Jenny (00:29)
Today, I'm talking with one of our past six-figure flower farming students, Lydia Watson. And I'm gonna give you one reason right now why I think you're gonna wanna stick around for this conversation. Lydia raised her flower prices by 30% this year, and she got zero pushback from her customers. Absolutely none. So we're gonna talk about that. But we're also gonna talk about how Lydia has completely changed the way she thinks about her numbers.
Profitability, marketing, and where she spends her time and how she's gained so much more confidence in running the business side of her flower farm.
Now Lydia is the grower behind Henhill Cut Flowers and she's from the south of England and she's also the host of the Becoming a Cut Flower Grower podcast.
She grows chemical-free seasonal flowers primarily for local wedding and event florists. And I think one of the things you're gonna love about Lydia is how she now intentionally approaches her business.
She is always tracking her numbers, figuring out what's working, and looking for ways to make better use of every square meter she has because she grows on a very small amount of land. And I think her story is a great example of what can happen when you stop thinking of yourself as just a flower grower or flower farmer and really start stepping into the role of business owner.
So let's dive in and meet Lydia.
Jenny (01:53)
So Lydia, why don't you just start off and tell us a little bit about yourself? That would be awesome.
Lydia Watson (01:59)
Yeah, hi, I'm Lydia from Hen Hillcut Flowers. I'm growing on about an acre and I have about one eighth under cultivation at the moment. It's a really challenging field. It's off grid completely, so there is no water, no electricity and we've just gone through like this crazy drought in the UK this year. It's also on a slope, which is really challenging and it's a chalky soil, so great because it's redraining but there's not a lot
depth to work with. Now the chickens are on the field with me, hence the name of the business, and they provide all the natural fertilizers which is amazing. And I grow a selection of roses, shrubs, perennials, annuals, foliage, I have some peonies, some bearded iris, and I sell wholesale to local wedding and event florists and I'm very lucky to work with some really really high caliber florists and they do amazing things that go into country house hotels and wineries.
I'm really very lucky.
Jenny (03:01)
My gosh, I love that. So, Lydia, I want to just jump right into something that you told us recently, because I think every flower farmer listening is gonna want to hear this. You said that you raised your prices by 30% this year. So that's selling to florists, wedding and event florists that are doing some of these higher-end things. And you said that you haven't received any pushback, like zero pushback. So tell me a little bit more about.
That? What gave you the confidence to make that big of an increase? What were you afraid was gonna happen? What actually happened? Tell me more about that.
Lydia Watson (03:40)
Well, I did your course last year and that is what gave me the confidence to do it. I went through all the numbers, I crunched all of the data, I finally understood things like overheads and direct costs and how important it is to work incredibly quickly. So I did all my seed sowing to like techno music just so I could work a bit faster. And I was able to put together, you know, this is absolutely, yeah.
absolutely techno music, euphoric dance, whatever, but it's got to be fast. And I worked out that,
Jenny (04:12)
I love that.
Lydia Watson (04:13)
you know, I wasn't pricing properly and I grow beautiful flowers and I thought, well, you know what, these numbers are just not making sense. Like I need to put my prices up. So yeah, I put them up 30%. I haven't had any pushback this year whatsoever. And because I have confidence now, because I'm looking at all of this data and looking at the numbers,
If anybody did come back, my answer would probably be, well, perhaps these are just not going to be the right fit for you because this is the price and I don't do any discounting and I have the confidence to back my own product now in a way that I definitely didn't have last year.
Jenny (04:54)
Wow, I love that. Now, would you say that you would have considered yourself like a numbers person before taking the program and f fight figuring out this confidence that you now have?
Lydia Watson (05:08)
Yes, to a degree. Like I'm a massive spreadsheet nerd and I am I am pretty obsessed
Jenny (05:12)
Ha ha
Lydia Watson (05:13)
with numbers. I love data. I used to have a job being a data analysis, so I'm quite into the numbers, but I had absolutely zero grasp of my own numbers. I mean, let me be clear. I didn't have a clue about anything so.
As soon as I realized from your course that actually the numbers are the key to everything, I was like, right, I'm on the case. So I've got all the spreadsheets. I'm collecting all the data. I'm crunching all the numbers and they give you the answers. It's literally there in black and white. So now I'm literally all over, all over it.
Jenny (05:45)
Love that. So how were you deciding on what to charge before this?
Lydia Watson (05:52)
I made it up. mean, literally, like, don't tell anybody, but I literally made it up. Like, I didn't have a clue. Pricing is so difficult. So, so difficult when you're new and you don't have a clue what you're doing. And you can kind of benchmark against some other numbers. But honestly, it's not the right way to do it at all. In fact, it can be a very slippery slope because the florists in the UK are very comfortable buying from wholesalers. It's what they've always done.
it's very straightforward for them and they used to saying pricing and they you know you I could look at those numbers and go somebody's charging £1.50 a stem for those flowers maybe I can charge £1.50 a stem but then you're like well maybe my stem length isn't the same as what's for sale
or it's not exactly the right variety. Some of the imports coming in are the most beautiful flowers, like they're really, really long stem lengths. They're varieties that maybe the average person can't get hold of. So it's not like comparing apples with apples. And you know, we can't compete with the price of imports in the wholesalers. It's crazy. Like they're just cheaper than our flowers for lots and lots of different reasons. And...
