The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello Flower friend. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. On this week's episode, we are going to talk about going back in time and what I wish I knew when I had started my business, and that was a long time ago, there really wasn't like the internet like there is today because it was 17 years ago.

And so there, there were some things that I just really was reflecting on that I was. That, those things would've been nice to know, and I wish I had a flower or fairy godmother to tell me those things. So consider me your, your fairy godmother today, sharing these things that literally, I feel like if I would, would've known them so long ago that I would be a different person at a way earlier point in my life.

And I think it would've made. Impact in my business on the trajectory of it, and really like the, the growth pace that it had. So to start out with, one of the biggest things that I think changed the game in my business was I, I always felt hesitant and felt like, I didn't need it or I didn't have the money for it.

There was just all these things I would tell myself whenever I thought about doing classes or education, uh, or you know, something along that lines like some type of learning that I would have to pay for, usually. I literally just stayed away from it forever. I felt like I always had too much on my plate because I was working full-time and, and then I always was like, I've been doing this forever.

Like, what am I honestly going to learn? Like I've been doing this forever. And so I started like just brainwashing myself that I didn't need growth. At this point in my life with even coaching people, I still hire coaches for myself. I still take courses. I still learn all the time. I completely changed my mindset into being a growth or open mindset instead of being closed off because being closed off, I wasn't innovating.

I was, um, okay with basically just being okay. , I am not okay with being okay anymore. I literally wanna be the best version of myself every single day. I want to know more. I want to be more, I want to soak up other people's energy and advice. And I think with that it is just, it's so helpful for you to, to learn even just little bits of nuggets from, from others in all facets of your life because, They've been at a completely different spot than you are.

Even if you started at the same time. They might have had personal training sessions if you're at the gym and you didn't. They might have had a customer experience as a florist or they did something that you haven't, everybody can learn from each other, and so I wish I would've felt the importance of that way sooner.

and really I always felt like I don't, because I was undercharging, I didn't have the money to invest in those things, and honestly like I should have made room. I should have done something because investing in coaching and training and courses literally has got me to where I am now. Which is a complete transformation in the mindset department.

In the my skill level, my confidence level, it has just been invaluable. And so if you are not at a point in your floral journey, , but I think you are a little bit if you are listening to this podcast, because this is a first step to growth. You are soaking up my energy, my knowledge. If you're listening to other podcasts, you're doing the same.

So you are taking steps to be the best version of, of yourself and reflect on that because like, think of what you've learned out of those podcasts that you listen to. That is a, a growth opportunity that you are taking advantage of, and you should be proud of yourself for that. , the second one. I was so dedicated to one wholesaler for a long time.

Then I started using another wholesaler, and then I got really dedicated to them. It is okay to court and work with multiple wholesalers, and here's why. Every single one of them has sources that are different from each. They often have different pricing structure. They have different buyers. They have a different level of operating, and that level of operating might be, they don't give a shit if they get your roses or not.

When you special order them three weeks in advance or that level of operating might be them coming down. To your studio and wanting to figure out how can I do more business with you? Like what didn't go right, what went wrong, which was a wholesaler just a, a week ago for me? And that level of caring is huge because you are not just a business, you are a person.

Is literally making promises to yourself, making promises to your couples that you are going to deliver certain things like a certain look, feel, texture of their wedding flowers. And if nobody deliver, if your wholesaler doesn't deliver, like that's you. , your, your couple isn't getting mad at the wholesaler.

They're getting upset at you as long as I, I think that that's very avoidable. If you have set up the whole discussion from the gecko on the right kind of vibe or playing field, which I've talked about it in another episode, to not promise specific blooms to your couples, but with that, like literally that wholesaler is.

Your your success contingency plan, which is not a great space to live in. You want to be able to feel confident that that wholesaler is the best at getting these types of things. and when you don't test multiple wholesalers, then you're just kind of, you're playing roulette and you don't know they could get it.

The buyer could be on today, the buyer could have, you know, sourced it from the right farm. So difficult items. I personally sourced them from two wholesalers because if both of them disappoint me, then it's probably really a problem with that product in the market. , but I am upping my chances of success by ordering from both of them.

And what I usually do is I split my order that I need and maybe just add a little bit extra from each place. Because then if I only get from one as well, then I'm still, I still got it. I can still use it in the bouquets or use it in an impactful way that will pop to my couple. So it's okay to cheat on your wholesaler and have another.

Totally. Okay. Another thing I fought for a long time, and, and it wasn't an epic long time, but it was long enough, is getting a cooler, and this is a struggle that I see so many Flos go, go through in some of the Facebook groups that I'm in. Literally, it is okay for you to, for one, invest in your business in something that is going to help make your job.

Two, it is a tax deduction. You are investing in your business. A cooler is a tax deduction, and three, you are going to have so much less stress and is your stress level worth an investment? Because that's where usually the hinge is. I you need the money to invest. Literally, it is one of the best investments that I made because I'm not having to worry that I'm putting my personals in some P fridge or something like that, and then the vent freezes them.

