Coffee Wine & Flowers Podcast Sarah Wahhab

Welcome to the Coffee Wine & Flowers Podcast! I named this podcast after 3 of my favorite things, and to serve as a reminder that life is not just about the work that we do but also the little things that make it enjoyable.
I wanted to start this podcast to shed some light on what it’s like to be on the inside of building a business around your creative passions, while acknowledging the simple joys and lessons learned along the way that make it all worth it. Whether you’re new here or know me already, I want to say welcome and thank you for listening!
My name is Sarah Wahhab and I own a wedding floral design company called Mulberry & Moss in Orange County, California. A few years ago, after about 8 years of working in the industry as a wedding designer I began my journey of becoming a floral and business educator. First through offering group floral workshops, then moving onto 1:1 workshops, and then after the pandemic started in 2020, I turned to sharing my knowledge digitally with my followers on social media. After seeing a crazy amount of growth through content creation I discovered a need for more approachable floral education and resources for floral business owners. I created my first digital product: My floral recipe e-books along with a few other digital resources and, eventually I launched my first digital course teaching my approach to floral design.

While all of these resources fulfilled some of the need, I still felt that there were missing pieces and parts of my own story that could benefit other floral entrepreneurs in their journey. This was was led me to start this podcast. I hope that through sharing honest stories of successes and failures, and sharing valuable systems and strategies that have helped my own business to grow, I can connect the dots of how to build a successful brand that also guides you closer to the life you desire.

Here's what you will see in the episodes to come:

- A zoomed out view of my business growth story, including some of the mindset shifts that served as huge turning points in my journey.

- Practical systems and strategies that I built leading up to where I am today and that hopefully you can implement in your own business to help you grow your audience, streamline systems to free up time and make things run more smoothly.

- Parts of my journey of how I got into flowers and started and grew my business, for those of you who are curious about what getting into the wedding floral industry looks like.


I hope you stay tuned - there is so much in store!


Copyright Mulberry & Moss Floral Design

In this episode I share one important mindset shift that paved the way for me to pursue wealth in my business. Early in my business I was on a repeating cycle of feeling maxed out and overworked and lacking a sense of direction. What started with investing in a finance course to get my books on track led to a series of discoveries that allowed me to shift my focus to the future. This started a chain reaction where I was able to restructure my business and find ways to expand and diversify my offerings in order to reach a financial goal that I never before thought possible.
 
Part 1 - The Vision Board
As the first module in the finance course in which I had enrolled, the assignment of creating a vision board had me a bit confused but turned out to be a turning point in realizing the future I wanted for myself, and the part my business played in attaining that desired future. My course experience and the exercises therein allowed me to discover that I needed to diversify my income in order to not only keep my business afloat but to obtain the wealth and life of freedom I desired.  This exercise revealed to me the importance of having a very specific list of goals and a concrete overall vision for my life, so that I could adjust my path to reach my goals.


Part 2 - The Numbers
This course was unique because it started with our wildest hopes, dreams and desires and worked backwards to reverse engineer a business structure that would serve as our catalyst for achieving that life. But the steps involved in restructuring my business involved me obtaining a clear picture of the current state of my business finances. This was the second major step in me being able to craft a meaningful and logical direction for my business. It was through this process that I came to the reality that my wedding floral services were not going to provide enough income to reach my goals, which then led me to diversify and brand out to more offerings under my same brand.

Part 3 - Becoming a Risk Taker
The last piece of the puzzle was figuring out a way to close the income gap that was standing between me and the financial future I desired. I came up with the idea of streamlining the wedding side of my business to make room for a new set of offerings. I decided to explore offerings in the realm of passive income so that while increasing my revenue I could also pursue more freedom and time in my schedule at the same time. This new endeavor involved me acquiring a new skillset and practically learning in an entirely new industry from the ground up, but I was up to the challenge. Despite the doubts I had, I knew that I needed to take the risk and put myself out there, doing what it took to own my new title of a floral educator. My actions were imperfect in the beginning, and I dealt with all the usual fears of what others would think. But it was by trusting in myself and trusting in my plan that I was able to move forward in confidence and saw immense growth in my business as a result.


Conclusion:

My biggest takeaway from this experience in taking a real assessment of the state of my business and measuring it against my life goals and desires was that it gave me a powerful bird's eye view of my business. It allowed me to see what needed to change and find a way to adjust my course to reach my destination. 

I hope that if you listen to this episode, you will take some time to write down your goals and perhaps explore taking a similar assessment of your business, so that it may open up new doors and opportunities for growth.
 
For complete show notes and more episodes, visit www.mulberryandmoss.com/podcast
Follow me on instagram: @mulberryandmoss #coffeewineflowerspodcast

Copyright Mulberry & Moss Floral Design
 

In this episode, I share my own experience in dealing with Imposter syndrome, how it's shown itself in my own business and the three lessons I've learned from walking into fear. 

