Why Your Flower Business Is Stuck (And How to Fix It)

You get the business off the ground. You make some money. You see the potential… but no matter what you try, you can’t seem to break past your current income level.

Whether you’re trying to go from $3,000 to $15,000 or from $40,000 to that magical $100,000, the frustration feels the same.

You’re working hard. You’re doing the things. And still… you feel stuck. Most growers hit this point eventually. And the truth is, this won’t be the last time you feel this way. Every new level of growth comes with its own plateau.

And it’s not because you’re doing it wrong. It’s because you’ve outgrown the way you’re currently doing things.

Here’s what I’ve learned after building my own farm and watching hundreds of others do the same: The leap from one income level to the next doesn’t come from doing more of the same things. It comes from changing how you think, how you decide, and how you operate.

There are a lot of tactical strategies that can help you grow from raising prices and increasing average order value to adding new offers and monetizing your following. And yes, those matter. (I’ve detailed out all of those here.)

But there’s another side to growth that doesn’t get talked about enough: The internal side. Who you are as a business owner.

How you see yourself.
How you make decisions.
How you respond under pressure.
How you think about problems instead of just reacting to them.

In this article, I’m sharing the mindset shifts that made the biggest difference in my own business. Not hacks. Not quick wins. Not the latest trends. The deeper shifts that changed how I ran my farm.

So let’s get into it…

Stop Doing Everything. Start Doing What Works.

There’s a common belief in this industry that you need to grow all the flowers, extend your season as long as possible, avoid gaps in production and do markets, weddings, subscriptions and a flower stand.

I believed it, too.

But that belief led me to over-planting, over-spending and over-working.

Eventually, I came across a concept called Pareto’s Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule. It’s the idea that roughly 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts.

In your business, it shows up in things like this:

• 80% of Your Revenue Comes From 20% of Your Products

• 80% of Your Sales Come From 20% of Your Customers

• 80% of Your Marketing Results Come From 20% of Your Efforts

• 80% of Your Time Is Spent on 20% of Your Tasks

• 80% of Waste Comes From 20% of Your Crops

And when I looked at my own business through this lens, I realized a small portion of what I was doing was driving nearly all of my results. The rest? A whole lot of effort with little payoff.

The 80/20 principle is now the backbone of every business decision I make. (You can read more about how I applied it to my farm here.)

But here’s why this matters for you: If you want to take your farm to the next level, you can’t keep running it the same way you did when you were just getting started.

At some point, growth stops being about doing more and starts being about doing what actually works. What moves the needle.

Leveling up means asking better questions, like:

• What crops actually make me money?

• What customers are worth more of my time?

• What income streams move the needle and which ones just drain me?

• What am I doing out of habit (like weeding for 4 hours a day) versus strategy?

Because the truth is…

Tasks are not equally important.
Customers are not equally valuable.
Crops are not equally necessary.
Income streams are not equally profitable.

And treating them as if they are will keep you stuck exactly where you are.

Leveling up looks like:
• Dropping low-profit crops
• Simplifying your offerings
• Leaning harder into what works
• Outsourcing what drains you
• Building around your strengths

Growth doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from doing what matters.

Have–Do–Be vs. Be–Do–Have

Several years ago, a podcast episode by Jim Fortin was recommended to me, and it became the catalyst for a big shift in my health, my business, my mindset… all of it. The episode was about identity.

Essentially, it’s about flipping the Have–Do–Be model to Be–Do–Have.

Let me explain.

Most people operate like this: “When I have something… then I’ll do the things that go with it… and then I’ll be who I want to be.”

In real life, that sounds like: When I have more time, then I’ll work out every day and then I’ll be healthy.

In flower farming, that sounds like: When I have more sales, more land, more customers, then I’ll do the things successful farmers do and then I’ll finally be a successful flower farmer.”

But that sequence rarely works. Instead, it works the other way around.

You be first…
then you do…
and eventually, you have.

Think about smoking. A smoker smokes because they are a smoker. A non-smoker doesn’t smoke because they aren’t. It’s not willpower. It’s who they are. It’s identity.

A non-smoker doesn’t wake up every day and “try not to smoke.” They simply don’t because they’re not a smoker. It’s not who they are.

Behavior follows identity. We act in accordance with who we believe ourselves to be. And you see it in everything. Lottery winners going broke. Repeatedly losing weight only to gain it all back. New Year’s resolutions that disappear by February.

Why? Because their identity didn’t change. The same thing happens in business.

If you see yourself as:
“I’m not good with numbers…”
“I’m terrible at sales…”
“I’m not a business person…”

Then no strategy in the world will stick. You can buy the programs. Read the books. Follow the advice. But you will only get what you ARE.

Leveling up your farm isn’t just about learning better systems. It’s about becoming the kind of person who implements and runs a better system.

And that starts with identity.

When I first listened to that podcast episode, I was the heaviest I’d ever been. I was struggling to stay consistent with workouts. I was living off of prepared foods. It wasn’t good.

Right after I listened to that podcast, I asked myself the question that changed everything: Who did I need to BE in order to DO what was required to HAVE the results I wanted?

I needed to identify as a healthy person. (And to help me do that, I even found a picture of some muscular legs and arms to put on my vision board that was my phone screensaver!)

So whenever I found myself standing in the pantry looking for a snack or sitting on the couch debating whether to work out or not, I would literally ask myself: “What would a healthy person do right now?” “What would those 2 people on my screensaver do?”

And let me make it very clear… at the time, I did NOT believe I was a healthy person. But I started doing the things a healthy person would do. And now, two years later, that identity stuck. I AM a healthy person.

And this isn’t just something I did once and moved on from. I still use this identity filter every day.