I'm not have to worry if for some reason my roses pop because maybe they were a little bit aged, that I don't have a place to put them. So then that is going to make them look like crap when I deliver them on wedding day. You don't have to do any of that. You can literally just invest in a cooler. Take the tax deduction, take the alleviation of stress in your life.

Put it in a garage, put it downstairs, put it somewhere. And my biggest thing that I have done, I, I literally choose not to struggle. I choose not to do overwhelm. I, I literally have a mantra. I don't do overwhelm. I don't do hard. Because I've created the type of business that gives me the resources to pay a moving company to move that.

If you find it on Craigslist, you find it on, I actually, I bought one of my coolers on kbi. I've literally hired a moving company and it, it costs like, I think $300. But you know what? I am not going to hurt my. . I am not going to hurt my partners or some people that work for me. They're back. I am not going to stress about do I have the right straps?

Do I have all that right? You do not need to do that. You are an action taking problem solving person and hiring a moving company for this item is so worth it for you not to be stressing about moving this cooler for a week. You don't need to. Somebody else can handle the stress for you. All right. Then I also, when it comes to a lot of these things are investment, um, related.

I literally didn't invest in like key rental pieces that I have now that literally are very good money makers that are kind of cornerstones of my, my floral designs because I use those items. So if you are thinking, having an arch in your inventory is a, let's just say four to $500 investment and you're gonna have to rent it out a few times to recoup that, that investment is so worth it.

My fir, I hesitated on this for so long, and about five years ago I got my first arch that literally a mother of the bride gave. As, um, part of I think like a tip just to say thank you for all the work I did and I've literally rented this free arch out. It is a copper kind of upside down U arch. I have rented it out and I rent it for, um, a hundred dollars.

I've rented it out at least I would say 15 times. 15 times and it was free. So that arch sells on Etsy. That's where I would get it from if I wanted another one for like $300. Then I added, uh, and I actually, I did an Instagram reel about this. I added a gold double hoop round arch, and it was around $400 as well, I believe, and I've rented that, that out like 17 times.

That one was more expensive than, of course free when I got the free arch from the mother of the bride. But I have literally, because the designs I can do on that round arch are usually cooler and bigger and better. I've gotten to do so many things with that arch because of it. So think about all of those possibilities if you are craving.

A certain arch or a certain thing in your business, like make that move because if you are inspired by it, you are going to be able to sell that to your, to your couples. I am in love with a, um, a new rental set that I have that has these dainty beautiful, bud Vass has, uh, these candle holders that I got from De Malia's Gardens that are ribbed and I have all different sizes plus taper candle holders that I sourced from Yummy candles.

And so I have this. And I have beautiful pictures of what it looks like altogether, and it is so easy for me to sell this as a set and I, it was an investment to get all these pieces, but I can sell that. I think I have it this season. I think I have seven weddings with it, and my taper candle holders, literally, I rent them for what they originally cost, and I think I rented them out for.

Probably like eight or nine weddings last year, and they were new in my inventory and that's like when I really rented them out, there were several head tables that I rented them out in addition to that, so that rental item, like when you see a key rental item that you feel like you would be able to sell the shit out of it, do it because you are inspired, you are pushed, you are like being creatively driven by this item and it will make your money back.

Fast. Then I wanna talk about like being a people pleaser and things that I, I now know that I didn't ne need to say yes to. I didn't need to say yes to everyone and everything that came my way, I felt like I needed to do more, more, more. Which you've probably heard me talk about before. More, more, more of.

All of these things, like more weddings, more of these ugly centerpieces that I absolutely hate more of all of these things because more mason jar like baby's breath things and I know now. I can just say, you know what? That really isn't something that our studio specializes in. We specialize in garden style.

Um, you know, luxury or higher end centerpieces and baby's breath and mason jars is not fit into, um, our, our current, um, business model. You can easily support that. You put a hard line on, I don't need to do these things anymore. or I don't need to do them, period, because they, they hurt my heart to do them.

Then I didn't need to do a hundred weddings. I did 127 weddings one year while working full-time. It was before children, but I was taking care of my parents. , uh, um, because both of them, um, especially my dad, he had C O P D and uh, he was on oxygen and he just wasn't ever really in good health, um, for the, um, almost probably the last 20 years of his life.

And so I was taking care of them and running them to appointments and taking care of my parents. And I did 127 wedding. and I did a bunch of funeral work that year. It was absolutely crazy. I, I just, I for some reason, felt in my heart that I had to say yes to everything. I had to be the cheapest. I had to just get myself out there and get exposure for my business, which of course I might have some referrals that are coming in now because I still, I, I actually went through this big pivot and changed my business name.

but those people are the wrong people because I want people that actually have budgets that actually are, have some style that fits with the aesthetic of my business. That literally is someone that will put some money into their flowers, not people that are $500 budget people. Not people that want Mason to our centerpieces, you know, those people I don't wanna attract anymore.

