Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Why It’s Important To Be LGBTQIA Affirming In Your Business

This is a live chat from my Facebook group–I didn’t plan to share this chat outside of the group since it’s directed AT the group, however, my friend, Susan (aka Passionflower Sue), asked if I’d be sharing it more widely and since the message is vitally important to our industry, I’m sharing it here so you can watch and share even if you’re not a member of my Facebook group.

The topic is about the importance of creating safe spaces for the LGBTQIA community, but this message extends to members of any marginalized communities who deserve equal treatment and basic human dignity when doing business with your company.

Click to watch and download the free pdf with some notes from the live.

Grab the PDF Here: Why Should Your Business Be LGBTQIA Affirming

I hope you’ll recognize the need to take action to be “more than welcoming” and work towards actually affirming that your business is safe and inclusive of ALL people regardless of sexual orientation, race, or religion.

We can do better as an industry, but it starts with us ALL doing better individually.

With love from me to you,

Alison

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Tips for Florists on Blogging, Ghosting, and Attracting Higher Budgets

For the last few weeks I’ve been broadcasting my Tuesday Q&As over on Instagram (instead of in my private Facebook group) and it’s been fun to connect with floral folks on the gram! Click below to watch a replay of today’s live chat and make sure to follow me on IG here: @realflowerbusiness!

Questions I received this week include:
  • Why should I blog? I know it’s important for SEO, but why?
  • How do I avoid getting ghosted?
  • What’s your advice for attracting clients with higher budgets? My typical weddings are $2,000-2,500, but would love to see $3-4k inquiries more often.

I also touched on how I’m handling COVID cancellations moving forward and addressed a question on customers who ask for discounted pricing during the pandemic!

Questions for a future livestream? Just get in touch: floralartvt@gmail.com

FYI I’ll be diving into MORE pricing questions later this month in an invitation only chat on Zoom!

Flower Math Sale Waitlist

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Foam Free Wedding Arbor

Foam free floral arbors are fun and easy to do!

I just did my first wedding of 2020 yesterday and shared my #foamfreefloral mechanics on Instagram. Click through the pics below to see the before, during and after on this foam free wedding arbor including 2 time lapse videos showing you the greening and the flowering!

View this post on Instagram

 

#foamfreefloristry before, during and after look at today’s arbor using the #hollychapplepillow

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness) on

 

These are super easy foam free mechanics that are affordable and help you make a bigger impact with less product!

What about a water source? I’ve received some questions about a water source and YES, I used about 20 water tubes on the more tender blooms (like hydrangea) and if you live in a warmer climate you can tube every bloom if you need to.

And if you want to see a full breakdown of the recipe on this arbor PLUS the total cost and profit margin on the design, I just shared this with my Patreon subscribers at the $9 Tier and up!….there are a WHOLE LOTTA lessons when you join me on Patreon, of course, but this arbor breakdown is just one good reason to give it a try! There’s no obligation and you can unsubscribe at any time.

I hope you’ll enjoy this little peek behind the scenes.

xo. -Alison

P.S. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram if you don’t already!….

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3 Keys To Booking Great Clients

What does your business need to move forward?

Wouldn’t it feel good to have clients who dig your work and trust your expertise?

You may be unsure what you can do “right this minute”, but if you want to feel more in control of where your business is going, NOW is the time to build your business skills to attract the best clients moving forward.

  • You want to avoid wasting time on price shoppers.
  • You want clients who appreciate your talent.
  • You want to nail your marketing strategy.

If you want more inquiries from interested clients who want to work with you and get to “yes” more easily…

AND you want to feel more respected, professional and in charge…

Get OFF the hamster wheel of cycling through the same problems year after year–price shoppers wasting time and energy that you could have invested elsewhere will eventually leave you feeling overwhelmed, resentful and disappointed that your business isn’t more sought-after yet!

In this online course, 3 Keys To Booking Clients, you’ll learn to improve your sales systems so you can close more sales with clients who are already eager to book with you!

Full Retail Price is $396 HERE

OR You can join my Patreon Membership Training for a $29 monthly subscription HERE to get ALL the lessons in this course (and more!). There’s no obligation! You can unsubscribe at any time.

Become a Patron!

The value of this training is off the charts because once you learn these behind-the-scenes sales tactics and processes, you’ll be closing sales with more confidence….and you can’t put a price tag on that!

You could invest $10k in a branding package to help you attract clients, but that still won’t necessarily help you close sales consistently.

But for 1 payment of $396 OR a $29/month subscription to Patreon you can get strategies for proposals, sales, branding and marketing your businesses to help you work towards your longterm goals….even if you don’t have it all figured out “right now”.

You’ll get:

Over 3.5 hours of video lessons on pre-qualifying, attracting the right clients, and closing the sale.

Including:

  • 3 Keys To Booking Clients
  • Marketing vs. Branding Tips
  • 3 Blogging Strategies
  • Contact Form Tune Up
  • Growing An E-mail List
  • Pinterest 101

+ a Transcript of A Real Phone Consultation!

+ 10 Weekly Social Media Prompts!

Here’s What Patreon Members Say About This Training….

