Jeni: Hello, flower friends.
This is Jen.
You are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast.
It is the new year.
The new year is upon us, and I don't know about you, but every new year I go
through this like state of reflection.
Of course I'm doing goal planning, but I wanted to talk to you today.
Some unconventional goal planning.
When I worked in corporate America, like I would always dread this.
Um, I was the director of sales for an automotive, uh, advertising agency for,
it was like 10 years I worked there, and every year they would get these
crazy spreadsheets out and we'd be looking at like salesperson allocations.
I mean, all of those things are things that you should do.
You should be looking at your financials.
Uh, I actually just had a meeting with my, uh, accountant and we planned out
like what we were gonna pay me this, uh, this last quarter of the year.
And then we looked at like, what are some potential, uh, opportunities for
some write-offs and, and so having those type of moments definitely are needed.
Those could look like for a florist, like, okay, how many weddings do I wanna do?
How much do I want to average per wedding?
And if you don't know what your stats are for this past 2022, now is a great time
to start because you're gonna have to have all of that data for your taxes anyways.
So take a little time and dig deep into those numbers because then all.
Other goal planning that we're gonna talk about is really going to be helpful
because you're gonna kind of have this base understanding of where is everything
financially and for people to really like, I think, operate their business
from their heart and to really like, Love their business for what they need
to feel like they're getting paid and that their work is valued financially
because you need, you need money.
It's just part of life.
But what we're gonna talk today about is planning the rest of it
how we can, and this is one of the things that I say, how he can build
a business that you absolutely adore.
and a lot of that like literally starts with you just even dreaming of what
that would look like and personally.
I often am very, very busy and have a lot of things going on.
I have, you know, two children I've mentioned on the podcast before.
I literally did 56 weddings this year, and I think we're ending, um, the year
run a quarter of a million dollars.
So like, and this is with limited childcare, so I'm, I'm kind of always on
the go, but my husband is a big dream.
And even we had date night this past weekend, and this is a long
story, but it's very relevant.
He asked me, cuz we are in the talks of, of building a life that we, we
absolutely love, like everything about it.
And part of that foundation is a farm.
I grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota.
I was in four H.
We had animals.
Like it, it just is something that I so want to give my children.
I have a really good friend that owns a, um, horse ranch, and
whenever I go there, I just feel this peace and this just like it.
I don't know what it, it's just like it awakens me that this is like
how my life should be, and so he was asking me when we get to that
point, , what does it look like?
And I think right now, That's, that's something that we can all
do with our, with our business.
Because he was just like, what do you want it to be like when
you get up in the morning?
What do you want it to be like?
What do you want your routine to be?
What do you wanna be doing?
Where do you wanna be?
Like, just all the like getting to feel, cuz then you're getting to
visualize how everything is going to be.
But we don't need to wait till we get to some milestone.
What do we want it to be next year?
What do we want our business to look like?
What do we want our life to look like?
Because mine basically smashes into each other and is very intermingled.
I don't know about yours, but I, I like to work.
I.
Love working actually.
Especially, I love teaching.
I love, uh, delivering a bouquet to a bride, but I also love.
when my mom, uh, my, um, my kiddos come out here and they're like,
mom, we really wanna do, you know, we wanna go to the park, or, you
know, I wanna go to karate tonight.
Like, I also love equally love those moments.
So I feel like my personal and my business intercede because we also have the studio
five from foot, feet from the house.
We've basically, I've taken over, um, our garage.
Is he.
Uh, air condition.
It was the first thing I actually bought my house because I walked in the garage
and I was like, this is my studio.
And it is, cuz we're in Minnesota, it has to be insulated and
it had a water source in it.
So it was just like all the things big enough to, uh, you
know, make everything work.
So, you know, I, I was thinking.
. I wonder if everybody else does this reflection of what do I
want this weird to look like?
Because a lot of times we just get into it and I knew somebody that I
just thought it was really funny.
Like he always call or we're knee-deep in alligator piss,
which is the weirdest phrase ever.
But like we get into the thick of it and we don't even think of how we got there.
So right now, I want you to take a moment of intentionality, of thinking,
what do I want my business to look like from a goal planning, um, perspective?
Because goal planning doesn't need to be just financial.
