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Struggling to turn your floral design talent into a profitable, scalable, and stress-free business? Welcome to The Floral CEO® Podcast—the ultimate audio destination for wedding and event florists, flower-shop owners, and creative entrepreneurs who want to book bigger budgets, price with confidence, and lead like a true CEO.
Hosted by Jeni Becht, award-winning wedding florist, event designer, and floral business coach with 25 + years in the industry, each weekly episode dives into:
Profitable pricing strategies: markup formulas and minimums fine-tuned for weddings & events
Magnetic marketing & local-SEO hacks: social posts, blogs, and Google tricks that attract high-budget couples and planners
High-converting sales funnels: inquiry replies, proposals, and follow-up scripts that turn curious leads into dream clients
Streamlined systems & smart outsourcing: workflows, templates, and hiring tips that free you from the design bench
CEO mindset & sustainable growth: leadership habits and eco-friendly practices that keep both you and your business flourishing
Jeni pairs real-world success stories with actionable strategies you can implement today, so you’ll spend less time hustling and more time designing breathtaking bouquets, installations, and arrangements.
Ready to scale your florist business and reclaim your life? Follow, subscribe, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app. 🌸
Connect & learn more:
Website & free resources: http://floralceo.com
Instagram & Facebook: @thefloralceo
Turn your passion for flowers into the six-figure floral business you deserve—one episode at a time.
Website- floralceo.com
Social @thefloralceo.com
Hello, flower friends. I know you have probably been scouring, if your business is, has been stuck at a certain revenue level or if you've just been, like, wondering how to get to the next level, you've been looking at all these programs, looking at all these things, and just, like, don't know where to spend your time, don't know what you should be focusing on.
F- you feel lost. I wanna share five hacks that I really think help you get instant momentum and clarity in your business, because there's a lot of things to spend time on in your business. I totally get that. It is crazy the amount of shiny objects. "Don't do this. Do this. Do that. You should be doing this on Instagram.
You should be posting five days a week on Instagram. You should be reaching out to planners all the time." But if it doesn't feel doable and if it doesn't feel in alignment with who you are, it's not gonna work. I ru- I, I teach florists to make more money with less overwhelm. And so when you dial in that things feel less overwhelming, there is immense clarity in that.
You ... Everything just feels easier. It's like you're hitting the easy button, and that's how I want you to feel all the time. So the first thing I wanna talk about is Sunday Reset, and if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, this is something I am so passionate about, something that is so critical, because without a plan, you will keep doing the same shit, you guys.
No plan, keep on doing the same shit. So if you have not had any plan You need to start with getting one. And the Sunday reset, I think, is a perfect way to do that. This is some, a way for you to get your brain out of chaos before Monday, really review and refine your week ahead, check your calendar, your deadlines, your consultations, weddings, life stuff.
Do things like meal prep. Figure out, i- if you need to figure out for the week, the kids' outfits. Figuring out when you're gonna have support with your kids. Whatever support you need for that week, figuring it out. Brain dump loose ends. And I take this to another level that I even go through with being neurodivergent and having a very ADHD brain.
I, whenever I'm thinking of something, one of my things that causes me anxiety is the fear of losing that thought or losing that idea or losing that thing on a list. And so I text it to myself, and I use that to go in and grab those ideas that I've texted myself. And then it really helps you mentally reset so you can be proactive instead of reactive I feel like the Sunday night reset is one of the easiest ways you can reduce stress, create momentum before your week even starts.
So how does that work? How do you even start with doing a Sunday reset? So I am a... I use Google Calendar, but I also use a paper calendar, and I have I think it's called a Happy Planner. And so I get my Happy Planner out, and I sit down, and I have my Happy Planner, and I'm comparing that. And the first thing I'm doing is I'm checking and making sure that my current availability matches in Calendly, because Calendly is where people can book appointments, and there's nothing more stressful than when somebody goes and books an appointment for some time that you already have booked with something else because you didn't double-check.
So I go and fill my schedule out on a monthly basis. Then on a weekly basis, I go just double-check it. Then I go through and I look at my to-do list. I look at the wedding this week. I look at when I'm going to have help. When are flowers coming? And I mentally map out the production schedule just to make sure I'm refreshened on what's going to be happening that week.
