The Floral CEO

 Hello flower friends, we are going to talk about something you maybe haven't thought about doing recently, and that is creating a to don't list. I think a lot of times we think about what we will do and part of centering boundaries and boundaries create. You know, spacing your business for growth boundaries, create space so that things feel lighter and not so heavy.

Boundaries just overall create space so things can feel better. And when you think of the things that you won't do, there's growth in that. I won't do mason jar and baby's breath. I won't do styled shoots that I'm not super excited about. I won't work with a client that doesn't feel good. Like there is a million things that at this point in my business, I just won't do.

I won't do things, I won't work and not make money. Like I, that does not make sense. I do not need to create things for a portfolio just to create things anymore. That's just not at the point of where my business is, and it is definitely something that I don't want to do. But let's talk about some things that.

That really should be on your to don't list. So first off, let's start about business operations, like the running of your business every day, like the nuts and bolts of what makes your business work. First thing is I. I know it's really easy to get caught in this trap, but don't answer every dm, every email, every communication, every text immediately set boundaries and batching times.

That's when you are going to thrive. If your attention and your, basically your mind is in a million different places, you don't feel ease. That feels like chaos. Chaos, especially over time, doesn't feel good. Then I also do not meet with every single person who inquires, so I have fail safes that I go through to vet a person.

When I am going to meet with someone they have gone through and what I call have participated in an equal energy exchange. And when they've participated in this equal energy exchange, I am okay then with meeting with them. I'm not gonna meet with an unqualified lead. I'm not gonna spend time, I'm not gonna do a proposal.

I'm not gonna do all those things. Another to don't. Don't run your business like ad hoc that you're, you don't have any systems in place if you are relying on memory or sticky notes or writing things down on a million piece of papers, that is not sustainable. Use tools like Trello, organized proposals in templates on Canva.

Use Google Calendar. There are so many tools at your disposal that if you want your business to really start thriving and your capacity in your brain to start thriving, you really need to start having some serious systems and then. Also make sure that you are not trying to do everything in your business.

Outsourcing is something that I realized I can't do it all actually, and nor do I even want to. That is a to don't. I have an accountant. I have. People take professional photographs, like things I have help with my social media, things that I don't have the capacity or are not my zone of genius. I would much rather pay someone who is an expert and that it's done right.

It's done well, and it's off of my plate. All right. Let's talk a little bit about client management to don'ts. When you are dealing with clients, obviously that's the core of your business. You can say yes to every single client. I know it's so, like in your soul to just be like, I wanna do it.

Especially when you're starting out, you're just like so excited and you're just like, I just wanna do anything. And not every client is the right fit. Price shoppers. Red flags, like I can tell a red flag person just by the style of their email, the how they're phrasing things, the details, wording, they're using crazy ass mood boards attached.

All the things. Then the next to don't, don't undercharge or give discounts just to book a wedding. You are. Basically doing a disservice to you, but not only that, you're doing a disservice to the wedding community as a whole. We have had, in my market, over time, different florists that are new or entering the market or just haven't figured their shit out, frankly, that are doing things in at ridiculous pricing in my opinion, like when I have.

Had people like share their pricing or they've posted it even in their Instagram stories, that they'll do this thing. Like I, I just, you are doing a disservice to the floral community as a whole. You might be getting that wedding, but at what expense for the greater good of the long-term viability of your business.

It is not in your best interest to just pour yourself out from a pricing standpoint then. I also, I know I mentioned I don't meet with everybody I meet with qualified leads. You also wanna make sure you're meeting with somebody and doing a consultation with somebody who is understanding of your minimum spend or minimum requirements.

I personally do not meet with a la carte floral clients unless they have some question, and it's like a less than 15 minute conversation. I make sure that people who I'm doing a full consultation with meet my minimum spend, because if I'm gonna invest that time, then that time in creating a proposal and going back and forth via email, I need to make sure that that person understands.

And that's why part of my process is sharing a brochure that has my two service offerings and my starting at pricing guidance so that they really understand what they're getting into. And I also don't do unlimited revisions on proposals. I finalize proposals 30 days out. If there are major changes, you know, and we've probably met with those major changes, then I can do a revision.

Or if, if for some reason they've decided to take a component out or they've added a component in I'm happy if it's a big, but I'm not gonna adjust for one centerpiece down four months out from the wedding. I I just don't have time to do those small tweaks. And I just, uh, explain to them that looks like it's going to be about, you know, $80 less or a hundred dollars, 200, whatever you wanna say less and.

Then our previous totals and there's no need at this point. I will do the final revision. 30 days out. You wanna make sure that you are not, 'cause that takes time and capacity and is not great if you are trying to grow your business. If you're just wasting time on really tasks that are not going to add monetary value to your business.

All right. Creative work to don'ts. One thing that I know a lot of people do is they chase trends. If the trend does not align with you or your brand or your expertise, you don't need to do the trend. It's pretty easy. You do not need to jump on some bandwagon of doing something if it is in alignment with your business.

