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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.
Episode 57- 5 ways to level up as the Floral CEO in your business
[00:00:00]
Jeni: Hello, flower friends. This is Jen, and you're listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. On this week's episode, we're, we're winding down for the year, and I don't know about you, but I am gearing up for next year. And I was really thinking about, like, what are the, some of the things that really made me step in?
To being the floral CEO I am today. So what things did I invest in? What things did I evaluate? What things did I change in my business that really help move the needle from a revenue perspective, from a fulfillment perspective, and from a just ease perspective. Those things are easier said than done. And I think a lot of times The things that could have the most [00:01:00] benefit or could have the most ROI, we push them to the side because we feel overwhelmed, because we're not doing items that are revenue producing.
We're not doing higher impact opportunities or, or things that would make more sense in the long run, because we're really bogged down in the short term. So, one of the first things that I want to talk about is, is starting out foundationally and understanding, almost doing an audit. And I have a podcast episode from early in the year that I will put in the show notes that is all about like auditing your expenses to make sure that they make sense.
I want you to not only audit your expenses, because I think That if you do that, you will find kind of crazy things. When I [00:02:00] start with a coaching client that I'm working with one on one, one of the first things that I want to know is their budget. What are they spending every month? And I want to evaluate, okay, you're spending this, what are you getting for this?
And when you do that, like, for one, you're being an educated CEO and making data driven, not feeling based, Decisions for your business. Looking at subscriptions. If you have a subscription to something, are you using it? If you are not, cancel it. Uh, are you, um, like, I have actually a lot of subscriptions that I have a template subscription for this thing called Boss Project that is the creative template shop that I get monthly templates that are good for free guides or YouTube thumbnails, things like that.
Um, I have different memberships [00:03:00] for personal development. Um, I'm in an e commerce one because I really want to understand e commerce more. And I look at those and like, am I using this? Am I not using this? Because I, I want to evaluate, like, should I be spending money on this? Even if it's a tax deduction, if it's not a tax deduction you're utilizing, cancel it.
If there are technologies in your business, if you have apps on your phone that you have not touched and you're paying a monthly subscription or an annual, go in and cancel them. Checking in on what is working and what is not working is going to help propel your business forward because the more things that you have out there, the more places that your brain has to be.
The thinner spread you are from a resource standpoint, therefore you have a lot of things that you are doing half ass, not several things that you are doing really well, and [00:04:00] that feels overwhelming. I know for me personally, when I have a lot of things and I don't feel like I'm working on them, like I start to feel like I'm failing and like, you know, I have all these tools and I'm not using them and, you know, it just starts to kind of like mess with your mind.
So, evaluate your tools. Are you spending money on WeddingWire? Are you spending money on The Knot? Are you spending money on an upgraded website package? Are you buying SEO from somebody? What are you using in your business that is driving it forward? Then after you've audited your expenses and if they're a good investment to continue, audit your time.
If you are a, let's just say, studio based florist and You are doing a ton of daily deliveries, but they aren't consistent. You're having to buy extra flowers. So you're getting extra flowers leftover in your cooler, [00:05:00] and you're often throwing them away. You're running all over to the wholesaler and everything for 125 order that you're making 35 on because you've now taken gas or you've had it delivered.
You're running over to another wholesaler because they didn't have something that this wholesaler had. They want a special container, um, the person is then not there and then you're having to go back because it's cold out and you can't leave the flowers out. Like I look at on a case by case basis, based on my current circumstance, if a daily delivery is a good idea for me, I have a couple of companies that I consistently will do daily deliveries or something for clients.
Um, it's my, uh, place where I have my investment firm and, you know, they have clients like when they are sick, they get out of surgery. They [00:06:00] had someone pass away, like I'm delivering something to their client's home, if it is within 30 miles or so from here, and I have at least two to three days notice, and usually it's over 100 budget so I can usually, you know, still make a good chunk of money 75 bucks.