So doing all those weddings back then honestly isn't paying off now because that's not the type of couple that I want to attract. So I didn't need to do that, and it took a long time. And even now I don't wanna do as many weddings as I. . And even now, sometimes I have like those moments where like, oh, I should be doing this wedding.

This person referred them and on and on and on. No, I shouldn't. I should be doing this wedding if I want, if it inspires me, if it is profitable, if it doesn't, isn't stressful, then I should be doing this wedding. Not, oh, this person referred it. No, I should just be doing weddings because I need revenue. And you know, all of those.

Icky, like close-minded, um, not growth mindset thinking. Then another thing, I didn't need to be the cheapest in town. I literally felt like I need to be the cheapest in town and I would get upset if like I lost a wedding and someone was cheap. What? That was crazy. I am not upset. I literally, I sent a, um, I lost a wedding this week to someone that literally, I, I asked for their feedback.

Anytime somebody says they went in a different direction, so if you are not asking for feedback because it feels uncomfortable, you are not going to grow unless you hear the reasons. And if that reason is somebody else was cheap. That is okay. That is not something that I get upset about. I get upset about if for some reason they didn't like what I came up with or they didn't like this item, or they didn't like something about, or I wasn't maybe, I don't know, like you're not responding fast enough.

Some people like have no patience and if you don't spa, respond very fast. They like think you're not responsive enough. Or somebody responded to me sooner, which then I know that I responded right away and I'm. , where does this person just like live and walk around with their phone open? That's not gonna be me, and that doesn't need to be you.

But finding out that feedback is an invaluable tool. So if somebody is cheaper and you lost that wedding because of price, that is okay. It is okay to not worry about being the cheapest in town because the cheapest in town is super stressed out. Is not making the money that you are doing less weddings and is likely going to burn themself out.

You are better than that. You deserve to have weddings that inspire you, make money that is impactful and love what you do not feel like you are a cog in the floral wheel. Just making things happen that just don't matter as much as they. All right. Next thing. I am the queen of packing stuff. So strategically you should see the stuff that gets packed in my van.

Uh, I have a Chrysler, um, Pacifica van, so it's like a full, uh, regular van, not a full size, like a, uh, like a industrial or a fleet van. , but I have a little system that I take card tables and then the skinny card tables that you see like in a school kind of setting, that's like a, um, about two feet wide. I will take those and I will make my van double layers.

I have all the tables pushed in there, so I'll put two card tables that are like the four foot card tables and then I'll put the skinny table that's about two feet wide. So it's like filling. , you know, the inside of my van and pushing up against each other so that the tables aren't just like moving all over.

And then I double layer like my boxes, everything in there. So I'm getting, you know, a whole nother layer, a whole nother capability to pack way more in my van. But when you were doing big weddings, The thing I struggled with is I would like find all these people, like, do you have a van or do you have a truck that we could with a topper on it?

Rent a truck. It is like a hundred dollars for the day. Charge it in your delivery fee if you know you need it and just rent the truck. It is so much easier and so much less stress to just rent the truck. So you deserve things to be easier. You deserve things to just feel lighter and like not be frantic, that you're not gonna fit things.

and that I usually rent from like U-Haul. Uh, but there's also like this new fluid truck rental here in the Twin Cities. Like there's so many options and just, just reserve a truck, go get it, pack up, make sure when you're, you're going to get it. That like there's no, this just happened to me twice last year that there was the service engine light on and literally I made them fix it or get me a different van before I left because I just, I wasn't gonna deal with any issues.

And I just keep the van that like overnight, so 24 hours. So I'm not renting it multiple days, but buy, renting a van is just, it's so easy. All right, another lesson. I, for years and years and years and years, invested so much in crowning glory, Hawaiian Mist, all of the things that you spray on flowers to keep them fresher.

After taking Passionflower Sue's studio florist, which this woman is the queen of literally getting things to last long that, I mean, she's building these intricate things and leaves them in her hydration chamber, and she just uses water. I literally just use water and I spray things because then they're drinking from their outside pets.

I bought from the Dollar Tree, a whole case of water bottle, like sprayers, you know, buck 25 each. And I think 48 we're in a case, so we always have water bottles that we can fill up if we need to. And then my biggest game changer is I bought a garden spray. It is one of those pump up garden sprayers that I put water in, and I take that with me.

If I have ground installations or any flower installations, any foam free installations I foam or foam free, I bring it with because I spray it. Especially like I did a couple weddings last year that were, um, Hindu weddings and they were. a uh, literally like, um, uh, an atrium is what they call the room, but it has open skylights in it, and literally it's just shining down on your designs.

