Taking the winter to dream with intent
I recently read a quote from Dave Ramsay that stated “a goal not written down is nothing but a dream.” That hit me hard.
I remember getting a new journal each Christmas as a girl. The first few pages were always filled with sparkly gel pen writing of quotes and goals of the coming year. Into my early 20s, I did less and less of that. A seemingly childish task of “goals” that really would end up riddling me with guilt as I failed at one after another within the first couple weeks. New Year’s resolutions have become quite a joke in our society as we take the first couple weeks in January, feeling the holiday bloat, to launch into a fad diet and get a gym membership. I get it. I get why goal planning around the New Year seems like a lot of crock to some.
To a flower farmer… it is important.
This is the time of year, where for most of us, winter has shoved us indoors. We are ordering seeds to bide the time without much plan for them, slowly sowing seeds and checking on them every few minutes. The ground is frozen or too muddy… we are going stir crazy!
This is the time to take that energy and dream with intent. Meaning, let’s not get lost in the clouds too much but let’s take the time to dream of the season to come and what it could be. This is the time of year to reflect on last season:
What went great?
What didn’t go so great?
Where did you excel?
Where do you need to improve?
One thing Graham and I had been talking about for years is having a big chalkboard. We finally hung one up. It has goals, yearly and bigger. It has upcoming orders, orders that need to be placed, upcoming events, etc. The visual is incredibly helpful and since we walk by it at least 100 times a day, it all stays in the forefront of our mind. It is easy to become distracted and lose sight, especially in the peak of the season. This is why we are taking time now to begin the process, to avoid our goals getting buried by the hustle of the everyday tasks.
This is also the time of year to dig out the notes you had taken last season. Notes on your seed sowing succession, weather, bed layout, deadline dates, sales outlets, profits, etc.
Lots and lots of spreadsheets! I must admit: it’s not my favorite. I embrace technology but I am a paper and fun marker kind of gal! There is something about handwriting a plan that seems to cement it for me… then I add it into the computer because paper does not play well with mud and water!
Personally, when it comes to spreadsheets, I like to have a book for each season. One glance at the seed sowing succession (I just copy and paste from last year’s and refine it from there with my notes!), subscription members, brides, other events, orders: I can see it all in one book and just flip through the sheet tabs. Then, because I love to handwrite, I also have things jotted down in my day planner. Typically, I am in a rush - having the planner on hand to hastily write down notes is my friend. I may not always get to the computer and sometimes writing it in my phone it gets buried, but I can definitely be consistent with the planner. If you don’t have one: order one today. I know mine is never too far from me!
Link at bottom of blog to my current favorite planner, featured here.
I want to challenge you to a handful of goals, many of these tasks we are also challenging ourselves to do as well and some we have already done (and you may have too) but I am listing it just in case. Honestly, each of these tasks deserve their own post to really dive into, perhaps that is another goal for me! Meanwhile, here’s my winter challenge to you,
Make a daily goal
Make a weekly goal
Make monthly goal.
Have at least one big goal for 2020
Start small and then if you are on a roll and want to make longer termed goals: do it! Just make sure you post those goals where you will see them everyday! Want to get fancier? Make yourself a vision board!
For us we have an overall goal of: consistency. This a theme that has popped up over and over in our goals and reflections. Everything boiled down to “consistency”. For us, our goals look like this:
Daily: post a photo on IG daily
Weekly: write a blog to completion once a week
January goals: 1, finish spreadsheets/budget. 2, Layout media/content schedules. 3, reorganize house/declutter
Big goal for 2020 (we have a few): have a walk-in cooler by May, begin the process of building much needed outbuildings, ASCFG conference in November
We had many other goals that we have already put into action, which I will go more into detail below.
Reassess your product offerings
There are going to be products you offer that are a heart thing: part of the dream. There may be products that you offer simply out of necessity or per someone else’s request. You want the products that are going to fuel the dream, the vision, you have for your flower farming business. It is easy for product offerings to run off and drag you behind! Let’s try to get that beast back on the leash and refine our offerings and that they lead to the overall goal.
Create a mission statement, or if you have one, revisit your mission statement. Write it down in the center of a paper. Draw a circle around it. Now, put the products/services you offer that relates to your mission statement. List the ones that do not align on the outside of the circle. When we listed ours, we had some gray area such as wreaths and plants. For now, they are on the outside of the circle and closer to their season will be reassessed.
Our Mission...
is to lovingly grow and provide quality cut flowers that will enchant and delight.