Yeah, so I just, you I just, you also can't find data from other growers. That's the other thing. It's not like everybody's being a secret squirrel. It's just, the numbers just aren't out there, especially if you're growing to sell wholesale like I am. So if you're gonna sell at a market, you could go around lots of different markets and see, okay, all the bunches of 30 pounds, 40 pounds, 50 pounds. If you're growing wholesale, you're just completely in the dark. So there was an awful lot of just...
uneducated guesswork and flying by the seat of my pants and just waiting to see what the florists did which is a terrible way of running things because of course I had no idea about profit I had no idea about how much it was costing me to produce every stem I hadn't factored in any of my costs whatsoever so last year was a disaster
Jenny (07:58)
So then once you came through six figure flower farming and you actually sat down and we helped you run the numbers with looking at how much things were costing you to grow, then you could look at your break-even prices and say, okay, now I feel very confident and knowing that I need to charge X, Y, and Z. You know, now that you've made that shift, it sounds like it's affected your confidence throughout your whole business. I mean, I I can just kind of hear it in your voice. So tell me a little bit more about.
How that's affected other pieces of your business.
Lydia Watson (08:31)
Well before, I mean last year I was thinking like a grower. Now I'm thinking like a chief executive. Which sounds a little bit pretentious, like I used to think a CEO title was for somebody running a million pound business. But it's really not, doesn't matter how small your business is, your business is a thing, it's not you. So I think of myself like as a business person.
And it was all, you know, it was all really chaotic last year. Honestly, it was just embarrassing. There was just no control over anything, over the field, over my time, over my finances. I ran everything in and out of my personal bank account, which is just terrible. So when money did come in, it just kind of got completely lost and then spent on, you know, petrol or shopping or ridiculous things. And so the...
The confidence from the course is like, actually I'm running a business and therefore business principles need to apply. And even things like I didn't have a website last year, I didn't have an email address, I didn't have anything that suggested to anyone that I was selling to that I was a professional operation, even though I'm small, because I, you know, let's not lie about this, I'm a really small scale grower, but that doesn't mean that business principles can't apply to...
the size that I'm growing at.
Jenny (09:54)
Yes. And I get questions from small scale flower growers all the time about this, particularly people who are growing on a half an acre, a quarter of an acre, an eighth of an acre. I mean, I think you're somewhere around like fifty, five hundred square feet, a an eighth of an acre, something like that. And this is what I tell everybody. It's that it it doesn't matter how big or how small you are, these business principles are important at every scale. Otherwise, it just doesn't work, right? So
I
I love that you said that.
Lydia Watson (10:24)
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, and one other thing I'd add is that I think one of the questions that I was asking myself before I went on the course was like, am I too small? Is this too early in the process to do all of this kind of stuff? Right. And the answer is absolutely not. Because once you get the groundwork laid, the foundations, if you like, installed, then you are just free to concentrate on all the other things that you have to do. But you've got all your basics.
there done and dusted and I would have got into an absolute kerfuffle if I'd got to five years in and then tried to do the course because it would have just been a disaster.
Jenny (11:04)
How do you think it would have been a disaster if you hadn't have focused on any of these things that we focused on during the program?
Lydia Watson (11:12)
Well, the pricing would still have been up the wall for a start. I mean, that would have just been a disaster. I wouldn't have made any money because I had no idea how to charge for anything. I wouldn't have been anywhere near as efficient as I am now from all the things that I learned from the course. So things like, you know, task batching and time blocking, all those things, which just hadn't occurred to me. I was literally running around like a crazy person.
And there was no separation at all between me and the field. And if you have a field and you love growing cut flowers, you literally can spend, I don't know, 20 hours a day in the summer up there. It absorbs your evenings, your weekends. I didn't go away last year because I was like, I can't leave, this is all really chaotic. I didn't know if I was growing the right stuff, what people wanted and...
Yeah, I didn't have any kind of funding set up. Like I wasn't saving into like a capex fund for future purchases or anything like that. And don't even get me started on profit because there wasn't any last year. So that's been the key difference between last year and this year. It was just...
Jenny (12:22)
So you're
actually profitable this year now because of this. Yeah. Yes.
Lydia Watson (12:25)
Yes, yes, as a direct result
of this course I am profitable. listen, it's not enough to go on a cruise around the world, I can't retire, but it doesn't matter. I wasn't profitable before and I'm profitable now and you know I have money saved away and it's just accruing and it's all really amazing.
Jenny (12:47)
Love that. It that just makes me so happy to hear. And this is exactly why I started doing the workshops in the program in the first place, is to help people a achieve just that. Now I'm curious, what made you ultimately decide, like, okay, I need to get better at the business side of things. I need to learn these. Like, what made you decide that this actually had to happen?
Jenny (13:15)
If you're incredibly excited about what your flower farm could become, but right now you're working like crazy, your bank account isn't reflecting how hard you're working, and you aren't totally sure how to get from here to the profitable business you want, I made something just for you. This October 2026, I'm teaching a free live time and profit training for flower farmers where I'm gonna show you the three areas to focus on if you want to make more profit.
