The Floral Hustle

[00:00:00] [00:01:00]
Jeni: Hello everybody, this is Jen and you're listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast and I have someone that you might follow on social media. Uh, it is Jacqueline from Blue Blossom Academy and Blue Blossom Rentals and we are going to talk about something fun and different and honestly it's an industry.
Jeni: Disruptor right now. I think because I personally invested in for course all about launching a silk flower rental business and this is not the dollar tree that we're going to buy our silks at we're investing in like high quality silk. So this actually looks real. Doesn't look like somebody went to Hobby Lobby or Joanne's and Michael's and went nuts.
Jeni: So I'm so excited to have you here today. And if you could just introduce yourself, like, you know, your, your business, where you kind of started and tell us your backstory.
Jacqueline: I actually started in business. [00:02:00] Um, I started in finance and I hated the, I would say the nine to five life. So I then went into medicine.
Jacqueline: I started volunteering at a hospital and went back to Purdue and studied immunology and chemistry. time. And I was working in the ICU and PCU, the cardiac unit. And during this time, those shifts turned from the nine to five to like 12 hour shifts. And, um, in the midst of all this, this was really my, um, my goal.
Jacqueline: But then I started I got married and I started having kids and I realized, you know, this is not compatible with motherhood and motherhood. Like I loved this at the time when I had no children. You have all the time in the world, but once I had my kids, I, I wanted to and I had one son prior to this and I missed out on a big portion of his life.
Jacqueline: Couldn't go to school like midday school plays, et cetera. And and so that's really, this really started organically and that I was put on bed rest with [00:03:00] my daughter, Lauren. And my friends was like, you know, you should take this time to kind of explore because I was really bored. And I. Literally couldn't get out of bed for hours a day.
Jacqueline: And what your passions are. And I love flowers. I knew I always loved flowers and they're so pretty. Right. So I started taking floral educational courses through Sinclair and more and through Sarah Winward and really learning as much as I could and playing around with flowers. So I did get started in fresh.
Jacqueline: And at the same time I I had some friends who were getting married everyone kind of started getting to this age and they were asking me about fresh flower arches and whatnot. And I knew from my previous wedding, myself, that there was really nothing available.
Jacqueline: And at this time there was nothing. Right now we see these fake arches, being shipped from China. And they look fake. Those were non existent. And they were on pool noodles. Pool noodles! Oh my gosh. And yes. Nothing was available at all. And so I told my friends, let me just try my hand at this.
Jacqueline: Actually mixing [00:04:00] fresh and faux. And that's really how this started. And I realized that, hey, this is really profitable. Because I had done fresh, and I, The backbreaking work of filling your buckets and up till 4 a. m. Making bridal bouquet and stressing. And my weekends were gone completely. And so I had moved into this other great floristry business, but then I felt like it was still too hard.
Jacqueline: Like, and, um, especially with a family, it's not like I was missing out and it wasn't making enough. Did you have, how many kiddos do you have? Three. You have three kiddos. Okay. So at this time, though, I just have my son, Charlie, and then my daughter, Lauren. She was a newborn. But I quickly. Within that year of when I was on bed rest, I kind of threw them both together of the fresh and the artificial.
Jacqueline: While I was pregnant, I was making this arch for my friend, and um, one of her sorority sisters saw it, and they asked if they could use it, and then [00:05:00] another sister asked if she could use it, and so it just snowballed really quickly, and I started getting requests quickly, and so I kind of had to figure it out really fast.
Jacqueline: Um, and I use my, really my design background and my business background to create this whole new business. And there are a lot of, there's a lot of learning, but within the first year we booked 50 weddings and yes, it was like March to, um, no really October because November we didn't do many here because of the snow.
Jacqueline: So, um, it took off really fast and that's really how I got here.
Jeni: That's so interesting. So, like, I bought your course because I want, as somebody, I mean, I have, of course, all the educational things, but I have a floral business that, I mean, I did 56 weddings last year, and it still did all the coaching stuff, and I was like, how can I bring something in that's Different.
Jeni: And this really spoke to me [00:06:00] that it was different because I hated the way those China arches. Look, I, I just, anytime I see that it like causes a visceral response in me because like, things should not be that ugly. It's all over the place. And so like your stuff is all over Pinterest. It's all over Google searches, people send me the inspiration because They are so beautiful, even though they're silk and when did you come up with like that kind of, Hey, I'm going to bring it all to this level of like that you're, you have a signature style.
