The Floral Hustle

[00:00:00] [00:01:00]
Jeni: This is Jen, and you are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast. I am so excited, you guys. We have one of my flower friends that you might be following on Instagram right now, Tyler Kino, who is with TK Floral Design. I have been following Tyler for, I would say over a year, year and a half, and his energy is so magnetic.
You can tell that he, he loves what he does. And it, and when you, you see that enthusiasm and that energy, it is so contagious. So I'm so excited for you guys to share. But Tyler, why don't you tell me a little bit about your business and just share who you are to our listeners.
Tyler: Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much for having me.
I feel so honored when you asked me to do this. I was like, I have to, this is amazing. And I love listening to you. I [00:02:00] could listen to your voice all day. Like you have a magnetic personality. So I'm, I'm just very honored, but yes, of course. I am Tyler Kino from TK Plural Designs. We're located in New Pulse, New York, which is about an hour and a half North of New York City.
So we're in what's called the Hudson Valley area of New York. It is gorgeous here. We absolutely love the market we're in, and our main business lane right now is luxury weddings, but we also do smaller scale weddings as well, and we also have a retail shop right here in town.
Jeni: So explain, because I think this is something that people hear a lot, explain what a luxury wedding is.
Tyler: Oh, baby. So for me, like defining luxury weddings is somebody that really wants to go like. Over the top and create an experience for their guests. And what I mean by experience is that it's like very immersive. So you walk into the space and it's completely [00:03:00] transformed and it has a ton of layers of beautiful blooms throughout the space.
Like that to me is luxury, where it's like you could, you could kiss it like you could just, yeah.
Jeni: Like you feel the flowers get all in. Like
Tyler: it's, it's, you feel it crazy. It's immersive. But also I feel like luxury is a kind of a different definition for everybody, but flowers in themselves, I feel like if you're getting flowers for your wedding, that's a luxury in itself because flowers are expensive.
Jeni: Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a difference and, and it's interesting cause you know, luxury is something that so many new florists that like, I'm guessing if you are a new florist listening, you're like, I want to do like luxury weddings because that sounds great. Sounds sexy. Sounds like. Money, of course, um, but I also think there's like a premium wedding, so not quite luxury, but people are prioritizing, you know, blooms in their wedding in general.
But it's just not quite like over the top. And I think most weddings are [00:04:00] becoming premium because honestly you spend a little money to get all of these things. Now that flowers are hanging from the ceilings and creeping up walls and on fireplaces and about everywhere else we can imagine, like flower budgets just have gotten bigger.
I don't know if that's your experience, but. I used to be freaked out by like a $4,000 wedding that this is gonna be a lot of work. And now I'm like, yeah, $20,000. That's a Saturday. So I don't mean for you .
Tyler: 100%. 100%, yeah. But the premium wedding's, like I never really thought of it that way, but now that you mentioned it, like that is such a great way of putting it.
Yeah, because there are higher spenders in the market that maybe it's not on the, the lane of luxury, maybe it's not 80 grand or a hundred grand. It's 15, 000 and that to me is a premium spend or even 20, 000 is a premium spend. So yeah, that there is definitely a shift in the market for sure. And Pinterest [00:05:00] is the devil's playground for that.
Jeni: Yeah, I, I actually, I, I spoke at, uh, a local Minnesota bride event and I was like, explaining like one of the hard things about planning a wedding is you You might find this picture in your love with it and it's your whole budget
Tyler: because it was a Minnesota
Jeni: Vikings wedding and they don't get that. And so I think that's intimidating to a lot of florists because they're like, I'm not going to get this wedding because I, you know, like I know that this isn't at their budget.
And. I think that's like an evolution, but do you think out of the gate it's better if you really want to start like inching towards being a luxury floral designer to try to play with some premium kind of weddings or how do you see like that growth to getting to those weddings that you often do?
Tyler: You know, so one of my biggest pieces of advice, and I wish I did this before, so I didn't personally do this, but now that I have gone through it and I've, I've seen different [00:06:00] things, this would be my advice is to really, really even freelance for people that are in that market in that know that lane, because it's great to have those.
