The Floral Hustle

[00:00:00]
Hello flower friends on this week's episode. I've had, chats with lots of flos lately and I think tis the season always going into. Mother's day, a holiday, the season when you know things are changing and shifting and wedding season is coming up and there's always this feeling of I'm never doing enough.
And then there's also a feeling, 'cause I feel this too, especially like. Right now I've really been thinking where should I be spending my time for the maximum amount of impact. I just had the, floral, cultural wedding rockstar workshop. I have a wedding this weekend. this is the first time you guys, I'm actually.[00:01:00]
Not going to be here and someone's delivering one of my weddings. And so I just, like all this stuff is going on. today, I brought Bella to violin lessons. There's this carpet that I really, really wanted and of course it's going out of stock. And then one Menards had it and we went and loaded up the trailer and like just all these things, all these things are going on.
And this is while I met with a client today, and I've met with several clients recently, like just all these things going on. And so I am in the midst of working on something really big. For the whole coaching brand, I'm working on putting the initial details together for the, floral, rockstar retreat that is going to be on my farm, on my new farm in August [00:02:00] 17th through the 19th.
And I keep throwing that date out because it holds me accountable to go and do. Like all the things that I need to do to put this workshop together. And so like I also am working on like updating, doing stuff with the soap flowers, just like there's so many things I need to update my contract again with what I learned at the Minnesota Floral Collective, workshop.
I have proposal revisions I have to invoice the church for the Easter flowers that I brought over and just like a whole lot of things. But I wanna talk more about the logic of where to spend your time because I have an ever like kind of endless to-do list and you know, sometimes like. People just start [00:03:00] shutting down and then they don't do anything because not accomplishing their to-do list makes you feel like shit.
And so you just choose to do nothing because it feels weird that you do some things and you still feel like shit. So why not do nothing if you're gonna feel like shit anyways? And that is a real thing. I want you to know that just because the ideal version of what you would like to be accomplishing isn't happening, doesn't mean that you aren't crushing.
It doesn't mean that you aren't accomplishing things and moving towards your goals. Just because it isn't the exact carbon copy of what you want it to look like, doesn't mean it isn't success. And that is a really hard concept to wrap your head around because we live in this [00:04:00] achiever society that, you also need to be fucking perfect while you're doing it because there's Instagram and all of these places for you to put the most perfect version of you outside.
Like, frankly, you guys, I am not perfect. I try my hardest every day, but the last couple days, my back has been hurting. I pushed it too hard at CrossFit and it's made me just go like, I need to rest. My body needs to recuperate. I had personal training today, and it was the first time I'd gone to CrossFit in like.
Five days because I literally just said rest, like my back hurts. I want to snuggle my children. I want to get some things started around the house. Like [00:05:00] I want to also have you guys really feel in your heart that sometimes rest is doing what you need to do. And that seems like just a really, odd concept again, because of the society we live in and you know, we go on Instagram and like literally in 30 seconds of me going on Instagram, before I came out here, I saw a florist, that had done a styled shoot open house, and it was you guys like.
Very, very similar theme, everything. So it is just like, okay, should I go and be butt hurt that like I put this amazing concept and all this shit together and somebody kind of runs with it should like I be and absolutely [00:06:00] not because that could maybe have no correlation, probably doesn't. It's probably just what your mind wants to like put together in this story of, you know, like somebody's copying you or somebody's, you know, doing whatever.
Like if it's at the same venue, it's at the same. so many things that we start to tell ourself that aren't true because we're looking for validation. We're looking for, you know, maybe we're angry, maybe we feel disappointed, maybe we feel like we're a failure. There's all of this like domino effects of maybes.
Then I saw another florist, like in the most adorable cowboy hat doing a photo shoot and like, it just made me think of like, oh my God, like. Should I be doing a photo shoot on the new farm with a cowboy hat that I don't own? You know, all of these things. I don't have cowgirl boots. Like should I [00:07:00] have these things?
Like who cares? Who cares? You know what I care about? I care about like making sure we're moving along to get. Out of this house and into a new house. I'm making sure, like my top priority is making sure my children are taken care of. My children are getting what they need. And like today, Bella got in the car meltdown.