Jeni: That's really I think draws in that bride that actually has money. Right now that wants full and lush and doesn't want like a really some stuff of yours is like got the greenery, the eucalyptus, but it's all tasteful, like not the tacky green arches or the tacky white hydrangea arches that you see.
Jeni: So like, how did you come up with like, I want to do this, but like, [00:07:00] I'm going to bring it to this next level so that I can actually make money.
Jacqueline: That's a great question. So, when I was doing my friend's wedding, she was doing more of a luxury wedding and we live in an area where it's very wealthy. And I knew immediately if I was going to do this, I was not interested in the DIY weddings, the farm weddings, which is fine.
Jacqueline: That's just a different market segment. I knew like I wanted to do high end luxury weddings. And the only way to get there would be. Flowers that looked and felt real. And it's just, you know, it's really, it's, it's really embarrassing. It would have been embarrassing to me to have fake flowers at my wedding.
Jacqueline: And that's how a lot of these luxury brides feel. They will not have fake. They don't want anyone knowing they're fake. And so immediately I knew, okay, if I do this.
Jeni: And
Jacqueline: it was actually from another florist that I work with who showed me these real touch hydrangeas and because this bride wanted all these hydrangeas and it was like over a hundred degrees out and, you know, and one of them said that's a disaster. [00:08:00] Yes. So I was like, what if we mix them? And so that's how it started.
Jacqueline: I, and then I found the supplier, the hydrangeas and it kind of like a bunny trail and that's where it was. Okay. And I really spent a good year, almost two years finding the absolute best suppliers that have these hand painted 3d printed flowers. And I was used to working with, you know, what we all, I feel like every florist use, you know, the quick sands by Blanca's and floor star.
Jacqueline: And so. Really, I was thinking about what's the difference is a fake and a real is the petal count. It needs to have the correct petal count. Yep. They need the right size. A lot of fake ones are really big. And look like clown flowers. Yes, exactly. And they're papery or they're loud. And there's just different things that give it away.
Jacqueline: And so I really went on this search. I spent a lot of money buying in bulk and learning the hard way that I really needed to fly out to these companies and find them find the flowers. And there are sold in like the biggest stores, um, like [00:09:00] Party Barn, Saks Fifth Avenue, and these really luxury stores.
Jacqueline: So I had to actually work with the wholesalers to get them to even sell to us because it's such a small business. So that's where it started was I knew that, Hey, I want to attract high end luxury brides. I'm not going to get it with these cheap flowers. And at that point, the bride can do it themselves and they will try.
Jacqueline: And um, I didn't want anyone to look horrible. Yes, exactly. So that's kind of how we got to the, to the flowers.
Jeni: So and then where did you like, then you kind of brought that to the next level of teaching other people in other markets. You know, one thing that I thought was interesting is you even looking at, like, how many weddings are in a market.
Jeni: And if like, it is a good market for you to even own this kind of business. Like what was the, Hey, now I want to start teaching. Like what brought that on?
Jacqueline: Well, um, we had some investors from California and Texas come to us and wanted to franchise the [00:10:00] company. Um, because we were really successful and there's very little overhead in it.
Jacqueline: The way I teach it is I knew immediately, like. About just from the business classes that most businesses failed in the first five years, and I had my own floral, you know, business to to that work. I wanted to eliminate that. I actually wrote out what's all my overhead. How do I eliminate it? And so really like.
Jacqueline: Niche down the business. And so we had this really good business plan and on these investors came to us, so I wrote up a business plan for them and they talked about wanting to Franchise. And so at first it seemed really good. And meanwhile, I'm really excited. Um, but as we got along in the process, it felt like.
Jacqueline: These men did not care anything about the business. They just wanted money. And mom talked about what if we could offer this to single moms? So I used to be a single mom, women's struggling people who are, how much would this bless them? Like, and help their business. Like if they started these little [00:11:00] businesses instead of franchising, you know, having a course because for, in order to franchise.
Jacqueline: I already had to put together a horse. And so I was moving down that direction and it just didn't feel right. And we thought about it a lot. Like, who are we helping at the end of the day? Like, I felt like I was selling myself. And it was someone who doesn't care. I mean, this is my baby and We were like the only people in America doing this.
Jacqueline: And there were some people overseas doing it. But in an, in a different way, they were just using fake. And, um, yeah, it looks fake and it was just much different. So I knew I had something and me and my mom, we, we love helping people. We've always been that way. A huge portion of all of our sales which I've never seen before.
