The Floral Hustle

[00:00:00]
Jeni: Hello flower friends. This is Jen and you're listening to the floral hustle podcast. And I have a special treat today. I have my friend Liz that I actually met at one of the recent MN floral collective events. And we just hit it off. Cause there's not many times you can meet someone that also has a podcast.
So I want to introduce Liz and Liz, can you just tell me a little bit about your business and about like, just. Yeah, Thank
Liz: you, Jen. Um, so again, Liz Bidler, Sunny Mary Meadow. I am just outside of St. Joe, Minnesota, which is just outside of St. Cloud, Minnesota. So we live about, I don't know, 90 minutes apart, something like that.
Yep. And I got started in high school. I was really interested in flowers. I was on, I was in FFA and. Floriculture was my competition. So it was kind of like my, I was in 4 H. It was my jam. Yeah. Oh, 4 H. Yup.
Jeni: Um, I showed cows anyway, goats and bunnies. [00:01:00]
Liz: So I, um, didn't really know how I was going to make a living out of that, but it was just kind of like my party trick.
Like I'd be in college and. You know, there's like an arrangement there and I'm like, well, like identify flowers because that was part of our competition and I'd be like, Oh, well, that's a cymbidium orchid or whatever it was because I had to know it in high school. But again, how, how do you make a living out of that?
Versus the only thing I knew about flowers was like. The tiny little floral shop in town and I'm like, I don't know. I don't want to gift shop or yeah, you know, whatever, no retail. And so I, you know, went to school for nursing, got my doctorate degree as a nurse practitioner. I'm just, I'm a pretty driven person.
So just always learning, always growing. But then in the back of my mind, I'm like, you know, I just, I really miss, I always had a little flower garden, my husband at the time. So actually I was widowed in 2020. He passed away of a heart attack. But we started this little farm stand out of COVID. selling flowers out of the end of our driveway.
And so season one, we sold a couple hundred bouquets and then for every bouquet, we gave a second one to a nursing home. And [00:02:00] then into year two, that was after he had passed away. Um, I sold, I, I did it times four. So well, and there was a big change. And then, uh, I had my second baby, um, during that time, cause I found out I was pregnant right after the day after the funeral.
And so my flower business. Exploded, I think somewhat out of, I'll just say it probably out of pity, right? Like local people are like, okay, let's buy from the Painted Widow. Yeah, and I'm out, whatever. And the
Jeni: majority of the listeners are moms. I have
Liz: tons of moms that listen to the podcast. And so my flower business just kind of exploded and I realized.
What I wanted and what was on my heart. And I, I tried to keep working as a nurse practitioner at three days a week and doing this. And I was like, I'm just going to do both and we'll see what happens. And because we can do everything, we can do everything. And then it finally made me realize like, okay, what do I want?
What re energizes me? What makes me happy? And it's the flowers. So I didn't give up being a nurse practitioner because that's a lot of school. It is a lot of my [00:03:00] sister. It's one. So I work one day a week still as a nurse practitioner from home doing video visits. Okay. But otherwise I have my business and I have transitioned it from a seasonal flower farm to a year round business.
I have my podcast, the Sunny Mary Meadow podcast, where I talk about growing cut flowers and that's all it was going to be. And then that turned into people asking me because we sell about, I think last year. I cleared like 150, 000 in my, in my flower farm. Um, not including any, that's not anything. No, like, so it's, it's a lot and I'm not saying that's not how much I paid myself.
God, I wish, but, um, learned how to turn it into a profitable business that replaced my nurse practitioner revenue. And then, you know, there's people who, how are you going to do it? How are you actually, you can, you can make money. You flower farming. It's just taken me a long time to figure it out. Um, But I realized that if I was trying to do both, you know, in the words of Ron Swanson, you can't half ass two things, just put your whole ass into one [00:04:00] thing.
And so that's what I decided to do while still being responsible and getting my English practitioner license. And a mom and a fiance. I'm getting married again. Yay! Yeah. Um, but my flower farm now, um, we do from the beginning, uh, I would say from mid April Through mid October, we sell anywhere from 2 to 300 bouquets a week.
