Jenny (00:28)
One of the biggest misconceptions in flower farming business is that people who make more money are somehow luckier, smarter, more talented, or more deserving than everyone else. But after years of running businesses and working with hundreds, if not thousands, of flower farmers, I've come to believe something much different and simpler. And that is that money tends to flow toward value. Or said a little differently.
If you want to make more money, stop asking, how do I make more money? And start asking, how do I create more value? I'm Jenny Marks and I've built a multiple six-figure flower farm on less than an acre. And now I help other flower farmers stop guessing and actually make money doing this, growing flowers on a small scale. Now, the last episode I did here was a pretty intense one about why I believe making money matters.
And today we are talking a little bit more about the intersection between what you love to do and
And what value you actually provide to the world. So if you're a flower farmer who feels like you have the most beautiful flowers in the world and you have this burning passion to bring people joy and to share these flowers with people, but things are just not quite working exactly the way that you'd hoped. Maybe you're trying to sell them and they're not quite selling as well as you wanted to, or your business just isn't growing the way you had hoped.
This can help.
Now, a lot of people sort of feel this guilt around charging money for flowers. I don't know why that is, because they're a lot of hard work, but I see it as a common thread with a lot of flower farmers. And I think their reason for this is people do not realize that money is not something that you forcibly take from people. Like you're not holding a gun up to anybody's head and be like, give me $25 for this mixed bouquet. Like that's not happening, right?
Or at least I hope that's not happening. But a lot of people view money as a scarce thing, as scarcity. Like every dollar earned is somehow, you know, being taken from somebody else, or you are like hoarding money from other people, or if you have a competitor that you're both competing for the same dollars. And a belief that has really served me well is that money is not something that you take from people.
It's something people voluntarily give you in exchange for value. Because no one forces someone to buy a bouquet or to join a CSA or to buy a course online or anything like that. People choose to exchange money because they believe what they're receiving is worth more than what they're giving up.
So, if you've ever felt guilty for raising your prices or charging more than you think you would pay, I just want you to remember that you're not forcing anybody to give you this money. People are voluntarily giving it to you. And you should never feel guilty about it if you are doing it ethically. Now, I believe that money is a reflection of value creation. So there's this thing called ikagai. Ike guy.
It's I-K I G A I Ikagai is a Japanese concept and it basically translates to a reason for being. Now, this concept basically represents the intersection of what you love and you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can get paid for. And when you can find your ikagai, this intersection, it will bring you deep fulfillment.
joy and motivation. And so I think that this is what most flower farmers are looking for. Like most people are not in this just to make money, but a lot of people are also not in this just to grow flowers either. The intersection is somewhere in between there. And so there are different pillars of Ikagai in sort of like Western interpretations. Ichagai is visualized as like a Venn diagram. So in your head, if you're listening right now, picture
Four circles that all intersect together and kind of like a Venn diagram. And every circle represents something different. One is passion, so what you love doing. Another one is mission, and that's what the world actually needs, like what there's demand for. Another is vocation, so what you can get paid for. And finally, profession, what you are good at. Now I think that if you are going to have a successful flower farm,
You have to find your Ikagai because you can love growing flowers and providing them to people, but if you're trying to do it in a way that people don't want, it's never going to work. So for example, if you want to grow super high-end flowers and do huge fancy luxury wedding designs, but you live in the middle of nowhere in a low-income area where there is no demand for that.
There's going to be a mismatch, and business is probably not gonna work out that well. So because there has to be some overlap, some intersection between what you have and what you love and what you're good at, and what there is demand for in your area. Now you can fix this several different ways. You can offer flowers a different way, maybe doing lower end, more affordable or budget.
weddings and events to kind of fit the market demand, you can move to another area where there is demand for that thing. Like there's there's a lot of different ways to solve this problem. But the whole point is that in order to have a successful business, you have to find that intersection between what you love and you're good at, what people will pay you for and what the world needs. So it's like demand what people are willing to pay for and what you love and are good at.
There has to be that intersection there. And I think for some people, this comes down to, yes, you can be a flower farmer, but maybe you're just not selling flowers in the most ideal way you ever thought of before. Sometimes you have to go where the demand actually is.