Some behind the scenes of what it takes to produce this kind of event and all that's entailed in that so that you can kind of find two in it in your own way. But just to see the ins and outs of how it happens and what the production looks like. Because when I started doing, you know, premium weddings or luxury weddings, it was a hurdle for me because I had to learn a lot, how to lead a team effectively, how to be able to know certain timelines for when I could install things and certain rigging that I had to put up and do I handle that?
Or does the lighting company handle that? There's so many different ins and outs of what we do that it would be so important to get that, like. Hands on experience, either freelancing or taking a class and getting some education in it. That would be my biggest advice, for [00:07:00] sure, in, in getting into that. I did not do that.
I just kind of was like, I'm going to figure it out as I go. Balls to the wall, which was fine. Like, knock on wood, nothing happened that was astronomically bad. But looking back, I'm like, I wish I, I came up prepared, you know, you don't know what you don't know,
Jeni: you know? Yeah. Yeah. That's the hard part.
Tyler: I have the gift of winging it.
Jeni: Yes. Don't we all, but I think also at this point there are so many educational opportunities that like, I, there, that was not out there when I was starting out. And I don't know about your story and kind of like how long you've been doing this, but Like we couldn't go to a workshop to hang flowers from the ceiling.
Like that was not a deal, but now it's like, there are, I mean, I have an installations workshop coming up on May 14th. You hold workshops in your studio. And obviously Sarah, that's so
Tyler: exciting. May 14th, what, what, what, what are you doing? Like, where is it going to be?
Jeni: [00:08:00] In Minneapolis, it is going to be actually a sustainable workshop.
So the venue, we have a venue, actually the first of its kind. That does not allow flower foam.
Tyler: Oh my gosh.
Jeni: Yeah, so I am doing a cool event there. We're doing five installations, a bar installation, a ceremony installation, a head table installation, a cake installation, and a hanging that they have in there.
And then it's going to turn into a styled shoot. That's amazing. It's, it was so fun. If you look at my Instagram, I did one at a different venue. Uh, I call it installation rockstar. It's my installation rockstar workshop because you were a rockstar after you're done. And I did one at a venue and they actually turned it into their open house.
Tyler: I love it.
Jeni: I got it. Like we got workshop. Two for one. And well, that was a three for one. And then open house. Other than I was there till 11 o'clock at night. Then tearing everything down, but the work, that opportunity that we, [00:09:00] that is out there for people to learn is just so amazing because that just was not when I was starting out.
Tyler: Yeah, no, I started out eight years ago. And I worked at a restaurant that was connected to a wedding venue, and my ex was an in house florist there, and people would leave their flower arrangements behind all the time from weddings, and whenever I had a break, I would go over, and I would just start taking apart the arrangements and putting them back together, and that's how I started to learn.
So, It was such a whirlwind because I knew how to arrange things and put things together after a while. And like, I knew what looked pretty and what didn't look good, but I knew nothing about business. Right. So I just was like, here I am.
Jeni: How did you learn that? Cause like, I feel in our, in our whole field.
Making pretty flowers is talked about all the time, how to run a business, how to be a boss, how to be a floral CEO, how to [00:10:00] lead a team, how to like, do QuickBooks, like, that is not taught anywhere. And like, that's why I'm so passionate about teaching business because that you can design the prettiest flowers and you will fail at your business because you didn't put.
Like the work and actually being a business owner.
Tyler: Yeah. So to be honest, like my one huge learning lesson was during the mentorship that I took with Sarah Campbell from Intree. And she taught me so many different business strategies that I really was just lost in, to be completely frank. And I just didn't know how to.
Profitability price. I had no idea. Like when I tell you I was winging it, I mean, I was winging it. It was awful.
Jeni: Yeah.
Tyler: And looking back on it, we talked about this briefly before we, we got on this, but I look back at some of the weddings that I had sold for three to 5, 000. I'm like, wow, this was actually like a 10, 000, [00:11:00] 15, 000 wedding that I would price now, and I realized that I was putting myself in, in such like a fool.
And it wasn't sustainable, like at all.
Jeni: Undertow is not sustainable. People don't know that or just like going really deep and doing like so much because you're trying to make up for it by not pricing correctly. So like you're going for volume and it's like, stop being Costco,
Tyler: right? Who
Jeni: are you? And like, I mean, especially with your business, people are attracted to you, you show up in your business.
