The Floral Hustle

 

Hello flower friends, this is Jen and you are listening to the floral hustle podcast. On this week's episode we are going to talk about probably one of the biggest things that hits my inbox or hits my questions or really just consistently surfaces as a problem in the floral industry. And that is somebody who that has been doing this for a while or has been in business for some time and their business is not where they want it to be.

It's not their revenue wise, it's not their, um, fi you know, like, the financial amount that they're booking on their average weddings, um, they're not getting the weddings, like, with the big hanging installs and installations in general, and so they're just, like, not happy with where their business is at.

So when a person inquires, And it, like, says a comment like that. One of the first things that I do is I go to their Instagram and I go to their Facebook page and I go to their website. And if I question, like, is this really, like, are they positioning themselves as someone who should be? Beginning these weddings and honestly, like I would say 80 percent of the time, 90 percent of the time that person's image or brand does not match their, their like perceived like place out in the wedding world.

So they are feeling like they are portraying themselves as a higher end premium. They think that their brand is premium. They feel like they are showing that they are capable of doing all of these jobs. And why this whole problem is something that is near and dear to me is because this was me. I had a business that was attack, um, attracting lower budget brides.

I was not getting really cool, like fun, inventive, out of the box, like people were asking me to design their wedding. Uh, I, I wasn't getting that. And I had been in business for 17 years. So the like rest on that 17 years and I still like wasn't where I wanted to be. So that is proof that at any time it can change.

So what changed for me back then is that I decided I no longer wanted to attract that bride. I was no longer serving that bride or couple. I was no longer, you know, available for shitty little weddings. Like I just was like so done. I was going through this like whole identity, uh, kind of shift from, I did have about five years ago, this whole shift happened and I had a job in corporate that was kind of important.

I was the director of sales for a organization. I was the person, if you've been listening to my story for a while, like I was the person that went in and closed deals. I was the person with the owner of the company. We'd go in and scheme like these huge, crazy, like fun, out of the box marketing things. to pitch to people, to pitch to dealer groups, um, car dealer, automotive groups.

And like, we just made all these things happen. And like, when I left because the owner of the company started to leave and another person was taking a leadership role that we were just like oil and water. And I decided to leave when my son was being born and make this big transition. And when I went through this transition is when I also I kind of realized that I didn't like the floral business that I owned as it was.

And I was like, I don't want to attract this person anymore. I don't want to, all these things. And I then decided after I did a complete re rebrand, and so I went on design crowd, which I've talked about on the podcast before, and I went and had a new logo, a new identity, new like back in black with gold flower, like it was very pretty for what it could have been with that name.

Um, but after so much time, like I think I gave it like nine months to a year. I was still attracting the same client, and I was still stuck with this client, and I finally just decided I need to rip the band aid off, and I'm going to change my business name after I think it was almost 17 and a half years.

So I decided to make a big bold move. and change my business name. And from there, I went and like started kind of dreaming up what I wanted my new brand to be. And I specifically designed that brand to start to attract a higher end client. I came up with the name Green Goddess Floral. Because I love lush garden style bouquets.

And I started investing in myself in masterminds in teaching, you know, different like courses and things like that. I just was like a magnet for any type of education, any type of like elevating myself. I mean, I went all in and when I went all in, I, I really started. My expectations of what I deserved started changing and my expectations of like how much money I wanted the business to make started changing and just all these shifts started happening.

And then when that happened, I, I also decided like, You know, some other things were going to change. Like, I wasn't going to just be using budget flowers all the time. I wasn't, I just, I was completely like investing in learning how to do photography, investing in, um, better flowers, just like on and on. And then I went and got another logo designed that really spoke to me and was like, look like this green goddess of a floral designer with this beautiful head wreath.

And, and I just, I went through this whole kind of like pivot of this new ideation of my business, this new whole like step of my, my whole career and that I was changing the game in my business. And it was so fun and so terrifying at the same time, but I knew that it was the right move. I knew that it was the right next step for me and my business.

So from there, I started to, to shift. Um, what I was posting on social media, I completely redid my website. I made sure that it was fresh and like impactful and that I absolutely loved it. And with that, I, I started to just like have people kind of start trickling in like going, Oh, I just, I love your work.

And people like say, would say that before, but like, it was, it was a different vibe. I, I just felt this different energy around it and maybe it's my perceived, you know, like kind of shift as well. But I knew that I had done the right thing. I knew that like elevating myself felt so good. And so when I get this, this client or a person who's like, I feel stuck, I'm not attracting, like I go look at their brand and within 30 seconds I can usually tell what kind of client they're attracting.

Based on if they're using DIY canva things that just don't look super professional. If they look like their logo was made in a lojack or on Vistaprint even, or something that is not like a really distinctive logo. If there's usually gold scripty things going on. or if it has like a mirror effect in it.

Like, I usually know that they're attracting a lower end client. Uh, if they're not speaking to any specific niche or if their social media is all over the board for what they do, I can usually tell this is why. They look like they have Tourette's on their social media and are posting a million different things.