• When someone leaves a rude comment on a post, I ask myself… How would an industry leader handle this?

• When a customer tells me their peony bouquet didn’t last, I ask myself… How would a business that prioritizes its customers respond?

That one shift of asking who I needed to be before worrying about what I needed to do changed everything. Because when you change the way you see yourself, your actions change. And when your actions change, so do your results.

So at the end of the day, instead of asking, “What do I need to have?” try asking yourself, “Who do I need to be?”

Level Up Your Skill Set, Level Up Your Business

Just like you have to level up your identity, you also have to level up your skills.

I want you to picture a zinnia seed planted in a 128 cell tray. (Those cells are small!) It sprouts, grows a couple of inches tall and stalls. So you pot it up into a 50 cell tray. Now it grows bigger, maybe nine-ish inches and stalls again. Finally, you transplant it into the ground where it has even more room to grow, and it grows to over 4’ tall, branches out in every direction and turns into a lush plant that cranks out the flowers.

Same seed. Different container.

The size of the container determined its growth. When the container got bigger, so did the plant. Business works the same way.

In business, your “container” isn’t how many hours you work or how many flowers you grow. It’s your skill set.

✅ Pricing = a skill
✅ Selling = a skill
✅ Customer experience = a skill
✅ Marketing = a skill
✅ Messaging = a skill

Just like that zinnia couldn’t grow any taller than the container allowed, your business can’t grow beyond the skills you currently have. Your current skill level has taken you as far as it can. To go further, you have to grow it.

Here’s a quote that took me years to understand but illustrates the point perfectly: What got you here, won’t get you there.

Because let’s be honest.... if what got you here could get you there… you’d already be there.

In my early years, I thought I understood sales. I believed selling was simply putting pretty bouquets in the flower stand and posting on Facebook. I had no idea how wrong I was.

Once I really dug into sales, I learned that sales isn’t posting and then hoping people show up.

Real sales is identifying your ideal customer. It’s knowing your customer on a deep level. Truly understanding how she feels and what it is she wants. Meeting her where she already is. Earning her trust. Articulating her struggle so clearly she feels seen. Presenting your product as the solution. Removing friction from the buying decision. Creating an experience so good she sticks around. I could keep going and going…

I learned all that☝️when I invested in myself. I took courses. (I still take courses!) I read hundreds of books. I took trainings. I listened to podcasts. Not because anything was “wrong” with my business, but because I wanted to take my business to the next level.

That’s what I want for you too.

The next level of your business isn’t about doing more. It’s about knowing more. Better skills lead to better decisions, better systems, and better results.

Same you. Just a stronger skill set. And if you’re ready to uplevel your skills, check out Growth.

The Final Shift: Take Your Foot Off the Brake

The last shift I want to share is the one that has made the biggest difference for me. It’s best summed up by a quote from James Wedmore: “Instead of putting your foot on the gas… what if you took your foot off the brake?”

This one took me a while to absorb. Why? Because everything teaches us that if we want more, we need to push harder. Work longer. Do more. Hustle.

But what if the problem isn’t that you’re not pushing enough? What if you’re actually holding yourself back without realizing it? Because here’s the tough truth: we are the thing getting in our own way.

Not on purpose.
Not consciously.
But quietly, through the beliefs we carry.

Let’s back up for a second. You were born a blank slate. You didn’t come out of the womb with any programming about money, success, or sales. You learned them.

• A teacher tells you in third grade you’re “not good at math.”
  Your subconscious writes a new piece of code: I’m bad with numbers.

• Your parents repeat, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
  Your subconscious writes another piece of code: Money is hard to come by.

• You grow up hearing “Rich people are greedy.”
  Your subconscious writes another piece of code: Don’t make too much… or you’ll be a bad person.

• You hear, “If you want to be successful, you have to work hard.”
  Your subconscious writes another piece of code: More hours = more worth.

• You deal with a pushy salesperson.
  Your subconscious writes another piece of code: Selling is sleezy.

All of those experiences create your internal programming. And that programming quietly becomes your identity.

The way you see money.
The way you see selling.
The way you see success.
The way you see yourself.

And as we talked about earlier… identity drives behavior.

So if you believe sales are pushy, you’ll avoid selling.
If you believe working harder equals more success, you’ll burn yourself out.
If you believe wealthy people are greedy, you’ll subconsciously keep yourself small.

Not because you want to. But because that’s how you were wired. Doing more won’t fix that. Hustling harder won’t change it.

You don’t move forward by pushing the gas harder. You move forward by releasing the brake.

So what does all of this mean for you and your flower business?

It means that if you’re struggling to sell…
If you freeze when it’s time to price…
If you hesitate before posting…

You need to identify the beliefs that are subconsciously running in the background.

The ones telling you not to charge more.
The ones making sales feel uncomfortable.
The ones keeping you playing small on social.

And until you find those beliefs and deal with them, you can plant more, post more, and work more…but nothing truly shifts. Because the growth of your business will never outpace the growth of you.

Final Thoughts: The Next Level Starts With You

Holy Moly, that was a lot!

But here’s what I want you to takeaway: There are tactical ways to grow your flower business. You can raise prices. Add offers. Refine your marketing. Increase average order value. Create better systems. And those things matter.

But growth isn’t just an outside job. It’s also an inside one.

You don’t level up your business by only changing what you do. You level it up by changing how you think, the choices you make and how you show up each day.

Marketing works when you’re willing to show up.
Pricing works when you’re willing to stand behind it.
Sales work when you’re willing to make the ask.

So if you feel plateaued right now, do the practical work, yes. But don’t ignore the internal work that makes it possible. Because when you grow…your farm grows.