And that is also something people are so afraid of. What makes you on, I think, like, I, you seem unafraid to show up in your business and be the face of your business. Like, how did you get to that point that that felt, and I know you were in theater and all those things, so like, naturally, I think you're an extrovert, but, you Most creatives are introverts and like they struggle bus about [00:12:00] anything.
Like I was just on a coaching call and she was like, I just, I have not showed up once as the face of my business. And I'm like, well, I'm sorry, but that has to change. Like people you're lovable. Like your energy is lovable online. Thank you. And like, I have people all the time feel like they, they know me.
I go to a, uh, you know, networking and people know me because I show up. You shown up in your business, like in the way that you do.
Tyler: Yeah, so, uh, and I might get emotional talking about this. So if I do, I'm sorry, but to be completely honest, I had a very rough like upbringing and childhood and growing up was not very easy for me.
I had a very awful, like coming out story. I went through years of abuse when I was younger and after getting out of the house and going out on my own, I really just needed to show up for me because nobody else was going to do it for me. And that's when I really got into like a fighter mode. [00:13:00] Like I'm not going to give up on my goals and my dreams.
And I'll remember, like, I distinctly remember when I first got started in, in business eight years ago, and I was struggling because I wasn't making money and I was underselling really start to feel like
Jeni: shit when that happens. Yeah. You really start to be like, what, what am I doing wrong?
Tyler: Yeah, I'm working hard.
I'm, I'm bad
Jeni: at this. I'm working hard. I'm like, I'm failing. And I mean, most people have a fear of failing anyways, or a fear that they're not good enough. So it kind of layers in there. Yeah, but like how did you overcome that?
Tyler: Oh my gosh. So I, I'll, I'll never forget. You know, I was sitting on the floor and I'm eating ramen because that's all I could eat.
Like one of those moments of your life where you're just like, you're hitting rock bottom. And I'm like, I can't live like this anymore. There's so much more meant for me and my business. So I started to hustle. And at the time I had no car. I was living out of a 550 square [00:14:00] foot apartment. It was awful. Oh yeah, extremely.
So I walked up and down the road, business to business, like handing out business cards, showing things on my phone, like pictures of work that I had done it, honestly, the, the grind and the hustle with that I thought would never pay off. And I ended up getting into a restaurant, like a local luxury restaurant, and they didn't pay me, but they offered me a barter.
So they said, we'll give you food if you give us flowers. And at the time, I'm like, well, I don't, now I don't need to eat ramen, so this is great. I'm so here for this, so. That's, that was the agreement that we made, but that restaurant, so the average plate value there was like 60 to 80. Like, it was crazy.
And back then,
Jeni: that was, that was like, I mean, that's like a 100 plate now, probably.
Tyler: Right. Exactly. So, I'm like, this is, this is perfect. And I was opened up to, that was my first step into like a world of clientele that was different than I had ever imagined. Had before where people [00:15:00] would just want to have weekly flowers in their house or in their apartment, or they would have just random dinners and want nice flowers for their dinners.
And then it opened up to rehearsal dinners and all this stuff. And yeah, that's how it, it started to grow and expand. And after that, I just started. Booking more weddings left and right. And before you knew it, I was just in a state of craziness, but I still wasn't pricing effectively at that point. It wasn't until after COVID when I rebranded and I started a whole new business, that's when things started to align for me.
Um, I
Jeni: didn't know you did that. I did that.
Tyler: I just
Jeni: had almost at the same time, I was like, I am no longer available for that cheap crap that I was doing that I'm going to start working and making money because I deserve to make money. And I went and rebranded and changed my business name. See? Yes. What was your business name before?
I'm curious.
Tyler: So before it [00:16:00] was Flowers by Angel. And that's because I did the business with my ex. So,
Jeni: oh,
Tyler: huh, that's
Jeni: a bad idea. That's almost like getting a tattoo with their, their name.
Tyler: Oh, 100%. 100%. So, looking back on and, and that, you know, not, I can't even get too deep into that. We're not gonna get into that all.
You, I could spill the tea today, but I'm not going to, but we're not even going to get into the drama of all that. But that a big reason of why the relationship and the business had ended was just because it was so, so much undivided work and, um, I could, I could just couldn't do it anymore. And I was generally unhappy and we both weren't making money.