So I think that it is completely understandable to have, you know, several different revenue buckets in your business, but those should not be equally talked about when you have revenue buckets that are way more substantial than others. You should not be filling your Instagram feed with the one that has the least financial impact.

So if you teach workshops, but workshops were only 20 percent of your revenue last year and weddings were 50, you should be marketing weddings over 50 to 70 percent of the time because that is where you are making money. If five times a week, your feed is filled with workshop things, you're going to keep yourself in a lower revenue bucket.

And I don't want that for you. I want you to be making money. And you deserve to make money. But if you are marketing to your lowest. Profit bucket, you're going to stay in your lowest profit bucket. And then the next thing, like the brand itself, when you look at it, does your logo speak to high end? Does your images speak to high end?

Do the photos of you in your brand, and I'm hope you're showing up in your brand. Does that look high end? Does your Instagram captions look high end? Does, like, everything in your business really talk to, I can handle bigger weddings. I can hang stuff from the ceiling. I can make a beautiful backdrop. Is that happening?

Because if it's not, there's probably a story going on with your brand. Ask your Aunt, ask your sister, ask whoever, not your mom because she's probably going to not tell you the truth because she loves you. But ask somebody independently. If you want to do a power hour session with me, I would completely audit your brand to tell you if your brand is really speaking to who you want to attract.

And then beyond that is your process. speaking to that bride or that couple that is an elevated person? Are you, is your brand speaking to wedding planners? Because if you want to do heavy wedding work and your brand is basically talking about how planners suck or something along that lines, You definitely are not attracting planners.

So like, are you doing everything you can to position yourself and your business that yes, I am an expert, I can help you, I can create, I can design, I can elevate, just because look at everything that I do is elevated. And if it doesn't, you need to figure out how to fix it. You need to figure out like a brand, a rebrand.

You need to figure out like getting yourself back on track to be who you want to be to run the business. I love like thinking through like the person that I want to be and the person that I want to be working with and like think about like how I'm living my life and I'm operating my life. And that person that I want to be and like who that person would want to do business with me is.

So like, I want to be healthy. I want to be happy. I want to, I want to have nicer things. I want to attract money. I want to be abundant. Like all those things, like, and when I think about it. I want to deal with a person who is at a good place in their life and they're excited about getting married. This is not like this super high stress situation.

No crazy mother or future mother in law that I'm going to have to deal with. They have a healthy budget. They um, have like a vision, uh, that's really, you know, speaks to me because they really want their wedding curated. And so in my brochure. I have a whole page dedicated to who my ideal client is. I have these amazing adjectives that, like, I put on there.

I've put a lot of thought into and, like, those, I, I'm telling somebody, this is who I want to do business with. If this is not Maybe we shouldn't be hanging out, because I, I don't want to serve the crabby ass that is going to nickel and dime me, who the mother in law is going to call me or email me 10 times, and so I'm dealing with like these two different people, and mother in law wants something different than the, the couple does.

And there's just this dynamic and then they want everything for like downright free. I don't want to attract that. You don't want to attract that. So everything in your brand, is it speaking to who you want to attract? Does it look like if you want to be a premium florist? And to me premium is a difference from luxury.

Luxury is you're getting into like 50k weddings and up. Premium is if you want to live in a bride budget of 10, 000 to 25, 000 and up to 50, 000. I mean, I think you could, if it's an intimate wedding, you could have a luxury intimate wedding for around 25, 000. But, Premium is where I would personally like to run my business in because luxury weddings, for one, I don't have a building.

I have my studio, which is in, um, my garage and I love working from home so I can be the mom that I want to be. And I honestly, like, it's so funny because I had a business coach and absolutely adore her. But she said, never have your children around when you're doing a console. They gotta be quiet. They gotta be away.

You might need to go somewhere like you should not have your children visible. And like that comment, so did not resonate with me because if somebody doesn't understand that I absolutely love what I do and I'm also a mom and that I'm sorry, but you're asking for an appointment outside of my nanny's hours.

And so they might say hello. They're adorable, but they might say hello. And if you can't understand that, that you're asking me to operate out of normal business hours when I have childcare, then guess what? Like my children might say hello to you. And like, that's the person that I want to attract. The person that like knows that my brain is going to come up with something so amazing for their wedding that they want to work with me.

I had a, a really good, um, this past week, I did a installation rock star event that was in St. Paul, Minnesota, uh, and we did a hanging installation. We did a cake installation that was like next level. If you haven't seen it on my Instagram, it's like fully shit amazing. We did a staircase install. We did a ceremony install.

We did another cake install. And then the venue that I did this at. actually had their open house that night and used all these beautiful flowers that everybody who came, and we had local people come, we had people come from neighboring states, we had somebody that was from really far away come, and you know, we like put all these beautiful things together with like, I ordered the product, I figured out the recipes, I did all the creative direction and planning, and then like, I was the vendor there that night.

