The Floral Hustle

Hello, flower friends. This is Jen, and you're listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. On this week's episode, it is getting down to the home stretch of the end of the year, and I want you to be set up for success. And What happens for most people at this point of the year, they just let the steam out and they let all of their bad habits, they let all of the things that, um, kind of control their life, like bad habits, bad decisions, lack of energy, all the things get them into a downward spiral of uh, of productivity, of goal achievement, of really just doing life.

Five Tips to End the Year Strong

And so I want to talk about five of my tips to end the year strong. So five things that you can implement that are really going to get you to almost accelerate a little bit instead of letting out the gas, because when you let out the gas and then let out the You're going to be into next year starting and you're thinking about all these big dreams and all these big things that you want to accomplish.

And now you're having to work this much fucking harder to do it because you slid backwards from where you were. It's like backing 15 feet up from the starting line. On purpose, and you don't need to do that, even if you per perform 1 percent better from a productivity standpoint, from a health standpoint, from a mental standpoint, 1 percent better, even over a week, like just think of the improvement that you could have some of my tips that I feel as someone who is, I would say I am a high achiever.

I am a high, um, a very good, um, Production person? Like, I get more done. in a week than most people do in a month. Not only from a self development standpoint and improving myself physically, mentally, I listen to five hours probably of podcasts, if not more, a week. I usually listen to one audiobook a week.

Uh, I am active on all of my social plant, um, you know, channels like I'm doing all the things going to CrossFit three to four times a week. I'm doing all the things that my children that make me feel like I am really living an authentic motherhood. I am making, I think this year we're going to be very close to last year from a revenue standpoint at about 275, and I also had a coaching business that had separate revenue, separate goals, um, separate responsibilities of recording, doing the social, all those things.

So as someone who achieves a lot, these are things that I put in place year round to accomplish more. And the first thing is when I'm doing something.

Focusing on Revenue Producing Activities

I want to focus on revenue producing activities. A lot of people will have this long to do list, and they'll look at it and then be like, oh my god, I'm so overwhelmed.

For one, I don't do overwhelm, and that is one of my mantras in life, that I don't do overwhelm. So, if it feels overwhelmed, what, what am I going to do to change that? When I'm looking at these activities, I'm looking, okay. Can I either prioritize this as something that when I have time, I'm going to accomplish it?

Is this something that needs to be, you know, facilitated or done or outsourced sooner than later? And... Does this produce revenue, or does this produce busyness? Revenue producing activities, to me, are something that I will inevitably get a direct correlation with this activity and revenue in my business.

Those activities. Are doing estimates, responding to inquiries in a timely fashion, bride consults or couple consults, uh, posting on Instagram strategically and interacting strategically on Instagram or whatever social platform that you're using. And the reason why I say strategically. is because you can get lost down the rabbit hole and spend a whole lot of time that is not productive on Instagram.

And so I don't want that for you. It's not a revenue producing activity for you to start looking at TikToks of pimple squeezes or girls shaking their booty or whatever is happening on TikTok. Like that is not a revenue producing activity. You going on and posting Hi My name is, and this is my business.

This is what I sell. These are, these are the services and then cultivating relationships with other people who can help make a difference in your business. That is a potentially revenue producing activity. The majority of my weddings and the majority of my revenue is based on. Relationships, I, of course, have repeat or actually do have a repeat, um, customer, but most of it's like referrals.

If it's not from. Networking. So I invest a good chunk of time and strategy into networking. And so that time on Instagram should be trying to network strategically by building relationships with other wedding professionals that are in your area that can refer a customer to you. So rep, when you're looking at your to do list, Look at it from a standpoint, okay, prioritizing what really needs to get done.

If your website is down, you need to get that fixed because inevitably that is a revenue producing item. Going on Instagram and scrolling for 15 minutes and not strategically interacting is not a revenue producing activity. Getting your, uh, page updated or your logo updated for the millionth time is not a revenue producing activity.

So look at it from a strategic standpoint of this is going to help me accomplish financial growth in my business. Okay.

Planning Your Week for Success

Number two, when you plan your week, plan your day, you are going to accomplish more. So I have a practice called Sunday night prep. I learned this from Allie Casasa, who is my business coach and a very well known podcaster and mom.

slash life minimalist. And Sunday night prep is getting ready for the week. For one, I do mail on Sundays. I only do mail once a week because I don't, for one, find value in digging through things. And with me carrying it over and plopping it down, I'm going to see something handwritten that could be potentially a check or whatever.