Jacqueline: said this publicly, goes towards helping single moms and orphans. And just, we, we take a big part. We're always helping people. And that's really my heart. So we decided, um, we at the last minute, when we were heading towards this investor in Texas, [00:12:00] signing with him and we were supposed to fly out there.
Jacqueline: We were like, we just can't do it. And yeah. I met with some friends who had businesses and who I trusted. And they're like, you know, if you, we think you should do it because it'd be the most profitable for you and the easiest, but if you really don't, then. You know, just follow your heart. So we're just going to take this risk is a big risk and that's really how it started and the heart of it is really to help people like, like I felt like mothers and people who maybe they're, they have businesses now, like we have a lot of florists who are students, but half my students are florists and like, they're doing what you did though, where they're really just adding it on.
Jacqueline: Yeah. As a way to make more profit. Yep. Are some who are just starting the business with their floral business and then renting from it. I thought that was a great idea.
Jeni: Yeah, that's interesting. Um,
Jacqueline: yeah, so that's really how we got it started into a course. It was very organic. Again, everything has been natural the way it's gotten me to where I am today.
Jeni: So you've kind of figured out what's [00:13:00] been successful from a rental standpoint, and one of the things that, like, if you look at, you know, in Google, rental, rental flower, wedding flowers, some people are messing with, like, centerpieces and bouquets and all of these little things, and, like, in your course, that's not in there.
Jeni: Can you talk a little bit about why you're focusing on, like, the arches and the aisle pieces? And I think also like the, the urns and then, am I missing something? There's probably like one other kind of component, but they're all big.
Jacqueline: Yeah. So, it's really two part. Number one, if you want to reach luxury brides, they're not going to want fake bouquets and they don't want fake centerpieces.
Jacqueline: And so if you're doing that, you're really, you're now, you have a different market immediately. Your market is that lower end DIY bride. And although it feels like you are going to get these, um, luxury weddings, you're not going to get as many because they all want fresh and so it sounds good and it's, it's [00:14:00] easy to get pulled into that.
Jacqueline: But I really tell people do not do that. I actually tried it. Along with mine. And it was a picking up artificial. They get through, like I said, I immediately found outlet. Okay. Who who's renting these, not the luxury brides. It was these DIY brides. It was getting into this market that I didn't want to be in.
Jacqueline: So I quickly pulled out after a few months, even because the bookings that we were getting. I also realized after doing just a couple that the time spent setting up. And delivering these and picking them up and then having half of them lost, you could have done four arch rentals and made way more than you ever would.
Jacqueline: For the centerpieces and bouquets because one arch, all those together collectively, you can charge about half of what, half of an arch rental. So it's really focusing on profits. What's profitable, these large pieces. And then also we were working with a lot of florists, a lot of florists don't want to do them fresh.
Jacqueline: I've done, I think only five and fresh [00:15:00] and all fresh. And it was a nightmare. I had to get in at like a certain time. I had to set all the tables up. And And then on top of that, make an arch. This was in the beginning when I was doing fresh and just couldn't do it. And it, it was, it was, it felt like a, just a nightmare.
Jacqueline: That's the only way you can describe the stress of sitting there and trying to make the arch. And even though I hired, you know, some freelancers to help and, and I, and I didn't feel like I got as much profit from it, from all of that work, all that planning It didn't feel that profitable. I would have rather just did the bouquets at the time in centerpieces and fresh, and then not even done the arch, but to get the proposal, I had to, because I was like, Oh, this bridal proposal, she wants an arch.
Jacqueline: If I want to get it, you know, I get it. One
Jeni: thing, a lot of florists struggle with, cause I think they think they have to do on site. And in my installation, Rockstar, I think we've talked about like the workshops that I do. I teach them how to make a fresh flower arch and transport it. It's just making it so much easier, but so many florists don't have that tool.
Jeni: And so they're like [00:16:00] you staying up till four in the morning or having to hire five people to be on site. And so. Because they're having to do everything and it's like, am I going to have enough product? You know, am I going to have enough time to actually like make it look like how you would want in your brand and aesthetic?
Jeni: Because you're honestly just shoving stuff in and trying to get it done. Yeah.
Jacqueline: It doesn't feel good. Yeah. And on a limited amount of time too.
Jeni: And then the venue is being difficult. Like you can get in like three hours or two hours before. It's like, this is not going to work, you know? Yeah.
Jacqueline: Five years ago, then, um, venues were allowing you to have all day, but what they've learned is that they can do these micro morning weddings of 2020 changed a lot.