Okay. Like what are we having to meltdown again? Like that's the most important thing. Then how do you prioritize everything else? How do you prioritize like. Making sure that everything keeps slowly moving forward. And that's kind of my motto, like I am chipping away at all of my goals that I'm working on and all of the things that are important to me.
I'm slowly chipping away. This is not an Indie 500. [00:08:00] This is not like balls to the wall. We need to get all this stuff done. And I feel like in the society that we live in, like that's the expectation, but my success is due to me being consistent at chipping away. So how do you chip away? Like how do you choose what you chip away at?
And the first thing is, for one, you need to know what you're chipping. I've talked about how I use Trello on the podcast before. Trello is a project management software that helps you and you can have up to 10 boards for free. Like if you guys are looking for doing a big project, or you, let's just say you have your biggest event ever break that shit down into a Trello board.
You can make a like working on idea dump. Completed, like you can break this down. And it's very satisfying to [00:09:00] me to drag one box to the next when I'm chipping away at it. That's my, my literal like little wood chips is me being able to, to take one of the cards over to one of these sections on the board.
That's an updated and progressed status like that is, I'm winning. I'm getting things done, I'm moving things along. And that's important. Like you need to mentally feel like you are getting somewhere when you are basically feeling defeated because like nothing looks like it's being accomplished.
I've done podcast episodes, I'm just reflecting on that. I know sometimes, even, if my body isn't feeling a hundred percent, I easily go to the mental place of like, everything is a shit storm. [00:10:00] Everything is a cluster fuck, like.
The studio is a disaster, and there's old flowers that I don't know why they're not cleaned up in the cooler. When I had people here helping me and maybe I didn't communicate that those flowers also need to go and like then all of these mentals, like, holy shit, that plant is dead over there. Like it's sad to look at and I need like, okay, so who's not watering
the plants. Elaine, you guys have heard about Elaine, but sometimes like she might not have known, like, I, she might have missed it. So we need to make sure the plants are dead. I see another dead plan like Jesus, that makes me feel like I'm not winning. So then in those moments, I have to step back and go, okay, what did I accomplish?
I got carpet today. So that's awesome. I got shit out of the storage unit. I returned [00:11:00] stuff to the main floral storage unit. 'cause I'm not gonna bring my soak flowers down to the farm until I know that there are not mice there. because farms have mice and I don't want them eating my expensive soak.
Flowers. Flowers. And I got Bella to violin class. I got Bella to therapy. You know, I cuddle Bodhi because he was not feeling good and had had a cold, and that cold gave him, gave him pink eye. Super awesome. I did the most epic Easter egg baskets, and I totally manifested like the Easter bunny, and the kids had no clue that the Easter bunny had come and all of a sudden looked outside and saw all these magical eggs that I fucking stuffed, We moved a bunch of stuff down to the farm. I found the most amazing person to help and do all these paint painting and cleaning up the yard and converting the garden beds. [00:12:00] And I went to tractor Supply and got all of us stuff for the chickens, the baby chicks that were getting on the 15th of next month.
And I ordered the baby chicks and I booked two weddings. And I've worked on a new website and I've crushed a bunch of things on there. I have had a bunch of consultations. I've done proposals, like all of these things. So like when I'm starting to go, holy crap, I didn't go to CrossFit for four days.
Like I didn't just waste that time. I still did things. And even if I didn't do fit, do things to make me feel accomplished, I can sit back and go, you know what rest was required. I rested more. I have rested more in the last four days than I normally do because my body hasn't been feeling good. And I went to the doctor today to even discuss it.
I went to the neurologist and I was like, my neck and back. I've been in two car accidents. I don't know if I've shared [00:13:00] that. and I, it's just not feeling I, and yes, I am 45. Maybe it's just because I'm getting old and I've been in car accidents, but like, I don't wanna feel this way, so what can we do to make it better?
And we're, he ordered me to, he's like, why don't you already maxed your deductible like you mentioned. So why don't you just get an MRI and let's see if something has changed. 'cause I haven't got one since 2004, which I also thought was really interesting. 'cause that seems crazy. And so like. I'm just chipping away, like I might figure out something's wrong with my back.
