The Floral Hustle

[00:00:00] [00:01:00]
Jeni: Hello, flower friends! This is Jen, and you're listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast, and I'm so excited, you know, when I love a good guest coming on the show. And actually, this guest I have stalked on Instagram for quite some time, and you probably have, too. It is Franceska, the hotel florist. You might have seen her book.
Jeni: You might have seen her Instagram, all about how you can create reoccurring revenue in your business that is outside of weddings. And you know, I'm always about weddings. I'm, that's my jam. So I want to expose you guys to additional revenue sources because you can't put your, All your eggs in one basket.
Jeni: So I'm so excited to have you here. And if in case somebody doesn't know you, which I don't know how that would happen, but I'd love for you to [00:02:00] tell a little bit about yourself.
Francheska: Well, thank you so much for having me on the show. I'm so excited to be here. I started my floral career in 2015. I was living in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and, um, had a midlife crisis.
Francheska: I had just left a corporate space. I had started my first business in cigars. I worked and hustled to the point of burnout. I was doing modeling and events. And I just found myself in this place of like, if I were to die tomorrow, I would be So mad that all I did was chase money and chase the dream and I felt like I had nothing to show for it.
Francheska: So during this identity crisis, I was like, well, what do I do with my life? And I knew that I had this retirement dream of working in a flower shop. So I was like, oh, I'll just go be a florist. And so I googled. How do you become a florist? What's the difference between a florist and a floral designer? I'm sure we've all been there and decided to book a two week, um, master's class in Los Angeles.
Francheska: [00:03:00] So I flew halfway across the world. I literally rented an Airbnb and a car, and I essentially lived in LA for six weeks. And I got my master's in floral design. And in that master's, I learned. How to sell weddings. And I learned how to make daily delivery stuff. And I was just like, all right, well, I'll learn to love this because it has to do with flowers and I'll figure out how to make money and flew back to Dubai and picked up the phone and started calling old event contacts and anyone I could think of and put it on Facebook.
Francheska: Like, hi, I'm a florist now, like hire me. And. I started with weddings because I thought that's how you made money. And through a lot of trial and error, I just found myself getting increasingly burnt out. I found myself just really losing the, the love and the fantasy around having a floral design business, um, when I couldn't pay my bills and I didn't know how I was going to pay for my rent.
Francheska: And I just felt like I had this really [00:04:00] glorified hobby, which for, you know, Someone who's quite an overachiever felt like, um, a punch to the stomach. Like I wasn't really taking this seriously and somehow I just couldn't get it off the ground. And it wasn't until I just kind of threw all the shoulds out the window and I went back to my roots and my roots were the hotel industry.
Francheska: I. I went to school for hotel and restaurant management. I've worked corporate and property level of hotels. And I thought, what if I could combine these two things together? And that's really when the idea started of working with hotels. And then that ultimately led to reoccurring revenue. And here we are today, almost a decade later, where I help florists do exactly the same.
Francheska: So I'm excited for today's chat.
Jeni: That is amazing, because I think when people think of a florist, they think of just weddings. Yeah. So it's a flower
Francheska: shop
Jeni: or a flower shop, which I mean, that, that has never been my dream. It's so interesting. So many people have this dream, but I [00:05:00] like time is one of my currencies and I don't know about you, but has it ever been appealing to be in a shop?
Jeni: All the time, just kind of live in a shop.
Francheska: No, absolutely not. Like, I, I thought you had to have a flower shop to be successful. You know, when I first started, I was in my townhouse and Russell came up, which is a small emirate near the Oman border. And I was driving back and forth to Dubai, which was an hour and a half each way.
Francheska: And I just thought I wasn't successful because I was soaking foam in my bathtub. And like, you know, that wasn't glamorous and you don't put that on Instagram because, you know, people won't take you seriously. So when I moved to Houston a year later, I was like, right, I need a flower shop. Like I need a, you know, prime location in a bougie neighborhood where people have, you know, lots of money to spend, but then you had to get people in your flower shop and then you had to, I mean, it was a whole nother level that I, I Never really considered and even when I would became the artist in residence at the Fairmont, Dallas, I had [00:06:00] another flower shop.
Francheska: And again, you don't consider opening hours. You don't consider staffing it. You don't consider like the constant rotation of florals. It is like its own business in itself. So to be answering the
Jeni: phone a million times, taking credit cards, like, I mean, explain That the difference between like having a wedding or having a job you know, I have, you're the artist in residence and you have a 5, 000, a 10, 000, like to me, that is just so much more in alignment with me.
Jeni: It's like an alignment with you because it's, I can't talk to 30 people for 125 each. Like, it's just not, Oh, and that would be a good day. That would be a good, I know average order value seem like 85. And you get people calling for like 35. I want 35. It's like, no. So it's, it's so smart to think. I think, think bigger, think bigger revenue, think less, you know, less running around to talk to people.[00:07:00]
Jeni: Amen. Yeah. When
Francheska: you have your first hotel account, you know, like my first hotel account was almost a hundred thousand dollars. It was like, I had to take a moment for it to sink in that it doesn't matter if I post on Instagram for the next year. It doesn't matter if I even answer my phone for the next year.
Francheska: It doesn't even matter if I go out and try to like get more brides or do more styled shoots. Like none of that matters. This money is coming no matter what. And yes, 30 percent of it is earmarked for, you know, my cost of goods. And then obviously I have the cost of my operations and then obviously I have a percentage I want to keep back for profit, but like my paycheck.