Jacqueline: And now they're fitting in two weddings a day in the same venue. And so you have a shorter amount of time to set. And so, and, and all that to say that even after I did. All of that, I looked at my, the profit I was taking home and I was like, this is not where I want to be. I had a lot of student debt when I [00:17:00] started from going back to school and attending Purdue and Northwestern University.
Jacqueline: And which is a private college, it's extremely expensive. And I, my goal with this, what part of it was, I want to pay down this debt. And I didn't feel like, That was happening. But with these arches, these were still going on in the background. I'm like, man, I'm making a lot of money from these. I'm barely working.
Jacqueline: And I already had two girls hired to set them up and I was like, why don't I just go bigger home in that , focus on what's profitable, forget all this. And, um, those weddings, I, um, ended up, um, giving them to other florists, my florist friends, and they did them. They took 'em over. And so I could just focus in on the profit that I was making with the arches.
Jeni: So that's one thing I think that sticks out in all of your like Instagram and your, your just in general marketing that like you can make 10, 000 in a month. by working part time. And I mean, who isn't drawn [00:18:00] to that? Cause that's like the secret of success is just unlock what I make a lot of money and I don't work a lot.
Jeni: Like, how do you feel like that kind of transpires when for you, it sounds like that kind of evolved because you made decisions on what's the most profitable thing. And now you've kind of bundled this thing to give to someone that. Is like what you have dug into for so long on what's the most profitable.
Jeni: I mean, is 10, 000 a month like really easy to, for somebody that follows your, your kind of plan to make or what's your thoughts on, on that?
Jacqueline: That's a great question. So, part of it is based on your market. So I would say my market and I have every student do I do a market analysis with them. Not every student, some do it themselves.
Jacqueline: And a lot of florists pretty much know their market, but people who are new coming in don't. Um, but I do a market analysis on them with wedding debt report. And I say, let's look at your market first. Let's make sure you have enough weddings a year. So here in Indy where I'm based, [00:19:00] we have around 10 a year.
Jacqueline: 10 to 12, 000 weddings a year. That's a great market. It's very healthy. Um, some markets have 50, but some only have like 000. Those markets, you definitely cannot expect to make 10, 000. If you're in a market like mine, we can make 10, 000 in a day very easily. We'll do Well, first off, I'm a little bit further along in that I have two arches two of each arch to run out.
Jacqueline: But we did have
Jeni: one And how many, like, how many total? Like, so you have five different arch styles, four different
Jacqueline: So we have, oh my gosh, because I just made some more. I have two of each arch, and I think I have I think I only have, like, 20 arches total. Um, I have t I have, um, Two, um, rooms just filled with them.
Jacqueline: And I think we have 10 in each room, so it's not a lot. It you would be surprised. A lot of people think I have like tons of arches and I really don't because I'm all about, again, being cost being as [00:20:00] cost effective as possible and not having two of something that I don't need our most rented arches.
Jacqueline: I have two of each one, two sets of Isle flowers, two of our most rented Isle flowers, because they go out as sets. So we get 2, 400 from this wedding, 2, 400 from this wedding. I used to do up to 10 weddings a day. Once I started adding on like these owl flowers and these add ons, I cut that down immediately to more like three to five a day because We just couldn't get, honestly, to from, I didn't want to hire too many people.
Jacqueline: I want to keep this smaller. But we could just couldn't get there in time doing the all flowers with them. So now I feel comfortable. We're doing three to five. We make, on average, everyone rents all flowers with their arch. They cannot be used as centerpieces. That's important to know. But they can be reused for the reception, like at the bottom of the table or put around here and there, you know, just be repurposed.
Jacqueline: But normally, It's rare now that we get just one arch. So we average So I am making a lot a weekend. Probably more like, well over 10, 000 a weekend. [00:21:00] Um, but for those starting out, I think you have to be realistic in that. Okay. I can make, yeah, I can make 4, 000 a weekend. And you know, I have two, I tell people to set your goal and two weddings a weekend starting out that way.
Jacqueline: You're not like, I'm going to be a millionaire. And Now, I do have some students who have booked 450 weddings last year within their first year joining. Um, and I have another, so if you're a go getter and you live in a big market, you know, they live with in a market with 45, 000 weddings a year, then that's, um, that's.
Jacqueline: They're buying a building to house those things with that many. They have a warehouse, um, that they just bought with that. And, um, but I don't teach that method. I don't teach like. I really, it should really be about, it should be realistic because I don't want people like setting, because I, I feel like there's things that I've done where, um, I felt misled [00:22:00] and 10, 000 a month to me is a very, um, easy number to achieve.
