The Floral Hustle

 

📍 Hello, flower friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. And if you've been around for a while, you've been listening to the podcast, you know that the month of October is dedicated to all things having, scaling a 100, 000 So, today I'm actually going to talk about my journey to a six figure floral entrepreneur because I know like way back in the day I didn't think that this was possible.

And I just, I treated my business as this side hustle that really wasn't going to be impactful. I felt overwhelmed even by the thought of building my business into something that was bigger because I felt like I was just really spread so thin and it really took these kind of big milestones of me going through.

the loss of my mother, the complete identity shift I went through from when I went from being what I felt like a grown up important job, like people needed me, people felt like I had a important job. I had a high paying job to just being like a stay at home mom with this side hustle that, you know, was of course busy, but nobody knew that I wasn't making really any money doing it.

That I was working really hard and my identity was so validated by working really hard and I was so validated by helping people and that validation, a lot of times I was doing things so cheap that it just didn't make any fricking sense. And really the big pivotal moment, and I've talked about this in different podcast episodes, was surrounding myself with people.

Who really like just wanted to be bigger, better. I was, I went to flower stock and I was around people like Holly Chapel and Passionflower Sue and this really amazing designer from Mexico and just all these people that are just like total authorities in our space. And it was like this moment at that point, I had done a lot of weddings.

I think I had done like 13, 1400 or so, 1500. I mean, it was a lot 13, probably 1300, 1350. And so I had all this experience, all this knowledge, I knew how to do all of these things and I was just not seeing my value. And not, when you don't see your value, you, it's really hard to charge for it. So I was running this business as a side hustle that was more like a hobby, even though it was like a full time business practically.

And being there kind of shifted that. Then I. I was really so like that my backstory, just in case you haven't, um, I've been a florist for, it was my first job when I was 16 and I am 45. So a long time and I've always had it as a side hustle. It was always, I was working in automotive and then I was working in automotive marketing and I always did flowers on the side.

It was just like, people were like, Oh, isn't that cute? You have this side thing. And I was like, isn't this cute. I did 125 fucking weddings this year. People like a lot. It was like a lot, a lot, a lot. And that was with working full time. And. Then that was with taking care of my dad. And then that transitioned into later on.

I was doing like 75 weddings and I had my daughter and I was working full time. And at that point, I think God was working in a cubicle slash office. That I was working full time. Going on sales calls, so I could fit in going to a sales call, and then running to pick up flowers, and dropping off my house, and going back to the office, and just, like, putting this Jenga puzzle of my day to day together, and, you know, that I, I sustained that for a very long time, not really making any money, treating this as this wasn't something I could make serious money at, kind of being stressed out all the time, kind of undervaluing myself consistently because I wasn't surrounding myself with people.

I wasn't investing in myself to even see that I could dream bigger and want more. And, you know, that all kind of shifted when I went there and at that point, at that flower stock flower retreat, I met and joined this creative business mastermind by someone who was a guest speaker there and she was a career fulfillment coach and I Um, I felt like totally tilted.

I had Bodie, um, my son, he's now almost five and three quarters. I had him at almost 40 and I had this really important job and like just everything shifted. And when he was six months old, COVID fucking happened. And then here I am, not only like navigating like the 45 weddings I had booked that year, Figuring that out.

I'm now homeschooling my, if you haven't listened to the story, I have a now ten and a half. Your old daughter who has autism, ADHD, auditory processing. She had a severe speech delay. Um, at this point she's going through early puberty. So like all the things. So I was navigating a kindergartner doing homeschool with nine pullouts for special education and I've always been a proponent.

Like she's going to have. All of the help that I can get her that will equip her for success. And so I was navigating that. I was going through this whole identity shift of like having, and if you've thought about, or if you've gone through leaving a job that your identity was so deeply engrossed in, like I had worked in automotive for 17 years.