Francheska: Is in that 100, 000 for the next year that is already guaranteed. And I get to decide how I'm going to hire and how I'm going to allocate the rest of the budget, but I don't even have to think about generating more money if I didn't want to. Now the flip side is, is that you're going to want to, and it's a snowball effect and you build momentum this way.
Francheska: But can you imagine if like, you took all that pressure off, [00:08:00] just landing one client, like how would your life change?
Jeni: Yeah. How did you have obviously that you were just starting out and all of a sudden you have a hundred, your first one's like a hundred thousand. Did you like pee your pants? Like, were you just like, holy crap, going into this?
Jeni: Or were you like, I am going to get this. You know, cause that's, that's huge. I mean,
Francheska: yeah. Crazy. I, you know, it was a big amount of money. I remember I called my mom cause I was like, I felt so proud that I could like share this number with her and just to give everyone context, like where I come from. I think my mom makes about 12, 000 a year.
Francheska: So for me to sit there and say, Hey, I just landed this account and it's worth this much. Like I could barely get the words out of my mouth. Like. I love to share my story because I find that the biggest setback for florists is it's always mindset, but especially like where we come from and we feel very undeserving going into these places.
Francheska: Like, you know, we didn't vacation in [00:09:00] five star hotels and maybe even today you haven't even bought a luxury item. Like, you know, maybe you don't have a wardrobe full of designer clothes or shoes or handbags and like, that's okay. You don't need those things to work for these brands. And so for me, that was like, The way I grew up, I mean, I grew up without running water.
Francheska: I entered foster care at the age of 12. There was so much I had to overcome to go into these lobbies and ask to speak to the general manager. And that's why, like, I really do help florists get over that initial hurdle of just feeling out of place, knowing that someone is instantly going to call them out based on the way they look based on their skin color, based on where they come from.
Francheska: Um, it's a very real fear. And. Your business not lasting, not surviving, not making money to support itself is also a very real fear. So, you know, when I think back on the times I've been like my most confident self it really came from survival. You know, I think we [00:10:00] do a lot of things that we are shocked that we do when we're in society.
Francheska: And now I really like to help florists not have to get into survival mode, but find that confidence to go into those hotels and definitely having the education and having the previous experience of being on the flip side. I, I dismantled that fear of not feeling like I belonged because again, like I came from that industry.
Francheska: I knew how to speak hospitality lingo. I knew, um, maybe a few people within the industry or I could tie in a That would make my cold call a little warmer. And these are all tips that I dive into and inside the hotel floors profit method because we all have something we can bring to the table, whether it's how detail oriented you are or your previous experience, especially in customer service.
Francheska: Or if you're coming from the event background, like how organized you are, like there are certain things about you, your strengths that you already have that you can speak to without needing to feel like you come from this [00:11:00] place of having lots of experience, lots of five star experiences.
Jeni: Yeah what's interesting and I've, I've caught this a lot, uh, in your Instagram and things you've written, obviously your book the hotel florist book, but you've also wrote a personal book about your personal story too.
Francheska: Yeah. So thriving. That's what I thought.
Jeni: Yeah. And is that kind of about some of those things like that? You know, when you grew up that sounds like you went through a lot of trauma, like a lot of all the not so great things, but still like ass and taking names. Yes.
Francheska: And that gets you only so far. And so, you know, for me in 2019, when I'm in my second multiple six figure year, I'm working like one day a week.
Francheska: I'm trying, I just, there's this part of me that feels so unhappy, like so angry. I, I don't, I can't. Place it like I'm like, I have all the things I should be so [00:12:00] happy. I have a little black book of clients. I have the bank account. Like I have the perfect, perfect marriage. I have the perfect location. Like everything was like perfect on paper because I just thought, and I call it now, like I, if I could just hide behind my beautiful billboards, if I could just show you what you wanted to see, then maybe I would be lovable.
Francheska: Maybe I'd be worthy enough. And it wasn't until COVID hit and everything came crashing down. And I look no longer had that Really big push bank account. I no longer have those like amazing clients on standby, like, and then I found myself in my closet for two weeks going, Who am I? Am I a funny person? Well, my friends want to be my friends if they know that I'm not making X amount of money anymore.
Francheska: Like, I really went through this identity crisis and You know, for probably for the past four years, I've, I've really been on a mission to come home to myself. And part of that was sharing my story that I find that so many of us, especially as women are suffering in silence, we are shaming ourselves constantly [00:13:00] without even being aware of it.
Francheska: And this is what's keeping us stuck. And our biggest struggle. And so I think that's a really important part of our strength is actually sharing these stories where, you know, through my vulnerability, you can connect through your own vulnerability. And so, Sir Thriving was a memoir that I, it took me two years to write and it was published last year.
Francheska: And I do talk about my floral journey, how I started, but you know, our coping mechanisms. Thanks. Only get us so far and they're required for certain seasons, but I am really on a mission now in addition to what I'm doing in the floristry world, but to really talk about how unresolved childhood trauma is robbing us of like unfulfilled adult relationships and how we're operating in this, in this lifetime.
Jeni: Well, I think, and this is something, you know, we talked about before we hit record. I'm a certified life and mindset coach too, because so many times when you have a business problem, you have a life problem and they go hand in hand that something [00:14:00] happened and that is normal that something happened.