65 bucks, whatever, or, you know, that 30 minutes of time investment, but if I don't have any plans to go to the wholesaler, I might tell them to call somebody that's in that area because it just doesn't make sense. So evaluating, are you spending your time on good revenue producing? Like, or maximum revenue producing, because if you're bogged down in daily orders, and I actually had this happen with a coaching client right now, they were paying 400 a month for a BloomNation site and [00:07:00] getting very minimal, uh, results.
A component of their BloomNation package isn't set up yet, and they've had it for almost six months. And the blue nations reached out repeatedly and we haven't like that. It just hasn't been set up because she's busy doing daily deliveries. It could have been more beneficial for her to like, say no to a couple of daily deliveries and say, I need to prioritize.
Getting this set up for a bigger picture? Um, I think fundamentally like how Bloom Nation is set up doesn't work for this client in general, but that could have probably been figured out faster if we would've had more data. 'cause now they're like resting on that this part wasn't set up. And I'm like, this part has nothing to do with this setup.
She cannot get four orders off of a $400 a month [00:08:00] website. Like, this does not make any sense. So evaluating those decisions, you need to make sure you have the time to do that because if you don't have the time and that gets pushed back, pushed back, pushed back, then you know that I need to really do some hard evaluation, um, because I also want to make sure I have time for my family.
I want to make sure I have time to go work out. I want to make sure I have time for myself. I want to make sure that I have time to work on the business instead of in the business. So, are things that you're doing worth your time? If you make 100 from a workshop that you have invested five hours in for community ed or whatever, is that a good investment of your time?
I would say no. You know, I, my time is 150, 200 an hour for any of those types of things. And that is not just the time I'm in a classroom. I need to look at [00:09:00] like my overall time I invested in it. So do an evaluation, figure out where those things are because that is going to help you level up. You need to let go of things that are not serving you anymore and pull in opportunities for growth.
You can even have a little bit of time to start reaching out to some planners, start building relationship with other vendor friends. And that could be way more lucrative than the 65 order that you just drove 30 minutes and somebody is not home. Then one of the next things kind of related to this in really evaluating is getting an accountant, getting a tax person who really understands for one business taxes, because if you all automatically transition, when you start a business to have your personal tax guy or girl do your taxes, they might not be an expert in this.
I know I personally. We have a tax person [00:10:00] that I outgrew my old tax person that I had for 15 years because the business grew, the complexity grew, I turned my business into an S corporation, that grew, there were so many things that were just too complicated for my tax person, so we have expanded Into hiring someone completely different because it has up leveled our business.
It has made me step into the CEO. I will never forget the day, like, I had a check in meeting with our tax person. Like, I just felt like I had my floral CEO hat on that day. Like, I'm actually strategically talking about my business. We've been with them for, you know, years now, but I just felt like that just elevated my business because I am talking to someone about the money in my business, which honestly, like money is not talked about in [00:11:00] especially feminine energy type places.
And it, it's so shocking, like, cause my husband is in his peer groups. They talk about money all the time. And I don't know if it's some like measuring contest in some contexts, but like, I have been in six different masterminds. One of the requirements was to be over a hundred thousand dollars, but that was the only time revenue was talked about.
And I'm like. My husband's like telling me what kind of business, because I'm talking about people in these masterminds, like what kind of, um, revenue type business do they have? Like, I have no clue. We don't talk about that. You should be talking about it because when you talk about it, it's more real.
Like, you deserve to make money. You are a business, not a non profit. And when you start talking about it, you know, like it just, it becomes more real. It becomes more serious. And [00:12:00] so having an accountant that helps hold you accountable is going to make it more real. Plus it helps you like I was improperly paying myself because I didn't have certain things covered.
Um, I didn't have like workman's comp, like I didn't. I didn't know that I should have that. Nobody ever told me until I had a venue yelling at me like I need to have, um, workman's comp. I was like, what are you talking about? Like, for one, why do you care? But they care from a liability because I was going to be on a ladder.