And I say we're field to base bouquets and experiences. Um, most of it is what we grow. But then in the off season, I do buy some wholesale and then supplement that way. Um, I've kind of transitioned my farm into year round and figured out what my customers want and really built a loyal, loyal customer base.
I would say, I would say I have about 500 customers, if I had to guess. And
Jeni: I do feel like experiences are such a big trend right now. Like. People want to feel how you feel every day and how I feel when I go out and I'm picking flowers or growing flowers. And so [00:05:00] it sounds like a couple of those experiences do pretty well for you.
Yes. And when I heard them, I was like, holy shit. I want to talk to you about that because They, like workshops especially are something so many florists, uh, they do a ton of work. They do a ton of like marketing and then they have a lack of results that are discouraged. And it sounds like your workshops go pretty well.
You you, I think you said you had 50 people at your porch pots, um, which I know a lot of florists that do porch pots. I see if, if you have not been at our local wholesaler. When porch pots come, like it is, it is crazy. And then there's pallets and pallets of just, it is a really big business. And you had a workshop with 50 people.
You had a
Liz: Thanksgiving workshop. I did a Thanksgiving centerpiece that had 50 tickets that sold out in 18 hours. So I added a second one of
Jeni: 30 tickets. So how the hell does that work? How did you do that? So,
Liz: I [00:06:00] mean, this is year two. I did it last year. Okay. Um, I have a weekly newsletter. That I get a lot of my customers to sign up for and they know that I don't post a lot on social media as far as like what my offerings are or what's for sale.
I mean, I get it kind of reminded, but I, I train them to, to open the newsletter and that has been incredibly intentional. And
Jeni: what's in your newsletter? Cause that probably seems
Liz: really overwhelming to most people. Yep. So honestly, my newsletter is, um, if anyone wants to just sign up for it, just to know what's in it, just go to my website, sunnymarymedow.
com and sign up for the newsletter. But it's, I mean, I'll put things like, you know, in the summertime surprise, I'm, you know, the cooler's getting too full. We're going to do ranunculus. 1. 50 a stem. Come on out on Saturday, like things like that. Or, um, just little like VIP offerings. Right. Um, just to get, or we did an event at the farm this summer called Sunfest [00:07:00] and we had, we charged 65 bucks a person, which I was so nervous about because that's a lot of money.
Well, suddenly people
Jeni: are worried about charging
Liz: for these experiences, but I made a huge bouquet. And it was for people that aren't subscription holders, because I have about a hundred people that get flowers every single week. So that event I knew was, this probably isn't for my subscription holders, cause they already have flowers every single week.
This is for those that they want to come to one thing, one time. They want to be part of my farm, experience it. And it was like a massive 25 stem stem bar where they got to build their own bouquet out of, you know, and there was a recipe. So it was like, the buckets were lined up and it was like two of these, two of these, two of these, two of these.
And they just kind of went down this assembly line and made their bouquet. And, you know, but so that event, for example, I didn't put it on Facebook. I, it was just in the newsletter. And then, but again, and I did that last year and then people are seeing photos of it and they're like, What is that? Why [00:08:00] didn't I, I didn't know about it.
I'm like, Oh shoot, should have read the newsletter and like, just, you know, and I tell them, but that's, that's how I can, how I can get people to open the newsletter because unfortunately I, and I feel like. For me, the transparency I've brought in my business is what my customers connect to. Um, I show up in my stories.
Well, you seem very
authentic,
Jeni: and I know that's kind of like a trendy word, like being authentic. But like, so many people, for one, they won't even show their face. Yep. Because they're petrified. And for two, like They don't feel like people want to know you or understand their story. And like, I feel like that story
Liz: is what makes your business.
Yep, exactly. And especially yours. And they, they just want to, you know, I I'm so real about. , um, you know, the, the work of the Oculus or whatever, like right now work. So I overwintered, so I planted some this fall. I have no idea if they're gonna live. So I saved all [00:09:00] my corns last year. Yep. They all saw me do it.
