What guidelines do you follow in your business?
As a floral business grows and matures, certain boundaries and rules are required to maintain a profit and feel proud of the work you do.
Saying “yes” to every request is not feasible in a small business, so how do you decide when to say “no”?
Oftentimes, we learn through circumstance and bad experiences, but rules and boundaries provide a path for success and clear expectations.
First, let me clarify the difference between a boundary and a rule:
A boundary is something that you do to hold yourself accountable, however, a rule is something that you expect others to do.
When you establish a rule in your business, it’s up to you to communicate that rule to customers.
This communication happens on your website, in-person conversations and e-mail correspondence as well.
How can your customers follow the rules if you don’t explain what they are?
The same is true for establishing your own boundaries!
Hold yourself accountable by setting a boundary and make it a new guideline in your process.
For example, here are a few questions you can ask to help set boundaries as a business owner:
- What is your minimum order? How much do you require to go out the door with an arrangement and turn a profit?
- What are your operating hours? When are you closed, away from your desk, or on vacation?
- What is your profit goal so you can pay yourself and all of your business expenses?
Here are some rules your business could establish:
- When final payment on a wedding or event is due and what happens if payment is late.
- Whether your delivery driver leaves flowers if no one is home or calls ahead to arrange a delivery time.
- Refusing to send “secret admirer” or other “anonymous sender” enclosure cards for the recipients’ safety.
The boundaries you set in your business may differ from others and that’s OK.
In fact, it’s a good thing to be different!
Here’s a boundary in my home-studio business:
I stopped doing Valentine’s Day flowers about 20 years ago.
Now, this may sound bonkers bananas based on the traditional retail florist model, but there are a few really good reasons why I don’t do Valentine’s Day and most of them are related to the freezing cold temperatures and snowy conditions in Vermont!
- My garage studio is unheated so I have to bring flowers up and down the stairs of my basement to work.
- Every single arrangement has to be wrapped in plastic to protect from the winter cold. This is time consuming and a hassle!
- There are sometimes many inches of snow the week of Valentine’s Day here in New England and I’d always worry about deliveries.
After a few years of soliciting Valentine’s Day orders, I decided this holiday hustle wasn’t for me! There are flower shops that can do this work and I can send people to them. And this gives me time to focus on the things I do better than Valentine’s Day flowers!
Now, here’s an example of a rule in my business:
Final payment is due at least 3 weeks in advance of any event so that I can order flowers. If payment is not received, flowers will not be ordered.
- I communicate this rule upfront when clients are booking so there’s no confusion.
- I reiterate the terms before the due date to help guide the clients.
If you want to see exactly how I explain the rules in my business, you’ll find them inside my Wedding Templates here! Including my E-mail Templates, Wedding Workflow, Proposal and Contract for Florists!
We learn by doing in business, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to client communication and healthy boundaries and rules. That’s why I created these templates for florists to make it easier!
If you need any help from here, let me know.
Upcoming Workshops:
You can join me for a free training this month in the Marathon Mindset Summit Feb. 23-24th!
Meet me at the Wisconsin and Upper Michigan Florist Association Annual Convention March 20-22nd!
Come to Vermont for the 2026 Floralpreneur® Workshop, April 19-21st! Seats are extremely limited.
And if you’d like to inquire about individual coaching calls, click here for details and we can set up a time to talk.
Keep doing beautiful work!
xo. -Alison Ellis
