Happy Sunday! God placed a day of rest in our week because he knew we needed it. He also knew it would be not easy for us to rest. It can be hard for us to slow down, our first instinct is to go, go, go. God gave me a gentle reminder this week with a forced slow down. Usually when Dean goes down for a nap, I am all business! I try to knock as many to dos off my list as possible! Today I decided to put my feet up and watch a juicy show while I typed out this blog post!
After the craziness of the garden and wedding season wraps up, I like to sit down and plan out the next year by creating a vision board and mapping out the field. This is also the time when I edit my business plan and summarize business reports.
It is fun to look back at past vision boards and see how dreams begin to flourish. It is also neat to see how our priorities begin to shift. Heading into 2023, my plan is to slow down, focus on quality. Quality in what I produce, quality time with family and quality with our business.
I love wintertime! Many people don't like the time change, but I love the quiet and peacefulness of winter. I love the excuse to cuddle inside with a warm blanket. I love being able to slow down and plan without a hurry. After my vision board is created, I sit down and plan out my offerings. Going into 2023, I plan to open up our business for workshops, on farm sales, beef and PUMPKINS! You guys, we are growing specialty pumpkins in 2023! I also hope to use our shop space for design workshops and on farm fall/winter sales. You may have also seen beef in the line up! More to come on that front!
Once I have a plan, I grab my computer and place an order for seeds. We buy our seeds from Johnny's Seeds. Until we live on the farm, we plan to keep our focus on summer annuals. I started to brainstorm what a perennial garden might look like but that will be for the future! Last year we grew over 3000 plants, but the weeds got ahead of me, therefore next year I plan to grow less in quantity to really ensure I focus on quality. I placed an order for dahlias, dianthus, statice, snaps, marigolds, globe amaranth, snow mountain, amaranth, zinnias, cosmos, and ornamental grasses.
I typically plant in rows, but I am thinking about changing it up for next year. I want to increase the space between rows and maybe have a grid instead of long rows. Tyler isn't sure if that will be better, but we need to think of some other way of doing things. Clean up this year was a nightmare! The grasses that came up around my flowers were such a pain when pulling the fabric and netting up. I think smaller sections might help levitate some of the fall stress. I still need to ponder what the best approach might be.
I am very much a visual person! I love to put all my thoughts on paper, this helps me brainstorm.
It is amazing how fast seeds go out of stock. It is only November and many of the seed varieties were already picked through. I have noticed that every year I have to start planning earlier and earlier but that is okay! I love reflecting on what went well and what things I want to change going forward. I am starting to feel a positive shift in our business. I can't quite explain what that shift is quite yet, but I am really excited about this feeling! I can definitely feel things beginning to align with our core values.
Once I have the year planned out, I sit down at the start of each month and write out my top goals for that month and how I plan to move towards reaching those goals. I map out what social media posts might look like, blog post ideas, launch promotions, etc. This helps me stay on track and it keeps me organized with all of the different areas of our business.
From there I layout each week. I have a paper planner and I cross reference everything in my business, full-time job and personal life. It gets a little crazy, but I have to have everything in one place, so I don't forget anything!
Speaking of launches! I need to begin creating the promotional items for our 2023 offerings! If you made it to the end of the post, thank you, and just for that we are announcing our 2023 offerings! We have some pretty exciting launches planned!
2023 Offerings
Flowers:
- Summer Subscription
-Weddings and events
-Farmers Market
-Request orders
-Gift cards
Farm Visits
-Summer design workshop
-Fall pumpkin workshop
-Fall sale (with pumpkins)
-Winter sale (with wreaths)
Merch coming 2023!
Beef coming TBD!!!!!!
Next step, we need to meet with our accountant. We have some business logistics to work out. Do we keep my floristry business part of the farm, or does it need to stay separate? I am definitely still learning about all the business things! It is not my strong suit, but that doesn't mean I can ignore it. I am constantly learning and asking questions!
I joined an entrepreneurship group a few months ago and it has been super helpful to have a network of experienced professionals in which I can go to with questions! I want to keep our business organized from the get-go, that way as we grow, everything is already in place!
How do you plan out a year? Are you a vision board person? Comment below with your tips and tricks.
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