What do I want my rest to look like?
I am not a rester.
But I need to rest to want for one, to have creative rejuvenation time.
I know when I go to pottery class and I am sitting on a wheel making
something, or I am thinking around with something there, like that's rest for me.
And I start thinking of a million ideas.
I start thinking mentally about installations.
a lot of things other than the pot I'm making, but I'm stepping back and
I'm taking that space and even that little like two and a half hours while
my kiddo is in preschool literally gives me so much creative energy.
So that's one reason why we as creatives, we need space because our brain needs
to almost like empty out a little bit.
and so we can fill it back up with all the crazy shit that we wanna do.
But without that, you're gonna be stuck in creative lulls.
I've, I've seen it happen to people where like, you start to see all
their work just really look the same.
And that might have been because they booked those weddings in
a very, you know, condensed amount of time around each other.
So they maybe had like a theme or something in their mind.
Taking that space, that creative space to fill yourself back up is going to
make your work look so much better.
When I see there's a couple floors that I really, I mean, I, I fan girl them, I
just like, absolutely adore one of them.
But like her stuff is all different, all beautifully, meticulously planned out.
and that is not something that I'm interested in doing.
Getting so down into the details that like, I'm swimming in that water, uh,
water of that wedding in every single way.
I, I love being able to, to step back and like, think of something like, what is
something really cool that we could do?
for this wedding and what kind of theme or you know, whatever kind of
details, but like, I don't want to worry that their place cards are cool
or, you know, any of those details.
Just that's, that's personally not me.
So I wanna build enough creativity that I can think of ideas, I can have time to
even like look at other people's work.
Look at Pinterest.
So you need that space creatively.
But I also feel you need that space to, to be the person outside
of the business, to be the bomb, to be the wife, to be the person.
If you have this as your side hustle, to be that person.
And if you're not, you're also like, that's your path to burnout.
Only being this character in your.
Could seriously burn you out.
So taking that time for rest creatively and just to make sure that you are, you
know, connecting with all of the different people in your life, connecting with
your family, connecting with yourself.
Taking time to take care of yourself.
I've really, in the last, uh, I think it's been about like nine months to a
year, have really been trying to take care of myself because I, I was just always
really tired, but I was always really going hard, so I was making excuses that
that was the reason why I was tired.
Then I went to the doctor, had all my labs done.
I was like, I just, I'm so tired and I do have a three-year-old that
thinks getting up in the middle of the night is a Olympic sport.
So I'm like, oh, I'm just tired because of that.
And I actually found out like, I went to a functional medicine doctor and I had high
amounts of pesticides, herbicides, and mold in my body, like toxic levels, like
they were almost to the top of the chart.
Uh, and if you're ever curious about that test, if you're struggling
with the same thing, And you're around flowers, like that could be
something showing up in your life too.
So I have been doing all these things to try to kind of detox my body, and
I've been trying to just, even if it's like two minutes of taking epso salt
and putting in my bath before I take my bath, like those little moments
are, are things of self-care to me and to me, make me feel like I'm.
I really am trying to take care of myself at the end of the day.
So planning those two things are huge, but we also want to be planning
when we have, especially that space, that creative space to be fulfilled.
What do I want my business to look like this year?
I have seen different Floris evolve their style, evolve their business
because like something in their heart changed and you should check in.
Is everything that you're putting out from a work perspective, does it feel good?
Is this in your mind what your dream business would be putting out there?
Is it the budgets that you wanna be working with?
Is it the.
Clientele that you wanna be working with.
Like if you're working with barn brides that want mason jars and baby's breath,
which haunted me forever, which I have not had a request for years, um, for that.
Is that where what you want?
So even going down to, uh, and there's always this exercise in every, uh,
you know, course I'm taking about identifying your ideal client.
. And I always just think it's like, seriously, why are
we taking up brain space?
Because brides are going to be brides and couples are going to
be couples, or whoever's getting married is gonna reach out to me.
But if you think a little bit through, and I don't go into this like naming
them, Peter and Paul or Betty and whoever, I, I don't get specific.
I wanna attract a type of client with a type of budget.
That wants the type of florist that I am, which is kind of opinionated and
wants to have some creative freedom and doesn't want the entire process laid out.
