We recently connected with Britney Zondlak and have shared our conversation below.

Britney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

During my first few years of growing the business, I can honestly say that I didn’t have much thought about the legacy of what I was doing. Heck, I was just trying to make sure the business would survive until the following year.

As I’ve gained confidence with what I’m doing (and now that I can see the longevity of what I’m building), I hope that I can be remembered as someone who inspired others to take action on their dreams.

Sure, I’m a flower farmer and I sell pretty flowers- but what I love most about my business is that through social media, I’ve been able to share the process of how exactly I grow everything that I do. Helping others find success doing the same sort of thing that I’m doing- it’s more rewarding that I ever could have imagined.

It’s a simple thing- showing someone how to grow flowers, but for some people growing flowers, it can be life-changing. I’ll often receive kind messages through email or through social media from people that share how much growing a flower garden has improved their life. They’ll often thank me for sharing some piece of information that helped them get started. Getting to share in the joy of their success- it’s a small reminder to me that the business I’m creating, it stretches far beyond just me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started growing flowers as a hobby back in 2019. At the time I was searching for a creative outlet that I could pour my energy into. As someone that enjoys spending time outside- tending to a flower garden seemed like the perfect activity that could help me unwind after a long day at work.

I’m fairly certain that I killed more flowers than I actually grew that first year, but that didn’t discourage me. I fell in love with the process of transforming something so plain, like a simple plot of dirt, into a sort of piece of living art. In 2020, I decided to turn take my new found hobby of growing flowers and turn it into a business.

Myself, along with my younger sister, Emily started selling flowers from a small roadside stand- and that’s how Two Sisters Flower Farm was born.

Over the past few years, as my love of growing beautiful things has continued, we’ve expanded our business to reflect the seasonality in nature. In the spring, we focus on growing thousands of specialty tulips and daffodils. During the summer we grow rows upon rows of warm-season favorites like zinnias, sunflowers + dahlias. Come fall, we offer a large variety of heirloom pumpkins and potted mums. And we finish off the year by offering festive porch pots + fresh, evergreen wreaths during the winter season.

I have this strong belief that there is always something beautiful happening in nature. It’s my hope that by growing in-season products that we can help each person that visits us to celebrate the magic of the season that they’re in.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

Taking my hobby of growing flowers and turning it into a business was a slow process. In the beginning, I remember feeling limited by how few resources I had- I didn’t have a lot of money to invest into a new business, I didn’t have a lot of land or equipment (like a professional greenhouse). But I learned to use what I had and just focus on creating something special with that.

I got my start in this flower farming world by growing flowers and selling them on my small roadside stand.

As I gained experience (and confidence) I started to actually share about my business on social media + consequently, I started to sell more flowers as well.

I knew that if I wanted to make flower farming my full-time gig that I’d either have to ramp up production (sell a lot more flowers during the summer) or I’d have to figure out a way to have flowers for longer throughout the year. You see, here in Michigan, we have a relatively short growing season.

It seemed most obvious that I’d have to invest in a heated greenhouse if I wanted to sell flowers year-round. I wasn’t excited about that option though as I wanted to build my business debt-free. And so, I got creative. I had this realization that if I worked with Mother Nature (rather than against her), I could grow not just heat-loving flowers all summer, but I could also grow a number of flowers that thrived during the cool seasons.

Little by little I started growing things like pumpkins + potted mums that could be sold during the fall season even after my summer flowers got taken out by the first frost. Whatever profit I made, I then took that money and reinvested it into the business so that we could slowly become a four-season farm.

The profit I made from selling pumpkins and mums, I took that and used it to fund our winter market. Once I built up our holiday offerings, I was able to take that profit and invest it into spring-flowering bulbs. It wasn’t until I achieved my goal of becoming a four-season farm that I eventually quit my full-time job + ran the flower farm full-time.

Looking back, I’m extremely grateful for those roadblocks that I perceived as limitations. The moments really forced me to get creative with how I built my business. While my business looks much different today than I imagined it would , I tend to think that the business I’ve built is even better than I could have imagined all those years ago.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I firmly believe in the power of repeat customers.

I think the natural instinct when you’re starting a business is to want to cast a wide net. After all more customers should equal more sales. In the few years that I’ve been in business, I’ve come to realize that if I treat my current customers well- give them a reason that they’d want to share about my business with their friends + family, then word spreads and new customers find their way to me rather than me trying to find my way to them.

I once hear a quote that went: “Make those who are near happy and those who are far will come”- and I’ve found that to be some of the best business advice out there.

Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful thing. I think that if you give people a reason to want to talk positively about your business, growth will happen on its own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://twosistersflowerfarm.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twosistersflowerfarm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twosistersflowerfarm/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@twosistersflowerfarm/