The Floral CEO

  Hello, friends, this is Jan on this week's episode. I really wanna dive into building a brand, and I think most people feel like building a brand is something that, somebody that's really well established does, or somebody that's, had all of this time in their business or they're a very high-end luxury.

Like they feel like a brand exists when. A brand is, does not exist without you inserting a brand. A brand is not a logo, it is not colors. It is not your Instagram feed. Of course, that is the a part of the feeling, but your brand is the feeling people get when they interact with you. The feeling that they get when they see your work, the feeling that they get when they see you.

Often you are your brand, and I don't feel like we often consider that as much as we should because being a brand can also be really scary because that means that you are inserting yourself in your business. You're inserting yourself in the process. And that frankly feels vulnerable. But a brand is what people say about you when you or are not in the room.

So things like, she makes everything feel easy. She is the color florist. She always understands my vision. She is calm on wedding days. She's expensive, but worth it. I'm inspired when I work with her. She has really great ideas, like something that somebody says about you when you are not in the room is your brand.

So if you don't decide to intentionally. Curate what that is. Your clients will decide for you, and I'm guessing you would rather have a brand that clearly defines you and that somebody isn't defining you as a brand. So some examples of how new florist especially, this is huge, can really build a brand, is how you answer your emails.

How you show up to consults, how you talk about pricing, how you handle stress, what you say yes and no to what you post, even if it's super messy, like what you post matters. What you post is part of your behavior. Your brand is built in behavior, not in Polish. People think that they have to always have this really well curated brand.

And like one really good example of this is I hired a florist probably five, six years ago that I really looked up to and she had a very high-end brand. She makes, I mean she, her work is beautiful, but. She has a very polished brand. She has a very I would say articulate or you can tell that there's detail, that's her personality.

She loves details and like one thing she said to me is never have. Consults where you can hear your children or your children are being heard. And I thought about that as a brand that really defined who she was and that totally makes sense. But at that season in my life, that did not make sense to be part of my brand.

If somebody didn't understand my children are, being children. Then they're not my clients if they don't understand that being a mother is part of my brand. And one thing that I often see florists really fall short in is that they don't pick a lane. You pick a four lane highway instead, and you're driving with one wheel in every single lane, fucking sideways down this road.

You don't need to do everything in the world to build a brand that you're a florist. You need to be known for something. Color installations, editorial feel, garden, luxury sustainable, intimate, fast and easy. A la carte, calm, organized, whatever like is your lane. Stay in that. My lane as a brand, in my brand is authority.

I am an expert. I talk about that. I talk about me being the queen of color. Like 90% of my weddings, you guys are color. I post things curated around installations to be. Really targeting people with bigger budgets. So I'm trying to ease away from the budget client, 'cause that's realistically not the brand that I want to be known for.

Of course, I have a la carte and I do think a la carte is a great solution for the sister referral that, I did her wedding, her sister's wedding four years ago and she really wants to use me, but. Her budget is just different than her sister's, and I totally get that, and that is totally fine, but I wanna make sure that when I am curating what my brand is, that me as a person is also built into this.

I mean my brand and my identity, if you guys are watching on YouTube right now has changed. So I literally, part of my. Identity now is this farm and we rescued a kitty. And if you guys watch this on YouTube princess Zelda is up here in our studio and wasn't feeling good. So we have her inside instead of outside and like she roams around and she is part like animals are.

Evolving into part of my brand. Being a farm owner is evolving into part of my brand because I wanna grow mower flowers. I want to shape experiences. Not only for, couples, but we are going to have the farm also be a business that people can come and experience what I feel every day, how I love on my animals and if they wanna take pictures. 'cause it is just, it's so beautiful here, you guys that I, that is going to be part of my brand and I'm using my floral business as a brand to be able to show and expose people to different facets. Like I know so many entrepreneurs who are multi-passionate and I am. I am so passionate about being a florist.

I am so passionate about being a business coach, but I'm so passionate about how this farm can make someone feel. And I am so passionate about curating this life of calm and peace that I want other people to experience this. And I also want to show insight into the type of. I am a total bleeding heart when it comes to a sick animal.

I bend over backwards like you guys with this cold weather. We had minus 35 windshield here this past weekend. And I was like just worried sick. Going out into the barn, looking at the cameras, bundling them all up, going to get bales of straw to bed them in getting additional heaters and heat lamps.

I care so much and I want people to see how much that care is. And if you look at, even at my reviews as a coach, like Jenny really cared about me as a business owner. She didn't just look at my business, she looked at what was going on in my life and how these things come together like.

So much of your brand is how you show up, and I show up in big ways in a lot of different facets of my life, and that has evolved in my brand. Like I wasn't a florist business coach, a. Five years ago, my brand evolved into people seeing me as an authority, people seeing me as an expert and leaning on me.

And my brand evolved, and of course it evolved into a second brand. Some people keep their brand, but I want to keep, I really feel as a floral educator, it's really important to be relevant. And to be in the spaces where other people are struggling. And so stepping away from doing for one something that I absolutely fucking love sounds horrible to me because I love weddings so much and I love flowers so much that I want to stay immersed into it.