Jeni: But I also don't say trauma is an excuse to not succeed or not try. And so many people do, I mean, like. I've had like just a slew of just crazy horrible things. I've lost three of my siblings. I've lost both my parents at this point. I have a special needs kiddo, like all these things, but like trauma doesn't define me.
Jeni: Trauma doesn't define you, but often it does. And like, how did your mindset shift to say, like, all of that bad stuff? You know, crap that happened, all those bad things, like, that doesn't need to be the future Franceska. Like, I'm, I'm done with that version of me.
Francheska: Yeah, that's such a good question. You know, I always say it's not where you come from, it's where you're going.
Francheska: And this is really the beauty of being an adult. Like, we get to choose, because especially if you underwent any type of childhood trauma, or any kind of sexual trauma. Like, you know what it's like to not be in control. You know what it's like to have [00:15:00] something taken from you. And so we have to reclaim that sovereignty.
Francheska: We have to reclaim that personal power by remembering, like, I'm an adult and I get to choose how I'm going to move forward in this life. And knowing that it starts with like micro decisions, like micro little steps, it isn't some huge thing that happens overnight. And I was recently in Majorca. On a retreat, I was hosting, focusing on hotels and yachts.
Francheska: And, and one of the people there at the retreat asked me a very similar question. She's like, so how did you go from, you know, growing up in extreme poverty, full of abuse, neglect, ending up going through the foster care system. And somehow you're here today talking about how to work with hotels and, you know, really showing the world this lavish lifestyle.
Francheska: And ever since I was a child, I just knew that. This wasn't going to be my life. Like the people that I had around me, I had such a strong feeling of just being repulsed by their [00:16:00] actions. And I just thought like my life, this is not how my life is going to be. My life is going to be. completely different.
Francheska: And a lot of times I was able to endure those situations because I fantasized. Fantasy for me was a way of escaping. My imagination was huge. And I just felt like if this was how it started, watching my friends have normal childhoods and knowing that what my childhood was like back home, if this was possible, then why wouldn't the fantasy?
Francheska: Flip side be possible and I still feel like that today, you know, I, I joke, but I have a castle fund. Like I am going to buy a castle, which is absolutely insane to say out loud for a girl who grew up without running water. But I'm like, why the hell not? You know, like who's saying I can't buy a castle?
Francheska: Nobody.
Jeni: So how do you think that that's? I, I think you do a lot of personal development. You, you're, we were talking about both course people. We love taking in information. Do you think that that was a big part of that? Or what do you think was the [00:17:00] biggest part of you being able to like shift? Like I'm not going to be a victim to my past.
Jeni: I'm, I'm going to move forward as this like empowered, you know, You know, you're a badass like energy. Like, I mean, bringing that forward, that's my new life. Like, what do you think was the biggest shift for that? Or how can somebody shift from that to where you're at?
Francheska: So I have to say, I did not even start investing in courses until like.
Francheska: 2020. That was the first time I had ever even thought about it because I had this very again, very unhealthy mentality. That if you are meant to be an entrepreneur, then you don't ask for help because if you needed help, or if you needed to hire a business coach, then you clearly did not have it. You didn't have it.
Francheska: And that superiority gave me an edge, but it also made me quite. harsh and did not allow me to really understand people or connect with people emotionally. So again, like there's a flip side to coping [00:18:00] mechanisms. They can get you to one place, but then you're also really denying yourself in another area of your life as well.
Francheska: It's not, it's not healthy. But the thing that got me through was just My my desire to want to have more. I've always had this desire. The desire that everything is temporary. Nothing is permanent. And because I was really, I always say, like, I raised myself because I was on my own ever since I was a child.
Francheska: I I always felt like it was on me. So even in school, like, you know, I didn't do drugs. I didn't do anything that would potentially get me in trouble. Cause I'm like, who's going to bail me out? Like, who's going to come save me. Did it make me resent all my friends who had mommies and daddies who would come and bail them out of jail or would give them a loan a million percent.
Francheska: And that's been on me to have to, to have to heal those wounds, those abandonment wounds. But. If I'm talking to someone and they're in a really hard time and they're they feel like they just can't find their way out of kind of like the victim wet [00:19:00] paper bag. It, it's. It's remembering who you are at your core.
Francheska: It's remembering why did you come here in the first place? Like I always say that our souls went to like some sort of, um, uh, auction and they're like, right. Okay. I need to heal this karmic wound and this lifetime. So, you know what? Give me her human vessel. I'll go do life through that. So we chose this life and we chose the hardships.
Francheska: We chose the beautiful moments. And I know for some people listening, that might feel quite activating. Because a lot of times, especially when we go through something devastating, like you said, losing siblings, losing your parents at an early age, going through trauma, there's part, there's someone, there's a part of us that wants someone to pay for that.
Francheska: And there's a part of us that wants someone to save us or to come out. It wasn't our fault. We didn't deserve it. And the harsh truth is that we are that person. We're the only [00:20:00] person that can do that for ourselves and, you know, reparent ourselves. So anytime that we're, we're playing a story on our head, that's keeping us stuck, that's keeping us in this victim state.