And for some reason they're invested in that. But doing those type of things, being around people who are talking about those type of things, It's so enlightening. I was talking with somebody yesterday and they were telling me like what their revenue was and I was like, this is so enlightening to have a conversation with a flower friend that we can just talk about money because like we all want more of it, but we don't talk about it or we're [00:13:00] afraid to or we're afraid of judgment or we're afraid of all these things happening and I just don't have time for that.
I am like, I'm a floral CEO and with that, I have expectations of what I'm going to make, what my business is, how it's going to perform. And so should you, you deserve to make money. So that accountant is going to help you do that. Another thing is as the floral CEO in your business, you need to make sure that you have systems in place so that shit doesn't fall through the cracks.
Honestly, an accountant, a tax person is one of those systems. QuickBooks, one of those systems. Using, like having an ordering strategy, having proposal templates, having a playbook of how you're going to interact with a client, a social media strategy. [00:14:00] Like, those are all systems that you put in place to make sure that things don't fall through the crack and that you keep pushing forward.
And that all of a sudden, like, everything doesn't fall apart because, oh, I, all of a sudden, or you don't feel like. You all of a sudden want to go crawl under your bed because you just looked and I actually just saw this post. I haven't posted on social for two weeks. Sorry, everybody. For one, like you're bringing attention to it.
So don't do that. For two, you don't have to defend what you're doing to anybody. But what you should be doing is, okay, from here, where do I want to go? I want to actually make a plan. This is going to be my social media system. My social media system is, I want to post certain days of the week. And I have a strategy behind that, what I'd like to talk about, how many times a week I [00:15:00] want pretty photos posted, what I want to really share, and I have those strategies for both of my accounts.
So I have a plan, a system, then that system can change, that, that whole layout can change based on is this working? Is it not working? And. You can tweak and mold it to be whatever you want, but without systems in place, it is very hard to scale. Without me having a bucket washer, it is hard for me to scale.
Without me having a system in place for all my items to be pulled, inventoried, cleaned, packed. Which means my system is, I have someone that is in charge of that. Without having a system for my proposals, my proposals are created in Canva. I have templates, I have folders created to make those easy. Like without those systems, Everything feels harder.
So where is [00:16:00] your business feeling hard? How could you simplify it and make it easier? That might be hiring someone. I hired, finally, somebody to help with my social media. Actual scheduling, creation, um, captions, all those things. Because I didn't want to fail when I got busy. Because when you get busy, like those things are sometimes the first things that go.
You need to have those systems in place so that things, in case it's busy, don't fall off. Then, I also think that one of the biggest things that has, that, that changed my revenue is my portfolio. I started doing. Bigger things and posting more of that more of the type of wedding [00:17:00] work that I wanted to do and I stopped blasting everything on my social media that I didn't want to attract anymore that was lower budget that didn't speak to my brand or just was uninspiring to me.
So by elevating your portfolio, that can be done in several different ways. You could be playing with yourself, like doing some Trader Joe's flowers, and just doing a nice little compote arrangement and doing a still life type setup. You could be practicing your spiral bouquet and making a bouquet. You could, you know, be making a boutonniere and photographing it.
Like, work on, like, doing things. That inspire you and like you're excited about and then that can push to really helping attract more of what you want and less of what you don't want. Then the [00:18:00] other thing that I, and this is my last and final thing that I think is so critical is in the floral industry.
One of the things that we're not great at is actually investing in ourselves, and I can say this. With utter certainty that this is something that I did, uh, I have been a florist for over 25 years and not until I started investing, not only my money, but my time into becoming a better version of myself, did my business start to move directions and time investments are often free resources, potentially like this podcast, this is a time investment.
