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Are you ready to grow your floral business not only in profits but in creativity and fulfillment? Listen as Jeni Becht a wedding and event designer of over 25 years shares all the juicy details of growing and evolving her floral business into one of passion, purpose, and financial freedom. She shares all the secrets with actionable tips and strategies so you can wake up inspired and on a path to profitability while feeling lighter and more aligned in work and life. Join Jeni in building your business while ditching the overwhelm, avoiding burnout, and feeling fulfilled in work and life.
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Hello, flower friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast. On this week's episode, we're going to talk about if you have not been profitable. what you need to start now and put into place. Uh, in the, uh, FloralCEO Mastermind, we actually kind of went through some exercises really to understand if, you know, what things from a certain revenue bucket look profitable.
What from a, um, you know, overall revenue, like some of the things in your buckets were looking like financially and it brought to the surface. A lot of things that people. In the group were like, Hmm, I really thought that I made more money doing this, or when we really backed into those things that they, they, you know, did a ton of, um, might not have been as profitable as they thought because the time invested on some of those were ginormously, um, time consuming.
So I would first start with when you're looking at your business, I have three buckets, what worked, what sort of worked and what didn't work and things that worked, things that worked maybe are like you had five weddings that were over 10, 000 and you maintained X amount of profitability on those. So that really worked.
But what sort of worked is that you had. 3, 000, 5, 000 weddings, but for some reason they weren't from a percentage standpoint as profitable. But then in your not worked, you could say, I did three workshops or I did a wedding at X venue or with a certain planner or something. And like, I didn't make hardly any money on it because things like this happened, this happened, this happened.
Or maybe it's, I was doing valentine's flowers and I overordered, you know, what really worked in your business and like looking at that, what really worked, this is a chance for you to like, go, okay, this really worked. But, could I even make it better? Should I go more all in on these certain items? Because if you're looking at these things and they were your most profitable, they work the best, what often as humans we do is like, look at like this.
Puppy that's all disheveled and has been wandering the streets and just is kind of all beat up and we look at how we can fix it. We're like, how can we make it a really happy, fluffy puppy for us to just love and cuddle on? And that is all with great intention because we all want like our ideas to work.
We all want. You know, like the things that we are coming, coming up with are really close to our heart. And of course, we're just like pouring all in on them. And so I get that. I totally have done that on many things in my life, but now is the time to think objective. Do you want to lose money or do you want to not be able to pay yourself the money you deserve next year at this time?
So it is go time for us to make harder decisions. And when looking at the what sort of worked, you have this list of things. Maybe they were that wedding that wasn't quite as profitable with this plan. Or maybe it was like, I did Valentine's and I made like 300. Or I made 1, 000 and I felt like I should have made like 5, 000.
Like going in and digging deep and trying to understand what would have made this really work. And then maybe look at it. Okay, do I have the capacity to try and make these items better or should I be focusing on what really worked? Then we have the what didn't work bucket. And then when you're looking at that, like, are these things that could potentially be fixed?
Without a colossal amount of effort, or are these like things in your business that you should just be saying bye to? Um, Prado's principle says that 80 percent of our results are from 20 percent of our, um, effort. And so, should we be, like, pouring more effort that 80 percent into things that weren't really making the big impact from a bottom line?
And that is hard, again, because you're not wanting to part with your, like, wonderful ideas, you're not wanting to part with, like, this, this thing, like, oh, I think all in my heart that I could make this work, and it's going to be the fluffiest puppy ever after I've fixed it. And I know I've done that with men in my life.
I don't know if you have. You're just going to try to make it the fluffiest puppy ever, and it's just, like, A pit bull in the corner that's like been a fight dog and you're just like, come on, fluffy puppy, like sometimes to be a business owner, you need to let go. You just have to let go of those things that just don't make sense.
If you're not making money, create space for those things that already are making money to make them even better. So I would start if you're didn't make money or didn't pay yourself or you lost money. Like, start with those three buckets, then I would go through an expense audit. I did an expense audit episode around this time last year, because tis the season to really evaluate.