And because Hindu weddings are often very early in the morning, they start at like eight or nine. That process starts. I have to do them the night before because I am not going to come. That is another thing that like, is just not super fun to me, is I don't wanna come at four in the morning. I actually, I did one that we only, it was outside and I was there at six o'clock in the morning this past year and like, I, I did it because my decorator friend that is near and dear to me, like that, that's just like the bride was kind of difficult and I didn't wanna make the situation difficult.

So I was like, okay, we'll do this at six in the morning. Even though I am not a morning person, I shouldn't be saying that because then I'm training myself that I'm not a morning person. But, uh, I did it, but like literally, um, You know, I, I didn't, I didn't probably need to, we could have figured it out to do some of it the night before, but that water, me spraying all those things cuz it was in a yard of a hotel and literally the sun started to, I literally sprayed those things, so much water on them for them to be able to drink, not only from the foam or whatever they were in, but also from their outside pets.

So water, just spraying that I. Spending all that money on Hawaiian Mist, especially just I, I've never seen it make a difference and I have done a lot of weddings and a lot of testing on it. Then our next thing is literally developing email templates is something I wish I knew I didn't need to recreate the wheel.

every single time I send an inquiry, a proposal, a reply email, a I'm not available email, all of those things, I literally should have just. Way long ago, developed these templates in like Google Drive, beca Google Word doc. This is my template for this. This is my template for that. If you want, you could even put them in your drafts in your email.

So you just go to your drafts and cut and paste out of it. But I literally did not need to reinvent the wheel all the time because it just, it just. . It's so much easier if you are strategic about what you are writing one time and one time only. Like you're putting thoughtful energy into your communication.

Then just reusing that, changing key things so that they know that you are speaking to them, and then just keep reusing it. It's gonna save you so much time. All right, the last thing, and this is something that I wish I knew. and I, I found out about it when I met my husband. So my husband is an entrepreneur as well, but he also has been a contractor.

and with it for actually like the postal system and uh, for Best Buy. And he is a software, uh, architect. And so literally he helped like develop the whole kind of internal infrastructure of the postal system. He worked there for 10 years and he worked for US Bank, just all these different, but he was a contractor and so he had his own company and that company.

From a, and I actually, I also see this in a lot of the Facebook groups. Should I be an L L C? Should I be, what should I be? Should I be A D, B A? All these questions, and I'm going to throw it out there today because this is something I did not even know about, is consider being an S corp. What an S Corp is.

It is a type of corporation, but what the big difference is from a tax liability standpoint, and I am a full supporter and the me and my husband differ on this of paying taxes. I feel that taxes are helping pay for our roads, paying for the police department, paying for. , I am fully in support of paying reasonable taxes.

I especially like school, uh, taxes like our daughter. Uh, and I've mentioned this in, in I think a podcast before, but also in some of my lives. My daughter has autism and the resources she gets at school costs money, and I understand that. And so I am fully in support of those resources being in place. But as a business owner, Reducing your tax liability to whatever's possible, but still paying reasonable taxes to me is something that I is just being a smart business person.

So with an S Corp corporation, literally I am paying myself as the business owner, a reasonable salary. You can deem what that like, actually, I literally just take the advisement of what my, uh, tax representative, like she tells me is reasonable. Then that profit that's left after all your expenses, all of those things, literally that is funneled into a separate section of your taxes and you are then not paying Social Security and Medicare.

Those add up Social Security and Medicare are, are. I think there, there's seven and a half percent that you would pay. So you are reducing on whatever that difference is. Beyond paying yourself a reasonable salary, you're reducing that tax liability by that, by being at S Corp plus fun things. If you are an S corp, there are rules and things like that to maintain an S-Corp status, but one of those things is meetings.

you literally get to have quarterly meetings that are a business expense and that does not need to be in your studio. So talk to your tax guy or tax girl that could be like you going on your family vacation. and literally having your, your board meeting on your vacation. So there's a lot of fun things about it, but I literally think the tax liability setup I is definitely helpful.

uh, a tax person can sometimes help you even set that up if it seems overwhelming. Otherwise, do some research, but talk to your, if you don't have a tax person and you're doing your taxes yourself for one, that is something that I felt like I needed to do for a long time and. Having someone that is more an advisor to me that for one, is gonna hold me accountable to keeping updated with QuickBooks and all of those things like that has been really helpful in my business.

This, these last few years. You deserve to have a tax person, even though I know it costs money because they are going to, in the long run, help you be a bus, better business owner. So those are just a few of the things I wanted to throw out there because I, I literally have just been. Thinking through, um, especially I've had some people reach out in, in my dms, um, talking about like starting a business.

So if you were thinking of starting a business, I literally, I have a guide for you because I think that you taking action. Is is so huge. So if you go to  📍 Hello Flower friend. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. On this week's episode, we are going to talk about going back in time and what I wish I knew when I had started my business, and that was a long time ago, there really wasn't like the internet like there is today because it was 17 years ago.