Get some of your time back and consistently sell the flowers you're growing without just working harder or growing more. And if you already know how to grow beautiful flowers, but you're ready to get better at the business side of flower farming, this training is for you. Now I'm teaching it live only three times in October 2026, and there will not be a recorded replay sent out. So you have to be there with me live.
Go and grab your free C at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash training. That's trademarkfarmer.com forward slash training. And I'll put the link for you in the show notes. Go ahead and pause this episode and save your free spot now. And then come right back. I'll see you there.
Lydia Watson (14:33)
Well, it took me a really long time. It was something that I wanted to do by myself, actually. So I did spend most of last year struggling. And then I got to a point, like three quarters of the way through the year, when pretty much all balls had been dropped. Like everything had literally fallen over. My personal life was in a crisis. I didn't see my family and friends. And I was just thinking, I've spent hours and hours and hours of my life here.
I'm not sure I'm even treading water, like I think I'm actually sinking here. And it was a really depressing, hopeless kind of feeling, thinking like, maybe I should just not do this. Maybe I'm not cut out for this. I'm not good enough. And that's when I realized that I actually had to do something about it. Now I'd been listening to your podcast for ages. And so you were kind of in my sights as the right person for me, because it is important that you choose the course that's going to be a good fit for you.
I just thought I need to somehow shortcut the next few years, which I know are going to be a disaster if I don't take this course. So I did have to think about it for ages. I must say it wasn't something that I could just jump straight into. I was growing on like the tiniest budget you can possibly imagine. You'd probably be horrified if I told you. So, you know, being able to afford the course was, you know, a big thing for me. And I have to say I've made that money back already.
Like it was, was, a lot of money at the time, but actually what I've saved this year through all the things I learned, I've made it back already. So that's amazing.
Jenny (16:10)
That's amazing to hear. I'm so glad to hear it. So do you think at the trajectory you're on now, where do you see yourself going in the next like two, three, five years from what you've learned?
Lydia Watson (16:26)
Well, there are some things that I haven't fully enacted from the course. It's a big course. There's a lot of material on there. And we did it right before Christmas and I was thinking, this will be fine. I'll just, you know, I can do this. It's no problem. And then there was just so much information. So I'm still working through some of the things that are on the course. And of course, that's the great thing about it. You can keep coming back to it. And I watch the videos again and I pick things up and I work on things. So there are still...
still a lot of improvements to be made. But in terms of like the basics, they're all sorted. So I can relax about that and then concentrate on the things that really need a bit more attention.
Jenny (17:07)
Yeah. Well, the one thing I always try to remind people of is that nothing is gonna happen or it doesn't all happen all at once. Like all these things take time to implement and you can't implement everything all at the same time. Like we do it all in steps and it just takes time and you're always building on the skills that you've learned previously. Like I I'm, you know, eleven, twelve years into my f cut flower farm business and every single year I'm still building.
On all these foundational skills and just kind of taking it one next step to the next level.
But Lydia, another thing that really stood out to me that you told this earlier is how focused you've become with your marketing. Like it sounds like to me you've essentially decided that wedding and event florists are my customer. I'm gonna get really, really good at serving and reaching those people. And I've been really impressed with
you some of your marketing strategies that you've told me about. So how did you arrive at that decision to do that and go in that direction?
Lydia Watson (18:10)
You know, marketing has been one of the most challenging aspects of the whole course, of the whole business. It seems really straightforward and then somehow it's like a giant monster that I'm still doing battle with. It's been a mixed bag this year actually. I mean, there have been some successes. I actually reached out to some different kinds of buyers. So rather than just the wedding and event florists, because sometimes...
whatever I have ready is not what they need. And then the next week or a few days later, they'll be like, I need some of this and I haven't got it because they're not ready or they, can you know what flowers are like? They all do things at different times and it depends on the weather and like we've had the craziest weather in the UK this year. sometimes it's a bit hit and miss. So I thought, well, I'm going to reach out to some other people that would use flowers that might appreciate the style of growing that I do. So I'm chemical free.
absolutely no synthetic chemicals on that field whatsoever. I garden organically anyway. So I reached out to some caterers and to some cake makers to see if they would be interested in buying the flowers. And I actually had a couple of them come up onto the field. I like to do like a field tour. So I invite people to come up and have a look and then I show them the whole setup and they get to meet me and the chickens and they understand who I am and the brand and what I'm trying to achieve.
And so some of my cornflowers went on to a very, very fancy, beautiful cake that a local caterer had done. And I said to them, you know, if you need flowers to go with some of your events, because they're not just caterers, you know, they're like event planners as well, then it's just like a little tiny sideline. You never know where it's going to go. You know, it was a handful of cornflowers that went on a cake, but the petals got applied with tweezers. I mean, this is the level of cake we're talking about here.
And you just never know. So the more people I meet, the more connections I make, the more different outlets that I can find for the flowers, because there are always some that you just have that aren't ready when people need them. And I need to be able to sell them to somebody else. So that has been a success. But sometimes, well, it's very difficult to do the marketing because at the time that you really want to be doing it, there's often a lot of other stuff going on.