I'm looking at my kids' activities. I'm looking at any animal visits or animal vets or shit that needs to be done. I take inventory. Okay, I need to get animal feed. I need to go get a shot or something for one of the animals, whatever. So I'm, like, looking at stuff for the farm, if I should be asking for help potentially from somebody if I have a really busy week, and I'm laying out that part.
Then I'm looking at when am I going to go work out? So I'm building a workout into my plan. And then when I've built that in, then I can go, okay, I've built all these kind of things in now I'm looking at my overall to-do list, and I have a pretty crazy to-do list because I always come up with the i- these ideas.
I could be like, "Okay, find wagon wheels to go attach to the fence so it looks very Western," or, "Find spools so that I can use them for little tables 📍 everywhere." Or I was finding spools for a goat bridge, or I had to find stands for one of my upcoming weddings. I need to order the candles for one of my upcoming weddings.
Just all these things. So I go through and I look at that and I'm like, "Okay, I need to really tackle these things, so I need to get these things done this week." And then I kinda figure out what days that those are on. So I'm holistically looking at my schedule, and then I'm really eval- evaluating my bandwidth.
What is my bandwidth for this week? How am I feeling? You guys, somebody... Some jackass rear-ended me, and I have been having some headaches. So how am I going to... i'm not running 100% right now, so I need to make sure that I don't have the plan of going 125% hard when I honestly don't have the capacity for that.
So I'm looking at, like, how am I feeling? Like how are things mentally feeling? Like, am I feeling overwhelmed? Am I feeling like I'm not working out enough? And just really checking in do I feel like I'm spending enough time with the children? Do I feel like I'm spending quality time with the children?
Really taking an inventory what do I have going on with my husband, and how can I do something nice or thoughtful and show him I care? Whatever it is I'm really building a plan and trying to make... Every time you have to stop and make a decision, you guys, you're slowing yourself down. So what if you made all your decisions on Sundays?
What if you made this is the plan on Sunday? Instead of every time that you're introducing- a block, then you're causing space and you're causing delay, and you're not getting your shit done that you want because you're wasting so much time on hemming and hawing. And also then, it also increases your probability that it's just actually not going to happen in general because you've now thought about it and you've talked yourself out of doing whatever you were planning to do If you constantly like battle with decisions in your head, like I would try to remove any of those decisions and make them on one day and just feel like I am a total CEO, I'm a total badass that makes decisions, that moves me forward.
Not I will go feel into it, I will see what happens, I will do... That's just not going to work, you guys. It's just not gonna work. How can we make those things more productive? How can we make this feel really, really good and really just optimize? How can we optimize what we're inevitably going to have to do anyways and feel more prepared so that all of a sudden it's Tuesday and you're like, "Oh shit, I didn't know s- Tuesday was gonna be so hard"?
Because then you can also go in and make shifts. Tuesday looks hard. I think I should move said appointment to Thursday so that I mentally feel better about that day. All right. My next hack is a monthly CEO day. With all the florists that I've coached at this point, not many of them have actually had a CEO day on the books, and it's just something that people don't step back and do.
In the Floral CEO Mastermind, we have a quarterly check-in that is one of our weekly sessions, and we literally go through a quarterly goal planning and then we compare that against our annual goal planning. We're looking at our numbers. We're looking at, whatever metrics that we've placed that are important, and we're reviewing those.
But you realistically, as the next level florist habit, should be going and doing this on a monthly basis. You're the CEO of your business and you should act accordingly. Taking one day a month to work on the business instead of in your business is critical. Go review your numbers. If for some reason you haven't booked any weddings lately, go look at your leads.
Go look at your website traffic. Actually have a spreadsheet that helps you figure out, oh shit, why are my like website visitors down a lot? Why are my leads down a lot? I am converting leads at half the... You know, my website traffic is higher, but I'm getting half the leads. Unless you actually take time, you'll never figure out that maybe your lead button was broken.
I actually did figure this out for two different florists. Their lead button was broken You need to really check in on what is working and what is not. You need to plan content. Look at, your brochure, look at your processes, your goals, your systems, h- your outreach, whatever it is. You need to ask the bigger questions instead of just surviving on the day-to-day.
Because if you never zoom out, you may stay stuck in reactive mode. CEO Day is where you stop being the employee in your business and you start acting like the owner of your business All right, number three. This hack is something that I have done for quite some time. And you know what? This might not be perfect for a luxury florist.