So it was just like better to call it. Clean split. Let's move on our separate ways, you know,
Jeni: um, and you met your husband, so it all works. Yeah, exactly.
Tyler: And now I'm happily married and I love my husband, Randy. You guys will adore him too, but he's, he's amazing. He's like my right hand. Yeah, he
Jeni: seems like he's, he like really is helpful in your business.
[00:17:00] And I think like having a supportive partner. It is so integral in your success and it creates the tone of how you believe in yourself and how you like really look at everything. Like my husband, me more than any person ever has in my life. And I'm guessing I feel like you have that same thing and
Tyler: that
Jeni: changed the way I think like I, the way I used to think, like I never wanted to do a 25, 000 hour wedding.
And like, that's a Saturday now, like, it helps me normalize and like, so getting that support system, even having like Sarah around you or having a coach or doing a session with you and like, having somebody just look at you and be like, I fucking believe in you. Like, I know you can do this and I know this is doable.
And like, I'm going to show you how, or just like your partner going, I'm going to create space. For you to like really go hard and
Tyler: yeah,
Jeni: that it can change your life. [00:18:00] Like in the last five years, all of our life has completely changed.
Tyler: Yeah. Let me, let me say this. I think that one of the biggest struggles that I hear designers most say is that they feel like they are alone.
Like they don't have a strong second. Like some do, right? Some have like a husband and some have a business partner, but there's so many that don't have that. And honestly, I, I feel awful for them. But if, if There's one piece of advice that I could give is if you have the means to hire a strong second and really like build them up and get them to that point where they can be a support to you and they don't even need to know the flowers.
Like I, like that sounds crazy to me, but they don't need to know flowers, right? Like one of the big, biggest things for me. His administrative load, you know, responding to emails, getting back to couples, being able to put things into my software, and like just being able to hand that off to somebody is really, really [00:19:00] nice.
So they don't even need to be bursting in flowers necessarily for them to be a strong second to you, but. Having a strong support system and somebody on your side and cheerleading you, like, you're absolutely 100 percent right. It is monumental.
Jeni: Do you think you, like, having that support changed the way you talk to yourself, like, internally?
Like, that internal kind of, like, you know, like, the angel and the devil is, like, on your shoulders and, like, telling you you suck and then this one's telling you you're awesome. Like, I think that when you have that support, that little devil guy, you can kind of flick him off.
Tyler: Yeah, colder periodically
Jeni: because you're like just starting to feel like you deserve more and you, you can go get more than,
Tyler: yeah, 100%.
Randy is so helpful in like humming me and bringing me back to zen space because I am a creative, so my mind is always in a million directions and well, and I'm
Jeni: guessing you have a neurodivergent brain. Do you have a DHD? 'cause I'm just getting those vibes.
Tyler: Okay. So you're [00:20:00] hilarious. I haven't been officially diagnosed yet.
I would if I was
Jeni: certified. I think I could pass that out right now. , I did too. So I am, if we
Tyler: WebMD like everything about me right now, I swear I would have adult A DHD. Yeah. Um, so it, it's probably a thing. I think that's a
Jeni: super. I know it is a superpower. Cause I, like, I bet you, we both get more done. We both have more fulfillment because we're like going through the motions on things that we enjoy.
And I think it's made me easier at outsourcing. Yeah. Because when with that kind of brain, I'm just like, you know what? I just don't even like doing that. And so like, we're just going to find somebody like I like, what's the first thing if you were going back in. That you would offload in your business.
Like, what are those kind of like steps? Because when you have, cause how big is your business right now? It's over a million dollars, I think.
Tyler: [00:21:00] Yeah. We did 1. 25 million last year. Okay.
Jeni: So think about that when you're listening, that is wild. And I mean, that was not the case five years ago. Cause you were re redoing it five years ago.
So it is totally possible, but like you have to create space in your brain, in your heart, in your, your life in general to be able to function at that level. What are some things that you would, you started with, like passing the baton?
Tyler: So, I mean, one of the big things that I know it sounds crazy, but I don't spend as much time on the design floor as I used to.