Francheska: I always say, like, change your thought, change your life. It's so incredibly powerful because the thoughts that you're choosing on it on a daily basis, the stories you're telling yourself, you can always just do a quick fact check and be like, does this story feel good? Is this story ultimately making me feel a certain way to take an action to get a said result that I want?
Francheska: Or if it's not, what is a way that I could change this thought? I could change this story. And that the easiest way to do that is literally an ad and yet or but to your statement to your sentence. And that will dismantle whatever story has been playing and it will break that negative thought loop so you can get out of victim mode.
Jeni: That was impactful. Everything you said [00:21:00] is I, I think that, I mean, Women just have a hard time like going, I can actually make this shift because we're taking care of everybody else but herself.
Francheska: So
Jeni: especially if you're a mom, like you're just worried about taking care of your humans that you're parenting them.
Jeni: And so the thought of working on you just feels like so much. But I think for you to be successful in business and for you to actually like have a business that you dream of, for one, your life is going to be so much better. so much. When that happens, but like that work needs to be done. You need to be like, I need to create space.
Jeni: And I feel like so many of us don't feel like we deserve the space. So it's, it's empowering to hear, like I talk about this, you talk about it, that, that this is a big factor to being successful and we deserve that success.
Francheska: Yeah, I mean, society taught little girls to take care of other people. Society taught little girls be [00:22:00] quiet, don't take up too much space, don't be too much.
Francheska: So in our defense, we're only doing what we were taught, and that is to be good little girls that turn into good wives, that turn into good moms. But it's actually a very selfish thing. It's actually a people pleasing thing. If we continue down this route again, like, you know, we, we have certain coping mechanisms and they work until they don't.
Francheska: So if you're trying to be the best wife and the best mom and the best business owner, but yet you aren't making any time for yourself, it's not going to happen. Um, and so it's kind of like profit first, you know, I, I talk a lot about how we're taught in school revenues, minus six. And guess what? Usually you have zero left when you do it that way, so you have no profit.
Francheska: But if you take your profit first, profit equals revenues minus expenses, it's the same formula, you've just prioritized profit in this case. And the same thing goes with life profit. So if you're in a phase right now, you're in an era, again, like I said, nothing is permanent, everything is temporary.
Francheska: Finding that you just don't have time and you're pouring into [00:23:00] everyone else but you, it is your job to make time. And maybe that's waking up an hour earlier. Maybe that's not committing to everything. Maybe that's increasing your pricing and taking on less clients. Maybe it's sitting down with your husband who you feel is dead weight.
Francheska: And you're having a conversation with them saying, Hey, I need more help in this house. Maybe you're hiring a maid. Maybe you're hiring a private chef. Maybe you're allowing yourself to get bougie with life and give yourself. But at the end of the day, like if you want to be successful, that is the best way that you can give back to everyone.
Francheska: You know, you being the best version of you is going to make sure that you're the best version of a mother to your children. It's going to make sure you're the best version of a wife to your partner who's agreed to spend their whole life with you. So it really is up to us. Whatever we're not, you know, we've heard the phrase, whatever we're not changing, we're choosing.
Francheska: And again, Harsh reality. But the power lies in the choice. And if you really want all of these things to work, you want to keep all the balls in the air, then you have [00:24:00] to make sure that you're able to do that. And you can only do that by pouring into yourself.
Jeni: Yeah. That's funny that like these are all things that I talk about all the time because I think it's so important that that we're in our power to make change and I always explain like we have a plate and if we keep just piling stuff on the plate, it's going to spill over and like it's just a mess and like we deserve to have a very beautiful plate.
Jeni: With food that's proportional, that creates space for us, that looks delicious. And like, you look at your life and you're like, my life is amazing. I love my life. And I feel like so many women, especially, uh, florists are creatives and create creatives are often introverts in my experience. And so then we're getting a bunch of introverts that don't feel like they can create space and be heard and be loud and be like.
Jeni: The person that everybody notices and wants to create space because like, look at this person and it's, [00:25:00] it's sad because I just I'm like, you are so much bigger than you're being and I love that. Another leader is, is. showing people that they deserve that space because we do.
Francheska: Yeah. Something I wish I would have heard way sooner is that you can always change your terms and conditions.
Francheska: So you can always change the way you're showing up in your business. You can always change the way you're showing up in parenthood. You can always change the way you're showing up in your relationship. Now you need to have a clear conversation, you know, led with love and kindness and compassion because not everyone operates at your scale.
Francheska: A lot of times you're moving way faster than the other people around you or they need more time to process it. So it's being patient with them, but it's sitting them down and explaining to them what you can and cannot tolerate anymore. And the reason why it's affecting you and the reason why you want to make these changes and the reason why it's affecting you.
Francheska: of the Children of your partner of your marriage of your business. And that's something that I do regularly at least [00:26:00] once a year and it has been a huge game changer. And it's also realizing that when you are starting to prioritize yourself. You don't do it once and then you're like, you know, a plus student at it.
Francheska: You're, you're always going to pick up on certain things that, that bother you, or you can tweak, or maybe you've fallen back into a habit. Like this morning, I was even thinking about, I had made sure that everything else was done before I did what I wanted to do. And when I sat down, I was like, okay, great.
Francheska: Now I can finally do what I want to do now that all that other stuff is done. And I was like, well, wait a minute. Couldn't have, couldn't we have just maybe expressed ourselves in the moment a little bit differently? Couldn't we have just said, Hey, I'm not available right now. And it's, it's knowing that it's not that you got it wrong and now you're going to get it right in the future.
