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

2026 Floralpreneur Workshop

How do you find the best floral workshop for florists?

If you’re looking for a small scale workshop with business and design training, that uses zero floral foam at a charming Vermont inn and all of your meals are included, then The Floralpreneur® Workshop is for you! To learn when doors are open CLICK HERE! I’m excited to share a short recap of our 2026 event thanks to Isora Lithgow Creations who was with us for the 4th year in a row to help capture the day.

We kicked things off for the Floralpreneur® Workshop with Color Theory Conversations and Elements and Principles of Design, followed by wearables and cake flowers with Lori Bley from The Hidden Daisy Floral. Designs feature locally grown tulips from von Trapp Flowers and all the colors of the rainbow are represented in the floral palette. Blue delphinium, purple hyacinth, magenta dianthus, red tulips, orange protea, yellow spray roses, and green hellebore were all in the lineup, just to name a few!

Every Floralpreneur® Workshop is foam free, so chicken wire, floral frogs and pin cups from Floral Genius were key to our mechanics.

For our group design project on Day 2, we decorated the entrance to The Inn at The Round Barn Farm and created colorful cake displays with delicious cakes from The Goose Chase Cake Design. All of the flowers in this grand entrance were repurposed and moved indoors for our final dinner in the barn, highlighting the ability to adapt or flip if needed.

We started to add greenery to our basic mechanics indoors, and then moved them outside to complete our set-up. Because everything is foam free, they are lightweight and easy to move. This was a group effort to complete the designs and everyone played a part to help make it come together. From moving crates of tulips, to climbing ladders and flowering the entire entrance, we pulled this off in about 45 minutes! In fact, we were all set to get a group photo before lunchtime.

For our overhead mechanics, tulips with bulbs still on were hung from wooden skewers in a simple chickenwire frame. We also featured tulips on one of our cakes with warm, analogous colors of yellow, orange, red and pink for a “tequila sunrise” vibe with a meadow of blooms in rainbow pin cup flower frogs. For our simple white cake we added a rainbow of blooms (none of which were touching the cake thanks to sculpting wire!).

After our cake photoshoot, we got back into business mode to talk about how to price installations, elaborate cake displays, or anything you haven’t made before, by using the EveryStem app! Our students are running small businesses, so the practical aspects of selling, client communication, and building your brand reputation are all important aspects that we cover in detail. Additional business sessions included Website Tips, Social Media Without Overwhelm, and 3 Keys To Booking Great Clients.

I want to say a big thank you to our sponsors for the workshop! Each of our students got to take home a pin frog, a hairpin frog, and a floral pin cup! They were really grateful for the additions to their foam free mechanics toolbox. They also left with a sleeve of recyclable vases from Flower Box and got to try an easy, magnetic boutonniere trick using Quick Clips Floral.

I want to also give a personal thanks to everyone at The Round Barn for taking such good care of us! And to my co-teacher, Lori, and my friend, Blair of Sweet Blossoms, for joining me (again!) for this special workshop. It’s such a pleasure to get to spend this time together doing what we do best!

Stay tuned for 2027 workshop dates and agenda! You can sign up to get on the notification list to learn when doors are open HERE!

By Alison Ellis

Business Owner or Influencer

There’s a difference between showing up on social media as a small business owner vs. behaving like an influencer.

It may sound obvious, but if you’re trying to keep up with the daily demands of social media, it can be difficult to spend the proper time focused on tasks that really bring money and customers into your business.

The fact is, if you’re investing time and energy on posts, reels, or anything it takes to appease the algorithm, understanding the intention of your engagement is critical to both your time management and your overall marketing strategy.

Posting and vying for attention every day is simply not a plan.

I’m a small business owner, and being a “social media influencer” has never been on my resume.

Although I’ve been using social media as a marketing tool for many years, I try to be diligent about not allowing it to run my life and set my agenda.

Today, I’m sharing a few thoughts on why it’s better to show up as a business owner than to attempt to outsmart an algorithm. Click to watch and make sure to check out the full Playlist on YouTube below.

Want to grab the next video in this playlist? I have a few tips on the difference between branding and marketing in your business. You can watch now!

What do your customers say about your brand after they work with you?

How do you share the voice of your brand in a way that represents your business, but doesn’t burn you out?

If you have questions for me, get in touch or book a call to chat!

xo. -Alison Ellis

See Playlist on YouTube Here!

By Alison Ellis

Rules and Boundaries for Your Floral Business

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.

Photo from The Floralpreneur® Workshop 2023 by Isora Lithgow Creations.

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.

Photo from The Floralpreneur® Workshop 2025 by Isora Lithgow Creations.

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

By Alison Ellis

How To Book A Wedding

Consultations and sales skills are crucial areas of the floral design business that can take some time to figure out.

The first thing I learned in my business was how to price flowers, but the next most important part of my business success that I had to work on was booking new clients (even though my business was brand new!) and closing sales (without feeling too pushy or salesy).

I trained in several flower shops in my teens and early 20’s so I developed some sales skills along the way, but the truth is that most of the shops I worked in did not do weddings.

In fact, my first wedding experience presented itself in 2001 and I can tell you that I was hooked right away!

After 24 years, I still love the details and precision of wedding work.

From that very first wedding I became obsessed with the delivery and set-up schedule so we can make everything come together in perfect timing.

And I can still remember learning how to make my very first classic spiral bouquet!

What I discovered is that the steps that come before all of the design and delivery work require some more expertise and guidance.

The fact is consultations and sales take practice!

When you lead a consultation, what do you even ask?

When it’s time to write a wedding proposal or quote, what should that really look like? How much detail do you share?

I know that when I was starting my own business I certainly had zero confidence about leading clients through the sales process.

I was winging it and embracing the “fake it ’til you make it” mentality!

The good news is that all of the above can be learned and over the next several years I figured it out!

And one day, a florist friend suggested that I should share my steps, my exact wording and my booking process by selling templates and I got to work on my Wedding Templates for Florists! You can grab them now and put them to work in your business today!

The Wedding Templates Bundle includes:

5 Steps To Book Weddings More Quickly

How To Write Proposals That Sell

Contract for Florists

Wedding Workflow: 16 Steps to Client Management

E-mail Templates for Florists

And Bonus lessons!

Get Wedding Templates Here!

Naturally, I learned through trial and error.

I can still remember the first time I had a consultation on my own and how I bravely acted like I’d done this before…no big deal! But in reality, it was a big deal and that was just the start of hundreds of consultations to come.

I learned something after every consultation I conducted, but it took years before I truly felt comfortable taking the lead in a consultation.

And after the consultation…

When it came to writing proposals, I got some bad advice early on that I quickly learned to ignore!

Running a business means overcoming doubts and other obstacles on a near constant basis.

Even after decades in business, there’s more to learn, improve and refine on your business path.

Because trends come and go, and our customers are always evolving so we must evolve, too!

No matter how long you’ve been in business, if you’d like a shortcut for proposals, contracts, the most frequent email communications with clients and every step to follow to book wedding clients, you’ll find a bundle of my Wedding Templates Here!

Even if you just pick up 1 great tip or strategy to help book a new client, these templates are worth their weight in gold.

Need more help? Any questions for me? Reach out anytime! info[at]realflowerbusiness.com