I might figure out, maybe I need to, not push myself with weight. Maybe I need to just work on mobility and gain some mobility in my back. Like today for personal training, all we did is work on stretching and really kind of strengthening my mobility because that's. Where I think I fell short, I went into a bad position and I lifted something probably heavier than I [00:14:00] should have with bad positioning.
And it's all figureoutable, but like, how do I choose what shiny object or what chip am I going to chip away today? So my rule of thumb is obviously my children and my husband, those. I like, whatever that is. It's first. well, I mean, realistically, I'm first because if I am running on an empty cup, everybody, so if I'm not sleeping, if I'm not getting to take my bath, if I'm not getting to, you know, periodically, like go to a massage, go take care of myself, go to CrossFit.
Like if that is falling apart. Then a lot of other stuff is gonna fall apart because I'm falling apart. And so if you are especially a mom and you're taking care of everybody first, there, [00:15:00] there is a reason why not much else is getting done because your battery is empty and you need to fill your battery.
And I've, I've talked about this repeatedly on the podcast, that when I started prioritizing, not putting everybody else first. That's when my business started to grow and my business grew again this year. You guys from year to year. So like you need to take care of yourself. If you want your business to grow, you need to have a partner that gets that.
You need to have a family that understands that, and if you don't, you need to take steps to get that support, because without that. When your cup is empty, it's just not, it's, it's gonna be so hard, you're gonna be spinning your wheels. So then the next thing that I pick is obviously children, [00:16:00] husband, making sure that their needs are being met while making sure that my needs are being met.
And sometimes, especially when things get bumpy, like Bodhi being sick the last two days, that, you know, obviously puts a ripple and you know, I, you're just not able to do everything. But I got some serious snuggle time on the couch while I was working on my website and while I was working on emails
Putting together some ideas and concepts. So like you, I, I know a lot of women I coach, it seems hard to do both because they feel like they're not being present if they're on their computer. And I would much rather me sugg be snuggling with my kid [00:17:00] and getting some work done if that work feels heavy and I feel like it's needed.
Then me feeling like shit the whole time I was snuggling.if that's you and you're like, there's, it's all or nothing, and there's no gray area for you to be a working mom because that's what you are. If you are owning a business, you are working as a mom. And especially if you're working a day job, like that's adding an extra layer because you are dispersing that time even more So.
The cuddles and the computer sometimes have to go together, and I know inevitably, like I'm still spending, I'm still asking them questions. I'm still like, I'm not just like ignoring them while I'm on my computer and I'll set it down when I'm like, if we get talking about something, but like, I feel like I'm getting some work done.
And that is important to me [00:18:00] because I want to make sure that I am moving my goals ahead. And if I never give myself any time to do that that's not gonna work. You have to have time. There physically has to have, be time for you to get these things done. All right, so I've done those things.
So in my business, what are the things that I work on first? Obviously if I have a wedding coming up and I need to order flowers, I need to finalize an invoice and I'm three weeks out, that is my top priority. I need to get those flowers ordered. That is a priority, so if that is happening, that is a top priority.
Next priority is emails. People who have contacted me who are inquiring. My second priority emails is following up with people who I've interacted with. My third priority is responding to customers [00:19:00] who have booked me, and if they're those customers that are three weeks out and I'm finalizing the details, they go to the top of the list.
'cause that's kind of in the realm of finalizing to get everything ordered. So we go from prospects to working, going back and forth, prospects. Then we go to, you know, answering clients that are booked. And then if I'm circling back with really old prospects or you know, something along that lines and prospects.
The same thing is for planners. I treat planners. Even if I have worked with them a million times, like new prospects because they're coming back to me with a new client and this is a brand new opportunity, so they get priority for me to respond to them. All right, next [00:20:00] priority. Like I feel like email in your inbox is often one that everybody shifts to the side, but it is super duper important.
You. Your whole communication structure is email, and if you're having a really hard time with that, get some type of email management system. With the volume of emails I get, I don't need that. I like the personalized touch. I like knowing what's going on in my business. But if the volume of emails is tough for you, then do that.
Then after that. Obviously you need to get your weddings done. So if it is a wedding week, I would be making sure I'm getting my weddings done. If I have a lot of other things going on, then I need to hire help. So making sure that I have help booked out is definitely priority.
