Jenny (00:29)
Dear Santa, listen, I don't need any more seed packets or shiny new tools or new deli-a-tuber varieties. Okay, maybe just one of those, but I really don't need any of that stuff this year. What I really need is simple, a drama-free, profitable flower farm. All right, today you guys, this is kind of a fun holiday-themed episode, but we're breaking down
real reasons that farms get dramatic and real steps to make 2026 more profitable, peaceful, and focused. And because I know this is a reflective time of the year, just so know, I created a free end of year business audit workbook to help you get some clarity before next season starts, and I'll talk about that more in just a little bit.
we're breaking down things that flower farmers want, but don't really know how to create or maybe don't necessarily know how to get started with. So we're going to kind of walk through a lot of flower farmers wish lists and talk about how to get those items without needing the North Pole. So excuse me for being cheesy, but I love the holidays. So here we are. First wish list or first thing on the wish list is
If you are saying Santa, please bring me predictable profits. If you're saying Santa, I would love a year where profit isn't a surprise like finding money in on my coat pocket. I'd love to actually plan for it. Here is what you need to know. Profit is not magic and it usually doesn't happen by accident. mean, sometimes sure, but it's actually using past data.
to do some strategic planning and projections and math and systems. And if you don't have past data, if you're just kind of starting out, it's all about sitting down and really thinking about what's possible and what's realistic and setting those first goals very intentionally. Predictable profit starts with choosing one big focus. I talk about this inside of my business programs all the time.
You can have multiple sales outlets, you can have a diversified farm, but you really want to have like one big focus that is your most profitable thing that you do and really lean into promoting that and focusing on that really, really hard. That's a huge one that's going to change things for a lot of people. If you're just kind of still like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. And of course that is part of being a business owner from time to time as well.
but doing it in a calculated, structured way, not just literally throwing spaghetti at the wall, but really trying to dial in what is going to work best for you and lean into doing that. I also think that looking at your crop level profitability, your tracking and seeing what are my costs to actually grow flowers is going to be huge for you actually planning.
on earning a profit, not just hoping that you do it, and pricing based on what your costs of production are. So if you know it costs you $5 to grow a bunch of snapdragons, you know that you need to sell it for more than $5 in order to earn a profit on it, probably $10, okay? This is what I'm talking about. So many people just kind of skip over this.
And that creates unpredictable profit and very predictable stress. And so what Santa can do for you is actually just give you the tools that you need to figure out these things, figuring out your most profitable sales, all it, your most profitable crops and your pricing. So you can set yourself up for success to have predictable profit in 2026.
You know, I know that my two most profitable crops from my farm are ranunculus and dahlias. Yours might be different and our least profitable crops. Well, we cut most of them, but the ones that, know, don't make us the most amount of money last year that we cut was ajaratum, which I loved ajaratum, but we cut it. And, know, every year our farm grows in profitability because we just get.
more and more focused on doing things that really work well for us. And so that's what you could do.
Next thing on the flower farmer's wish list is someone saying, Santa, please bring me customers who actually read their emails, follow instructions, and don't think a $25 summer bouquet should last three weeks. I know that I can definitely relate to this one. You want customers who aren't chaos. And if that is on your wish list this holiday season,
there are definitely some things you can do to write that. So first thing I want to talk about is that usually it's just a very small handful of customers causing the most amount of frustration, like 10 to 20 % of customers, honestly less, like one to 2 % of customers causing 80 % of the 90 % of the frustration, right? And a lot of times, you know, this comes from
confusion with your product or confusion with your marketing. It really comes down to clear marketing, having boundaries, and strong customer experience systems. When customers understand your expectations, a lot of the drama fades away. So one thing that you could think about is a boundary or a policy or a system that you could implement before springtime.
