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 August, can you believe that that much we are going into the eighth month? That means that we have four months left to really hit our goals for the year, to Build a strategy or build some momentum so that we can kick ass next year.

And I wanted to do a check in on your goals. Have you looked at them? How often do you look at them? Did you even set them? Period. If the answer is no, haven't looked at them, no, didn't set goals now is the time to start to turn that around. Because what happens when you don't make goals? Or, you make goals and you don't monitor or check in, you're going to be on New Year's Eve going, next year is going to be different.

I'm guessing you said that same shit last New Year's Eve. What are you doing to make it different? Are you actually, like, setting out a plan? Half the time, I think people lack success because they don't have a plan to be successful. You need to build I am going to do this thing consistently and with consistency comes success and that is going to push my business forward.

I am going to reach out to five planners this week. I'm going to connect on Instagram with five wedding professionals that are at the top of the funnel. I am going to something. I'm going to reach out to a hotel. I'm going to make three social media posts, like whatever it is, just saying that you want to grow your business is too big of a goal.

What can you do to break that goal down so that it's something actionable that I feel like I'm winning. If I do these things that are working toward my goal, because I know if I keep doing the things and I keep like making progress and I call it it's like the wood chipper, like we're chipping away.

Like, if we are chipping away at our goals, we are going to get to our goals faster. And period, if we are doing nothing to work towards our goals. And we're like, all of a sudden shit on New Year's Eve. I didn't hit my goals this year. God, I thought this year was going to be different. Maybe next year it's going to be different.

If this has been a constant cycle for you, let's turn it around. I say, first thing is you got to draw a line in the sand that you are no longer available to be that mediocre version of yourself that doesn't hit the goals. I am no longer available for people to treat me like shit. I am no longer available to not make the money that I deserve to make.

I am no longer available to do a lot of things that don't feel good. I am available for success. I am available to be consistent. I am available to wood chip away on my goals. And if you are available for that, that's where the magic comes because consistently somebody doing something is going to just chip away at that goal.

And it's going to just like, it's like a rock climber climbing up the side of the wall. You're, you're climbing away, you're halfway, but you're going to get to the top because you've done all the work all the way up that wall. So have you been doing the work? If you've looked at your goals and you're like, I didn't, I'm not even close.

Like let's make new goals. We got a chunk of the year left. We got August, September, October, November, December. Okay. We got five months. I did my math wrong. I was thinking end of August for some reason. What are we going to do to realign our goals to make it feel digestible, to make it feel like we won if we get these goals?

You can reassess your goals at any time and at least you're still having the goal. A lot of people are here, I want to have a successful business. Like let's define what that means. Let's start with really making an actionable plan, making a smart goal. Having a successful business, of course, that is great, but what does that mean?

My success is different than your success. Most people look at what I do, and I actually came up in a coaching session today. They were like, how do you decide what is enough in a weekend? I said, my my threshold and my tolerance level is different than others. So that could be the same thing with success.

My level of success, I gauge differently. Somebody could feel like they're absolutely crushing it, grossing 80, 000 in their business. Like I would be losing my shit if that was happening. So you decide, but you need to make them bite size, like actionable. Like I can actually measure this. So let's just say building a successful business is your big overarching goal.

I first want you to dig into why, what does that do for you? It gives you time freedom. It gives you financial freedom. It gives you the sense of accomplishment the good feelings that comes with doing something and winning and like nailing it. Like all of those are there. Then you go, okay, well, what does that mean?

So let's take it another level. That means that I would make X amount of dollars gross in my business. Okay. Okay. So you want the number I hear most often, I want 100, 000 a year business. Well, what does that mean to you? Does that mean 100, 000 gross? Does that mean you're paying yourself 100, 000? What does that mean to you?

Like define that. I want to gross. 200, 000 at a 50 percent profit margin so I can pay myself 100, 000 in owner's comp. That is pretty measurable. We can look at we're woodchipping away at that goal. And okay, so what does that mean? So 200, 000. So I can pay myself a hundred. That's if you're at a 50% profit margin.