Jacqueline: You would be in a very small market not to achieve 10, 000 a month. I say around up to 20, 000 because I want to be realistic for people starting. But if you're in a smaller market, two to 3000. You might get, um, just a wedding a weekend, um, Yeah, but that's still, if they do both, because you
Jeni: rent the arch for 1, 200 and the aisle pieces for 1, 200.
Jeni: Yes. That's 2, 400 if they have a wedding weekend.
Jacqueline: Yes. And it's a quick and easy setup. We can do ours both within an hour easily set those two up. And we make sure they're perfect. You know, after we fluff the flowers, make sure everything's absolutely perfect. Um, but, but if you're just starting out it probably would take you two hours.
Jacqueline: You know, I. Again, you gotta be realistic, but it's so quick. The loading, my, um, husband actually preloads a truck before. And so it takes them about, do you rent a truck or do you own a truck? You own your own truck [00:23:00] and when we started, it just, we started because you book early. I got the cash in before all the weddings and then I was actually able to just buy a truck with cash.
Jacqueline: Um, so, um, I brought a used U Haul and and it has, we has been with us now for like six years. This thing is amazing. And we, my husband is a master packer. He packs it in. He'll pack up to five, you know, Now about five weddings, we can get five weddings in it with all flowers. So 10 pieces in there with all flowers and he packs it in and, and then my girls just pick the truck up.
Jacqueline: Now he only packs the first night after that the girls will go in and so I have two sets of kind of repack and they'll repack pack to pickups, leave their arches in there overnight. When they do a pickup. We just have this really good system that you learn quick quickly. On how to pack and really just be the most profitable.
Jacqueline: Well, that
Jeni: makes you more profitable. I mean like you having systems and [00:24:00] strategies and I mean where i've seen a lot of floors fail Is that they don't have any systems and strategies and then they follow a million different people That they're going to pick up this person's strategy that person's strategy and then they're going to make it into their own and Like, I see that fall apart because those things a lot of times maybe don't support or there isn't synergy or it doesn't feel good and maybe you're a mom and you're like, I really can't do this because like, my kiddos are a priority, look, I mean, which both of us, our kiddos are a priority and.
Jeni: Sometimes like that just makes it harder, but you give them a template like this is like all the different modules that you go through is just like building a path, a runway for them to succeed. And I think that's what's different about your course, at least from taking it myself and plus. Having clear cut, like, here's a sourcing guide, here's, like, where it's coming from, here's how many are in a pack, like, all of those things, and just laying it [00:25:00] out so clearly is what really helped me move forward to getting it done with everything that I have going on.
Jeni: So, I think that's just amazing. Amazingly different from because I am, of course, consumer. I love courses. I love education. I love learning. I love learning what other people are doing because everybody has a different spin and maybe you take just a little nugget from it, but like that nugget could be something that just elevates, you know, a part of your business or just makes you happier because sometimes that's important.
Jeni: And I know. You having a life in alignment is really important to you. How are you able to push that forward? Because so many people, especially single moms, we're on the back burner. We don't get that space to just like really be in our happiness as a priority. Like, how did you come to that point? That's a great question.
Jeni: I feel like, it's a complicated one. I'm sorry, but it's one that like so many moms struggle with and single moms like they're drowned. I call it you're drowned. [00:26:00] I'm drowning and you keep describing the water to me. Like, that's what everybody's doing telling you that this can be easier telling you that this can be simpler and you're just like how.
Jeni: Yes, that's
Jacqueline: it. That's a question. I love the drowning because that's how you feel. And, um, when I have my daughter that is truly how I felt, especially and so everything that I did when I was doing it with her, I kept thinking, I wish someone could have told me this because when you're starting a business, there's just so many like hard lessons that you're learning where you have to learn it the hard way.
Jacqueline: inexpensive, get back up. And so as we were going through this, I actually started taking notes on my phone of, um, better way. This didn't work. I'm a note taker. I write everything down. I have, I'm kind of insane in that aspect of keeping track of everything, every business school. And so I was writing all these down.
Jacqueline: So I had. This kind of journey already written out. And when I was thinking of this, my number one thought was how can I help people not [00:27:00] fall where I fell and make it easier and how can I help moms? Really? My goal in this was moms was a mother starting this business, being able to start it with children.