Imposter syndrome is something that everyone deals with and you are definitely not alone! When I look back on my own business, there was never a time I felt sufficiently qualified or educated, however I didn't let that keep me from moving ahead towards my goals. Leaning into our insecurities is not easy, but once you have gone through it once and are able to look back on the whole situation, you sometimes realize there was no reason to be afraid in the first place.
In this episode, I will show you how I got to that place and - who knows? Maybe you will feel that you can take a step forward in your goals feeling a little less afraid yourself or what the outcome might be.
 
1. Remember Who You are Speaking To
Here’s my first piece of advice when it comes to imposter syndrome. You have to pause and remember who you are speaking to. A lot of times when we struggle with imposter syndrome when it comes to fear of judgment, we are thinking about our peers, when actually, the ones we should be concerned about are the ones who have a long way to go, and who struggle with things that we can possibly help with. You may not consider yourself an expert - but to someone else who is a few steps behind you, they might think otherwise and could benefit greatly by what you have experienced and the knowledge you have to offer in a certain area or niche.

2. The Power of Self-Education
Now, let’s talk about the barrier of learning a new technical skill when you are wanting to tackle something new. Sometimes you are well on your way, but then you run into technical hurdles that may discourage you from moving forward in your new endeavor. What I've learned is that in today's digital age, many things can be learned on the internet. Though you cannot become an expert overnight, there is plenty of information that can be found and help you at least learn the steps you need to get through your technical hurdle. There are examples that come to mind of times in my business where I didn't let technology stand in the way of my goals - which I share in this episode.

When you're bootstrapping a small business, sometimes you have to get scrappy. Don't let the insecurity or fear of imperfection stop you from moving forward. It’s better to do something imperfectly and get it out there than to not start at all.  We learn from each mistake we make, and that makes each new go-round that much more successful.

3. Become Your Own Hype Person

The last piece of advice I share in this episode is the importance of becoming your own hype person. You may have a person in your life who hypes you up and gives you confidence - and that is something that is a blessing to have! If you don't have those people in your life, then it's best to become your own cheerleader in times of uncertainty. Remember that in order for the world to come to know what you have to offer, it takes talking a LOT about your offering to really spread the word. That can be uncomfortable at first, but it takes really breaking past that barrier of discomfort to allow your business and brand to be seen.

One of the ways you can practice being proud of your business and how far you've come is to celebrate your wins, no matter how big or small. Commemorate the small steps and treat them as huge victories and this will build your confidence over time as the small steps turn into giant leaps for your business.

Conclusion:
 
The funny thing about imposter syndrome is that the risks are often made up in our heads and when it comes down to it, we really don’t have that much to lose. Once we realize that the thoughts or opinions of our peers don’t matter. And the things we don’t know how to do can be lear

In today’s episode we are talking about a challenging topic that is very relevant to many florists at this current time in our industry. Today we are talking all about floral industry inflation and flower shortages. Let's get down to the root of the problem and start talking about solutions for how we can move forward in the face of this change. 

First, let's recognize that sudden changes or disruptions in our flow of business can cause an array of different emotional responses. But it's important to separate emotion from the reality of the situation and start by examining the evidence, so that we can begin taking logical steps to solve the problem.

This can be done through taking a data assessment. In this episode I will walk you through how I examined the data in my own business related to flower cost inflation. This is an important step, as every individual business is unique and will be effected in their own different ways. How are these issues effecting your business?

Another way to deal with this issue is to pay close attention to price trends. It's good practice to examine your invoices and take note of price changes and price trends for stems that you use on a regular basis. Use your invoices to keep an updated price reference list. Another way you can keep a pulse on stem prices is to communicate with your wholesaler and ask them for a pre-book (or price estimate) when you are building your flower order for an upcoming event. 

The next step is going to be to look at your recipes and see if they are producing the appropriate margin. If you are over budget, that is when you need to go back into the recipe and make adjustments to see if you can minimize the gap. Sometimes you can make a few tweaks and find that you are on budget. Context is important here - what are the bride's expectations? Pay attention to each bride and make decisions that serve their best interest. 

If you try and adjust the recipe to make the pricing work, but  you just cannot make ends meet, that is when it is time to bring the client up to speed on the issue in a calm and appropriate way. The important things to accomplish during this conversation is to be fully transparent and clearly explain the situation, let them know you've made an effort to minimize the cost discrepancy, offer them options for how to move forward, and offer a suggestion if they are unsure. Most importantly, as the expert, encourage them and give them confidence that they can trust in your ability to bring their vision to life. You want to try and minimize any additional stress for your Bride-to-be. 

Copyright Mulberry & Moss Floral Design

If you own a creative business, then you are probably an artist or creative and most of us creative people love to do one thing - create! Sometimes budgets and numbers just feel like they’re hindering your creativity and standing in the way of being able to fully express yourself. In this episode I share with you exactly why profit should be your main focus in your business and walk you through some practical ways you can shift your focus towards profitability. 


