We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tisa Zellers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tisa below.
Tisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
I very much grew this business through trial and error. As a creative, I knew that I was a really good designer. I also knew that I did not know how to run a business. In my long career, I have been fortunate to work for some large, luxury design firms. One thing they all shared in common was that there was a visionary leader at the top. I had a lot of vision, but I did not have business acumen, and some of them did not either. Some of the most widely-known businesses, especially those run by creatives, have a hidden chaos that isn’t visible on Instagram. The public only gets to see the shiny, beautiful product, not the late nights, in-fighting, and drama. On my employee journey, I got to see a lot of waste, inefficiency, and bad decisions made by management. I knew that if they could do it and make it work somehow, I could certainly do it!
In the beginning, I was a solopreneur, operating a small wedding floral studio out of my home. I grew the business rapidly by taking on basically any wedding that tried to book me! That was a good strategy for the first few years, and Sage quickly outgrew the home studio. I then rented a studio in a small storage facility, with no running water and a very bad air-conditioning unit to keep things cool. It was cheap and didn’t have the basics, but it got us through another year. I was later fortunate enough to find the perfect spot in a strip of warehouse units. It became obvious at that point that I needed extra help. This is a very labor-intensive business to run, with late hours, sometimes, and I was getting ground down. Although terrified that I wouldn’t be able to pay everyone, I added contractors, and a collection of part-time employees that are now like family.
Fear is the main enemy of any growth in life. I had to overcome my fear in order to grow the company. My number one irrational fear when the business started growing, was that I would book a big event, and my employees wouldn’t show up. I would have nightmares that I was the only one there trying to set a huge event, and that everyone would let me down. What I learned over the years of trusting the people that I hired, was that they were actually good people, and wanted to help me succeed. Now I have a team that can set multiple weddings on a day, while I am meeting clients to book other events. I had to learn overtime that my fear was blocking me from growing the company.
We recently became a corporation, and are set to grow by leaps and bounds in 2025! I have gone from being the sole designer, producer, sales, person, accountant, janitor, etc., to being the CEO. I have hired an accounting firm, and also a marketing firm to help me with social media. My part-time designers have now become managers, who perform their jobs better than I could. I stay out of their way as much as possible, choosing to manage the results and not the process. The business now feels like an organism that can survive on its own, without me nursing it constantly. The time that that has been freed up is now being used for me to level up in other areas of life!
Tisa, 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?
I got started at a local mom-and-pop flower shop in Irving, TX. I was in my second year of college at The University of Dallas, and just returned from a semester in Rome. I saw amazing architecture and stunning gardens while in Europe, and really became interested in art and nature. Working at a flower shop was a great way to relax after class. I always tell people that I got a degree in Philosophy, so naturally became a florist!
No matter where I found myself over the next 20 or so years, I would always come back to flowers. I was very fortunate to work for Zen – the in-house floral studio for the Mansion on Turtle Creek and The Crescent. We worked on high-profile and celebrity projects there, which made me want to specialize in luxury events. Upon leaving Zen, I was one of the first designers hired by Dallas fashion icon, Brian Bolke, to work at his floral studio, AvantGarden. I later worked for Todd Events, as well, taking part in selling and designing high-profile weddings and events.
In 2014 I decided that Fort Worth needed a luxury florist, as well, and opened Sage Fine Flowers. Team Sage has had the opportunity to work with hundreds of couples over the past ten years! We love seeing our clients’ dreams become reality!
My company, Sage Fine Flowers is an artistic floral studio, specializing in luxury weddings and events. Team Sage is known for creativity, exceptional, organic design, and complex installations. I am absolutely obsessive over making each wedding a uniquely beautiful statement. Our designers often go out into the woods to cut the exact piece of special greenery to make an arrangement pop. I personally choose every bloom for every wedding. Every person on staff at Sage is an artist at what they do.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think the biggest thing that I’ve had to unlearn in life, is that scarcity mentality that some of us are born with. Somewhere along my life, I picked up a feeling of lack and scarcity. It’s that “me against the world” mentality, where it feels like everything‘s against you and you have to push really hard to make things happen. I have learned through meditation, spiritual practices, yoga, and reading, that the universe really is working for our benefit. Source delights in our success! We just need to ask for and expect what we need, and it will come to us magnetically. Learning this has changed my whole world view. I no longer live in fear, I live in expectation of what fun things are to come!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for us has been the other professional wedding vendors that we work alongside. Those contacts that I started networking with over 10 years ago have become great friends, fellow entrepreneurs that I can call on for advice, and people that I enjoy working with very much.
We don’t really want repeat business in the wedding industry! I only want my brides and grooms to get married once and stay married for life! We do, however, Get referrals from past clients, and end up doing a lot of family weddings. One of my favorite families owns a venue. We have done both sisters weddings, and are now doing their baby showers, as well!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sagelovesflowers.com/
- Instagram: @sagefineflowers
Image Credits
Monica Jones
Silver bear Creative
Jessa Maria Photo