2020 Recap at Flourish Flower Farm
/2020 has indeed been an unprecedented, challenging, overwhelming, devastating year, but I’m going out on a limb to say that 2020 was also a good year. In many ways it was actually a great year. I believe that all these seemingly contradictory experiences of 2020 can exist at once – it’s not an either/or situation. As a farmer, business owner and individual I learned so many valuable lessons this past year and I am excited to build on these lessons and carry them into the future.
Here are my top 3 takeaways from 2020
Create a business model that supports the lifestyle that you desire. For the past 5 years, revenue from providing floral design services for weddings has been our highest income generator. While I truly love designing for weddings, the amount of time spent on communication, planning and designing – not to mention working most weekends and cleaning up venues at midnight – has greatly contributed to my feeling depleted and spread thin. Over the past several years, I have put financial pressure on myself to keep growing the wedding design of our business – the demand is there and the numbers seemed to make sense.
When the wedding side of our business took a huge hit with postponements and cancellations due to Covid, I had no choice but to explore other sales outlets. I not only needed to keep the business afloat financially, I also needed an avenue to sell the thousands of flowers that were already planted in the fall of 2019. So although the initial reason for exploring new sales outlets and opportunities was born out of necessity, the end result is one that I am grateful for. Some of the other sales outlets that we focused on in 2020 include: reinstating our local bouquet subscription program and shipping bouquet subscriptions (we previously only shipped wholesale to florists); expanding our capacity to ship wholesale to more florist clients; offering bouquets and bulk buckets of flowers for pick up from the farm; hosting more photo shoots in the flower fields than ever before (more on that later).
Due to Covid postponements and cancelations, our wedding revenue was down by 68% in 2020 from 2019 – slightly terrifying. However, in late July I realized that our overall numbers (net revenue) were looking pretty good… really good actually. Our overall net income (gross income minus expenses and cost of goods sold) increased by 43% in 2020. How was that possible during such a crazy year?! I focused on making our operation as lean as possible, reduced our overall expenses and added new sales outlets. On a personal note: I was able to be at home most weekends and even if I was still working, I was at least working on the farm (which is also our home) where I can see my hubby, cook heathy meals, play with our pups, have a glass of wine at sunset and go to bed early. These are things that are important to me personally, things that make flower farming and floral design sustainable for me as an individual.
We will always offer floral design services for weddings and events because it’s a part of the business that I deeply love and the creative process is extremely fulfilling. Weddings require lots of my personal time and attention (which I am loathe to admit is limited since I want to do it all!) and significant overhead, and they almost always take place on the weekends away from home. I now feel like I have the financial insight to accept an even more limited number of weddings each year and to take on the clients that are truly a good fit for us aesthetically and financially. The takeaway from 2020 is that I no longer feel like it is absolutely necessary to say yes to every client and to keep adding more weddings to the calendar every year. Keeping our business diversified helps us remain sustainable financially and as individuals.
Hosting visitors at the farm can be a viable aspect of our business model. During our main flower season, we receive numerous inquiries every single day asking if they can come visit the farm and “just walk around and look at the flowers and take pictures.” Most people do not pause to think about the reasons why we’re not able to just allow people to visit anytime they want to, first and foremost being that the farm is our home. We love our privacy and look forward to being “off duty” just as much as anyone else. Our small team is super busy working during the work day and having guests here takes precious time away from our work. Having folks walk around the farm without being on a supervised/guided tour is a huge liability because this is a working farm with equipment, holes, hills and other hazards. These beautiful flowers are how we make our living and how we support the wonderful women who work with us.
It takes a lot of work and expense to keep the farm guest-worthy – we spend days cleaning, weeding, removing debris from pathways and mowing before we host an on-farm event. We take immense pride in the tidiness of the farm and everyone who works at Flourish is organized and perhaps a little bit obsessive. The farm appearance is something that we are committed to maintaining since it elevates the experience for our guests.
Because our farm is kept at a guest-worthy level throughout most of the growing season, we are able to host unique events and experiences that allow us to share the beauty of the flower farm and also generate revenue. In addition to our ‘On the Flower Farm’ workshops, we host fashion bloggers, photographers, bridal portrait sessions, family photo sessions, clothing brands, seed companies and more. We are grateful that these guests recognize the uniqueness of our farm experience, the effort that goes into growing the flowers and keeping the property looking beautiful. The 2020 takeaway is that it’s okay that casual visits don’t work for us, but we’ve created many other ways for folks to enjoy and experience the beauty of the flower farm. (By the way, keep an eye on our social media and online shop because we often offer pre-made bouquets and buckets of flowers for purchase directly from the farm.)
Intentionally schedule personal time + time for special projects. I realize that this sounds silly and perhaps unnecessary, but I can attest to the fact that if something is not in my calendar then it won’t happen
I recently completed an excellent mini course through Slow Flowers on creating a year end review. The course included a wonderful exercise on taking stock of last year where I was prompted to review the highlights of each month. I used my google calendar and iPhone photos to jog my memory and listed each month’s prominent activities, projects and ideas. This was such a useful and insightful exercise! A consistent theme emerged when looking through my calendar… I scheduled personal time! While my calendar was primarily packed full of work-related commitments, at least once a month I also scheduled friend dates, getaways or staycations.
In 2020, I wrote and photographed an entire book! The only way that I was able to meet my deadline and complete this monumental project was by blocking off time consistently for writing. Truthfully, I would much rather be outside planting, weeding or doing pretty much anything besides sitting at my computer indoors. Writing a book is a privilege that deserved to be honored, so I scheduled the time each week and met my deadlines. In August, I took 3 days away from the farm to complete the final round of edits, organize photos, create the resource section and finalize a few outstanding aspects of the book. I rented an inexpensive cabin about an hour from home where I could sit by the river and quietly work. It was a highly productive getaway and a great lesson for me … I can actually leave the farm during the busy season. With enough advance notice and preparation, leaving the farm entirely in the hands of my wonderful, capable team went very smoothly.
My takeaway from 2020 was to take control of my schedule, to add in even more personal time for 2021 and carve out blocks of time for important projects. Planning time off in advance will not only help me be more productive, it will also help this role as a farmer, florist and business owner remain sustainable and provide me with some work/life balance.
I know that 2020 brought many changes for all of us and I would love to hear some of your insights and lessons that you hope to carry forward into the New Year.
xo Niki