So I feel like I'm a monkey making their wedding.
So laying out those details like are you really attracting, think of like
the last 10 couples that you dealt with.
Did you like your interactions with them?
Did you like how they made you feel?
Did you like how.
, uh, they even communicated to you.
Do you like how their inquiry form looked?
I can usually tell if this is my, my couple or my bride by their inquiry form.
If they didn't take the time to fill in each one of the limited blocks
that I have in my request form.
They are probably not the, the couple for me because they didn't
take the time, but they expect me.
and so I'm not going to reciprocate bending over backwards, especially
cuz those are usually the people.
Like, can't you just give me prices on, what am I giving you prices on?
I have no idea what your wedding's about.
I have no idea how many, you know, people like, I had another inquiry
recently, I sent a list of questions back because she didn't do that.
And she goes, when can I set up a.
And I'm like, I don't even know what package is best for you because I don't
like meeting with my Al Cart clients.
I didn't, um, word it that way.
They said, I don't know which option looks good for you.
So I don't know what to recommend from my services standpoint
to be able to tell you.
if, if a meeting is, is even appropriate because if she has a thousand dollars
budget, I am not going to waste an hour.
She can look at my a la carte and it's very, very easy.
If she has a, you know, $3,000 budget, then I would love to meet with her.
But if she doesn't have that time to even answer the questions or.
Be respectful in answering.
I think it's disrespectful personally when somebody doesn't answer direct
questions, I think that like they're just not caring and just wanna waste
your time at an appointment personally.
But that's not the type of bride that I want, that's not the type of couple I
want a couple that is like respectful of your time in your investment into that
process because it is an investment.
, and then also do you even like your current consultation process?
That could be part of your goal planning.
You know what, I'm getting a lot of price shoppers, so I want to put in a brochure.
I want to build a brochure so that I can provide some pricing
guidance for that couple so they can know if they can afford me or.
, and then we can either move on to moving forward or they can move
on to looking at other options.
And either way is okay, but P, adding that little thing could be
a goal to improve your process.
Or even looking at, you know, what?
I want to really dig into my communication to my couples.
I wanna communicate that I am a luxury florist, or I wanna
communicate that, um, I only do sustainable weddings, whatever it is.
That could be a goal.
Then you could even make it a goal to manifest or develop plan.
to get some of your floral bucket list out of the way.
So they're, for most flos, there's these things that
they've thought of or dreamed of.
And I know one Floris that actually does this a lot, like thinks of
these ideas and goes and finds a couple to execute that idea.
and it might not always be at full price, which like I've talked
about that in another episode.
If you really have something that you wanna do and you want it as a portfolio
piece, you can always position something super fun and exciting for you to do
that you were doing at a discounted rate as a portfolio builder, because
after you built your portfolio, you never have to duplicate that discount.
and I don't even recommend a discount, but if it's just something that like
your heart is totally speaking to doing this and you would've just done it in
a style shoot anyways and then paid for it yourself or between a few creatives
and you know, why not do it for and make it for somebody's special day?
So thinking of, are there things that like I really want to do
this year that I wanna creatively.
Accomplish.
I know another florist that literally has a vision board and those types of
things, like a picture she sees or, um, a whole inspiration theme or mood board
goes on her vision planning for the year or goes on her goal setting for the year.
I want to find a bride or couple with this whole theme in mind.
. And I do think that there's something to even, like, if that is one thing
that you're really excited about to attract that bride, what are you
gonna do to attract that couple?
What are you gonna do?
You could potentially make some Canva, uh, you know, graphics that just
say, you know, tropical inspiration.
I'm dying to do.
and it could have inspiration photos, uh, embedded in it, or you
could put together a whole mood board and put it in your stories.
There's so many things that you could basically just make up in Canva, which
if you haven't heard of Canva before, it is a, I call it like a graphic resource
center that you literally can go in.
and create a million different graphics that are hostable shareable to Instagram,
uh, in stories or on a regular post that really could speak to some of
the things that you wanna do or just even fundamentals about your business.
I know that's actually something that is one of my goals this year
as a business and when I've been thinking about my goal planning is,
I want to do more informative educational posts.
