The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello, flower friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. And on this week's episode, I wanna talk about outsourcing. And outsourcing is something that I have really started to implement in my business. As, um, I've added the podcast as my business has grown exponentially and it has become a critical part of my business success and my sanity.

I started really, uh, putting a concentrated effort, I would say, into outsourcing a few years back, uh, when things started to grow, when things started to get busier because I, I just, I didn't want to start drowning in. You know, at all the inner workings of the business, I wanted to have the ability to work on the business more.

And so some of the things that I've outsourced and I, I think that no matter what point you are at your business, getting help is never a bad thing. And I always know that as long as I'm charging what I should be charging, and I'm in alignment with budgets that I can afford help. I can afford to take things off my plate because I can't do everything.

And that was a really hard thing for me to wrap my head around me not doing everything because I'd always done everything. I'd always been this like superhuman, it felt like, cuz I was like doing all the things. I'm was working full-time when I worked full-time for and, and I did. 70 weddings in a year while working and running a huge sales organization while having a kiddo with, um, you know, special needs.

And like, I just, I don't know how I did it all in retrospect, but now I can do it all because I'm outsourcing. So some of the things that I outsource, uh, and that you should really seriously consider outsourcing if. You don't like doing it. If it is not your zone of genius, if it makes your head hurt, if it is frustrating to you and you're just like, why the hell am I doing this?

That is your time to pause and go, why the hell am I doing this? I shouldn't be doing this. I'm going to not do this anymore and I'm going to build a plan to not do this anymore. So one of the first things, especially. That I knew going into this wedding season. Now that I've added the podcast, I have a second social media to run outside of my floral business, social media.

So I need someone to help me with social media. I need someone to help me with admin tasks. And so I've built this whole routine out of that help, uh, on if I get a wedding, um, contract, I print it. If I don't get it in the mail and I give it to my social media slash admin person to do, when they come on Monday, I have Monday set for them to come because then we're not having a busy, uh, flower filled studio, full of helpers, et cetera.

I also will, um, You know, print off some, any ideas. I'll screenshot and I'll send them to her. If I see a post from another florist that I really like how the structure is that I'm wondering if we can do something in, you know, my business similar to that. That makes sense. That's, um, on brand. And then for the podcast, like I like my free guides, my podcast episodes, all those things like are built into her making graphics for scheduling them with our scheduling tool and those things.

So if you are, are not liking engaging on social media, if you are not hosting on social media because you fucking hate it, which is, I've heard a ton, people just hate it and they don't wanna do it, so then they don't do it. Then having this option is a great option for you because you're just gonna take it completely.

It's going to be off your plate, and you're not worrying about it. Mental load is a serious thing, especially if you are a mom, a mom, business owner, and then you have to worry that a post is scheduled. That is not something you need on your plate if it is not in your zone of genius, if you are not excited about it.

So, number one, social media. Admin tasks, get rid of it if it's not for you. Number two, this is a big game changer for me and it, it is something we all have to do and it's not super fun. And that is buckets, scrubbing buckets. And I know this seems like such a lame thing that shouldn't be on your radar.

But you need clean buckets to safely and, you know, run your flower business so that your flowers are not dying faster because of bacterial filled buckets. So having someone that the co w, a big part of their job or their job, Is once a week coming in and cleaning all those things. If you use chemicals, I use d c D, I have a spray bottle that is from, um, Menards that the d c D goes in and you pump it up and you can spray it in quantity over whatever, with a nice fine mis mist to make sure that all your buckets are getting sanitized.

So I have a person, and it's my neighbor girl that, um, she, I think she's, she is, 15 now, I think so. I, I am paying her cash for it because I just don't want to deal with having that. Whole thing figured out from a, um, contractor standpoint and from a working standpoint. So like I am paying her cash, but it's not very much, and she cleans my buckets.

Every week I text her and say, Hey, there's a bunch of buckets. If, when, do you think you could clean them? Or Can you just come clean them on Mondays? Or can you do whatever on Mondays? To get that off your plate so you're not also worried that you're going to not have buckets for flowers this week because they're all dirty.

Uh, I also have a process that separates dirty buckets. So I, my studio is in my garage and in front we have the garbage cans, um, to the right of it. And then there is a french drain that we can dump buckets. Uh, we can, you know, just. Kind of get rid of all the mucky water. And with that it has, uh, a, almost like a catcher, so that when you pour the water in, if there's any leaves or stems or anything, it's being caught in the milk crate.

And then it's flushing down that drain out, um, and dispersing the water so it's not making a big puddle somewhere. And usually that puddle becomes a muddy puddle then, uh, All the buckets are are put out to be dried after she cleans them and then stacked and then returned in the studio. I let them dry usually for several hours till I'm not putting, if you've ever tried to slide wet buckets apart, it is not a fun time.