And like this and I mean this like stuff at this event, this fair was like next level. I actually had this disco ball installation that I made like way bigger than any disco ball, um, you know, Or actually any insulation that had been there because I kind of made it creep out farther. Um, and most of the insulations were like long skinny pencil type insulations and this was like spread out and more wide and it was just like stunning.

And it is what my brand is. is now and what I want my brand to be going forward. And I had so many people coming up to the booth and like there was a line of people to talk to me. And I know that sounds kind of ridiculous, but like it just, that's what was happening. Like people were so like wowed by how the venue looked because it had not looked this good.

Um, when they've maybe stopped by or like even I mean, it was probably the most over the top it had ever been at this venue. And I love this venue and I love the people that work there. And I, like, I was just floored because, like, my brand. They were like seeing what my brand could do and they were talking to me and they were like, okay, like all these things look like they just go together so well, like how did that happen?

I'm like, because I designed it. And so if you need help developing a design concept and really helping bring it through, like I can do that and we can come up with something absolutely stunning, one of a kind. Um, and something really like that you're just so excited about and like that is elevating your brand.

So go look at your brand. Go have a friend look at it and say, like, when you look at this, does this just unequivocally speak to that person? And another exercise that I actually, I just told, um, one of my mastermind girls to go through is. Like, the client that I hear her saying she wants and her brand don't go hand in hand right now.

And she doesn't want light and airy, and I totally get that, but she wants like a little funky, kind of eclectic, like quirky. And I'm not really, I like light and airy photography, but I'm definitely not a white and blush and neutrals, um, florist that a lot of light and airy florists are. And so I told her to go through an exercise.

Uh, making a Pinterest board of your ideal client. Go and make one, what she would like, what her name is if you want, everything. Like Becky loves all of these things. And anytime that you're going to post something, create something, like look at that Pinterest board and is that speaking to her? Because if it isn't, or if it's speaking to them, they, whoever, even if it's hotels, like, is that speaking to them?

That person and if it isn't you shouldn't post it. You should figure something else out. I had another coaching client that like we were going through their photos and found like, you know, some weddings that they did and They were like, oh, this is a good picture. We should post this. It was like trio of cylinder vases and greener I was like, do you want to be doing more trios of cylinders and greenery because I know sure shit I don't want to So don't post that unless you want to do that.

Whatever you post, you're going to attract. And so if you don't want to attract low budget, don't post or, but, or artfully post like a component of that wedding that looked high end. If you want like examples of like somebody who really speaks, I think Ashley Fox Designs. I think Apricot Floral. Um, they're both on Instagram.

Like, I think Kindred Blooms, these are all Minnesota based florists that, like, their feed and their brand to their website matches them so well and what they attract is so to that exact person every time. Like, it's just so stunning. And if you're having a hard time with this, like, if this is really heavy, like, I'm happy to do a one on one session with you or in the mastermind.

We, in the mastermind, we actually, we go through this like right now. We last month went through, uh, making a brochure that speaks to your ideal client that helps you set up on a path of trust. Pricing transparency so that you are not like meeting with someone and then they can't afford your services.

And then all of a sudden you've done a bunch of work and it sucks. So that was one thing that we went through. Um, we've went through like how to use chat GPT to craft your Instagram captions and all of your other like marketing texts that's going out there to speak to your ideal client. We did goal setting to really look at your revenue buckets and dig into, like, where you're actually making money, where you should double down in, where you should maybe, like, pull back a little bit, how much time you're spending on these things, and, like, is all of that worth it?

And then this month we're going to dig into creating proposals that sell, having a consult that crushes it. And so we actually have, starting on April 1st, we have two spots in the Mastermind opening up. So if this is something that you're interested in, you can go to my link in bio on Instagram, or you can go on my site to the Mastermind, um, actual page and check it out because I see the changes that these girls in The Mastermind are going through.

They're gaining more confidence. They're just, like, so, like, I see so many good things happening. Like, opportunities they're starting to put together. And even when one of them's having a hard day, like, they're in, like, we're talking about it because the majority of us except one are all moms as well. And so that has just been so amazing and, um, I know we have two spots opening up and I'd love some new flower friends.

To just really help a few more flower friends, but also like to learn from others because some of the girls in here are doing really big things in their businesses that are just really fun to be kind of a witness, a fly on the wall too. And I have heard so many things that like, the girls are asking that have been beneficial for others.

And Being in the mastermind makes it way more affordable. I've been in a mastermind that's over a thousand dollars a month and Like it is scary spending that much money for some but even this is is so affordable that it's just like Reach out if you have a question or if you want to hop on a clarity call to see if the mastermind is right For you, but that is coming up on April 1st We will have two spots open and I would love to have you in it.

So I hope that your brand is exactly what you want, but if it isn't, it doesn't mean it's too late. And I hope and, and just, I know that there are so many things that can be done to like correct course and get you attracting the client of your dream. So thank you so much for listening today, flower friend, and you have an amazing flower filled week.