I post pretty pictures, which most of us do, but I want to
add value in 2023 to my couples.
I want to talk about like my service offerings, get some specific pricing
talking, talk about my a la carte flowers, talk about my rental
inventory, uh, do videos, talking about different wedding topics.
and so people can get a feel in the videos like of who I am and you
know, just my general vibe sometimes is even nice for somebody to watch.
And then I can, um, you know, really just have a social media plan built in as well
that we're gonna do wedding Wednesday or we're going to do, uh, florist
tip Tuesday, or we're gonna do fun.
Fun Friday.
Whatever you wanna do.
You could make up theme days around, you know, really just speaking to
your customers and teaching them about how you do business and informing
them and how wedding flowers work.
I, I think we all assume that everybody knows, but nobody knows.
It's the same thing when you're buying.
About anything.
Buying a fridge, buying a dishwasher, buying a car, buying a house.
Most people, like they go into a situation just like thinking they know everything.
And like then you sit down for a consultation with somebody and
they're like, I had never thought about a million of these things.
And so you could have them think about those million things that you
consistently run into right in your.
Whole social media strategy you just developed by setting a goal
of wanting to change your content from just pretty pictures to being
a, a bit more educational, a bit more, um, informative, sharing your
services, uh, sharing your pricing.
If you have dream wedding venues that you really wanted to work at, you could even
use a hashtag strategy to talk about.
Hashtag Hutton House wedding.
And even if you haven't done one there, you could literally say some common
thing that you see in every one of their wedding photos tagged on their Instagram,
uh, like their fireplace installation.
How much does a fireplace installation cost?
As long as you know how big it is and can price it out.
Starting at.
that could be a post talking about like I want to do, you're putting out there,
I really, from a venue perspective, from a creative perspective, I really
wanna do a wedding at this venue.
So you can have themes of, I want to do this type of wedding, this
these flowers, or this is a big goal, but you might just desire to do a
specific venue or a new venue and that could be a goal that you plan.
So it doesn't always have to be financial.
I think that so many people just focus on fi.
They either focus on financial for their business or literally
they're just focusing on what their personal goals are for the year.
And really, I don't know a lot of people that actually probably spend time.
Thinking about how am I going to change my business?
Am I going to change my business?
What do I like about my business this year?
What do I not like about my business this year?
So I've been doing a lot of thinking about that, not only with the
things that I've mentioned, but I've been thinking about my space.
I love being literally 15 feet cuz uh, sometimes.
10 o'clock at night, uh, after I put kids are all down and everything,
I'll come back out here and I'll tinker a little bit and it's relaxing.
To me, it's a, even though I'm working, it's a little bit down because there's
no noise, there's no commotion.
It's just me and flowers, which is my purpose, and I'm just, I'm soaking it
all up, even at 10 o'clock at night.
I have gone through several, several iterations of my space.
I went through and, um, like literally painted the walls in here, a nice
bright white to make it whiter in here.
I've went and got new shelving in here.
I've rearranged and got better work tables.
So right now you could even goal plan, what do I want my space to be like?
As one of my, my favorite, well, one of my favorite like
personalities, um, who is Ally Kazaa?
She is a life minimalist mom, minimalist, if that makes sense.
But she always says, what takes up your space takes up your time.
And so this could also be a good time.
What do I want in my space?
Is my space working for me?
Do I like how the flow and setup.
and do I feel like it's, it's filling its potential and it's
basically filling its purpose.
And so we're, I'm going through that right now and I actually, because it is, um, a
down week, week and a half before my New Year's wedding, I literally have, um, some
of my freelancers coming in and we're.
Literally gonna be packing a bunch of things up because I don't
need all my inventory in here.
I need space.
I need more space than I do having my inventory here on site.
And so what, what does your space look like?
Do you have enough space to put finished pieces?
, do you have enough space to put your boxes before you take them back to
the wholesaler or back to recycling?
Do you have an area that is for cleaning vs.
Or what are all the big things that you do in your business, in your, in your studio?
Are they working?
Because if they're not working, now is a great time to reflect.
and potentially set goals.
I've set a goal that there's going to be more space in the studio for people
to work and for us to have product.
I literally am going to, um, take a whole row, well pretty much almost
the whole row of shelving out and I am going to have extra space.