I let 'em buy D die back naturally. I have 2000 new corns in my basement. So a quar is,
Jeni: yes. They, Oculus comes from a corps. It actually looks like a little mini octopus if you guys don't know. But they are. About the size of a quarter and then you have to soak them and pop them up
Liz: and they're not supposed to freeze solid.
Yeah. And what happens in Minnesota?
Jeni: It gets pretty frozen. Have you ever dug a dollar YouTuber up after you accidentally
Liz: left it? Yes. And it's just, it's much, it's much. And so that's, you know, so they're, they're watching this journey in a tunnel. They're in a tunnel. Oh yeah, of course. Okay. Um, so then, but so I have a mini tunnel over my regular tunnel, but like.
We'll see. And I just said your guys's guess is as good as mine. But if this works, I'm going to have ranunculus end of April, that would be amazing. And that's going to be awesome. And if it doesn't work, well, okay, like, yeah, you tried, they can, and, and they know that I'm doing it for them. Like they know that you guys it's so that you guys can have.
Yeah, [00:10:00] we
Jeni: do have. A short and weirdly ever changing growing season here in Minnesota. And that seems to be, I mean, even in the last two years have been different than the three years before we've been
Liz: growing flowers. So, and so with this, um, the particular workshops that we talked about, so I do a lot of workshops on my farm, but I can only fit, well, it depends in the summertime, I have had groups up to 50.
Um, but we've had to like do it in shifts, like, yeah. One of my waves. Yep. One of my team members. I'm like, okay, you guys give the tour, you guys do this and I'm going to have 20 of them make up. Okay. And then we'll switch and do it again. Otherwise, you know, a lot of times we can, you know, and I'll do private groups where they can come out and just like privately have a private, you pick on their own and they can book their own.
And that I ended up doing on Tuesday nights last summer. And I didn't even really advertise those. I just said newsletter. I didn't even put those in my newsletter. I emailed all of my subscription holders. Which is about a hundred of, um, actually [00:11:00] between spring and summer subscription holders, um, and that's where like they pay in the off season, like right now.
And they pay for either six weeks of spring flowers or 10 weeks of prebooking. And so then I sent them an email and said, okay, guys, I'm going to take 10. Do any of you want to come? And you know, you have to bring at least eight people, but you can reserve a night. And I don't, I already, I know who they all are.
I know, I know the cars they drive, I know who they are. I don't make them prepay. I'm like, yeah, just pay me that night. Like, yeah. And it's fine. And then, so how do you think you like got
Jeni: 50 people to sign up for a porch box?
Liz: So I think, you know, talking about it in my stories, what we're going to do, how we're going to do this, talking about Honestly, talking about the wholesale price, something that people can relate to.
Um, I don't know if this is good, bad or otherwise, but you know, you go to our local grocery store and I'm like, okay, these ugly things are 70 bucks. I can make one prettier than that for probably about the same price. I [00:12:00] mean, that is what I charge, you know, but let's make them a little fun. Exactly. And that was my thing too, was I want it far enough out.
You know, you know that, you know, I would say the majority of it was friends or sisters or mother, daughter or aunt and niece or whatever. And it's like, spend that time with that person before the holidays get busy. And this is something that you're going to enjoy all day long. So for 2 a day, you get this porch pod for six weeks or longer on your winter.
That makes you think of that, your daughter, not in your daughter. It's like I made that. And literally people come in and people are
Jeni: proud to share that and post it on their social media. And if they do and take you. Like I find experiences because I love, you know, bringing my kiddos places that are just like an experience and like they want to share that, you know, especially like I've screenshotted those things.
So like next year, I want to bring my kids here around Christmas time, [00:13:00] whatever, um, which I think. Getting your customers conditioned or even like talking about, Hey, take me in this so I can share it. So there's another person sharing their information and sharing like what they're proud of
Liz: because they made something awesome.
