Join Me On Patreon
Want to book weddings more quickly?
I’m hosting a new training on Patreon!
The intention of this 6-month training is to serve as a behind-the-scenes pass to the strategies I use to attract awesome clients year after year and help you improve your booking, marketing and branding efforts.
Let me tell you a little bit more about this new thing I’m trying….
Question:
Answer:
- How To Identify & Pre-qualify Customers BEFORE investing time in a consultation and proposal.
- Phone Consultation Tips & Scripts (so you don’t have to meet clients until you’ve been paid).
- Branding Building & Marketing Prompts for 6 months of weekly blog posts, social media content, IG posts. (This is for anyone who says “I don’t know what to write about” or “I don’t know what to post”.)
Sound good? Join me & become a patron today!
In this new subscriber-only space on Patreon, we’ll hone in on your ideal customers, sales copy, marketing strategy, and increase your confidence when pre-qualifying clients so that you can LOVE your business (and your life!) as you set yourself up for business success in the long run!
From where to find the right customers to spending less time on consultations, members can ask me anything about streamlining your systems to help you gain more freedom and ensure longevity in your business.
Goals:
The goal is to create a professional, curated group that’s NOT ON Facebook so that I can provide off the charts value.
I am ALWAYS engaged in what I call “the art of good business”;
this means ALWAYS striving to streamline, perfect and hone my skills, not only in floral design, but in ALL the elements of business that make up a high quality brand.
The training starts November 18-20th and then, you’ll continue to receive monthly training sessions thru April. (You don’t need to attend live to access the training!) If I reach 100 subscribers, I’ll release 2 videos (or mix of video and live Q & A) per month thru April!
Your success is my #1 goal. That’s why I’m offering multiple tiers of membership on Patreon–you can choose which subscription meets your business goals & budget. The first tier of membership is just $9 per month.
If you haven’t been over to Patreon yet, it’s a super user-friendly space where creators, artists, writers and teachers share their work with the people who sign up to support them, or learn from them, on their creative journey (aka their Patrons!).
If you’re reading this, but you’re not familiar with me yet, I’m Alison Ellis, a floralpreneur® with over 25 years of design experience. And while floral design is what brought me to the floral industry, my passion for the art of good business is what’s kept me in business for over 17 years!
Ask me anything! Leave a comment on a post anytime and I’ll address your questions in the upcoming training. You’ll get 3 training sessions in November. This may be a mix of recorded trainings and live Q & A…your input will help shape the content I deliver to you!
This is a super up-close and personal look at how I “conduct myself in business” and I’m looking forward to helping you incorporate some of my tips and tricks into your systems, too.
I’d be honored to have you join me on this brand building journey!
With love from me to you,
Alison
Note: Payments for the current month will be due on the day you subscribe and then, on the 1st of the month for recurring subscriptions. You can unsubscribe at any time.
3-Day Website Bootcamp
Your website is your #1 sales tool.
As a florist, you know it’s essential that you keep your tools sharp!
Whether you updated your website last week or last year, NOW is the time to get your website in shape so that you can attract the very best clients who are eager to work with you….
So, to help you in this effort, I’m hosting a 3-day Website Bootcamp and you are invited to join me!
This course will show you how to put your BEST foot forward and get more clients to click on your contact form!
Here are the details…
When: May 14, 15, 16 @12pm EST/ 9am PST/ 5pm London
Where: In a closed Facebook group for paid members only
You can watch a replay any time AND I’ll e-mail you the training as well!
Cost: $79 if you register before April 30th at 5pm
Price increases to $89 thru May 7th deadline.
Bonus: The first 5 people to register will receive a FREE website review! This will be a recorded video of your website with tweaks, changes and updates to help you improve engagement and increase your bookings! You can make these changes yourself or share them with your website designer! ($150 value)
Click here to enroll and save your seat!
Click here to enroll and before the doors close!
Tell me more….
5 Actions To Take When Business Seems Uncertain
True Fact: Your business will face uncertainty.
As a small business owner who focuses on fresh flowers for weddings and events, you may experience a lot of uncertainty!…for example…
Kim asked in my Facebook group (to florists who’ve been in business for many years):
“Do you have “off” seasons where your booking rates are down? Is this a marathon not a sprint?”
The short answer is yes! Business ownership is a long game…and the path to success isn’t a straight line.
So what do successful business owners do when it’s an “off” year?
Here are 5 ways to Take Action when you’re not sure what to do:
#1. Streamline your “Systems”. A “System” is essentially a process for how you accomplish a task in your business. Typically you document your systems in writing (ie your operating procedures or employee handbook), and use them to identify inefficiencies or opportunities for automation in your business.
Systems are critical for a successful business, because they allow you to:
- generate income with way less effort
- reply faster and more effectively with less stress
- automate and streamline to get more done in less time
I have systems for client communication (and you should too), and I share my E-mail Reply Templates to help give florists a shortcut and you can find them HERE!
#2. Assess your SWOTs. What are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats?
If you only do 1 thing in an attempt to troubleshoot or plan ahead in your biz, I want to challenge you to take a few minutes to list out your SWOTs. (List as many as you can think of, but 2-5 per category is a good goal for a quick planning exercise.) What are you doing really well?…Which areas “need improvement”?