Lower on the totem pole priorities are things like. Redoing [00:21:00] your logo, remaking, another, update on your website, redoing your brochure for the 10th time. Streamlining those things and making sure that when you are actually executing an item, making sure you're executing a well. Like, if you're going to make a brochure to share about your services, make sure it's solid.
And then stop fucking with it. Like, make something good and then move on. Same thing with templates for your proposals, if you make one and it's a great proposal, use that as a template. I make sure that I have, templated items for a lot of my common items, like, bases and tall Harlow stand centerpieces and things like that you're constantly producing.
So that I've streamlined that process to make it faster in the mix of [00:22:00] priorities with, you know, making sure that you're communicating people, making sure that you're also getting your proposals, consultations done. I use a Calendly, which is a booking software, Then I'm not managing, going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth for booking an appointment.
I manage it once a month. I go in and I fill the month in, and then every week I go in and I do a check. When I do the check, I'm just making sure things look good and that everything is kind of functioning well, because if it isn't, then I'm going to get double booked or something, and then I have more of a hassle to clean up.
So I take that like five minutes to just on my Sunday night prep, which I've done multiple episodes on, I just go in and I make sure that my, My Calendly is up to [00:23:00] date with all the week's appointments in that I've, you know, preemptively when I map out my month. I've mapped out when I normally go to CrossFit, so that's automatically kind of built in there, but if for some reason there's a tweak to that and I don't have anything booked and oh, I can't go that time, so I'm gonna switch it to this time, totally fine.
But I just have to make that adjustment and make sure it's up to date in case somebody books me for a consultation or for a coaching call Then. After I've, you know, really my top priority is obviously me, my family, my husband. Then going to communication with customers and clients. Then executing my weddings and making sure that I'm getting that done and moving forward.
'cause that's obviously the big, the whole reason why is we're, we wanna make money delivering the wedding. Then after that, it's moving things around, [00:24:00] like any projects that you have, like, an update to something, wanting to rework something. And then after that, I would say, you know, cleaning, organizing the studio, looking for new inventory, you know, things that sometimes you are just like, they're on your to-do list, but.
you don't really, ever do them because you've never made a pocket of time. So one thing that I do is I pull a would be nice item off a week my would be nice is I need to invoice, the church that I delivered, which like. It's $125, but it's $125, but I, you know, have to go in and manually make an invoice since it's a small amount, I always deprioritize those invoices.
But the whole reason why we're [00:25:00] here. Is to make money. And so I wanna make sure that I'm getting that done. And so I pull one would be nice and I know it seems lame to actually send an invoice on. One of my would be nice, but sometimes my would be nice is to, go in and organize my, photos and videos in my phone.
Sometimes it would be nice if I made. A couple extra reels, like whatever your would be. Nice. Picking one of those would be nice. And then just prioritizing it. You know what I'm going to work on? My would be nice on Fridays or I like to segment days like Monday is marketing Monday. And so like you work on marketing tasks on Monday, on Tuesday, maybe it's admin Tuesday or, or, whatever you wanna pick with your schedule.
Often you will be more successful in [00:26:00] getting things done if you are batching that and then batching that to a day, or just knowing that this is marketing Monday. I say the same thing with social media and content pillars. If you go in and just say like, Monday is meet us Monday. And so it's just something about you or about your business.
Tuesday is Tip Tuesday, and so you can give a wedding tip or a tip about taking care of flowers. Wednesday is wedding Wednesday, so you literally share some of your wedding work. Friday could be Friday fun and it could be sharing, something fun about flowers. It could be sharing a fun thing that you created.
It could be like something that you create weekly, whatever, like, but when you stick to like theme days or batching D kind of themed content days, your brain is already like, I am going to be working on this. [00:27:00] And you've set this mental expectation with yourself. That it's almost like all you need to worry about now is just keeping the promises to yourself.
'cause you've already made a plan. What most people do is they make no plan. So you're just going in with no plan. With this magically fucked to-do list and then wondering why it never gets done. It's because you don't have a plan for The layers of your to-do list, like I went through, like I always prioritize making sure my wedding in a few weeks is going to be ordered and taken care of.
