Season 4 is over! We can’t believe it! Thank you to our Patrons who have made it possible for us to keep making this podcast.

In our last episode of Season 4, we reflected on what went well and what didn’t last year, as well as what kind of changes we’re planning on making for the podcast and our paper flower businesses. We agree that our big focus for 2022 is getting back to the why: the heart of why we keep wanting to be paper florists and share our love of paper flower making. 

We highly recommend taking time like we did on the podcast to reflect on your challenges and triumphs. But who has the time or energy for that? You can find the space in your mind to ask these difficult questions. Here are just a few ideas we shared on the episode.

Find Space to Reflect

If you’re overwhelmed with your work, you won’t have the ability to think deeply or widely about where your paper flower business is and where you want it to be. 

As Quynh shared in the episode, she scaled way back on The Posey Box last year because of this very reason. She felt like she never had time to reflect or do anything different. There was always something with an urgent deadline to take care of. She felt burnt out. You can hear the entire story on the podcast, but in short, she decided to focus on other things and is all the happier for it. 

We shared some practical tips in the episode on how you can find space. Every paper florist has different circumstances, so there’s no one size fits all answer here. But if you are feeling unsatisfied or overwhelmed, start by carving out some space for yourself.

Say No Sometimes

Jessie put it well: “Just because you have these great ideas, or opportunities come knocking, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they're the right ones for you. And some of them are really tempting! But they might not get you to your why.” 

You need to master the art of saying no! We had an entire episode of Paper Talk dedicated to this subject, because it’s just so powerful. (Listen to Episode 85 here.) It’s hard to do, but the more you practice this skill, the better you’ll be at it.

Once you find the space to think critically about where you want your business to be, you have to focus on it. That means saying no to opportunities or ideas that don’t lead to it.

Build in Accountability

You can’t build a paper flower business alone. We all get help from family, friends, peers, and mentors. These relationships are essential for giving you someone to bounce ideas off of, to cheer you on, and very importantly, to keep you accountable. When you share your goals with someone, you’re going to have more motivation to work on them because that person is going to ask about them.

Our partnership in particular has been absolutely critical to our success both with Paper Talk and our individual businesses. And as Quynh said, “If you haven’t collaborated with another paper florist, I highly recommend it. The energy and the happiness that you get talking about paper flowers is just so fun.”

We talked a lot in the episode about how we’ve built our partnership so successfully. It isn’t always easy! But it’s completely worth it. You can also hear about our mentor for the podcast and how that has shaped our path for Paper Talk.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

• How we balance our personal lives and paper flower businesses.
• Why leaning into your strengths is the key to avoiding burn out.
• Practical ideas for giving yourself space to focus on the big why and direction of your business.
• How to build a successful partnership, even between two very different people.

Join our Facebook group where you can share, connect, and grow with us. Please also consider supporting us on Patreon for even more great content like this.

BULLET POINTS OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How we balance our personal lives and paper flower businesses.
• Why leaning into your strengths is the key to avoiding burn out.
• Practical ideas for giving yourself space to focus on the big why and direction of your business.
• How to build a successful partnership, even between two very different people.

Many paper florists end up teaching our craft. People want to know how you created that amazing paper flower! And once you start offering tutorials or classes, you are inevitably going to be asked about where to source our specialized materials like crepe.

One answer to this issue? Offering kits with your tutorials.

In our latest episode of Paper Talk we dove into what it really takes to offer kits to your customers. If you haven’t put a kit together before, there are lots of issues that you probably haven’t thought of. Here’s just a few to get you started.

Packaging Wholesale Items

If you’re going to make a profit from selling kits, you should definitely look into buying items wholesale. That said, you can’t just throw a bunch of unmarked wholesale wires and crepe paper into a kit.

Many customers who are buying paper flower kits are new to our craft. They bought your tutorial and kit because they often don’t feel equipped to find the items themselves. It’s all so new to them! So they aren’t going to recognize the difference between a 22 gauge and a 16 gauge wire. You need to repackage these wholesale items in a way that customers can easily understand.

We discussed much more in the episode about packaging kits, including how to best present your product to make it a magical experience for the customer. Presentation matters!

Storing Products Safely

Buying all of those wholesale items means that you are going to need space to store them all. But you can’t shove them just anywhere.

As we discussed in more detail on the podcast, you have to make sure that these items won’t be damaged by crushing weight or by the elements, and that they will still be fresh if you don’t ship them out to a customer until months later. 

One way to avoid some of these issues is to offer preorders, meaning that customers buy something that won’t ship to them for some time. In the episode, we talked about how we used this method for our Awesome Blossom! workshop series, and everything you need to think about when offering preorders. 

Shipping Costs

Many small business owners don’t take into account all of their shipping costs. They ultimately end up losing money because they didn’t account for all of their expenses.

When you put together paper flower kits, you need to take into account the shipping costs for buying wholesale items, as well as what it will cost you to ship to customers. Kits can be heavy or bulky depending on what you include! You need to know how much a kit will cost to ship before you sell it at a set price that won’t cover this expense.

And this gets even more complicated with international shipping. Quynh has had international customers request her kits, but it isn’t as simple as them offering to cover the increased costs. On the podcast, you can hear our discussion about the pros and cons of shipping internationally, and how to deal with the guilt that might come when you turn down international customers. 

Here’s what you’ll learn when you listen to our conversation:

• How Quynh began teaching and creating kits.
• What goes into creating, packaging, and shipping paper flower kits.
• Whether you should ship internationally or not.
• Managing clients’ expectations around ordering and shipping.
• How to manage preorders and why they could help your business.

Join our Facebook group where you can share, connect, and grow with us. Please also consider supporting us on Patreon for even more great content like this.

BULLET POINTS OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How Quynh began teaching and creating kits.
• What goes into creating, packaging, and shipping paper flower kits.
• Whether you should ship internationally or not.
• Managing clients’ expectations around ordering and shipping.
• How to manage preorders and why they could help your business.