And so there, there were some things that I just really was reflecting on that I was. That, those things would've been nice to know, and I wish I had a flower or fairy godmother to tell me those things. So consider me your, your fairy godmother today, sharing these things that literally, I feel like if I would, would've known them so long ago that I would be a different person at a way earlier point in my life.

And I think it would've made. Impact in my business on the trajectory of it, and really like the, the growth pace that it had. So to start out with, one of the biggest things that I think changed the game in my business was I, I always felt hesitant and felt like, I didn't need it or I didn't have the money for it.

There was just all these things I would tell myself whenever I thought about doing classes or education, uh, or you know, something along that lines like some type of learning that I would have to pay for, usually. I literally just stayed away from it forever. I felt like I always had too much on my plate because I was working full-time and, and then I always was like, I've been doing this forever.

Like, what am I honestly going to learn? Like I've been doing this forever. And so I started like just brainwashing myself that I didn't need growth. At this point in my life with even coaching people, I still hire coaches for myself. I still take courses. I still learn all the time. I completely changed my mindset into being a growth or open mindset instead of being closed off because being closed off, I wasn't innovating.

I was, um, okay with basically just being okay. , I am not okay with being okay anymore. I literally wanna be the best version of myself every single day. I want to know more. I want to be more, I want to soak up other people's energy and advice. And I think with that it is just, it's so helpful for you to, to learn even just little bits of nuggets from, from others in all facets of your life because, They've been at a completely different spot than you are.

Even if you started at the same time. They might have had personal training sessions if you're at the gym and you didn't. They might have had a customer experience as a florist or they did something that you haven't, everybody can learn from each other, and so I wish I would've felt the importance of that way sooner.

and really I always felt like I don't, because I was undercharging, I didn't have the money to invest in those things, and honestly like I should have made room. I should have done something because investing in coaching and training and courses literally has got me to where I am now. Which is a complete transformation in the mindset department.

In the my skill level, my confidence level, it has just been invaluable. And so if you are not at a point in your floral journey, , but I think you are a little bit if you are listening to this podcast, because this is a first step to growth. You are soaking up my energy, my knowledge. If you're listening to other podcasts, you're doing the same.

So you are taking steps to be the best version of, of yourself and reflect on that because like, think of what you've learned out of those podcasts that you listen to. That is a, a growth opportunity that you are taking advantage of, and you should be proud of yourself for that. , the second one. I was so dedicated to one wholesaler for a long time.

Then I started using another wholesaler, and then I got really dedicated to them. It is okay to court and work with multiple wholesalers, and here's why. Every single one of them has sources that are different from each. They often have different pricing structure. They have different buyers. They have a different level of operating, and that level of operating might be, they don't give a shit if they get your roses or not.

When you special order them three weeks in advance or that level of operating might be them coming down. To your studio and wanting to figure out how can I do more business with you? Like what didn't go right, what went wrongs, which was a wholesaler just a, a week ago for me? And that level of caring is huge because you are not just a business, you are a person.

Is literally making promises to yourself, making promises to your couples that you are going to deliver certain things like a certain look, feel, texture of their wedding flowers. And if nobody deliver, if your wholesaler doesn't deliver, like that's you. , your, your couple isn't getting mad at the wholesaler.

They're getting upset at you as long as I, I think that that's very avoidable. If you have set up the whole discussion from the gecko on the right kind of vibe or playing field, which I've talked about it in another episode, to not promise specific blooms to your couples, but with that, like literally that wholesaler is.

Your your success contingency plan, which is not a great space to live in. You want to be able to feel confident that that wholesaler is the best at getting these types of things. and when you don't test multiple wholesalers, then you're just kind of, you're playing roulette and you don't know they could get it.

The buyer could be on today, the buyer could have, you know, sourced it from the right farm. So difficult items. I personally sourced them from two wholesalers because if both of them disappoint me, then it's probably really a problem with that product in the market. , but I am upping my chances of success by ordering from both of them.

And what I usually do is I split my order that I need and maybe just add a little bit extra from each place. Because then if I only get from one as well, then I'm still, I still got it. I can still use it in the bouquets or use it in an impactful way that will pop to my couple. So it's okay to cheat on your wholesaler and have another.

Totally. Okay. Another thing I fought for a long time, and, and it wasn't an epic long time, but it was long enough, is getting a cooler, and this is a struggle that I see so many Flos go, go through in some of the Facebook groups that I'm in. Literally, it is okay for you to, for one, invest in your business in something that is going to help make your job.

Two, it is a tax deduction. You are investing in your business. A cooler is a tax deduction, and three, you are going to have so much less stress and is your stress level worth an investment? Because that's where usually the hinge is. I you need the money to invest. Literally, it is one of the best investments that I made because I'm not having to worry that I'm putting my personals in some P fridge or something like that, and then the vent freezes them.

I'm not have to worry if for some reason my roses pop because maybe they were a little bit aged, that I don't have a place to put them. So then that is going to make them look like crap when I deliver them on wedding day. You don't have to do any of that. You can literally just invest in a cooler. Take the tax deduction, take the alleviation of stress in your life.

