CEO Mindset In Your Floral Business

How important is it to have a CEO mindset in your floral business?

Today, I have a few tips on how getting into a CEO mindset will help you to EASE into the new year–without adding anything to your to-do list!

Because when you run a business and you do “all the things”, it can be hard to zoom out to see the big picture and set next-level goals.

It takes intentional strategy and practice to get yourself into a CEO mindset that can chart your course and steer the ship (instead of just rowing the boat)!

Whether you work alone (like me!) or you lead a team, the most important thing is that you know where you want to go and what you need to let go of! Take a few moments to watch.

Things to consider now…

Do you work ON your business as much as you work IN your business?

Are your customer service systems seamless and effective?

Is your brand mission and message clear?

What are you paying attention to?

Are you spending your time wisely?

What is your next best step to get closer to your own unique goals?

How are you investing in your future growth?…

If you know it’s time to enter your CEO era, consider joining me in January for my 4-Week Training with Live Support, The Art of Good Business!

Learn More & Enroll Here!

And if you missed the Marketing Workshop for Florists, you can catch the limited time replay for just $37!

Get The Replay Now!

I’m rooting for you and your business as you move through this season and into the next! If I can be of any help to you in reaching your goals, please get in touch!

You can also find a full list of courses for florists HERE!

Keep doing beautiful work!

xo. -Alison Ellis

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Engagement Season Tips for Florists

Do you want to book some more events for 2025? Well, are you ready for engagement season?

Today, I have 3 Tips To Help You Prepare for Engagement Season–or whatever season your business may be entering–so that you can attract more of the right customers to your business! Click to watch now:

Join the Marketing Workshop!

A Few Notes To Recap

#1. Keep your ideal customers in mind–always!

Identify who you seek to serve so you can focus on what they want to hear from you!

That means, if your ideal customer really loves flowers and tends to have a reasonable budget, you don’t have to create content about how hard you work behind the scenes to clean wax out of votive candles or scrub buckets on a Monday morning.

Because your ideal customer would rather see the beautiful work you created this week and hear a little bit about why you love the look of the design!

#2. Revisit your existing marketing efforts.

What are you actually doing right now to attract the best customers to your business?
Are you putting all of your eggs in the social media algorithm basket?
What does your website express when I land on your homepage?
Are you speaking to the hearts of your ideal clients?
Where else can you reach them?

#3. Add more intention to your marketing strategy!

Level-up your marketing and branding strategy with a more magnetic message to attract the best clients!

Your “brand” is what your customers experience. So it’s more than just an image you project–it’s what people say about your company when you’re not in the room.

A better marketing strategy gives you leverage. In short, it makes it easier to book clients and gain trust if your brand credibility is already established in their minds.

After 22 years in business, I think it’s a wise practice to revisit your marketing and branding efforts on a regular bases (at least once per year!). That’s why I’m hosting my upcoming Marketing Workshop on December 3, 4 & 5th! You can learn about that and sign up here if you want to join me! I’d be honored to have you join me.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

xo. -Alison Ellis

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3 Top Tips for New Florists

Last week, I had the privilege of talking to a couple of florists in some 1:1 coaching calls and one new florist asked: What are your top 3 pieces of advice that you’d offer to a new florist?

There’s more than 1 way to answer this question, but I want to share with you what I shared with her! (And if you’ve been in business for a little while–or a long while!–these tips are for you, too!) Since we’re entering the 4th Quarter of the year, it’s the perfect time to share these 3 Tips with you, too! Listen below.

Real Flower Business · 3 Pieces of Advice for New Florists

Top 3 Tips For Florists

1. Define what you want your business to provide. How much income you’re looking to make in your business and what sort of lifestyle you’re trying to create?

(Note: Your sales goal will be higher than your income goal because all of your expenses come out of the total sales.)

2. Define all of the offers that you’re selling that will bring money into your business.

You can think of these like “buckets” or categories. For example, funerals, daily orders, walk-ins, weekly subscriptions, events.