And I took on board your idea about the product launches and I was going to do this incredible product launch for my tulips and I bought hundreds of them last autumn. Very excited about that. And you know, the whole lot, bar one got eaten by rats. So on
the one hand, I was
Jenny (20:49)
No
Lydia Watson (20:51)
at home doing this product launch plan and I had photos and I had the wording and I had the dates and I was going to start launching everything, everything, everything. Meanwhile, on the field,
I had them grown in crates and the rats just, well the rats went through the bottom of the crates so I didn't realise that the tulips had gone until I started ferreting about in the crates and then I realised that there weren't even any tulips left in the crates. So then I moved all the tulips on
Jenny (21:15)
my gosh.
Lydia Watson (21:16)
one of the hen houses, I was hiding them in all these different places and I got some coming through and they didn't do very well and then some of them were mouldy so you know.
all this time I'm like what am I supposed to do about this product launch so I kind of had to shelve it in the end because I just ended up with one tulip out of hundreds of bulbs. know, I know,
Jenny (21:34)
No. Heartbreaking.
Lydia Watson (21:39)
disaster. But actually I'm gonna start working with a lady because I've realized that marketing is not my forte. Now there is the odd brainwave and there's the odd thing that goes well but overall it's something that fills me with terror. So I've decided, chief executive decision here,
to outsource it so I'm going to be working with a friend of mine who's actually going to help me with the marketing and she's amazing and so we're going to do that because I do think when you're running a small business there are so many things to do like it's insane how many things there are to do and if there's something that you are really struggling with outsource it to somebody else just get it off your desk that's my attitude anyway
And then it's one less thing to worry about because it holds me back. That was the problem. I was waiting like, I've got to do all this marketing. Then I'll be able to sell everything. And it was just stopping me from getting on with other things. Total waste of time.
Jenny (22:34)
Yeah, I think that there's absolutely
Lydia Watson (22:34)
Thanks.
Jenny (22:36)
no shame in delegating some things inside of your business. I'm a huge fan. Like I I feel as your business grows, there's just no possible way that one person can manage and do all of the functions of the business to their full capacity. And so if you realize you need help in one area, it's a hundred percent recommended to get help in that area. Otherwise, like you said, it's just gonna hold you back.
And
nobody wants that. But you did tell me earlier that you actually, so we haven't mentioned this yet, but you have your own podcast. And so I'm sure we'll talk about it more. But you said something about interviewing one of your buyers or something on your podcast and how she or you or somebody was sharing that with the other local forests in your area. Tell me a little bit more about how that idea and how that came about and how that's been going. Because I'm curious about that.
Lydia Watson (23:32)
Yeah, the interview I did on the podcast, actually, it was with my number one buyer and she's been an incredible supporter of me since I really first got started and she loves British flowers. So she does super high-end weddings and she's very talented, but she loved, like me, we love a bendy stem. We love kinky stems. We love twisty wild, natural British roses, you know, things that the imports just cannot compete on. So.
She's very happy to buy from me and we have a great working relationship. And I just realized, you know, I really want to interview this florist and just kind of get the lowdown on how things are going from her perspective. So I asked my podcast listeners to send in questions that they might have for a florist.
and I gave them about a month to build up to it. And so they sent me lots of questions and then I added on a whole load of questions. I was kind of too scared to ask her. I thought she'll think I'm stupid. I pretended they were from other listeners. so we had this interview, don't tell anyone. So we had this interview in
Jenny (24:35)
You're gonna be outed now.
Lydia Watson (24:40)
her studio and honestly, we talked for so long. I had to split it into two separate podcast episodes, but it was fascinating to get this kind of behind the scenes.
look and yeah she shared lots of really interesting information and the feedback was really good but the point was that we could both share it on our socials so I put it on mine she put it on hers and I put like a photo of the two of us when we did the interview and so other florists got to see that from her socials and she's got a lot more followers than me and so I think it well I'm guessing I hope it helped my credibility as
a grower like this florist is you know very happy working with me she's happy to be interviewed by me she's happy to share our story on her socials and hopefully it will encourage more florists to give me a call and come and work with me.
Jenny (25:37)
I love that. I think that's such a great idea, such a creative idea just to get exposure to all those other florists in your area. I mean, I I think that's genius. And I I think we should leave the link so other people can go and listen to that. So we'll make sure to put that in the show notes somewhere. Now, do you feel like you have changed other things about your business as a result of you know going through six-figure flower farming?
Stepping
back and like taking a really hard look at the business, and not just the growing side of things. Is there anything else you've changed?
Lydia Watson (26:14)
Well, I'm collecting masses of data and I know you said to us, collect data for a few crops. Well, I thought, you know what, I'm gonna do it for all my crops. So those crop sheets that you give us, I have one of those for every single crop that I've got going out there. So every single time I touch one or look at one, I write down how long it's taken me and anything else that happens with it.