And a key way to start thinking about this is what problem do you solve for somebody, or what do you provide somebody? And it's not just flowers. It's beauty, connection, celebration, convenience. Could it be sympathy, joy, gifting, events, experiences? Like there's all these different ways that we can solve problems and provide value to people with our flowers. And I want you to understand that every dollar that enters your business.
Is evidence that you solved a problem or provided value for someone. And I think flower farmers tend to underestimate how much value they actually create in people's lives because people aren't buying flowers, they're buying what the flowers represent: happiness, joy, convenience, love, all these things.
Jenny (07:44)
Real quick, if you've got 17 tabs open in your brain right now, just trying to figure out your next move, please do yourself a favor and close them and go grab your personalized profit roadmap instead. It's just a short assessment that will tell you what stage your farm is in and what actually deserves your attention right now to move forward quickly. Because more information isn't usually the answer.
focusing on the real problem that's holding you back is. It's free, it's fast, and it's probably more helpful than scrolling Instagram for another hour. So go grab it at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash roadmap. That's trademarkfarmer.com forward slash roadmap. You can also grab this link in the show notes.
Jenny (08:33)
To implement Ikagai for your specific business, I want you to kind of move through all these different pieces of Ikagai. So number one, I want you to write down everything that you love. So whether that's growing flowers, being outside, farming, creativity, design, whatever that is, just make a big list of what you love.
And then make another list of what you're good at, whether that's growing, whether that's arranging, teaching, hosting, throwing parties, whatever that is. And then
Make another list of the demand for flowers. So what you're seeing the world needs, how flowers are moving in the world. They're moving for weddings and events, for sympathy arrangements, for funerals and grieving, for joy, celebration. Think about this as all the ways you could possibly get paid with flowers.
And then finally the last list you're going to make is a list of what the world needs.
And I would think about this in a specific way to your local market. Look around and see what other people are doing. Take a look at other flower farmers, other florists in the area. Is there a gap in your market that you could fill? Is there opportunity there? Is there something that you would love to do that you know people are willing to pay for? And if you don't know, test it out. Ask people, would you be willing to pay for this or would you be willing to pay for that?
Put it out there into the world and see if it actually moves, if it buys and if it works.
And then once you're done making all of these lists, I want you to look at them because the first two lists can create a wonderful hobby, you know, what you love and what you're good at. But they don't automatically create a great business. They have to intersect with the last two lists of what you can get paid for and what people are willing to pay where the demand is.
So this is important because a lot of flower farmers just kind of stop around like what they love doing and what they're good at. But the other key piece is thinking about how you can actually sell the flowers and get paid. Because the harsh truth is that the market doesn't reward passion. The market doesn't reward what we love. The market rewards values. Because a lot of flower farmers love super rare flowers and like the brand new.
Zinnia and dahlia varieties that are popping off all over the place, or like specialty crops, or experimental varieties, or different ways of growing things, or they're obsessed with soil or something like that, you know? But those things a lot of times don't translate to what our customers want because customers might just want like convenient ordering, reliable service, consistent bouquets. They might just want something beautiful and they don't actually care what any of the flowers are called or what they are. They might just want a
Convenient, easy gift for somebody else. And the market tells us what it values every single day through purchasing decisions. Because a lot of people will tell you, ⁓ yeah, I love flowers. I would love to buy them from you. But if they're not actually buying, that's your signal that maybe there isn't demand there. So go where people are actually spending dollars.
because the world rewards problems solved and value added. some flower farms make significantly more money than others, not necessarily because they are better marketers or better growers or harder workers or they're more passionate. It's often because they solve bigger problems or what they do has a more clear outcome.
Like I look at other flower farmers around me who definitely make more money than I do. And most of them are doing weddings because that is a very valuable service that a lot of people are willing to pay for. And I am okay with them making more money than I am because I am unwilling to do weddings at this point in my life and my business. So no hate on people who do weddings. I think it's an incredible way to make money. I think there's demand for it everywhere. And I think it's a really smart
Sales outlet to do if you want to move your flowers, especially if you're a creative person. But like they solve a very clear problem with a very clear outcome. They're solving a problem of we want our wedding to look beautiful. We want it to feel special. We want it to be memorable. And the flowers that those flower farmers or florists are providing are getting these people that super clear outcome.