Jacqueline: How can I do it? So a mother, so one woman can do it. I originally started with my mom, but she was diagnosed with stage four terminal cancer. And so she had immediately go into Chemo and radiation and surgery after surgery. Just, they, they just stack them up one after the other by yourself. Again, I was by myself and my husband's working full time and more than full time actually.
Jacqueline: And over time he had a second job. And so, I was doing this, my baby, um, on my hip. And so everything that I did, I thought, how can I, how can I make these arches smaller so a mother can do it? And I really thought about someone like me a woman really can do it. With a baby, how can I do this, create this entire business almost like around where you choose your own hours, you choose to do it.
Jacqueline: Like I worked when the baby was sleeping. But it was really enjoyable. It [00:28:00] sounds like I worked, but I was loved it. I was like obsessed with it. So I was dreaming up flowers. So it was really fun, but do it in a way that it can be fun. It's not overwhelming. How can I lay this, map this out so that they don't fall where I fell and have to make this mistake and this mistake and this mistake, And so in the course, that's why it's so mapped out, like step one, do this, step two, do this, step three, do this, because that's how I just think of myself, like, okay, if I'm starting with kids and I had a newborn and I actually have a handful of students.
Jacqueline: They all have newborn. It was like, Hey, I, that's how I started a newborn. And, and so, but this is going to be so much easier because they're really scared when they start, like, I can't do this a newborn and everyone has just blown out of the water. They do better than my students without kids. Actually the mothers.
Jacqueline: There's more motivation. Yes, they, every single one has done better than non, than like non mothers, nothing against non mothers at all. I envy you, your sleep time and, [00:29:00] and just like your life and I miss it. But they tend to be more driven and they, they love it because they feel like instead of this being a burden, This is just a breath of fresh air.
Jeni: Yeah. Yeah, I think that your course definitely makes it easy for that, that, that mom's already overwhelmed and doing anything like, like I said, like you're describing the water to me and I'm, I'm drowning in it. Like any, adding anything onto your plate when you're at that point can just break you. And this is like, okay, I'm not questioning if I'm doing this right.
Jeni: Yeah. You know, here's a map. And like, I'm, it's literally like playing Monopoly. You're just going around the board and collecting all your houses that you need to, to have your business. And that's what I thought was so different. And that's why I reached out to you, just because also you're inspiring and fun to follow.
Jeni: And I love beautiful silk flowers. And so following your page is also just inspirational in general. [00:30:00] I had a client actually that wanted to grow their silk flower business, which is not my realm of expertise. And nor do I honestly want it to be at this point because I, I've been a florist for 25 years.
Jeni: Like, like I have just all the stuff flown in my veins. That's about flowers and how to do that, but also how to be in alignment with your life is so important. I actually, I got certified as a mindset slash life coach because I felt like a lot of business owners, they have a problem here and here, not just like following a map.
Jeni: And I wanted to help them fix that, have the confidence for that. And I feel that confidence from you. And I, definitely in the course, I feel like that confidence comes through to you as a student. And so that's why I wanted to partner. And I'd love to talk a little bit about that. You have this actually several different courses.
Jeni: Kind of tell me about like the layout of what you have as options.
Jacqueline: So the first course we have is for those who have never [00:31:00] started a business. Um, when I started even when, um, I started, um, in Flowers, I didn't actually file. I was like kind of doing it on the side. And so, um, I know this is bad. So when I started, I had to actually file the business, the EIN get a merchant certificate and do all the steps.
Jacqueline: So the first course is the how to create and design and launch a successful floral arch rental company has literally everything you could ever need plus more. Everything you could think of, plus more things you'll never think of. And it really starts out from the basis. It's for someone who does not have a business who doesn't do well in their marketing.
Jacqueline: It teaches marketing for this business and then it goes running the business and then after that it goes into the um design part of it of not just so for florist obviously you already know how to work with flowers but this is really specific to fake flowers and making fake flowers look real ordering fake flowers that are replicas This [00:32:00] flower that way they can match.
Jacqueline: And, um, because you always want to use, you don't want to use, you know, just some, I mean, you've seen a made up flower, like some of them, like that is not,
Jeni: it
Jacqueline: does not exist. Yeah, made up flower. There we go. Or fires that come in the wrong colors. So, That is, it's all about creating arches that are going to last rental after rental after rental, the mechanics, a lot of mechanics, a lot of how to place your flowers to make it look airy, because um, what people, when they use artificial, it tends to look really heavy, because real flowers are very delicate.