Things, so I would go in and do an expense audit. I will tag that episode in the show notes, but it is so eye opening when you start looking at what you are spending. I did this with one of my one on one clients and I was shocked and inevitably she was shocked at all the money that she had just been pouring out of her business.
And that then we backed into again, these expenses. Um, one of our expenses was, um, BloomNation for 400 a month. They were supposed to be doing this supersized social media, email marketing, and then website platform and all these things hadn't been done. And like, I'm like, why are you spending, I spend 40 on my website.
So that was like, we need to take action because this is. definitely not work worth this expense on a monthly basis. Then I would go in when you're looking at all these expenses, are you really optimizing all of these expenses? Is your money's worth really getting your money's worth on every single one of these items?
Because if it's not, again, this is the time to be like, hey, I, I don't want to keep making no money or not paying myself or losing money. And some of these are really hard decisions because They're ego driven. If you have a studio space that you're spending rental money on I maybe would look at hey, we don't want to be doing that because I am Losing a thousand dollars, but like you love that you're on Instagram posting your studio and it's so cool and so fun and Look at how like Accomplished it makes you look You're not accomplished if you're losing money, if you can't afford that studio.
And I've had one on one coaching clients that have done this exact thing that they have gone all in because their ego is tied to their success. And for some reason, running a home based business is like a mental block for them that they aren't successful unless they have the studio space. I have seen new florists.
In my market that have had their business for two years and go all in on a studio space that I bet you cost 2, 500, if not more a month, like why get to a point that you get uncomfortable in your current space and then make a leap. If it makes sense, I run a close to 300, 000. I think we were at 295. I run that business out of my garage, which is dedicated to flowers.
I and out of a storage unit that I think is around 300 a month. So I am not like going crazy trying to get more space because inevitably I, I don't need it. Not at this point. I'm not like going holy crap. We're not able to fit I got this a bigger storage unit so I could during big wedding weeks I could remove some of our inventory because I really didn't need it here Anyways, my storage unit is eight minutes away I have shelves in there.
It's very organized. My person who I have dedicated to, um, making sure that inventory is prepped and ready to go. We have enough inventory, everything. Like I can give her my storage unit key. She can run over there and grab things. Otherwise I can go. It's eight minutes away. It's not the end of the world.
I'm then able to be closer to my kiddos. I'm able to like run out here and do a podcast episode when I want, because my studio space is like right here. I'm not married to having to get into my car and I have to go to the studio, you know, for a long amount of time and get myself out of this situation, um, of being home.
Like I like being close to home. It feels good to me. It feels like I'm, um, able to be a more present mom. Uh, today, I had Bodhi out here in the studio, like, watching a little bit of his tablet, having a snack. He was being a coffee barista and bringing one of my helpers, like, some, some coffee, because I don't know why he thinks he has his own Starbucks in our house.
And, but I get to be present for that. And if I get to a point, like if my business grew another, I would say 100, 000, I probably need to get a space. Like there are limits to space and I totally get that. But until that happens, I am absolutely fine here. And if I need to, Potentially sublet some of my work to another studio or if I need to rent cooler space at the wholesaler or my wholesaler locally, I can outsource and have them make some of these arrangements and then pick them up on wedding day.
So like there's always things to figure out what you need to do. And so don't feel like you need to have that big leap of faith to go get a space when you can't afford that expense. And I would rather you pay yourself and, like, actually be making an income than you going and getting a studio space. You making money doing this is more important than the ego wrapped around having a studio space.
That is outside of your home. And if you don't like working in your home, see if you can separate that space. See if you could dedicate a room to it. See if you could dedicate the garage to it. See if like you can have this dedicated space that isn't intermingled because intermingled space often doesn't feel good to people.
They feel like they're never stopping to work, that their house is overrun with stuff and just on and on. But if you have that dedicated separate space. You're going to feel so much better. So go and do an expense audit. Go and check in with all of these expenses. If you have an accountant, I would straight up ask them, say, Do you think that I am running my business in a way that is profitable?
Or do you see me leaving profit or expenses that I shouldn't have? Like get a business coach. I have one spot open for monthly coaching right now. Get a business coach. I would completely analyze all of your expenses with you. I would go through and we would analyze your profitability on every revenue bucket.