I'm gonna get a bucket system in place.
We kind of been placing them around.
I had a Milk Creek kind of rack system before, and I just like all of a
sudden got this thing where I wanted to see if we had more space, like on
the perimeter, and we put the buckets.
But then like somebody stepped in a bucket this year because there were so
many buckets and it just became a thing.
So I want to create more space for my helpers, for flowers to be safe, and so
they're not getting bumped and damaged.
So take a moment and reflect, do I like my space?
And if the answer is no, like something doesn't feel.
Go and ask your, your freelancers, your, um, employees, what do you
think of how things are set up?
Do you like how everything is set up?
And then they're gonna ho and I, and I want you to be honest with me, because
I think people are always afraid, even though be honest with me, or I, I'm gonna
be honest with you, it seems like a very Minnesotan phrase, but you know what?
Like, I feel like we're always crammed, or I feel.
None of the supplies are in a good spot, or I feel like there's
not really a place to do X.
And then just, okay.
Do you have any ideas on how we could fix that?
And if you don't, that's totally cool.
I just, maybe you've already thought about it, so I thought I'd just ask
and they might or they might not.
But then you're taking feedback from your team and they are going to value.
Their, you know, their ability for one, that you even care to take their
input and then you can kind of develop some goals around your space, cuz what
ta, what is in your space, what takes up your space, takes up your time.
So every single item in your studio, we don't have to Marie Kondo anything.
but is it serving a purpose or is it some attachment to a monetary value
that you're not wanting to part with that item because you paid money for
it at some time, but you haven't in three seasons if you have not used it.
My rule is usually like I, I didn't use it this season.
I'm going to take a hard look at it.
Okay.
I don't wanna quite get rid of them yet because maybe you have one book
bride or one couple booked this year, but next year I probably, if, if I
don't book more than one, I probably shouldn't have 'em, um, in inventory cuz.
Maybe they're out of style, maybe, uh, they are just not something that maybe
you should initially bought that you thought you could sell, but couldn't.
Uh, and then just go from there.
So, make a goal about your space because you want your space.
You're spending time in your space, and you want it to feel good.
I don't know, I if, if you guys have someone that helps fill this role, but
I have someone that on Monday, They come in and they sweep everything up.
They empty all of the, um, system compost.
They empty the trashes, they clean all the countertops.
So when I come in Tuesday, my space feels really good if you
don't have, when you come into your space, and it feels really good.
, like how can you change that?
Because you want to feel good in your space.
You are spending too much time to feel like shit in your space.
And this goes for your house too.
Like do you like everything and how it's functioning in your
house, your bedroom, your whatever.
And if you are looking for help and guidance on that, um, the woman
I mentioned earlier, Ali Kaza has all these decluttering your home.
Uh, courses that I, I've taken them as well cuz I am a huge fan of hers.
But I also have wanted to just reduce my clutter, reduce, because that
clutter, like when you come in, you just, like, your brain sinks because you
feel like you're drowning in clutter.
You're just like, I don't know how I'm ever gonna pick this up.
And I feel that same way when I come into my studio and things are out of order.
They're a mess.
Uh, . I just, I don't want it to feel like that any anymore.
And so you can make that same choice.
So we've talked about a few things.
We've talked about, like goal setting for your space, goal setting
for your designs, goal setting for taking space, and your business.
Now, like we talked a little bit about the financials in the beginning, which
is of course great, but to get some of that time that we talked about,
to get some of that space initial.
What do you want your team to look like?
Are you happy with a one person show?
Does that feel good to have all of that pressure and weight that you
are making all this happen, or is having a couple freelancers feel
good so that you have somebody that's like next up at bat and can help get
something accomplished or potentially.
do you need to, are you at the point that maybe you should hire somebody full-time
or hire somebody for 20 hours a week or hire somebody for, uh, potential VA work?
Um, so a VA is a virtual assistant and that virtual assistant can
offload a whole bunch of tasks for you, like answering emails.
Uh, let's just say figuring out what you need to schedule on social media.
Build a plan.
That person can execute your plan.
They could help, they could just help with so many things.
It's like, Organizing your bookkeeping.