And I would say, I mean, last summer with my you picks, when people got to come out and pick their own flowers, the very first one that I had, I ended up picking, I think 10. Like really loyal OG customers. And I said, bring a friend, come for free, post the crap out of it. And they were like, okay, am I an influencer?
I'm like, yes, you're an influencer, but it, it worked and I sold out. I mean, I only sold, so what I do for mine is 35 to come pick like a 32 ounce cup and then. So that's for that person, but I do a 5 watching fee. Nobody steps foot on my farm without paying for something. Yeah. I it's my home. It's my property.
I want to know who's coming and [00:14:00] going and it keeps, and I don't mean to sound like nobody comes to my farm without paying, but I can't have 200 people. Like running around and parking and just monitoring that and, and, and worried about who's here, who's not. And it, and it makes it a lot less joyful for those that are there.
And I, I know it turns some people off. They were like, well, what do you mean? I can't bring my kids. I'm like, okay, if you want to bring a two year old, I won't charge for that. But like your three year old, nope, we're paying. And because you're paying up, they're going to want to pick flowers, like exactly.
And it's, it just, it keeps it. Level it keeps it enjoyable. It keeps it to a certain like relaxing number and then it allows me to okay. I'm capping it at a 30 pickers and 30 watchers. Um, so I put 60 tickets on there. So 60 people from 730 to 1030. You know, usually at any given point, there's about 35 to 40 people there and there's plenty of room.
[00:15:00] Um, and how do you balance that with your,
Jeni: like your family and just like that, that
Liz: space and distance? Yeah. So we do it on Saturday mornings. Um, I intentionally picked Saturday mornings because my fiance, he plays Australian rules football. So he comes down every single Saturday morning down here to the cities, um, and does that.
And then, so it's the Minnesota phrase and he, um, so he's gone anyway. And it's something that, and I always have at least one, if not two. Employees, they're helping me because that's a lot of people. I mean, that is, you know, that's a lot of people to manage on a day like that. Um, so 60. I mean, I can just like, have it off.
Jeni: Yep. Yep.
Liz: Yep. Yep. Yep. Oh, yeah. Every single way it sells out. Um, and then, you know, and I've, I've started to think about, okay, do I do punch cards? Do I do voucher? Yeah. You know, some people have asked about like, uh, you pick subscription or, you know, and I'm like, okay, if you pay for five at once, do you get one free or something like that?
[00:16:00] Yeah. Um, but yeah, it just really is the experience and the connection. And once they see where the flowers are grown and then now, as long as they're there, Oh, did you know you can actually get subscriptions next year or those people that,
Jeni: and that's a great way to have revenue. I mean, in the middle of winter when it is.
Liz: And so I have a course it's actually called peddling perishable products where I teach flower farmers how I make money. I mean how to make money. And honestly, it's, it's a very literally I'm pulling back the curtain and showing them exactly what I do. I mean, I literally Show them like exactly how I do my bank accounts.
Like, okay, I have seven accounts and every month I transfer this percentage of your profit first, of course I love my college anyway. Um, so yeah, I, I show them how I do profit first. I show them how I turn it into a seasonal business or turn it into a year round business. And so like my sales count for that month.
So in the summertime, my subscriptions, that was my November income. [00:17:00] That was my December income in the summertime. My income is my stem bars and my you. So I want to talk about
Jeni: stem bars because that was also fascinating when we talked about that. Like, explain what is a stem bar? How do you market it? And like.
What are some just basic details?
Liz: Yeah, so, I wanted a way, basically, I started out with a farm stand, which I think is something that so many people do, or like, you know, farmer's markets, or whatever, and they're cute, but like, what do you do with the ones that don't sell? Right, you throw them away, because they're perishable.
So you can donate them or you can donate them and that's what I do. But honestly, that's work too. That is a lot in the volume that I'm doing. Like, I just, I couldn't keep up with that and to get it at a good time. And then I'm looking at this and I'm like, well, the status is still good. The Lizanne is still good.