Francheska: It's just always being open to that awareness that how you feel matters. And the people that are around you that care about you, it matters to them too. Um, and we just weren't ever really given that as a clear message. So let me give you that permission that you can change your terms and conditions.
Jeni: That is so [00:27:00] great. And I also picked up, you're one of the only florist kind of business coaches that talks about profit first and I do profit first. I love it, but. Somebody listening might be going like, what is that even? So can you explain what profit first is? Cause I, I think it's amazing and it's something that makes so much sense, but it's a moving target with flowers, obviously.
Francheska: So profit first is based off of a book that author Mike McCallow wrote. And again, when I go back to the floral education industry, At least when I was in it, it was basically like you land weddings, you get brides, make sure you account for, you know, three time markup, like kind of some really basic formulas, but there was nowhere in there about like what you actually do with money that you make and the difference between sales and revenue and profit.
Francheska: And it's like, none of that didn't, it didn't mean anything. So for me, because of where I came from, I operated out of the Survival mode. [00:28:00] And a lot of times people that earn pretty fast and grow their business pretty fast is because they're operating out of survival mode. So it's only a matter of time before they're going to burn out.
Francheska: So I found myself I think it was 2018, 2017, sorry, 2017 thinking, okay, I've hit multiple six figures. I have three locations to buy Houston, Dallas. I have some of the best clients in the world that I could work with. Okay. But for some reason I would make more money if I sat on the couch with my cat today than if I actually go into the shop and I actually like do the orders because there was so much money coming in and so much money going out and yet I was paying my taxes with my savings and it was just a hot mess express.
Francheska: So I read this book and I remember laughing out loud when Mike Proposal proposes to like save 1 percent profit. Like I laughed, I'm like, where is this money going to come from? But I did [00:29:00] it, I was committed and I created my Excel spreadsheet. So the, the concept of profit first is profit equals revenues minus expenses.
Francheska: So you take your profit first, no matter what, before you do anything else, before you pay your, uh, you pay your business before you pay anyone else. It's kind of the concept. So, yeah. I set up my Excel spreadsheet. I opened my bank accounts. So you have five accounts. You have the account that all your money comes into.
Francheska: So that's your income. Then you have your operating expense. So you decide what percentage of your income goes to your operating expenses. Then you have your owner's compensation. Um, so you decide out of your percentage of income, how much money you're going to pay yourself. You then take out a percentage for your taxes.
Francheska: And. What, what other account am I, am I missing? I should, there should be five. You've got income, owner's comp, operating expense, taxes, and income profit. Profit. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Profit. Duh. [00:30:00] And so you basically decide it's complicated cause there technically could be like 15 accounts.
Francheska: We're going to go to five though. Start with the sake of this of this conversation. So essentially, when I first started, I didn't know how to put aside 1%. But within using this method, I think within, I don't know how a certain timeframe, you know, we were above 20 percent profit in our business. And then what I was able to take home.
Francheska: And so you have to start looking at, okay, what is the government want to be paid, I need to set that money aside, that's a percentage. And then it. Now you have to face your operating expenses. So maybe you don't need brand new uniforms. Maybe you don't need that extra employee on payroll. Like you have to start analyzing your business because you have to claw back what you want in your profit and your owner's compensation.
Francheska: Out of your operating expenses. And then you also have to say, maybe I want to increase my pricing. Maybe I want to take on less clients and spend less time and energy running around. And I want to hire tickets so I can take home more of my owner's compensation. [00:31:00] So it's a really beautiful formula when it comes to structuring your business.
Francheska: And it's something that literally. Saved my business. It's not about how much money you make in sales. That's an ego driven thing. It's about how sustainable your business is. And that is by using profit first. So you're actually profitable.
Jeni: And have you like with flowers, obviously pricing changes. from when you quoted, things like that.
Jeni: With it kind of being a moving target, I know that's what held me back forever because I was like, how am I going to do this? I don't know what my labor is going to be next. I don't know what my, my, you know, flowers are going to cost next week. I have a ballpark idea, but how am I going to do that? Like, how did you overcome some of those like florist limiting beliefs that, that would not work, um, in the beginning?
Francheska: Well, I wanted the formula to work because again, I'm an overachiever. So I would be like, all right, well, if I'm going to quote for this, and I'm going to quote 30 percent of this is going to be my cost [00:32:00] then. And if I think it could be potentially more than I'll, I'll quote 40%. So 40 percent of this will be like, I would always quote over it to have extra caution because I'd be like, if if it's less, then I save more money for taxes.
Francheska: And at the end of the end of the year, if I don't need all this money for taxes, then I pay myself a bonus. Um, so it made the tax account fun, but I, you know, I never really used. And this might not sound very nice, but excuses as to why I couldn't do something that I knew was going to benefit me. So again, it's adding and yet or but so like, Oh, prices are constantly changing.
Francheska: And I can go ahead and round up in my favor because this is important to me. And I want to be more than 1 percent profitable because at this point, like it takes one thing like a pandemic and all the doors would be shut. And for me, luckily I figured this out 2017. So when the pandemic came, it was like, right, well, why we're still taking care of one hotel, let me come over here and make the hotel [00:33:00] florist.
Francheska: And it made it like a very easy transition for me. And that's why I'm so passionate about it because I used it in my own life and it affected my life in a really positive way.