I mean, I, I know I personally do have someone that helps with those, um, more
of like social media tasks and some organizational tasks if I need them.
Cuz that's just not one thing that like, makes me feel like
I'm living in my purpose or I'm living in my zone of genius by.
Doing a bunch of admin things, uh, I feel like my brain and my body should
be better served working on the business and thinking of ideas and how to
network and how to grow relationships and how to serve my br my couples,
my brides, my vendor friends better.
So it, do you have all the right people or is there a task.
I think it's always great to do an audit of the tasks you're doing and what time,
amount of time you're spending on it.
If it is things like I'm spending two hours a week washing buckets,
step back and is that two hours of me washing buckets for once, saving
me so much money or making me feel like crap cuz I'm washing buckets.
or it's something I really enjoy doing and it maybe I need help with something else
because I, I actually enjoy doing this.
Or is there some better allocation of, you know, maybe you need to have somebody come
in and you spend 30 to $40 on Monday and have somebody come in and clean a little
bit and potentially wash, wash buckets.
Or maybe it's $60, whatever it is.
For you to come in and your people that are helping your wedding to come in and
have buckets clean, have a space that feels clean, a face that a space that
feels better, would maybe that investment be worth it for people to feel more
joy when they come to work for you.
And so looking at like, do I have the right people in place?
Do I have enough people in place?
What are their stances?
And that's, that could be goal planning.
Like, you know what, I really liked Sarah, but she seemed like, you know,
she just has a lot going on and so maybe I need to find another freelancer.
okay, that could be a goal.
And I actually have an episode all about tips and tricks for
finding great freelancers.
Um, that was one of the initial batches of episodes that you should go
listen to if that's one of your goals.
So goal planning doesn't just need to be, let's look at the financials.
Let's look at the numbers.
How can I love my business?
How can I like, get.
Freaking excited when I get out of bed in the morning because every task
that I'm doing that I've tracked and done inventory on, and I've looked at
like what is the best route for this to be like, should I be doing this?
Should like in the end with all the should a woulda couldas, is
this the business of your dreams?
Because that's where your goal planning should start.
We are here too little of time to.
Hostage to our business that is not exactly lighting, lighting
us up internally, making us like happy that we're influencing.
Like if we're happy in our business, uh, that's gonna trickle
out to we're happy in our life.
And if we're unhappy in our business, that's gonna trickle
out and people are gonna be like, something is not going right.
in mom's business, in my wife's business, in my partner's business.
Like, and they're gonna probably wanna help you figure it out.
But you need to figure out like, is everything what I dream of?
What would I dream that's different?
Would I dream that I am, you know, doing three big weddings a week and.
They're gonna be, or three bank weddings a month, and they're going to be looking
like x uh, budget, X type of client like we talked about, like identifying
who do we wanna be working with and frankly trying to repel the people
that we don't want to be working with.
I am so glad that I have changed my business enough that I don't
get, and I'm not bashing on barn venues, but I did so many of them.
So many, so many baby's breath things, so many mason jar things that it's
like it causes a physical response in my body when I even think about it.
Cause I'm just like, oh, I so don't like how that made me feel.
I felt like I was being undervalued.
I felt like I was doing monkey.
Florist work, like I just, I felt like I was meant for bigger things, more
creative things, and like this was just like a fire hose shooting me back.
that that's not going to happen if you keep doing this.
So I've changed how I'm presenting myself, how I'm presenting my business
into this way that like I feel like the majority of time I'm attracting someone
that's going to value me, value my opinion, value my creativity, and I'm
setting them up with providing pricing guidance so they know about what this
should cost, and then go from there.
So right now, . I want you to think, how does my business feel?
Does it feel good?
What is coming up for me?
When I think something isn't feeling good, what specifically isn't feeling good?
Because if you don't identify it, you can't fix it.
Okay?
So I don't like how going to my wholesaler feels because it
feels negative or I don't like.
My wholesaler never has things in or I don't like working with Renos.
like whatever it is, it doesn't matter what it is, if it doesn't
feel good, you are the c e O of your business and you can stop and if a
couple bride like pushes back on you.
Guess what?
You are still the c e o and the boss of your business, and I am so sorry that
you, that's something you really want.
But I have had such bad experiences that let's just say anes.