And so I'm wanting them to dry and then she's stacking them back up. We're getting them back in the studio and there were clean, nice buckets for us to use this week. So, Somebody doing buckets is my outsource number two item. Then somebody pulling items for the week cleaning. Someone who is helping do a lot of the, the prep or cleanup tasks.

I have a person that does that. They do organizing. They, they pull things like they are my savior because I, that is a big job and it's a lot to think of and I can tell them I need 80 of this. I need of our chimneys. I need 30 or 30, 30. And so on and so forth. So we are on the same page of what is needed for the week.

If it's a slow week, I'll have them pull things for next week. So, Uh, but that is something that is critical to making sure that that person is detail-oriented, which my current person is very detail-oriented and I just love it. And this role has taken so much weight off my shoulders and has just made me so happy that I have, um, someone that, you know, really just wants to learn about flowers and.

Loves, um, I think they just, they, they really are meticulous and great at details, so I'm, I'm playing to their strengths because th this is one of their superpowers and they are invaluable in our, our studio. And so if you have room to have someone that every Monday they're coming, they're maybe cleaning up after last wedding week, or they're going in and pulling items for you, cleaning items for you, that is so helpful.

My number four is accounting. If you do not have a tax person, this is something that I would definitely get help on. It's definitely worth the financial investment because that person, it is their job to be in advising you if you are making good financial decisions. And making money is a large part of why we're doing this whole thing of owning our own business.

And so we want to make sure we are maximizing profitability. We are compliant with all regulations, we are doing what we're supposed to, and we're paying ourself properly during that whole time. So we have a person that I would say specializes in in complex taxes. We are in the United States, we are set up as an S-corp.

My husband has all of his previous businesses as a contractor for many things, had his business set up. And as an S-corp, because as long as you pay yourself a reasonable salary, the the leftovers of revenue, um, of profit funnel into a separate line that. Social Security and Medicare do not apply to so many businesses run as S-Corps because of this, uh, tax benefit that you're not paying additional Social Security and Medicare, which could be up to 15% on your taxes.

So she is helping do, do that also as a S corp, like. You can have your, you're required, I think as part of, and supposed to document, um, sta stakeholder stockholder meetings and that could be one of your vacations, just saying, and it could be tax deductible cuz you could be having your own stockholder meeting with yourself.

But having that tax person ha available, they've even sent me, uh, emails that said, Hey, there's this grant that just popped up for small business owners, and I applied for one and got a $10,000 grant that was not one that I had to pay back. So there are tons of benefits to having somebody on your team that really has their.

Um, you know, like heart, just completely invested in, in taxes, in running a small business and in profit in understanding the numbers, and you need that person on your team because it is so helpful, in my opinion. Then the last person that I feel is invaluable and I outsource is my tear down. I hate tearing weddings down.

I hate it. It is like one of my most unfavorite things. And with that, I, uh, make sure I incentivize that person to want to do teardowns for me. So I am not profiting off my teardowns because I don't want to do them. So I am incentivizing that person to take as many teardowns as possible. You can teach someone to do teardowns.

But make sure you're incentivizing them because getting your sleep interrupted your night interrupted by having to be at a venue at 11, 11 30 or midnight on a Friday and Saturday is not most people's idea of a good time. So understanding that this person is doing a huge service to you because then you can focus more on resting, restoring yourself so that you are ready to kick ass and take names on your, in your business on Monday.

Then you're paying your that person according to want to support you, to want to make additional money to have a profitable side business. I'm paying that person as an independent contractor. So that it, it's like my favorite thing. It is my favorite thing. So to know that I don't have to go on a Saturday night to tear down a wedding, I hope it is, it could be yours as well.

You can find this person. It is not that difficult. You have somebody younger in your life, maybe they don't have a family. The person I, I have do a lot of, my Teardowns has four kids, but his four kids are a little bit older, so he can leave and does not mind leaving at all to go and tear down a wedding at 11 o'clock at night.

Brings it back to my studio, drops it off, and I send, um, a photo of where the boxes are. Stored at the venue. I send a photo of the items that they are tearing down. I'm mentioning anything that could be like, missed or not on the beaten path of where they're going. Uh, anything that I notice, like if for some reason a place has flowers from a different florist that's like a weekly service, I'll say, you know, just to let you know at the check-in or at the guest.

Service desk at like a, let's just say a golf course or something like that. There's a, a bouquet there and I didn't bring that, so I'm just sharing information, sometimes even taking a video, walking through just so they understand everything that is needed that night. And then I, you know, zelle them that next couple days to make sure that I'm paying them in a, uh, fast and efficient way as well.

So those are my five way things to outsource that will save your sanity. Save you so much mental load of running a business that it is going to be a game changer cuz I know it's been a game changer for me. 📍 Thank you so much for listening, flower Friend, and have an amazing flower filled week.