We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Priest & Kian Weaver a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rachel & Kian, thanks for joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Scaling up has certainly been a journey for us and not an overnight success! It has not been easy at times, but we are so excited about where we have ended up in just a year!
We originally started doing small floral events for family and friends since we both have such a passion for it. We were looking for a creative outlet and wanted Flocal Co. to be a great second source of income completely different from our careers in corporate IT.
About six months in, after lots of focus on our website, social media, and other lead generation sites, we were excited to see our calendar booking up for 2023 events. Our initial goal was to book 20-30 events in the year- within several months we not only surpassed that in 2023, but started filling out our calendars for 2024. At that point we both realized that this could be something we could do full time and really pour our heart and souls into.
Now, we are right at the first anniversary of our business and we are consistently growing. It has just been us two working out of our homes for 12 months now (with a little help from our friends) and we are excited to say we are looking into hiring a team and searching for a retail space! What was supposed to be 20 events a year has turned into a full calendar of events, with multiple on the same weekend, even the same day. We couldn’t be more excited to see where we are at when the end of year two rolls around and we are committed to seeing how this little business can grow!
In terms of our tactics, we have used our technology careers to our advantage and have tried to keep the customer top of mind. We built our own website and turned it into a customer relationship management tool so we use it manage all of our quotes and track customer preferences. It’s been a useful tool to save client inspiration photos and key details so we can keep track of information for each event to ensure we are delivering on each customer’s vision. We have also had a focus on price transparency and automation. We wanted to be a vendor where people know what they’re getting and what they’re paying for. We’ve created a pricing model based on premium blooms and greens that way each customer is getting consistent and competitive pricing that allows us to provide the highest level of quality for event florals. We wanted to be a business where customers feel they’re paying a fair and consistent price while also getting event florals that will last a lifetime in photos. We want our clients to know that we can truly deliver on their Pinterest board dreams without hidden fees along the way. We also pride ourselves on being flexible throughout the process from booking up to the month of the event. We understand that the vision may change or unexpected events occur where we may need to tweak our floral strategy. We can do this up until we begin working with our wholesalers to secure the client’s blooms. Additionally, with our IT backgrounds, we’ve always had the mindset that we should work smarter and not harder. With that in mind, we built a simple process to allow prospective clients to submit inquiries with their event details so we can quickly provide a quote. It’s very common to return a quote back within the same day when we aren’t setting up for another event. The speed and transparency in our pricing has enabled us to rapidly respond and work with prospective clients which has attributed to our growth in our first year of business.
It sounds cliche but one area we pride ourselves in is creating that personal connection with our clients. We spend time getting to know our clients so we can truly understand their vision. It really makes all the hard work worth it when we see the client ecstatic over what we’ve created. We’ve been known to upgrade certain floral touches when we really know what matters to the client so we can make their day the stuff of their dreams.
One area we were not, and still aren’t, experts in is social media. Neither of us really had created much of a personal social media presence on any platform. However, we knew we needed to put our work out there for others to see and know what we are capable of doing. Our social media presence has elevated our ability to make ourselves known and share our design work with the Columbus area.
In general, we are learning everyday. Being business owners, we’ve realized there are a million things to learn. What’s great about it all is we are great friends who are figuring it all out one sugar-free monster and one post-event Taco Bell meal at a time.
Rachel & Kian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
We are Kian and Rachel- co owners and designers of Flocal Co Floral Studio. Dare we say the best wedding and event florist in central, Ohio?! We think so anyway! We have been in business a year now as a part time creative outlet from our former IT careers turned full time business owners and designers!
We are a customer focused, flexible, and transparent event services business that strives to create unique and upscale experiences for our clients through our floral services and rentals. Our business model is to provide fair and upfront pricing to our clients with the highest quality florals. Our designs consist of garden roses, peonies, as well as other premium stems and blooms so we can deliver on our clients event dreams without surprise or upgrade fees. We work to get to know the couples and families we work with and believe communication is key to relieve stress before the big day. When you work with us we take time to understand your goals and aesthetic for your event. We consult with you to make sure your florals not only match your vibe, but also candles, linens, lighting and more because we understand how the tiniest details create a cohesive event. We know how to solve a last minute design crisis and we are practically general contractors at this point with all the tools we have handy on event day. There is a new challenge each event presents and we are ready to solve it! We handle all communication with your venue and ensure you don’t have to stress about the floral plan for the big day! We understand that event florals are a considerable investment so we strive to make sure your budget is allocated to the right places and your guests have florals to gush over the whole night!
The best part about our business we think is the fact you are getting to work with two friends who truly care about how your big day turns out. Our events take so much time and attention to detail so we are very invested in what we do. We mean it when we say that lifting every bucket and loading every van is worth it when we see how happy our clients are with a bridal bouquet or a floral arch. It’s the final reveal that makes this 100% worth it.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
It sure did! As we shared we love florals and have a true passion for event planning. You would always catch us hosting friends and family and proving the extra touch to make sure any ordinary get together was special. Yes…. We are the crazy people making prousiutto roses for charcuterie boards at 10pm before guests arrive from the airport just so they have a midnight snack. Last year we were working on floral centerpieces and garlands for Kian’s parents anniversary and we decided why don’t we do this more often?!
From there, Flocal Co was born and we have been growing more everyday! We never originally planned for this to be full time, but with lots of sweat equity and planning over the last year here we are building this business as a career.
As we mentioned, we have short term goals to hire some help as well as secure a retail space. We plan to outpace our growth from year one and year two. We are just getting started!
How’d you meet your business partner?
Funny enough, we met in a completely different industry at a completely different job.
We were previously in technology based roles which often times had a heavy customer service focus. It’s no different now that we are in a different industry. As we worked together over the years in our corporate roles, we realized that we share many things in common, down to our coffee orders. Over the years, we’ve become great friends who love working together so we thought why not build a business?!
We have a very similar approach to working with others and getting things done which is a huge bonus. We depend each other with every aspect of Flocal. We truly mean it when we say that Flocal wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the two of us together. After years of working together and building this business we are absolutely at the point of finishing each others sentences. Not a single paint color or light fixture can be purchased without the others approval and our husbands have come to expect us as a package deal for dinner! We have our moments, but we love what we do and can’t wait to keep growing with Flocal and making a name for ourselves in the Columbus and surrounding community.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flocalcompany.com
- Instagram: @flocalco614
Image Credits
Magical Minutes Photography Holly Ann Photography Captured by Kaitlin Photo Brooke Anderson Photo Robb McCormick Photography