So I'm collecting masses of data, including harvesting data, which I also didn't do last year. I didn't realize how important that was. It's amazing how long it takes to actually harvest stems. And I don't even have to put rubber bands around or anything else. I just shove them in a bucket and that's it. Off they go. So there's definitely a level of data recording, which is pretty enormous. And it's going to be so helpful. It's going to help me make all the decisions I need to make for next year and into the future.
because my mind is not always the most reliable thing. Sometimes I don't remember a single thing that's going on. so it's very useful to just have cold hard numbers to go back and look at. And the focus on profitability, that was absolutely crucial. I can't really recommend that people look into that more.
because it's so important. What you taught us on the course has meant that I am profitable this year. And I suppose other business things like I've briefly mentioned already, you know, I've got a website now and a proper email address and it's just about creating like a brand as well. Like I make sure that the color that I use in my logo is the color that goes on the website. It's the same color that goes on my invoices. Like there's like a link.
everything is kind of linked. So hopefully at every touch point potential clients can see that I have got my stuff together and I know what I'm doing anyway. That's the hope anyway.
Jenny (28:15)
You do, you do know what you're doing. Now, going back to collecting the data, I think this is one place where a lot of people get hung up because they already feel so busy just with the regular farming tasks. It feels like collecting that data, just writing that down, sometimes can feel like a monumental task to people that they just don't have time for, and so they don't want to do it. So what have you done to overcome that? I don't know if that was even a problem for you, but
Is it truly because you now understand that this data is gonna help me make great decisions in my business and that's why it's a priority? And what have you done to just do a better job at collecting that?
Lydia Watson (28:57)
Well my attitude now is that the data I collect is equally as important as the flowers I'm selling. Like that's how important it is. And so last year, well firstly last year before the course I didn't even know what I should be collecting. So I wasn't really collecting anything of any value whatsoever. This year I've gone maybe a little bit overboard but I don't think you can have too many numbers personally, that's just me. So I started out with
spreadsheets. Now I had the luxury of being able to make them in the winter and I couldn't really get outside so that was fine. But I did have sort of ambitious plans that I was going to take the iPad up to the field and it was all going to work. That all goes out the window because you're filthy, everything's dusty, the battery's always gone. So you know I just use a good old-fashioned notepad these days and I have one notebook that is totally dedicated to seeds and everything seed sowing.
one that's dedicated to any labor that's spent on the field and that actually used to live on the field now it lives in my handbag because I'm worried about losing it so I carry it everywhere with me and then I've got a third one that's just for harvesting and that one does stay on the field because I find that because I'm now like batching my tasks I try not to go and do 15 different scatter gun tasks across the field because there's chaos and I can't concentrate on one thing at a time so when I go harvesting I just go harvesting
I take the book with me. There's a biro in every single book so I don't even have to find a biro. And I just write everything down on a fresh piece of paper every day. And that's the easiest thing to do. And when the nights start drawing in here, I will get all of the notebooks back out and put everything on the computer. And I will have all the data that I need.
Jenny (30:48)
speaking of your record keeping systems with your notebooks, I I have tried several different times for us to use like like an iPad or we've tried to
use technology and although we do use our phones and we use it our like task management software app on our phone, we do use that. So much of our record keeping is literally this like old fashioned write it down in a notebook because of what you're saying. There's the weather and we'll use the write in the rain, notebooks that are like waterproof. That has helped a lot. But it it it's like
You don't want to take this like thousand dollar iPad and bring it out into the field where it's like muddy and gross and wet and everything. And so we have honestly found that using old fashioned pen and paper as part of our systems has worked the best. And I think other people probably might judge us for that, but this is just what w works for us.
And actually something else that you've brought up a couple of times, Lydia, is batching tasks and time blocking.
Lydia Watson (31:49)
Mmm.
Jenny (31:50)
So
You know, we teach a lot of these sort of time management principles in the program along with general farm efficiency. But I'm curious how implementing that has affected your work or your life. Like, do you feel more organized? Do you feel less overwhelmed? Do you have more time? Like, tell me more about how that's changed for you.
Lydia Watson (32:10)
The
principles I learnt on the course were really, really helpful. And I kept thinking every time I was doing something, what would Jenny say? Like, what would Jenny say if she could see you doing this right now? Then there's nothing more frightening. So before I'd go on the field and I'd be like, I'm always sweating.
Jenny (32:25)
I'm always watching.
Lydia Watson (32:28)
I'd go on the field and I'd think, okay, I'm going to do a little bit of weeding here. And then I'll be like, I need to tie this in and I don't have strings. So need to go and get string. And then I'd go get it. And then I'd come back and see something on the way. I'll just plant that. I'll just compost that. I'll just do some deadheading. And before you know it, it's just chaotic. Like you're trying to manage lots of different things. You hardly get anything finished and you're moving around a lot.
going to collect tools or everything's in the wrong place. And so now I go up there and I think to myself on the journey, like, what am I going to do? And I'll spend like 30 minutes doing this or an hour doing this, or sometimes just two hours doing one task. And it might mean that there are other things that then, you know, back up and that need dealing with, but at least I've got one complete job done. And it's definitely a better, clearer way of.
working much more focused and then a better sense of achievement at the end and it's also easier to record the time as well especially if you batch tasks according to a particular bed or a particular crop you know if you're ducking and diving between three or four different crops then how can you possibly record the time that you've spent on that crop and that's the most important piece of data to collect so I'm definitely much more focused much more streamlined and efficient
and then I've got accurate figures at the end for how long it's actually taken me.
