The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello, flower friends. This is Jen. And you are listening to the floral hustle podcast on this week's episode. I want to talk about is your business in alignment with where you want to be, what you want your business to become, and are you embodying your business right now? So what I see a lot of people do.

including I've done it too, is they are planning their future version of themselves. So when this happens, I will do this. When I have this business, I will be doing this. And you don't need to wait. You can become that version of you today. And that's a hard concept for most people to wrap their head around because they think it needs goal planning, strategic planning, like money, and just all of these things added up.

And I can personally say you can become that version of yourself now, because I have done it. I have seen others start to embody That version of themselves and start acting accordingly things are just changing. I am a believer in what you put out in the universe makes a huge difference of what you're attracting.

So if you are putting out energy that. Nothing is going right in my business. My business isn't doing what I want it to be. I'm not happy with where my business is, which are all valid thoughts. You are perpetuating the dissatisfaction of your business being dissatisfied, not being happy, your business not working.

You're pushing that energy, that momentum, that thoughts in your brain. You're pushing that forward. If we flip the narrative to say, I'm working hard every day to build the best business. I am going to have the business that I absolutely adore. I am going to take action. To make and build the business that I want now.

So we stop planning that future version of ourself and we start today. A great story, which I just, I felt was inspiring is I went and had my hair done and I've been seeing the same hair person for a while. She's just absolutely adorable and kind of a total hair boss. She's an educator and I, she does such a great job.

If you're ever watched my YouTubes or my videos on Instagram, you know, I have red hair. Red hair is not easy, is not real red hair. I'm actually like a dirty blonde. And so it's just, there's a science to it. And so like I've nailed down, like she's my scientist and she was talking about a difficult client.

And it made me think we deal with difficult clients. All the time, and we just, we just frankly, just deal with it. And what she did was, just was so refreshing. That I thought like she was embodying the version that she wanted to be and how she wanted to define her business right then she wasn't waiting.

She wasn't saying next year, she was saying right then. And. It was interesting because this person who is a very successful CEO who has tight, kinky, curly hair she was I guess she's really super difficult. She's very financially well off, but she nickels and dimes and can't, anytime she says that today will be this, she like argues about it.

She's never happy with the look and she came to her and her vibe was that her last hairdresser fired her. So she was the woman messaged her and made an appointment and it's the, her appointment was the day after her birthday. And this woman gives her anxiety. This like woman sounds like she's a total piece of shit.

But she decided and messaged her and said, you know what, I don't think that I can do your hair anymore because just it's, this is not working for me. So instead of saying, spending her birthday, having to have anxiety because this woman is fucking horrible, she made the choice to draw the line in the sand that this is the business I'm going to have now.

I'm not waiting. I'm not postponing. This is the business I am going to have now. And that woman was shocked and she goes, I can't believe you're doing this, but like left it alone because she just was fired. You have the ability to fire clients. You have the ability to say that I don't want to do weddings at this venue.

You have the ability to say, I don't want to work with this planner. I, one of my coaching clients had a project that she was working with a company on. And they were trying to, from her understanding, it has now changed and shifted, but changed the scope of the project. And it didn't feel good because the person brought into the project, is not her jam.

I. I told her, you are in full right to say that this is an alignment anymore. And so I am happy to continue with the original scope of the project, which I agreed to, but this new scope, I don't want to financially commit to. And I don't want to, from a time standpoint, I don't have the time to commit to it.

You don't even need to say that if you don't want to, um, I had another flower friend who I absolutely adore. There's just been all these examples of people like total flower bossing up. And I've just been so excited to, to be like hearing people really advocating for themselves that I want to share with you examples, because I'm sure these examples are something that could have shown up in your life.

And so she was going to do a workshop with an influencer and their agreement for the influencer swap was. Two flower deliveries, and then she's going to post about the flowers and blah, blah, blah. Well, on the second, first one went great. Second one, it had been 48 hours and no post, no nothing. So she reached out and the woman jumped on her throat.

And these promotional posts were to promote a workshop they were doing together. And so she just. After, you know, of course, like you're being tore up about it. You're living in that, which you don't need to live in that. You don't need to invite that stress. You are the CEO of your business and can make those decisions.

She's I don't want to do this workshop. This doesn't feel good. This lady sounds fucking crazy. And so she strategically drafted a message and said, I'm sorry, but this just doesn't work anymore. And the woman like hearted or something, and that was it. So you, I want you to feel empowered that if you want a different version of your business to exist, and you were dreaming of that, putting those hard lines in the sand are what's going to start changing the direction of your business.