And we would do this deep dive into like from the surface, like what should you be doing? What should you stop doing? Like what should you be going all in on? And then let's talk about after we figure that out, how to grow your business. If you do not want to be at this spot next year. It is going to take work and in my experience, there are certain type of people that have a threshold to work hard, kick ass, take names.
And there are people who have a threshold for like, I am okay with kind of minimal output, but I think that I am working so hard and it's like, I think the household you grew up in, I think it's the. Um, you know, mindset often about, uh, working hard and like that you have to work hard to grow a business.
Like, this is not some magic fairy coming in and hitting you with a little wand and all of a sudden you have this super successful business. So growing a business does take work. You can work smarter. You don't have to work like so that your effort is not displaced to the most highest impact revenue, fulfillment, whatever.
Spot in your business. You can work hard, but you can still have space to be the mother that you want. Space to be the human being you want. I did a reel on Instagram, and I was talking about, I had a 300, 000 business last year, and I went to CrossFit three to four times a week. I went to pottery class. I went to, I, I bought a motorcycle last year because I had missed it so much and I had gotten rid of it after Bodie was born.
And so, like, I went for motorcycle rides. I did all these things to be the human that I want to be. I took courses, I read books, I went in a sauna blanket. I did all these things to be who I wanted to be and still did that. Because I am being strategic about where I spend my time. I still network with people, I still was friends with people, all these things.
Like, I did all those things with having the business and the revenue that I wanted. Do I want more? Absolutely. Am I going to grow my business this year? Absolutely. But I'm still going to be the human being that I want to be. I'm still going to be the mom that I want to be. I'm still going to do all those things.
Just because you're working hard at one thing does not mean that your life, your motherhood, your whatever has to go to the wayside. You can still be the wife. You want to be, you can still be the daughter. You want to be, you can still be the friend you want to be. Like you just have priorities. And if you need to have a conversation with someone, say, I'm really wanting to do these big things with my business.
I'm really wanting to do these big things in my life. That doesn't mean that I love you any less. That doesn't mean that, that, um, anything has changed with our friendship, with our, whatever, none of that has to change because you are in charge. of your life and the boundaries you have with people, the boundaries you have with yourself, and the happiness that you desire.
Like, all those things are in your court. And when you're not making money in your business and you're working really hard, like, it feels way harder. When you're making money, your business feels so much easier. Because, like, you're not worried about how you're going to pay your website company. You're not worried about how you're going to do this.
You're not worried about how you're going to do all these things because it's just there. It's in alignment, feels good, and you deserve to have your business in that place. Go do those big three things, check in, like talk to your family, talk to your accountant, talk to a business coach, talk to another florist to hopefully objectively look at your business and, and like you can start right now.
With changing this around like building a plan for social media, you can build a plan for wedding planner outreach. You can build a plan to grow your hotel and weekly deliveries. You can build a plan for all of these big things. And when you build that plan, like, that's where your growth is going to lie.
And also, I think when you build a plan and you actually have a plan in your business, like the fulfillment and the joy in your business is so much, like, more present because you're keeping the promises to yourself because you've actually, for one, laid out what those promises are. So many people run around in their business with no plan and just wonder why things aren't happening.
which is not the case. So, thank you so much for listening, flower friends. I did want to tell you about one last exciting thing. For the month of February, I have recently discovered I have so many flower friends that are either wanting to launch their business, wanting to, like, finally do something with their business, or, you know, something.
So I am dedicating the month of February for everyone to get off their ass and start their business or start really doing something with their floral business. So all of the episodes in February, and I am doing a fun self challenge on Instagram. So if you are not following me on Instagram, it is at the floral hustle.
Go follow me because every day I am going to share a step that I would take, or I'm actually going to do it, if I was starting my business over again, or if I was starting my business from scratch. So I am going to share the month of February as that guide. of really just like getting my business back on track down to the fundamentals of what I know it takes to grow a business and I'd love for you to follow along.
So thank you so much for listening in Flower Friends and you have an amazing flower filled week.