Jacqueline: And they have different movement in them. And so I teach how to manipulate them to make them look real, how to it is a specific style. It's a very like garden and airy style. And that style really works best for artificial flowers to make them look real. If you try doing probably other Designs, unfortunately, Roundy Moundy kind of.
Jacqueline: Yeah. Condensed design. It's gonna look fake really [00:33:00] fast. And so, um, it's all about, um, how to make these fake flowers look real. How to do these large scale designs. Cause again, and it's very step by step because even when I was doing fresh and I was taking like Sarah Wynn Words and Sinclair and more, um, I was trying to follow along with their art, their real flowers.
Jacqueline: Cause they, they actually sent you me a box of flowers and you actually followed along. This is for 2020. And, um, so they. everything that you needed to recreate all these, um, designs. And I was so lost. I was like, how? Like, I saw them placing the flowers on the, uh, specifically on these large scale installations.
Jacqueline: And I just, I didn't understand it. It's like, I couldn't translate from a video. And so in the course I do, I very step by step place these 12 flowers. Now here's a picture, place these 12 flowers. So it's very step by step. So you know how to create these large pieces Yeah. And make the fake look real. And if you try doing it on your own, I do have students who will [00:34:00] forego the whole thing and just go by a picture, and they have to go back and remake it because It doesn't look like it.
Jacqueline: It doesn't look real! Yeah, it doesn't, it's, there's really a technique that I have mastered over, over the last six years of make it. And even now I come up with better ways. And uh, every time I do it, I'm like, okay, this is a little bit better. Like you said, um, but really the, my technique has been absolutely mastered.
Jacqueline: I even tried a different technique on one of my arches just to play around. And my arch, my original technique is so much better. So I just went, I was like, what am I doing? Yep. Oh, this is better. So, um, that, that's the second half of the course. Um, so it's split really into two. There's all the business, running your business and the business operations.
Jacqueline: And then there is just the design source, the flowers. And so that main course is split into those two. And then these two courses are also split into, into many courses for those, Hey, I just need to learn this technique, but anyone who gets the full [00:35:00] course, um, the full design course always does better.
Jacqueline: You're always going to do better. And one rental, I try and, like, help people think, put it in perspective that one rental pays for the course. For this part of the, if you spend just a little bit more and get more of the course, you're going to be getting loads more of information. Saving years of time learning it and, um, and a lot of saving you a lot of money from falling into these you know, these hard lessons happen to learn it yourself.
Jacqueline: So,
Jeni: and on a monthly basis ish, it seems like you kind of have like the hot sale on your, on your courses. So, and that's when you kind of are hoping to get an influx of people so you can walk them through. like onboarding and things like that. And you don't take a lot of people when you do that either.
Jeni: So it's like you're, you're getting more attention through the process it seems like.
Jacqueline: Yes. So I, um, and that was something else I learned part of it's because I still have my kids. I work from home and I want to have a [00:36:00] work life balance for myself and for students. I don't want that. I want everyone to get the attention they need.
Jacqueline: I want to have that time for them. And if we're all starting together, so I do a once a month sale. So really everyone's starting together. But also, um, I do take people every now and then throughout the month, and that's okay because then they really have my full attention. Because I'm not starting with a bunch of other people, but it tends to help with everyone because I'm getting the same questions asked.
Jacqueline: I know where they're at in the course. And, um, although I can see everyone's progress, and I'll go in and see where someone's at. If they ask me a question, I'm like, okay, so you haven't hit this part yet, and that's why. So I really, it really is a small amount of people. I could take more, but I don't want to.
Jacqueline: And when I took these other courses, I felt like I didn't get any of the help that I needed, like, and so I want to make sure I'm there for my students. My students mean so much to me. I will be up all night, not able to sleep over one person. If something is going wrong, like I'm [00:37:00] like, Talking to my husband, I'm like, I figured this out.
Jacqueline: Like this person needs me. That's how much each person means to me.
Jeni: Uh,
Jacqueline: their success means so much to me as well. Like I want you to do well, if you do well, it's like my, it's like my baby, like, just like blue blossom rentals as my baby, like my business. I want every single wedding to go well because my name is on it.
Jacqueline: Well, same thing with my students. I want every student to do well because my name is on that. And I really care about each student. Just like I care about my brides.
Jeni: Yeah. And so you have this main course, but like you also have, like you, I think you said they're chunked out and then you can also buy your sourcing guide.
Jeni: I think I saw on there as well which, I mean, I, I have ordered now from all the companies that you've recommended and like, they are, I just got a box today and like I eagerly and normally that box would just wait, but I eagerly went and got that box. The box cutter after getting yelled at that. I had a scissors doing it because there's they come also packaged really well from these [00:38:00] suppliers.