Jeni: And do you think, like, what was the biggest hurdle for you doing profit first, like, uh, to me, like going and getting all the accounts.
Jeni: That for some reason was like, God, this is a lot and then logging in and you see all these accounts and, and like, for some reason, that was like the, the, the biggest like hurdle for me, like doing, and I, that seems silly, but they told me at Wells Fargo, I was going to have to be there because it's an hour per account.
Jeni: And I'm like, I'm going to have to go. I'm like, you got it. Guys, like, need to, and the person had never heard of it before, and he's a business banker. And I was like, now I'm talking to the idiot that's at Wells Fargo too, like, has no idea. And he talks to business owners all the time, and this is what I'm getting.
Jeni: So I'm like, am I getting the right account? All the things. So like, what was your [00:34:00] hurdle to get over that you're like, I'm just doing this?
Francheska: My hurdle was being confronted that my operating expenses were so high, because it meant that I had to make really uncomfortable decisions. It meant that I had to fire people.
Francheska: It meant that I had to say no to things. It meant that I had to, um, ask for more money, um, and justify it somehow. That part was the part that was uncomfortable for me. It is true. Like in the beginning, it feels a bit daunting, but I'm also a huge component of, I will never let someone make me feel first of all, we P we can't let people make us feel a certain way, but I'm not going to allow myself to feel intimidated or embarrassed by someone whose life I don't want.
Francheska: So if I'm being told by my business banker that this is silly, it's irrelevant because I don't want to be a business banker and I highly doubt this guy wrote a book on how to help my business because he. Just was bored one day. I'm going to believe that it works like I'm going to believe that this resource is going to make me [00:35:00] better and I don't need this business banker to believe in me.
Francheska: I believe in me. I need him to open accounts. Um, my CPA actually told me numerous times that this was a waste of time and that it wouldn't work. Until she saw that I hit multiple six, six figures, and then went on and doubled it. And then came and asked me how I did it and wanted to implement it in her own business.
Francheska: So we need to remember that people will make fun of us. People will question us, and then they'll come and ask us how we did it. Um, and our job is to stand in our sovereignty and in our belief. And I've watched this also happen to my clients. And I tell them, you need to get a new CPA, or you need to get a bookkeeper, like their opinions, don't pay your bills.
Francheska: So for me, don't pay bills. Opinions don't pay bills. Honestly, they don't. And this is where we've got to get really grounded because people got a lot of opinions because opinions are free. Um, there is a bank that I absolutely love and maybe we can include the link in the show notes. Um, because I have a special link that if [00:36:00] you click on it, I think you get X amount of money in your account just for like trying them out for 30 days.
Francheska: Um, it's a company called Novo and I've been using them for three years now. Absolutely love them. It's free. By the way, the banking is free. They don't take fees. You don't have to have a minimum amount in your account. None of that. Um, they out also integrate with Stripe. So you get for your first year, like all your Stripe payments without any kind of credit card fees.
Francheska: They have something called Novo boost where like the money will land in your account, like the next day. So you don't have to wait three to five days for your money. I've just been so incredibly impressed. But the best part is when you receive income, you can already have those accounts filtered out. So it automatically gets filtered because for years I was doing this in an Excel spreadsheet and then I was going over to my income account and then I was like transferring all the money back and forth into an Amex savings account.
Francheska: And it just felt not efficient. But now with Novo, it's like all the money comes in and it automatically just. the [00:37:00] percentages I've given it into the account that I want it to go into. So every week, like let's say when I want to pay myself, I'll just go in to make a transfer, which is free transfer and make it for my owner's compensation.
Francheska: And then I pay myself and I'm done and I move on with my life. And it's. So easy. I don't touch any of my other accounts. I know my money for my taxes are always there. I know the money for the operating expenses are always there. I know that my profit account is growing and it's always there for whenever I'm ready to make a bigger investment.
Francheska: And it just makes business super simple. So anyone not doing profit first, this is your sign, go and do it. It has never been an easier time.
Jeni: Yeah. I mean, I think 30. Judy, last time I, I listened to the audio book, it was like 35, 000 businesses have done this and basically like, it's, it's crazy. And it's, it's like, you're thinking like a business owner.
Jeni: You're not thinking, you're CEO. And I think that that's, uh, so amazing. So we actually haven't talked about [00:38:00] like getting started in a hotel. Uh, what are like, you know, If you're in your market, obviously buying your course would help you get, you know, on the way to being a hotel florist. But like, what are three things that if you wanted to get started in hotels that you would recommend doing?
Francheska: Yeah. Um, first and foremost, it's deciding what hotels you want to work with. So hotels are labeled anywhere from one to five stars. And then And I always say I'm a huge component of shoot for the moon. If you miss you'll land amongst the stars. So anything I'm about to tell you that I normally would do, it is with that methodology in mind.
Francheska: So I always say your five star hotels are going to have budget. Like they are top tier. They're charging top dollar. They have discerning guests. They usually have very specific brand standards. Um, and some people might be like, well, I don't have five star hotels, or I'm too small. Okay, then let's drop down to four star hotels.
Francheska: Maybe four star hotels feel a little bit more [00:39:00] relatable. Maybe it's a hotel you've stayed in before, or maybe you know they have flowers. You can go and check them out. Three stars is where we start getting a little bit questionable. I feel like the only type of hotel in a three star category is going to be like a boutique hotel that's probably independently run and managed.