So you can make sure your customers know exactly what to expect when they order from you or they buy flowers from you. So this could be clarity on pickup times, payment windows, policies on refunds. It could be education about local cut flowers. Or for me, what a lot of it is, education on how to care for your cut flowers. Like I am still shocked at how many people will buy
a bunch of dahlias and I'm like, don't keep them out of water for very long. And they'll just leave them in their hot 110 degree car while they go to Target for two hours and then wonder why they died. So a lot of that frustration that we used to have with our customers has been mitigated now because we educate our customers on how to care for their cut flowers. It's better for them. They are happier with the product and better for us because they think our product is better in the long run. So.
When it comes down to when you have frustrations with your customers, a lot of times they just don't have a clear understanding of what you do or what to expect or what your product is like. And so it comes down to educating them. And then I have to say a caveat with this one. If you're looking for stress-free customers, there's always going to be a small handful, very, very small handful that are just rude or unhappy or not your customer. And you just have to accept that and be like,
You know what? You are not meant to be my customer and move on. So next thing on Santa's wishlist is more time and fewer fires. So if you're like Santa, how do I get a flower farm without 72 browser tabs open in my brain? Yes, this is my life sometimes. Santa can help you out with this. And when I say Santa, it's really like SOPs and
weekly planning, checklists, and eliminating low return on investment tasks. So a lot of times when people have like drama in their businesses, like they wanna blame it on people, or they wanna blame it on things out of their control, which of course those things do happen, but the majority of the time, it's not people drama, it's operational drama. This means that you have some
things you need to work on to operationalize your business. So having checklists, having standard operating procedures, planning ahead so you're not two days before Mother's Day and you're like, oh my God, chaos because I have to make hundreds of bouquets and I have nobody to help me do it, yada, yada, yada. Like how many people out there, I know I've definitely caught myself in this plenty of times, but you,
you want to do like a product launch. Like I know we do a CSA product launch every fall. And then all of a sudden it's like November and you're like, oh, that product launch was supposed to happen next week and I have nothing ready for it. Like these are all things that could have been prevented by proper planning and systems. And so the solution is to sit down and really think about your year ahead, put some plans in place, you know, don't commit to doing everything. Committing to doing too many things is a really...
bad thing to do too, he throws a wrench into things. And then working on some checklists and some standard operating procedures, some systems, doing some of your marketing ahead of time and getting your ducks in a row before the season starts. So the takeaway would be just choose one recurring task to maybe try to systemize this week or, um, you know, pick a system that's been frustrating for you and try to find a solution for that. And if you're a person who is like,
My mind is melting at all times because I have to remember so many little things and there's so much to do. Get yourself a task management software. It's just an organized to-do list. It's just a fancy name for an organized to-do list where you can delegate things. You can put due dates on things. Works really well.
We use a task management software called Asana. I really like it. We have a little guide to kind of walk you through what it looks like and what you can use it for. I don't know the link off the top of my head, but I will make sure it gets put in the show notes.
And this leads us right into the next thing on the wish list for flower farmers. And that is clarity, confidence, and a real plan. So if you're thinking, Santa, can you bring me clarity? Because I keep thinking I need to grow everything, sell everywhere, do everything, launch all these products, and do it all by January 1st. You are in the right place. Because...
This happens to so, so many of us. And one of the biggest things that I think holds flower farmers back is just simply not having a clear vision for the next steps and what you need to do to move your business forward. And clarity is incredibly important. Clarity comes from focus. Now lot of people suffer because they try to scale complexity, not their profits. So,
A profitable drama-free flower farm requires choosing that big focus I talked about before, making sure that you're growing high margin crops that aren't losing you money, building one marketing engine at a time, and sticking to a simple, clear plan. So this really comes down to sitting down and maybe doing like some journaling and asking yourself questions like, what do I really want from my flower farm business?