I love working with people. I love curating visions. I love designing, like all of those things, I wouldn't want to ever go away. That's part of my brand. I think it's really important that as an educator, I'm still in the weeds with you guys so that I can help you be more successful. But a brand is also built through repetition.

A lot of people, what they do is they come in hot, they're blazing hot into Instagram or into Facebook or whatever, and they show up sporadically. And if they show up at all, and then they're struggling with, having feeling seen, they show up inconsistently in so many different ways, but expect results from it.

But simple brand consistency is really using the same tone everywhere. Calm, bold, artistic, whatever your brand is, repeat your values often. Repeat your signature phrases, repeat your visual style, repeat your message, and people trust what they recognize. If you're all of a sudden coming outta left field and you know you're a wedding and event florist, but all of a sudden you start posting like a funeral order and then a Valentine's order or an everyday order, like there's of course like opportunity to grow in that, but really diving into.

Building a brand for what you want to be known in and what you want your signature core offer to be is so important because once you have that ramp up I was talking with a coaching client today and she runs a smaller floral shop and has pretty good revenue, but 40% of that is funerals.

And that's a big chunk when you're a floral shop. You're doing weddings, dailies we, events, corporate events, workshops, porch pots, gardens, and then, you're adding funerals. And if you have, let's just say eight different income sources. And one of those is 40%. That's a lot.

And really going in and honing like, how can we make this one thing that's a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, even better. But when you're building a brand, you're, it's like you're just throwing all of these spaghetti noodles against the wall and. Hoping one of them is going to stick or hoping like all of them are going to stick, and you can just see where you can scrape a little money here and a little money there.

That is not how a true brand is built. You need to be known for something like. If I need something, I know that I need to go to Tractor Supply or I need to go to Walmart, or I need to go to Target. Think about your own behaviors and building yourself as that go-to brand or resource for those things.

So your personal brand, especially early on, also matters. Especially when your business is small, you are your brand, and half the time. We don't show up as we are. The brand. People need to know who you are. People need to understand, like you as a human, because when somebody and you see it everywhere, support small.

But then you, they don't even know who small is. They don't know who you are. Your name isn't on your Instagram profile. You have to dig for it on your own website. And I know a lot of that is built in, fear and all of these feelings. Of, like this not feeling good to put ourself out there because then we're vulnerable.

We could be rejected, we could have people, say shit mean, girl behavior, whatever. You have the personal stories in yourself, but people buy you before they buy flowers. Your face builds trust faster than your portfolio and your voice. It matters more than your business font. So I encourage you to really talk about, talk on stories, write captions like you speak.

I know Chachi PT is so fucking easy, but if it's got a bunch of emojis in it. That look like hard emojis to figure out. It's chat. GPT. You should share your process, share your opinions in a healthy way. If you're scared to show your opinions, like I will share my opinions on I think it's a horrible idea to repurpose Bridesmaid V Case anywhere but the head table, like I will very easily share that opinion and.

Somebody can have a different opinion, but that's not going to impact my opinion. I can back up why I think that's a horrible idea. And so then I'm sharing that process, sharing why you do things your way. If you are a sustainable florist, explain why that is important to you. Make someone understand why it's important to you.

Make someone feel. You had to have been so passionate to make that decision in a world filled with flower foam and a million other things. Explain why. Share your story. All right then. A brand is also built in boundaries and this is your CEO moment and I absolutely love I in the floral CEO mastermind, we went, we're going through like goal planning and I make a very comprehensive workbook for everyone.

And in that it talked about, what kind of CEO do you basically feel like in 2025? And like, one of them was like, a constant rollercoaster hot mess. And I'm like, what is going to change? That in 2026. And that is your CEO moment, like putting boundaries in place that are gonna re support the CEO you want to be.

Because if you are running around, and I've had this very discussion if there's a $20 order, why wouldn't you wanna do it? Why wouldn't you want that $20 order? That $20 order takes you away from having the capacity to build the business for the thousand dollars order and for the $2,000 order and for the $5,000 order and for the $50,000 relationship, you need to have capacity.

So minimums, office hours, response times, what you don't do. What you outsource or if there is something, and I've talked about this on the podcast, like funerals, like not my jam. So like maybe posting on social media, maybe, whatever it is, you can define what you decline. But a brand with boundaries feels professional and con confident, and I don't think a brand needs to be stuffy, professional or very clear.

And like you expect this to come from somebody's secretary. Your brand is still you. When I met with one of my mastermind girls and we were going over, they were getting some nos. We went over their communication and it didn't feel like them. Your communication should feel like you, you are your brand, and if somebody doesn't absolutely love you, then they're not your client.

You. You don't want to have to pretend to be someone else. Every time you're answering an email, talking on the phone, having a Zoom call or doing a video, like you don't want to be two people, so just be you. That is your brand. You my brand tattoos, red hair swears a bit much. And, but generally very peaceful.

I have very strong opinions about living a life of fulfillment and living a life with boundaries. Like I, I am confident, I am relentless when I want something, and that is a brand. I want to be an authority. I want people to be like, I want to know her. I want to have a relationship. I wanna look at working with her because really building your brand equity is not just about sales.