Francheska: That means that the owner probably has some sort of, you know, green thumb or wants to see flowers in the lobby, or maybe they want to see plants around the hotel. You could start with three star, but if you're serious, and like you asked me earlier on this, and on this call, like, how did you go from not having a hotel to like a hundred thousand dollar contract?
Francheska: I went after a five star hotel. I was like, it takes the same amount of time. I got to do the same song and dance. I'd rather go into my best option. So now the second part is you go into said hotel. So you're going to, you're going to decide what hotels that you actually want to work with. You're going to go into these hotels and you're going to take a look like, what do they currently have going on?
Francheska: Do they have flowers? Do they not have flowers? Um, what kind of guests do they have? Like, [00:40:00] what's the, what's the ambiance here? The difference between weddings and events. is your wedding is like a one hit wonder. You know, it's 24, 48 hours max and you're done. A hotel, you have that client for at least a year.
Francheska: So do you even like this space? Do you even like the vibe? Is this a place you could imagine like going to every week? I mean, this is important. Um, and then I always say to like regulate your nervous system. And this would be like step three is sit down. Don't just walk in and ask to speak to someone like The energy from that is like, hi, I want to sell you something.
Francheska: And I don't know about you, but the last time I had someone trying to straighten my hair at the mall, at a kiosk, trying to sell me a straightener, I was not into it. So, or to buff your shoes. Yes, no, we know that we're not available for that. So sit down, regulate your nervous nervous system. It's a business write off, have a cup of coffee, have a glass of champagne, meet a friend for lunch.
Francheska: Just. Allow yourself to regulate [00:41:00] in the space. It can feel very overwhelming to go into this place. But the moment that you sit down, the moment that you order something, you are a guest of the hotel. You are no longer a vendor there trying to sell something. You are a guest. And when you're finished with your experience, I recommend that you go to the front desk and you ask to speak to the general manager.
Francheska: Now again, what did I tell you? I'm a shoot for the moon land among the girl land among the stars kind of girly. So I didn't say speak to the girl behind the front desk and I didn't say ask to speak to a manager. Ask to speak to the general manager. 50 50. You're going to get the general manager. And the reason why this is important is because this is a person that would sign your checks.
Francheska: This is a person that's actually going to hire you because it takes the same amount of time to pitch yourself to a decision maker as to a gatekeeper. And it's a lot more complicated to work your way up than it is to work your way down. So when that person comes out, you're going to introduce yourself.
Francheska: You're going to let them know you've had a great time. You just had the best lunch of your life. You loved it. Lavender [00:42:00] lattes in the cafe. You just had an amazing chat with your friend. By the way, my name is Franceska. I own Francie's Flower Designs. I noticed you have hotel florals. I noticed you don't have florals in your lobby and then have a conversation with them.
Francheska: Like, They'll tell you, Oh, we currently have a florist. We really love our florist or, Oh yeah, we don't really have the budget for flowers. Like you can have a conversation with them, but the goal of the conversation by the end of it is either to have some sort of meeting on the books where you can come in and do a walkthrough to put together a proposal.
Francheska: Or you know that they're currently not looking, but you've now created a contact. You've exchanged details and you ask them, could I touch base again in the next six months, just to see if anything's changed, I'm telling you, this is gonna be the best business development you ever do. The first one's going to be the hardest, and then you're going to get addicted to it.
Francheska: And literally I have. florists that land hotels and they're like, it's a numbers game. Like literally it's a numbers game. Um, so that's, that's what I would do if, you know, to work with hotels. And that's what my clients do to [00:43:00] get started.
Jeni: That sounds amazing. And obviously it is scary if, if creatives are introverts and they're going out.
Jeni: But like once you get the script, like of what you're going to say, it just becomes so much easier. I, I worked in sales. I actually worked in automotive sales for, um, 17 years, uh, automotive marketing, automotive sales. And, and like, it is a numbers game. Like how many people you talk to, your closing percentage for talking, same thing with meeting with brides, how many clients I get an inquiry, how many clients I meet with, and how many weddings I close.
Jeni: Those are all numbers and it can apply to any facet of your business, which is amazing and fascinating that we just, just keep going.
Francheska: Yeah, a million percent. And, you know, inside the hotel floors profit method, like I have the exact questions in there that you can ask. And I go a lot more in depth. Um, and as you know, you've taken the program, so if you have anything you want to share, like I would love to listen to it, we're getting actually a huge, um, [00:44:00] Upgrade, revamp, whatever you want to call it, uh, next month for our four year anniversary.
Francheska: So I'm very excited to roll that out.
Jeni: Oh, sweet. Yeah, I think, uh, I have taken your course and I think the biggest thing that I have people come ask me, uh, is like, Who do I go and talk to? What do I say? And then what do I pitch them? What does that look like? What does my proposal look like? And what kind of designs do I really need to kind of come forward?
Jeni: And then ending paying it off like my contract. When somebody asks me about doing corporate, those are the things that they really bring to me and ask. And they do the same with weddings. I think we all just want this like roadmap of how do we talk to somebody? What do we put together to try to sell them?