And you unequivocally deserve to do that. You are entitled to that you are the CEO of your business. So you can do whatever the app you want. And that can start today. Uh, it was funny. I was on a coaching call earlier today and we were talking about a page on my website that I have that talks about all the venues.

So if somebody wants to see venues that I've worked at, and I was like, 1 thing I've been meaning to is I want to delete all Barnes off of my, that I used to do a lot of weddings at like Barnes don't feel in alignment with where I want my work to be. They don't feel I like am done with doing rustic.

If you tell me you want to use Mason jars, I just want to delete your emails because I'm, I'm just, that is not the place that I want to position my business in. So how do you do that? Like, how do you get like the balls, the lady balls. To do that. How do you strategically do that? So you don't burn bridges and how do you even define what that is?

So defining what that is, I think is, is one of the beginner steps, because if you don't have the direction of what you want in your business and the objectives, it is hard to live in that purpose, it is hard to live in that definition because you, you have not. So if something doesn't feel good, I would make a mental note of that.

And I would say, God. This doesn't feel good to me anymore. I'm running a business because for one, we're business owners because we want things to feel good. We want to be empowered to make decisions on our own. We want to be our own boss. We want to have our flexible schedule. We want to have all these things and we dictate what a company's at.

So if we have a customer, we have a venue, we have whatever we can. We are the author of the story of what happens there. And we can say if the story is changing. You might have done 30 weddings at this one venue, but the new venue coordinator is a total B word and you're done. You don't want to work with that because you don't want that person making your life hell.

You don't want that person every time an email comes into your inbox. And so like if you get an inquiry for that, that vendor, you can say, you know what, I'm not available that date. Here are two other florists that I think would do a lovely job. That's easy. So you can make those decisions. On a case by case basis, I wouldn't publicly put on your website that you don't do weddings at this venue unless you get a ton of inquiries and it just globally needs to be handled.

But just want to, you know what, I'm sorry, I'm not available that date. I hope your wedding sounds beautiful and the venue is beautiful. So I wish you the best. Then you've defined what you want. You've gone inward. And this is something that I also, and I've talked about this in other episodes, I, my family knows.

What I want to do, my husband and I are on team back and we know like the direction that I want to take my business and, and that is evolved and it is okay that's evolved. When I first met my husband, I said, I would never want to do a 35, 000 wedding. I just said, I have no desire to, this doesn't inspire me.

Just all that work seems bananas. And I. I've now, I think last we year, I had one $35,000 wedding weekend. I had another that was a, I think it was like a $28,000 wedding weekend. So like that I have now normalized is not stressful and is normalizing that. To be like that is just a week is what's going to start propelling you in.

The direction of making money of living your business in alignment of living a business that you absolutely love, um, because I love my business and I love, I love both my businesses. Like I love coaching. I love. And so I am making those like meld together to make my exact secret sauce of what's makes me happy from a career standpoint, from a personal standpoint.

And I'm still making all the other things happen in my life. Then how do you communicate this? I did say one simple way to respond to a bride, but like that scope of project change that one of my coaching clients ran into like those things. And when especially somebody is truly being like really difficult or unreasonable, or it's out of your scope of what you think is, is okay for them to be asking, you have all the right to just say no.

I'm sorry that this doesn't fit into the scope of my business right now. I'm sorry, but I am unable, I'm unavailable that day. You are unavailable for that. If you're available, you are unavailable for that. And that is completely okay. And if you are having a really difficult time with a specific situation, I'd love to support you and say, you go girl, or you go Mr.

Flores, because you deserve. To make those decisions and feel okay, because what happens with most florists, when they're starting to really exercise, you know, those boundaries in your business or those conditions that you want supported in your business, is it scary? And you're like, what if it all goes away?

So fear soaks in. What if all of this goes away because I do this? Because I'm not available on weeknights for appointments anymore because I'm not available for Saturday and Sunday consults because I'm not available and responding to an email within 3 hours of it coming in that causes stress causes worry.

How do you deal with that? Because that is, you know, there's stress and worry in life. You need to know again that you are the CEO and I truly feel, and I know there is, this is most likely is unpopular opinion, but this is how I operate my life. I feel that stress, I feel that anxiety is a choice and I do not do overwhelm.