Jenny (34:00)
love that. is there anything that you learned besides that that seemed really maybe small at the time, but has had a surprisingly big impact, like bigger than you might have thought?
Lydia Watson (34:17)
Well, the CEO mindset is probably the biggest one, but I would say in a close second, you introduced us to the profit first technique, which I had never heard of. And I remember when you told us on the course, you know, about having multiple bank accounts. And I said to you, there's absolutely no way that my bank will let me have multiple bank accounts. And it turned out that they wouldn't.
But I bought the profit first book, Michael McCallowitz's book, and I actually took it away. My other half and I went on a romantic mini break for a weekend. And he was quite disappointed to see that I just bought the profit first book with me and I spent all weekend reading it. And I came back and I thought, Jenny's right. I need a separate business bank account. So I went and did that. And I found one that had all these separate pots inside so that you can set up all the different
you know, the savings funds that you want to have. So like your labor expenses, the capex fund, the profit fund, most important one, so that I could start, you know, when money came in from florists, it would automatically, without me having to do anything, go into all of these separate pots within my business bank account, which was amazing and so great to get it away from my personal account as well. And I was so blown away by that, that I went and got myself a new
personal bank account that lets you have pots and so I've applied that principle to my personal finances which has made an enormous difference. So not only have you helped me with the business but you've helped me with my own bank account as well which is amazing.
Jenny (35:57)
that's great. You know, I I have to say that I had a similar experience when I first started implementing profit first principles. And like I started off super simple. Like I didn't have, I think maybe I just had one other bank account where I just put profit into first. But then I I was looking at like me and my husband's money and I was like, well, you know, if we want to go on vacation this year, we should be like,
Putting that money away separately. And like we want to save up for the next car that we have to buy. So I should be saving that separately. And then it cr and like Christmas money, like because we buy gifts for our friends and family. And so that actually really helped us personally manage our finances better. And so I think like all around, just having a better understanding of these basic principles doesn't just help your business financially. It also helps you personally, or at least it did for me. So that's really cool.
To see that you had sort of a parallel experience to mine, which is awesome.
Lydia Watson (36:58)
Yeah, definitely.
Do you do the roundups thing where whatever amount of money you spend on your card, the difference between that amount and the next whole number goes off into a separate pot? Because I set that up and I've just, there's just money accruing in it now without me having to do anything. It's amazing.
Jenny (37:21)
Yes. Yeah. It's like on autopilot, right? You're just like, where is this money coming from? This is great.
Lydia Watson (37:26)
Yeah,
I know, it's like free money.
Jenny (37:30)
Yeah,
exactly. And honestly, probably one of the biggest like how do I wanna say this? one of the biggest stress relievers for me was having money automatically go into a tax account. So when it comes time to pay like our income tax, I don't know if for in the UK it might be different from here, but I don't ever stress about like that anymore. Like the money is there and that's not a stressor of mine. So if anybody who's listening, if you're like
it comes tax time and all of a sudden you realize that you owe like a thous you know, however much, thousands of dollars and you're like, Where's that money gonna come from? Like that never happens because it's just all automatically done now.
Lydia Watson (38:14)
Yeah, it takes a huge amount of stress away, like you say, and it just, once you've set the system up, it just runs and runs. You don't have to do anything. And the best thing is that you can see your numbers at a glance. So if you don't have this system that you showed us set up, then I would have looked at my bank account last year and gone, I've made some money. I can just go and spend all of that on a whole new load of...
Jenny (38:39)
Ha ha.
Lydia Watson (38:41)
Now I'm like, well, I can't do that because the money that's come in is not all mine to spend. Like you say, it's gone into the tax, it's gone into the profit, it's gone into all these other different places. And what I actually have left is a really small amount, which comes back to managing your money and getting a hold of expenses, which is, you're really onto this. You make a lot of really good reels about how to make more money. It's like spend less. And it sounds really...
obvious but it's so true because if you're not careful, I could spend a fortune on that field. It's like a money pit, you know? If you're not in control of the finances and you've given me the confidence to think about it in a business-focused way, then it just gets completely out of hand.
Jenny (39:28)
Yes. And I think this is important for growers at all stages. And I have to admit that this year, personally, I've had to have a lot of reminders for myself in this area because I got I shouldn't be admitting this, but I will. I got like a little bit not lazy, but I would say like complacent. And as we were kind of trying to scale up different parts of the business, and I wasn't paying like as close of attention.
To our expenses, and they started to get a little bit bloated. And luckily, you know, I caught it and was like, man, we have really been spending too much. And I had to go back and like slash some things, you know, stop ordering so many supplies
Lydia Watson (40:09)
Yeah.
Jenny (40:09)
at certain times, like figure out how to cut our expenses. And I think so many people don't quite do that. And it's it's something that you always have to be cognizant of. And I I've heard this thing before, I've probably said it on the podcast before, but.
Profit is unnatural and it really is our job as the business owner to just constantly be figuring out like how to squash those expenses down to keep the profit higher. And it's like always a battle, right? Always.
