In the first conversation I have with each of my students I ask them a very simple question: have you set a financial goal for your flower business?
Almost invariably the answer, after some squirming, is...NO, they haven't.
And these students are bright, ambitious and determined florists who stumble over, what on the outside, looks like a very simple task: how much money do you want to make?
Why we need goals but don't set them
It's not hard to set goals in floristry — it should only take you 15 minutes — but the emotional barrier that prevents us from doing so is very real.
And the barrier is that we add a lot of negative meaning to the goal: if I don't achieve my goal of $XX, then I'm a failure. It'll be concrete proof that I'm not good enough, that I don't know what I'm doing. That I was wrong.
And the crazy part? These thoughts run through our head before we've even taken one step towards the financial goal we've set for our flower business. The fear of failure paralyses us into setting no goals at all. After all, you can't fail to reach a goal that you never set.
However, your brain is going to "think" no matter what. That's its job. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, helpful thoughts, unhelpful thoughts. It is constantly cycling through the thousands of little stories that make up any given day.
So, why not put that thinking brain of yours to work for you? Your brain needs something to focus on and that's exactly why we set goals in floristry.
3 steps for setting goals
Here are my three super-simple steps to set goals for any floristry business:
- Pick your number
- Become the CEO
- Make a plan
STEP 1 – Pick your number
Don't over-think this one, just pick the number (or numbers) you want to make. If you're not sure, take your best guess, but just make sure you have a number written down on the page in front of you.
Now, put a time frame around that number — by when do you want to achieve this? Finally, make sure it's a number you can actually measure e.g. sales through Stripe, or a manual tally of wedding enquiries etc.
Here are a few goal examples to get the juices flowing:
- Daily flower deliveries: $80,000 total revenue by 31 May 2021. Measured through transactions on Stripe online payments.
- Weddings: book 30 weddings with an average value of $3,000 each, by 31 June 2021. Measured by list kept on a spreadsheet.
- Christmas wreath workshop: generate $2,000 in revenue by 30 November 2020 (10 people X $200). Measured by signups on my website.
Step 2 – Become the CEO of your business
OK this step may feel a bit mind-bendy but it's actually quite simple: if you want to achieve something you've never done before, then you need to think like you've never thought before.
As a result, that means stepping into your authority and thinking like a CEO — the head honcho, the person in charge, the leader. Whatever title you give yourself, the point is that you need to think and act like The Boss.
So what does thinking like a CEO look like? Well, a good leader sets the vision for the company and defines the kind of business they WANT to create. And this may feel awkward for you at the beginning because most of us go through life in reaction mode — just trying to pick up the pieces in reaction to what's going on around us. That's certainly what I used to do.
Buy you're lucky. You took the leap and went into business for yourself. So that means YOU are the boss and get to enjoy all the good things that come with not having to report to anyone but yourself.
Give yourself time to dream and intentionally decide what kind of business you want. This is not frivolous but rather the most important thing you can do as the leader of your business. And you don't need anyone's permission or approval because...you're the CEO.
Step 3 – Make a plan
You've set your business goal and stepped into your CEO-ness. Now you need a plan.
To keep things simple, create your plan as follows:
- List all the steps you'll need to take to go from 'A' where you are now to 'B' your goal.
- Identify your obstacles — write down all the things that are going to get in your way between A and B.
Where we often go wrong in setting goals is that we don't identify and accept that we're going to face obstacles. And lots of them.
But if you anticipate what those obstacles will be beforehand, then getting from A to B is really just about overcoming a set of obstacles.
For example, let's say you've set a financial goal for your flower business of generating $80,000 in 6 months from deliveries through your website. As a result, these are some of the obstacles you're going to face:
- My website doesn't take payments now. How do I change that?
- I'll need to create an online catalogue.
- How do I know that the ordering process is easy enough?
- Will it be optimised for mobile?
- I'll need to figure out prices for my new products.
- What about my Insta feed – is it easy to navigate from my bio to the online ordering page on my website?
- What about paying for ads on Google? I've never done this before.
- How do I juggle all of this work around the kid's school schedule?
So, can you see the focus that having set a goal brings? The person concentrating on overcoming these hurdles is not reacting willy-nilly to all of the random things that pop up in a day. Instead, they know where they want to go and, as the CEO of their business, are keeping themselves focussed on getting there.
Things to remember when setting goals
So now you know — set a goal for your flower business and give that thinking brain of yours something to work on.
Firstly, make the goal clear, measurable and time bound. Then envision yourself as the CEO and step into being her now. Finally, make a plan and take action.
Know this: negative emotions are going to come up. You're going to feel uncomfortable and that's OK. Embrace the discomfort because that, my friend, is exactly how you transform into the person who'll achieve that goal.
More help with goal setting
I've done a whole podcast episode on how to set goals in floristry. Listen in to the episode listed below or jump on to Spotify here.
And finally, learning about business and marketing doesn't mean you need a university degree or fancy-pants corporate experience. I do have these things and am happy to share everything you need to know.
If you want help with your flower business, check out my 1:1 Business Masterclass here.
💖
Kathleen
