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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 mini sode, we are going to talk about like foundations in your business that will make you successful, that really kind of define what I think the pillars of any successful business is that wants to grow.
You need. To kind of have a road map and of course that sounds really simple like a road map for a successful business Well in my opinion like many parts of it are simple and that's why on this podcast specifically we often talk about like similar kind of things because there are Foundational things that I see this florist this florist this florist all do that have successful businesses And so sometimes we overcomplicate and think that we need to be doing a million different things, when if we really went deep on a few key things.
We would have more momentum, we would have more revenue in our business, we would probably have more satisfaction, satisfaction in our business. We would just have more everything because we are dipping our toe in so many different pools right now that, that it's just hard to even keep track. So there's Really four foundations in a business that I think that are critical.
You need to know how to have some type of design skills and especially an understanding of key ingredients. So key ingredients in your business for me as a wedding florist would be, I need to know how to make a bridal bouquet, a bridesmaid bouquet. A boutonniere, probably a pocket square boutonniere at this point.
A corsage, wrist corsage. I need to know how to make a basic compote. I need to know how to make some type of arch flowers. And if I have those basic skills down, I probably can figure out most other things. If you are more of an everyday florist, there's a different set of design foundations that you need.
You need to probably know how to make a dozen rose arrangement. You need to know how to make a long and low, uh, type centerpiece for holidays. You know, those type of things that accompany daily orders. Those are the foundations that you need. Then Both types of florists need to know how to market themself on social media and overall, like what a marketing strategy or plan for growth is or just picking what they want their strategy to be.
So often, most business owners don't have any strategy other than like I'm gonna tread, you know, I'm gonna like paddle in the water so I don't drown. But I'm not headed towards any island to get out of the water to get safe. So, really, they feel like they're failing because all they're doing is just treading water.
When they could have a plan like, I need to go over to that corner, and what is the best way to do that? So, to me, having a social media strategy and a marketing strategy are, of course, intertwined, but they are somewhat separate. So, having a social media strategy would be picking a set thing that you are going to do on social media, how often you are going to do it, and who you would like to speak or attract with this strategy.
So, there's really two strategies that I have on social media, and that is to attract, of course, bridal clients, or people who are interested in my services as a wedding florist. And then Marketing to fellow, uh, vendor friends or potential vendor friends that I'm a florist that does a great job and you should want to refer clients to me because I do beautiful work, I'm fun, I'm great to work with, on and on, so like I am marketing to two or different people on social media.
So I need a strategy behind those two people. So I make sure that I post pretty pictures so that when a client, a couple, comes and looks at my feed, they can see the beautiful work that I can do. But I also want to help educate them. I build in education as a layer on my, my social because I want to help educate different.
You know facets of wedding flowers and help them get a better understanding or even just get to know me And then that same strategy is used towards the wedding professionals I want to create shareable content. I want them to want to share my content And with sharing it I am getting in front of their audience, which is what I inevitably wanted to do in the first place Then from a marketing strategy.
I want to make sure that I am In places where brides are. Or couples are that could be in, uh, wedding directories. I'm making sure that I have some type of free listing that could be from an SEO standpoint. I want to make sure that my business shows up as best as it can as often as it can from an SEO perspective, which is search engine optimization.
Then from there. I want to make sure that what I'm marketing to them is something that is attracting them to want to do business with me. So I'm talking about how I do business. I'm talking about, like, different things that I have in my rental inventory. I'm talking about, like, You know me as a person because people want to do business with people that they like, trust and respect.
So i'm talking about like me foundationally as a person how much I love being a florist how it's like my purpose and how Like I grow flowers and that is and I can do sustainable weddings if that's what they want And I can do cultural weddings. So I make sure one day a week I'm posting something about a cultural wedding and all of these things are like a marketing strategy I'm picking something that I'm going to do on a consistent basis that speaks to my ideal clients, my two separate, like, people that I want to follow me on social media.
Then from an overall marketing perspective, I want to make sure I'm in the right places for people to find me when they need me. And that's a marketing strategy. So for me, I have, of course, worked on my SEO. I make sure that, um, social is driving my marketing strategy. I make sure that I'm networking. So I went to, just this month, two different networking opportunities.
I went to a sustainability, um, like kind of expo. And I went to a Minnesota Bride party. I am a Minnesota Bride member. That is part of my strategy. Because in Minnesota Bride, I am in front of people who are reading a Bridal Wedding magazine. And in that, I have gotten published, which is part of their model, that you need to be participating as a member to be able to be, like, have a better opportunity of being published.
So, I am participating in that because I feel that I am getting in front of my ideal audience. So then, the next, like, really foundational skill that you need is really business aptitude or understanding business and what you need to do to run a business and the mindset. And that could be, you know, like your confidence, that could be your self mindset, that could be your money mindset to make money and be able to kind of grow from where you are or where you were potentially before.
So you need to have a mindset that is supporting you as an entrepreneur. From a business standpoint, you need to know how to do like the basic things. But these are skills. Not everybody knows how to create a logo. Not everybody knows how to put together a website. Not everybody knows how to set up an agreement with your wholesaler.
Not everybody knows how you, your, your mindset really matters when it comes to your business. Because if you keep thinking things are expensive and you keep saying the word expensive, like you are going to stay in a low. And I'm going to be talking about how to make a good budget bracket of the brides that you're attracting.
You are not going to be able to make like these stunning designs that of course have like budgets that accompany those stunning designs. You need to understand like the insurance requirements. You need to know how to like balance your bank. You need to know how to, you know, do basic accounting. These are all foundational skills that are really important.
Then, You need to follow that up with knowing how to sell to people. As creatives, which most florists are creative individuals, Naturally, creatives are often introverted and you need to be a little bit of an extrovert or at least know how to position yourself to sell your services and sell you doing those services.
You need to understand how to sell your ideas. You need to understand how to sell yourself to a wedding planner that they would want to work with you. You need to understand how to really sell like somebody finding you. interacting with you and then choosing you. And that is something that is You know, takes some practice and some experience, even like the words that you're using, how you're laying in words, how you're positioning, um, your estimates to somebody, how you're positioning your pricing, uh, how you're positioning your proposals to people.
Like all of those are a foundational skill. And then you also need to make sure that you have a tool or a product you are selling that is going to get you to your financial goals. What I see often florists will do is like they pick something that's fun to them, but it's not something that's going to deliver the revenue that they need to be able to pay themselves what they need to be paid.
And then they're frustrated. Like things aren't going correctly because they're like, I really want to do these workshops, but I'm not making any money doing these workshops. I really want to do these pop up shops, but I'm having all this leftover product and then we're screwed because you're not making the money that you deserve.
So, if this is something that seems really overwhelming, you are not alone. These are very complicated things that take years to perfect, but getting the right foundation in your business Because that is what is going to have you, you know, on this growth trajectory. If you keep stumbling without a plan, without a foundation, without understanding without hiring a business coach, without like, getting a course to understand how to do this, you know, working for somebody that already has this all down pat, like you are going to have this ups and downs, these ebbs and flows in your business, and that is going to be natural.
You deserve To have bigger things in your business, in your life, you deserve to attract abundance. And that starts with like that foundation of you really understanding what it takes to run a successful business. Thank you so much for listening this week, flower friend, and you have an 📍 amazing flower filled week.