, like I, I think I talked about anes in another episode, like one of my most
unfavorite flowers, uh, just because the white ones just, ugh, by the time they get
here to Minnesota, they're usually just crap, or they're green, or they're bruised
or they're blown million different things.
So like maybe you just.
I'm sorry I don't work with the nees because I'm going to have to increase the
price of your flowers so much to cover how much bad flowers there is that I have to
throw in the garbage because they're so temperamental and I, so I, there's some
alternatives that I'd love to offer you.
that doesn't get us down that road of increased pricing, if that's
something you're amenable to.
If you're not, I totally get it.
And I know a couple floors that don't mind working with an ES and then you
VOD over them, they can volley back.
Like, no way.
I'm want 'em.
Okay.
You have made a hard line.
I want my business to feel.
and this stress.
I actually, I've seen Flores do this.
They'll book a wedding that during the booking process, it was stressful.
They're like, I don't like how this couple bride made me feel.
The mother-in-law seems batshit crazy.
They really want ax flour.
That's super hard to get during their wedding time and on and on.
Then, , you stress about it every month or whenever.
Cuz those people are the ones that usually check in all the time.
Every time they ping your email box, your body has a reaction.
Crap.
I have to deal with these crazy people.
I thought this was gonna be an easy wedding.
I didn't charge enough for this wedding.
And on and on.
Step back from the beginning because it ain't gonna get easier that week
when you're going to the wholesaler and when you're going to make their stuff
and you're worried that that bouquet is not going to look like they envision
or the pictures they said because you're literally nothing is probably
going to live up to their standards cuz they're that difficult of a person.
Why do that wedding?
Make the choice now that you are going to do things that feel good in your business.
I've actually had one of those brides that I literally, when I was taking her
deposit, Said, I am so worried that I am going to deliver your flowers, and
I am an extremely confident and very well educated florist that you are
not gonna like whatever I bring you because you are so specific to a point
that it is hard for me to understand.
And I was right.
I maybe manifested that.
I don't know.
We'll see, uh, if that's what the, the universe meant for me.
, but that's the only bride that I've ever delivered a bouquet.
Had her tell me she loved it, and I literally held it up in the mirror
with the photo that I printed on an eight by 10 because I was so worried
about it and I had to tear that thing apart because she wanted it air.
I'm like, oh, this is one of my favorite FRA phrases.
I said, you wanted things boning out more.
Is that what I'm understanding?
Because I wanted her to like think about how silly.
, like she wanted these flowers just jetting out and I knew they weren't gonna hold
up good and a million different things.
I said, okay, I can make things boner up more.
And I went and I tore it apart and I gave it back to her.
And like that day I made a decision.
If I ever feel even remotely or even a twinkle of what I felt today, I'm going
to say no because I want happiness.
I want good vibes.
in my business, and I want, I want good vibes in my email.
I don't want to have to open my email and be like, crap them again.
Just, just stop.
You deserve better, and that's a whole nother set of issues.
A lot of times people are just like, I have to, I have to, I have to, I have to.
I need money.
I need, I need the experience.
I need a, I just, I need, I need, I need.
, but if you need that, you're going to keep needing that and you're
gonna keep attracting that person.
And so if you don't make, I always put like hard line in the sand, if you don't
make that hard line in the sand at some point in your business that I am going
to love every single thing about my business, or I'm not doing it because
I'm the c e o and I make those decisions.
You're going to be making, I need, I have to.
They're not so bad.
And then complain in your head, complain to your partner.
So then they start wondering, why are you doing this if these people are so crazy?
Because that's the conversation I used to have.
Why are you working with these people?
They sound.
and sometimes they are, sometimes that's just like, people
are just not happy people.
And I, I, when I start getting that vibe, I'll just like flat
out say, I, you know what?
It sounds like you have some pretty big feelings about whatever it is
that we were discussing, and that's.
I think we might be on the, uh, different page because I don't, I,
I can't do that and probably fulfill it to the way that you, or the
level that you have expectations of.
And I've never delivered something that I didn't feel confident that you
were going to be happy and I don't wanna deliver something you're not
gonna be happy with starting now.
And normally they're going to be like, and take a little self-reflection because
you're basically telling 'em like the way they're acting is not working for you.
