Real Flower Business

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By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

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! [Read more…]

August 17, 2020 — 7:15 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Delivery Tip For Wedding Flowers

How do you pack flowers for delivery?

Florists are always looking for hacks and tips for safe floral delivery.

There are a lot of specialized delivery units you can invest in, but check out this super simply and free delivery system I use for weddings.

I’ve had more than a few vases tip over in my van over the years, but this easy, free, reusable, recyclable delivery system is clutch!

I hope you dig today’s super quick tip.

With love from me to you,

Alison Ellis

Learn More About Alison Here

P.S. Yes those are little cocktail vases in the background filled with the side shoots of my dusty miller that I could not use in bouquets and centerpieces! Doesn’t everyone do that?


Additional Resources:

  • Check out 5 Things To Do When Business Seems Uncertain HERE!

April 22, 2020 — 1:10 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Featured On Flirty Fleurs

I wrote my first floral education article as a guest blog post for FlirtyFleurs.com back in March 2011 with 15 Tips To Book More Weddings.

I continued to submit flower business articles and videos and the rest, as they say, is herstory.

I was inspired to share what I knew so I went out on a limb to ask a knowledgable floral expert, Alicia Schwede–who didn’t know me at all–if she’d be willing to let me talk to her audience and lucky for me, she said yes!

In fact, she continued to say yes to my submissions and floral designers can find dozens of guest blog posts, videos, checklists, and I even had features in a few of the Flirty Fleurs print magazines over the years. (Scroll down to see those original 15 Tips I shared!)

I’ve covered a lot of ground over at Flirty Fleurs!

From topics like mock-ups and minimums to tipping and “extra flowers” to pricing garlands and when to get paid; scroll down for a Flirty Fleurs Playlist!

As you know if you own a business: everybody has to start somewhere. And this is where I started my floral education journey.


15 Tips To Book Weddings More Quickly (via FlirtyFleurs circa 2011!)

  • Be easy to reach via e-mail. E-mail is essential to coordinating with your clients.
  • Schedule consultations with the lead wedding designer—someone who is skilled and versed in weddings, works well with customers and translates ideas into designs.
  • Update your portfolios and website to reflect the best of your work and professional photos are always best. This means that wedding bouquet from 1995 has to go. Heck, maybe that bouquet from 2009 has to go, too! Keep it fresh.
  • Keep up! Follow trends on blogs, websites, magazines, social media, etc. You have to know what’s happening in your industry. (Your clients do!)
  • Decide which services you offer and which you don’t. Are you: a floral designer; an event designer; a florist who does weddings; a wedding designer who owns a flower shop; a lighting specialist? You don’t have to be all things to all weddings!
  • Do what you do. Don’t worry about what the other guys are up to.
  • Be upfront about your pricing. Find out what the clients’ budget is and either do your best to stick to it or suggest what you think is a reasonable budget for what they want. Years ago I was advised to never inquire about budget and to always “up-sell” to clients planning a wedding. After all it’s their wedding day—a day to “go for it”—it’s a chance to steer them towards more expensive options. Wrong. People can’t spent money they don’t have—period.
  • If the pricing or style doesn’t work, then move on. It’s OK to decide that a client is not a good fit. It will make life easier in the long run.
  • Don’t overbook. Taking on more than you can handle is never a good idea.
  • Require a signed contract and a reasonable deposit of at least 20-30% of the total budget to book an event.
  • Be concise in proposals about what is required to book a date, when final payment is due, etc.
  • If you send out a proposal and don’t hear back within a reasonable timeframe you should follow up—once—with the client to see if there are any questions you can answer.
  • Charge fairly, but you have to be compensated for your flower markup, design fee, delivery and set-up, travel, etc. If you are not charging enough, then why are you working so darn hard?
  • Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. (Definitely don’t do that!)
  • Listen to what your clients want. Then, make it happen.

9 years later, I still stand by these tips by the way!!