You're listening to this and trying to level up. [00:19:00] You also could be doing, like, my free trainings that are in my Facebook group right now. Um, the Floral Hustle Facebook group. It's a great free resource. There are tons of free resources. I truly feel like when I started putting some money, some skin in the game, and holding myself accountable to, for one, get my value out of the item that I bought, But for two, that I just took it more seriously when I spent money.
And 95 percent of courses right now are not completed, but there's a lot of free mini classes, free masterclasses that are considered courses. By spending money on it, you have this tie, and it doesn't necessarily even mean, like, buying a course. Maybe make a bet with yourself. Like, when I get this done, I'm going to go get a manicure.
When I get this done, I'm going to [00:20:00] go get a new outfit. When I complete this, I'm going to go order that new floral shears that I really want. When I do something, you know, like I'm putting skin in the game, that there's a reward or a payoff. Let's just say that you want, um, you know, to do a spa day or something like that.
Like, if you book 10 weddings, whatever it is, or if you complete this, this challenge that you signed up for. Tell your partner, tell your best friend. Like, get them to hold you, kind of do a bet with them that you're not going to do it, or that you will do it, whatever. Make some skin in the game, because that is how things get moved forward.
My first, like, step into actually paying for floral education, because I was like, I've been a florist for like 20, I mean, a million years, whatever it was at the time. And, like, I've done, at that point, I had done [00:21:00] over a thousand weddings. So, like, I know what I'm doing. I, like, I don't need someone telling me.
Like, I, I kind of have my mojo on lockdown. And when I went, I actually went to flower stock on Holly Chapel's farm. Holly Chapel's, uh, Designer that has partnerships with syndicate and has invented all these amazing products and has this beautiful farm and she just makes this like hippie flower fest that floral educators come to and I'm throwing it out there on my bucket list that I would love to teach a flower stock because like if you don't throw it out there and really start to like work on something like you're just you're not going to have that energy.
Um, moving you forward. So I went there. I went in a good time because I don't think there's ever a bad time to be around any floral educator that really is you. Somebody who has mastered their craft, but passion flower. Sue was [00:22:00] there. Um, there was a career fulfillment coach that I later signed up for her mastermind because I found her so inspiring and I was at a really pivotal time where, uh, I was leaving corporate.
And I felt like I just like lost this identity, lost this important, importantness that I, my perceived importantness because I had a job that was important, that made a good chunk of money. And like, I felt like I just, I mean, I was the sales director and had worked really hard for that. And like, I just lost my, my whole like thing just.
Fizzled, like when I left, and I thought I was just gonna, you know, really just go and do flowers, but then I'm like, I have my kids all the time, and I just felt like then I was just being a mom, and I really didn't feel like this inner passion, and so like, she helped me, but if I wouldn't have invested. In going there, I would have [00:23:00] never been exposed to her and then seeing Holly Chapel, like this woman is on fire, like she is totally when you were around her energy, like it was making me anxious because the girl is just on fire.
I am very kind of a calm, even keel person. I can get excited and I can be passionate about things like I'm, I'm passionate about education. Um, not only because I teach it because I know how impactful it is. And I can see how me coaching people has been so impactful for their business, for their revenue.
And so going all in on like myself also is speaking to you that I'm worth investing in. I'm worth taking time to do this and that I am a value. I am that you really mean [00:24:00] something to yourself. And so I, to date, since that experience, probably go, holy crap, Jen, but I have probably spent like 65, 000 on education.
Like let that sink in. 65, 000. And I, today, at two o'clock, am meeting with someone for a mastermind that is a multiple five figure investment annually. Like, it kind of has me like anxious to even think about it, but I've spent 10, 000 on one day with someone that I knew was going to drive me forward. And so how can you be in those spaces?
Because those spaces are people around you are investing in themselves. They are thinking bigger. They have bigger goals usually. [00:25:00] They are my, one of my things is they're not okay with just being okay. And that's why I go to CrossFit. I'm around those people. That's why I'm in masterminds because I'm around those people, people who want to be the better version of themselves.