I was a total car girl, but I was a total flower girl. It was. And you might have that with being a nurse, you might have that with you know, whatever else like you do. Maybe it's working at a factory or maybe it's, you know, working in an office, wherever it is, like your identity is tied up. Like I had this whole persona, like I was the person that went in and managed the 6.

6 million budget that we had. I was the person who went into close deals. I was the person who, you know, just, I loved that company I worked for, but then the CEO retired or kind of started phasing himself out. And I didn't love the new CEO. I love the owner. So like, it just started feeling icky and maybe you've had like a boss that didn't feel good or something shifted, like something that you love, like a job that you love just No longer felt good.

No longer felt like it was your purpose. Like I totally thought I would work for this company forever. And I just, I still to this day absolutely adore the owner. It was, I bought a house five minutes from the office. Because like my, that was my path. But when I started surrounding myself with my husband who was just like, you don't need to put up with this shit.

You are better than this. Like you could do so much. Why aren't you teaching people all the things that you know about flowers on and on. And me going through this thing, like very, I'm 40 having a baby and like, I wanted to be a different mom. Um, I, I, I was the primary breadwinner in, When my daughter was born because her dad wanted to be a stay at home dad and you know, so I navigated that and then him not being around and being a single mom and all the things.

And so here I am with this new man and he's basically telling me, I believe in you. I want this different motherhood. I want this different life. I love flowers. Like I truly believe being a florist is like my purpose. I love being a florist. I love everything about flowers. Uh, I started growing flowers. I did the floret workshop, and I decided I'm going to be an urban flower farmer, so I like, just went balls in about that.

I was like, I don't ever do something half ass. Like, it's just not my jam, so I'm like, all in on that. And then, things just kept progressing, and then I started to be like, You know what, if I'm going to be away from my kids, I'm going to make more money. I started buying courses and investing in myself, doing mentoring sessions with people who I looked up to.

And I just kept thinking, holy, I am so much bigger. I was, I was thinking so small. And then I started partnering and really having an aggressive strategy to grow my business with planners, decorators. I started niching down into cultural weddings a lot and my business just started going and going, but I still was like, okay, I want, like, I just started working really hard.

And I was like, that didn't feel good either because I'm like, I still want to be. So I started working really hard, started working all these hours, started, obviously I had to take care of. These kids, because my husband was, he working a full time job and here I am home sort of, you know, pretty much trying to be a stay at home mom, but run these businesses and homeschool and my son also had kind of a slew of issues.

He had severe tongue tie, severe lip tie, so I'm like navigating that as well through COVID. Navigating my right after my son was born, or right before my son was born, really right after I got engaged to my husband, um, my mom passed away and, uh, I was navigating that and then I got pregnant. So my mom died and shortly after I got pregnant.

And so I'm navigating like, you know, not having my mom and not having, I, my dad passed away 10 years ago. So not having really. Family other than my sister, who I absolutely love, but, you know, just feeling all these things and going through all these identity shifts and going through and really then finally defining, like, this is the fucking person I'm going to be.

I am going to be a badass. I am going to be a force of nature. I am going to have a business that makes impactful money. I'm going to show my kids that their mom is a total floral boss. I'm going to show them they can be happy. They can do things that make them happy. And this was at a point where I was like, I had gained a bunch of weight having kids wasn't taking care of myself.

I was prioritizing everybody but myself. And if you've gone through that, you feel like you have to, you feel like you're just at this point where you need to take care of everybody. And especially like we're navigating COVID, we're navigating, I mean that was just weird. It was weird. I had a really close friend that was, had a lot of anxiety and I was soaking that energy in.

I had another friend that I had been friends with for a long time that just like, Was this big conspiracy theorist that the government was, I mean, it was just, it was so much, so I'm like also like shifting my friendships because I was like, I don't want to be soaking in all of this crap that the world is horrible.

And on top of it, like the world has abandoned me. deeper plot to it and all these things. I was like, I don't need that anxiety. I need to be surrounding myself with positive. I need to be surrounding myself with people who want to like be their next level version. I need to surround myself with change, positivity.