After sharing my “stuff” with floral designers for years on Alicia’s blog, I finally branched out and created my website, realflowerbusiness.com, where I could create my own corner of the world to create and share. I’ve been doing so since 2015 and I’m so thankful for the thousands of florists who’ve taken the time to watch my videos, join a course, or participate in one of my Live Q&A Tuesdays on Facebook!

But I still make guest appearances on Flirty Fleurs–look for me on the first Monday of the month–including this video: Should Florists Make Mock Ups? If you’ve ever been asked to make a mock up, click to watch!


Funny story: I first knew florists were watching my educational videos when I attended a Chapel Designer’s Workshop and someone said, “I’m your biggest fan!”

I walked into the ladies’ room one of the attendees looked over at me and said, “Oh my gosh, I’m your biggest fan!”
Um, surely she had me confused with someone else, right?…
Turns out, no. She was actually talking to me!
She was reading and watching my posts on Flirty Fleurs and she liked me! She really, really like me. (Who’d have thunk it?)

It hadn’t occurred to me how many florists were actually watching my videos or reading my articles so when someone recognized me and called herself a “fan”, I must admit I was surprised. And flattered. But first and foremost I was inspired to keep creating!

I thanked Alicia in a blog post a few years ago for sharing her stage with me (read that here) and most recently on her website (see my video below) and if you’ve missed any of my Flirty Fleurs Features you can catch them all in my YouTube Playlist here.

To see some of my videos throughout the years, check out the Flirty Fleurs Playlist below!

Thanks for taking the time to tune in, Floralpreneur®! Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison


Find a Playlist on YouTube with hours of videos here:

Remember: If you like my videos, please “like” them, comment and share ’em with your best flower friends. xo.

 

February 29, 2020 — 6:03 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Tips for booking great clients

How do florists book great clients? I would have LOVED to get some secrets for booking more clients in the first 10 years or so of my business! I spent many years learning how to level-up my booking process.

I sought out knowledge that’s allowed me streamline my sales–from consultations to branding to recognizing which clients are the best clients for me–and this has allowed me to take control over the success of my sales process.

I’ve figured out a thing or two over the last 18 years…

That’s why it’s my goal to help florists book awesome clients and build a businesses they love.

I was live today in my Facebook group and here’s a replay of today’s Q&A with real questions from real florists.

Topics covered include:

  • How to get more people into your flower shop,
  • Clients with $700 floral budgets,
  • Last-minute consultation cancellations,
  • How to set an income goal for 2020.
  • And handling clients with sticker shock!

Click to watch:

Don’t miss out my my new training starting Nov. 18-20th! You can learn more about my monthly training on Patreon here: patreon.com/realflowerbusiness

If you’re ready to take control over your future, feel respected and stop price shoppers in their tracks, don’t wait, sign up to join me today!

Questions for me? Shoot me an e-mail anytime: floralartvt@gmail.com

xo. -Alison

 

November 13, 2019 — 8:10 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

My Favorite Florist Tools

Florists often ask for recommendations on the best tools and for me, these ARS clippers are my favorite. I bought them in 4 colors AND saved the packaging because I didn’t want to forget which clippers I had when it’s time to replace them.

I got these at Jamali Garden in NYC several years ago and they’re still going strong. What I like best about them is that the locking and unlocking is more intuitive than other clippers. Makes using them safe and easy.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness) on Sep 29, 2019 at 6:53am PDT


After a few scrubs with a Brillo pad they’re clean and ready to go! Plus they come in fun colors. I have red, lavender, teal and yellow. So if you’re looking for a great clipper, this is my pick!

October 8, 2019 — 10:52 am

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Welcome, Floralpreneur®.  I’m Alison Ellis, creator of Flower Math, published author, and founder of Real Flower Business. My online business courses and private coaching help floral designers increase profits, book great clients & build a better brand.  Learn More →

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FOR WEDDING FLORISTS:

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