The Floral CEO

 

Hello flower friends on this week's mini, so we're gonna talk about a word. And most florists, in my experience, feel it's a dirty word and that is profit I. I think because of the nature of our industry and the nature of like the experiences that flowers are involved with, we really think that having profit.

When we're doing something, you know, that brings joy or something that, you know, is celebrating someone or celebrating love or whatever it feels like having profit in that is selfish and like also being an artist because you're, you're using that creative outlet and you're using all of that. That feeling, um, that comes with flowers.

Like it just feels like making money is wrong to some people. And I wanna talk about that, the toll dynamic because, uh, the word profit just makes so many creatives in general squirm. And why do we feel bad for wanting to make money? Doing something we love and I think often making money and not doing something that makes you happy seems to go hand in hand.

So it's really crazy that something that is joy giving is beautiful, is, you know, something that like somebody looks at and is inspired, feels like we shouldn't be making money at doing that. And. I want to really reiterate something that you are passionate about can still make you money. And money shouldn't be the afterthought because if you don't have money as a part of that core equation of doing this creative outlet, you are just gonna end up exhausted, underpaid, and honestly.

I mean, doing a disservice to the floral word. So somewhere along the line, we started equating profit with greed, but profit is what gives us freedom, sustainability, and space, space to create. And without that space. Uh, you aren't gonna be creating very long if, if you don't make this sustainable, if you don't give yourself the freedom that you're not, you know, joined at the hip with some nine to five job because you don't make any money at this, this current endeavor, like that's not going to be sustainable.

That's not going to give you freedom. So. So many f florists feel that this is a uncomfortable thing. Many florists start with a place, uh, from the heart and not numbers. The industry often glorifies struggle, like long working hours, barely breaking even, and doing it because we just absolutely love flowers.

And then social media then reinforces this idea that being busy equals being successful. I can honestly say I live a very full life. I mean, if you guys have listened to the podcast, my animal shenanigans, my children, my self growth and just taking care of my self journey, like I often a whole wedding week.

We'll make a bridal bouquet and maybe a couple. Oh, so this last week I made two bridal bouquets. I had two weddings, made a bar piece. I made the foundation of a ground arch in my studio, and that was really it. And it was, one wedding was $8,500 and one was. $7,500. So like very small percentage because I have created space to not just be grinding and on top of it, I still created that space and made money.

So we need to unlearn that mindset, that money, TTS taints art. You can be an artist and make money. Profit simply is a means that you are pricing fairly and valuing your time. Profit doesn't mean you are greedy. It means your BU business is a healthy enough to keep creating beauty. Then profit is what keeps you sustainable.

Profit allows you to hire, help take time off and say yes to dream projects. It gives you margin, emotional, financial, and creative, creative margin. And when you're constantly worried about surviving, you show up better for your clients and your art. I know that I did a huge shift in the type of work that I wanted to attract.

I went through this period where like I couldn't even fucking look at baby's breath anymore. You guys couldn't look at a mason jar. I was so done and I then I was so done with white weddings and green weddings and it was so interesting because this weekend, uh, I had my freelancers, we were walking out of my wedding and they were like.

Uh, one of them said like, I love that we just, we live in color. Like, I swear, I probably do. 70 to 80% of my weddings are color. That is a very high percentage, and that to me is sustainable because if I had to do a million fucking white weddings. Like that would not be inspiring to me. That would not be art to me.

That would not be super fun to me. Yes, we could do it to make money, but the whole part of the reason why I am doing this is because it's also joy giving. It's also fun for me. It's a creative outlet, like all the things. So I really went through this transformation of that. I really wanted to. Create the art that was really joy giving to me and profitable, and that started to give me the space to breathe.

During wedding week, my designs gotten better, my profit increased. I mean, everything started coming together. When I decided I really wanted to create things that were inspiring to me and I wanted to make money doing it, and I wanted to live in color and live in this space where. Things just felt really good, and I just wasn't Boring.

Boring, like vanilla weddings. I wanted to be inspired. Then I want you to redefine profit. Let's reframe it. So profit equals that your purpose is sustained. Profit equals paying yourself, and profit equals the power to choose. I want you to look at your pricing. Track what is actually profitable. I do this in the floral CEO Mastermind in January.

We reflect and then we plan forward. So in that reflection, we look at all of the revenue buckets in your business and what did it take to get to there. And I've had people that are like, I am gonna go all in on workshops and doing all this shit. And I'm like, okay, let's step back. How much money did you make doing workshops?

Well, $6,400. Okay. How many workshops did you do? I did 12, uh, or 15 or whatever the number is, and then you work backwards. Okay. How much money did you spend on or time did you spend on each workshop? How much money do you think you actually netted? So what was your actual wage that you paid yourself for a workshop?

If we were directly correlating those two? And it, it was like $15 an hour. When I've, several times I've gone through this exercise with either a one-on-one coaching client or in the Mastermind, we dive deep because that allows you to go, am I spending my time where things are most profitable? So, review your pricing, track what's actually profitable.

Start seeing profit as the boundary, like this is the threshold, not a bonus. Profit isn't the goal. Instead of passion, it allows your passion to keep existing and you deserve that. You deserve to make money. Making money doesn't make you less creative. It makes you capable of creating longer. I want you to really dig in.

Am I actually profiting here or am I just working hard? I love, I love to work hard. I, I, I love to work hard when I'm passionate about something. I love to dig in. I love to just immerse myself into, uh, a fun concept, a fun, you know, whatever. Like, especially like when I put together workshops. I love the whole ideation and the process and putting all the details together, all the way down to the STEM war.

That's going to be on that beautiful table, and I'm working on. All of those details right now for the three workshops that I'm going to be hosting in 2026, you guys, these are gonna be epic. I'm so excited, uh, and more details to come soon. I am planning on launching them mid-November, so I know that that creativity is what helps you start to position yourself.

To a level that is going to start attracting money. When your designs and your aesthetic and everything starts aligning you, you just start making more money. You can't pour from an empty vase, and profit is what keeps it full and you deserve it. If you are really struggling with this, I mean seriously struggling, I would love to help you send me a DM of what you're struggling with from a pricing standpoint, and I'd love to just.

See if there is a resource that could support you more. I know I have my pricing guide, but there is so much possibility and I would love to get you on the road in 2026 to profitability if you need extra support. I'm telling you, the floral CEO Mastermind is the place to be. We are talking about installations this month, how to grow your business using Planners next month, and then after that we're on to big things with reflect, review, and move forward.

Goal planning in January that's going to help lay out an actual plan of attack for 2026. Thank you so much for listening, flower Friend, and you have an amazing flower filled day.