Jeni: And then, you know, how do we finish that off with what, what do we need to give them to? And then the question way after is like, how do I actually do this afterwards? Cause you know, sometimes you're just like, I'm winging it and I'm [00:45:00] going to do it. And I don't know how to hang this thing from the ceiling, but I'm sure I'm going to figure it out.
Jeni: Uh, so what are the course offerings that you have? Cause I know what I. took, but I know you have different offerings and if you could share a little bit about that.
Francheska: Yeah, definitely. So right now what we have open is the starter challenge. So this is literally taking a florist from day one through seven of what are, what's one thing per day that you should be doing 30 minutes or less to start working with hotels.
Francheska: So the idea is that within one week, you have. Pitch to your hotel and you're, you are landing that hotel client. Um, we also have the starter challenge holiday edition. I find that holiday is the easiest time to work with hotels because, you know, every single hotel is going to have a Christmas tree in their lobby.
Francheska: They're going to have wreaths on their stairs. I'm sorry. Garlands on their stairs are going to have wreaths on their doorways. Like this is a time that they're actively looking for florists and most. Floral contracts [00:46:00] are renewing at the end of the year. So this is a really great way to get your foot in the door.
Francheska: Um, so we have that challenge, which is five days long on how to pitch holiday decor, like how to actually put together your pitch, what to look for, how to price, um, how to put together your offers for hotels around this time. But our main focus is our signature programs, which is Pedals to Profit. That is our business program, how to become.
Francheska: Profitable and sustainable. We call it the consistent income system and six weeks. We also have the starter kit, which is the self paced version of the hotel floors profit method, essentially helping you land your first hotel client. You've got team support from the hotel florist team in there. You've got everything you need from contracts, the templates to scripts.
Francheska: Uh, and then the hotel florist profit method is more robust. There's typically a coaching aspect to it, either with myself or other graduates and hotel florists of the program. Um, a sense of community. So you're not doing this alone. It can feel very intimidating if you're trying to navigate this by [00:47:00] yourself.
Francheska: Um, and it's an A to Z program. So it's not just how to pitch and land hotel clients, but it's actually how to How do you design for them? How do you actually automate them? What are the, all the formulas you need? How do you hire, how do you scale your business? Uh, because for me, it wasn't just, I landed hotels.
Francheska: I mean, I ran a full business halfway across the world. I spent and lived six months in Europe. Um, and all of my hotel accounts were in the States. And I also built and ran the hotel florist at the same time. So that gives you an idea of how much freedom hotels really do allow you or any corporate account at that, whether it's luxury retail, restaurants, law firms, real estate, um, hotels inside the starter challenge.
Francheska: I really dive deep on all the, all the, uh, Alternatives to hotels because I know a lot of people are into the idea of hotels, but they're like, I don't really have that many in my area or I only have one. Um, what are some other ways that we could make money? And the beautiful thing is you can apply this to really any corporate, you know, whether it's a general manager of a hotel or a store or a restaurant or a spa or a [00:48:00] country club, it's all the same.
Francheska: Um, and the, the way you approach them would be the same as well. So our offers are always changing. We are really focusing on the hotel floors profit method right now. Um, That season, we're coming up on our four year anniversary. We're always looking for ways to improve. I just finished having several calls with florists within our market.
Francheska: Just understanding what is it that they're currently looking for? As you know, times have changed when we launched in 2020, it was the middle of a pandemic. Now we're in 2024, people are burned out. So, um, yeah, I would just say, DM us if you're, if you're interested, we're always on Instagram, whether it's myself or Heather, and we can direct you into what program is the best fit for you.
Jeni: It was so amazing having you here. Like I love being around somebody that really thinks about business and really thinks about like your mind. Cause they, they really do go hand in hand and you guys go, I'm going to put all the links that she has talked about or mentioned in the show notes so you guys can go check it out, but this like [00:49:00] challenge thing seems like it's.
Jeni: something that would be really easy just to dip your toe in.
Francheska: Yeah. And it's so fun. I mean, we've had like over 130 florists go through it and it's just, it's easy. It's attainable. It's action steps. Um, I show you exactly behind the scenes, like how to find these people, strategies I've used. Um, I am not a gatekeeper.
Francheska: Um, Like I just give you everything. I show you exactly if I were to do it all over again, exactly how it would do it. And people have florists have loved that starter challenge. So if there's anything that you get out of today, it's less than 50. There's currently, I always, I always leave a 90 percent offer on it.
Francheska: Like, welcome, welcome to my world. Welcome to the idea of working with hotels. It's important that you get to know. Um, the industry you're thinking about entering into, but also the educator that you're considering investing in. And I think this is a really great way to, to, you know, pull back the curtain on both.
Jeni: Perfect. Well, I'm sure everybody's going to go run [00:50:00] and check it out. And if you're not following you on Instagram, what is your Instagram?
Francheska: The hotel florist. Pretty
Jeni: easy. Well, it was so amazing having you here and I just love the fresh energy in our, in our world because we, we all need good energy and we all need people who are not gatekeepers that are teaching business and teaching us, um, cause that's why we're doing it.
Jeni: We want to make money. And I love that that's your approach. It's not about, Of course you want to make pretty flowers, but you really need to know how to make a business. So like you can keep making pretty flowers.
Francheska: Yeah. Yeah. You'll never touch a stem until you make the sale. And that's something that Jessica Zimmerman was a huge advocate of.
Francheska: And it's something that I still use to this day. Well, that is amazing. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. [00:51:00]