So that was one, that is one thing. Do you just make
Jeni: the bouquet? Do you just make the bride bouquet? Yep,
Tyler: I just make the bridal bouquet. Yep, and I just give my designers a recipe that I pull off my program and I let them have at it and then I just art direct, you know, I'll walk around the room periodically and just keep on art directing the day of [00:22:00] weddings.
It really depends on how many weddings we have that day, because sometimes we have two, sometimes we have three. So I might be built like leading on a ceremony because ceremonies are also so like important to me and creating that space. But those are things I would have offloaded a long time ago, because in the beginning I was so like, nobody else can touch this, I'm the only one that can do it, if somebody else touches it, oh and a hundred percent, so I would have relinquished that immediately.
But I also, I wish I knew about systems and softwares earlier, which, like, I didn't know about in the beginning, like, I didn't know about curate or details or any, like, anything like that, or every stem, you know, I wish I had a software and a system because that would have alleviated a lot of my time.
What's funny is I don't
Jeni: use those. Like really, no, I don't, I,
Tyler: are you like an Excel girl?
Jeni: No, like I, I, I do have a spreadsheet if I'm doing it, but my, my brain, like [00:23:00] I can write out a recipe and then I can like have, like, here's my 10 recipes. I just go one. Okay. There's, I need to order that because then I'm adding my margin if something breaks and then I'm also going through, I saved 20 percent of my budget for fun flowers.
And so then I'm going through, okay. In this recipe, like, I'm not married to this, so then this is like where I'm taking it out and doing my Yes.
Tyler: Yes.
Jeni: I think that makes weddings so much more fun for me, because we have a booming flower farmer community here. And like, some of this, it's, it's crazy. I grow flowers too, so there's that.
But it is, I mean, we have a co op that we can go to that 35 flower farmers sell to.
Tyler: Wow.
Jeni: And it is another, like, urban flower farm slash Gotland, like, she has a little market. Like, literally you can go to her little market and I, like, last year I discovered, like, Spotted Dalmatian Foxglove. And I was like Wow.
It is stunning, and it looks stunning with, like, [00:24:00] Sahara Roses, or Quicksand. Yeah. Like, I have found so many things that are just so inspiring, so I need to have money to play with. Otherwise, like, it's not fun that way. I
Tyler: completely understand that. I, I feel like I get very crippled when I don't. Which is why I also just don't take many smaller wedding, but I feel like I get crippled when the budget isn't there because I'm like, I don't, I don't, I forget how to design like, I don't even know what
Jeni: to do.
I know it's funny cause like, like my, I'll be on the couch and like, and my husband will walk by and like, I'll get an inquiry and it's like a 15, 000 budget. And I'll just be like,
Tyler: YELLOWS! Deftly
Jeni: responding. And then, like, I'll get a, and I used to be the same way when I would get a 4 or 5, and now I'm like, Oh God, this is gonna frickin suck.
Like,
Tyler: yeah. Yeah.
Jeni: But I think, you know, you and I have now normalized and I think that that's [00:25:00] a learning curve for new florist especially that like you just, because like right now 3000 feels like a lot in a year. 3000 is going to just feel like a Saturday and like you can do it in your sleep.
Tyler: Yeah, that's, yeah.
That's
Jeni: something like hard to wrap your head around when you're really beginning. That's why I think learning builds confidence and confidence so much of this business.
Tyler: Oh, 100%. And this is something that I, I teach in, you know, my workshops a lot is like walking in with confidence during those consultations is so important and it's so attractive to the consumer because like, they're just eating it up, especially if you're familiar with your local market.
Like some people do destination weddings, et cetera, but like, like, If you're familiar with your local market and you know, say, uh, whatever venue down the road has all round tables and you're confident in the facts, what their arch looks like and everything like that, being able to sell to the property and being able to sell to the space to like, knowledge [00:26:00] is power, right?
And if we're able to
Jeni: communicate that too, I just said it's also called confidence equals cash. Um, it does, it does. And like that, that is even you can gain confidence in a understanding of venue by two minutes of Google stocking them.
Tyler: Yeah. Like
Jeni: that confidence is not something that you like, you have to fake.
You can just go get it. Like look at their tagged posts. Like right. If you did a wedding there, tag the venue because you want to show up in their tag posts. And like, that's just something that people are like afraid of, and that's what gets you higher budgets. That's why you're, what's your average right now?