Thanks for all of this amazing content. I will continue to take the small steps toward clarifying and communicating my brand. Knowing that this is a long term commitment, frees me up from having it perfect right now. I love that I can take small steps towards this goal without having it all figured out in the hear and now.

Good thing I know I have grit to keep going, to getting better each day and taking small steps towards a great goal. Thanks for keeping us in action mode!

Hi Alison. Lesson 1 was very helpful and I appreciate the clear delineation of action steps provided….

Whoa…I’ll be changing my inquiry form this weekend! I LOVED how you educated them about the relative cost of flowers. They really need (and I think would want) that…

Lesson 1 was great! My inquiry form sucks (haha but not!!) I am working on that this afternoon! Thank you and lesson 2 tomorrow…

Things may feel uncertain in your business right now…I think that’s true for most people, but one thing is for sure–there’s no use wasting time just worrying.

Your 2021 events calendar may feel busy or even overbooked, but what’s happening beyond 2021?

Click to watch a replay of my livestream from July 22:

REMEMBER Full Retail Price is $396, but you can get it all for just a $29 subscription to Patreon! It’s month-to-month, meaning you can unsubscribe at any time and there’s no longterm commitment when you join!

Become a Patron!

Note: There are multiple Patreon Tiers, but the $29 Tier is the only one with access to ALL that you get in this course!

 

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3 Essential Things All Florists Must Know

There are 3 Essential Things All Florists Must Know.

In addition to floral design you must be able to master the following:

1. How to attract clients who are eager to work with you.
2. How to close the sale to book the gig.
3. How to turn a profit on every order you make.

Talented floral designers still have to develop your marketing and sales skills, too.

Click to watch my July 7 Live Q&A: What to focus on in your business right now!

Focus on your core to set yourself up for success. And if you need help leveling-up, let’s work together!

Have you heard about Floralpreneur® Fastrack? It’s a 6-Week Private Coaching Program designed to help you maximize your branding potential and find more clients who are eager to work with you.

Together, we’ll revamp your website to increase engagement, walk through ways to streamline your sales and booking process, and tell the story of your personal brand in a more compelling way.
Imagine stopping price shoppers in their tracks and finding more clients who are excited to book with you!

To get everything I include in this custom coaching and website revamp it would cost over $2,400.

But I am taking $600 OFF and you can join my Floralpreneur® Fastrack for $1,800.

PLUS I’m offering a 0% interest payment plan so you can take advantage of an 8-month or 12-month payment plan. That’s $225/8 months or $150/12 months and 0% interest.

Prefer to pay upfront?

You can save an additional $300 OFF with a one-time payment of $1,500. (That’s $900 in savings!)

There are only 2 spots available per month and the deadline to apply for July-August is July 12th. 

Here’s what some of my students have accomplished over the last few months…

  • Added their own personal voice to About page so it expresses their real life experience and awesomeness.
  • Identified new income streams and how they can position their existing clients to upgrade.
  • One floralpreneur® went from a 1 page website to a professionally designed new website with some strategic help from me–as well as monthly blog prompts, a new contact form, and clear messaging designed to attract more customers who are eager to book.
  • All of my students have new branding confidence with refreshed website copy, streamlined sales systems to book clients quickly, and social media prompts designed to help them speak to the hearts of their ideal customers!
Are you ready to be the next success story?

Here are the exciting details on Floralpreneur® Fastrack…

You’ll get:

  • Three 1:1 Calls with Alison:
1. Initial call to get acquainted & set agenda (45-minutes),
2. Brand Story and Website “stuff” (90-minutes),
3. Sales Coaching & Consultations (up to 90-minutes). ($750 Value)
  • Website Review:
I’ll create a custom screenflow to help you quickly improve your website with some key tweaks, changes and edits that you can make asap. This recorded private video allows you to watch, pause, take notes, make changes, and repeat! ($195 Value)
  • Rework/Write/Edit Sales Copy for:

Home page, About, Testimonials, Contact Form, and 2 Additional Pages or Blog Posts (you’ll write them, I’ll edit and help punch them up!). ($1,000 Value)

Plus you’ll get these Bonuses:

  • 6 months worth of weekly Blog Post Prompts/Social Media topics that you can write about to help develop your brand’s voice. (30 Prompts/$50 value for free!)
  • How To Write Proposals That Sell pdf with a behind-the-scenes look at how I create free mood boards & 3 Ways I Present Pricing In Proposals. ($99 value at no charge!)
  • Real Life Transcript Of A Phone Consultation. ($50 value at no charge!)
  • Personalized Online Toolkit with additional lessons and tutorials on how to improve your marketing & attract the best clients on your private dashboard at realflowerbusiness.com ($300+)
Are you IN? Like, yesterday?…
We’re going to level-up your business over the course of approximately 6 weeks.
Floralpreneur® Fastrack is an exclusive, intimate coaching experience for those who want to take their business to the next level over the next couple of months.
I will only coach those I know can benefit from this experience. That’s why I’m asking you to share a few details in a short survey. If I don’t believe that this coaching program can help you, I won’t take your money. Plain and simple.
To apply now, simply answer the questions in this survey and submit before midnight on Sunday, July 12th.
With love from me to you,
Alison

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