floral business - Real Flower Business

20 Questions with Alison Ellis: LIVE Q&A

My blog is relatively new, but I’ve been talking with floral designers on my e-mail list since October of 2015.

I invited floralpreneurs to join me for a live Q&A in March 2016 to share some of my tips to finding focus in my business (and life in general).

While I was at it, I answered about 20 questions that floral designers submitted in advance including topics like…

talking about budget,
how do you get customers to spend more than the minimum,
marketing,
finding the voice of your brand,
home-based businesses,
working without a cooler,
and setting standards for your work!

Click to watch my very first Live Q&A on Periscope! It’s about 90 minutes long.

Pro tip: Focusing on how we want to feel as business owners, as entrepreneurs, can be very clarifying when it comes to developing the voice of your business and setting standards.

Keep

doing

beautiful

work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

See a full list of my online business courses for florists HERE including 12 E-mail Templates for Florists and Flower Math.

Want to talk one on one? Check out details on Strategy Sessions here.

By Alison Ellis

How do you keep the faith in the off-season?

One of the most challenging parts of owning a seasonal wedding business is learning to keep the faith in the slow season.

We want to stay focused on cultivating ideal clients, but when your calendar isn’t booked, it can be tempting to book “anything you can get.”

Want to know How To Stay Focused On Ideal Customers When Your Calendar Isn’t Booked? Click to watch some real tips I use to stay focused!

Faith is experiential.

The more we experience success in business, the easier it becomes to believe in our future success….even when the calendar isn’t fully booked yet.

Pro tip: Read (and re-read) your thank you notes and testimonials from happy clients to remind yourself what makes you so awesome!….and really consider what they’re saying….what do you really do? What are you really good at?

What does your business/your brand deliver?

It takes courage sometimes to acknowledge that a gig isn’t a good fit for you!

If you feel tempted to lower-your-bar or take a job against your better instincts, well, that’s where our faith is tested.

Building an integrity brand takes practice and more practice and even more practice as you continue to hone your voice.

You have your own unique voice to discover.

If this is the work you love, it’s worth the effort!

xo. -Alison

Profitable. Streamlined. Professional.

That’s what real flower business means to me.

That’s the intention of all of my videos, posts, and online courses for floral designers.

Check out a full list of course offerings here. (Including my free courses!)

Learn more about Alison here.

By Alison Ellis

How do you handle rejection?

Florists must deal with rejection from time to time as creative business people.

Yet, one of the toughest things every floralpreneur® must face is rejection.

It’s simply a fact of life. You take the good, you take the bad, you take ’em both and there you have…wait, where was I? Oh yeah, rejection.

I bet every floral designer can relate to today’s video. I hope it provides some perspective the next time you get re-jected.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to watch!

Oh, and make sure you scroll down to grab a free e-mail template below!

Click to watch:

Save $30 Off Wedding Templates Here

Sometimes it’s good to get rejected.

If losing a wedding or not booking a client leaves you feeling blue, remember that sometimes rejection is actually a GOOD thing! Yes, I mean it.

Pro tip: If you don’t book a job, don’t sweat it. However, don’t sit back and “do nothing” either. If you REALLY want to know why someone didn’t choose to work with you, Ask them why they did not book you!

FREE BONUS: Grab my FREE E-mail Template HERE to see “how I ask clients why they did not pick me!”

We can gain valuable insights as to why clients“didn’t get to a yes“, if we’re brave enough to ask. 

Testimonial:

“Alison, Your email templates came at just the right time! I have referenced them 3 times and have already booked a new event!

I have never taken a client from initial consult to contract/payment received so fast!! Thanks!”

-Jessie

Templates=Time

I bring you behind the scenes of my business in my downloadable templates for florists.

In Proposals That Sell I teach florists how I spend less time typing proposals, so that I’m not giving away too much information and the turnaround time on bookings is faster.
In E-mail Templates for Florists I show you how I choreograph the customer service experience & handle difficult conversations with 2 sets of templates.

Save $30 Off Wedding Templates Here

If you’re ready to spend less time typing and worrying what to say, I’ve got you covered.

Thanks for your questions & feedback.

Please feel free to be in touch if you ever have any questions for me. info@floralartvt.com

With love from me to you,

Alison

P.S. I received a request for this video in my Facebook group. Click HERE to join my FREE group!

Find a full list of course offerings HERE.

By Alison Ellis

Want to take a quick tour of my studio?

I’m known for bringing floral designers behind the scenes of my business, so when I was asked to share a look at my studio this summer I headed straight out to record a quick tour.

This isn’t some “picture perfect” version of my studio space. It’s not a staged scene to show you how shiny clean and unbelievably rad my workspace happens to be.

No, that’s not how I roll….because I know YOU’RE A REAL FLORAL DESIGNER….and you’d know if I was fibbing. My studio isn’t “Instagram perfect”.

Because what I do is dirty. And I always wish I had more space.

I have stems deep in my apron pockets and corners of my workspace I never even see.

I stack about a dozen flower boxes to reuse for delivery and currently have more dirty vases on my counter than I care to admit.

I’m in awe of florists with picture perfect workshops without even a trash can or anti-fatigue mat in sight. In fact, I sometimes wonder do they actually do work here?!

I didn’t invite you to my blog to share a fake version of myself or my business.

Real flower business is what I care about. This is how I roll…

Come inside my home-studio and see where I work.

My work space is cute, and not very large, but I always make it work!

Even when I had my “big” wedding in June, I made it work.

And when I only had a tiny kitchen in my upstairs apartment, I made that work, too.

Because that’s what florists do.

I appreciate you taking a few minutes to watch.

IN FACEBOOK NEWS (wait, is that a thing?…)
I’ve been inviting floralpreneurs to join my Facebook group, Real Flower Business with Alison Ellis. Click HERE to ask to join.

Another Facebook group, you ask!? Why, oh why???

Truth? I was reluctant to start a group…because a group seemed like a lot to manage….but I’m trying it and so far I really, really like it. I love to interact with florists on a more intimate level about our unique business goals.

I’m always interested in what other florists are curious about. If you’re on Facebook and have a few floral designer friends in a forum you know that we share a lot of similarities.

Floral designers really are the coolest.

Thanks as always for reading and watching…and joining me on Facebook.

Keep
doing
beautiful
work.

With love from me to you,
Alison

Speaking of being in my studio… In the first print edition of Flirty Fleurs Magazine you see a shot of me in my studio. I hired photographer, Daria Bishop, to come out and snap a few pics while I was working on a wedding. This photo is more “staged”, but it’s still a real look at real work.

Issue #3 of Flirty Fleurs Magazine will be out soon! Check out the first two issues of the magazine here: http://flirtyfleurs.com/flirty-fleurs-magazine/

Check out a list of my course offerings here.

By Alison Ellis

A short winter’s nap

Happy Winter solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a joyous everything to you.

I’m taking some actual time off this week to prepare for a busy holiday weekend.

I hope you will take some time off, too.

It’s time for family, food and reflections on a truly wonderful year.

Thanks so much for being a part of it.

xo. -A

I’ll see you here next week with a fresh post!

Treat your biz before the end of the year…

Have you been waiting all year to get Flower Math? You can still Save 10% OFF HERE.

Keep more of the money you’re already making. Invest in your business today.

And…start the new year on the right foot…

The Art of Good Business is on sale now and registration closes Jan. 7, 2017 at 7:00pm EST.

Read all the details HERE and click HERE to enroll today!

You can find a full list of my course offerings here.

Ask to join my closed group on Facebook HERE.

Are you on Instagram? Me, too. Find me: @floralartvt HERE.

And find more free videos on YouTube HERE.