Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Workshop for Florists in Vermont

Announcing A Spring Workshop for Floral Designers and Farmer-Florists!

Join us for 2 Days of Hands-On Training with Françoise Weeks, Phebe Robinson-Higgins & Alison Ellis, April 17 & 18th at The Round Barn, Waitsfield, Vermont.

Including Foam Free Woodland Techniques, Business Coaching On How To Sell A Wedding & Price For Profit, and Everything You Need To Run A Successful Pop-Up Shop in time for Mother’s Day!

Get the resources you need to level-up your passion & career. 

Limited to 20 Seats. Doors Are Open Now! Click Here For Details!

Pack your tools, bring your refillable water bottle, and we’ll make sure you have everything you need once you’re on site!–from flowers to supplies to meals and snacks and bottomless pots of coffee (or tea)!

All Meals Included for Welcome Reception on Sunday and 2 Full Days of Hands-On Training on Monday and Tuesday.

If you’re a floral designer or farmer-florist and you want to expand your offerings to include more sustainable design techniques, or create profitable pop-up shop in your community, or book more profitable weddings & events, this workshop is for you! 

You’ll walk away with inspiration to design with new perspective, know-how to price for profit and close wedding sales, and skills to Pop-Up so you can sell your flowers– even without your own storefront!

Get Your Seat Now!

TWO DAYS WITH FRANÇOISE, PHEBE & ALISON:

  • Sustainable Woodland Designs with Françoise Weeks
  • Successful Pop-Up Shops with Phebe Robinson-Higgins
  • How To Price For Profit & Book Weddings with Alison Ellis

 

Sustainable. Successful. Profitable. Ready to join us?

Elevate your creativity and level-up your business strategy!

Click Here for Pricing, Daily Schedule and FAQs!

We’d love to see you here in Vermont in April! Reach out with questions for me anytime. info{at}realflowerbusiness.com

xo. -Alison Ellis

 

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Should Florists Use Artificial Intelligence In Marketing?

Everyone’s talking about using AI to automate, but what role should automation play in your floral design business?

It’s tempting to lean into automating your business–and I get it, it’s enticing to take the “thinking” out of your work and let someone else handle it!

But there’s truly no replacing the human-to-human interaction and connection that your brand can create with your customers!

(By the way, that’s why the intern that’s assigned to “handle your social media” may not be getting the results you’d hoped for!…because they don’t have the client-focus that’s required to really connect with your ideal customers.)

Click to watch this short take on using AI in your business.

The Moral Of The Story

People buy from people. And good brands aren’t built on auto-pilot.

It’s wise to streamline your business processes whenever possible–as long as you’re not missing the customer connection! There’s a risk of over-automating and losing the special touch (and trust!) your customers are looking for.

I follow templates to help lead clients through the sales process with my email replies and proposals (which you can find here!), but I still take the time to craft customized communication for each client so they get the best experience with my brand.

Because personalized service is part of what I promise. And a computer can’t deliver that for me!

Keep doing beautiful work and keep showing up for your customers as ONLY you can!

(Click Here For More: Should You Lose Your Auto-Reply?)

With love from me to you,

Alison Ellis

(Learn more about Alison Here)

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Engagement on Instagram Is Down

Have you heard that engagement is down on Instagram lately? Some of the “most popular” flower famous folks I follow have been mentioning this for the last few months, but what does that REALLY mean for their business…and more importantly, what does that mean for YOUR business?

 

Well, let me show you a few quick REAL numbers from some of the “successful” instagram accounts I follow with 90K-100K followers.

 

First, a note….I know I’m not the only one who looks at numbers like these, but when you’re looking at your own “Instagram stats” and adding up your “likes”, keep THESE STATS in mind:

 

One “flower famous” account with over 100K followers had about 1,000 “likes” on a post recently–which sounds like a lot, but that’s actually ONLY 1% of their total followers! And MOST of their posts had closer to 500 average “likes”, which is 0.5%–that’s ONLY half of one percent of “followers”.