I do not do anxiety. I, there are of course times that I feel it, but then I am flipping the inner narrative in my head. I'm talking to my husband, I'm talking to a friend, I'm talking to my sister, I'm talking to flower friends, just verbally processing what is happening, and I am retouching in with this is how I want my business to be, and this doesn't feel good, so I'm, I'm not going to do it, or this is, yep, I can figure this out, and this is not, and, like, the stress is okay from this because there's always a little stress when you're doing something that's out of your comfort zone, but I'm like this.

It's not stress that I think is stressful, stressful stress is different because stressful stress causes like things going on in your body, things going on mentally, you're feeling like shit. You don't have time to do anything else other than just work and you're just like totally bogged down. Putting those boundaries in place, if you want to schedule like one weekend off a month, fill up first three and then that take that weekend, and then you're unavailable for those weekends, whatever it is, you're fully in the right to do.

And I want to talk about the magic that happens when this comes to fruition. When you start getting in a rhythm of. Of running your business in alignment of running your you know, consultations and your interactions and all within like what you have clearly defined, you feel so much more in control of your business.

Your business isn't controlling you because you are in the driver's seat of what is acceptable, what you will take on, like everything you define. And if someone frankly doesn't like it, that is their choice and it doesn't need to bother you. You don't need to stew in it. You don't need to like, Oh, what if everybody in the doesn't like me?

Doesn't matter. I'm sorry that this didn't work out. I really love. I always I call it a a sandwich of when I'm delivering anything I sandwich one really nice thing if I'm giving bad news. Or if I'm sending a communication, even to my consults that are couples that inquire. I'm always like sandwiching in a compliment about their venue compliment or what that because I want to seem personable.

I want to seem like I'm paying attention. I'm reading their communication. And so, even when I'm delivering bad news, I'm still saying something very nice, very grateful. It could be complimenting them. It could be whatever, but I'm always sandwiching that in when, especially when I'm delivering in. News that maybe they're not going to be super excited about or happy about.

Or I'm being helpful. You know what? I'm not available that date. Like today, I got an inquiry. I could probably do what she wants me to do, but I have a flower friend that lives in the town. I called them quickly. So I'm cultivating my relationships with my flower friends and they're available. So I connected them and hopefully she's going to do this project for them because it wasn't something that felt in alignment with everything else I had going on.

Then from there, when those things come up, you just need to step back and like really So can, I am living authentically, I am living in my purpose. I am living my best life. And when all of those things fall into line, you're really going to be living your best life because when your business is in alignment, I feel like I'm a better mom.

I am a better human. I am a better wife. I am a, I have become such a different version of myself because I've decided to become her now and not postpone like changing my behavior, not postpone. My business will be this when. I'm taking action now every day, maybe little action, but like me going to CrossFit three days a week is taking action to being the healthier version of myself and I'm stronger because of it.

I want to embody. Being stronger. I want to embody the work in my business that speaks to me as inspiring. I want to embody like people who feel that I'm helpful and I want to be a go to resource. Like I've defined all those things. So define what you want in your business and what you want in your life and start putting boundaries in place and really being the boss of your business, the CEO of your business, because you deserve all of those things.

So many of us feel undeserving because we're a mom and that's our job, and we should just be serving our children and that's it and not worrying about ourself or being happy or any of those other things. And we just, we deserve more than that. You deserve more than that. And I hope you take that to heart because I truly mean it.

And I know because I feel like I really embody that and I am generally a happy person. I choose. I don't choose overwhelm and I don't choose craziness to be invited. I, and I have two children and want a special needs kiddo. So I totally could live in crazy. I could live. I could park my set up a tent, sign up for all of that.

And especially with the amount of weddings that I do, I could just choose crazy and like, everything's crazy. And like, that's just my life. And it. My, I asked my husband three words to describe myself and he said, driven, passionate and peaceful. And like, think of all those three words together. It's just really interesting.

So ask your spouse, ask your partner, ask your kids, ask your best friend, like what are three words that really describe? Because is that what you want it to be? You should be living in your purpose. You should be living in happiness. And I know that it can happen. And if you need support, like my monthly coaching, we, I really support you where you're at.

Whatever you need, my monthly coaching is there like we meet every week and I'm helping you run like problem solve that script or what to say that planner. I can help you with that. That's reply to a really bitchy bride. I can help you with that. And you can go check that out at the floral hustle. com on forward slash coaching.

So 📍 I appreciate you flower friend and hope you have an amazing flower filled week.