The Floral Hustle

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Hello flower friends. This is Jen and I have a super fun, creative project that I am doing tomorrow and I was telling a few people about all the things that I'm putting together and I, you know, was going back and forth with the planner slash designer of the event, and it really made me kind of ponder.

That having the ability to really think outside of the box and come up with creative ideas really propels your business forward. When I started and I've done an episode about ideating ideas and really thinking through, like in some of my thought process of thinking through creativity, but I, I really just wanna drive home.

That. I think that we often as florists think that we are these order takers and developers that just are making things and taking orders from people that necessarily aren't inspiring and make, like I went through the baby's breath mason jar era that it made me even like have a visceral like response and.

You can get to a point that that's not what things need to be like. You can get to a point that you are not just a florist, you are a floral designer. And when you step into that term designer, that comes with more revenue, that comes with more opportunity, that comes with more possibilities from planners, that comes from more possibilities for bigger, higher budget weddings.

So if you are living in a place where you're like, I really want to increase my revenue, I really want to do bigger weddings, but you are literally just having a client give you their Pinterest in, in spo and just going, okay, this is, this is what they want, and this is what I quote, you need to think outta the box.

You need to think bigger. And I know that might sound scary, but if somebody doesn't know that you are the go-to ideas person, that you are the person who if they come and bring a concept to you, take that concept and run with it. You develop it on a whole nother level. And when you are that person. Like, success comes your way.

Uh, literally so much opportunity comes your way. I have had, it's really interesting 'cause I have had people, um, go, I just don't even know where you come up with these things. I have had students come to my workshops and they're like, I don't even know where to begin coming up with these ideas. I had a, one of the mastermind girls in the floral CEO Mastermind, she was talking about this job that is presented to her that it's gonna be four weeks and this is the general theme.

And like I can take that concept or that idea and go, oh my God, what if you did this? And the thing is like, she has been in a little bit of a. A downward rut just because like she wants all these big things and I just, I absolutely adore her, but like, you know, life gets in the way and sometimes like just you get a little creative energy just sucked out of you.

But like, I literally, when we started talking about these ideas, like I could feel her excitement, I could feel her excitement about her business. I could feel all these things like bubbling up in her and. I have seen that creative momentum carry. She got this huge, amazing job that was a shit ton of revenue and she got to really get into this really fun, um, styled shoot and she's had some other, I mean like the momentum from getting that job.

After she got like her creative juices flowing and then she executed it flawlessly. That's what makes a successful floral designer. We are not order takers. You guys, we can be a designer. I, I'm in the process of adding, um, onto my website that I do event design. I can design a whole event all the way down to.

The knives and plates and chargers and linens, because I know that that's the type of elevated wedding that I want to attract, and people pay for it. People pay be bigger budgets, even design fees because they don't have a creative bone in them. They want their event to be beautiful, but have no fucking clue how to pull it off.

You need to take, like if you are a artist, you need to take and channel your inner artist. When that lead comes in, when that consultation comes in, you need to, like, I even spend a little bit of time after I've looked at somebody's Pinterest board and I think about the building. I think about their venue and I think about the possibility.

And I think about taking one of their concepts and upleveling it to something that they're gonna go like, holy shit balls. Nobody has come to me with an idea like that. If you meet with three florists, I guarantee I am gonna be that florist that is going to take your concept farther, is gonna make your event more swoon worthy.

Uh, I'm, I'm going to really put a spin on it that is likely going to be different than any other florist that they meet with. And then on top of it, my enthusiasm, like my enthusiasm when I am talking about and getting like fired up, that enthusiasm, literally it's like leaks into the client. They're so fucking excited.

When you're excited that enthusiasm can sell higher end designs. But if you are going in there like you were Debbie Florist order taker, and you're going in there and going, okay, I saw on your Pinterest board you had two styles of centerpieces and it looks like you want tall ones. Do you know that those are expensive?

Right. Those are super expensive, but if you want super expensive, I can make that. Um, but you know, like do, this is what you want. Right. And I saw your arch and it has three floral swags on it. That's what you want. Right? Like you need to come in. You know what, I was taking a look at your Pinterest board and you know, I know you have about 25 tables.

I saw that you had some beautiful, gorgeous. Tall centerpieces on and um, I think that that would be beautiful. And I really have a fun idea. It looks like you're looking for kind of the classic round hotel kind of grand ballroom shape. Is that what you're still going for? Um, or is it, were you picking that because of the colors or Because they were just tall and so then I'm asking questions.

And I'm like, okay, that those tall centerpieces, like I have these beautiful stands and um, these very fun, um, bowls that insert and I, they are such an organic shape to these centerpiece that it just, it looks really whimsical and, you know, I can go and show 'em a picture and like start them leading them down that.

I don't need to make hotel ballroom centerpieces because honestly, you guys, I have made hundreds and hundreds of them. So like if I can make a really fun organic, whimsical, foam free, like that sounds way funner to me. Let's take the fun option for me. And if they don't bite, they don't bite. But this event that I have tomorrow, the theme is.

Um, in the club. So it is for Wipa, which is wedding. Um, it's like a wedding professionals association and we're trying to get people to join. I am on the steering committee. We're trying to get people excited. We're, I mean, networking is such a big opportunity and so this theme of, in the club, it's like tennis and pickleball, and.

Um, you know, all different types of club sports. So I, you know, was talking to the designer and I was like, what if we had tennis balls hanging in an insulation from the ceiling? And she's like, Ooh, tell me more about that. What does that mean? And like I am explaining like I, you know, we drill holes through the tennis balls 'cause like.

I'm not gonna explain this if this was a client, but then we thread them on fishing lines. We make this like kind of floating airy installation and then we have like a pop of color of carnations or you know, something up there to make it look really kind of fun and interesting. And then for the, if we should have maybe some rackets hanging in there.

And then there was gonna be another installation and. You know, I was like, I think that we could hang rackets, but I also want, you know, like some balls hanging down there that look like they're bouncing off the ground and coming back up. And then the bar, I want these pickle ball, uh, balls, like basically swerving down on Oasis metal wire.

From the top of the bar cascading down, joining the two bar pieces together. And I'm like explaining all these things and then like tennis balls stacked in clear cylinder bases. You know, like just all of these really fun details. And yes, I did drill a shit ton of holes in tennis balls. And it's really interesting you guys, because they, the yellow fabric kind of winds up into it.

But I, I did a ton of 'em and it wasn't very time consuming. And I'm gonna take a big needle to thread all of the fishing line that I make my Indian garlands, um, Hindu ceremony garlands with, and I'm super excited about it. So like, that's what makes being a florist fund coming up with these creative concepts and bringing them to the next level.

Bringing in, attracting higher budgets, bringing in attracting. Higher end clients planners who are more event design based. That's where the money's at. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to make money, and I'm pretty sure if you're listening to this, you're trying to take this more seriously and really want to start making serious revenue.

This is one of those steps. This is one of those invaluable steps. And if you are having trouble. Navigating these things. These are things we talk about in the floral CEO Mastermind, and so please go ahead and check out@thefloralhustle.com slash mastermind. I mean, we literally come up with concepts for designs all the time.

Because that is just like one of my superpowers coming up with fun, creative things, and then helping you price them accordingly. So thank you so much for listening this week, flower Friends, and you have an amazing flower filled 📍 week. Okay.