So, I minimally skim as I'm walking to my bin to put it in. So I go through mail on Sundays. I look at what are the kids doing. I look at the family schedule. And I fill in, and it's a magnetic schedule on our fridge. I fill in what everybody's doing, when everybody's doing it. So everybody is in the know.

And if I get asked, I can walk them over. Bodhi doesn't know how to read yet, but we're still practicing this because I want to condition the behavior to that mom is not the question and answer department. We can look because mom has spent time strategically putting all the information in front of us.

So I will put. Monday, we're doing this. Tuesday, we're going to karate. Wednesday, we have autism class. Thursday, we're going to karate. Friday, this is happening. Saturday, mom has a wedding and it's being set up at 10 o'clock and then I should be back and I'll put a 10 till 2 or whatever so we have an idea.

Then everybody is aware when we need help from dad for child care when, um, you know, whatever it may be that's going on in the household, if there's a doctor's appointment, if there is whatever. That can just be there, and you don't have to be that constant go to person wondering what's going on. Then, I'm also looking at my planner.

I have a paper planner, but I also have my Google Planner. I'm like, okay, I'm looking at everything, and I'm laying it out in my planner so everything makes sense. Because I don't put when I have a coaching call, I don't put when I'm recording podcasts, um, on the family schedule. Because just... I don't need to bog it down with anything beyond the basics because I don't want to overwhelm the calendar.

Then I am looking at, okay, I'm looking at some of my to do list. I really need to do some podcast episodes. So in my personal calendar, I'm, I'm going to batch that in here. I'm writing in when I'm going to go work out. So, I am planning accordingly, okay, on Monday, on Wednesday, on Thursday morning, I'm going to go do my personal training session, and then on Friday, I'm going to go to the noon class.

So, I'm pre booking that. Without pre booking, I'm going to get tired, I'm not going to have the motivation, I'm not going to have any get my ass going momentum because I haven't held myself accountable to any specific time when I go. So, days will go by. And there will be no CrossFit. So I need to plan to, to succeed in going on my workouts.

So anything that is like that, like me going to the chiropractor, I'm planning that in. I'm plopping that in. Me going to go get a massage or something because my neck is hurting. I'm going to go plan and say, okay, Tuesday after CrossFit or whatever, I'm laying it out so I mentally know. I'm blocking time.

So, I can plan and then I am having a little mini meeting with my family and I'm making sure that everybody's on the same page for that week. Because when you are on the same page, everybody feels better. Everybody knows what's going on. One of the hardest things for families, I think, to navigate is people not knowing what's going on and being expected to understand and know automatically.

And if you have weekly things... This week could change. So knowing that you are pre, like, communicating expectations, what you need to do, like, all of that is just making everything so much easier on your family. So why wouldn't you do that? Seems like a win. But taking that step to communicate, Hey, is there anything I can support you with this week?

Or is there something that's, um, like, coming up for you that's difficult? Whatever it is, like, just have an open conversation. This is a time for everybody to talk. Is there anything going on with school this week that mommy should know about? Uh, you never know what you could hear, but if you're not asking any questions, you're not going to get insight.

Then, my next productivity hack.

Silencing Notifications for Better Focus

This was a big thing for me. I constantly, when I decided that my mantra would be what it would be if things were easier and that I don't do overwhelm, my flipping phone, dinging all the time, with Instagram notifications, with TikTok notifications, with Google Gmail, with text messages, like, it was, like, Almost inducing a migraine, just listening to go ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

I just, I could not do that anymore. So I now silence my notifications on my phone, which also isn't great if you're just leaving it that way. So I do need to, with, um, effort, it's not natural, actually go and turn my phone on. Because people are like, I keep calling you and it goes to voicemail. Yep, I'll call you back.

And I don't mean for it to be that way, but because I'm operating with my phone, basically turned off from notifications, like I, during a podcast episode, I don't want my phone going off. So it's on do not disturb during nap time. I don't want my phone going off. So it's on do not disturb in the middle of the night.

I don't want my phone going off. So it's on do not disturb. My Instagram notifications are shut off. I can go into Instagram and look if I want to look. You don't have to be a slave to notifications. And when I decided that, and it actually was really an interesting juncture of my life when this happened.

Part of the reason why I always have my notifications on is, um, as someone who had cared for their parents. I cared for my dad. He had COPD. He had all sorts of, um, like heart issues and lung issues. And I was always worried something was going to happen to him. And then my mom. Um, my dad passed away like 10 years ago, my mom did about five, I was always worried that something was going to happen with her because she had heart problems.

She just had a myriad of problems and I was just always worried. So I was always on edge and on alert that something was going to happen. I was like waiting for impending doom and that is exhausting. And everybody that. Really matters other than my sister, um, which I have her set up that if it rings twice, it's going to, um, nor my, one of my best friends.

