Tuesday Q&A for Florists

Floral designers have a lot of questions when you’re running a small business, and for over a decade I’ve been happy to help answer as many as I can. That’s why I’m bringing back Tuesday Q&As on YouTube! View my channel and subscribe here so you don’t miss any of the livestreams.

So far this month I’ve answered questions on:

Minimum orders and what to do when a customer falls below it
Charging for mockups for events
How to get started in as a floral designer if you don’t have experience yet
How much florists get paid
When to consider an “exclusivity clause”

The reason I’m doing this live each week is because, frankly, there’s a lot of bad information out there for florists lately!

“Newbies” who are teaching a skill they obviously just learned last week.

“Floral educators” who haven’t booked a customer since before the pandemic, but claim to have the business strategies you need today.

“Panderers” who seem to go viral on social media for an ego stroke that claims florists are basically the hardest working people on the planet (sorry, EMTs, pediatric oncologists and construction workers–get in line!).

I’ve been a floral designer for over 30 years because I love what I do. So while I understand what we do can be difficult at times, I’m not here to try to grab your attention with a click bait social media post.

I’m just looking to provide some truth out here about how to run your business with honestly and nuance. Because there isn’t only 1 right way to run your business!

Watch the most recent episodes of my Tuesday Q&A below!

And don’t forget to tune in on Tuesday, June 16th for the next live Q&A for florists! I’d love to see you there.

FYI if you’d like to help support these livestreams, become a member of my Patreon Community! You can get access to additional behind-the-scenes tips and lessons, as well as small group coaching every month!

xo. -Alison Ellis

By Alison Ellis

Flower Pricing with Alison Ellis and Jenny Marks

Pricing is one of the biggest struggles that floral designers face on a daily basis and Jenny Marks of the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast knows how important it is to stay focused on your numbers if you want to stay profitable!

She invited me to sit down for an interview on her podcast to talk about some common pricing mistakes that florists and flower farmers often make and we really got into some of the important reasons why profitability needs to be more of a focus for florists.

You can listen to Episode 95 now: All Things Pricing with Flower Math Expert Alison Ellis.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

From overstuffing bouquets to undercharging for labor, we covered a lot of ground in our conversation. Because a few bad habits, including a mindset of “feeling guilty” for charging a proper markup, create some common hurdles that florists need to overcome to maintain a profitable small business.

After you listen the episode, feel free to reach out if you have any questions for me. You can learn all about my Flower Math course HERE.

And if you’d like to talk one-on-one in a strategy call, you can learn more about coaching sessions HERE.

By Alison Ellis

How To Price Flowers

The first thing I figured out before starting my floral design business was how to price flowers.

I learned on the job in various flower shops and while each store was different in terms of location, style and clientele, the one thing these shops had in common was how to price their floral designs.

So when I started my own business after almost a decade in the floral industry, I knew how to turn a profit from Day 1.

Your business can make money from Day 1, too, if you price for profit and avoid overbuying!

Even though my business started out as a part-time gig because I didn’t have enough customers to quit my day jobs yet, I turned a profit all along the way.

Looking back, I know I was lucky to have learned the pieces of the pricing formulas so that I didn’t second guess or undercut myself.

So many florists I’ve talked to over the years have told me that even after decades in the industry, pricing was never fully explained to them and most floristry schools simply don’t cover the level of pricing detail you need to stay profitable and competitive in your business!

Click to watch!

As a floral educator, I’m known for the confusion-free approach to pricing I teach in my online course, Flower Math.

The reason I created this on-demand training is because I truly believe that pricing and profitability in your business shouldn’t be a mystery. In fact, the pricing formulas are easy.

For example, there are 4 main pieces of the pricing formula:

Marking up the flowers for retail.

Adding a design fee for time & talent to arrange.

Accounting for any supplies like ribbons, vessels and other mechanics.

Then, delivery, set-up, installation, breakdown….all the “other stuff” that goes into completing the floral order.

If you’re missing any of these pieces, or charging too little in any of these areas, you are losing profit!

Get Flower Math

After teaching florists how to price with confidence for over 10 years, I can tell you that before floral designers take Flower Math, one of 3 things is often true…

3 Pricing Mistakes Florists Make:

#1. Not including a design fee for your time and talent. (Markups are only 1 part of the equation!)

#2. Overfilling orders to make them look fuller.

#3. Buying too many flowers and losing profit margin because you set a spending goal instead of a profit goal.

If you know you’re guilty of any of the above, now is a good time to change that! Your business should be turning a profit on every order whether you own a brick and mortar shop or you work from home.

I show you exactly how in my Flower Math course!

Flower Math is tried and true…

If you’re not 100% confident that you’re maximizing your profits, Flower Math walks you through the pricing formulas step-by-step so there’s no confusion and no missing pieces of the puzzle.

There’s even a payment plan to make it more accessible, a money back guarantee and you can ask me questions anytime.

Flower Math is not just a course, it’s a roadmap to pricing and profitability and I’m here to support you along the way if you need help.

Do you have any doubts about your current pricing methods?

If you’ve been piecing together pricing tips without a full picture of all the steps, or if you just need some reassurance that you’re on the right track with your profit margins so you can pay yourself as much as possible, don’t hesitate to get into this class.

Florists often tell me they complete the entire course in an afternoon and make back the entire purchase price in the very first wedding they book after the class! You can see more of what Flower Math students say about the course here!