And so I joined a gym. I joined CrossFit, a CrossFit gym that I went to right after my daughter was born. And I quit because I had been in a couple of car accidents and my neck hurt too much. And I gave up, and I decided that was, giving up was no longer an option, that I was going to be the healthiest version of myself.

I was in the emergency room with heart palpitations from all the stress, and I'm like, this, we're done, we're done living like this. And if you've ever been to the, we're done being like this phase, it's like freeing, but also scary, because you're just like, you're so overwhelmed as it is, and then here you are taking on more crap.

And taking on shifting your life and your purpose and like redefining what that is and redefining friendships, redefining what you want, redefining relationships with my partner. I mean, me and my husband had some serious conversations that like this person that was a version of just taking care of everybody but myself was no longer what was going to be happening.

That I need to take care of myself for me to be the best version of myself. You're welcome. To me, for me to take care of the kids the way I want to be the mother that I want to be the human that I want. I couldn't be that version anymore. And if you've ever gone through this kind of epiphany, like I didn't want to be the mother that my mind was.

I didn't want to be angry at the world. I didn't like I, I have, I am so calm. I am so not angry. I, I used to be angry. I used to be like, what is wrong with you? And like, especially when I was, had this team of salespeople, normally younger males that were just complete dipshits. I just didn't want to live like that anymore.

I wanted to be surrounded with people that made me happy, that, that I added value to people. And I went. And completely shifted my life. And so if you think this is not doable, you can shift your life at any point. It is totally doable. Like I, my, the amount of shifts that I've went through over the years is crazy.

Like in the amount of like, and I have talked about this, like the amount of things that have happened to me that are, I mean, you could say terrible, horrible, like just so sad. And I am still, I have pushed through that. I've seen so many people climb into a hole that they, it's really hard to get out of.

And I've never done that. And I think that so many people do that and it's just, it doesn't need to be that way. We can be the version that we want. You can now, I, at this point right now, have the last two years have had a 325, 000 business a year. I think this year, we're going to be more than that. I go to CrossFit.

I take care of myself. I go get a massage. I I take my kiddos for manicures. I take my kiddos to karate, to jujitsu, to my daughter's starting, um, sling class, which is like a, the silk circus silks. I take her to Girl Scouts. I take my son to like, I took them to an apple orchard the other day. Like I like also am the mother I want.

I'm the human that I want. I'm doing pottery class. If you're like this version of you that you want seems so far away. It's not. And so I want to share with you the framework that really is the framework that helped me get here. And I do that. Like in the summer, I have 16 hours of childcare. I'm really lucky now, Bodie just started kindergarten.

So this is very recent shift. And so I do that all of that with 16 hours of childcare when I have my children. So like whatever thing that you think is, is in your way, like you can't do it because you have kids or you don't get, you can. And I know you can. And I want to teach you the framework that, that really just helped me get my business on track and lay out this blueprint of this is what I need to do.

And I need to do consistently to get myself to this point, because when you're here, it feels good. It feels good to have a six figure business. Without, like, stretching resources, without running myself thin, and I want you to feel this way too. So please come join my 5 day challenge. I did 5 days because I think for you to get value, I want you to see, like, the big picture.

This isn't like a quick fix one little thing. These are like things that, that move harmoniously together, that will move you in the direction that is going to get you the money that you want to make, the life that you want to live and the relationships you want to have, the happiness that you want to have.

All of those things are totally doable. So head to the floral hustle. com forward slash one zero zero K or 100 K. I want to spend time with you. This is going to be on zoom. So I'm, we're all going to see each other. I'm going to have a Q& A at the end of it. If you guys have questions, like I am there for you because I want you to succeed.

There is so much more room for people to be successful, to charge their worth, and I want to show you the path. So. thefloralhustle. com forward slash 100k. It is October 21st to the 25th, 1 p. m. central time, but it's going to be recorded. So if you're at work, let's get you out of going to that office, head and do the challenge.

Have a great day, flower friend.