Like, I have hers that it will go like, and automatically after 22 tries because I want to be responsive to her, but everybody else. That I love and care about is in my house. So I don't need to worry that impending doom and honestly, neither do you. It can wait and you will feel so much better with the it can wait till I am there.

I also facilitate my coaching, uh, my monthly coaching clients in Boxer because that's a container that I can put things on. When I have a missed text message, it's like, anxiety inducing, like I need to respond to it, especially if it's somebody that I'm helping. So Voxer is a platform that I have created for my coaching clients that they can just like brain dump into there.

And I can respond when I have time to really put my thinking cap on, think how they could best handle that, how I can help them best. And then just put it out there that I will answer. When I, within usually 24 hours, but when I can really be there for that answer. If you're running around with your head cut off, you're not present.

And I don't want to do that, especially for somebody that I'm trying to help grow their business. All right. So silence notifications.

Scheduling Activities and Time Blocking

I talked about this a little bit in the planning your week, but scheduling activities. Scheduling that you are going to have a CEO day and you are going to literally just spend time brainstorming about your business, dreaming about your business, like scheduling that day is huge.

And taking the time out and actually prioritizing that time will be a game changer. Because. Without scheduling it, it will get on the to do list of never done. And if you want things to happen, you're going to have to schedule accordingly. Like I mentioned before, I schedule my CrossFit. I schedule the chiropractor.

I schedule... I'm going to be doing podcast episodes from this time. I'm going to be meeting with, um, clients at these times. I'm going to be going to wherever it is... It is scheduled, even running to do a plant delivery today. It was in my calendar because for one, I need that fail safe to not forget. And for two, like, it's just building that accountability that this is one thing that I need to do today.

So I'm putting it in my Google calendar. I'm looking at it on Sunday. I'm preparing for my week. So scheduling activities, time blocking activities. I'm going to go and work on this for 30 minutes this day. I'm going to go work on this for one hour that day. I'm going to work on my website copy for one day.

And you will gain so much traction by actually concentrating on the things that could move the needle in your business, like networking, like, um, wedding planner outreach, like building an a la carte flowers program, whatever it is. It can be so rewarding when you are dedicating the time for your success.

All right, last one. And this is something that, um, I even said today. I have a hard time sleeping. And I stopped at, my husband was working and I went to CrossFit today and I dropped Bodhi off. And he hung out with the boys when they were going to lunch. Because mommy needs to go to CrossFit. Otherwise, I'm not going to feel good about myself.

I need to get to CrossFit on Mondays. It's just a thing. And so I dropped him off and then I met this guy that my husband works with, um, who is a high, like, I mean, He's probably makes close to over half a million dollars each year and like personal salary, uh, and his net worth is probably in the millions.

Like, I think his house is almost a couple million dollars. So somebody that's very successful. And we were talking about, um, like he just said, like, seems like you're really trying to get fit. Do you have a lot of energy? I'm like, I feel pretty good, but I have trouble sleeping. And he's like, why is that? I said, my brain doesn't shut off.

So my brain is most productive at night. My brain, like, that's when things start, like, really my wheels start turning. I start thinking of content ideas for you guys. I start thinking of, um, Like, dreaming up things for my, my weddings, I just, everything is happening there.

Optimizing Your Most Productive Time

When is your most productive time of the day?

Because forcing productivity when you, your brain is fuzzy, you just don't perform your best, is not optimizing. that time. If you are best suited because your brain is most clear in the middle of the day, that's when you should be dedicating activities that are going to drive the needle. If you are most productive at night, you should be looking at doing things in the evening.

If you're most productive in the morning, Early morning, late night, whatever it is that you know when your brain is at full capacity and just crushing it, that's when you should be doing those activities. And if you're not, why not? Why not optimize that time? I hope this episode was helpful.

Conclusion and Invitation to Join the Facebook Group

I really appreciate you guys, um, going in.

I have had So many people joining the Facebook group recently. It is amazing. So if you aren't in the Facebook group, please go and pop in and join. It's the Floral Hustle. It is, I, I literally approve every single person that's coming in there. And if they don't answer the questions, I'm messaging them and Facebook Messenger asking them to answer the questions.

Um, and it's people that are Either building their dream business are working towards building their dream business, working, starting out in floristry or been 25 year veterans in the floristry, uh, floristry world. Uh, it's a place where you can go and ask questions and I personally would go in and answer them.

So thank you so much for listening today, flower friend, and you have an amazing flower filled week.