Lydia Watson (40:42)
Yeah,
it is because there's a never-ending amount of things that you could buy and when you start really really small like I did I literally started with I mean the tiniest amount of money and you have to make money in order to go off and buy new things but if you don't watch the money really carefully it just you know what money's like it just vanishes into all these random places and and you then don't have the money to do things that you really really need to do.
Jenny (41:13)
Yes, like like I say in the program, you have to tell your money where you want it to go. Otherwise, it will find places to go for you.
Lydia Watson (41:21)
Yeah.
Jenny (41:22)
Now, one thing that you've said several times is this whole idea of the CEO mindset that you feel like you've sort of developed.
Lydia Watson (41:31)
Mmm.
Jenny (41:32)
it seems to me like you seem to be making decisions much more intentionally now. Like you're thinking about yourself and your business.
differently. So I'm curious what you know stepping into that CEO mindset really means for you.
Lydia Watson (41:54)
Well, the key thing has been to separate the business from me. That was actually really hard to do because I'm a grower and my off-farm job is a gardener. So everything about me is about growing and flowers and plants. And so you'd think that the cut flower business would sit really nicely into that mindset, but actually...
It kind of doesn't because the principles are very different. Growing cut flowers for a business is wildly different from just growing some cut flowers to put in somebody else's garden. Never mind all the technical stuff like the spacing and things like that and staking and netting and all of that kind of stuff. The business side of it is totally different. And I...
made the mistake at the beginning, because I didn't know any better, of not separating the two out. And the course really helped me to see that the business is a standalone entity. It has to support itself. I can't keep propping it up all the time. And that, you know, how I operate it, it needs to be, you know, self-sufficient and it needs to make money and therefore I've got money to spend on it. But it is a thing in and of itself.
So I'm not thinking about making a huge business that I could then sell in the future. It's not about that level of differentiation. It's just about having a line in the sand that says, is my life and this is my business. So not having money coming into my personal account, not having emails coming into my personal email. It's being able to separate it out. And you know, one of the things I actually managed to do this year is actually hire somebody.
And because I think of the business as like a business and therefore it's a thing by itself, I actually had to hire somebody to fulfill a really big order that I wasn't actually going to be able to be on the field to do it. So I trained somebody and I hired them and the business paid them and it all worked out absolutely amazingly. Now, if you'd said that to me a year ago,
Lydia, the business is going to be able to actually pay someone to do something that you can't do. I would have laughed at you. I mean, it's just, you know, I would have just never thought it was possible, but it is possible and the mindset is absolutely crucial and the course really, really emphasizes that.
Jenny (44:31)
Is a huge, huge win. I would say like massive progress for you to be able to hire somebody and not really like you know think twice about it where you're like, this is what the business needs, this is what I have to do in order to move the business forward. And I think that's a really terrifying point for a lot of people. And so I I would say that's a massive win, Lydia. Like, congratulations. That's fantastic.
Lydia Watson (44:56)
I know. I was so pleased. I
really was. It was a big thing. you know, there was a whole section in the course about training people and onboarding new team members. And I applied those principles to when I found somebody and I went through everything and made it as clear as I possibly could based on what I learned. And it all went without a hitch.
It is perfectly possible. That's another thing, you it's so hard to leave, you know, leave your field when it's all wrapped up in you and your personality. When you think about it like a business, you start making decisions that are right for the business. Now, obviously they have to be kind of right for me because I'm running it, but you know what, do you know what I mean?
It's what's in the best interest of the business, what moves the business forward, what do I have to do to take it to the next level, even if that means me stepping out of the way of myself, because I am nearly always the biggest roadblock, and outsourcing things that mean that I'm holding the business up. That's what has to be done.
Jenny (46:06)
Think
that you explain that perfectly. Like that whole idea that the business is its own entity and you're really trying to make decisions for the business, not just for yourself. Obviously, like you said, you are a big part of the business. It has to also benefit you, but it's looking at it as its own thing, which I love. now
Lydia Watson (46:28)
Yeah.
Jenny (46:29)
let's go back to when you were deciding whether to join.
Our program, six figure flower farming, or not. I'm curious what made you ultimately decide to enroll and what hesitations that you had about joining the program. Because it sounds like you weren't totally confident about the business side. You weren't really sure what was profitable, how to price, or necessarily like where to focus or how to think about the business. And now you've raised prices by 30% without pushback. You're incredibly focused on.
profitability, you're collecting data. And maybe like most importantly, you seem super confident in your role as the CEO of the business. Like, does that feel like an accurate description of the transformation to you? and and if so, like what hesitations did you have before joining that have now led to that?
