Strategies to stay in budget for your events
Flower friend, are you feeling overwhelmed, underpaid and want to get your business on a path of growth and profitability? Our podcast mini sows will give you bite sized strategies to make your business feel lighter and more profitable. Flower friend, my name is Jen and I am so glad you're here. Hello, flower friends. This is Jen and you're listening to the Floral Hustle podcast.
Jeni:On this week's mini episode, we are talking about overbuying at the wholesaler or over ordering, often that happens to me or has happened to me in the past, when I am making like emotion based decisions on, like, what that wedding is going to look like, what my relationship is with that client, the venue, the other vendors. Like, sometimes you just really really wanna up your game, and you feel like you need to go over the top and get out of budget fast. And we've all had that happen. I mean, you've always seen the beautiful flower somewhere that you're like, this is perfect for my wedding. And, you know, you you just like get invested in like the beauty and the art of making beautiful flowers.
Jeni:And I totally get it, but I wanna give you some strategies to not do that. And when we do that, we eat away at the fundamental part of our business at our profit. And profit is why we're doing this. We're not doing this as a hobby, hopefully. I mean, it is a fun hobby if that's what it is, but it could be an expensive one if you are not charging correctly.
Jeni:And so some strategies to really help avoid getting all, you know, invested in buying a bunch of our flowers, falling in love with something, and breaking your budget is. First thing is you when you're doing your pricing, you should be able to figure out what your floral budget is. If you have a 3 times markup, 25% labor, and then of course your hard goods at double markup, that's usually going to be around, like, 20 to 23 to 25 ish percent of the flower price. So if you have a $2,000 wedding, realistically, you should be spending 400 to $450 in flowers. And if you have a strategy from when you're bidding it, to, like, have like a notes page or something that you're capturing this data in, that okay this wedding flower budget is this.
Jeni:And then you're building if you don't build recipes upon, your bid, which I don't build recipes upon my bid because I work within budgets. I know about how many stems something is going to take, and I know about how many, items I'm going to need from a size standpoint, because I've done this so many times. But sometimes when that goes sideways again, is you go to the wholesaler and you have, like, this I call them unicorn flowers. A unicorn flower passes you by and and you're walking the cooler and you're like, oh my god. I want you unicorn flower.
Jeni:You're so pretty. You're gonna make my wedding next level. So my strategy number 2 is you need to build in budget for your unicorn flowers. For the flowers that speak to you, because you also want this to be fun. You want it to be, like, exciting and, like, you feel creatively fueled and you're you're getting to have some fun in your business.
Jeni:Because if you don't do that, and you're like rigid about everything, you're going to start resenting the weddings that you're you're getting, how you're running your business, all the things because you're not gonna be, like, so excited. Every week I leave a part of my budget for unicorn flowers or fun flower finds. Say that fun flower finds. Fun flower finds in the cooler that are going to make me happy, going to make my designs pop, going to make me just, like, super excited to be a part of that event. And so decide what that is or decide what type of flower that is.
Jeni:I foundationally, like, when I make my bouquets, have I use big blooms, transition blooms, line flowers, if if applicable, depending on the design. I use filler flowers, greenery, and dancers. So I'm normally finding my fun unicorn flowers in the secondary bloom section or the dancers. So I'm picking out, you know, a flower for my recipe off of that. And I've already got a budget figured out of 20%.
Jeni:So I'm running with my 20% to be able to figure that out. You can do that too. Super easy and you get so much more excited to be able to do something, that week. Then you're not dreading, like, your very stale recipe of roses and baby's breath and greenery or something. And then you're gonna, you know, you need a pop of whatever color so you've picked another boring thing that doesn't inspire you like stock or something.
Jeni:So make sure that you are are putting fun money, unicorn flower money built into your process, if you go to the wholesaler. Let's just say you don't go to the wholesaler or you're having a hard time controlling yourself when you get to the wholesaler. Use an online marketplace like, hollix, to go and find fun flowers that you're excited about. I will use Hollix to find a lot of Dutch product, a lot of South American product that, like, looks fun, seems, and I often find really good deals for my core service offerings. There's lots of different offerings out there like Hollix, but hollix is carried by like 4 of my wholesalers here in town.
Jeni:So I love using them and I think it is an opportunity for you to get a little bit creative without feeling really really tied down. So, we have couple strategies so far. We have our budget, we have we're working, with saving part of our budget for unicorn flowers or fun flower finds in the cooler. We are buying online potentially. And then my last one is if you are really having a hard time sticking within a flour budget, then you need to be a rigid recipe writer.
Jeni:When you are rigidly writing your recipes, you are not gonna over buy them. Because you have laid out recipes that hopefully are tried and true tested for your design style, for, you know, the the look and the budget of the wedding And so then there's no question, you're just following your recipes to a tee. I always try not to be so rigid that I make my studio or my designers nervous that they are going to, if they break something we're screwed. I have had holes, like, some of my freelancers from I mean, the time since I started have worked for other people that create this environment that is just panic. And you don't want that to happen.
Jeni:You don't want people to have anxiety about breaking something. So don't write your recipe so rigid and order based on that that you don't leave room for if something happens. Because I don't want people to feel like shit. I'm guessing you pea don't want people, like, feeling like crap that they broke something and now you are short. So make sure you add just a titch of cushion for breakage and don't be so rigid that that is not going to happen and so everybody's just on edge.
Jeni:So those are my budget budgeting tips to not buying in the wholesaler. Another one, if you do have somebody else that isn't as connected to the designs of the bride, you could also send them to pick up everything at the wholesaler. I then they can look over it for quality and things like that, but I would recommend just figuring out some other boundaries because we're florists for a reason, and the wholesaler to me is a fun place. I mean, at least it should be a fun place. And if it isn't, then maybe you need to switch wholesalers.
Jeni:So thanks so much for listening flower friend and you have a fun filled flower week. Flower friend, is this you? Do you feel overwhelmed, tired, uninspired, and underpaid? If that's you, I want to help simplify everything for you. I want to be there to help you build goals, develop processes in your business for things to just feel lighter, all while building a path path to profitability.
Jeni:I've been where you are and I wanna help you build the business of your dreams. For more information, check it out on our coaching page on our website at the floralhustle.com or send me a d m on instagram to learn more. Have a great day, flower friend.