Are
Tyler: you Yeah. So our average is like 12 to 15, um, 12, 000 is probably our, like, more baseline budget for sure. But we have clients that spend anywhere from 30 to 60 grand on their wedding flowers and tapping into that market. I felt like [00:27:00] it was untouchable. We talked about this briefly before, but I could have never imagined.
I came up, I grew up with very humble beginnings. I, Yeah. Like I didn't, it's not like we came from a lot of money. So thinking about myself spending 15, 20 grand on flowers, how can I walk into a consultation and that was the struggle that I had to ask?
Jeni: Like, I wouldn't do it, but I want you to do it.
Tyler: Yeah.
Like, how can I ask you for so much money? You know, like, how can I even do that? And that's why I struggled, especially in the beginning. Yeah. And I, I didn't value myself at all. I, I just didn't value myself. And I was like, three to five thousand seems like a lot of money. You know, that, that seems like a lot of money.
But then, the bills start piling in, and you're not able to afford the flowers that you just They're
Jeni: well, and I think that you learn part because when you scale bigger weddings, [00:28:00] bigger problems, you have Yeah. Upset. And when you're starting out. And that's why when I start working with a coaching client, like, we have to actually find what you're spending.
Right? Like I would make a budget because a lot of times people are just spending money on stuff that you're just like, you're doing what now? Like, and yeah. Let's figure out your, I, I love to dig into what are you making from an hourly wage perspective. On doing some of these one off things because you need to spend time where you're making money.
And so out of your business, like how much of that is weddings? Do you think?
Tyler: Oh God. Our, our business takes up like, it's like 85 percent weddings, 15 percent store.
Jeni: Yeah. So I think about that. Like I've coached people. They're like, I'm, I want to do daily deliveries. And, and it was really interesting because one of them, she had just closed her shop.
And to get into being a studio florist, but she still was getting calls and she has a Bloom Nation site. So you know that [00:29:00] like everybody, we don't do anything but daily deliveries. So I was like, for one, that needs to change because if you want to do weddings, you can't have a Bloom Nation site in my opinion.
Um, but like she would be on edge because she would be getting people wanting last minute flowers two to three times a day. And I'm like, and then she could never, she didn't have the flowers in stock. She didn't, you know, and so she's, her cortisol is always spike. She's always having these people that she's like disappointing.
And I'm like, here's the thing, put your phone on do not disturb. If somebody needs you. Like, for one, you can key in people on an iPhone, you know, that, like, just call back again, and it's going to ring if you do two calls, but, like, you can't help these people anyways. I'm like, how often can you help them?
She's like, maybe two times. I was like, okay, what did they order? Like, 75?
Tyler: Right.
Jeni: Usually. I'm like, okay, so for 75. We're running around and not focusing on building the beast of a wedding business that you [00:30:00] could have.
Tyler: Yeah, exactly.
Jeni: It's like, or funeral business, or hotel business, like, whatever your thing is,
Tyler: like,
Jeni: you could, you need time.
And when you are, especially if you are, have a neurodivergent brain, you're running around going like, I want to focus on everything. You can't. Yeah, effectively.
Tyler: So, I think, and I know that you all wanted to talk about this anyway, so I might be jumping the gun a little bit. But, so when we got to the point, we were doing like four to five, Weddings weekends and brandy and I live in a very small apartment again, we don't have like a house.
We don't have, you know, a garage or a studio or anything like that. So at that point, we outgrew the space so tremendously that we were like, we have to just make the investment and get a larger space. So we found this one that was right down the road from us. It's like an eight minute drive. And we fell in love with it.
And originally our plan was like, this is just going to be strict studio space because we just needed something to work out of that was [00:31:00] bigger, have the disconnect from home. Um, So it was a big leap, obviously, it comes with new overhead, bills, et cetera. But for us, it was like, it was so worth the investment just to have our space back and we were making enough money that it made sense.
So when we got to the space, we found that there was such a need actually for. A local florist, and we have several funeral homes in the area, so like, we started getting a lot of funeral work, and just local work, that it just worked. You know, not everyone gets lucky like that, but we happened to just fall into this.