If you're at lower than that, obviously you need to adjust that number. So that would mean that every month you are, and let's just say you have a couple months that are pretty dead. You'd have to have $20,000 month. Does a $20,000 month sound doable to get to yourself to the $200,000 goal and to get yourself to be able to be paid a hundred thousand dollars?

If you're like, no way, well, what does feel doable? Could we baby step our way and say, this year, we want to gross 100, 000 and pay ourselves 50, 000? Like, would that goal be doable? Would 10, 000 a month, if we have a couple months that are really dry, Would that be attainable or are we like, no way that's attainable either.

So we need to back into like define what success is. Success to me is that I can go to CrossFit three days a week. Success to me is I'm able to get my children off the bus that I am not commuting other than like on a, like I don't have to commute every day to somewhere. That is success to me that I get to do something I love is success to me.

I get to be surrounded by people that I love and care about from a freelancer and from a fulfillment standpoint that I can look at this like cool thing I built and that it makes good money and pays me X amount of money. That is success to me. So like define what your other things of success are because if we start nailing those, I actually, when I I moved from, Working at a car dealership to having an eight to five Monday through Friday.

Like I went and assigned monetary value to not having to work weekends, to not having to work at night. I mean, like I went in, I was like, that's worth 10, 000 a year. This is worth 10, 000. Like I went in and like placed value on all of these things. Flipping from this volatile schedule to this consistent 8 to 5 schedule and not having like inconsistent, like I would sell 25 cars 1 month and then I would sell like 9 cars on a slow month or, you know, I'd sell 35 cars 1 month and I'd sell like 10 cars 1 month, like having this financial kind of you know, stability.

Had a dollar amount to me. So like, go and put, because a lot of times what people want to do is they want to leave their day job and they want to immediately replace that income. Well, if you had more freedom and you weren't having to pay for a, let's just say gas for a commute every single day, you weren't having to pay for that parking spot somewhere.

If you weren't having to pay daycare as much, if you weren't having to do all these things like what monetary value does that have? Because, of course, numbers are numbers, but I have a whole evaluation of perceived numbers of what value something brings to my life. And when that value is like me being able to get my kids off the bus, that's pretty invaluable.

That, to me, is really something that makes me happy. to bring my kid today to drop off at camp. That's pretty valuable to me to walk in there and he's all excited and, you know, all the things like that has value to me. So what things do you find value in that you would be able to have if you had this dream business?

If you could quit your eight to five, if you could like, just be like, this is my dream life. Like I get to play with flowers. I get to have this business that I've created. That's just amazing. Thank you. Like, I sit back and think and look at, like, I'm in my studio right now. I have a little production area for podcasting.

I mean, for real that's pretty amazing. I get to, like, support and people find value on what I say. Like, 10 years ago, I never would have thought that would happen, and I've been a florist for 15 years. Like, you can always elevate yourself. You can always change your expectations. You can always strive to be that next level badass version of yourself and just dream about what that would be.

Today, I was doing some coaching calls and I was like, what would the most badass version of you do if you were completely like, I'm in the driver's seat, baby? Like, what would that version of you do? Would it tolerate that behavior around you? Would it not put boundaries around everybody else's maybe shitty behavior?

Would it not put boundaries around, like, what you want also needs to happen? Would you not want to just love everything about your life? If you could love everything, if you could do this, if you could do that, like, how would that feel? What is that feeling worth? And why aren't you doing it now?

Pick one thing on your, it makes me feel like a badass list. That you can do this week that makes you feel like you're living your best life because part of your goals are you living your best life. At least they are for me and taking steps to living my best life and being my best, having the motherhood that I've dreamed of, having the relationship that I've dreamed of.

All those things can come together. You need to actually lay out this plan if you have not, or if you have stepped back and go, okay, not hit my girls, not crushing it. Shit. What am I going to do? Are we just going to put our give up panties on and not do anything? Or are we going to be action taking, problem solving humans that I take no prisoners, I am relentless, I go for my goals, nothing is stopping me, success is inevitable.