How much money do I wanna pay myself? How much money does the farm need to make for that to happen? What do I want my life to look like? What do I want my day to day to look like and feel like? How much time do I wanna work on my farm? How much time do I wanna spend outside of my business? What am I gonna be doing in that time outside of my business? These sound like really like fluffy, simple things, but they're really not because these kinds of clarifying questions
can help you get crystal clear on what direction you want to take your farm in. And then you can go even deeper. Like what sales outlets do I want to do? What kind of customers do I want to serve? Do I want to help people who are getting married? Do I want to help people who are gifting flowers to people who could use a little joy? Do I want to help people who just want flowers on their tables every day? Like who is your customer? What problems do you want to solve? Who do you want to serve? Like getting really clear about that.
is probably one of the most important things that you can do as a business owner.
Next up on the wishlist is a business that supports my life. So if you're thinking, dear Santa, please bring me evenings with my kids, weekends, offs, and the ability to plan meals again, I've also been here and I hear ya. And here's the thing is that there are times where balance is not real when you are a business owner.
just being totally straight up with you. When you're first starting a business, you're gonna be working a ton, you're gonna be learning a ton, you're gonna be making a bunch of mistakes, and you're gonna pay for it with your time, most likely. If you're doing this for the first time and you're just starting out. It's going to take some sacrifices to get a business off the ground. But once you get there, once you have some traction, you really need to set things up in a way where you can
not burn out and be in this for the long haul. And sure, from time to time, there's gonna be little spikes of activity where you need to like work a few extra hours here and there, but it shouldn't be the norm all the time when you get to a certain point. Real sustainability means supporting the lifestyle that you wanna live and having your business be in alignment with your lifestyle and the finances that you need to survive, not only survive, but thrive as a person.
And if you have a family, be able provide financial security and all that kind of stuff. Which means you have to choose sales outlets and workflows and crops that support your life stage and your energy level. know, stress and burnout are not like personality flaws, they're design flaws in your business model.
Like I said, there will be moments where business balance is not a thing, but it should not be like the everyday norm. And so I would recommend you to name one thing on your farm that no longer fits the season of life that you're in. And then I challenge you to either delegate it, redesign it, or maybe cut it altogether. I did this with weddings years and years and years ago where I had the option to
hire and delegate all the wedding work to a team. I could redesign it to make it a little bit more like sustainable with the way I wanted to live my life and my lifestyle. But ultimately I decided to cut it and that was just like a personal decision. But maybe there's something in your business right now that you need to look at a little bit more closely to make it more sustainable, make it more profitable and.
make it more in alignment with the lifestyle that you really, really want to live. And so a lot of themes from all the things on this wishlist and letters to Santa this year really come down to starting with clarity, getting very crystal clear on exactly what you want, and then doing some proactive planning on how you can get there. So I hope that this has inspired you to
spend some time during the winter and the holidays to slow down, let your brain just kind of like chill for a little bit. Like sometimes that's the most productive thing you can do is to walk away, not think about work for a while, not think about your business for a little bit, and then come back to it with a fresh mind and sit down and start reflecting on some of these things.
So the secret here is that Santa isn't gonna bring us any of these things, right? We have to build them. But the good news is they are all totally doable. So I really hope that this episode has encouraged you to rest and set some intentions for the new year. I have a free business audit review, like end of year review workbook that you can download to help you with this. If you go to trademarkfarmer.com forward slash audit.
can download the workbook, print it out, or do it right on your computer. Just kind of brings you through a series of questions and looking at what worked for you this year, what didn't, what direction you want to bring your business in. And I know that if you download it and you do this exercise, you will get at least one big insight that will help clarify and make 2026 better for you. Now.
I'll put in the show notes a link to that Asana tutorial. That's our task management software. And I also put a link for that end of year business audit workbook that you can download. It's on, my website, trademark farmer.com. And that's it for today. I hope all of you flower farmers out there are having a wonderful holiday season, really try to rest and just rejuvenate for next year, because I know next year you're going to kick some butt and you're going to do a great job, but
This is the time when we set ourselves up for success. enjoy the holidays, a few celebrates, have a wonderful, wonderful end of the year, and I'll catch you next Monday for the last episode of 2025. Have a good one, everyone. Catch you next time.