I think geography is
Jeni: really a big part of that. If, and if you go and just put yourself on like a Google my business page, getting that set up, like you can find that out quick because in my, I live in a big city. I live in Bloomington near the mall of America near the airport. And there is three florists in like a very [00:32:00] big geography span.
And the one is only open like four to five hours a day, three days a week because she's kind of like, I just, I
Tyler: don't really,
Jeni: I think she wants to close her doors. She's like, But, um, she opts out of holidays, Mother's Day, and Valentine's Day. Leaving money on the table,
Tyler: no.
Jeni: Yeah, well, she's done, you know, and doesn't like the stress, whatever.
But those are opportunities that I think it makes more sense because the volume is going to be here. But I see so many new florists, like, chasing, like, Hey, everybody order some everyday flowers from me. And it's like, then they're making a special trip to the wholesaler or they're getting it delivered.
They're going through it. And I'm like, I go where you're going to make money and I can deal with one client that week with their wedding and make 5, 000, 8, 000 or I could add 125 a piece deal with a lot of people, a lot of credit cards, a lot of deliveries, a lot of problems. So. Like, it makes sense to me when a [00:33:00] business is focused on one area to go deep in.
One
Tyler: hundred percent. One hundred percent. I can, I totally get where you're coming from. Like know your lane. Know your lane. And
Jeni: also, you know. Make sure that like, when you're doing, I call it focusing on, let's do a space and so she'll see the space. So when you think about your wedding business, do you think that that is that kind of like your continued focus going forward?
Like that you want to keep growing that or are there things like, I know you're really working on your education on pieces, teaching people how to do this. Uh, I mean, I'm starting to focus cause I really, I don't want people to feel like how you and I felt five years ago.
Tyler: I am so
Jeni: over people feeling like, I just think about there's so much more opportunity and that people don't need to cause there's help out there right now.
So tell me about the [00:34:00] workshops you have in your studio.
Tyler: Yeah, so I do one on one, like, luxury design workshops, they are two days, and the first day is like a full build day, so we make a full, like, ceremony installation, we do an over the top, like, table display. Two different types of bouquets and then we have a professional photographer comment on day two to take pictures of everything that we made together.
And then we go over profitable pricing. We go over proposals like how to actually hold a client meeting. There's so many people that don't even know how to like just appropriately hold a client meeting. I know. I just
Jeni: was roleplaying that in my coaching client videotapes me. Yeah. And I'm like, I need to make this like into, I just launched my course two weeks ago.
And I'm like, I need to like film me doing a consultation. And like, it's hard if you don't know, you don't know what you don't know. So like, yeah, that opportunity sounds like something that's really impactful.
Tyler: It [00:35:00] is. And I, it's kind of different than anything else because what I do, I like communicate with the florists before they come to the studio and I find out more about their brand and where they want to be.
And I. Um, incorporate flowers and blooms and colors that communicate with their brand and where they're going so that when they actually are using those images for their branding, it makes sense and it connects, whereas, you know, you could go
Jeni: like you have Tourette's and you're like somebody, you're like, what is going on in your Instagram feed,
Tyler: right?
Right? Or they would never produce something like, or they wouldn't even put colors together like this, or it just doesn't match their vibe. So I really work closely with them to understand what is their vibe. You know, if they are somebody that likes a lot of dried elements, then I'm going to incorporate a lot of dried elements, or if their colors are pinks and corals and peaches, I'm going to bring out pinks and corals and peaches.
So that's how I gear the workshops. And it is such an impactful two days. We have so much fun. And that is [00:36:00] definitely an area of my business that I obviously want to continue to expand and grow upon. But weddings, like, they just steal my heart, you know, I, I could never stop doing weddings. But with that being said, the certain weddings that I am doing, like, I'm being more specific and selective about the area that I want to go because I just have a different mindset now than I did before.
Jeni: Yeah. Sometimes you just got to look at like, am I operating at my highest like level financially? Like, is this the most impactful opportunity from a revenue perspective? I always say, focus on revenue producing activities.
Tyler: Right.
Jeni: You running around and messing with a million things on your website. Like I see people spend, they get lost in it.