Then, determine how much you need to sell in each category to meet the sales goal so that you can reach your income goal. (For example, $3,000 in funerals per month, $6,000 in daily orders and walk-ins, $2,000 in business accounts, $5,000 in weddings & events…)

3. Define who your customers are (and this may be a different customer for each of your buckets or categories) and get really obsessed with serving them well.

What do they need/want?
What would they love to buy from you?
What would they be excited to tell their friends about?

If you can answer these questions, you’re doing good work! And if you need to think about them a little bit, that’s good work, too!

FYI on Monday, Oct. 7th at 12pm ET I’m hosting an Opportunity Hour with Patreon members in the Marketing Mavens Tier as well as the new students in my Flower Math course!

This Opportunity Hour is a small group coaching session and any questions, struggles, or random things you want to bounce off of another florist are welcome!

I’ll send a Zoom invitation to Marketing Mavens along with the monthly blog posts for October.

Keep doing beautiful work and let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of help to you from here!

xo. -Alison Ellis

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Simple Social Media Tips for Florists

How can you be more consistent with blogging and social media so that you attract the best customers, but also follow a strategy that’s practical and simple?

I got this question from a member of my Patreon Community the other day, which was actually more like 8 or 9 questions, so I answered them live so I could really dig into details and answer in depth!

If you have questions after you watch, let me know!

Click to watch now:

In this livestream I answered questions on:

Content ideas for blogging and social media
Discipline ideas
Goals of how often to post
How do you measure its success
Post structure
How do I keep it simple
How do I post our values, beliefs and key brand points

If you need some help crafting your brand message and sharing your voice, you can get access to Monthly Blog & Social Media Prompts by becoming a Marketing Maven inside my Patreon Community here: www.patreon.com/realflowerbusiness

I know that as a business owner, it can be challenging to be consistent and authentic because there’s often a bit of a trade off between consistent and authentic.

Wash, rinse, repeat = consistent

But it often takes a little bit of contemplation to find what you have to share with the world that’s actually authentic!

I hope the tips I shared today will inspire you to simplify your social media strategy and share your voice with more intention.

And if you’d like to check out this month’s Social Media Prompts on Patreon, I’d be honored to have you join me there!

xo. -Alison

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Why I Love Writing Proposals

I love writing proposals and the reason is simple: it’s the first step to actually booking a client and getting paid.

Now, there’s a balance between giving away too much detail and investing too much time before a customer has committed to working with you. This is why florists often procrastinate the proposal process!

And that’s why when it comes to writing a wedding proposal, my goal is to spend no more than 1-2 hours preparing a quote. I want to be an easy “yes”, but I don’t want to labor over this quote for a week!

Just FYI, here are a few things I don’t do when writing a proposal:

List every single flower that will be in every single arrangement
Include dozens of flower images from stock files
Wait a week to start the proposal
Promise specifics
Make my clients commit to the exact number of centerpieces or final color palette–they just have to meet my minimum purchase

If you want to see how I simplify my process…

There are TWO ways you can get a closer look at the exact steps I follow in my Wedding Workflow to keep myself accountable after a customer inquires:

#1. You can download a pdf of my Wedding Workflow, which is available in my online shop here! It includes the 16 Steps To Client Management that I follow in my business, plus a deeper breakdown of 5 Steps to Book Clients More Quickly! This is newly updated, and if you already have my workflow or my Wedding Templates Bundle, you should find this updated version on your course dashboard!

#2. You can walk through the step by step process with me AND get the pdf of my Wedding Workflow by becoming a member of my Patreon Community at the $29 level! You’ll find some proposal shortcut tips in there right now PLUS a ton of lessons and short trainings on how to book great clients consistently.

Based on my experience as a business owner for 22 years so far, I’ve learned to focus on 3 Keys to Booking Great Clients Consistently and they include:

Brand Reputation–What You’re Known For/What People Say About You
Pre-Qualifying–Gathering Information & Setting Expectations
Customer Experience–The Steps You Follow To Establish Trust

All 3 Keys play a role in your brand position and if you want to attract better customers, the easiest thing to do is create a better customer experience!

The steps my customers follow are inside my Wedding Workflow now if you want to grab it here!

Keep doing beautiful work! And keep booking great clients.

-Alison Ellis