Jeni: Like, I have bought silk flowers from different sources and they they're beat up by time they arrive. And it seems like the suppliers you work with also just really care about how they're delivered so that they remain. To look as nice as they can. And that's just one thing that I, I think is different.
Jeni: Um, but you, the sourcing guide and like the different mini courses that kind of break each section, but is there, am I missing anything? I think that's all the courses that you have, right?
Jacqueline: That's it. I have a new course coming out for, um, permanent installations and like really large scale, um, like doing, um, specifically, it's really geared towards, um, businesses.
Jacqueline: You work for the business and you make these big floral installations. That's really big right now. It's a great market to get in because it's real, it's on the cusp of it and it's going to blow up. And so getting in now is going to be very profitable. So I have that course coming out that should be finished by the [00:39:00] summer.
Jacqueline: I just, I'm adding more to it. I was, I was finished and I was like, you know what? Um, I have an idea. Of course I keep coming up with, I'm going to make this better. And so that's coming out. But other than that, yes, those are the specific courses.
Jeni: And I know that we put together for my listeners a code. So the code is to be used on your website.
Jeni: It's code hustle. They can actually, if they sign up through the link, get your course that's going to be coming out very soon. But also, Because I think that this is important, like if you're probably, I'm going to have a florist probably signing up for it through you. So if you're a florist, like making sure you have this synergy in launching and feeling good about it.
Jeni: So I'm offering a free coaching session, a free hour coaching session, and I don't even care if we talked about your soap flower business. We can just talk about your floral business if you want, but I'm also throwing that in as like an added bonus, because I. I'm such a supporter of this course, and I [00:40:00] think that it can be invaluable to really anybody that wants to just be different and be a disruptor, because I know when I bought the course, like there was a couple people starting in my market, but then I would go and see their stuff because I was like, Oh no, like somebody else that started it.
Jeni: Like they're horrible. Like, they're so bad that I just, I, like, it was like, just, I, when I see them, I'm just like, Oh my God, like, you guys are like proud to put this out here. I don't get, so I'm serious. Like I, one of my, one of my favorite venues I went in. And they had these floating silk cherry blossom clouds with this cherry blossom arch and it's all white.
Jeni: And I'm like, this looks like, like, I mean, Michael's would have been a nicer destination for them to buy their flowers, but like that's the competition. And I think people don't realize [00:41:00] that like, that's not probably going to go very well in the long term. And this being such high quality, I mean, like, I've looked at these, I've had them next to real, you know, playas, real quicksands, and real hydrangeas, like, I've put them up to next to everything with the volume of weddings.
Jeni: I've just had these flowers, and they're hands down amazing quality and something that will really differentiate you. So how do they find you? How do they find your Instagram? How do they find the course? Obviously in the show notes, I'm going to put the link to the course for everybody to check out the different courses.
Jeni: And then if they use the code, they get our special little deal that we've worked out. But how do they find you and learn more about
Jacqueline: you? So if you go to our Instagram, Blue Blossom Academy, you'll get the most information because I do a lot more personal videos on there and I kind of talk more about the course and there's a lot of FAQs where you can click the highlight and really go through questions, um, [00:42:00] that other people have asked that you might not think of, but then also if you go to blueblossom, um, rentals.
Jacqueline: com, I have our Academy page on there and that'll link you to the personal Academy. So it's, it's not too hard to get to, um, but I'll link
Jeni: that in the show notes so that like, if they want to learn more about, do you think the blue blossom academy is the best one to follow?
Jacqueline: Yes, Blue Blossom Academy, definitely follow that.
Jacqueline: And then you can get to all my courses from there. Um, it's very if you just click the link in our bio or I'll also have a lot of links on our stories, um, to click on. So it's easy to find and it's an information.
Jeni: Well, it was so great to have you today and I hope you guys like really just saw how your business can be just different.
Jeni: Like. You've taken and just twisted what you were doing into something that is highly profitable, highly aligns with your life and is fulfilling for you. And like, I hope that shows [00:43:00] people that that is possible because so many people don't think it is. And I'm always pushing my people to like anybody, a coach to like unapologetically leave and whatever they're doing, that it can happen.
Jeni: And you did it. So I just want to also congratulate you on being an industry disruptor because I know that that also takes like guts to do and is is kind of a lonely road sometimes as well. So great job. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. It's awesome talking to you. [00:44:00]