Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elissa Gallegos. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Elissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When planning my wedding, I was a very “DIY” bride. I made almost everything for my big day. Around the same time, bouquet preservation became very popular. So, I took a few classes from a professional floral preservationist to save my wedding bouquet forever. After the wedding, I did not want this newfound skill to go to waste, so I began Texas Pressed Flowers to bring the art of Floral Preservation to the Central Texas Area. We are now celebrating 2 years of serving Texas and beyond! However, originally, I had no intention for this to become my full time job. I was a Registered Nurse at the time and becoming an entrepreneur was not exactly in the plans. After serving my first client, the clients never stopped coming. The word of mouth grew about Texas Pressed Flowers in the Central Texas area and we become the largest and floral preservation business in the area. What makes our business stand out among the rest, is that we welcome walk-in clients and last minute bookings. We do not cap the number of clients that we take. Now with a team of seven employees, we can serve as many brides or memorial clients that would like to work with us!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a twenty-something wife, a dog mom of two, and a Registered Nurse. I am originally from Shoreacres, TX, on the Texas coast outside of Houston. I graduated from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor with a degree in Nursing and specializing in Critical Care. After meeting my husband in Austin, Texas, we knew we wanted to plant roots in Dripping Springs which is the wedding capital of Texas. Texas Pressed Flowers started out as a creative outlet for me as a nurse working during the Covid Pandemic. As word of mouth grew, so did my business! Pressing and preserving flowers is a very niche skill that not many take the time to master. There is also very little material on how to do it. Trial and error was the best education for me when attempting new techniques and solidifying the process we now use today. I am most proud of how innovative I have been when it come to growing my business. I did not have very much money to put into it and decided to approach the growth very slowly. I started it at my dining room table and is now in a 2500+ square foot office. We are cash flowing and have no debt. Its amazing to be able create a business out of nothing and for it to be successful. You can really do anything if you believe in your product and put forth the effort to make it desirable to consumers.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

For us, while word of mouth has been huge to give us a credible name in the Texas wedding industry, Google Ads is our main source of client acquisition. We completely rely on inbound sales for our clients. while 70% of our clients come from Google Ads, the other 30% is a mix of word of mouth, social media, and marketing ventures such as articles and podcast.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

As a new entrepreneur, I love listening to business and financial podcasts. These inspire me to work hard, try new techniques, and stay passionate in my work. The Mere Christians podcast hosted by Jordan Raynor is continually playing as I work on orders. He interviews people with everyday jobs while continuing to influence the gospel through their work. As a Christian, this podcast helps me achieve fulfillment while serving others. Funny enough, Shark Tank has been very influential in my work journey. It was my first outlet for hearing about entrepreneurship; having watched every episode, it is hard not to give them credit for learning that creating a profitable business or product is possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: Texaspressedflowers.com
• Instagram: @Texaspressedflowers
• Facebook: @Texaspressedflowers

Image Credits
Kristen Hafner Photography