Now ask yourself:
- How can you address one weakness?
- And…What can you do to accentuate your strengths?
Pro tip: When things feel “off”, it’s essential to take an honest look at what’s going right and what threats or weaknesses you can address. You cannot improve what you do not measure!
#3. Update your website. I say this ALL THE TIME, but that’s only because it’s truly effective. Your website is the ONLY piece of your online presence that you actually own. You don’t own Instagram or Facebook or TikTok and they can change their algorithm anytime they want. Your website is truly yours.
Here’s where to focus your website efforts:
- If you have your most recent pictures on Instagram, but they’re not on your website yet, make updating your gallery a priority!
- Does your About Page have a photo of you and/or your team? If not, then do that TODAY! I don’t care if it’s a professional headshot or a selfie of you in your studio or at your desk….just let me see your face! Your customers are hiring YOU….don’t be afraid to show your face.
- Improve your sales copy. This can be the trickiest aspect of website “stuff” for many florists, but the words you choose to use on your About Page, Weddings Page, Contact Page, etc. should be clear, concise and speak directly to your ideal customers. You’re not talking to “everybody”; you’re talking to the people who are most interested in what you do!
- Blog. Yup. Still this. Blogging. It’s STILL how you optimize organic SEO, develop the voice of your brand and share your most recent happenings with your fans and followers.
If you need some tricks to make your website more engaging, you can get my BEST website secrets HERE.
#4. Connect with other vendors just to check in. Perhaps it’s the mutual referrals that you’ll gain….or perhaps it’s simply a sense of friendship and camaraderie that benefits you both…but “seeking to get” cannot be the motivation for reaching out. Seeking to connect should be the motive, nothing more!
You can choose to seek out a new relationship or simply check in with an established connection (perhaps someone whose work you respect, but you haven’t worked with much lately). Fellow florists, photographers, caterers, venues, you name it….if they serve the clients you wish to serve, they have the potential to be a good connection…but make sure it’s a two-way street. What can you offer to the friends and vendors you connect with? How can you help them?
People can sense when you “want something”….we ALL can tell when someone is reaching out to “get something from us”, but your fellow wedding vendors should be connections that you value and nurture…it’s not about what “they can do for you”, but about how you can help each other.
#5. Shorten the turnaround time on proposals for new clients. If bookings are slow, it’s important to turn proposals around in a timely manner. The quicker you send it out, the quicker you book it, so don’t drag your feet on proposal writing! T
he trick is to give enough detail that the client can trust you, but not give away so much detail that it takes 5 hours to write and send a quote to a client who isn’t under contract and cannot afford your quote.
You can find my shortcut for writing proposals in less time here: How To Write Proposals That Sell and Book More Weddings More Quickly!
Take some action in your business to plan for the future!…so you can keep doing beautiful work!
Remember: “Insight without action is worthless.” -Marie Forleo
After 17 seasons of running my home-studio business the reality of this is inescapable–at some point, every year, there is no “guaranteed” business for the next year. It may be a GREAT year in business this year, but next year’s success is still yet to be determined.
When you design wedding work, but you don’t have a brick & mortar flower shop, the idea of “repeat business” tends to be out of reach because someone planning a wedding this year, isn’t going to be back again next year!
And if you do run a brick & mortar shop, you have the ability to capture repeat business, but there’s daily stock & inventory to manage, employees you need to pay whether it’s a “good month” or a “bad month” and let’s face it, that’s a lot of pressure, too!
So no matter how you slice it, a business venture brings uncertainty, stress and responsibility….
BUT it also brings freedom, control and choice!…
I hope you’ll take action in your business TODAY to keep reaching for your goals.
Additional resources:
Master Your Pricing Series on Botanical Brouhaha
Hey Floralpreneur®! Have you seen my Master Your Pricing Series on BotanicalBrouhaha.com?
It’s a 4-part series I created to help you push through some pricing obstacles and actually get results! These are pricing changes and adjustments you can easily make in your business so I hope you’ll make some time to check them out.
You can catch up on all 4 parts of my Pricing Series For Florists below:
Part 1: Pricing on the spot. botanicalbrouhaha.com/master-pricing-pricing-spot
Part 2: Set a minimum. botanicalbrouhaha.com/master-pricing-set-minimum
Part 3: Stay in the driver’s seat. botanicalbrouhaha.com/master-pricing-stay-drivers-seat
Part 4: Give yourself a raise. botanicalbrouhaha.com/master-pricing-give-raise
It’s been a joy and an honor to share my Real Flower Business stuff with the Botanical Brouhaha readers. Thanks so much to Amy McGee for allowing me to guest post on her incredibly beautiful and inspiring corner of the internet.
With love from me to you,
Alison
P.S. Have you checked out the Botanical Brouhaha Podcast yet? Click HERE for a link to an episode I sponsored! You’ll be glad to made the time to listen.
More Pricing Resources:
- Click to watch: 3 Pricing Tips (a live chat from my Facebook group.)
- Flower Math: The Florist’s Guide to Pricing & Profitability (the 1st online pricing course for florists; Save $100 Off Today.)