And sometimes people might not appreciate that, but especially with there, there
are some people that just, they need.
I called little, little education that we can't be treated that way.
I, I had somebody actually, and I made a funny reel about this on
Instagram, request a Christmas Eve consult because they were in town.
My business does not operate on holidays.
That's one of the reasons why I own my own business and shame on you.
I have a family and it's very public that I have a family like I am.
Make that known in all my posts like that you would even have the expectation of,
of someone, no matter who they are, that they're gonna drop everything on Christmas
Eve or Christmas Day was also okay.
Just throwing that out there.
to meet with you.
Like I don't feel like anything that we're going to discuss
couldn't be accomplished on Zoom.
So we can do Zoom if you want, otherwise I totally understand.
If you need to go a different direction, that is one of my, my
favorite phrases to use and reply to an email to somebody that's, that's d.
Address what they said because it's crappy to not address their concern or what
they've said and just say, you know what?
If this isn't okay with you, I totally understand if you go in a different
direction, because then you're giving them permission and it's okay if you want to.
So those are some untraditional goal planning things that I go through in the
new year, and especially when you know, You're in a growth phase, like I feel like
I've grown so much in this last couple years that I am really excited to what the
next level of growth is with this podcast.
Fitting in with my coaching business, fitting in with, uh, my family fitting
in, and my health fitting in, and just creating this synergy that like when.
You're thinking about your life, like everything just feels so
good and it can feel so good.
You are the c e o and I am so proud of you for even listening to this because
that means that you are open to change.
You are open to making your life better.
And if you need help with that, because I, I've needed help in the past, I needed.
A kick in the ass to be like, you don't need to do baby's breath weddings anymore.
Stop.
Well, what do I say to that person?
Here's a couple things you could say.
and now I can say it just like that.
I'm sorry.
This, this doesn't fit the style and aesthetic that our, um, floral
studio, uh, you know, pride ourself on.
And so if you're really looking specifically for that, that's not
something within our design aesthetic.
But I can recommend some studios that do.
So I've needed he that help.
So if you need help, I am your girl.
I am here for you.
I have a couple spots for monthly coaching right now.
Or if you just need a one-off session, you just wanna like hammer out like a little
bit of goal set, uh, setting or a little bit like of clarity around an issue.
Um, my monthly coaching is really affordable.
It.
We'll give you 2 45 minute sessions, so we space them out every two weeks.
Because I am your accountability buddy, I am going to hold you accountable
for the change that you are desiring.
I am going to check in with you every week and we're just gonna
talk about like struggles and things that you're running into.
And there's this amazing tool, Voxer, and if you are, Somebody that
likes to especially talk, uh, when you're messaging boxer is amazing.
You could have your team on boxer because it just sits there.
It's not a text message that's staring you in the face.
You can boxer your team.
Hey, we need to pull, um, seven trio cylinder bases, and then we need
ivory, three inch floating candles for it, and, or we need to, whatever.
You can boxer that person and it can just sit there and not interrupt them,
and then they can come back to it.
And you can see if they've read it or not.
It's pretty easy, but you get Voxer access to me and we can go
back and forth and we can really work on the things and set goals.
I literally, I do like a 90 day recap of what we've accomplished.
And it is, it can be crazy if you were driven to really make
shit happen in your business.
I mean, I, I had one coaching client, like we made their brochure, we
looked at their copy on their website.
We, um, looked at, uh, Recipes and proposals and what those proposal
templates could potentially be changed to.
I mean, so many good things could happen if you really dedicate time
and space and really are open.
To growth, so you can check it out on the floral hustle.com.
There's a, uh, coaching page that has all of the options.
And so I just wanna throw that out there because I absolutely, like,
it fills me up to help people.
And I would love to help your business succeed.
Like, my ha mine has, and because I just know how much happiness comes with growth.
I hope you guys have an amazing new Year, beginning of the new year, and really
take this time to reflect because I just know that you can change yourself
into the person you wanna be and you can change your business into the person you
wanna be, and you will find just so much happiness in that when you are living
in your purpose, when you are living in everything that feels good to you.
So have a great new year.
Thank you, friends.
I look forward to seeing you.
Bye.