LOCAL. FRESH. SUSTAINABLE.
Now from there, go through the product offerings that do align, the sales outlets you have with them and the profitability. Take a look at time effectiveness to snag that profit. Look at where your time was eaten up, did it help your mission statement and did it help your business grow? Did it drain you? For us, we offered home delivery for many products. In the beginning, it wasn’t so bad, but as it has grown, it is no longer time effective nor is it cost effective.
For us, we really had to dive into the “time sucks.” The areas that really ate our time that was negatively impacting our product, stunting our business growth/profitability, and catapulting us into burn out. The areas we found, they served their purpose in the past but now we have other areas in our business that are growing and we want to see them further bloom. With the areas that are draining the time and energy from us, we can sustain where we are by keeping them but we can not grow or attain our goals. Some of these products/services/outlets need to be restructured while others: eliminated. This isn’t an easy process. It can be taking out safety nets and “sure things” but we are in this journey for the long haul and it is time to sacrifice the short term returns. In the beginning, time is the only asset we had to give. Now, time is our most limited asset.
Budget
I hate budgets, oh the idea of walking into a store with a set amount of cash… how did people do that before carrying plastic bank cards?! Along with slimming down on our product offerings and sales outlets, it is time to truly budget. Not just money, though that is important, but time and our space as well (this goes back to the the good ol’ spreadsheets!). This is the year we have some investments to do. The dining room can no longer be my studio because that is a domino effect of a lot of bad things: no kitchen to cook in, no table to eat at, another time suck of hauling buckets indoors and having limited workspace. The dining room has “worked” but it is definitely not effective. We are far from being financially wealthy which means we are going to have to budget all this out. We also are trying not to go into massive debt with this business which means saving up, and yup, budgeting allows us to do just that!
Schedule/Plan for Media, website, social media
First off, if you don’t have a website now is the time to change that. We are in the day and age where a website is necessary for every business. It makes you look legit (and you are!) plus it allows you the space to tell your story. By the time I have a bride or other customer reach out to me, they think they know me! That’s the idea, I want them to be comfortable with me and know who Sierra Flower Farm is. We are no longer in the age where you can depend on social media. The algorithms are a mess and they truly suppress us smaller business folk. Yes, have social media presence, be consistent but you must have a place for folks to land on.
If you have a website but haven’t put much love into it: now is the time. I will give you grace in the peak of the summer season but really at least every couple of weeks you should be updating your website in some form: from announcements to products to fresh photos or a new blog there is a needed update. Keep your website fresh.
One of our big goals is to fully map out our media. Our lives are chaotic once the flowers start kicking off in spring. The hubs is dealing with tax season and burnout from that, plants are screaming to be tucked into beds, orders need to be filled- taking a photo becomes last priority. More importantly, a quality photo becomes a bottom priority. Every year we kick ourselves. Media is important, quality media even more so. Sure, a cell phone snap shot is better than nothing and is great for Instagram stories but your hard work and gorgeous flowers deserve more than that. Invest in a nicer camera and take the winter to learn how to use it. Embrace photo editing or buy some pre-settings. Elevate your media. Do it! Also, become consistent. This is a challenge for us, the thing is with a little planning it can be done. Think up of an area in your field and home that has nice lighting and backdrop for the time your don’t have someone to be able to take your photo (though you need to plan out how to get your face in the photo once in a while!). If you don’t have a nice area, plan on how you can create one! If you have an area that is always ready and is ideal, you can better be consistent to take those photos.
Upload your photos in an app such as UNUM. Plan out how often you want to post, perhaps start off with once a week having a quality post and then go from there after a few weeks of accomplishing that. Start building content, yes even in the dark winter months there is content to be shared. Pre-write your captions. Map out photos, angles, and needs for the upcoming season. Do you need more photos of yourself holding sweet peas? Do you need more of your wedding designs? Do you need more for blogs? For Instagram? Do you have gaps in the winter? Figure out what you need and write it down. Then you will have all your shots laid out and without much thought, you can snap away!
Wow, so much dreaming with intent going on! Take your stir-crazy energy and put it to use in ways that isn’t realistic to do during the growing season. Spring will be here before we know it! Take these few weeks to plan, plot and dream. I know I will be taking these winter days to throw a lot of blogs your way to help on your flower farming journey!
Lastly, remember flower farming is not a one size fits all. We are all creative and unique. We each have our own passions, battles, niches, dreams and goals.
Let’s dream with intent this year and make stuff happen.
Happy Dreaming!
We are looking forward to helping you hand blooms soon!