The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello Far Friends, this is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast on this week's Minnesota. We are going to talk about all things ADHD, ADD, and being a business owner and how you too can succeed in business with ADHD. I have personally been diagnosed with ADHD since I was in my early 20s.

I always had struggled with school. I always struggled with keeping track. I always struggled with, like, just organization in general. And so this is something that I have really worked on. And it isn't always easy. Because my brain works different. I have a neurodivergent brain. I am not in the same brain capacity as everybody.

I honestly think having ADHD is my superpower because I have the capacity for more. I have the capacity to think differently. I have the capacity to take on more than the average person because my brain works differently. I can take complicated very easily. I can figure out something very easily. I had a, it was so funny.

I had a planner that was like, I know this is really short notice. It was like two months in advance or something like that. And I was like, this is nothing, honey. I can figure out a wedding like this in a week because my brain works. Like it, this is not even a big deal. Like I can figure out all of this and most, um, atypical, this would like just completely stress them out and burn them to the ground, like mentally.

And I thrive in those situations, that's why me and my decorator friend work so well because in that culture, the, um, the Indian culture, like it seems like a lot of stuff is last minute and a lot of big decisions start getting made financially when people feel frowdy feelings that their wedding isn't going to stand up to somebody else's or it's not pretty enough, not lavish enough, not whatever.

Um, so I deal with that a lot. There are systems that I put in place to help support my, me thinking like this or my neurodivergent brain. Uh, so I want to talk about some of those systems that help me succeed, but I also want to talk about the things that I do just internally to help succeed, uh, when I'm like this.

So, systems in place. All of my weddings go in my Google Calendar. I have a separate Google Gmail calendar, and all of those weddings are entered into that. So that at a glance, no matter where I am, if somebody calls me, if somebody emails me, I know what weddings I have right at my fingertips. It is there.

I don't have a paper planner that I forgot. I do have a paper planner. But everything that is important goes in my Google Calendar because I always have my phone with me unless I lost it. Which... Normally only happens for two minutes, and if, if you do lose your phone a lot, get an iPhone. If you have a MacBook, you can page that phone.

If you have an iPad, you can page your phone. From your phone, you can page your AirPods. Find My Device is the best invention for someone with ADHD. That, that Google Calendar is, I always take my preliminary, somebody's saying I'm sending the contract. Before I get it, I plug in bride or groom, couple name, tentative.

Then when that contract comes, my process is I print it, I physically print their contract, and I give it to my assistant to enter into my Google Calendar. If you do not have someone that helps you with paperwork, you print it, then you go and enter it, and I always put an E on the top for entered in the calendar.

Whenever I get a contract, they're stacked with each other so they have one location so that I keep track of them. Then, in my Google Calendar, I also put what size. Is it a 4K wedding? Is it an 8K wedding? Is it a 10K wedding? Is it a 12K wedding? Because I want to, at a glance, know if I can take this new inquiry.

And what that inquiry potentially is saying that they want, if it's doable for me, or if I want to be able to do that, that weekend, based on capacity. Then, all of my proposals that I do are in Canva. I love Canva proposals, for one, because they're visually beautiful, I feel like I can sell higher dollar weddings, but also because I have a Canva app.

Somebody can, when I'm pulling into the wholesaler, somebody can go and message me about a question about their wedding and I can answer that question right away. I don't have to wait until I get in front of my computer because I got my computer on my phone. And I can go and say, Yep, you, your ceremony thing was X dollars.

If you want something like that, it's probably going to be, you know, there's going to have to be an increase in budget. Is that doable for you? But then, with having Canva proposals on my phone, I also can, like, if I'm doing any preliminary brainstorming, I can be at the wholesaler and be like, okay, what flower choices am I going to like that's similar to this?

Um, I can be like, oh, I just saw this rose. And I can go and grab their proposal and I can pull it up on my phone. Oh my god I think that rose would look good. I take a picture of it And then I have that so when I go to plan their wedding, oh, yeah, I remember that rose that I okay. Yeah Uh, and then I go on my phone folder and I find that so the next thing I do is I have folders of organization in my phone In my phone I have folders roses that I have seen at the wholesaler that I Like So I have a rose folder.