Lydia Watson (47:24)
Well what I realised last summer when I was literally in this absolute chaotic, crazy, totally overwhelming, out of control situation was that I needed business skills. It wasn't horticultural skills I needed, like don't get me wrong, I'm not the best grower in the world and I've had my share of car crash mistakes this year. But I understand the principles, they need refining, but I know how to do that so I didn't want a course that was going to show me how to sow seeds and
propagate from cuttings, what I needed was straightforward business skills. And I wanted somebody who was in the industry to teach me those skills. Now you've made your history very clear and I related to that. I thought if this woman's been farming, she is going to know her stuff. And obviously I listened to your podcast, so I knew that you were going to be the right person for me. And it clearly wasn't about just growing more.
or growing in a different technique or anything like that. It was literally like, I'm growing some beautiful flowers, how on earth am I going to sell them? And so I did have some worries. I mean, I did think that I was perhaps a little bit too small and that I should wait until I was like year three or year four, that maybe I would get a bit more out of it at that point. And I'm so glad that I didn't believe myself about that.
because really I have skipped about three or four years of total chaos by just doing the course. It's absolutely the perfect time when you're a new grower. Even if you haven't even started anything, I would say just do the course because then you can get all the foundations sorted and then you can just concentrate on everything else. I had some concerns about whether I would be able to cope with the technology. Like I'm in the UK, you're in America.
I know everything happens on the computers these days, but like, what does it look like? And the platform that you used was amazing. It was super simple. All of the video calls went amazingly. So I wasn't right to worry about the tech. That is super easy. Anybody can do it. You can do it on your phone. You you can do it out in the field. I've watched your videos out in the field. So that was easy. And you know, the cost thing was also a concern because I was, you know,
doing everything on an absolute shoe string last year. So that was a big thing for me, but I don't know if you're going to do this for future courses, but you had a pay in three system, which meant that I could spread the cost over three payments. So that helped me enormously. I don't have that kind of money just sitting around, but I was absolutely desperate to do the course. So if you offer that again, I think that would be really, really helpful for people.
And what else? Now, I think they're the main concerns I had. I knew you were going to be good. I just didn't realize how good the course was going to be. And I was pretty floored when I got on it and realized just how much material you give away. All of the crop sheets, all of the spreadsheets. There's just masses of information in there. And it was definitely money well spent.
Jenny (50:48)
well, that's so great to hear. I I'm so happy that we were able to meet and we were able to work together. And it's been incredibly rewarding to watch everything that you have implemented, how far you have come. And today hearing that you went from being simply, you know, not profitable to now being profitable and on this really amazing trajectory moving your business forward. Like that's just so amazing to hear and so rewarding for
Me to see that. And you know, we see it with our students over and over and over again. And so thank you so much for just sharing like all of this today. I know it's really vulnerable sometimes to like open up and share a lot about your experience and what you've done. but I'm just really thankful for you sharing it with everybody. my last question is if there is anything else you would want to share with maybe somebody who is in your position.
a year ago or two years ago, like somebody who's sitting here who feels like they know how to grow flowers but they want this to become a real business, what is the number one advice you would say to that farmer right now?
Lydia Watson (52:00)
I
would say back yourself, invest in yourself before you start investing in anything else. And I would say don't struggle. You know, it's really hard when you start out. I'm in a year two and I'm still struggling through lots of different things. It's not easy. It's quite lonely. There's masses to learn. The best thing to do is to do the course.
to get all your ducks lined up, to get your foundations, to have confidence in yourself, to just really believe that you can do it. I mean, I'm telling you now, if I can do it, you can do it, because I started on a shoestring budget, embarrassingly small, on a wildly unsuitable field with absolutely no clue what I was doing. And in a year's time, I am turning over a profit. I'm selling to some really, really high caliber florists.
I've built a business and yeah, that's thanks to the course. It absolutely is all down to the course and if I can do it, you can do it.
Jenny (53:11)
Well, I just have to say it's not all because of the course. It is also you, Lydia. Like you are the one who has actually put in the work. You are the one who has implemented all the things. Like it's really you that have done it. I just feel like the program probably helped facilitate a lot of that. And so, you can't give all the credit to the program. It's definitely so much of you and you know, obviously the other farmers who take this and do it as well. So
Lydia, thank you so, so much. I would love it if you could just tell everyone where they can find you and Henhill Cut Flowers online and of course where they can listen to your podcast.
Lydia Watson (53:52)
Yes, I have. So my website is henhillcutflowers.co.uk. My Instagram handle is at henhillcutflowers. I do have a podcast, it's called Becoming a Cut Flower Grower, available on Apple and Spotify and wherever else you listen. Comes out twice a week. And it really is a very raw.
conversation with me with whatever is going on. I record on the field quite a lot so the chickens tend to interrupt me. All sorts happens when I'm up there. And if you want to follow along with my journey in real time with what's going on then I would love to have you as a listener.
Jenny (54:33)
Yeah, please guys go check it out. It is an amazing listen. And Lydia is a great teacher as well. So, Lydia, thank you again for joining me on the podcast. It was so great to catch up with you. And for anybody else listening, if you have been listening to Lydia today and thinking, I want that kind of clarity and confidence in my own cut flower farm business, like if you want to understand your numbers, feel confident in your pricing, know what to focus on, and really make decisions based on.
data instead of just guessing. That's exactly the kind of work we do inside of the business program, six figure flower farming. And enrollment for that program is open October 13th through October 22nd, 2026. So enrollment is only open during that time, October 13th through the 22nd, 2026. You can learn more and enroll at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash enroll. Don't forget, we publish new episodes every Monday. So we hope to see you back here next week, same time.
Same place. Bye for now. And thank you again, Lydia, for joining me on the show.
Lydia Watson (55:37)
Thanks Jenny.