What if you had that inner dialogue instead of, God, this isn't working, what am I going to do different? I don't know. I've tried everything. I posted on social media six times and I don't have 10, 000 followers already. I don't know what happened. Like stop being a victim. Start I'm in charge of my, my destiny.

I am in charge of making my goals and I am going to do the work to get there. And if not, I'm going to figure out how I get the skills to do that. I came to that point that I was like, I am so ready to get the skills to be the most badass version of myself. And I went and invest, I mean, I've talked about on the podcast before, I like one year invested 40, 000 in coaching and training and hands on stuff.

And like I elevated my income double that. That next year because that version of me no longer existed that accepted that mediocrity that I was running on before and honestly, it didn't even suck. It just wasn't at the level that I wanted to be at going forward. So I drew a line in the sand. This old version of me is done and this new version of me is moving forward and kicking, but and taking names.

So if you aren't hitting your goals. Like, that's a whole nother strategy. Like you need to become a wood chipper, chip away at your goals. I personally, I have taught many people how to use Trello as a project management tool to organize their goals, to organize their thoughts, to organize moving along and wood chipping the shit out of any project.

Because when you get the project done with your website relaunched, you get the project done. This wedding done, whatever it is, like you can organize that using Trello, which is free and feel like you are woodchipping away because every time every task is a card and you drag that card over, if you are in the floral hustle, Facebook group, we literally, I did a training all about organizing your business with Trello and it is pinned to the top of the group.

It is an amazing space for like minded florists that would be. Want to be their most badass version of themself and want to really want success. And so if it is free, if you want to join, I would love to have you there. And I would love for you even to send me a DM and tell me what you're committing to do to change, to evolve, to hit your goals, or tell me what your goals are.

If you didn't have any, go and break them down, break them down so that you were like, that is a measurable. Part of SMART goals. It's measurable. That is a measurable goal. You need measurable goals to be able to know if you're winning or not. If they are not measurable it's subjective. And anytime anything is subjective, it might not happen.

So, how can you make this this is super black and white if we are, like, chipping away at this? We are getting to that revenue goal. We are getting to that number of weddings that you want. We are getting to that upper level average wedding amount. My goal is I was at 1, 800 a wedding last year and I want to be at 2, 500 a wedding.

Okay, that's a measurable goal. That's pretty kick ass. Or my goal is I want to be at 7, 500 and I'm at 5, 500. Okay, what are we going to do to get to 7, 500 an average wedding? Okay I want to pitch for installations. Okay, do you have the skills for installations? Like, do you really feel confident in pricing?

Do you really confident in pitching? Because if you're not, that's a problem. You need confidence to be able to push those things forward. So I did in person workshops. And I was already confident, but I wanted to see how other people did it. At 20 years in the floral game, I was going to take trainings from people who I thought had it more figured out.

It's just they had a different way to figure it out. I've had people attend my my workshops that have been florists for 30 years. You always can learn more or learn a different perspective. I have a florist that's attended one of my workshops that I've absolutely like. in love with. I love her. I love everything about her work, but like I taught her a new mechanic, which makes me feel good because I added value.

Like I want to add value and trainings. If you get a little bit of value, you can take that skill and use it in your business. Listen to a podcast and you get like this much information and just a little bit clicked with you and you can use that going forward. I listen to personal development podcasts.

I listen to sales podcasts. I listen to marketing podcasts. Because I want to be at the cutting edge of knowing what other people are doing. I want to be Somebody who is a thought leader and not somebody that is just a follower. And I like to be able to feel like if somebody is going to talk to me about marketing, like that I know how to market a business and that's a skill that I work on.