Short-term hustle versus a long term brand is way different. Posting only when you need bookings. Does not long-term equal sales posting consistently could equal, you developing a brand, taking anything is really just another way of survival. Being selective could be really just about positioning yourself in the right way.

A brand is what brings you better clients with less effort, and that's like the exact discussion we had today. How can we streamline funerals in a way that makes this so easy that you can take that energy and put the gas and fire on something else? A brand is really establishing yourself as the go-to person, as the person that this is a no-brainer, you guys.

So some brand building actions that you can do today is go and update your bio with what you want to be known for. Use one sentence to describe your brand. Use three words. Like really just even dive in and choose three words you want people to associate with you. Ask somebody how would they describe you?

Is that how you want to be described? I want somebody, when they're looking at my business to be an authority, bold and id like a great ideator. Somebody who comes up with innovation like innovative, like I want that to be associated with me. I don't want boring ass Walmart weddings.

I want really cool, inspiring shit. Then you also need to decide what you're no longer available for. If I were you, I would set yourself a minimum of, this is my minimum to partake in anything. Like I need to make X amount an hour to do something. I am not going to do a workshop unless it is at X minimum.

Sometimes I feel like we go into those situations scared and. Full of fear that everything is gonna fall apart. If we say no. Everything starts to come together. When you start to say no. The things that you really could fuel your financial progress, the things that could fuel your creativity, the things that could fuel that next level version of yourself, that's where the magic comes together.

'cause brand is a long game. And I asked someone who changed their business name literally after, I think it was almost 17 years that I had my other business name. Literally that's a long time you guys. Really long time. And I completely changed my name because the brand I had built was no longer in alignment.

That name was no longer in alignment with who I was. I still have the website and they can still connect and I tell them, Hey, FYI, I have I changed my business name and if somebody asks, I definitely will tell them why. When I started really growing flowers, I felt drawn to.

Changing my name because I felt like my name was simply stated Elegance before, which is absolutely horrible. 'cause I was attracting low budgets clients I wanted to no longer attract, and I had built a brand around that. So I needed, I wanted to rip off my bandaid moment of changing my brand.

And I've actually, I have had coaching client calls that literally we have just talked about them changing their business name. Because, and I have, I've walked at least six floors through the process of changing their business name into something that is in better alignment with who they want to be.

And there's no time like the present, start acting like who you want to be and who you were meant to be. 'cause brand is a long game, and that is a great thing. Because, and I'm in this for the long game. I don't know many florists that are like, yeah, I'm gonna start all this shit and spice it up, and then I'm going to stop.

You just need to start showing up with intention. Start showing up as the person that you were. You want to be the CEO you want to be, and that makes building a brand so much easier. Plus, if you haven't heard, and I'm going to do a shameless plug, because this opportunity and for the cost of it is a brand game changer.

Like absolute brand game changer is the business bouquets and branding course. If you would put a style shoot together. With all the pretty things and get professional branding photos done. You would spend thousands of dollars and we for less than half of the cost are able to offer amazing branding photos because you are your brand and getting your cute ass adorable face out there.

Is so impactful. Plus you are going to be a part of creating some amazing installations. We are gonna talk about business. We are ripping off the bandaid of anything that you have been struggling with and we are creating a space. You guys are gonna see how my home base studio is set up. You are. We are going to create all these things for an amazing style shoot.

And we're gonna work on your spiral technique because spiral techniques you guys like that is one of the biggest and hardest things, I think, for a florist to learn. And I am so passionate about making better bouquets one florist at a time. So we are gonna work on that. Go ahead to floral ceo.com slash workshop.

This is going to be outside of the city, so if you're worried about what's happening in Minnesota it's way far away from any of the noise. Actually, all my workshops are. Not centralized in the noise of Minnesota, which has been very heavy on so many of us. So much of the world right now, and I want your business to evolve into the business.

You're like, God, I love my business. When I redid my logo and I launched my brand and I came the face of my business and all these things like. I like stood back like a year after that and I'm just like, I fucking love this. I absolutely love this. And it embodied and captured so much of who I am because I was showing up differently.

I was showing up more confidently because everything just felt so much more in alignment and. The thing that I realized is that I didn't need to wait. I could have started to embody that even with my different name because so much of that change and that shift was me and not my new logo. It was how I showed up in my business.

And if you've hesitated with how you've shown up, like I just stop. You are the key. To your business's success. You are the key to making the big shift, the big changes, the big, bold moves that you have dreamt about you are capable of. And if you're like, I just don't know how come to this workshop, it's in April, it's the 26th through the 28th, it.

It is so impactful to leave with these tools and these resources. And if you want, like I have a videographer coming, one of my really good friends and for such a amazing deal, he's doing personal branding videos for you guys. You gotta go check it out because it is a game changer and shameless plug over.

'cause I just, I know having done these things so many times how much these things cost and I just. Stop the noise. It's gonna be amazing. 2026 is going to be different today. You can start building that different brand and it all starts now. Thank you so much for listening, flower Friend. And you have an amazing flower filled day.

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