And the reason why I'm saying that is because a lot of times those kind of budgets don't care what things cost. But I love to have pricing transparency in my process because I feel like I am reducing bad fit inquiries, I'm helping people really self-select, I'm putting starting pricing or investment guidance out there, which helps build trust.
I'm not hiding behind this mystery wall of pricing, and I'm attracting clo- clients that really they already know that I'm in their price range. And so we're not dinking around. That was very Minnesotan of me, wasn't it? Dinking around. We're not spending all this time and then they're ghosting me.
So the more transparent I became, the less time I wasted on people who were never going to book me. I've listened to lots of floral educators say, "Don't share price. Don't share price." Especially in my state, pricing transparency is in the culture. We, with the you know, I worked in the car business for a long time, and we have the highest penetration of best price dealers in the nation, you guys.
So, like, Minnesotans love just knowing what something costs, and with flowers, that's complicated. So I try to figure it out in a way that I can give them something as a lead magnet, so when they're reaching out to me on Zola or, WeddingWire or The Knot, I have something to get them off the platform.
And for two, it's something that I just feel good. I feel like I have integrity. I feel like I'm doing the right thing, and I'm inevitably doing it at my benefit and theirs. So it's a win-win because we're both benefiting from this process. I feel like this is a hack because so many florists don't do it.
It's a hack because it's saved me so much time, energy, and brain damage. So if you are looking to stop the hamster wheel of, "Okay, the, I got a lead. All right. Now I gotta get them, I'm gonna get them on a call right away, and then I'm gonna make them, love me, and I'm gonna go spend all this time on a proposal, and then they're not gonna, go and respond to me at all."
Screw that. I don't want to do that. I want somebody that gets on my hamster wheel that knows what I'm about, I've read my brochure, lays out my processes, lays out who I am, lays out all the things, and then that cycle goes on and on in a way that's like a mutual energy exchange between both me and the client So the more transparent I became, I really was spending less time, and I wasted no time on people who were never going to book me because I was just like a puppy going, "Book me, book me, book me," when they really were shopping for a cat, or they really were shopping for, like...
Or they're just window shoppers that can't have dogs or cats in their apartment. Could be both. So I wanna make sure I'm spending my time, and that is a hack, spending time on clients that I feel like I actually have a really good shot in converting. All right. This next, I'm calling this a hack because I feel like I have perfected this, and it is styled shoots into open houses.
This is visibility and portfolio play like no other because I build a portfolio with intention that I'm curating. I actually design all of the events that I do. Then I'm creating the kind of work I want to attract. I'm networking because everybody who comes into that venue is seeing my stuff. I also get exposure to all the vendors that come in on top of the couples.
I'm getting the content that actually reflects my brand. I'm showing scale. I'm showing I'm versatile. I'm showing my creativity. And I build, I've built solid relationships with several venues doing this. So you cannot keep attracting high-end work with lower-end portfolios, so this is a great way to do that.
If you, I feel like you have to have some basis of going to a venue and say, "I'd love to do a styled shoot," and then you can use all these pretty flowers for your open house. You have to have some legs to stand on doing that. But if you have a little bit of leg, you can definitely see how this is effective.
And you guys, if you are really wanting to have this as a strategy, but you don't have a portfolio, my workshops are the perfect opportunity for you to get a portfolio that is going to attract the right kind of work. And my last one of the year is coming up on August 16th through the 18th, and you are actually going to get two looks.
We are going to be doing on day two a strawberry fields inspired luncheon that's going to be like think gingham and white containers and just adorable. Then we also are going to be doing a farm to table theme, and we're actually going to be eating at it that night, which is gonna be super amazing and special.
So I... if you need a portfolio, and for the price, you will buy more in flowers if you do something on your own. Like the price on this is so affordable. They get... Right now it's $899, but literally you guys, I just added like the second whole styled shoot portion. I added tarot card readers. I added a cowboy hat bar.
And so I am actually going to be raising the price soon because I just dumped a bunch more money into the shoot. So go check it out at floralceo.com/workshop because this is the value on these workshops is unmatched to any other workshop out there. Plus you get to s- be on the farm, hug a Highland cow, meet my little baby bottle, bottle baby little goat, Tilly Mae.
