Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Should florists use floral foam?

Should florists use floral foam?

Is floral foam biodegradeable?

I mean, is it “really that bad” for the environment that you should join the #nofloralfoam movement?…

The truth is, it’s complicated! Florists say, “but Oasis is biodegradable!”….but there are some very specific conditions required for foam to biodegrade in a landfill, and most landfills don’t meet those environmental conditions!….and even the company itself doesn’t purport to be “eco-friendly now” so much as they’re letting us know they’re “still working on it”….

I started my wedding season on June 1st and while I was cleaning out my studio in prep for the big start, I found a partial box of floral foam and I thought to myself, “What am I going to do with this?….” So I hopped into my Facebook group to share my thoughts on how to handle the floral foam in my possession!

Click to watch:

Here are a few foam free designs from the weekend that I shared on Instagram (make sure to scroll the images!):

And here’s a look as we were breaking down the next day (scroll again!):

 

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The morning after… I got a few questions on the #nofloralfoam ceremony piece from yesterday so here’s another look at it about 24 hours later!…we used no floral foam, but chicken wire and bricks are the main mechanics here!….we water tubed the hydrangea and spirea….the only things things that wilted were the hydrangea and spirea!….larkspur, snapdragons and cremones still look good even without a water source. (Though it rained last night and while we were breaking down!) ☔️ These were 2 pieces put together and as you can tell they’re lightweight! 💪 You’ll see the back of the arrangement and it’s morning-after condition as ya flip through! 😉 We covered the bricks with moss and tied them onto the wire with bind wire. #nofloralfoam #floralpreneur #weddingflorist #floraldesign #realflowerbusiness

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness) on

The moral of the story is simple: Do your best! Be mindful. Be eco-friendly as much as you can in your life AND in your business!

The floral industry is not “eco-friendly” as a general rule, but there’s nothing that says we shouldn’t try!

As always, keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneur®!

With love from me to you,

Alison

Learn more about Alison here!

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10 Questions Every Florist Should Answer

10 Questions Every Florist Should Answer, realflowerbusiness.com

It’s Q2. Yes, it’s officially the second quarter of the year already. So…what did you accomplish in Q1?

Time flies by in business (and life!) sometimes….like for instance, the fact that we’re already 3 months into the year…

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The Worst Business Advice I Ever Took

realflowerbusiness.com, courses for florists, how to write proposals that sell and book more weddings more quickly, #floralpreneur

I want to tell you about the worst business advice I ever took.

It was early in my career as a solo-business owner and even though I’d spent 8 years working in flower shops, I was eager to get new business tips….I was impressionable.

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Mornings With Mayesh Guest Appearance

What are you doing April 2nd? I’ll be making my 2nd guest appearance on Mornings With Mayesh and you’re invited to join us for a LIVE chat at 10am Eastern time/7am Pacific on Tuesday, April 2nd! I’ll be answering more of your pricing questions and you can CLICK HERE to submit a question for the live broadcast.

Mayesh design star, Mornings with Mayesh, Special Guest Alison Ellis, Floral Education

Last April I was honored to be invited as a special guest by the wonderful host, Yvonne, and you can listen to a replay of our chat from April 2018 here. (About 43 minutes into the broadcast you’ll hear me join in for Part 2 of livestream.)

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Why Florists Cannot Compete On Price

realflowerbusiness.com, floral design, floristry, business of flowers

Have you ever been pressured to lower your prices in order to book a job?

Today, a floralpreneur® in my Facebook group shared that a client slashed her prices in half and re-sent the new pricing back to the florist!…..needless to say, the comments on that one made for some good reading!

As a business owner and floral artist, it’s important to recognize that you don’t want every customer. You want the customers that want YOU…and are willing to pay your for your work!

Business guru and genius marketer, Seth Godin, talks about Competing On Price as a “race to the bottom”. As Mr. Godin puts it, what do you do when you win?…ie. when you’ve succeeded and you’re “at the bottom”!

The idea of “winning” based on undercutting, is a misconception. You cannot “win” if the only reason someone picked you is because you’re cheap-er.

The real reason you don’t want to compete on price….

A florist cannot lower prices and exceed expectations at the same time!….not unless you’re giving up your profit margin.

And if you’re going to sustain your business, you must respect your profit margin.

I don’t want to win at the game of “cheapness”.

I want to win at the game of quality work and amazing customer service.

Click to watch this quick video, “Why you cannot compete on price”:

 

 

What is your goal?…

Do you want to be the cheapest?

Or do you want to be better than the cheapest?

I hope you’ll choose option #2 above!

Don’t compete on price!…so you can keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

P.S. In today’s video I mention my Flower Math course, which is designed to help florists price with confidence and maximize profit margins! (click here for details on the course!)

More FREE Tips from the Blog:

You down with O.P.P? (Other People’s Proposals) Click HERE to read.

How much should florists charge for rentals? Click HERE to read.