Put it in a garage, put it downstairs, put it somewhere. And my biggest thing that I have done, I, I literally choose not to struggle. I choose not to do overwhelm. I, I literally have a mantra. I don't do overwhelm. I don't do hard. Because I've created the type of business that gives me the resources to pay a moving company to move that.

If you find it on Craigslist, you find it on, I actually, I bought one of my coolers on kbi. I've literally hired a moving company and it, it costs like, I think $300. But you know what? I am not going to hurt my. . I am not going to hurt my partners or some people that work for me. They're back. I am not going to stress about do I have the right straps?

Do I have all that right? You do not need to do that. You are an action taking problem solving person and hiring a moving company for this item is so worth it for you not to be stressing about moving this cooler for a week. You don't need to. Somebody else can handle the stress for you. All right. Then I also, when it comes to a lot of these things are investment, um, related.

I literally didn't invest in like key rental pieces that I have now that literally are very good money makers that are kind of cornerstones of my, my floral designs because I use those items. So if you are thinking, having an arch in your inventory is a, let's just say four to $500 investment and you're gonna have to rent it out a few times to recoup that, that investment is so worth it.

My fir, I hesitated on this for so long, and about five years ago I got my first arch that literally a mother of the bride gave. As, um, part of I think like a tip just to say thank you for all the work I did and I've literally rented this free arch out. It is a copper kind of upside down U arch. I have rented it out and I rent it for, um, a hundred dollars.

I've rented it out at least I would say 15 times. 15 times and it was free. So that arch sells on Etsy. That's where I would get it from if I wanted another one for like $300. Then I added, uh, and I actually, I did an Instagram reel about this. I added a gold double hoop round arch, and it was around $400 as well, I believe, and I've rented that, that out like 17 times.

That one was more expensive than, of course free when I got the free arch from the mother of the bride. But I have literally, because the designs I can do on that round arch are usually cooler and bigger and better. I've gotten to do so many things with that arch because of it. So think about all of those possibilities if you are craving.

A certain arch or a certain thing in your business, like make that move because if you are inspired by it, you are going to be able to sell that to your, to your couples. I am in love with a, um, a new rental set that I have that has these dainty beautiful, bud Vass has, uh, these candle holders that I got from De Malia's Gardens that are ribbed and I have all different sizes plus taper candle holders that I sourced from Yummy candles.

And so I have this. And I have beautiful pictures of what it looks like altogether, and it is so easy for me to sell this as a set and I, it was an investment to get all these pieces, but I can sell that. I think I have it this season. I think I have seven weddings with it, and my taper candle holders, literally, I rent them for what they originally cost, and I think I rented them out for.

Probably like eight or nine weddings last year, and they were new in my inventory and that's like when I really rented them out, there were several head tables that I rented them out in addition to that, so that rental item, like when you see a key rental item that you feel like you would be able to sell the shit out of it, do it because you are inspired, you are pushed, you are like being creatively driven by this item and it will make your money back.

Fast. Then I wanna talk about like being a people pleaser and things that I, I now know that I didn't ne need to say yes to. I didn't need to say yes to everyone and everything that came my way, I felt like I needed to do more, more, more. Which you've probably heard me talk about before. More, more, more of.

All of these things, like more weddings, more of these ugly centerpieces that I absolutely hate more of all of these things because more mason jar like baby's breath things and I know now. I can just say, you know what? That really isn't something that our studio specializes in. We specialize in garden style.

Um, you know, luxury or higher end centerpieces and baby's breath and mason jars is not fit into, um, our, our current, um, business model. You can easily support that. You put a hard line on, I don't need to do these things anymore. or I don't need to do them, period, because they, they hurt my heart to do them.

Then I didn't need to do a hundred weddings. I did 127 weddings one year while working full-time. It was before children, but I was taking care of my parents. , uh, um, because both of them, um, especially my dad, he had C O P D and uh, he was on oxygen and he just wasn't ever really in good health, um, for the, um, almost probably the last 20 years of his life.

And so I was taking care of them and running them to appointments and taking care of my parents. And I did 127 wedding. and I did a bunch of funeral work that year. It was absolutely crazy. I, I just, I for some reason, felt in my heart that I had to say yes to everything. I had to be the cheapest. I had to just get myself out there and get exposure for my business, which of course I might have some referrals that are coming in now because I still, I, I actually went through this big pivot and changed my business name.

but those people are the wrong people because I want people that actually have budgets that actually are, have some style that fits with the aesthetic of my business. That literally is someone that will put some money into their flowers, not people that are $500 budget people. Not people that want Mason to our centerpieces, you know, those people I don't wanna attract anymore.

So doing all those weddings back then honestly isn't paying off now because that's not the type of couple that I want to attract. So I didn't need to do that, and it took a long time. And even now I don't wanna do as many weddings as I. . And even now, sometimes I have like those moments where like, oh, I should be doing this wedding.

