Be sure you’re doing (Insert here) for success.
Welcome To Owning Your Own Business
So as an entrepreneur you need to be able to create a reputable product, make sure it resonates with customers, but keep up with the times and offer new and exciting content, but at affordable prices, but also make sure you are paying yourself. How do you know if you are paying yourself? Well charge appropriately, and you’ll know you’re doing it right when you do hours of industry research and comparison, account for all business expenses and write offs, do your own taxes and filing end of year statements, track every expense and make sure your profit/loss ration is not undercutting or selling other vendors even though other vendors in your field don’t post their pricing. Oh and while you’re at it make sure you are making/creating/planting/tending to the farm and your crops, build a seeding schedule, a succession planting schedule, and a harvest schedule. Make sure you get enough time with your family and put your health first, but don’t expect to do any less work than sun up to sundown – especially during the height of the season.
Oh and make sure that you have a stable income and full time jobs because the first five years you are expected to remain in the red as your business develops, it won’t make a profit. But don’t go into debt and don’t take out loans because it’s a hobby until you start making money.
Don’t forget to post everyday to social media, and only between the hours of 7-9am or 5-8pm because thats when people are most active. Post engaging content, create stories and reels, post links to your website and product specials, update your Pinterest page because that is how everyone finds you, create a TikTok account and create interesting and funny content, create an email list and send an email once a week with all your farm updates – oh and make sure you are consistently blogging! But also be sure you are using appropriate verbiage to maximize your SEO. Have you joined Clubhouse yet?
Make sure you create interesting and inviting presentations for your brides and proposals that will capture that wedding booking, make sure to email and follow up and schedule meetings, make sure you are available for travel, setup, and cleanup. Develop meaningful relationships with venues and fellow vendors and participate in several styled shoots per year to create interesting, unique, and engaging content – but remember the thousands of dollars worth of florals are on your dime.
Be sure the farm animals are cared for and you are keeping up with the horses training and your riding lessons. Spend quality time with your family and take your dogs for a walk. Make sure all the weeding is done, and the fields are mowed, and the animals have hay and feed and fresh water daily, and they’re let out each morning and locked up each night. Be sure to keep a clean house because you never know when company is coming by. Keep up with laundry and dusting and make sure to meal prep to avoid quick meals on the go. Eat healthy and take care of yourself. Fix the truck. Fix the tractor. Fix the car. Fix the tractor.
Be sure to respond to emails and proposals in a prompt and timely fashion. Get back with your brides immediately on their pricing for the thousands of dollars they are spending on florals. Before you send the invoice make sure that you have contacted your local farmers to check their availability and current pricing, and contact your wholesaler to check their availability and pricing. Don’t forget to compare that pricing to those wholesalers online. Research the mechanics of how to create the install/arbor and make sure you’ve appropriately accounted for the hours of labor and tools and mechanics it will require even though you’ve never done it before. Remember to account for industry markup, labor fees, design fees, materials, and taxes. Oh and make sure you pay yourself for your own crops you grow and use. Be sure to calculate that by bed size, plant spacing, seed cost, amendment cost, irrigation, fabric, tools, time, labor, harvest, and processing costs, and divide that by the number of stems you use. Be sure you’re paying yourself!
Make time for your significant other, make sure you get in frequent date nights and don’t fight over business decisions or how money is being spent. Be sure the business tasks and management is split evenly and the weight doesn’t reside on only ones shoulders. Oh but make sure you can fit all these tasks into Saturday and Sunday only since your partner travels for work five days per week. Make sure to take Sundays off – that’s a day of rest.
- Give yourself breaks.
- Set boundaries.
- Learn the power of saying No.
- Say yes and figure it out later.
Have you finished that deadline for work yet?