You have nothing the lose.

Click here to learn about Flower Math and get started today on your path to maximizing profits and paying yourself more.

And if you have questions for me, get in touch! info[at]realflowerbusiness.com

xo. -Alison Ellis

Learn more about Alison HERE!

See A Full Course List HERE!

By Alison Ellis

Pricing Transparency Mini Rant

Have you seen any posts on Instagram lately talking about “pricing transparency” on wedding flowers?

Because I saw one pricing breakdown this morning that was way too low based on their recipes, markups and final price. And frankly, it sets a bad example for both new and experienced florists.

In this particular post, there were at least six large arrangements on pedestals priced at the lowest end for markups and labor fees when in fact, it was a very high-end look the florist was creating!

But there’s another reason that I think it’s really concerning to see these “pricing transparency” posts:

They can be a bad idea for your brand!

Here’s why:

If you are posting about being “transparent” on pricing as a way to educate customers to be realistic about budget ranges, you’re probably NOT creating a post that appeals to higher budget clients! (Because they don’t need to be lectured on why you charge what you do! And whether your markup is 3x, 5x, or 10x, it’s non of their business anyway.)

And this got me thinking, in the spirit of pricing transparency, it’s time for a summer Pricing Chat for Florists! You can join me live on Tuesday, July 22, at 12pm Eastern/9am Pacific for this free Pricing Chat.

If you’re interested in joining me, we’ll talk about the 3 Most Important Numbers That Florists Need To Know in your business AND the 3 biggest pricing mistakes that floral designers often make!

Sign up HERE to get on the list and I’ll send you an email reminder beforehand.

If you can’t join me live, you’ll also be able to watch a replay for a limited time if you’re on the email list. You can submit a question to me beforehand if you’d like.

We’ll talk about maximizing your profits and I’ll answer your questions live!

Hope to see you there.

Very best,

Alison Ellis

Founder of realflowerbusiness.com

Creator of Flower Math: The Florist’s Guide to Pricing & Profitability

By Alison Ellis

Tariffs Are Bad For Business

Well, it’s been a tricky start to the month with the American Trade War Tariffs announcement. Hold onto your bootstraps because there’s no denying that tariffs are taxes on American consumers and they’re especially bad for small businesses.

Understandably, for the last 6 weeks or so, florists have been asking, What should we do about the new tariffs? What are you telling your customers about future price increases?

In fact, it was the first question in my Q&A for Flower Math students, too. So here’s a short behind the scenes look at the answer!

It’s a tough position to be in and at this point, I am NOT making a “big tariff announcement post” from my floral business. This is a brand messaging decision and there are several factors to consider. So first, ask: What do you really need your customers to know right now?

Because if we’re being honest, we don’t fully understand how our businesses will be impacted yet, so we may have to see how much prices increase on the wholesale end in the upcoming weeks to make an informed decision on how much to raise prices.

What if you raise by 10% this week, and then realize it should be closer to 20%? Will you make another announcement of a larger increase or keep it to 10%?

If you’re a floral designer who already charges on the upper end of the floral markups, you may need to consider whether it’s even an option in your market to raise prices, before announcing any new company tariff policies. This is one reason why these new tariffs are especially harmful to small businesses like ours.

If you’re pricing appropriately to reach your profit goals, there’s still a ceiling on what the market will bear (meaning, there’s a maximum amount that your customers are willing to pay).

If you happen to work with more affluent clients, they’ll likely feel less effected by the increased prices. Everyone else in the middle or lower income demographic will feel the impacts more acutely.

For any existing orders such as weddings and events, should your clients expect the original price will go up? If so, by how much exactly?

How will customer receive a 20% increase on their floral budget? Can they afford to pay $600 more when they originally budgeted $3,000?
Could you revisit your pricing formulas and revise your floral recipes to include fewer stems or less expensive flowers to honor your original pricing?
Can clients have the option to pay a little bit more to keep the original design “as is” OR can you modify the recipe to swap out certain flowers or make designs a little smaller so you’re attempting to meet in the middle?
Are there any other business expenses you can cut so that you can make up for the import taxes you’re paying on COGS as well as in your everyday life?

As a floral designer with weddings booked myself, I know that it’s hard to feel uncertain about what to say to your customers and most of us want to feel like we’re “on top of things”, but a thoughtful policy rollout is preferable to a prompt announcement in my opinion here.

Also, I’m not an economist, accountant or a lawyer, but it seems like it’s possible these tariffs could be found illegal or unconstitutional based on the fact that Congress is supposed to set tariff policies. (Several lawsuits are currently underway.)

In lieu of a tariff announcement, if you’re looking for some inspiration on what to say to stay engaged with your social media followers, I post 5 Blog & Social Media Prompts specifically for floral designers in my Patreon community every month. If you’re interested, you can get this month’s prompts and check out several prior months of post ideas when you join as a Marketing Maven for $29 Here.

The intention of creating these prompts for my Marketing Mavens is to make it easier for you to communicate with your customers to make a connection–beyond just following social media trends and talking about tariffs!

And if you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Keep doing beautiful work. And keep your chin up as things remain unpredictable.

xo. -Alison Ellis

Additional Resources:

Flower Math: The Florist’s Guide To Pricing & Profitability

Wedding Bootcamp! April 27-29. Last Chance To Sign Up!

Business Plan Check-In