This person referred them and on and on and on. No, I shouldn't. I should be doing this wedding if I want, if it inspires me, if it is profitable, if it doesn't, isn't stressful, then I should be doing this wedding. Not, oh, this person referred it. No, I should just be doing weddings because I need revenue. And you know, all of those.

Icky, like close-minded, um, not growth mindset thinking. Then another thing, I didn't need to be the cheapest in town. I literally felt like I need to be the cheapest in town and I would get upset if like I lost a wedding and someone was cheap. What? That was crazy. I am not upset. I literally, I sent a, um, I lost a wedding this week to someone that literally, I, I asked for their feedback.

Anytime somebody says they went in a different direction, so if you are not asking for feedback because it feels uncomfortable, you are not going to grow unless you hear the reasons. And if that reason is somebody else was cheap. That is okay. That is not something that I get upset about. I get upset about if for some reason they didn't like what I came up with or they didn't like this item, or they didn't like something about, or I wasn't maybe, I don't know, like you're not responding fast enough.

Some people like have no patience and if you don't spa, respond very fast. They like think you're not responsive enough. Or somebody responded to me sooner, which then I know that I responded right away and I'm. , where does this person just like live and walk around with their phone open? That's not gonna be me, and that doesn't need to be you.

But finding out that feedback is an invaluable tool. So if somebody is cheaper and you lost that wedding because of price, that is okay. It is okay to not worry about being the cheapest in town because the cheapest in town is super stressed out. Is not making the money that you are doing less weddings and is likely going to burn themself out.

You are better than that. You deserve to have weddings that inspire you, make money that is impactful and love what you do not feel like you are a cog in the floral wheel. Just making things happen that just don't matter as much as they. All right. Next thing. I am the queen of packing stuff. So strategically you should see the stuff that gets packed in my van.

Uh, I have a Chrysler, um, Pacifica van, so it's like a full, uh, regular van, not a full size, like a, uh, like a industrial or a fleet van. , but I have a little system that I take card tables and then the skinny card tables that you see like in a school kind of setting, that's like a, um, about two feet wide. I will take those and I will make my van double layers.

I have all the tables pushed in there, so I'll put two card tables that are like the four foot card tables and then I'll put the skinny table that's about two feet wide. So it's like filling. , you know, the inside of my van and pushing up against each other so that the tables aren't just like moving all over.

And then I double layer like my boxes, everything in there. So I'm getting, you know, a whole nother layer, a whole nother capability to pack way more in my van. But when you were doing big weddings, The thing I struggled with is I would like find all these people, like, do you have a van or do you have a truck that we could with a topper on it?

Rent a truck. It is like a hundred dollars for the day. Charge it in your delivery fee if you know you need it and just rent the truck. It is so much easier and so much less stress to just rent the truck. So you deserve things to be easier. You deserve things to just feel lighter and like not be frantic, that you're not gonna fit things.

and that I usually rent from like U-Haul. Uh, but there's also like this new fluid truck rental here in the Twin Cities. Like there's so many options and just, just reserve a truck, go get it, pack up, make sure when you're, you're going to get it. That like there's no, this just happened to me twice last year that there was the service engine light on and literally I made them fix it or get me a different van before I left because I just, I wasn't gonna deal with any issues.

And I just keep the van that like overnight, so 24 hours. So I'm not renting it multiple days, but buy, renting a van is just, it's so easy. All right, another lesson. I, for years and years and years and years, invested so much in crowning glory, Hawaiian Mist, all of the things that you spray on flowers to keep them fresher.

After taking Passionflower Sue's studio florist, which this woman is the queen of literally getting things to last long that, I mean, she's building these intricate things and leaves them in her hydration chamber, and she just uses water. I literally just use water and I spray things because then they're drinking from their outside pets.

I bought from the Dollar Tree, a whole case of water bottle, like sprayers, you know, buck 25 each. And I think 48 we're in a case, so we always have water bottles that we can fill up if we need to. And then my biggest game changer is I bought a garden spray. It is one of those pump up garden sprayers that I put water in, and I take that with me.

If I have ground installations or any flower installations, any foam free installations I foam or foam free, I bring it with because I spray it. Especially like I did a couple weddings last year that were, um, Hindu weddings and they were. a uh, literally like, um, uh, an atrium is what they call the room, but it has open skylights in it, and literally it's just shining down on your designs.

And because Hindu weddings are often very early in the morning, they start at like eight or nine. That process starts. I have to do them the night before because I am not going to come. That is another thing that like, is just not super fun to me, is I don't wanna come at four in the morning. I actually, I did one that we only, it was outside and I was there at six o'clock in the morning this past year and like, I, I did it because my decorator friend that is near and dear to me, like that, that's just like the bride was kind of difficult and I didn't wanna make the situation difficult.