I'm chipping away at, I listened to probably five hours of podcasts a week. I read book or I listen to books on audible. I read books occasionally. It's hard for me to sit still that long. I'd rather be running around and listening to a book, but you need to chip away at your goals. We can't just get to the finish line and go, ta da, everything's happening.

that is magic that I just don't know exists. What is real magic is when you have the will and the way to consistently work towards your goals, define your goals, and really like live your best life. That, to me, is the goal. Let's just talk about dissecting, because I I hear it commonly. I'm not getting the sales, I'm not getting the weddings, I'm not getting the orders.

Like, do a real check in and audit of your effort. How often are you posting on social media? How often have you been reaching out to planners and, and things like that? How often have you been quick to turn around a proposal? How often have you been responsive when that lead comes in? How often are you like going all in?

Because if you aren't all in, those girls are a lot harder. So measure your effort. Even put it, a scale. Put it marketing, sales, when you're doing like your actual like consultations and your actual proposals, like how are you with sales? Like how much effort do you feel like you're really putting in networking, your design skills, your proposal skills, like things that you feel are important.

Go and rate yourself. Like, how are you doing? Because if you are like, yeah, I'm not really that great at proposals and I'm a four, What would get you to a six? What would get you to an eight? What do you feel like you're lacking? Have some introspection of how am I gonna, how am I gonna do this? Don't go sign up for another, like another marketing source.

Because if you're not doing a good job with the leads that you're getting, then there's a problem. Like we don't need more leads to burn through them. We need to really maximize our opportunity with the leads that we're getting. And when we've done that, then we go get more. So how are you doing?

How are you really, which is one of my favorite recent books by Jenna Kutcher, like, how are you doing really, really check in with yourself because when you really check in, like that's where growth happens. Doesn't come from like hiding and not looking because that's never been a good strategy to be like, Oh, I'll do this another day.

I'm going to try hard another day. Because there's always another day, and then another day, and then another day, and then finally it comes to the point, maybe I really didn't want this, maybe I, I thought I did, and if that's it, and that's where you're at, like, at least you've done the work to know that you're there, and that then you can take it from there.

To make a bigger game plan. Okay, like this floral thing isn't for me. I don't like the hustle and bustle of wedding week. I don't like this. Whatever it is just draw a line in the sand that like, I am going to redefine what I want. I'm going to redefine what I want my floral business to look like.

I'm going to redefine my success. And I'm going to go for it. I'm going to go all in. And if you are all in and you're like, this still isn't working, there's so many things out there to help you. If you check in and you're like, I'm really not good at the sales part. Like I do one on one coaching. If there's one of these parts that you feel like I suck, let's make you not suck.

Book a call with me. Super affordable. Let's do a power hour and get your business kind of that part fixed. Let's make it a six. And then with practice, you'll be an eight or if you need like, I'm not, I don't understand installations. Come to my workshop. It is in August on the 21st and 22nd here in Minnesota.

17 miles from the airport is 1 of the most affordable workshops out there. It's called the we're actually, it's not a workshop. It's a retreat. We are also going to do fun, relaxing things and just reconnect with our business and reconnect with ourself on the most beautiful country kind of farm.

It's just, it's going to be stunning. We're going to learn hands on installations, hands on spiral technique bouquet. So much is packed in these two days that it's just crazy. Like every workshop is sold out. This one still has spaces left. It's crazy to me, like there, that there are spaces left, but I would love to have you there.

Check it out in the show notes, or if you go to my Instagram profile, there is a bunch of videos showing the full portfolio of work that you are going to get to use in your marketing afterwards. Like this, this whole, that workshop could totally turn your business around. You're going to have a portfolio, skills, we're going to talk about proposals, we're going to talk about consultations that sell, like all of these things.

And it's packed into two days at such a great price that it's, It's crazy. I would love to have you here in Minnesota while there's a few spots left. I don't know if they will still be left if you're listening to this after but we can always try. Thank you so much for listening, Flower Friend. If you are struggling, just know that there are so many people out there that love you and want to support you and build a plan for your success.

And if you need even help doing that, I'm your girl. 📍 Thanks so much, Flower Friend, and have an amazing flower filled week.