It's like, no, you actually, actually need to figure out how are you going to start attracting clients? What you haven't even posted on Instagram in three months or updated any other [00:37:00] thing and you think like inquiries should just be coming in like that just doesn't happen that way.
Tyler: Yeah. No. A
Jeni: little bit of work and a little bit of strategy.
Tyler: Exactly. Exactly. No. And that is one thing too, especially when you have a retail space and you have, uh, Wedding business. I split my wedding business page and my retail page completely separately because I don't want My consumer, my customer, my brides and couples to be going through a flood of like retail work and wedding work.
Like I want it to just be super clean and mainstream. Like they don't have to hunt for the weddings. They're there. Whereas the retail page is obviously just set for retail. So I, I'm very specific about that because I want it to be clean. And I want it to be accessible and make sense. And I, I see when people do have both, they tend to mix them on the same page.
And it's just not, it's just not Yeah, it looks like they
Jeni: have Tourette's. And they're all of a sudden Yeah. They're [00:38:00] like Half hazard. Piping in about their, yeah. Or when you do A hundred percent. It's like, some people are like just, they're, you want some kind of flow in your social.
Tyler: But you're Yes.
Jeni: Half the time they even don't know what to post.
You know? And that's the bigger problem. Yeah. You need to like have a strategy and I'm guessing like your strategy is sharing about weddings sharing about like how beautiful Even when you're going in front I've saw I think it was for Valentine's or something like you and Randy are there like showing the roses and like
Tyler: yeah
Jeni: Building like this is what we're about everybody.
Like look at how much we love flowers and that energy is just Soaks up by everybody. Infectious.
Tyler: Yes.
Jeni: I always say like, that's one of the statements I am, like I say with I am information is I am magnetic because I am magnetic for the right coaching client that I can help the right client wedding that really has me [00:39:00] excited and I don't want to just like hit delete on their inquiry.
Like you have to magnetize what you want in your life because nobody else is doing it. You're that magnet to go out and get that. And you have done that in your. Life in your career, obviously so well that you have this amazing business now. So
Tyler: thank you. I just have to say, Jenny, like you are absolutely incredible and I'm so glad again that you have taken the time to speak with me and we had such a great like dialogue and talk today, like this
Jeni: energy that you have, because this is energy that like attracts money.
Tyler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeni: It does. It attracts money. And when people feel like they're frustrated, check your temperature. What is your energy in your business because your energy is commensurate with your results.
Tyler: One million percent. If you're lighting a
Jeni: fire. You're making over a million dollars, right? I really
Tyler: hope that a lot of people come to you for coaching and [00:40:00] stuff because you are just such a world of wisdom and I am so inspired by you.
I know that you have said glowing things about, but I absolutely am inspired by you and I think that what you're doing with this podcast and everything is just so. It's so needed, especially in this industry that we
Jeni: need to teach people how to run a job. And that's what we're talking about that in your workshops.
I talk about that all the time because like you need those fundamentals. I have people that are like running their business out of their personal checking account. It's like, Whoa, what are you doing here, your Instagram looks like a business and personal Instagram. I'm just like, you don't know what you don't know.
And there's all these amazing educators that are out there to help you. And so how does somebody find out about your sessions and coming into your, Your studio to do that?
Tyler: Yeah, so I post a lot on my Instagram, of course. So if you follow us at TK Floral Designs hv, [00:41:00] you'll see get us post regularly about our classes and in our bio we have a link tree that we regularly refresh with all of our new courses that we offer.
We get a lot of people ask us about online stuff. I'm telling you that it's in the works. There's nothing official yet, but it is in the works. We are working on something online because we do want that accessibility. But right now we just have everything in our studio. It's right here in New York. The address is even there for everybody to see.
I list like lodging and different things like that that are around us. But yeah, that's where you can find out all the information about our workshops. So if they just want to
Jeni: follow along, they should follow you mainly on Instagram and it's TK Floral Design. And then do you say HG? Uh,
Tyler: yeah, TK Floral Designs, HV, like Hudson Valley.
Jeni: Hudson Valley. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. It was great to have you. And I hope everybody can feel the energy like that will really make you money in your business.
Tyler: [00:42:00] Oh, thank you so much for having me. You are wonderful. And I hope this goes over so, so well and you're like, honestly, the best.
Thanks. Bye.