I have a rentals folder. I have an Indian wedding inspiration folder. I have a ceremony folder, inspiration folder. I have a Instagram ready photos folder. I have all of these different folders organized in my photos. For me, when I'm meeting with a client, I can pull it up and I can show them. Um, I can pull something up and show it to somebody at the wholesaler.

If I need more of a vase, I got a picture of it in my rentals folder. Having these folders make it easier for me to get that information or that picture faster so I'm not digging through 10, 000 photos. So when I take it, you can go and just organize it. And if you don't have a folder created, you can just go create one if it is something new.

Like Styled Shoot Inspiration. Go make that folder, put some picture that you found on Instagram. But I also have folders organized in Canva. With organizing all of those same things in Canva, when I'm doing my proposals, it makes it 10 times faster for me because all that information is there, easy to grab, and easy for me to send out.

But, I also have a lot of thoughts, and a lot of Brainpower that is working in the background and all of a sudden at CROSTA today, I thought of seven things that I would either like to do, need to send a reply to, or something. I didn't have my phone to text myself those reminders and I felt like paralyzed without it.

So I personally text message myself or I have a notebook that I write random errant thoughts. Because When I wasn't doing that, I felt like I was losing all of these thoughts. With that, I have this fail safe. Like, if I think of a podcast idea, I do have a file folder system in Evernote. So Evernote is an app on iPhone or, um, it's a desktop version.

And with that, I can go in under podcast ideas and put that there. Or, I have these same organizational folders. for different facets of my life. Um, Bella medical questions. My, my daughter that has autism. Um, I have, like, if we're going to be meeting with the parenting coach and something comes up, I have a folder I can just put that thought into so I'm not trying to think of it when I'm in the middle of this session and then I'm wasting time.

I have, um, a folder, like, for my therapist. Things that I, you know, came up, didn't feel good. Or I have a folder for my business coach. Which, like, Hey, I'm wondering about doing this. What is your thoughts on that? Um, I've been thinking about doing a course versus a membership, versus doing some type of mastermind, and like all of those thoughts I've just written out in my thing and when I talk with her, I can discuss those things.

So having almost just like a parking garage of all of your thoughts makes me feel like I am winning. Because I am not losing anything that's coming out of my brain. It takes a lot of energy to think of good ideas, to, to process things, to really feel like, Oh my god, I love this idea. And then to lose it, you start to feel like a failure.

So this is my catch all. I either text myself, put it in a per subject file folder in Evernote, or I use it as a catch all in just texting myself. So, texting myself this way. Hey, um, respond to Michelle Taxperson. Uh, send quote out to Becky. Um, need to find random bowl for this whatever thing. Or need to find red rose that isn't too red, but doesn't look blacky.

You know, those are things like I just randomly think of, Okay, I need to text myself that. Or somebody in the studio will tell me, Hey, we need corsage bags, or we need boot bags, or we need whatever. I just text myself and say, okay, order a corsage bake. So my next email to the wholesaler, I can put that in it.

But the last part of this that I want to talk about is your mindset around this. I so often hear people saying, why have ADHD? So it's okay that I'm basically fucking up and failing at everything. And I'm not organized. I'm not doing anything. I'm not taking action. ADHD or ADD is not an excuse to not win.

I have it. I win all the time and you can too. You need to have the mindset that supports that I have the tools in place to help support me win. I have, you know, whatever on my team to help support me to win. So my tax person helps me win. Um, my freelancers help me win. I could not do what I do without my freelancer support.

And I make sure they know that I appreciate them. So without a team to support you where you might fall short, or because you're not Wonder Woman, that team is going to help make big things happen for you. And, and having them in place and not doing it all yourself is going to help you succeed. And knowing in your heart that this is you.

Beautiful you. You are not broken. Nothing is wrong with you. This is, your brain just works differently, but it's not bad. It's not better. It's not different. I think it's a superpower, like I mentioned earlier, but it is not a thing that needs to hold you back. You can win. And I believe in you. You should believe in you.

You are capable of so much more. I hope this episode helped a little bit. I know this is something that I deal with and I know so many other business owners that, that this weighs heavy on them. So, go in, kick ass, really live in your purpose and live in being your true self, whatever that true self is.

Because loving yourself for who you are is the first part of really embodying who you want to be. Thank you so much 📍 flower friend and have an amazing flower filled week.