As a wood flower florist, whether you're pursuing it as a hobby or a professional endeavor, pricing your creations appropriately is crucial. While it can be challenging to determine fair rates, especially when starting, understanding pricing etiquette is essential for sustaining your passion and business as it grows with your expertise and artistry! In Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series, we are going to talk about both sides of this equation.
How do I know how much to charge as wood flower florist?
The age-old question in all of the sola wood flower Facebook groups is “how much would you price this for?” and everyone chimes in with recipes to calculate your price, or they receive a plethora of answers that range in hundreds of dollars difference. 🤔🤷♀️
Before we dive too deep into how pricing etiquette, in Part 1 of this blog, I want you to consider your needs as a florist charging for your products and services:
Are you a registered business or a hobbyist? Is your goal to make a sustainable profit to grow a business or to make your money back so you can continue your hobby without having to dig too deep into your own pockets?
Do you have overhead costs to consider? (Very likely, this is a business only question for those who are paying rent, utilities, labor, insurance, etc. But as a hobbyist at a craft fair, you may need to cover the cost of insurance for the event or your booth fee or tent purchase).
How long have you been working with wood flowers? Are your pieces products of years of experimentation and elevating your artistry, or are you just starting out?
Where are you sourcing your materials? Are you making flowers yourself from sola wood rolls? Are you purchasing luxe flowers? Are you purchasing bulk packs on sale from distributors who have bargain prices (and often bargain quality).
With those things considered, you can start to rate your range of “low, medium, and high” quality and craftsmanship on a 1-3 scale. I don’t want to offend anyone with the statement of “low” quality, but I do want to label it as such to challenge you to see if you can elevate your artistry, quality and craftsmanship to get out of that “low” range so we can elevate the experience of wood flowers that people around the world are getting. Stick with me here, even if you have an eyebrow raised! 👀
So let's make this a little quiz pertaining to the above questions. Keep track of your score:
Biz or Hobby?
Low (1)- You’re just starting out as a hobby, maybe someday it will become more!
Medium (2) - You’ve been at this for a while as either a hobbyist or business, but would not consider yourself an expert
High - (3) You’ve spent years in business and have a solid business plan and strategy with a vision for future success of your floristry journey.
Overhead Costs?
Low (1) - You’re working from home or have a rental booth somewhere that may require rent but do not have more than two or three “bills” a month.
Medium (2) - You have multiple booth rental fees, overhead costs in vendor event setups, insurance and investments in technology or subscriptions to keep your business/hobby the best it can be.
High (3) - You pay rent, insurance, utilities, internet, phone, tech services, and maybe even payroll etc. You have many expenditures a month and require bookkeeping.
How long have you been working with wood flowers?
Low (1) - I consider myself a newbie
Medium (2) - I consider myself a budding wood flower florist - I’ve learned a ton, but I have so much more potential and love learning new tips, tricks and techniques!
High (3) - I am a seasoned pro and feel confident in my techniques, systems and offerings and continually strive to challenge the status quo of what wood flowers are capable of.
Sourced Material Quality?
Low (1) - I am using bargain craft sites and only shop sales. I use the flowers that need extra attention and love so I can learn more about my processes and experiment without too much cost out of pocket.
Medium (2)- I use reputable wholesalers, Luxe flowers on occasion and make sure that I have quality at the top of mind, even if it means I pay more for what I want. I love saving on big sale events, but I try not to sacrifice quality for price. I dabble in making my own flowers, but don’t do it often enough to consider my work luxury.
High (3) - I make my own flowers with confidence and use often. I buy from luxe sellers like other florists that are known for their flower making, distributors of luxe lines or overseas artists that have the highest quality. I use reputable wholesalers that have the highest quality standards. I still love to get the best price I can for my cost of goods, but that often means that I am buying cases, or larger quantities that ensure I get to sort my quality myself.
If you answer these questions and add up your total score - I believe you can and SHOULD markup your cost of goods by more than the other "levels":
Andi's Suggested Rule of Thumb:
(4 - 6): Markup goods by cost x2 plus time. (Time could be hourly or a percentage of the total price)
(7-9) - Markup goods by cost x3 plus time (Time could be hourly or a percentage of the total price)
(10-12)- Markup goods by cost x4 or more plus time (Time could be hourly or a percentage of the total price)
With this being said, this is my personal opinion as a seasoned wood flower florist and should not be taken as fact or as a rule. This is simply a guideline that I believe we could set for ourselves as wood flower florists, so we have a standard to hold ourselves to. If you feel that after following this rough estimate that the prices are too low - YOU ARE RIGHT. Never undercharge. However, if you believe the prices are too high - with a somewhat sassy challenge to you - I DARE you to price it at that anyways and see what happens!
This is meant to encourage you to see your worth - if the "Rule of Andi's Thumb" I describe above feels too high - take a chance with me to know that you are worth so much more than you think!!! (And yes, the rule of Andi’s thumb is what I just called that because I really did just invent this, and I don’t want you to think that it is tried and true by any means. It's simply my personal opinion and guidance and I will definitely be taking your own opinions, comments and feedback into consideration to edit this blog post to reflect the quality of this advice).
I dive deeper in to the labor costs associated with your artistry in Part 2 of this series! Be sure to get the link to that part at the end of this blog ⬇️
REMEMBER: You can always put an item on sale. It is much harder to mark up your prices suddenly.
With that being said, I DO believe that you need to markup your prices over time. You will not always be in the “Low” or “Medium” Bracket I described above and as you elevate your artistry, quality and experience - your prices will not only need to change to reflect the quality - but your business cannot be sustained if your prices stay low while your overhead costs go up.
With full transparency, I actually use the above rule of thumb for different products that I offer. For example, my single stemmed roses are priced according to "low", "medium" and "high" quality - or I often think of it as basic, elevated and luxury quality in my own business, North Wood Blooms LLC.
Notice the difference in the quality of items I use, and the amount of labor gone into each item:
I charge $9.99 for my basic single stems. I charge $11.99 for my elevated stems, often special requests and custom orders. I also require upwards of $19.99 for my handmade XL Luxury Garden Roses and handmade flowers like sunflowers, fire and ice roses and more.
So no matter what your "level" after the quiz above read, that is not a blanket requirement. It is actually a great way to strategically raise your prices by starting to offer more luxe pieces and marketing your floral arrangements as such as you introduce new collections, styles, aesthetics and skills into your repertoire. You can also start dropping the "lower" quality designs as you improve and elevate your artistry!
That’s all for Part 1 to Establish your Quality Markup. Where did you fall? How did it make you feel? What do you think of the above rule of thumb? Is it insane? Helpful? Ridiculous? Confusing? Tell me all the things in the comments, I’m willing to take the honest feedback if it is a cheer and applause or putting me in the hot seat!
Ready to see how your artistry can elevate your pricing and to use a super simple pricing equation even creative brains can handle? Head to Part 2 here!
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