The Vinnia is no. And now I got a minimum and like, it just, there was no way. I mean, I would look at my time and the time of my employees. And [00:18:00] especially once I started hiring more employees, I'm like, Okay, now it really is because either I do this myself or I pay someone else to do it. I'm looking at my own time, but so that's why I named my course peddling perishable products, peddling perishable products takes planning and it's, you know, and I would get invited to these vendor fairs and they're like, Oh yeah, we're expecting a lot of people.
And I'm like, well. I want to make it worth it. So I bring 50 bouquets. And what do I do after I've been sitting in the hot sun, whatever. So I decided. And they've been sitting in the hot sun. Exactly. So then I decided to make these stem bars where I bring buckets of flowers and people can make their own.
And now the ones that I have left, I have a plan for them. Yeah. So it's not just. Where those flowers go, but it's, it's the plan for them afterwards, basically. And so that I'm not throwing buckets away and I do most of them at my farm. So they can a lot of times stay in the cooler. I actually created a course it's 97.
I called it secrets of sold out stem [00:19:00] bars. So it's a 30 minute video of me talking all about them and like a 20 page and you don't need to
Jeni: be a flower farmer.
Liz: No, no, no, no. I do. So I do one for Galentine's day, not Valentine's day, Galentine's day. And it's all wholesale flowers
Jeni: that I do something
Liz: like that.
Um, so that's at one of the breweries in Wake Park, Minnesota. So it's a big, yeah, just part, we actually Galentine's day. We did it on Superbowl Sunday this year. It was. I had people emailing me, are there any more spots? Are there any more spots? I'm like, I'm sorry. I already ordered flowers. Like, I can't help people like are so last minute.
Um, but I mean, I did. Not you picks, not subscriptions, not extra bouquets, not weddings, not private events. I did 20, 000 of sales last year. Just every month, every Monday at my farm and then every other Tuesday at a brewery. And how did they get that course? Um, so if you go to my website, sunnymerrymeadowcoaching.
com. So sunnymerrymeadow. com is my flower farm. [00:20:00] Sunnymerrymeadowcoaching. com is my resources for flower farmers. Okay. And then. So with that course is like a mini course within peddling perishable products. So anyone that buys that between now and March 1st is the next cohort of peddling perishable products.
Um, I have 15 flower farmers in there. Um, there's modules that they get to access, but then we also have some group coaching, some individual coaching interaction, but anyone who buys sold out stem bars, I will give them 97 off. of Peddling Perishable Products, because it's included in Peddling Perishable Products.
Okay. But they can get the mini course. They can get the mini course right now. And that's, and that's the reason that, you know, there's, there's 10 different modules in Peddling Perishable Products. This is really the only one that I'm doing a la carte, because I feel like anyone can implement it. And like I said, to me, it's like, okay, so 97 pretty much every Monday at my farm, without fail, I sell a.
Between 800 and 1, 200. I turned that 90, like [00:21:00] the amount, but then the amount of waste that is reduced and the savings and whatever. And spreading your name. Exactly, exactly. And you know, the Instapix and whatever.
Jeni: Well, and the
Liz: experience, like people sharing videos. People love it. And I don't charge a ticket for that one for the STEM bars.
I shouldn't say nobody ever gets to my bar without buying something. That is one that people can come and just like make their own. Okay. But I know that no one's gonna come and not buy anything. Yeah. Whereas the U picks, if it's just, you know, if it's $35 to pick, like they might not pick and then they're just taking pictures or enjoying it and it just, it just gets overcrowded.
Whereas, do you have photographers come to your farm too? I do. I do. I was that, so I have a couple of photographers that rent it hourly, like three or four hours at a time for mini sessions. Yeah. And then I have a lot people who do Sunflower Mini. Yep. And then I do a lot of. Yeah, like senior pictures, family pictures, stuff like that.
It was
Jeni: so good to talk to you. Like, I think that those, those two ideas, like the STEM bar and like how to effectively [00:22:00] have workshops is something that is uncapped potential for so many florists. And it was just so nice to hear. And if you guys want to check out her mini course, just go to sunnymerrymeadowcoaching.
com because I mean, I love courses. I love learning and that sounds like a great one. So thank you so much for coming.