 

Another super talented floral designer with over 90K followers had an average of 149  “likes” on posts lately….and AGAIN that’s just a little over 1% of their follower count.

 

Overall, that is a very small percentage of people who saw the post and took a second to “give it a like”–and, as you may be able to guess, even fewer took the time to comment–and even fewer took action to buy something!

 

If your small business has 600 followers with an average of 10 likes on your posts, that’s 1.66%–Which is in line with the stats of these VERY popular flower accounts with tons of fans!

 

Knowing that the actual reach of these social media posts is “very low”, should you be aiming to grow your Instagram following?

In short, nope.

 

Instead of chasing an algorithm for “likes”, your business needs a more intentional marketing strategy to bring the right clients to your business year after year.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong here–having 1,000 people “like” your stuff is a lot of eyeballs for a small business!…But I’m more interested in how many customers are buying from you than how many people are “liking” your social media posts!

 

Most small businesses don’t have the bandwidth to outwit, outsmart, and out-post on social media to try to gain “popularity”–it’s far better to reach a smaller number of people who are the MOST interested in purchasing what you have to offer.

 

Remember these stats before you worry about a poor post performance! Focus on growing your sales over growing your “followers”.

 

xo. -Alison Ellis

 

P.S. I don’t post on social media every day and I don’t have 100K followers on social media, but I have managed to attract GREAT clients to my business for the last 20 years thanks to an intentional marketing strategy that’s designed to bring the BEST customers to me. I’m sharing some of the MOST important marketing and brand building tips in my Marketing Workshop for Florists on Dec. 5, 6, & 7th at 12pm EST. If you don’t have a marketing plan in place for 2023, consider joining this workshop for just $37!

 

You don’t have to end the year “pushing to the finish line”, but some easy, practical marketing tips can be just the thing to help you reach more great customers who can’t wait to work with you in the new year. Click Here for details about the Workshop and Sign Up Today!

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Real Flower Business Courses Are Moving

We’re Moving! No, I’m not moving out of Vermont, but I’m moving my online business courses to a brand new site!

This is a big move–and one that I’ve been putting off for a long time now! So I’m very excited to invite you to check out the new site HERE.

Flower Math is the first course I ever made, so it’s only natural that it would be the first course to find a new home on the new site!

Existing Flower Math Students will be granted access to the new course platform–so if you’re already enrolled in Flower Math check your email for a Flower Math Course Login (and don’t forget to check your spam or promotions folder just in case it lands there by mistake!).

Below you’ll see a quick tour of the new course layout so you can easily find your way around as soon as you log in!

As always, if you have any questions, you can reach me at my new email address: info@realflowerbusiness.com

Announcing 3 Upcoming Workshops!

  • Dec. 5, 6, 7th I’ll be teaching a 3-Day Live Virtual Marketing Workshop for Florists! If you’d like some common sense marketing tips for florists and you want to know when registration is open, CLICK HERE to get on the notification list.

 

  • In January 2023, I’ll be teaching my group coaching program, The Art of Good Business, a 4-week course for floralpreneurs who want to take their marketing and branding to the next-level, and registration will open Dec. 7th–so stay tuned for details or subscribe to the Marketing Workshop List (above) for info!

 

  • I’ll be teaching LIVE IN PERSON in April–right here in Vermont!–along with world renowned instructor, Françoise Weeks, and Phebe Robinson of Popped With Phebe!

In this 2-Day Live Workshop in April, florists will get to create sustainable woodland centerpieces and jewelry with Françoise, learn how to add an income stream to your home-studio or flower farm by running a profitable pop-up shop with Phebe, and get practical business advice with Alison targeted to your specific questions so you can maximize profits and attract more great customers. Registration details for the live workshop will be coming soon!…it’s going to be SO good!

Thanks so much for stopping by my site today AND for your support and patience as we make this switch to a new site.

With love from me to you,

Alison

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2022 Florist Education

Running a business requires you to think ahead. You should always be looking forward in your business and updating your goals.