It's gonna be just so fun. It's gonna be connection and community, relaxing and recharging 'cause we're gonna do yoga. I'm gonna put you through a future self-guided visualization. It's just, it's going to be epic. These photos you're gonna leave with are epic. You're gonna fill your belly with amazing food, and it's just gonna be so fun.
And it's only 45 minutes from the MSP Airport, so very easy to fly in. All right, the next one and final point And this is the one that I actually resisted the longest and, you know, obviously I am a florist business coach, so this is something that I feel is important, but mentoring. I have spent probably over $80,000 on self-development, coaching, mentoring.
I am in a mastermind right now that is, close to, I think it's like 750 bucks a month or something like that. I had to buy a year and it was, it was expensive comparatively, 'cause it literally is a huge group of people. But Even some of the small things that I've learned in there have already helped my business grow.
I feel like I have community that, of like-minded individuals. I feel inspired by other people. I... There's accountability. I get outside perspective from somebody who is a multiple seven-figure entrepreneur. I'm excited to be a multiple six-figure entrepreneur, but we're... i'm surrounded by people who are at a different level.
And my growth got faster when I stopped to DIY every single answer, when I stopped thinking I knew everything, 'cause that was a thing. I'm like, I've been a florist. I mean, literally, you guys, I have now been a florist for 31 years, 'cause I'm actually recording this on my birthday. And I got literally when I turned 16 years old, I became a florist, and I felt like just because I'd been doing it so long, that that defined me as like I know, I should know everything, and almost made me scared that I didn't, and feel shitty that I didn't and that was so far from the truth and probably not my smartest thing I've ever done.
So if that is you, you've been doing this for a long time, and you've just kind of staying stuck I, I hope that this is your wake-up call to be like, yes, it is an investment to get help. But you also can be just flower friends with somebody, or be friends with another female entrepreneur that she just jacks you up, and you love her energy, and you love being around her, and, you know, she's successful as well.
Even though it's not flowers, it's just like that energy that being around is so important. And then maybe you listen to podcasts like this, and you are in Facebook groups. But honestly, short-cutting your success, and it, it requires money. I look at the amount of money I pissed away, and frankly, the opportunity.
If I would've figured out my shit earlier- Where I would be is shocking. And so if, if this is you and you're like, "You know, I wish I'd have done all these things," like, you guys it, I wish I did too. And so I hope you know that sometimes it takes money for growth. It takes investing in yourself.
Because for one, when you do invest in yourself, you actually take it seriously. I'm super busy right now, and I sure as shit show up to my mastermind calls, 'cause I spent a lot of money on it. I don't play small when I spend that much money. I want to learn. I want to soak up everything I can. I want to grow.
I want a g- I want growth. And so if you are feeling stuck Now is the time. If you need weekly clarity, Sunday Reset. You need monthly strategy, CEO Day. You need better quality leads, pricing transparency. You need a stronger visibility and brand, styled shoot/open houses. If you want faster growth and better decisions, mentoring, coaching is going to accelerate everything.
All right. I hope that these hacks were something that you can institute, because I want you to have direction. I don't want you to have the chaos, the Sunday scaries. I don't want you to be dealing with bad fit inquiries. I don't want somebody to look at your portfolio and go, "They're not for me." And I don't want your growth to be stunted.
I don't want you to have all these blind spots. I want you to succeed. And if you need support, go check out the Floral CEO Mastermind. And I know I talk about this so much, but you guys, this is the most supportive florist mastermind out there. I literally know all of my girls so well. I know... I can tell when something's going on with them.
I just had Carol, who is just blown her business up, and she has learned so much out of this mastermind, you guys, but she show up- she showed up for it. So head to floralceo.com/mastermind to learn more, and it will also be in the show notes, because I know it's, it's probably cocky and arrogant to say this is a game changer, but I am serious.
You have never walked into a container that, for one, you have an onboarding session with me, and I wanna know what's- what your business is like. I wanna know about the monies. I wanna know about your time and energy. I wanna know how you're feeling. I wanna know what your leads look like. I wanna know what your business looks like.
And then I want you to join this amazing group of women while we band together to build kickass businesses, go through the different bumps and bruises that business owners go through, and watch how we all solve them together while we're learning. It is so supportive. It is so fun to see the friendships that have grown out of this and the relationships, and I want you in that room.
So floralceo.com/mastermind. Thank you so much for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower-filled day.