That's why I've taken courses from people who are doing the things that I want to do. There's tons of free resources. I have tons of free resources on my website. I have free guides on pricing, on social media, on like, if you want to launch your business in 30 days or less, on sustainability, like there are so many free resources out there.
You need some skin in the game. And if you don't have skin in the game, you're probably going to be where you're at now. Like, I was another five years down the road and another five years. I mean, it took a long time for me to finally realize that when I put skin in the game, I made things happen more.
And especially when I [00:26:00] got someone who was really supportive and was also Like, my husband is a consumer of self improvement. He takes courses. He listens to books like, I mean, like nobody that I've ever listened to, he listens to podcasts and books at 1. 5 speed so he can listen more and take more faster.
It like stresses me out to even listen to anything like more than at one time speed. So I'm like, you can do that by yourself. No, thank you. I like soaking it in, being in the moment and that is to me is just not doing that. But Works for him. So how can you level up your education? Like, I actually have a budget that I usually look at at the beginning of the year and say, I'm going to allocate like 10 percent of my revenue towards education.
And sometimes it's hard when I talk to some florists for them to spend 200, [00:27:00] 400. But if you don't do that next year at tax time, you probably are going to be in this exact same spot. Education, I think is the biggest driver in someone's success. And if you listen to the podcast, I have done episodes on the beginning of this new year, I am launching an experience like that I would have died for like five years ago, 10 years ago and would have completely changed my business.
The floral CEO mastermind. We'll be closing, um, I'm pretty sure I'm going to close it on the 28th. Um, let me just make sure that that's the date I was thinking. Um, yep, the 28th, which is a Thursday. And We're going to be having a launch party. Um, you're going to meet all your new flower [00:28:00] friends, um, because this mastermind is going to be me guiding you.
Educationally, you're going to be learning something new. We're going to have hot seats where you can, like, bring your issues to the mastermind. And really, like, just locking arms with people who want better businesses and want to make more money. Led by me, who is somebody who makes a good chunk of money with a part time investment of actual time resources and still is the mother that I want to be, still is the human that I want to be, and wants to teach you how to make this easier, how to simplify it, and how to actually create a strategy for growth.
Because a lot of you have probably been stuck right here for years. The world is becoming and changing. Weddings are changing, the economy is changing, and you need to be ahead of [00:29:00] the game. This is that opportunity. Go check it out at the floral CEO, um, it's like it's own standalone page on my website, the Floral Hustle.
So it's the floral hustle.com/mastermind. If you want a direct link, you can go to the floral hustle.com and it's the floral CEO has its own tab. We will be launching at the beginning of the year and then I will be shutting it down to join. And then the price is going to go up. So founding member pricing is such a great deal.
Like one of the masterminds I'm in right now is like 1, 000 a month. That investment to me has been so worth it because I'm not even with Floris and it's been worth it. I have learned like how to you use different impactful for what you're trying to say. I have learned about like email marketing. I have learned about.
So many things that are not directly applicable, [00:30:00] but circle back and are applicable in some way. So you could have that opportunity. This is a limited space. It's almost half full right now. So we have a short window. If you want to get in, if this seems weird and you're like, I don't even understand a mastermind.
Send me a DM on Instagram. Let's set up a 15 minute chat and I can answer your questions. And I'm not just plugging this as your, your resource or, you know, the end all be all to fix what's going on. If you do feel like you have a revenue or just a, a lack of growth in your business, there are other opportunities.
This is just the most specific opportunity that I've. Ever seen out there that will really deliver impactful results because it's completely applicable to florists. Thank you so much for listening, flower friend. Like, I hope that you step in as the CEO of your business next year, like you never have before, because you [00:31:00] deserve your next level self.
You deserve to have the business that you love. You deserve. to have a life you love, a motherhood, if you're a mom that you love, whatever it is, like you deserve so much more than we often give ourself credit for. Thank you so much for listening, flower friend. You have an amazing flower filled day.