So I was like, okay, we'll do this at six in the morning. Even though I am not a morning person, I shouldn't be saying that because then I'm training myself that I'm not a morning person. But, uh, I did it, but like literally, um, You know, I, I didn't, I didn't probably need to, we could have figured it out to do some of it the night before, but that water, me spraying all those things cuz it was in a yard of a hotel and literally the sun started to, I literally sprayed those things, so much water on them for them to be able to drink, not only from the foam or whatever they were in, but also from their outside pets.

So water, just spraying that I. Spending all that money on Hawaiian Mist, especially just I, I've never seen it make a difference and I have done a lot of weddings and a lot of testing on it. Then our next thing is literally developing email templates is something I wish I knew I didn't need to recreate the wheel.

every single time I send an inquiry, a proposal, a reply email, a I'm not available email, all of those things, I literally should have just. Way long ago, developed these templates in like Google Drive, beca Google Word doc. This is my template for this. This is my template for that. If you want, you could even put them in your drafts in your email.

So you just go to your drafts and cut and paste out of it. But I literally did not need to reinvent the wheel all the time because it just, it just. . It's so much easier if you are strategic about what you are writing one time and one time only. Like you're putting thoughtful energy into your communication.

Then just reusing that, changing key things so that they know that you are speaking to them, and then just keep reusing it. It's gonna save you so much time. All right, the last thing, and this is something that I wish I knew. and I, I found out about it when I met my husband. So my husband is an entrepreneur as well, but he also has been a contractor.

and with it for actually like the postal system and uh, for Best Buy. And he is a software, uh, architect. And so literally he helped like develop the whole kind of internal infrastructure of the postal system. He worked there for 10 years and he worked for US Bank, just all these different, but he was a contractor and so he had his own company and that company.

From a, and I actually, I also see this in a lot of the Facebook groups. Should I be an L L C? Should I be, what should I be? Should I be A D, B A? All these questions, and I'm going to throw it out there today because this is something I did not even know about, is consider being an S corp. What an S Corp is.

It is a type of corporation, but what the big difference is from a tax liability standpoint, and I am a full supporter and the me and my husband differ on this of paying taxes. I feel that taxes are helping pay for our roads, paying for the police department, paying for. , I am fully in support of paying reasonable taxes.

I especially like school, uh, taxes like our daughter. Uh, and I've mentioned this in, in I think a podcast before, but also in some of my lives. My daughter has autism and the resources she gets at school costs money, and I understand that. And so I am fully in support of those resources being in place. But as a business owner, Reducing your tax liability to whatever's possible, but still paying reasonable taxes to me is something that I is just being a smart business person.

So with an S Corp corporation, literally I am paying myself as the business owner, a reasonable salary. You can deem what that like, actually, I literally just take the advisement of what my, uh, tax representative, like she tells me is reasonable. Then that profit that's left after all your expenses, all of those things, literally that is funneled into a separate section of your taxes and you are then not paying Social Security and Medicare.

Those add up Social Security and Medicare are, are. I think there, there's seven and a half percent that you would pay. So you are reducing on whatever that difference is. Beyond paying yourself a reasonable salary, you're reducing that tax liability by that, by being at S Corp plus fun things. If you are an S corp, there are rules and things like that to maintain an S-Corp status, but one of those things is meetings.

you literally get to have quarterly meetings that are a business expense and that does not need to be in your studio. So talk to your tax guy or tax girl that could be like you going on your family vacation. and literally having your, your board meeting on your vacation. So there's a lot of fun things about it, but I literally think the tax liability setup I is definitely helpful.

uh, a tax person can sometimes help you even set that up if it seems overwhelming. Otherwise, do some research, but talk to your, if you don't have a tax person and you're doing your taxes yourself for one, that is something that I felt like I needed to do for a long time and. Having someone that is more an advisor to me that for one, is gonna hold me accountable to keeping updated with QuickBooks and all of those things like that has been really helpful in my business.

This, these last few years. You deserve to have a tax person, even though I know it costs money because they are going to, in the long run, help you be a bus, better business owner. So those are just a few of the things I wanted to throw out there because I, I literally have just been. Thinking through, um, especially I've had some people reach out in, in my dms, um, talking about like starting a business.

So if you were thinking of starting a business, I literally, I have a guide for you because I think that you taking action. Is is so huge. So if you go to www.thefloralhustle.com/starterkit
, it is just a little, um, thing that I put together to help walk you through from like what? Now looks like in your business to hopefully booking your, your first couple and your first wedding, and really like the things that you need to do to take action and getting that done.

So I hope that's helpful. Please go check it out. It is www.thefloralhustle.com/starterkit and it is just a tool for you to help get it started. Cuz taking action is sometimes really overwhelming and I wanted this little guide to make it easier for you because there are so much opportunity for people starting floral business right now because people are going to be booked this year and people are going to be looking for opportunities and why not that be you?

So have a great day for our friend and thanks so much for listening.