If you’ve been following my posts for any amount of time, you may already know that since I’m constantly encouraging florists to “make a plan” and “set new goals” and “look at the real numbers” so you can actually fulfill the vision you have for your business and your life.

This month, I’m making some BIG moves in my own business–for example, I’ll be moving my online courses to a new site, which is both exciting and slightly terrifying all at once! You can see the new site HERE!

Now, as I keep moving forward, I also want to take a moment to look back at the year so far so I put together some highlights of the tips and trainings I’ve shared throughout 2022….and it started with a Live Session on Setting Boundaries That Work For Your Business!…Scroll down for a brief recap to get some tips to help you move forward in your business goals!

January

How Do You Set Boundaries In Your Business?

➤If you need to get better at saying “no”, or you’re so busy that you need to raise your prices, or your clients’ expectations are depleting your energy–not filling your creative bucket–then this session was designed for you!

➤January is also when I teach my Live Group Coaching Program, The Art of Good Business! (2023 Session Starts Jan. 10th! Enrollment will be open Dec. 7-13th.)

February

On The Flower Podcast:

➤I was a guest on The Flower Podcast and it aired on National Floral Design Day!

➤Scott and I talked about pricing, setting boundaries and some of the most frequent questions I’m getting lately around “educating clients” and the sales process.

➤I also shared one of the biggest “messaging mistakes” florists are making around pricing.

 

March

Spring Pricing Chat!

➤The Spring Flower Math Sale usually takes place in March and my Pricing Chat for Florists kicked off the sale!

April

Do Florists Have To Go To Floristry School?

➤If you want to be a florist, do you have to go to Floristry School? It’s a question I see a lot and I know there can be some strong opinions on the subject. Click to see my answer to the question and let me know what you think!

 

May

How To Book A Wedding In 10 Days or Less:

➤After 20 years of booking weddings, I’ve developed a smooth process to consistently lead clients through the booking process to get to a “yes”. Check out the step-by-step breakdown in the blog post and find my templates for emails, proposals, contracts and the workflow I follow for client management HERE!

June

My Wedding Season Started In June, You’ll See Some Of My Work On My Blog At floralartvt.com Here!

I also wrote an article that was featured in the Slow Flower Journal called, Is Your Business Sustainable, which you’ll find in the Botanical Couture Issue on page 59 HERE.

August

11 Tips To Improve Your About Us Page:

➤Live session replay with tips on improving one of your MOST viewed pages on your website, your About Us page!

➤Website Bootcamp Flash Sale took place in August as well!

September

Fall Business Planning Session on Patreon & Setting A Minimum:

➤Patreon members were invited to a Fall Business Planning Session. (Replay is available on Patreon.)

➤And see the October post below for a replay on Setting A Minimum.

October

How To Set A Minimum:

Whether you already have a minimum or you’re just figuring out how to establish a minimum, this chat is for YOU!

Here’s what’s covered:

➤Why Florists Need A Minimum

➤How To Determine A Minimum For Your Business

➤How To Communicate A Minimum To Customers

November

Slow Flowers Journal released their Fall 2022 Issue and you’ll find an article I wrote with tips for a Fall Floral Biz Check on page 58 HERE! It’s a beautiful holiday issue, so make sure to check it out!

I shared a super quick boutonniere tutorial on Instagram you’ll find below!

Question for you:

As you continue to move forward in your business and keep your focus on what’s ahead, what will help your business THE MOST as you forge ahead in your floral business journey?

More money? More clients? More time off?

(Pro-tip: A more strategic marketing plan is one of the MOST powerful levers in your business because it means you can work less hard in other areas!)

If you need help with a strategy for your business feel free to reach out anytime with questions for me. You can contact me here: info@realflowerbusiness.com

FYI: You can also join me live & in person in Vermont for an April Workshop with Françoise Weeks, Phebe Robinson-Higgins and me! It’s going to be a great time and we only have 20 seats available. Click Here To Learn More About The 2-Day Workshop–April 17-18!

xo. -Alison Ellis

 

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