Whereas I'm also providing a clear outcome because I mostly sell table flowers to people just buying bouquets and bunches to gift to other people or put on their own tables. I am selling joy, status, happiness, telling somebody that they're loved through gifts. So still a very clear outcome, but maybe not as big of a problem or an outcome as what other flower farmers are doing with selling.
Wedding packages. So that's just an example. I w I don't want to say like doing weddings is always more valuable than just selling table flowers. Just an example.
Another example is me teaching. I do this podcast for free, but I also have a paid business program where I work really, really hard to help flower farmers become more profitable, get organized, be less overwhelmed, and generally more successful. Now, I don't get paid because I love teaching business and I'm super passionate about business. I get paid because
I am transforming people's lives in businesses. People are paying for transformation and outcomes, not just information, right?
And in the beginning of this episode, I said that money follows value. So
If you want to make more money in your business, focus on creating as much value for your customer as possible. The businesses that last are usually obsessed with their customers and how they're providing value to their customers, not just the dollars. Obviously, you need to keep a close watch on your numbers and your profits, but it's really the people who care about their customers and the outcome that they're getting for them.
More than anything else, those are the people who typically succeed the most. Revenue is just the receipt. Value is the cause here, right? So if you're somebody who is kind of struggling to make money in your flower farm business right now, sometimes the answer is figuring out how you can become more value within that Ikagai intersection between what you love and what people are willing to pay for.
Instead of asking, how do I make more money? You ask things like, How can I make buying easier? How can I save customers time? How can I improve quality? How can I create a better experience? How can I create more connection? How can I solve a bigger problem? How can I help more people? So income growth is often a byproduct of just becoming more valuable and providing.
more value to your customer.
And this comes down to even the most basic things, like the difference between asking yourself, what flowers do I want to grow versus what value do my customers want to buy? Like what do my customers want to buy? Not just what I want to grow. You know what I mean? Cause the goal here isn't to chase money. It the goal is to become so useful and so valuable and so effective at solving problems for your customers that money naturally flows to you. You know, money is important.
It absolutely is important, but it's not everything. And money is not the mission. I know the name of this podcast is six-figure flower farming, but money is not the mission here. Providing value to your customers is. Money is just the byproduct of doing that. The better you are at your business, the better you are at providing value and amazing experiences and connection to your customers, the more money you
Are going to make as long as it falls within that intersection of Ikagai, what you love and what people are willing to pay for.
If you want to be successful at business, you have to be completely obsessed with your customer. And I'm saying this as a reminder to myself as well with my flower farm business, because sometimes I get stuck in the numbers and I get stuck in the crop plan and just executing the day-to-day tasks. And I have to remind myself every once in a while to just kind of look up and take a look around at all my customers and these beautiful people that we are serving and providing a service to and just.
Think about how I can make their lives better.
And that's really what it's all about. That's what the business is about. Sure, the business is here to serve me, but it's also only exists because I'm serving all these other people and they really need to be considered and
be top of mind. If you found this episode helpful, I'd love it if you took a minute to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more flower farmers find the show, or better yet, send it to a friend who might be struggling right now with trying to figure out what sales outlets they should be focusing on, what flowers they should be growing, to really get their minds wrapped around this whole idea of providing value and doing what you love, creating value so you can make money as a byproduct of it.
Jenny (18:27)
Real quick, if you've got 17 tabs open in your brain right now, just trying to figure out your next move, please do yourself a favor and close them and go grab your personalized profit roadmap instead. It's just a short assessment that will tell you what stage your farm is in and what actually deserves your attention right now to move forward quickly. Because more information isn't usually the answer.
focusing on the real problem that's holding you back is. It's free, it's fast, and it's probably more helpful than scrolling Instagram for another hour. So go grab it at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash roadmap. That's trademarkfarmer.com forward slash roadmap. You can also grab this link in the show notes.
Jenny (19:14)
Thanks for being here for another episode of the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast. Don't forget, we publish new episodes every Monday. So I'll see you next week. Same time, same place. Bye for now.