Next one, don't overcomplicate designs to impress clients at the expense of profit. I've done an episode on, on stuffing on going and buying all the shit that you wanna use. You are not impressing anyone by blowing your budget. Because if your flower friend was with you and was just like, how much money?

Oh, well I spent an extra $250 on flowers. That is not, that's not great. You deserve to make profit, so make sure you are not overcomplicating things just to impress a client. And then also, and I've seen people do this, they've chased cheaper flowers. They've chased, like using Costco and leftovers. Like I, I just, it's crazy to me.

Don't buy things that aren't going to hold up. Don't buy things that are, you're getting a little bit cheaper unless you know they're coming cheaper, farm direct, or some way that's making sense in your business. All right. The next thing is make sure if you creatively are doing an install, which is probably, I think the funnest part, make sure you have the proper support.

Don't do these big, huge, audacious, creative things that you're like so freaking excited about. Don't do it by yourself. If it is huge, it requires a team and that's all there is to it. Like I see a lot of newer florists really try to just go at it themself and make shit happen. And honestly, like when you do that, you potentially do a disservice for the client because you're going over time limit or you need to get in way earlier and then they're paying extra time.

All the things you wanna make sure that you have the support you need. All right, let's talk about productivity and time to don'ts. You wanna make sure that you're going into your week with a production schedule. So a don't is winging it. Pretty much. I know what days of the week we're making, what things, so if this is our wedding.

This is gonna be this day, this is gonna be this day, this is gonna be that day. This is our finishing day, and this is delivery day. Like we have a map bouquets. I'd like to do bouquets first. I know some people are the opposite, but I like to do bouquets first. I like, first is processing. Uh, then we like to do bouquets, then we like to do anything that's in glassware.

Then we like to do anything that is in, um. Foam, we're greening foam or soaking and getting all the foam ready way ahead of time. And then we're doing personals and then we're putting flowers in foam. We're ribbon everything that needs to be ribboned. We're making anything like pubic core or something that's gonna be water tubed, and then we're packing stuff up.

That is my production schedule and it doesn't need to change a whole bunch next productivity or time to don't, don't start your day in reactive mode to social media emails instead of your top priorities, which should be. Feeling into the day, centering into yourself, like wrapping your head around what needs to be done today, creating a plan for the day.

Who knew a plan for you to be as productive as possible. Next thing, don't over schedule yourself. If you were just going balls out 24 hours a day, it's going to catch up with you and then you're gonna be. Less booked because you're gonna be handling all your inquiries at this time, like shit. And it just, it always catches up.

It's a cycle. So if you get really busy, just know you're probably not hand handling your inquiries as well. You need a pause to regroup. Now, also focusing on systems, which I mentioned earlier. Don't keep recreating the wheel. We are not wanting to break the wheel. Like in game of Thrones. We are creating templates for emails, proposals, workflows, whatever it is.

We're making it so that it is a system, especially if you get an email template that really works in getting people to do what you want and then getting people to book. If you have a proposal template that just really looks good and that really worked, your mood board, whatever you're doing, like that flow is going to help you.

You know, keep optimizing for higher closing ratios and for really making your life easier. Because if things could be easier, wouldn't that be better? Like I'm all about hitting the easy button. All right. Then saying no. I was listening to the Rachel Hollis podcast and she was talking about like. Being the mom, that's the classroom mom.

Volunteering for the classroom project, helping in the classroom, whatever isn't something that you're just like deep down in your soul, like just dying to do. If you just think because Becky's mom is doing it and Becky's mom is a good mom that you need to be doing it. Stop who fucking cares. Stop overcommitting yourself.

Like when I moved down to the farm, I was like, okay, I gotta get, gotta try to find Bella's, uh, a new Girl Scout. Thing. Uh, I need to, I wanna look into four H because I was in four H. The kids should be in four H because it was the best thing ever. I did blah, blah, blah, blah. And then like, I stood back and I was like, the fucking kids don't wanna probably be in four H.

I will ask them and I will do the research, but like getting down here and getting acclimated, getting the house unpacked, getting everybody settled, getting routines established, getting them, I mean we just started school getting you know, everything for school. Making sure everything is set up at school.

I mean, I have two children with IEPs like I it, that's a lot. I have a very sensitive kiddo that, I mean, yesterday a girl at gym class told her to get away from her and I don't understand what was happening, but like she walked five steps into the house and was crying like, I need to create space to support my kids.

I need to create space to make sure that. I'm, you know, getting their IEP signed off on, I am getting, um, all of their school supplies. I'm getting their snacks packed in there. I'm getting their water filled in the morning and huge change for me. I have to get up at six 30 in the morning, you guys, honestly, it's horrible.

It's not my thing, but they have to get on the bus at like seven 10. So like, I'm going through a shift and. I wanna I know that I need to create space because by saying yes to everything, it's not gonna help the big end goal. All right, let's talk about some personal b boundary to do, and this is one that I'm really working on and it is hard.

Don't sacrifice sleep or family time. Purchase one more arrangement. Hire the help you need to get things done. If it is a daily delivery, think of I back into, okay, if I do that is all this pain in the ass of me running this place and getting the base and then having to deliver it and doing all these things worth $30.