When I started my business, I was so excited to start creating for people who wanted to hire me, and I was pouring my heart and soul into every design. And a lot of the time, that meant sparing no expense at the flower market. Of course I’d try to stay on  budget … But most of the time, I was letting my passion win me over and letting my budget go out the window. I told myself this was helping me build my brand and attract my ideal clients. I learned the hard way what it meant to truly market my business and that in order to do that, I needed to make money on my events.

Overtime, I've started implementing some strategies to help me stay profitable, and I'm going to share my top 4 strategies with you!

Strategy #1 - I shifted my focus away from my own taste and artistic urges, and started paying close attention to the client’s values, so that I could better align my stem selections with their value system.

This requires truly understanding your clients values and making design decisions that serve those values. This way, you don't make expensive choices that may not be worth it to your client. And if it's not worth it to them, it's probably not worth it to you! That's because the entire wedding will not reflect the same design quality that you value. So it won't really be a portfolio piece in the end.

Which brings me to...

Strategy #2 - I started collecting more detailed information from each client, like which other vendors I would be working with, to identify which weddings would be portfolio builders ahead of time.

I did this by adding extra questions to my bride questionnaire and doing my vendor research. This helped me to build connections with vendors and make sure my efforts were not in vain! For the weddings that did justify that extra special attention because they were going to truly push my brand forward, I made sure to approach my spending strategically and most importantly, made sure that my client knew when they were getting a deal. It's alright to price competitively as a temporary strategy when you're starting out, but make sure that you reflect those discounts in your pricing so that the value of your work is clear.

Strategy #3 - I prioritized getting my markup and pricing sorted, and built in a buffer to mitigate overspending tendencies.

That's a mouthful, I know... But basically, I became smart with my pricing and left extra money in my budget to shop! How did I become smarter with pricing exactly? A few of the ways I did this were helping the client to prioritize their needs from their wants, making suggestions for what pieces would leave the greatest impact, as well as being smart with my recipes and flower selections according to the client’s values as I mentioned in step 1.  This helped me to optimize my proposals - in other words - lowering the quantity of items and making sure the quality was there.

Today, I am sharing with you my best kept secret. If you’ve listened to past episodes I’ve shared with you that there were some discoveries I made a few years into my business that came as good news and really changed my whole way of thinking. One of them specifically was the idea that I could build and craft my own ideal business, and reverse engineer the steps to help me generate enough income to support my goals and dreams.

When it comes to crafting your ideal business and life, I really believe that the steps I'm going to share with you are the foundational building blocks for getting you from point A to point B (without getting sucked into a chaotic whirlwind!) As a business owner, you should be in the driver's seat!

I will start off by saying that success looks different for everyone. What does success look like to you right now, today, as you imagine your business and your lifestyle several years from now? Take note of that.

Okay, here come the steps.

Step one - Imagine the life you dream of for yourself.

Whether you’re starting a new business or you have a business that you would like to hone and refine to really start working for you, it’s important to spend some time dreaming and really thinking about the life that you want in the future, so that you can allow these goals to be the foundation that support your business decisions and actions, while guiding you towards your destination. 

As a part of this visualization of your dream life, include the salary you would like to have that will support your goals and ideal lifestyle. Consider what your monthly expenses will look like in the future (5 to 10 years from now) including how much you would like to save monthly or annually towards vacations,  investments, or other endeavors you noted on your wish list.

Step two - Determine your business revenue goal

Remember that your personal income and your business income are separate, and your personal income will be a salary that you pay yourself as a portion of your business net profit. So you will want to figure out the salary that you would like to pay yourself, and from that, figure out the gross income that your business must bring in in order to pay yourself that salary.

Download my free resource: How to Set a Salary & Revenue Goal for Your Business  

Use the resource above to calculate your ideal salary & revenue goal for your business based on your personal goals and dreams you wrote down in the first exercise. You can use this equation to test different scenarios and decide on a set of figures that you feel comfortable with as a goal. 

This is meant to provide you with a business revenue goal to reach so that you can keep your eyes fixed on your ideal future and making it a reality in a reasonable number of years. You can inch closer to your goal by making profit-focused choices for your business that steer you towards growth.

Step three - Choose your business model (or income plan).

Did you know there were many different business models for your specific niche , or different ways you could structure and design your business offerings? I certainly did not know this when I was starting out! But as it turns out, no two businesses in any given niche are exactly alike. YOU get to decide how to structure your business, what services or products you want to offer, how you want to price your services, and every other detail of your business. Take the opportunity to structure your business in a strategic way so that it is designed to allow you the income you need as well as support the lifestyle you want, the types of work you enjoy, and the kind of schedule you would like to have. 


Step four - Maintain the course (Stay in the driver seat! That means o