Then I need to make sure that I'm getting back to hot prospects. Then I need to make sure that I'm so, like there's a hierarchy that if for some reason it, I often will work after the kids go to bed. And you know, if it's 1130 or midnight and I'm, I'm naturally a night out, I'm like, I need to go to [00:28:00] bed.
I'm getting really tired. And so like, I need to get these few things done, so I'm gonna bang out these emails to the hot prospects. I'm tomorrow going to reply to X, these three other emails. And then you just have a system, you mark 'em with a star. I often my system for making sure I'm doing something the next day is texting myself, or writing into my planner.
And once you do like, just catch that, like to do, then you just know that, okay, yesterday I deprioritize that, and today I need to reprioritize it. But having this, that little like fail safe system that I didn't get it done today. But like when does it need to be done By an understanding that, and often people hold themself to too much pressure on that.
Like everything needs to be done today. And I did that forever with with appointments and I was so shocked [00:29:00] when I changed to Calendly. People were booking like appointments two to three weeks out and I always thought I need to fit everybody in this week. I would've like totally probably have juggled my schedule and tried to squeeze this person in.
And they're okay with meeting two weeks from now because honestly, their wedding is next June. And so the world is not burning down. but I always felt it was like, I need to, this person wants to meet with me right away. So like even just taking that pressure off and letting somebody decide, I fill my whole calendar out for the month.
They wanna pick three weeks out for, I don't really care. Like it's all going to work out I always put in there for some reason something doesn't work. 'cause I honestly only have daytime appointments built in to my Calendly. So somebody needs to email me and basically ask for me times.
Outside of that if they want to meet in the evenings [00:30:00] or on a weekend. And I've done that twice in the last six months. So it's very few and far between. So I hope all of these little tidbits were helpful. I so appreciate you listening and I hope that you next week can just take a couple of these little nuggets.
You feel more productive and you feel like you are crushing it. 'cause you know what you probably are. And if you aren't and you're just like, my life is a shit show, I just, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to prioritize. Like everything feels heavy. You need the floral CEO Mastermind. Not only are these girls in there like so helpful and so amazing and so supportive and it's such a community.
We have such great trainings. Tomorrow our training is going to be on making base recipes to make estimates easier to make, doing [00:31:00] proposals, easier, to make ordering easier. And then, I mean, we do live coaching sessions every month. We did a candle session that we just went through and I like shared all of my candle secrets, how much I charge for rentals, where I source them.
We have discussions in Voxer, which is a walkie-talkie type app system that we can all talk to each other and like, you're having a bad day or you're wondering about this. Or like, I, there's this, one woman in the group that I just absolutely love. She sent a picture of her shop and was just like, oh my God, this is so much.
Like she is working so hard to build this business and she has all these orders, like the woman is crushing it. And I was just like, this is what success is dear. Like you, everything you wanted, your business is successful right now. Look at your shop. You are [00:32:00] crushing it. You are making money as long as you are charging.
How we, we've talked about like. This is what success looks like. But like sometimes you just need that person to tell you, you're not like, holy shit, I'm overwhelmed and like I am. Is this worth it? Like absolutely. Like look at what you're doing. It's. People just being proud of you. Like I often will send a message and be like, I'm so proud of you, or Oh my God, this is amazing.
Like someone's working on our bloom right now. And like it's just making the most beautiful things and sharing kind of play-by-play. Like it is such a close knit group because we spend a lot of time together and. I would love to invite you in, go to the floral hustle.com/mastermind or send me a DM and we can connect, to see if it's right for you.
Because I also want people in there who wanna be the best version of themself, who [00:33:00] want to grow their business. Not people who are like, like, nothing has worked. I've done a million coaching programs, because you don't wanna do the work. Like, I want to help you be successful. Teach you what I have done to be successful.
And I have an amazing business. I almost hit three 50 this year, working part-time hours with my children a lot. Being there for them, being the mother, being the human. I want to be out of my garage and living my best life. And you can do that too. You honestly can do that too. If you have the drive, I can teach you.
What to do, play by play. So I would love to see you in the floral CEO Mastermind. Thank you so much for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower filled day.