If it isn't, don't do it. Back into what is this impact really going to be. All right, next personal boundary, and I, this happens to me as well. It is very easy to happen on Instagram, is stop comparing yourself to where you're at, to where this floor is at. Every business is different, every florist is different.

Everybody's life is different. Who cares if you are not where they're at. And honestly, you might not even really know where they're at because Instagram can be really deceiving. It can make somebody look like they are epic, like they are crushing it. And I will talk to them and they're be like, I am drowning.

I'm not making any money. This is hard. This doesn't feel good. I need to change things. 'cause then they finally got to the point where I can't do this anymore. I'm hiring a coach. And that's a really vulnerable place to be. But I'm glad when people get to that point, because that means that they wanna change.

And that's like the first step. Is wanting to change, but don't get caught up with how fricking cool everybody looks on Instagram. 'cause honestly, we're all not that cool. We all have garbage in our studios. We all have thorns and I mean, my nails are so tore up. It's ridiculous. My back hurts 'cause I had two really big weddings this weekend.

And then. I moved and unpacked and did all these things, and then I did a styled shoot today, slash open house. And then I have a one-on-one, my first one-on-one with somebody coming to the farm. I'm so excited to spend the day in the studio creating and teaching because that's super fun to me.

But I know that I need space, I need time to. To get things in order and those, you know, those boundaries of like, God, I wanna be doing all these things that I see this other floor is doing. You don't know their life and all you know is you're an expert in yours, so make yours feel as good as possible.

Stop letting imposter syndrome stand in the way of raising your prices or showing up in your business, or being the business owner that you really truly wanna be to hit those goals that are super important to you. It is so easy to be like, I God, I'm not good enough. I actually had a venue say like, we didn't think our venue was good enough.

That you would wanna be a preferred vendor and wanna work here. And I was like, it's one of my favorite venues. Like, I love these people. And when she said that to me, I was like, are you kidding me? That's somebody's perception because of Instagram. We never know what somebody's reality is, so stop letting imposter syndrome dictate your success and where you're, you're going in your business.

You are so much bigger than that. All right? Another to don't, and this is also something really easy to do is ignoring, taking care of yourself. Ignoring your health, ignoring, eating, ignoring sleep, ignoring, hydrating, ignoring back pain, ignoring all the things. If you keep that up, you are going to be in the same spot and it's not gonna be good.

You actually probably will go backwards. You could injure yourself. You could. Get yourself on the path to burnout, or you could get yourself over the hump and in burnout, and then you stop answering inquiries when they come in. You stop posting on Instagram, you stop showing up in your business. You stop showing up in your life because you can't take on one more thing, and that's what happens.

It's a big domino effect. Yeah, I'm super busy, so I'm not gonna go to do this. Yeah, I'm super busy, so I'm just going to eat this really shitty food. Yeah, I am. God, I really gotta get all this shit done, so I guess I'm just not gonna sleep Like it's really easy to do that, but it's really easy for it to just start.

Dominoing a big shit show in your life. And I've been there. I've been there where like my back hurts so bad. I've been sleeping like hardly anything, and then making no money, taking care of kids, running all over the place, doing all the things you need to make sure you're taking care of yourself because if you don't take of yourself who will, then my last personal tip is don't avoid asking for help.

Burn. Burnout doesn't build a business. Somebody like, have you ever met that business owner that even when they said hi to you, like there was just like this energy and you're just like, I really like that person. Like they're just on fire. I just, I loved, you know how they just were excited about their business.

They're just like on fire. Are you that person right now? Does somebody go, God, I wanna work with her, I wanna work with them, their business, oh my God, they're doing big things. You get to basically embody the business you want. That is a choice. And taking care of yourself is part of that. The beauty of a to don't list is that it is a living document.

It can grow and change with your business with time, and what you don't wanna do right now might not be in alignment once you scale, or maybe when you hire help, maybe those things will make sense, but you are in control of changing that, of creating those boundaries. And if something doesn't feel good.

You have that right to choose that. This doesn't feel good anymore. I wanna make big changes. I want things to feel good in my business, in my life. I want my business to grow. My analogy, when all the things are happening and you are trying to fit all these things, is you have this big plate of spaghetti and.

It is literally, I mean, imagine this plate of spaghetti piling off, like the noodles are just, they're everywhere. They're running onto the table. The sauce is spilling off. The meatball is literally gonna roll down onto the table, onto the floor. You can't build a business with your plate full like that.

There's no space on it. How are you gonna create those to don'ts to create the space that you have? A chunk that makes sense and it is dedicated for you to grow your business. You don't have a live, you have an actual chunk because it's gonna take a chunk. And when you have that space, so many like big ideas can come to you.

Space to network, space to reach out to planners, space to meet, reach out and apply for grants, to apply for contracts. Like, I mean, there, there's so much that space can create. So go out and create space. Create boundary boundaries and create your to don't list flower friends, thank you so much for listening, flower Friend, and you have an amazing flower filled day.