

And if it's my son that can't read, I will bring him over there and I will help him. Okay. What does this say? Okay, this says we're going to karate tonight. So I'm making it a trained system that people can just look at. It drives me crazy. My husband asked me when the, what time the nanny's gonna be here.

It's on the schedule. When I have a wedding, it's on the schedule, so I'm not answering. I'm saving time, which is getting more done because I'm not bogged down in those details. Then I'm taking my paper planner. And I am looking at like my to-do list and how I can funnel things in things that my family doesn't necessarily need to know or understand.

I then am printing my weddings for the week. I am looking at my schedule of contractors. I'm just looking overall like what's going on this week and how are we gonna make this more successful and strategizing how I can get things done. Then I am also going through mail. I only go through mail once a week, and here is why I don't need to interrupt my brain, power my whatever, every day with junk mail.

I don't need to interrupt my day with all of a sudden feeling like something that came in the mail is an emergency because it's probably not. So then I am taking the mail. And if something like in my hand really sticks out to me like a check or something, then I'm taking that obviously and, um, pulling it out.

Usually like handwritten things stick out way more than all the other crap that you get in the mail. And it's going in the mail bin for me to go through on Sunday. So I go through that and I pick important things out. Not important. Garbage, whatever, and I'm prioritizing anything that needs to be handled when I'm going through my planner.

Okay, I need to send this bill out. I need to call the doctor's office about this letter they sent, whatever it may be. This is your opportunity to go through that. Then if you wanna take it to an another level, you can go and have a family meeting. Hey, everybody. Just wanna make sure that we're going over the schedule so everybody's on the same page and understands what we're doing this week.

Then you can say, okay, is there anything really important that I might not know about in your week that could help me support you? Then whatever they're saying. Okay, that sounds great. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. Um, and how if you didn't ask that, is there any way I can better support you in that?

Then you're giving that opportunity for them to be like, you know what? I'm really nervous about this test. Mom and I really need to study more and I would love some help, or I'd really have this thing going on and I need more help with whatever. But then on Sunday, you're not surprised by them needing help Wednesday.

Hopefully they've shared that with you on Sunday, so you know what you need to do that week. So you feel prepared at that time. You can go through and like, okay, we need to do meal planning. We need to do, um, you know, laundry, clothes, planning for the week, whatever will help you be more efficient in the week.

Take this time, get super focused about it, and feel like this is your opportunity to get your week off on the right start. If you work out or have extra activities, block them out so people know that you're prioritizing these things and it's clearly laid out, so they just know that this is happening.

Not that it'll be nice kind of feeling around you taking care of yourself. Then the third thing, Making sure you are hiring the right support to support your dreams. And I actually had one of my, um, helpers, um, who, uh, I, I absolutely just adore, but she said, I listen to your Monday motivation and you are truly speaking that into life.

Last week I had four weddings and they were, Friday was a very big one. And then Saturday was a, a nice, um, mund up backdrop. And then on Sunday I had two different weddings. They were kind of on the opposite end. They were both cultural weddings, so backdrops, um, you know, minimals, table center pieces, thank goodness.

But even though I had four weddings done, I went to pottery class on Thursday. I worked out and went to CrossFit at lunchtime two different times. I did three coaching calls with clients because that's important to me that I'm prioritizing this and I could do all of that. The oh and I also, we went and looked at a farm one day as well.

I could do all of that because I. For one and pricing to make sure that I am profitable and I am making sure that I have the financial resources to hire the help that I need to support me. And so if I am running thin and staying up till two in the morning working on flowers, that is going to make going to CrossFit harder if I am not with my kids.

Because I'm out working on flowers till two in the morning, that's gonna make the household not run as well. So all of these things are con hinging on me, making sure that I am staffing, you know, my wedding, my childcare, my life accordingly. And when you have that support, you can make bigger things happen.

I with. How many freelancers? I probably had like a dozen or so freelancers in and out, um, helping last year. And with that, I, I was like a multiple six figure business and still spent a ton of time with my children. Still like went to pottery class, still did things that make me, me, and that's what you're here for.

You're here to live your life, not just live your business. And so living your life with purpose, it is my purpose to be a mother and to be a florist like, and a, a co, a florist coach, like I truly feel that that is my purpose in life. Uh, If I didn't have the support to feel like I could do both, like be a mother and have the career and, and the business that I've been dreaming about, like that would make things not worth as much to me.

Like I might have to prioritize one or the other, which I don't want to do that. I love doing both. I love being a mother. I love owning a business. I love coaching. Florist to become their best self, to elevate their thinking, to just be a force of nature. I am a force of nature. I am magnetic. I am making things happen in my life and business, and you can too.

So there are three ways that I am more productive on a weekly basis, and I hope that helps because I often say, uh, I have people say to me all the time, I just don't know how you do it, Jen. And it's because of this, like these three things help me just do more and do I run a little bit hot and a little bit crazy sometimes because that's how I roll.

Yes, it is. Yes I do. But. I can say that all of the other pieces still fall into place, and I am fulfilled in so many things in my life more than I ever have been. I've, I'm more myself than I ever have been in my life because of those three things that I just shared. Thank you so much for listening, flower Friend, and have an amazing 📍 flower filled week.